Jennifer Lambert

A Sacred Balance

Visit Us On FacebookVisit Us On TwitterVisit Us On PinterestVisit Us On LinkedinCheck Our FeedVisit Us On Instagram

Homeschool Middle School

This post may contain affiliate links. See disclosure. Check out my suggested resources.
Productive Homeschooling - Printables and Tools for every homeschool

By 12 Comments

Middle school, or junior high, is a transition time – between elementary and childhood, high school and college prep.

It’s awkward and gawky and uncomfortable, both physically and emotionally. For the kids and for me!

I loved teaching 8th grade, many years ago now. It was so exciting to see the kids change from the first day to the last day. And I love seeing my students all grown up and starting their own families and teaching their own classes!

Homeschooling was a huge switch for me. I went from teaching teens and adults to teaching a 5 year old, then my babies. As they grew, I became more comfortable. I grew with them, learned with them. We all adapted.

Having my kids reach middle school is so much fun for me. I tease them: you’re in my world now. I know this. I got this. We’re gonna do this right.

The kids know I was totally out of my element teaching preschool and elementary. We laugh about it now. I learned to love it, but I absolutely adore teaching middle and high school.

I love having my tweens and teens home with me. I love discussing history and literature and science and art and music, and even math. I love seeing the connections and assimilation going on from all the topics and travels and years I’ve taught them. I love still reading aloud to them.

I love the sudden fierce hugs. I love watching their bodies grow full and strong, giving me a glimpse into the adults they will soon be. I giggle that they’re all becoming taller than I am! I love hearing about their sports events and art and what they found in the woods. I love that they still show me rocks and flowers and worms and cicada shells.

They’re still so much children but they’re becoming so responsible and big. I desperately want to protect them while realizing I must fall back little by little and let them learn their own path.

I was horrified by a conversation I had the other day where a lady described her son’s harsh transition into middle school. He was suddenly completely responsible each day for turning in his work in the correct tray, completed, on time. There were no reminders or anything. I gave multiple reminders to my kids, even my college students! This is just ridiculous and sets kids up for failure. Her son’s As and Bs turned to Ds and Fs. Without an IEP, there was no assistance from the teacher or support from administrators. This is not the real world!

Middle school need not be a scary age to navigate or teach.

It’s important as parents, we understand the changes our kids go through at this age. We must be supportive and patient. We must remember what it was like for us at that age.

Adolescence is a critical time for brain growth. Thinking become less concrete and more abstract. Hormones and body changes are awkward. Critical thinking is more advanced. Short term memory may be compromised as everything tears down and redevelops.

I highly recommend the books by Louise Bates Ames. A good guide to follow is What Your 6th Grader Needs to Know: Fundamentals of a Good First-Grade Education by E.D. Hirsch, Jr.

Our Middle School Curriculum

6th Grade

This is a huge transition year for most kids – in schools and with homeschooling. For us, dialectic work begins. There’s lots more writing, questions, critical thinking. My kids expand their interests: dug deeper and explored new things!

7th Grade

This is one of my favorite years. My kids constantly surprised me with their interests, abilities, and minds. Their intelligent, thought-provoking questions encouraged me to be more honest and authentic. We all made lifestyle changes for improvement.

8th Grade

My kids began to earn high school credits. We transition from dialectic level to rhetoric level work.

  • Videotext Algebra
  • Life of Fred Algebra
  • Tapestry of Grace Year 4 – history, geography, literature, government, philosophy
  • Notebooking
  • French or German
  • Latin, Greek, or Hebrew
  • Apologia Biology

These few years between elementary and high school are crucial to having a great relationship with my kids when they’re older teens.

You ought to give him a taste of freedom while he still thinks it’s yours to give. ~Outlander

I give them more space, freedom, privacy. I encourage discussion about academics, religion, sex and culture, current events, their interests, their lives.

I still remember them as rambunctious babies, toddlers, youngsters…and now they’re growing up into these wonderful young adults.

Linking up: Pinventures, Uncommon Suburbia, Our Three Peas, Home Stories, April Harris, Grandma’s Ideas, Sarah Frazer, Anchored Abode, Worth Beyond Rubies, Soaring with Him, Mary Geisen, Welcome Heart, Life Abundant, Wise Woman, Insta Encouragements, Ridge Haven Homestead, Girlish Whims, Fluster Buster, Gingersnap Crafts, Our Home, Mostly Blogging, Create with Joy, LouLou Girls, Penny’s Passion, Apron Strings, Crystal Storms, Debbie Kitterman, Rachel Lee, Over the Moon, TFT, Imparting Grace, Try it Like it, OMHG, Anna Nuttall, Answer is Choco, Della Devoted, Momfessionals, Simply Sweet Home, Susan Mead, Lyli Dunbar, Counting My Blessings, Pieced Pastimes, Fireman’s Wife, CWJ, Being a Wordsmith, Kippi at Home,

You might also like:

Our Curriculum for 2019-2020

This post may contain affiliate links. See disclosure. Check out my suggested resources.
Productive Homeschooling - Printables and Tools for every homeschool

By Leave a Comment

I have reached the apex of homeschooling where my kids are pretty much independent learners!

I highly recommend the books by Louise Bates Ames. A good guide to follow are the What Your ?-Grader Needs to Know by E.D. Hirsch, Jr.

I don’t have little kids anymore!

More and more, I just stand back in awe and watch them create and perform.

We love learning and exploring together!

My eldest daughter is 18 and beginning her first official year of college! She has a part time job as a bank teller.

My middle girls are doing 8th grade work.

Tori is 13 and doing Greek 2 and Katie is 12 and is continuing German.

We’re looking into private art lessons for Katie. She does fall soccer. She loves to cook and draw and create.

