Christian Homeschool Moms

The Christian Alphabet: Interview With Tracy Sands, Ep.#32

I interview Tracy Sands, author of The Christian Alphabet. On this episode she explains how the book came about and what inspired her to write a book which contained the alphabet with a Christian message associated with it. We also discussed: How long it took her to create the alphabet art with 26 letters and nearly 100 symbols What makes her book special What age group her book targets What gave her the "Love The Dove" idea Connecting the Christian Alphabet with a name... ...Plus a bit of encouragement for homeschooling moms directly from the author. Find out more about The Christian Alphabet at Tracy's website. *Additionally: Thanks[...]

Beyond The Fence

Summer is a wonderful opportunity to make discoveries with your canine best friend. Dog Fence DIY encourages exploration beyond the fence! (The following is a post I wrote in partnership with Dog Fence DIY). Being a stay at home mom means finding ways to have a life outside of the home just as much as I’m in the home. It means getting creative when it comes to traipsing my kids around town so that I can enjoy life to the fullest. When I had my first kiddo years ago, traveling light with my baby was a novelty to me. I worked full time and I usually relied on sitters[...]

Back To The 80's: 20 Summer Game Activities

For those of you taking a summer break from homeschool, I’m sure that your thinking wheels are turning about what to do with your kids over the summer. For many people, it’s swimming and summer camps. We have yet to sign up for swim lessons, and, of course, summer camps can get pricey. Then I thought, “Well, what did I do on summer breaks when I was kid?” That got me thinking back to the 80’s. To read more about my list of 20 fun summer games from the 80's check out my post at The Homeschool Post...[...]

Summer Fun Ideas for Homeschoolers

I recently wrote an article about summer fun activities, which Homeschool.com agreed to post! I am excited to write for them and to share this article with you as part of the Summer Extravaganza. Summer time is fast approaching, and when it does I like to have some fun things lined up for the kids to do. If you’re like me, you’re probably preparing for summer activities to keep your kids busy and happy, especially if you’re not planning to continue with schooling over the summer. I scouted around the web and found a few summer fun ideas for kids. Read the rest[...]

What does it take to homeschool? Ep. #31

This homeschool podcast is about the basics of what it takes to homeschool. I answer a question sent in by a listener, specifically: Does the mother or father have to be super smart to homeschool? Is homeschooling costly? Must someone have a degree to teach a child at home? In answering Kevin's question, I come up with three major things it takes to homeschool. They are: The first thing it takes to homeschool is a desire, a purpose, and a willingness to do so. Choose your style, method, curriculum and costs. Realize that all you need to homeschool are the ability to read, write, do a bit[...]

Science Experiment: Water Wheel

Science Experiment: Water Wheel This experiment that creates a water wheel shows how water is harnessed to produce mechanical energy which can be used directly, or used to generate electricity. This lesson using water wheels will help students see that we don’t do our jobs on earth well without God pouring out his love on us. Material • Empty toilet paper holder • Plastic wrap • Scotch tape • Long straight pins (hat pins) • Pieces of metal or plastic to cut to the size of the paper holder • Piece of cardboard twice the length of the toilet paper roll • Water source: faucet or pitchers Instructions: 1. Use light[...]

Why I Chose Sonlight

In this homeschool video, I share several reasons I chose Sonlight as my curriculum of choice for next year to teach from. Here are a few of the reason we chose Sonlight for my daughter's 6th grade next year: Sonlight focuses on living books, or "good books" and not trashy materials I have an opportunity to sit down and read with my child There is a strong missionary focus, as well as a history focus Exposure to other world views can integrate Sonlight into several different homeschool methods I've had a good experience with Sonlight so far, and they seem to be a wonderful company Just so you[...]

Moving With Math: Kinesthetic Math Ideas For Kids Who Can’t Sit Still

I wrote a post about children and kinesthetic math ideas for The Homeschool Classroom. Sometimes kids who need to move a little more just need a bit of extra attention when it comes to making math fun. While many children can sit still and work through a set of math problems each day without a hitch, many children cannot. Sometimes it’s simply a matter of learning style differences or the way a child receives sensory input from his environment. Here are a few tips for you that I’ve found helpful in teaching math to my youngest child who just needs to[...]

Interview with Janis Cox, Author of Tadeo Turtle, Ep.#30

In today's homeschool podcast, I interview Janis Cox, an author and illustrator who has written over 100 poems, is an avid blogger, and has written a beautiful story for children called Tadeo Turtle. You can see my full review of Tadeo Turtle in my previous blog post. Before the interview, I gave a brief re-cap of happenings on the site: Thanks, Rita Ann, for leaving me a message on SpeakPipe - we played it on today's podcast! Thanks to my Facebook friends for helping out with ideas about games we played in the 80's! It'll be featured on an upcoming article with The[...]

