My previous post asks how much homework a child in traditional schools should have to do. It goes on to describe my approach to homework, which could get lengthy at times. Here is how my approach to homework influenced my decision to homeschool: I took this rigid approach to homework because I did not know how long a teacher would remain on a concept before moving on. If the majority of the class understood, or if the allotted amount of time preserved for that lesson had passed, then they moved on whether my child was ready or not. For me … Continue reading →

Homework may seem like an odd subject for a homeschool blog but a recent forum conversation got me thinking about homework and how much is really needed. Parents are seeing their kids get much more homework than they remember getting themselves. They wonder why, especially when the level of education is declining, (compared with other countries) kids have so much more work. Some parents think all of the schooling should be done at school, leaving the children time to play at home. Other parents believe that children cannot be successful unless they do a good deal of homework at home, … Continue reading →

The title of this book is so long, I can hardly fit it into my title. Morning by Morning: How We Homes-Schooled Our African-American Sons to the Ivy League, by Paula Penn-Nabrit was the book that cemented my decision to homeschool. Sometimes it is just easier to envision yourself succeeding when you have seen others who look like you succeed. The title says it all. Many African Americans, including myself, were raised with the notion that we had to work twice as hard as non-black to succeed. Homeschooling, therefore, was a dangerous notion. If we took a different and often … Continue reading →

Reading Lists for Third Grade Before we begin with the third grade-reading list, here is a link to the free publication book of reading tips for the Third Grade, Home School links. These publications were made possible by the U.S. Government and are available in Adobe Acrobat PDF. format. This book is 100 pages long, you can download it by clicking here: http://www.ed.gov/pubs/CompactforReading/pdf/third/third.pdf OK, here is the list, enjoy! 1. Ramona and her Father, Beverly Cleary 2. Cam Jansen and the Snowy Day Mystery, David Adler 3. The Cat who got Carried Away, Allen Ahlberg 4. Freckle Juice, Judy Blume … Continue reading →

In my last blog post, I mentioned how you can occupy your preschoolers with various activities during your school days. One of the suggestions that I gave was to let your child play with edible playdough. Playdough is a great activity and it builds motor skills, helps develop creativity, and encourages imaginative play. Before we get to the Playdough and Clay recipes, I want to introduce some very fun and inexpensive (yet very messy) activities for your preschooler. First, one of the best fingerpaints any preschooler can experience is pudding! Yes, that’s right, pudding. This is the perfect activity for … Continue reading →

I remember when I first began homeschooling. My daughter was seven years old and her little sister was three. Even though I had two children at the time, I found managing our homeschooling activities to be simple and everything worked smoothly; according to plan. Then I was blessed with another child, and another, and so on, and so forth! Finally, one day I looked around and realized that I was homeschooling four children and had two preschoolers in the home. When dealing with a situation like this, you learn to be creative. One of the best tips available is that … Continue reading →