Tori practices weekly aerial arts at a local gym.

My son is doing 5th grade work.

Alex is 9 and does fall and spring baseball and weekly ninja classes. He won 3rd place recently in a ninja competition!

We’re in year 4 of our history cycle.

We still do lots of morning read alouds together for Bible, church history, natural history, Life of Fred, world and American history, and literature.

I can’t believe how time has flown!

You might also like:

Stop Making Everything So Educational

This post may contain affiliate links. See disclosure. Check out my suggested resources.
Productive Homeschooling - Printables and Tools for every homeschool

By 12 Comments

I remember when I was a new homeschooler, another homeschool mom was at a field trip with her three kids and their notebooks.

My daughter didn’t have a notebook.

I kinda panicked. Should my daughter have a notebook? Was I a bad homeschool teacher?

We just came to enjoy the outing.

I’m over those thoughts now. I have developed confidence in my parenting and homeschooling over the years.

Why does everything have to be so educational?

Many of us are still so indoctrinated by the idea of school that we recreate it at home.

Everyone is so enraptured by STEAM activities, but it’s a st-r-e-t-ch to have a toddler or preschool STEAM unit study for kids who just want to play with blocks and magnets.

Trust me, they’re learning.

Psychologists and others have raised alarms about children’s high levels of stress and dependence on their parents, and the need to develop independence, self-reliance and grit…Children with hyper-involved parents have more anxiety and less satisfaction with life, and that when children play unsupervised, they build social skills, emotional maturity and executive function. ~Claire Cain Miller

Why must we have scripts and plans and printables for everything?

We speak of dreams as boundless, limitless realms. But in reality often we create parameters, conditions, and limits within which our kids are permitted to dream—with a checklisted childhood as the path to achievement.

Julie Lythcott-Haims in How to Raise an Adult: Break Free of the Overparenting Trap and Prepare Your Kid for Success

Stop Making Everything So Educational

Earlier Academics?

I’m concerned about the push for younger and younger kids to begin learning academics.

When I was in Kindergarten, I mostly played and had storytime. There wasn’t a chalkboard in the room. It was only a half-day program and we left before lunch.

My least favorite part was table time with teacher-led crafts and instructions on coloring within the lines and cutting out flower patterns cleanly.

I excelled with rule-following. I learned to be obedient and invisible.

I remember winning a coloring contest, which was just a printed page that I very lightly and neatly shaded inside the lines with colored pencils.

Free playtime was monitored and timed. It was very gender norm, with girls playing house and dolls and boys playing with building materials like blocks and Legos.

I’m not concerned about my toddler reading or doing math.

I want my kids to play and learn about themselves and the world.

Make Learning Fun?

Learning is fun!

Only unnatural learning has to be made fun.

Learning should take place naturally rather than with constant printables, YouTube videos, teacher-made crafts, box curriculum, scripts for teachers, tests.

I’m not interested in lessons on standing in line or raising hands. I’m not going to take my kids on a library field trip to learn how to use the library. My kids don’t want an etiquette course unless it involves dining with someone famous and somewhere in the UK.

Learning is fun when we’re interested in the subject.

It’s amazing to me how my children find subjects to learn about all the time – whether it’s an extension of our history and science reading, a video or song, exploring the creek and woods behind our house, or looking up trivia.

Coercive Learning?

Our school system is based on shame-based learning.

Children learn quickly to avoid punishment or humiliation. Then they learn how to take standardized tests, like little lab rats in a maze.

This is not real learning.

This isn’t passion for an interest to explore.

Teacher intimidation is encouraged in teacher education programs, coined “classroom management” and principals will mark a teacher down during evaluation for a student throwing away paper or sharpening a pencil since it cuts down “time-on-task.”

Coercion is the practice of compelling a person to behave in an involuntary way (whether through action or inaction) by use of threats, intimidation, or some other form of pressure or force.

Arguments are that society is coercive for success.

But we choose to follow speed limits, go to appointments on time, submit to work deadlines, eat healthier, exercise, etc.

By choosing not to do good things, there are typically natural consequences.

By speeding while driving, I could endanger myself or others. I am discourteous to others when I am late. My body will get sick or injured if I don’t eat well or exercise.

Grades, shame, and humiliation are not natural consequences. 

Many kids are encouraged to work harder at school than ever before in our history.

But for what?

Children now often spend more time at school and at homework than their parents spend at their full-time jobs, and the work of schooling is often more burdensome and stress-inducing than that of a typical adult job. ~Peter Gray

Intensive parents monitor children so closely that there is no wiggle room for unorganized play.

We live in a punitive society, still based on Puritan ideals.

Zero-tolerance policies create a school to prison pipeline. Students are taught to combat authority instead of learning. They just learn from fear. They’re conditioned in avoidance. The ones who rebel or think outside the box are punished for nonconformity.

When is Playtime?

A child’s job is to play.

Play is often talked about as if it were a relief from serious learning. But for children, play is serious learning. ~Mr. Rogers

Exploration boosts creativity.

Pretend play boosts social skills.

Unorganized, unsupervised, undirected play is vital to children.

Loose parts and multi-tasking simple toys are best for healthy child development. They invite creativity more than single-use electronic teaching toys.

I wonder why so many children in the last few decades are developing issues with self-regulation and are on meds to help them with executive functioning and self-control?

We’re drugging our children so they can “succeed” in failing school models.

They’re cutting recess, music, and art from schools and replacing it with more and earlier academics and testing. This isn’t right or healthy.

These are the most important aspects of being human.

When I feel out of sorts, it’s because I need more outside time in nature, more music, more art.

I see parents at the park, directing their children how to play on the playground equipment.

I hear parents warning their kids: be careful, don’t play with the rocks, don’t go near the creek, don’t get dirty.