3 Steps To Embracing Your Motherhood-Ep.#29

On this homeschool podcast episode, some educational websites I've found, fun things my kids are up to in our homeschool, and then we'll get into our main inspirational topic of the day: reasons to embrace your role as a mother. Good Finds Educents has a lot of great discounts going on. Educents is a new online resource for home educators to find great deals and homeschooling products. As of last week, there were the Nature Series with science kits for $65, Math Tutor DVD sets for only $39, and a complete phonics and reading kit for only $49.99. Keep in mind, these prices[...]

Defeating Depression and Embracing Joy In Homeschool-

As you know, it's my desire to encourage homeschooling moms out there to keep going when the going gets tough. I'm on the blogging team at The Homeschool Toolbox and my blog post was published today. I hope it encourages you to keep going even through the tough times. Here's a small sample of what you'll be reading... Since I began homeschooling years ago, I’ve been through a variety of living situations and new family routines. If you’re a busy, homeschooling parent, I’m sure you can probably relate. From moving to a new state, the birth of new children, adding family pets,[...]

Five Must-Have Homeschool Organization Tools

I don’t know a single homeschooler who isn’t somewhat organized. In the midst of our hectic days, I think each one of us has some type of system that keeps us on track. Honestly, keeping my homeschool organized each year is what keeps my sanity! Without a system that flows smoothly in my home, chaos would quickly ensue and my motivation to teach my kids would soon point south. On my recent post at The Homeschool Classroom, I’ll tell you about some things I’ve found, that when added into my daily homeschool routine, have helped me to either form or keep a habit of organization. Hop[...]

Embracing Charlotte Mason In My Homeschool

On this video I share my increasing passion toward the Charlotte Mason method. I love her thoughts on education- that: Education is an atmosphere Education is a discipline Education is life As I look more into the Charlotte Mason approach to education, I realize how much of what our family has been doing over the past few years (and wanted to do) has looked very much like her style of education- and I appreciate that. As I mentioned in this video, I don't like to ascribe to one theory or method as our own (I still hold hard and fast to the "eclectic" mode) but I[...]

Homeschool Podcast Interview: Stephanie of Mommy The Teacher-Ep.#28

I always enjoy getting to know other homeschooling moms nationwide, and it was a pleasure to chat with Stephanie of Mommy The Teacher. On this homeschool podcast, I have the opportunity to speak with Stephanie about: how she began homeschooling: her journey that landed her in the world of home education her passion for raising Godly children her teaching style and what a typical homeschool day looks like for her the Silly Songs project that she and her husband are working on for kids I enjoyed interviewing Stephanie on this homeschool podcast, and I hope you'll enjoy the interview as well. (Click the "play" button above to listen[...]

Homeschool Book Review:The Christian Alphabet

Tracy Sands, author of The Christian Alphabet, was inspired to write this book while sitting in church listening to a church choir. She felt an incredible urge to draw while listening to the choir, and out of the intensity was birthed The Christian Alphabet- a beautiful and symbolic way to present the gospel to kids as they learn or recite the alphabet! The book consists of each letter of the alphabet beautifully illustrated in a word picture. Each letter has a word associated with its design. The first letter's word picture is "A is for Always". Along with over 100 Christian[...]

Homeschool Book Review: Tadeo Turtle

My daughter loved Tadeo Turtle, a story about a little turtle who enjoyed life until he realized how different he was from the other animals around him. He dreamed that his shell fell off and he quickly learned how perfectly God had made him. My daughter was able to relate to Tadeo Turtle and learned the importance of being herself and accepting who God created her to be. Author, Janis Cox, uses beautiful watercolor paintings to accompany her delightful tale. I find it fascinating that she both wrote and illustrated this book- weaving together a beautiful rhyme with a purposeful message. [...]

Kid Chores and Homeschooling: Getting Our Kids On Board, Ep.#27

In this episode I talk about getting your kids to do their chores! First I chat about some Fun Finds: Janice Van Cleave's science books Xtra Math Kid chores are not the easiest systems to figure out- we have to determine what works for our family and needs at the moment. So I discuss Vicki Brady's book , Steps to Successful Homeschooling, and some of her ideas about assigning chores (the weekly draw and the rotation system), and different ideas for chore tracking and award systems. A few of the companies and resources mentioned on the podcast are: Choreganizers Accountability Kids Dave Ramsey's chore system for kids PayDay punch card system Choretell Managers[...]

Teaching Kids To Read- Without Really Teaching!

Have you been trying to teach your younger child to read but it's not going as smoothly as you'd like? I know some parents who have successfully taught their toddlers to read using Hooked on Phonics (a great program, by the way), but not all kids are alike! Some kids never catch on to reading until years later. Well, in my latest post with Hip Homeschool Moms I uncover some practical and fun ways to get our early readers (toddler through first grade) interested in learning to read without really teaching actual reading skills. Hop on over to Hip Homeschool Moms[...]

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