Successful Learning

Let’s be honest, keeping track of homeschool records is probably our least favorite part of homeschooling. Organizing and filing worksheets, handouts, tests, grade reports, and forms isn’t as enjoyable as teaching our children, learning with them, exploring new places, and trying new experiments. But record keeping is just as important in homeschooling as the actual schooling and requires just as much care and attention. Homeschool record keeping can be a daunting task for even the most organized parent. But thanks to several tools and resources, it doesn’t have to be a frustrating, tedious job. In this post, we explain how to keep record keeping simple by knowing which records to keep, for how long, and the most efficient ways to organize them. 

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I started homeschooling my oldest daughter in second grade. It was easy. At that point, she was adding and subtracting, identifying subjects and verbs, and learning about the needs of living things. As she got older, homeschooling got harder. She began simplifying algebraic expressions, identifying adjectival and adverbial phrases, collecting and classifying insects, writing essays, and analyzing literature.  The jump from elementary school to middle school is not easy, even for homeschoolers. Having the best middle school homeschool curriculum for your child can make the transition a lot easier. Here are some tips for finding the best middle school homeschool curriculum for your child.

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God made us each unique. I have four daughters, and I am continually amazed at how different they are. They have different personalities, different appearances, different interests, and different ways of processing information. Those different ways of processing information are often referred to as learning styles. Educational researchers and scientists have identified at least four basic types of learning styles: visual, auditory, read/write, and kinesthetic. Some expand this list to also include social, logical, and solitary learners. Later in this post, there will be ideas on how to adapt homeschool curriculum by learning style types.

It’s helpful to know your child’s learning style so that you can best help them learn. If you are not sure what your child’s learning style is, you can have him or her take this learning style quiz to find out. But be careful about the temptation to put your child in a box. Be aware that many children have several preferred learning styles and usually one or two that they don’t like.  Once you know your child’s preferred learning style(s), you can work on adapting your homeschool curriculum as well as your homeschool environment to best meet the needs of your child.

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Whether you’re starting your first or tenth year of homeschooling, you know you’re going to need lots of homeschool supplies. In fact, you may have already compiled a homeschool supply list of essentials such as paper, pencils, crayons, glue sticks, and notebooks. But there may be some items you’re not sure you really need for homeschooling. Or you may not know where to find all your homeschool supplies or how much you should spend on them. To reduce your school shopping stress, we’ve made a list of 25 supplies that are most helpful for any homeschool.

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Your child is about to enter fourth grade, and you may be a little intimidated about homeschooling next school year. After all, fourth grade becomes more involved and more challenging. Foundational concepts and skills in reading, spelling, writing, and math will be honed during fourth grade. History and science will also broaden the borders of your student’s knowledge.

As a homeschooling parent, you want to give your children the best elementary education so they are ready for the rest of their education. But how do you choose the best fourth grade homeschool curriculum for this important transitional grade? What should you emphasize in your curriculum? Is there a curriculum that will accommodate your fourth grader’s learning style and academic needs? This blog post will help answer your questions and direct you to the best fourth grade homeschool curriculum for your journey. 

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