Kids are bombarded with warnings and aren’t allowed to be children, to explore, to take any risks.

Signs are posted in public spaces to stay off the grass, away from the water. No this, No that.

We live in a fearful society and kids are suffering from Nature-Deficit Disorder.

Having taught many children of all ages for over ten years – public and private, elementary, middle school, high school, and college – I have homeschooled my four children these past fifteen years.

We need to just let children be children.

Linking up: My Pinventures, Inspo for Moms, Mostly Blogging, Welcome Heart, Create with Joy, Anita Ojeda, Mrs. AOK, Abounding Grace, April Harris, Home Stories, Jaime Wiebel, Insta Encouragements, Mary Geisen, Meghan Weyerbacher, Purposeful Faith, LouLouGirls, Welcome Heart, Our Three Peas, Jessi’s Design, My Life Abundant, Sarah Frazer, Oh My Heartsie Girl, Worth Beyond Rubies, Soaring with Him, Gingersnap Crafts, Try It Like It, Penny’s Passion, Creative K Kids, Over the Moon, TFT, Mommynificent, Apron Strings, Unshakeable Joy, Debbie Kitterman, Crystal Storms, Rachel Lee, Anna Nuttall, Answer is Choco, Quiet Homemaker, CKK, Simply Sweet Home, Della Devoted, Momfessionals, CWJ, Crystal Waddell, Susan Mead, Counting My Blessings, Life with Lorelai, Being a Wordsmith, Kingdom Bloggers,

You might also like:

Back to School Eye Health Tips

This post may contain affiliate links. See disclosure. Check out my suggested resources.
Productive Homeschooling - Printables and Tools for every homeschool

By 9 Comments

New clothes and a new backpack may be on your child’s back-to-school list. But, what about a back-to-school eye exam?

Vision is one of the keys to success in school, so make sure your children get regular vision screenings.

Dr. Laura Sperazza, Director of Low Vision Services at Lighthouse Guild, says, “The most important thing you can do to protect your child’s vision is to make sure they get an eye exam. An eye health professional can determine if your child needs eyeglasses or contact lenses, or if there is a vision problem that requires further intervention.”

My husband and I both wear contacts and glasses and two of our four kids wear glasses. My prescription hasn’t actually changed in about ten years.

August Is Children’s Eye Health and Safety Month

We’ve spent the last year in vision therapy with one of our children for convergence insufficiency treatment.

We attended weekly sessions and completed daily homework.

I have seen a world of difference in my daughter’s reading, comprehension, abstract thinking, and confidence.

As homeschoolers, we didn’t know she was experiencing any vision issues and we didn’t have the proper screenings through specialist doctors, even though she had eyeglasses for reading.

It’s important as parents to do research and pay attention to problems and symptoms.

We can’t rely on schools to do that job for us. I’ve read about many parents whose kids were misdiagnosed with attention or behavior disorders and they just had weak eye muscles.

Learn more at COVD.

Some of it is hereditary, but most is lifestyle and can be prevented or improved or at least halted.

5 healthy vision tips to help safeguard your child’s eye health:

Eat Your Carrots

The old saying still applies. Encourage your child to eat a well-balanced diet loaded with different types of fruits and veggies, as well as sustainable fish and/or flax. Omega 3, D supplements, B vitamins, and beta carotene help with vision health.

Speak Up

Pay attention to your child doing different activities. Ask your child to let you know if they notice any vision changes during different environments – if their vision is blurry, if they are squinting a lot in one or both eyes, if lights are really bright, or their eyes start bothering them in other ways. If a child has trouble reading fluently by around age 10-12, there might be a vision problem not readily understood by pediatricians or many optometrists. My daughter’s eyes were very watery all the time and she yawned a lot, especially when trying to read.

Wear Glasses Consistently

Help your child understand the importance of wearing their eyeglasses. If they are resistant because they believe glasses are unattractive, try pointing out sports figures and other well-known people who wear glasses. Talk with them about how to clean and store their glasses properly.

Rest Your Eyes

Looking continuously at a computer, smartphone, tablet, or TV screen can tire eyes. Encourage your child to take regular breaks from staring at a screen. Also, make sure there is adequate lighting during close work. There are special lenses designed to help block harmful rays with screen use.

Get Outside

Did you know that regular outside play helps reduce myopia?

Balanced and Barefoot: How Unrestricted Outdoor Play Makes for Strong, Confident, and Capable Children by Angela J. Hanscom

Wear Safety Gear

Make sure your child wears glasses bands or goggles or other types of protective eye wear while playing sports, using chemicals or tools for school projects, or engaging in other activities. Many eye injuries can be prevented with better safety habits.

As a parent, sometimes we just need to trust our gut feelings if we think something isn’t right about our kids’ health. And we need to model healthy habits for our kids by limiting our screen time and taking breaks.

Lots of eye care shops offer great back to school deals on glasses for kids under age 18.

Deal on glasses!

Order the Warby Parker Home Try-On program and walk through the process from start to finish: from selecting and ordering five frames, to finding the right pair for your face, all in the comfort of your own home!

Linking up: Little Cottage, Family Corner, MaryAndering Creatively, Mostly Blogging, Flour Me With Love, Kippi at Home, Create with Joy, Over the Moon, Confessions of a New Mummy, LouLou Girls, Home Stories, April Harris, Insta Encouragements,Mary Geisen, Meghan Weyerbacher, Purposeful Faith, Me and My Captain, Home Away, Sarah Frazer, Life Abundant, Worth Beyond Rubies, Soaring with Him, Grace for Gypsy, Welcome Heart, Wise Woman, Gingersnap Crafts, Fluster Buster, Girlish Whims, Apron Strings, Crystal Storms, Debbie Kitterman, Rachel Lee, CKK, TFT, Imparting Grace, Try it Like it, Quiet Homemaker, Answer is Choco, Anna Nuttall, Della Devoted, Momfessionals, Simply Sweet Home, Lyli Dunbar, Counting My Blessings, Pieced Pastimes, CWJ, Life with Lorelai, OMHG, Fireman’s Wife, Kingdom Bloggers,

You might also like:

Our Curriculum for 2018-2019

This post may contain affiliate links. See disclosure. Check out my suggested resources.
Productive Homeschooling - Printables and Tools for every homeschool

By 6 Comments


I have homeschooled since 2005.

