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Our Homeschool Curriculum Choices

Relaxed Homeschooling in Seventh Grade

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Last year I wrote about relaxed homeschooling in middle school. I shared our plans for not just last year but the middle school years in general. It was interesting to go back and read it just now to see what worked out and what didn't. We're still relaxed homeschoolers in seventh grade. I would still describe our approach as: parent-influenced, interest-led, collaborative relaxed homeschooling that borders on (but isn’t quite) unschooling. With lots of art supplies.I always feel a bit hesitant when I write these kinds of posts about our … [Read more...] about Relaxed Homeschooling in Seventh Grade

History Timeline for Relaxed Homeschoolers

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I attempted to do a wall timeline with Caroline a number of years ago. For a variety of reasons, it did not work for her. I think part of it was her age, part of it was her learning challenges, and part of it was the layout. However, I think timelines can be very valuable which is why I was excited to get the opportunity to review the Timeline Trio from Home School in the Woods. I received this product for free and am being compensated for my time to write this review. The opinions and content are my own and I was not required to provide a … [Read more...] about History Timeline for Relaxed Homeschoolers

Middle School Chemistry for Relaxed Homeschoolers

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We've made the official move to year round homeschooling which I'll address in another post. Today I wanted to share what we're doing for Science this summer and the following four months. We're taking a relaxed, living books approach to this and I think we've hit a home run with it.(I'll share more in my other post about why we're taking this approach with Science right now.) Middle School Chemistry I've been wanting to do some chemistry with Caroline to give her a solid start in the terminology and basic principles, starting with the … [Read more...] about Middle School Chemistry for Relaxed Homeschoolers

Relaxed Homeschooling in Middle School

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This year we officially start middle school with sixth grade. How is that possible? But it is! We've settled into our relaxed homeschooling approach as it is the best way to do homeschooling for our little family.  Although I would really like to be an unschooler, I know after trial and error it won't work with my highly creative and imaginative child and her twice-exceptional needs. So I describe our homeschooling approach as parent-influenced, interest-led, collaborative relaxed homeschooling that borders on (but isn’t quite) unschooling. … [Read more...] about Relaxed Homeschooling in Middle School

Homeschooling Curriculum for Gifted/2e Visual-Spatial Learners

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This year my curriculum post is going to be a bit different. (You can see my past ones here, here, here and here.) I'm writing about homeschooling a gifted/2e visual-spatial learner. Kind of specific, don't you think? And yet that is the world that we live in at our home. :-)We've undergone a significant shift in our homeschooling philosophy over the past year as we've come to a greater understanding of Caroline's giftedness/2e situation and more about the fact that she is a visual-spatial learner. I can easily see at least 100 reasons to … [Read more...] about Homeschooling Curriculum for Gifted/2e Visual-Spatial Learners

Relaxed Homeschooling Curriculum for a Creative Gifted Child

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Would it be wrong to start off a post about relaxed homeschooling curriculum choices for the upcoming year and admit that a lot of the time I feel like I have no idea what I'm doing?Would it make you feel better to know that I have a degree in education, am an experienced teacher, and I still find homeschool planning challenging?That's honestly how it feels right now.I feel like I have been making it up as I go for the past four years since we attempted homeschool preschool (here and here), did something that I guess was … [Read more...] about Relaxed Homeschooling Curriculum for a Creative Gifted Child

Are You Choosing the Wrong Learning Materials for Your Child?

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One of the things I'm passionate about as an educator and curriculum developer is that learning materials for young children should be visually engaging, colorful, well-designed and simple.  Reaching this balance is a challenge, but it can be done. I'm really picky about the aesthetics of any materials I use with Caroline whether it is a worksheet, a book, a lapbook or a game.Caroline is very particular about the way things look. If she doesn't like the look of a picture book, she has zero interest in the content. (She totally gets that … [Read more...] about Are You Choosing the Wrong Learning Materials for Your Child?

How We Ended Up Relaxed Homeschoolers and What It Looks Like

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I realized we were relaxed homeschoolers somewhere along the beginning of Caroline's second grade year (this year). I had kind of wandered in the wilderness of trying to figure out how to answer the question when people would ask what kind of a homeschooler I was. This was mostly due to trying to figure out how to best teach Caroline rather than any specific philosophy I might have held before I had her. Unschoolers? For quite a bit of kindergarten and first grade I wondered if we were unschoolers. I think because I had to be so unstructured … [Read more...] about How We Ended Up Relaxed Homeschoolers and What It Looks Like

How I Teach History – Relaxed Homeschooling in Early Elementary

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So how do I teach relaxed homeschooling history?I don't.Honestly.It's rather ironic since my Elementary Education degree came with a Social Studies major and I love history. But so far I've done almost no history teaching because Caroline has been taking those classes at our homeschool co-op.We're blessed with a really good Christian co-op. Caroline has been taking two classes there a semester since Kindergarten and she loves it. The vast majority of her classes have been history and geography related. She had a class about … [Read more...] about How I Teach History – Relaxed Homeschooling in Early Elementary

How I Teach Science – Relaxed Homeschooling in Early Elementary

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My approach to science in our relaxed homeschooling family has been very relaxed. My philosophy is that all children really need in early elementary is exposure to science topics and to develop a healthy curiosity about the world around them. If a child is curious, she will learn plenty even in an unstructured way. Relaxed Homeschooling Science Materials I don't use a textbook to teach science. Most of the early elementary textbooks are either so simplistic or are so poorly designed that they would not appeal to Caroline at all.We don't … [Read more...] about How I Teach Science – Relaxed Homeschooling in Early Elementary

How I Teach Math – Relaxed Homeschooling in Early Elementary

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Since I've already written at length about how we ended up as relaxed homeschoolers in my series intro and language arts post, I'm going to jump right into explaining our relaxed homeschooling math approach in the early elementary grades. Mathematics versus Arithmetic In The Right Side of Normal: Understanding and Honoring the Natural Learning Path for Right-Brained Children, Cindy Gaddis differentiates between arithmetic and mathematics. She describes arithmetic as "the act of manipulating quantities (facts)." Mathematics, on the other hand, … [Read more...] about How I Teach Math – Relaxed Homeschooling in Early Elementary

How I Teach Language Arts – Relaxed Homeschooling in Early Elementary

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I almost feel like it is dishonest to say how I teach language arts because I sometimes feel like I haven't. I have facilitated a lot of learning. If there is any area where I feel like I've really embraced relaxed homeschooling and can see how well it can work, it is relaxed homeschooling language arts.I should also say by way of background that I spent a lot of time the first few years working on relationship building with Caroline. Due to health issues I had, our relationship had been through a lot of disruption between the ages of two … [Read more...] about How I Teach Language Arts – Relaxed Homeschooling in Early Elementary

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