Methods Completing elementary school Wanda has has entered the middle school years, and it's time for a transition here at the blog, too.
Reading Animal Farm George Orwell's dystopian classic, with a ten-year-old. Terrible idea, or great idea?
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.
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.
Curriculum Exploring the World through Story First impressions of Exploring the World through Story, a literature-based curriculum.
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
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.
Curriculum Free homeschool curriculum There are outstanding free educational materials available to homeschoolers, including many aligned to common core standards. I've collected a list.
Language arts My language arts spackle: Nitty-Gritty Grammar I like to reach for this handy grammar reference, whether it's to fill a gap in our day, or one in my daughter's understanding.
Writing Creative writing How I support my daughter's creative writing (mainly by staying out of her way).
Science Using a lab notebook for science How we started writing in real lab notebooks for science lessons, starting with learning from real scientists about how they use their lab notebooks.
Free printables The Writing Revolution downloadable lessons I'm sharing all of the The Writing Revolution-style lessons I've created, using content from our various curricula. Maybe you can use them, too!
Free printables The Writing Revolution activity templates Free printable Google Docs templates you can use to create writing activities, à la The Writing Revolution.
Language arts 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.
Language arts The Writing Revolution I’ve mentioned before that I don’t really have Wanda do writing assignments. She writes—ooh de lally, she writes!—but on her own time, driven by her own creative ideas. Lots of stories, scripts, songs, and comics. (Oh how I wish she would let me share them with
Language arts Scarborough's Reading Rope I like this metaphor to help break down the pieces that go into developing strong reading skills. The Scarborough reading rope model has been in use for about 20 years, if you’re interested in the research backing it up, search for “Scarborough reading rope.” The cool-toned threads at the
Language arts Sentence analysis The Michael Clay Thompson language arts curriculum comes with a big ol’ book of 100 sentences to practice grammar analysis. Each sentence is analyzed in four ways: 1) each word’s part of speech (noun, adjective, conjunction, etc.), 2) identify the parts of the sentence (subject, action or linking predicate,
Language arts Michael Clay Thompson This is the language arts curriculum that's given us the best learning: Michael Clay Thompson. Pictured is the first level, "Island." This curriculum works quite differently from our other language arts curriculum, Logic of English, and I'm finding it to be a much better
Media recommendations Table Top Shakespeare If you could use a distraction over the next few days, consider brushing up your Shakespeare with this fun “Table Top Shakespeare [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=emYGXzCQa0o&list=PL-blz3DjyJIyhGeDEPROuy6WqwDd6mTKO] ” series on YouTube. A talented storyteller tells the plot of the play in plain but engaging English, using
Language arts Phonics curriculum: Logic of English Foundations In my last post, I mentioned that I'm using a few different pieces for language arts [https://homeschool.humuhumu.com/language-arts/]. Here's some of the promised detail, this time about the curriculum we're using from Logic of English, called Foundations. This is our phonics
Language arts Language arts This one has not been a smooth road, lots of figuring things out as I go along, lots of experimenting and course correction. I read through alllll the California state standards for language arts at each grade level, and I can pretty well figure out where my kid sits on
Civics The Pledge of Allegiance My very bright moment of sun during an otherwise deeply demoralizing week: > "I pledge allegiance to the Flag of the United States of America, and to the Republic for which it stands, one Nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all." This week, Wanda was
Language arts Passive voice We happened to have a language arts lesson on passive vs. active voice yesterday. Wanda didn’t understand why it was a big deal when it was talking about a cabin being destroyed by a storm. When I switched up the lesson to use current events instead, she understood the
Curriculum Our curriculum By far, the number one question I get asked about homeschooling is what I use for curriculum. It’s not an easily answered question, so I’m writing it all up here. Given the current state of things, I thought some folks might find it relevant. This is what I