It’s been a wild journey and I have learned so much about myself as a mom and teacher over the years.

You can see how we began with our first and second years.

Here’s how I plan a homeschool year.

You can scroll through all the curricula we’ve used over the years for various levels.

I also created these pages of homeschooling topics and to help answer questions.

This year, I’m only homeschooling 3 kids!

We’re still finishing up some maths, science, and history…but we should have about a month off from academics. We typically school year round with lots of breaks for holidays, resting, and travel.

My eldest is dual enrolled at a local university, and has all but completed her high school work of French and history.

We continue to use our core curriculum of Tapestry of Grace for history, geography, literature, art, music, and church history.

We use Memoria Press for Latin. My son is finishing up Prima Latina and the girls are doing Latina Christiana. We also learn modern languages.

We’ll take local weekly art classes again since we love the teacher.

My middle girls are 11 and 12 years old. We don’t really do grade levels, but I guess they’re in about 7th.

Katie is trying soccer again.

Tori loves being outdoors and walks, runs, bikes, rollerblades all the time.

This year, they’re studying:

My son is 8 years old. He is in about 4th grade.

Alex loves baseball and will play fall ball and spring league again this year.

He is studying:

Apologia Chemistry and Physics to coincide with his sisters’ physical science.

A winter Astronomy Unit

Some of this curricula is no longer printed or has updated to new editions. I’ve had these books for years and if it ain’t broke…

What are you studying in your homeschool this year?

Linking up: Our Holiday Journey, My Pinventures, Inspiration for Moms, Life on Oak Hill, Lori Schumaker, Create with Joy, MaryAndering Creatively, Bloggheti, The Mrs. Tee, The Chicken Chick, Life of Faith, Our Mini Family, Al Things Beautiful, Jessi’s Design, Wise Woman, Timeless Mama, Creative K Kids, Gingersnap Crafts, Our Three Peas, LouLou Girls, Penny’s Passion, RCH Reviews, Organized 31, Debbie Kitterman, Oh My Heartsie Girl, Sarah Frazer, Soaring with Him, April Harris, Jaime Wiebel, Mississippi Mom, Abounding Grace, Be Thee Inspired, Purposeful Faith, Marilyn’s Treats, Bountiful Love, Trekking Thru, Simply Sweet Home, Overwhelmed to Fulfilled, Life with Lorelai, Easy Peasy Pleasy, Anna Nuttall, Answer is Chocolate, Blended Blog, Susan Mead, Charm of Home, Lyli Dunbar, Crystal Waddell, Counting My Blessings, Arabah Joy, Coffee With Us3, Our Mini Family,

You might also like:

New to Homeschooling?

This post may contain affiliate links. See disclosure. Check out my suggested resources.
Productive Homeschooling - Printables and Tools for every homeschool

By 10 Comments


When I began homeschooling almost thirteen years ago, it was solely for academic reasons. I’ve tried all sorts of methods and curricula over the years, and I’ve come full circle: back to the same academics.

Lots of curricula out there is faith-based, and we’ve gotten to the realization that most of it is dumbed down, biased, white-washed, Euro-centric…kind of the opposite of public school curricula with its absence of any religious doctrine, but still with bias. We use lots of book lists to study history and science. We want the truth, not some watered-down, evangelical, conservative view of the truth.

I have some different perspectives and priorities than other homeschoolers, for sure.

I have a bachelor’s degree in English literature (w o r t h l e s s). I have a master’s in education, specializing in teaching English grades 6-12. I earned an endorsement in gifted education and I was a school coordinator for the gifted program. Did you know “gifted” students fall under the special education umbrella? I was an educator in the public and private sector for almost ten years. I taught middle school, high school, and college. I had ESOL, gifted, advanced, and regular ed students. I taught literature, grammar, reading, and writing. I substitute taught, worked in after-school programs, and tutored students who scored low on standardized tests. I’ve worked as a private English tutor to high school students.

So, there’s that personal history. I was an “actual” teacher. I know the other side.

I hated the textbooks for their white-washed short stories, bland poetry, excerpts of novels, grammar drills, writing exercises, and busy work. I hated assigning homework and grades for meaningless assignments. I hated the politics of school.

Homeschool parents don’t have to have college degrees in education (or anything) to teach their children well.

I realize how daunting a task it can be to teach our own. Thank God my husband is a whiz in algebra, chemistry, and physics, because I’m not. But kids can and will learn on their own, despite us! Often, we should just get out of the way.

As a homeschool mom, I don’t recreate a school environment. I don’t waste time. I don’t give grades, tests, busy work, or projects. In our home, learning is a natural process, based on interests. We try not to suck all the joy out of it.

People think I know some stuff since I have a daughter finishing up her homeschool academics, taking the SAT, graduating, taking college courses, and taking off into the world.

I try really hard not to impose my beliefs on others. We have our reasons for homeschooling. We are staunch advocates for learning at home. We are anti-school. I don’t believe school is necessary at all. Home is base and everything else is just supplementary. I don’t even like co-ops or enrolling my kids in classes.

