I’m the mother of six children, ranging in age from six-months to 14 years old. As you can imagine, I don’t often get a full night of sleep. I’ve discovered that the health and happiness of our home depends largely on how I respond to sleep-deprivation. I imagine that most homeschool moms are in the same situation. We’re up feeding … Read More
FIVE ONE-LINERS THAT TRANSFORM THE WAY I HOMESCHOOL
As I go through my days, homeschooling six children and serving the Lord in a variety of ways at home, at church, and in the community, I am regularly blessed by a handful of one-liners that invigorate me and help me to do the right thing with the right attitude. These five phrases come to my mind, and shape my … Read More
HOW TO HELP YOUR CHILD DO WHAT YOU SAY
Homeschooling, and parenting in general, would be so much easier without resistance, rebellion, and whining. Wouldn’t it be awesome if our children did what we told them to do? While we can’t eliminate all of the struggles-of-the-will in our homeschool, we can make choices that help our children be more content, reasonable, and obedient. Here are three principles that can help your child do what … Read More
3 Practical Tips for a More Peaceful Homeschool Day
I’m in the midst of homeschooling an 8th, 5th, and 2nd grader along with a precocious K-4er… add to that a 2-year old with a twinkle in his eye and a newborn. It’s a full house around here and I am always on the look-out for tips and tricks that will make our days more peaceful and productive. This year, we’re using Sonlight … Read More
How To Teach Multiple Sonlight Grades: Our Daily Sonlight Schedule
Two of the most common questions about Sonlight Curriculum are… “How do you teach multiple students?” and, “How much time does it take to teach multiple Sonlight grades?” I don’t have all of the answers, but I’ll share what works for us AND give you a peak at our weekly schedule. (P.S. I received Sonlight 100 in exchange for a … Read More
How I Organize My Sonlight Homeschool Curriculum and Student Work
Check it out: A sustainable way to utilize the gargantuan Sonlight Instructor’s Guides! This year, I’ll be teaching Sonlight 100 to our 8th grader, Sonlight E to our 5th grader, and Sonlight LA 2 to our 2nd grader. You know what that means: larger-than-life Instructor Guides (IG). As much as I LOVE the wisdom, guidance, and plans packed in each … Read More
Want to Inspire Creative Writing? Try Sonlight Language Arts
So far, six of the kiddos in this picture love to write. (The littlest one is still learning her ABC’s…) Six of them have won young author awards for creative nonfiction. And six of them have been raised on Sonlight Language Arts. Half of these kiddos are mine, half belong to my dear friend. She and I have been friends … Read More
Can You Combine Sonlight D+E with Sonlight 100?
One of the beauties of homeschooling is learning together as a family. As our children get older, I’m always looking for ways to gather everyone around the table to learn a common subject together. History continues to be a great source of interest and unity in our homeschool. Every afternoon, we mix our ages and stages to enjoy a beautiful … Read More
Feeling BLAH About Homeschooling? How To Keep On When You Want to Quit
For the first time in my life I feel uninspired about homeschooling. There’s no magic. No sparkly feelings. Nothing. This is odd for me because I’ve been a homeschool enthusiast since I was a child. While other kids dreamed of becoming the POTUS or the first person to set foot on Mars, I gazed starry-eyed at the prospect of gathering … Read More
Enrich Your Middle Schooler’s Socialization Through Literature: A Tom Sawyer Book Club
Build homeschooling socialization while reading a good book together! Viv and I figured that if, way back in 1876, Mark Twain wanted her to get a kick out of Tom Sawyer’s adventures, we would read the book just like that. We intended to have some fun with this one!
We wanted to invite some friends along for the ride and we didn’t have to look very far. Fifteen enthused peers read The Adventures of Tom Sawyer together. It was my job to guide them toward “entertainment” the whole time! We read the book over the span of 8 weeks, covering 4 – 5 chapters each week. In the end, I can confidently say that the students thoroughly enjoyed the book together and I was honored to sit in on their laughter and discussions. Here’s what we did!
