Methods Completing elementary school Wanda has has entered the middle school years, and it's time for a transition here at the blog, too.
Geography and cultures Georgian folk music The first two songs we learned in the Carnegie Hall Musical Explorers program are Georgian folk music, with musician Ilusha Tsinadze.
Music Carnegie Hall Musical Explorers A free education resource from New York's famous Carnegie Hall teaches kids about music from around the world.
Geography and cultures Seterra geography quiz I recently started using Seterra to beef up my geography knowledge. I use the free iOS app, and there are also Android and web versions. Seterra gives you the name of a country (or city, or mountain, etc.), and challenges you to find its location on an unlabeled map. I
Methods Homeschooling fears: will I goof up teaching her? This is the final post in a series about the fears I had about homeschooling before we began, and how I feel now, four years in. * How will homeschooling change my relationship with my daughter? * What will my public school teacher friends think? * Will she make friends? * Will I goof
Methods Homeschooling fears: will she make friends? If a kid isn't in school, where does she get friends? Turns out: anywhere and everywhere.
Methods Homeschooling fears: what would my teacher friends think? When we switched to homeschooling, I felt a knot in my stomach at what my teacher friends would think. Would it be viewed as a betrayal?
Methods Homeschooling fears What worried me about homeschooling before we started, vs. how I feel now.
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'
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,
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.