I realize many families homeschool their kids for different reasons, with different styles, sometimes temporarily or for just a season, and maybe one child attends school while another in the household stay home.  I may not understand some of this, but to each her own.

What I have to Say to a New Homeschooler:

You don’t need a script.

You don’t need to re-create school at home.

You don’t have to be driven by fear.

Don’t overdo it.

You don’t have to use Christian curricula. Or the same texts as a public or private school.

You can change your curricula anytime, for any reason.

You don’t even need a curriculum, actually.

You don’t need a DVD or online program.

You don’t need a chore chart.

You don’t have to join a co-op.

You don’t have to get up early and “do school” before lunch. You can learn anytime!

You don’t have to use schoolish words like “recess” or “class” or “seatwork.”

You don’t have to spend a lot of money.

You don’t need a classroom.

How We Homeschool

We don’t have a schedule.

We don’t do testing.

We don’t do grades.

We don’t participate in a co-op or many group activities at all.

Reading, writing, and discussion usually take about an hour each day. The rest of the time, the kids learn what and how they like.

We don’t worry about screen time.

We don’t use checklists, charts, agendas, calendars, etc.

We don’t use punishments or rewards systems of any kind.

We don’t overschedule our lives.

We stay home most of the time.

We have lots of free time to think, explore, read, play, cook, create, or do whatever we desire.

We’re more about the process than the outcome.

I respect my kids. I trust my kids.

Children can make their own decisions. They can teach themselves.

They know themselves best – their preferences, tastes, likes, and dislikes.

I’m a guide, a coach, a mentor.

It’s not my job to teach every lesson or provide everything for my kids. Most of my own learning happened after I became an adult. Learning is a lifetime activity.

I love to introduce my kids to new things – new foods, art, experiences, movies, books. If they love it, great. I try not to get my feelings hurt if they don’t care for something I love. Usually, my enthusiasm is enough to get them to at least try something new. It’s my role to introduce and I am proud I have enough knowledge and experience to give them so many choices and expose them to so many new things. I am constantly learning and researching and seeking new things to show them. I love it.

My Top 5 for Successful Homeschooling

  1. Focus

    Many homeschool families have a central focus, and everything else revolves around that. For us, it’s the humanities. For some, it’s gymnastics or ice skating or math or science. Find your focus, and go after it.

  2. Relationships

    Family relationships are the most important aspect of homeschooling. If you don’t set a stage for successful home relations, homeschooling will be miserable. Sure, there are times when someone is irritable or needs alone time, but we help each other, work well together, and respect each other. We enjoy being together, even the teens! Connection and relationship is the most important aspect of parenting and homeschooling.

  3. Life Skills

    Everyone needs to learn the basics – basic finances, car maintenance, cooking, cleaning, clothes mending, appliance fixing, yard work, household management and maintenance. It’s super important. Team up with others to learn these if you don’t know it yourself!

  4. Experiences

    Sure, you can learn lots from books or videos, but experiences are more memorable. We always try to find an experience to represent what we learn about – field trips, museums, road trips, travel, activities, hands-on.

  5. Foundation

    Most of us realize the importance of a good academic foundation. The 3 R’s – Reading, wRiting, and aRithmetic. Also, a good moral foundation – religion, faith, social justice, or whatever personal concept is important to your family. Academics are actually secondary for us.

Our Favorite Homeschool Resources

THE LIBRARY! We go every week and gets lots and lots and lots of books on every subject that looks interesting!

ARTistic Pursuits and museums for art that we learn with history.

We create playlists on Spotify and learn about music with history.

See How We Do What We Do. My parenting book list.

View my favorite books for parenting, marriage, and more.

How long have you been homeschooling?


Linking up: Strangers & Pilgrims on Earth, Our Holiday Journey, Modest Mom, Barbie Swihart, Create with Joy, Blessed But Stressed, God-Sized Dreams, Donna Reidland, Marilyns Treats, Simple Life of a Fire Wife, A Fresh Start, Inspiration for Moms, Lori Schumaker, Holley Gerth, Life of Faith, Blogghetti, The Mrs. Tee, My Husband Has Too Many Hobbies, Jaime Wiebel, Home Stories A to Z, Live Randomly Simple, Teaching What is Good, LouLou Girls, April J Harris, Trekking Thru, Sarah Frazer, Meghan Weyerbacher, Angela Parlin, Mumma Scribbles, Ducks N a Row, Jessi’s Design, Jennifer Dukes Lee, Soaring with Him, Becoming Press, Messy Marriage, Our Three Peas, Five Kids a Dog and a Blog, Pat and Candy, Sincerely Paula, Suzanne Eller, My Learning Table, Brenda Bradford Dottinger, A Bountiful Love, Joyful Homemaking, Penny’s Passion, Organized 31, Life Beyond the Kitchen, Creative K Kids, Missional Women, The Charm of Home, Coffee with Us3, Oh My Heartsie Girl, The Blended Blog, Easy Peasy Pleasy, The Answer is Chocolate, Create with Joy, Nancy on the Home Front, Lyli Dunbar, Counting My Blessings, Katherine’s Corner, Life with Lorelai, Being a Wordsmith, Happy and Blessed Home, Our Mini Family,

You might also like:

12 Things Homeschoolers Don’t Have to Do

This post may contain affiliate links. See disclosure. Check out my suggested resources.
Productive Homeschooling - Printables and Tools for every homeschool

By 21 Comments


As I peruse social media, I always see lots of images and articles about school-related issues.

Since I homeschool our 4 kids and feel that school is not necessary at all, I thought about all the things we don’t have to do since the kids don’t attend school!

