Simple Living, Homeschooling, Faith, Homemaking, & Books
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We are now homeschooling eighth grade. I wanted to share our relaxed homeschooling curriculum choices for this year. With Caroline's input, I've put together an interesting collection of materials that should make for a good year. As a general rule, eighth grade is the time for relaxed homeschoolers to prepare their child for high school …
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I mentioned that we are using WriteShop for our writing curriculum (Relaxed Homeschooling in Seventh Grade). Up to this point in our homeschooling journey, we haven't used any formal writing program. I tried a few times, but it didn't work for us. Caroline is gifted/2e and has diagnosed dysgraphia (among other learning challenges) so I knew …
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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, …
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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 believe a timeline can be a very valuable tool for relaxed homeschoolers which is why I was excited to have the …
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Today I'm sharing what we're doing for Science this summer and fall. We're taking a relaxed, living books approach to Chemistry and I think we've hit a home run with it. It is an excellent fit with our relaxed homeschooling philosophy. There are three Chemistry books we are using for middle school Chemistry. The books cover the elements, …
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Nature study is a very popular topic in homeschooling circles right now, especially thanks to those who follow a Charlotte Mason style of education. And while I think most everyone would agree that the idea of nature study is a great one, it often doesn't work for some families for any number of reasons. These reasons might include: allergies …
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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 …
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One of the most popular homeschooling programs currently available is Classical Conversations (CC). When CC came to our area a few years ago, I explored it as an option even though we are relaxed homeschoolers. I taught for a year in a Classical Christian school and therefore was very familiar with classical education. CC offers a number of …
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Copywork is a fantastic way to practice a number of writing skills. I've taken the concept of copywork in a bit of a different direction by incorporating interesting subjects that children enjoy such as insects, reptiles, weather, and Christmas Around the World. The printables present the child with a fascinating fact coupled with a memorable …
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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 …
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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 …
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I realized we were relaxed homeschoolers around the beginning of Caroline's second grade year. Prior to that, I struggled to answer the question of what kind of homeschoolers we were. This was primarily due to trying to determine how to best teach Caroline according to her specific needs as opposed to any uncertainty I had regarding a specific …
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So we're on my favorite learning subject - history. So far I've done almost no formal history with Caroline because she has been taking those classes at our homeschool co-op. (It's rather ironic since my Elementary Education degree came with a Social Studies major and I love history.) We're blessed with a really good Christian co-op. Caroline …
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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 …
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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 …
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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 …
