Thrift Schooling

  It's that time of year. You are going to see photos of kids holding up a chalkboard with their name and the grade they are going into. Just give it a few weeks and you will see them all over social media. You, too, can do that as a homeschooler—but, for my family, that would just confuse my kids too much! Grade levels are not really a thing in our home. Math is one grade level. Reading is another. History is done together and electives are non-traditional. While the first day of school chalkboard tradition is out, getting excited about the first day of school is 100% in.  On the first day of summer break I told the kids with a sing-songy voice that it was the first day of summer vacation—they were thrilled. Today, my six-year-old asked me if I would do the same thing on the first day back to school. I laughed. I am so glad he is just as excited to start back up as I am. Here are five ways that you can celebrate the new homeschool year! Pick one, two, or more—just have fun! 1...

  Our family has only had positive experiences with the people in homeschool co-ops but homeschool co-ops in general have not been a great fit for us. Though during a very specific season of my life, they were a tremendous blessing, they simply did not work out most of the time. Here are the top five reasons why our family does not attend homeschool co-ops and what we do instead.  5. Time Commitment As a homeschool mom I am not afraid to make commitments. I schedule activities, playdates, and zoo trips with other homeschool families. What I do dread is the thought of a weekly commitment—especially with littles in the home. I will never forget the first (and only) year that I agreed to be the VBS director at my church. It was an unbelievable event, and they usually are. Parents love sending their kids to VBS during the summer and churches love the outreach opportunity. The event was well staffed and well attended, but what fell through the cracks was my family. I barely had tim...

Blogging has changed our homeschool significantly. Not only can I do what I love—which is writing—but I can love what I do—which is homeschooling. This blog has opened up doors to new homeschooling products, experiences, and connections, which has been incredible. Read more by clicking on the article link below! Ten Benefits of Starting a Homeschool Blog  Stop by again next Monday for another  Thrift Schooling Monday Memory  where I share my published content on other websites created to encourage, equip, and edify homeschooling families.

  I have all of the materials ready to go for the upcoming school year on the bookshelf. I still have a couple of weeks yet, but I am excited to crack those books open and get started. Before I share with you the list of what we will be using, I want to highlight the TOP TEN CURRICULUM choices from last year. Some choices were flops and certainly did not make the list. Others were absolute wins that I am excited to share with you. When you drop money on a curriculum whether it is a few bucks from a reseller or brand new for a couple hundred dollars, there is always a risk involved. Some of these were repeats from other years with other kids, and some were brand new—including what landed in the number one spot!  10. Daily-6 Trait Writing Perfect to ensure your kids are getting their daily writing in. With so many electronics in use in the home, this is a must.  Read my first grade  and second grade reviews. These were a great addition to our year.  9. Notgrass ...

  Many Christian women have never led a Bible study. Although I have, when I think about it, it was only when I was in an official  “ ministry ”  position (youth leader or missionary). It seems that many women do not do it outside of a church building because we do not feel that we were qualified. That is what we are taught. Whether intentional or not, many of us leaving church feeling unqualified to lead people to the Lord. We were told to bring them to church from the pulpit. Sure, we were encouraged to witness and lead people in the sinner's prayer—as long as it leads to church growth. Typically, we are not the ones meant to baptize. We are not the ones meant to disciple. I remember when my husband and I baptized a couple while on the mission field. I admit I did feel unqualified, but there was no one holding our hands. There was no one else to do it. God stirred on their hearts and we happened to be there.  I then led the woman in the basic first principles of th...

One of the biggest fears within the homeschooling community is that homeschooling lends to the possibility of educational gaps. I hear it all of the time. The fears are real. As homeschooling parents we may not have had the training that school teachers had so we think that we don't have it all together and that those teachers have a secret ingredient that we are missing. What if our kids are missing out? Well, let me dispel your fears right now. As a former educator with a degree in Christian education, I have worked in Christian schools in Pennsylvania, Virginia, and even on the mission field in India and I will tell you that there is no secret ingredient. The training and experience help, but teachers are always learning whether in the school setting or within the home education arena.  Having graduated one so far and with two high schoolers and two lower elementary kids still to go, I have found that as the teacher in the home I have more freedom than I ever did in the classroo...