12 Things Homeschoolers Don’t Have to Do

  1. Get up Early

    I am so, so, so happy we don’t have to get up early to catch a bus or make it to school on time. If my kids went to school, there would be three different drop-offs: elementary, middle school, and high school! I can’t imagine the logistics. We can sleep in and do whatever we want in the mornings rather than inhaling a non-nutritious Pop-Tart and rushing to a school to sit all day and be brainwashed.

  2. Back to School

    I don’t have to worry about back to school lists. I can buy whatever supplies we need whenever we need them. We don’t have to buy uniforms or school clothes. While I do stock up on a few things during those BTS sales, like glue…we are not concerned with the stress of this time period. We school year-round. We can transition our curricula any time of year! We love to enjoy the end of summer and beginning of fall as natural transitions.

  3. School Picture Day

    Ah, the dreaded school pictures. I can remember when they were simple and it was expected that kids wore their Sunday best. But, those laser backgrounds? Maybe not the best choice. And my hair in 7th grade? I shudder. Now, it seems the picture companies are really into profits and the purchase packages are unbelievable. Who needs a pricey 16×24 stretched canvas or body pillow of their kid?

  4. Sit at a Desk all.day.long.

    We don’t sit around all day. I remember how exhausting it was to just sit all day long, under those fluorescent lights. We do what we want, when we want. We rush outside when it’s nice weather. We play games. We go to the library. We go hiking or on nature walks. We watch the birds. We garden. We read, watch Netflix, research. We have dance parties. We snuggle on the sofa for reading. We cook, clean, make arts and crafts. The girls love to knit and crochet and cross-stitch. We shoot a target in the backyard with a BB gun. We rarely sit at desks or tables. We don’t have to relinquish our creativity.

  5. Fundraisers

    How I hated selling cookie dough and wrapping paper. How I hate it when kids come to my house, hawking stuff I don’t want or need. How I hate the contests for kids and classes for pizza parties or a skate night or tickets to the water park. Maybe we should have a better system or allocate money where it’s needed better? If the school fundraiser sold whiskey, then maybe I’d consider buying.

  6. Teacher Appreciation Gifts

    I remember getting a few gifts when I taught school – the coffee mugs, stuffed animals, gift cards. Pinterest is full of creative and horrific teacher gifts. It’s obviously a competition to see who can outdo the other parents with the best or weirdest upcycled gift. Bribery much? Teachers just want more respect and fewer standardized tests. They really have a tough job. It’s a battle on all fronts.

  7. Follow a Schedule

    So much time is wasted at school on transition time. Line up to go to lunch. Line up to go to art, music, PE, library, computer lab. Line up for restroom and water break. We have no schedule, or at the least, a very rough schedule. We get up when we want. We eat when we’re hungry. We use the bathroom when the need arises. We go outside when we want. We play, read, create when we desire. Downtime is thinking time. We follow natural rhythms.

  8. Homework

    Homework is unnecessary. We complete lessons in only a few minutes. We don’t have to beat the dead horse with 40+ math problems unless they think math drills are fun. We don’t have to circle verbs in red and underline adjectives in blue in 20+ sentences ever. School kids attend classes 6+ hours every day and still have several hours of worthless homework? It’s ridiculous. We don’t do worksheets or extra work. We learn to mastery. We don’t even have to follow a curriculum! We can learn how we want!

  9. Grades

    We don’t do grades. We don’t do tests. We don’t encourage that kind of competition. It’s meaningless and creates such discontent. No one has ever asked me as an adult what I made in 11th grade algebra II or senior English or 3rd year Spanish. No one cares about my master’s Faulkner course. Extrinsic motivation doesn’t teach anything or ensure success. We learn for the sheer love of it.

  10. So Much Sickness

    A friend of mine had to send her special needs son to school because it’s German law. She complained that in the first month, he came home with diarrhea, Fifth’s disease, a cold, and more. He’d never been sick before. Schools are little breeding grounds for illness. Ew. I know teachers and students get sick so frequently, especially after summer and winter breaks. It’s not that we never get sick, but we seldom do. The kids play in the dirt, eat well, get plenty of rest, and have healthy immune systems.

  11. Keeping up with Fads

    My kids don’t even know what’s popular except when their public schoolteacher aunt asks if they’re into Rainbow Loom or something that her public-schooled children and students are into. My kids don’t care about popularity, fashion, fads, or anything like that. We’re not exposed to advertisements or competition with other kids.

  12. Rules

    My kids know how to stand in line. If they’re ever in a classroom environment, they know to raise their hand before speaking. They are polite and courteous. They don’t need arbitrary rules to control them, to make them behave or obey. We’ve encountered some strange rules at different organizations we’ve attended for music lessons or field trips. While I understand there is sometimes a need to protect others and property, it’s disheartening to see my homeschooled kids treated like criminals. Automatically guilty. Children are naturally empathetic and desire to please. Too many rules are just a setup rebellion.

We appreciate the freedoms that homeschooling offers our family!

We homeschool so we can have freedoms that schools stifle.


Linking up: Blogghetti, Modest Mom, Barbie Swihart, Our Holiday Journey, Create with Joy, Blessed But Stressed, God-sized Dreams, Mrs. AOK, Curly Crafty Mom, Life of Faith, Holley Gerth, Marilyn’s Treats, A Fresh Start, Inspiration for Moms, Lori Schumaker, JEmbellish, About a Chik, My Husband Has Too Many Hobbies, Jaime Wiebel, Home Stories A to Z, Simple Life of a Fire Wife, Teaching What is Good, LouLou Girls, The Dwelling Tree, April J Harris, Trekking Thru, Sarah Frazer, Meghan Weyerbacher, Purposeful Faith, Live Randomly Simple, Mumma Scribbles, Ducks n a Row, Our Three Peas, Jessi’s Design, Soaring with Him, Pat and Candy, Mississippi Mom, Messy Marriage, Jennifer Dukes Lee, Raven Would, Sincerely Paula, Becoming Press, Flourishing Today, Debbie Kitterman, Suzanne Eller, My Learning Table, Penny’s Passion, Katherine’s Corner, Happily Ever After Etc., Organized 31, Brenda Bradford Dottinger, Life Beyond the Kitchen, Creative K Kids, Life with Lorelai, Coffee with Us3, Missional Women, Easy Peasy Pleasy, The Answer is Chocolate, Create with Joy, Nancy on the Home Front, Lyli Dunbar, Crystal Waddell, Counting My Blessings, Being a Wordsmith, Happy and Blessed Home, Our Mini Family,

