Reading Animal Farm George Orwell's dystopian classic, with a ten-year-old. Terrible idea, or great idea?
Media recommendations The Brick Bible To deepen our secular learning about the stories from the Bible, we turn to a retelling of the Bible using LEGO bricks.
History Choosing a world history curriculum: Curiosity Chronicles A look at the reasons we chose the Curiosity Chronicles curriculum, and how we're using it.
History Videos for homeschooling history Some of our best history learning has come from watching videos. Mostly funny ones. Here's a long list of recommended videos!
History The ultimate history shortcut I've got a few posts about teaching history brewing in my head. It's a massive, messy, muddled subject, and I have massive, messy, muddled thoughts on it. While I wrestle with what I want to say and how I want to say it, enjoy Wanda's favorite history video, "history of
Methods Routine, flexibility, and hyperfocus Understanding how an ADHD brain works best is baked right into how we structure our days—and how we sometimes toss that structure out the window.
Book recommendations The Knowledge Gap A book review of The Knowledge Gap by Natalie Wexler, about the lack of focus on building a foundation of general knowledge in modern education, despite cognitive science pointing to its importance.
Book recommendations Shakespeare for young kids I've been introducing Wanda to Shakespeare over the last few years, and we recently leveled up to the real deal: Shakespeare's actual words.
Growth mindset I don't know what I'm doing Today is the third anniversary of our starting homeschooling, back in 2019. I still don't know what I'm doing. When Wanda was younger, she had some moments of doubt on her birthdays. She's generally not prone to magical thinking, but when she turned six, she was disappointed to find that
Book recommendations An Annotated Alice detour Alice would approve as we set aside our lesson to chase after a rabbit... or in this case, a walrus and a carpenter.
Media recommendations The Good Place This philosophical sitcom turned out to be a sneaker homeschooling hit.
Tools Assessment testing Standardized assessment testing is not required for PSA homeschoolers in California, but we wanted to do it anyway.
How to Quercus Prep Quiz Show! The most fun way we're doing memory work is... a quiz. Really! Thanks to Homestar Runner and some sound effect buzzers, it's a blast.
How to Memory work with flash cards I'm putting my anti-flash card stance on ice, because dangit, turns out they work. Also, they're easy.
Methods Retention: forget to remember A look at what the research says about remembering what we learn, and a review of how our chosen curriculum supports retention.
Geography and cultures A trip to the Japanese Tea Garden Golden Gate Park's Japanese Tea Garden is now free to San Francisco residents, so we learned about Japan and took a field trip.
Curriculum Exploring the World through Story First impressions of Exploring the World through Story, a literature-based curriculum.
Methods Secular homeschooling We're doing "secular homeschooling," which means that we aren't teaching from a religious viewpoint. It's not something I've talked about here, and it's not a phrase I find myself using very often, because it's not something that comes up. We're not religious. I was raised without religion, in a corner
Social How lucky am I? It was sunny and hot yesterday. In the afternoon, we went to the beach. That alone is extraordinary. I felt so grateful that we were able to be there, my toes in the sand, a just-right breeze on a hot day, watching Wanda jump and play in the sand and
Life skills Balance board Wanda's ADHD means she's gotta moooove! Adding a balance board to our homeschooling has been an effective accommodation.
Geography and cultures Impromptu France How an unplanned "trip" to France took shape—without disrupting our daily routine. Too much.
Language arts The point of language I try to help Wanda keep some perspective about language arts. The point of it all is communication: sharing an idea with an audience. If the idea has gotten from the speaker/writer's brain to the intended audience's brain—intact, with as much nuance and understanding as is needed—then
Tools Free writing skills assessment and practice with Quill Quill's free online tools have quickly become a useful part of our language arts learning.
