Here’s a wonderful infographic to help you and your kiddos identify 60 different trees by their fall leaves! The poster (courtesy of MJ Sales Umbrellas, which is no longer online but had a surprisingly helpful blog) helps kids learn about simple versus compound leaves, palmate versus pinnate leaves, and lobed versus not lobed leaves (see […]
Forest schools and other outdoor learning environments are becoming increasingly popular, not just in the United Kingdom but in the U.S. and around the world. A Year of Forest School: Outdoor Play and Skill-building Fun for Every Season, by Jane Worrell and Peter Houghton, gives parents and teachers ideas for nearly 40 seasonal activities suitable […]
Mike Rowe of “Dirty Jobs” has a new passion, encouraging teenagers to rethink college and their career paths. He’s challenging the old notion that teens should “work smart, not work hard,” saying that hard work is more important than ever today. Rowe says: “We’re Lending Money We Don’t Have, To Students Who Can’t Pay It […]
There’s a big push in the United States to introduce formal academics earlier and earlier for young children, and that has been spilling into the homeschooling community. While many homeschoolers of the 90’s chose to homeschool because of issues like schools transitioning to full-day kindergarten and the “too much, too soon” academic pressures that were […]
When the peonies bloom in early summer, it’s a great opportunity to do some summer science with the kids. Here are some fantastic ways to do nature studies and learn all sorts of science concepts with these beautiful flowers. Keep them from blooming in the refrigerator for over a month! There are lots of sites […]
Is your homeschooled high schooler looking for great electives that count towards graduation, look good on a transcript and are also interesting? There are hundreds of great ones to choose from. Here are 50 great electives for homeschooled teens to consider. psychology photography PE art agriculture/botany astronomy creative writing sociology women’s studies art history music/band/orchestra […]
The internet is filled with fabulous educational videos, but finding them can be tricky. Enter WatchKnowLearn, which gathers these videos from the internet and puts them in one organized, searchable place. The site currently offers about 50,000 videos on everything from osmosis to table manners to sign language to the philosophy of numbers. The website, […]
Nature study can be an invaluable part of a child’s homeschooling. Most parents know that kids enjoy nature study, but many don’t realize the many ways it’s vital for the best possible education. Here are ten reasons that nature study should be a major component of every homeschool. It’s an easy way to teach science. […]
July is full of all sorts of great science and nature opportunities. Here are five fun ones to work into your homeschooling this month. MythBusting: You hear all sorts of folk wisdom that can be great fun for kids to test out. When we heard that you should draw chalk lines outside your house because […]
One of the joys of homeschooling is that you can adapt ideas from all different places and use them with your kids. Montessori schools and theories are a great source of some of those ideas. I attended a Montessori preschool myself (back in the dark ages) and it was one of the best educational experiences […]
Recently, a reader asked me for information about using Montessori principles to homeschool her older children. She wanted to know if Montessori methods could still be used with teens and preteens. The question intrigued me, as I’ve mainly seen Montessori methods taught for children up to age 12. What I found is that yes, there […]