Fun With Projects!

Social studies projects are one awesome way to keep homeschool days interesting.  By taking what is being learned about the world around them and incorporating a hands-on project, homeschool students stay engrossed in their school day.  Is your student in the middle of learning about ancient  pyramids?  Build one at home with modeling clay and sand!  Have you been reading about the movement west?  Make a covered wagon.  Create a map, design a diorama, or craft a sculpture.  There are endless ways to bring history lessons to life in your homeschool.  Utilizing an online curriculum is a great way to stay on track, learn new skills, and reduce clutter but projects and crafts can often go a long way in making the stories seem real and interesting.  

Thought of Blogging?

As elementary students become middle school students, it’s important to stay on top of relevant educational opportunities to keep them engaged.  One way to encourage writing is by creating a blog.  Blogging is a great way to work on creative writing skills.  Plus, with so many blog templates and online writing ideas available, there are a multitude of ways to create a blog.  Layout and template options are set up to be as easy as possible to encourage beginners to give blogging a try.  

Of course, supervision needs to be exercised any time children are online, blogging included.  Plus, being available to answer questions, offer suggestions, assign writing topics are all great reasons to be nearby when blogging is underway.  If your middle schooler is looking for ways to use their creative writing capabilities, blogging is certainly an outlet to be considered.  

Happy New Year!

As a new calendar year begins and school has been in session for several months, you can tell what is working and what might not be living up to the hype.  Anytime is a good time to make adjustments to school, but just after a break for the holidays seems like a perfect time.  If something isn’t working for you, maybe it’s time to reconsider its place in your homeschool.  

Before you start back to school, take stock of your school plans to see if everything is working like you think it should.  If the science doesn’t have fun experiments, if the social studies projects aren’t interesting, or if the reading is boring, maybe it’s time to rethink your course of action.