How to - Homeschool Humuhumu

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How to

A collection of 20 posts

Fingers hold a small card that says, "What can you do today that you couldn't do a year ago?"

Assessment testing

Standardized assessment testing is not required for PSA homeschoolers in California, but we wanted to do it anyway.

Wanda has her hands clasped over her joyfully agape mouth, in front of the Quiz Show intro slide.

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.

A box holding index cards separated by numbered dividers. A visible card says "What is the formula for describing momentum?"

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.

Two paper hats shaped like brains, with regions of the brain labeled.

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.

Close-up of a flour-dusted golden crust of a ciabatta loaf, with the words LEARNING TO BAKE BREAD

Ciabatta!

I coached Wanda through making her first loaf of bread, a ciabatta.

A child faces away from the camera, arms outspread, wearing a bright pink hooded jacket.

How we told our daughter we were switching to homeschooling

I used an analogy about a one-size-fits-all jacket to help our daughter understand this big change.

A sign saying "ANY SALAD CAN BE A CAESAR SALAD IF YOU STAB IT ENOUGH"

Media recommendations

Homeschooling pedagogy nerdery

One of my favorite spots for learning about how to teach is now accepting new members.

A slice of quiche is topped with bright pink onions and small purple blossoms, with the words FAST LUNCH IDEAS.

Quick lunch shortcuts

These tips and tricks let me whip up a not-entirely-tragic lunch for myself in the few minutes I have before our lunch break.

A young girl in a yellow dress is hovering in midair over a bed, her hair flying. Overlaid text in white: JUMP ON IN!

Introduction to homeschooling

A quick-start guide to homeschooling, or at least how and why we're homeschooling.

Writing paragraphs, The Writing Revolution style

Writing paragraphs, The Writing Revolution style

In some ways, writing is a strength area for Wanda. In other ways, it's the area where she needs the most support.

A white dial timer, with increments up to 60 minutes, and a timer set for 12 minutes shown in a blue translucent overlay.

Visual timers for ADHD

These homeschool years are giving us a wonderful opportunity to develop ADHD-related skills, like time management. Tools like visual timers are an ideal way to build time awareness.

$A small whiteboard, marked with grid lines, and a long division math problem written on it.$

Why is it so hard for kids to show their work?

We've made a lot of progress on writing out math problems, so I thought I'd share some of what I've figured out along the way.

Vintage perpetual calendar set to Wednesday, August 18, and a vintage brass bell shaped like an apple.

Our daily routine

A peek into a day in our homeschooling life: the lessons we cover, and how it all fits together.

Fancy cupcakes made easy

Fancy cupcakes made easy

Simple and inexpensive ways to make your cupcakes deluxe, and so you can whip them out easily and make ordinary days special.

Lesson planning

Lesson planning

Here's a peek into what my lesson planning looks like. Typing it up for this post makes it seem a bit more organized than it is. This is an accurate picture of what I do, but I haven't thought of it as a formalized system or

Learning spelling through analysis

Learning spelling through analysis

Instead of using an off-the-shelf spelling curriculum, we're doing our own spelling analysis, focused on words we care most about.

Helping your kid learn new skills (even really tricky ones)

Helping your kid learn new skills (even really tricky ones)

Trying new things is uncomfortable. Trying new things and being terrible at them is really uncomfortable. Trying new things and being terrible at them, while someone is watching you, is excruciating. One of the best strategies I have for supporting Wanda in these moments is our forest path analogy. It

Small child at the bottom of a daunting set of stairs

How I got started with homeschooling

Here are the steps and phases I went through as we were first getting a foothold on homeschooling. If I knew back in 2019 what I know now in 2021, I'd skip some of this and get straight to the good stuff. First stop was figuring out the

Blank paper booklets

Blank paper booklets

I make little blank paper booklets that my daughter can grab any time. She uses these little booklets for all kinds of silly, wild, creative writings and drawings. I cut two sheets of paper in half, stack them and fold them in half, put two staples in the spine, and