Holy Land Homeschool: Talking the Talk

Last month, I wrote about the “why” – check back here to read my introduction. This month and from now on, I’m going to be focusing more on the “how” – preparing our two young kids for life in another country. That’s a pretty tough call, given that the only other country I’ve ever lived in is the USA. And I didn’t really need to prepare much to move there, other than perhaps changing my money at the bank. Though, as my destination was southern California, it might have been helpful to pick up a bit of Spanish. Moving to … Continue reading

Is Art a Necessary Part of a Balanced Homeschool?

Why should I take the time to do arts and crafts with my child?  It’s sooooooo messy! I can just see the sparkles all over the table and floor and the sticky little finger prints along the wall and let’s not even mention the PAINT. Oh my! Art sounds like a recipe for disaster, quite honestly. Why could I possibly want to subject myself to the clean up? I’m not even a natural artist. I don’t like glue and I certainly don’t like sparkles, however, I think that art and creativity are vital to my children’s development so art we … Continue reading

Homeschooling Only One

This month I want to start out by talking about the different kinds of “onlies” to be found in a homeschool setting. That got your attention, didn’t it? I bet you all have a certain mental image of something when you read “homeschooling just one”. Most of you immediately call to mind a mom and one child, dutifully doing “school” at their dining room table. But I want you to expand that image a tiny bit, and see where just about every homeschool family will hit this stage at some point in their journey. At our house, that image would … Continue reading

The Crazy Battle of Crecy

It’s almost always when we do our history lesson that we fall apart.  What begins as an orderly, sedate day of homeschooling all comes unglued as soon as we hit the first fun tidbit in history.  And it’s British history we’re studying this year, so there’s always some delightful factoid to gloat over. Before you know it, our notes have disintegrated into my children taking over the whiteboard (yes, we use a whiteboard – sue me, my younger daughter remembers things better if she can copy notes!), and suddenly everything they will ever remember about the lesson in question strongly … Continue reading