You might also like:

Our Curriculum for 2017-2018

This post may contain affiliate links. See disclosure. Check out my suggested resources.
Productive Homeschooling - Printables and Tools for every homeschool

By Leave a Comment

It seems like summer has flown by for us this year!

We moved from Germany to Ohio and spent lots of time getting settled and dealing with reverse culture shock.

We’re pretty relaxed and spend most mornings reading and completing the lessons so our afternoons are free to play, explore, create, bake, watch videos, or ride bikes.

I’m not worried about schedules or how long it takes to complete a book. Some days, we don’t get to math. We do science only a couple times a week. We read every day.

Our curricula this year:

We still use Tapestry of Grace as our base. I like their book lists and activities. I print Notebooking Pages every week to coincide with our history and literature studies.

We don’t really label with grade levels, so here’s what my son will be working through so far this year. He’s 7 years old.

He also listens and participates in history and literature read-alouds with his sisters.

  • Christian Liberty Nature Reader
  • Life of Fred
  • Singapore Math 3
  • Spelling Workout A
  • Apologia Who is God?
  • Apologia Land Animals

My middle girls are 10 and 11 years old and here are their core texts. They’re also enjoying Bible studies from Time-Warp Wife.

  • The Story of the World
  • Elementary Greek
  • First Start French
  • Singapore Math 6
  • Spelling Workout G
  • Apologia General Science

My eldest daughter is almost 17 and will be attending a local university part-time for dual enrollment.

She’s looking for a part-time job too! It’s a bit discouraging how few jobs are available for a 16 yo and how potential employers talk to and treat her. She volunteered with the Red Cross for two years, but has no paid experience. And everything is online now, so she can’t charm anyone by walking in. There are no help wanted signs in windows anymore.

She is still finishing up French, year 3 history, and some literature. She has to review algebra and take a math entrance exam to enroll in college algebra spring semester.

The kids really work quite independently.

We do history and literature read alouds in the mornings, after breakfast.

The kids then work on their notebooking, Bible, vocabulary workbooks.

I assist Alex, which really just means I just watch him do his work. Every few days, I read a science chapter to Alex and he works through his science notebooking journal the other days.

I assist with and discuss science with the girls. Dad reviews science in the evenings and weekends and does some of the more extravagant experiments.

Dad does math with the girls in the evenings and weekends. We all like to listen to Life of Fred!

We’re usually finished with the bulk of school work by lunchtime.

Then the kids can read whatever they like, create art or crafts, play outside, rollerblade, scooter, ride bikes, wait for their public school friends to get home on the bus, play table games, iPads, Wii, watch Netflix, hike in the woods, bake something yummy, practice typing, research, nature journaling, or almost anything they want!

We take days off for field trips and other activities. Since we school year-round, we don’t stress. Evenso, we still often complete the year’s workbooks, journals, and other curricula by March!

What are you using this year?
What does our schedule look like?

You might also like:

School Room in Ohio 2017

This post may contain affiliate links. See disclosure. Check out my suggested resources.
Productive Homeschooling - Printables and Tools for every homeschool

By Leave a Comment


We moved to Ohio this summer.

It’s been a huge transition for us.

The kids have a basement again for the TV – that was in storage for 3 whole years.

Also, their desks and bookcases and manipulatives are in the basement for our homeschool time.

My office has its own little room beside the front door.

There are two lovely windows along the left wall.

Along that wall is a mess.

It’s a work in progress since this room is where all the unopened boxes currently are living until I can get organized.

This house has lots of storage and is the nicest we’ve ever lived in!

 

You might also like:

We Don’t Do Testing

This post may contain affiliate links. See disclosure. Check out my suggested resources.
Productive Homeschooling - Printables and Tools for every homeschool

By 27 Comments

Apparently, it’s shocking that we don’t do any testing in our homeschool.

Going against the norm is uncomfortable for lots of people. Homeschool parents seem to feel like they must recreate a school environment at home.

We don’t do testing in our homeschool.

Whoever said there’s no such thing as a stupid question never looked carefully at a standardized test. ~Alfie Kohn

Our culture is permeated with performance.

Outcomes, grades, products, success are more important than the process, than learning. When we focus on outcomes, the motivation is extrinsic and meaningless. We cram for the assignment and then purge the information to move on to the next. There’s no learning involved except in the conditioned behavior, like a rat pushing a button for food.

Let’s begin with a few definitions:

What are Assessments?

Assessment focuses on learning, teaching, and outcomes. It provides information for improving learning and teaching. Assessment is an interactive process between student and teacher that informs the teacher how well the student is learning what they are teaching. The information is used to make changes in the learning environment, and is shared with students to assist them in improving their learning and study habits. This information is learner-centered, course based, frequently anonymous, and not graded.

What are Evaluations?

Evaluation focuses on grades and may reflect components other than course content and mastery level. These could include discussion, cooperation, attendance, and verbal ability.

Tests, exams, quizzes, assessments, and evaluations are often used interchangeably among teachers and parents.

In school, you’re taught a lesson and then given a test. In life, you’re given a test that teaches you a lesson. ~Tom Bodett

Some arguments I’ve heard for testing:

How do I  know if the kids are learning?

