Thrift Schooling

  "Oh, that's right. I TOTALLY forgot about that!" "I've seen the village, and I don't want it socializing my children." "YOU don't go to school, how do YOU socialize?" "We socialize our dogs. We educate our children." "We don't need socialization. We have each other." "Socialization is overrated." If you have been homeschooling for any length of time, you may have had a veteran homeschooler come alongside you, offering some of these (among many others) responses that homeschoolers can use to ward off naysayers. Yes, I've heard all of these responses quoted at one time or another. Usually by one homeschooling mom trying to encourage another homeschooling mom. Only on rare occasions do I hear someone actually use them in real-life situations because, let's face it, the responses are a little risky.  Are they warranted? Usually.  When we feel attacked for our choice to homeschool, we want to be able ...

  I took a five-minute bathroom break. Big mistake. When I arrived back on the scene, I was greeted with a roomful of markers that my eighteen-month-old had dumped out, a pile of flashcards that my three-year-old accidentally spilled, and a puddle of water from a cup that had spilled off the table.  Nobody was particularly malicious; it was just when I left to go to the bathroom, my older kids and I were on the edge of our seats, wondering what was going to happen to the Merrimac in an intense history lesson. I tend to get into history sometimes. Maybe a little more than I should. Nevertheless, I was anxious to get back to the story and share the suspenseful tale with my older kids only to be distracted by, well, distractions.  It is in these moments that I ask myself, “am I cut out for this job? Am I cut out for homeschooling?” Onlookers and critics often say that they could never homeschool because they simply don’t have the patience. But do I? When I feel like I am at ...

It was my job to order, copy, and organize all the activities for the preschool curriculum for the Sunday School in our church. There was a rotating schedule of five couples who taught. They were all parents of children in the class who wanted to help because they were thankful there was care provided for their children during the service.  For them, sacrificing one week a month to make this happen was worth it. The only challenge was they had no teaching experience so they were intimidated at times. I did my best to present the material in a simple, fun and engaging way. I provided them with all the materials and lesson outline to help them get started.  It was at this point that I realized that not everyone was like me when it comes to teaching little ones. Not everyone feels comfortable working outside the lines of the presented curriculum. One time, the lesson mentioned bringing in a tent for the kids to use during the lesson. I spoke with the parent a week in advance and ...

  Homeschooling is legal is all 50 states—yet each state has its own laws and requirements. Some states, such as New Jersey are extremely lax. While its neighbor, Pennsylvania, is one of the strictest in the nation. As a public school graduate from New York state, I will never forget when I first became a Christian in my early twenties and heard people refuting evolution. The speaker made the comment,  “ The question is not if we should teach evolution or creation in public schools. The question is if we should even have public schools . ”   What did that even mean? I could not wrap my brain around it until I could. Until I did. Until I began homeschooling. Of course eliminating the public school system is not something I am going to entertain in my brain right now, but eliminating it from my life is .  When I first began homeschooling over a decade ago in Virginia I was presented with two options.  1. Notice of Intent : This is where I would have to provid...

  Cats & Boxes   is another incredible game available from Timberdoodle that is perfect for your homeschool. One player games are great to have on hand when homeschooling multiple children. This year is the most intense (and wonderful) homeschool year yet. I have a senior in high school that will be graduating this spring  plus I have a first grader that is in the beginning stages of his home education journey. All I can say is, it is intense and lovely at the same time. Our family has been doing this since the beginning so you would think it would be a breeze but there is always so much to learn.  One thing that has never changed in all the years of homeschooling is the fact that games are at the top of our list of boredom busters. My kids have never really been huge fans of video games, though they do play them occasionally. Rather, board games are a huge hit—for them and for me.  I personally am a fan of Cats & Boxes because having single player ...

  If teaching high school level science intimidates you,  Friendly Biology  is just what the doctor ordered. As part of the  Timberdoodle 9th Grade Curriculum Kit , this course by Joey and Lisa Hajda is the most easy, homeschool-friendly science curriculum that I have implemented in my homeschool. So many different options are available in the homeschooling world and I have reviewed many that I love. Some take a hands-on experimental approach. Some use the textbook/workbook approach. Some science curriculum are easy to follow, and others are not. Friendly Biology takes both approaches and it is easy to follow .  My ninth-grader enjoys science, but when it comes to sitting down and reading a textbook, he is not a fan. This means I was hesitant to try this curriculum. I was pleasantly surprised to find out not only that he enjoys it, but he is passing the course with flying colors, retaining the information, and excited when it happens to be an experiment day....

  Is your preschooler bouncing off the walls? The weather in our area is up and down. Some days are outdoor-friendly. Others, not so much. The heat kicked on in our home this week after some nice warm days. My preschooler needed hands-on activity during these home-bound days and  Jump 1  was the perfect go-to game!  Right out of the box I have to say that this is packaged extremely well. After enduring my preschooler (and first grader's) heavy use, the box is still intact, we still have all of the cards (amazing, right?), and it is continually a family gameschooling favorite. My biggest pet peeve with games are the boxes. They always seem to break in our house. This one hasn't and I am impressed. It has a neat little box that slides in and out for easy usage. These cards are larger than a traditional deck, perfect for little hands. I have noticed that when I ask my preschooler to clean up this game and his Uno game, Jump 1 is cleaned up much quicker. It seems that th...

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