  Summer is in full swing which can mean a variety of things for homeschoolers. For some, it means summer vacation—no school until August, or possibly after Labor Day. For others it means light schooling. Math here. Reading there. Nothing too intense. Some of you school year 'round and you do not see much of a change during the summer months except maybe a few added swimming days. Regardless of your teaching style, a unit study is always a good idea. And who does not love to learn about birds? Several years ago I created a simple yet fun and educational bird unit study based on the Burgess Bird Book for Kids. Using bird song sound bytes and colorful photos, children of all ages will be able to follow along in the book, learning about each bird as each character is introduced in the story.  The best part is, this entire unit study is completely free. The books that are mentioned are in the public domain and all of the links are found on free sites. Access the free bird unit stu...

  With the RNC for the 2024 election coming to a close and the DNC set for the week of August 19, 2024, now is the perfect time to introduce our young homeschoolers to the  U.S. Presidents .  Just in time for election season, this four-part notebooking series from My Teaching Library has all that you need to teach your kids about the U.S. Presidents with relevant coloring pages, fact pages, mini-books and more.  Sitting down to teach homeschoolers to memorize ALL of the U.S. Presidents in one sitting sounds daunting—though it is completely possible with catchy songs, videos, or kids books. To be honest, it never seemed important to me for my kids to know all of the names of the U.S. Presidents in order if they knew nothing about them. Many would disagree with me. They prefer to teach their kids a song or rhyme so they are at least familiar with the names. Then, when those names come up in history they are a peg so to speak that the child can grab onto since they reme...

  I was part of a kids bowling league as a kid. We named ourselves the Oddballs. It fit. Every Friday afternoon when school let out, our parents would drive us to the bowling alley. I loved my purple eight-pound ball and the cute case it came in. My friends and I were not great but we have great memories of the popcorn, hot dogs, spares, strikes, and the echoing sound the pins made while falling down for hours on end. Some of these afternoons were followed by late night sleepovers complete with cold pizza the following morning.  Now that I have kids of my own I am constantly looking for cool activities to do on hot summer days. Bowling is perfect. Once I found out that it was free at our local bowling alley (and venues across the country) we were hooked. How it works: 1. Find a participating Kids Bowl Free  bowling alley in your area.  2. Sign your kids up completely FREE (pay only for shoe rental or bring your own bowling shoes) 3. Receive a weekly email with ticke...

  Homeschoolers are not exempt when it comes to concerns about Internet privacy. Parents are well aware of the obvious dangers of online predators and scams, but what about what goes on behind the scenes? The simple act of opening a browser opens up a whole world of the unknown. Well, unknown to the common user, not to the scammer, hacker, or coder.  The first time I saw a television ad for Facebook I thought it was a joke—or an ad for privacy software. I was dead wrong. The ad showed people at different locations. One at a coffee shop. Another at a local library. Another at a restaurant. The icons popped up showing how you could tell where your friends were in real time as they  “ signed in ”  to the location they were visiting. I stood wide-eyed, thinking that it was crazy that people would even think of sacrificing their Internet privacy in such a way. Of course over the years it has become the norm. Venues beg customers to follow them on Facebook, check in that...

  Looking to add new materials to your homeschool this year?  My First Sticker by Number Cards  are included in the Timberdoodle PreK homeschool kit  and have been the perfect addition to our homeschool—even though my kids are elementary age. What makes this a great resource for your homeschooling morning basket or craft and activity bin is that you can pull it out when you need a hands-on activity to keep your child busy that is completely self-explanatory. If your child knows his basic numbers, he can complete this on his own with minimal help from mom. This is great if you want to have a table activity available for your child for when you are whipping up dinner or working with a sibling on his schoolwork. These sticker sheets include a toucan, butterfly, turtle, and more. Boys and girls of all ages will love this activity. My two younger elementary homeschoolers gravitated towards these sticker sheets on rainy days when they could not play outside and screen time...