I have FOUR children. I think I know if they’re learning or not. I don’t have 150 students. Testing is for schools. We’re always learning and the kids are great at self-evaluation. Life is learning. I allow them great freedom to explore their interests.

How do the kids know how to take tests?

Trust me. My kids know what tests are and can complete true/false, multiple choice, fill in the blank, short answer, and essay questions on a variety of subjects. But why would I require such low level evaluation?

How do I report to authorities that require test results?

Sure, it’s probably easier to subject the kids to standardized tests to report to state authorities than complete a portfolio or evaluation form. But is it easiest for the kids or the parent?

Only 8 states require testing with no other option: GA, MN, NC, ND, OR, SC, SD, TN. The standard and penalty are arbitrary, undefined, remediation, “family should remedy,” or enrolling in an umbrella school. AR, MN, NC are the only states which require annual testing without alternatives.

I had my eldest daughter tested in Hawaii in 3rd grade. We weren’t stressed about it. It gave us a baseline, but nothing we didn’t already know. The other states where we’ve lived, TX and UT, didn’t require any reporting.

We’re not interested in comparing our kids to anyone, so testing isn’t important to us.

It’s not difficult to complete portfolio or evaluation requirements. Or just enroll under an umbrella school or homeschool organization if that’s an option.

How are the kids graded?

My kids are not graded.

I repeat: We don’t do grades.

We’re constantly learning. Grades ruin the process. Grades don’t mean anything. They have freedom to learn. They have freedom to take risks, to explore, to fail, to succeed, to be challenged. They are not limited to a rubric. There’s no pressure.

Grades are extrinsic motivation and we prefer intrinsic motivation.

How do the kids know how to study?

I prefer that my kids learn than cram for some test, but they have great skills to help with studying if and when they need it. They’re active readers and writers and remember lots of information and make great connections. I occasionally offer minilessons to teach a skill I think is interesting.

How do I write high school transcripts?

Transcripts are pretty subjective. I list courses completed to mastery. Based on effort, there are a range of A’s and B’s on the transcript.

My eldest audited physics. Civil Air Patrol didn’t issue grades, but she excelled at it.

I’m hoping for colleges to look at a portfolio and not put such an emphasis on grades.

No one has ever asked me for my transcript or GPA or grades since my grad school enrollment.

How do the kids prep for the SAT/ACT?

Strong vocabulary and math skills are key. We read lots and discuss for comprehension, focus on math skills all along, then learn some testing tricks. My teen’s score on the PSAT was great with no prep at all, so we’re hoping to boost that score by a couple hundred points with some practice on Kahn Academy and a vocabulary book.

Thanks to the nation’s testing mania (which I like to call ‘No Child Left Untested’ rather than ‘No Child Left Behind’), children are being barraged with a nonstop volley of standardized tests. From kindergarten to graduate school, students are subjected to an unprecedented number of high-stakes tests. ~Laurie E. Rozakis, I Before E, Except After C: Spelling for the Alphabetically Challenged

How we assess in our homeschool:

My kids are great learners. They don’t need me.

I’m not a teacher. I’m not a tutor.

I’m a guide. I’m a counselor.

Discussion

We constantly discuss what we’re learning and reading and exploring. Narration is a great tool that can be really fun with all ages.

Language is important to express our ideas, preferences, interests.

I love to hear what my kids have to say about art, music, literature, history. I love to see them make connections on their own. I love to see that lightbulb moment.

Notebooking

The kids love to write and draw about their experiences. The open-ended idea of notebooking allows for great creativity and individuality instead of a cookie-cutter worksheet with low level thought processes.

I’m not worried about benchmarks, curricula, What My Child Needs to Know in Nth Grade, grades, tests, or knowledge. We don’t participate in co-ops.

Writing

I don’t discourage essay writing, but I don’t force it. I don’t even really teach it until high school.

I think younger kids need to learn so much more than writing that we don’t focus on it at all. Kids are natural storytellers. We discuss what we read and make connections, synthesizing knowledge…and this paves the way almost effortlessly into the formulaic essays that college professors like.

I’m more concerned that my kids love learning and exploring and grow up to be free thinkers.

Educational success should be measured by how strong your desire is to keep learning. ~ Alfie Kohn

Learning is a lifelong process.

I’ve learned more outside of school, after high school and university, then I ever did inside a classroom.

Kids will learn despite school.

Sources:
https://cft.vanderbilt.edu/guides-sub-pages/blooms-taxonomy/
https://arc.duke.edu/documents/The%20difference%20between%20assessment%20and%20evaluation.pdf
http://a2zhomeschooling.com/main_articles/comparing_testing_requirements/

Linking up: The Modest Mom, Marilyn’s Treats, Strangers & Pilgrims on Earth, Donna Reidland, A Fresh Start, Life of Faith, Inspiration for Moms, Proverbs 31 Wife, Mrs. AOK, Curly Crafty Mom, Practical Mom, This Chaotic Bliss, A Pinch of Joy, Nourishing Joy, Simple Life of a Fire Wife, Teaching What is Good, Blogghetti, Let Me Tell You a Story, Raising Homemakers, Wise Woman, Messy Marriage, Christian Blogger Community, Holley Gerth, Oh My Heartsie Girl, Pat and Candy, Katherine’s Corner, A Bountiful Love, Women with Intention, Saving 4Six, Feeding Big, Creative K Kids, Life Beyond the Kitchen, Chronically Content, Life with Lorelai, RCH Reviews, Create with Joy, Life as we Know It, Oh My Heartsie Girl Friday, Being a Wordsmith, Crafty Moms Share, Hip Homeschool Moms,
You might also like: