Best wishes to you and your family in the New Year!
Here are the most popular Sensible Homeschool posts of the year in case you missed any of them…
According to the internet (so it must be true, right?), ancient Greek philosopher Heraclitus is the one we credit for the saying…
“The only constant is change.”
– Heraclitus
Looking back on 2022, it’s tempting for me to agree and lament the unexpected, difficult, and life-altering changes that my family has experienced this year.
But, while change is often a regular occurrence, it is NOT the only constant.
I love “Day in the Life” posts. Well, I love other people’s “Day in the Life” posts, that is. (After all, I already know what a day in my life is like.)
But I know how much a glimpse into other homeschools helps give me new ideas… so I’m hoping this will do the same for you!
The other day my six year old asked me what we’d be doing for school that day.
“No school today,” I reminded her. “It’s Saturday.”
With a delighted sigh of relief, she found a comfy corner of the couch and started reading Life of Fred: Butterflies.
Side Note: If you’re not familiar with the Life of Fred series, it’s a quirky but effective math curricula adored by many homeschooling families. We’ve used it as a math supplement over the years and all three of my kids love it.
When her brothers picked up other books in the Life of Fred series and proceeded to read math books for over two hours… on a Saturday… for fun… the inspiration for this post was born.
(There may be affiliate links in this post – click here to learn more. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. IEW® and Structure and Style® are registered trademarks of the Institute for Excellence in Writing. L.L.C.)
Writing is one of those subjects that puts fear in the hearts of homeschooling parents everywhere. After all, it’s been enshrined as one of the historic “3 R’s” so we’d better not mess it up, right?
Even if we aren’t aiming to raise the next Dickens or Tolkien, at the very least we want our kids to be able to write a professional cover letter or a college application essay.
(IEW® and Structure and Style® are registered trademarks of the Institute for Excellence in Writing. L.L.C. Fix It!™ is a trademark of the Institute for Excellence in Writing, L.L.C.)
We started using Institute for Excellence in Writing (IEW) products four years ago when my oldest son was in 4th grade. Since then, there hasn’t been a year we haven’t used at least one IEW product!
Up until now, I haven’t had a chance to collect my thoughts and share about our IEW experiences. But that’s about to change!
If you’re searching for a high quality language arts or writing curriculum, or if you’re wondering if IEW is the right choice for your family, you’re in the right place so read on!
This is the next post in a series where I’ve been sharing the curricula I’ve used to home educate my three kids. I can’t believe this will be our 9th year homeschooling!
*pause for nostalgic reminiscing*
OK… I think I’m ready to continue.
If you’re like me, you read more than one review when considering a homeschool curriculum purchase.
And, if you’re like me, you get frustrated when the first half of every review repeats the same basic product info.
So, in this review, I’ll skip all the basics. This won’t be “All You Need to Know” about CTC Math. And it won’t be the “Complete Ultimate Comprehensive Guide” to homeschool math curricula.
In this CTC Math Mini Review, I’ll assume you’re already semi-familiar with the program and you’re just trying to decide if it will work for your family. (If that’s not the case, check out the CTC Math website to see what it’s all about or read Cathy Duffy’s review for a quick summary. Then come back here for my two cents.)
Years ago, I started writing about our plans for summer breaks. I shared the educational and homeschool-y things we did over the summer each year. If you read those posts, you might remember that each year I seemed to bounce back and forth between too academic and too relaxed.
By our 5th homeschooling summer I’d found a good balance. (Yes, it really did take me five summers to figure it out…)
But just when I was getting the hang of things… the pandemic reared its ugly head.
As I’ve written this post, all of my family’s belongings were loaded onto a 26’ moving truck and taken to our new home in another state!
After searching online for co-ops and extracurricular activities near our new home, I realized firsthand how helpful it is when bloggers share their favorite local homeschooling resources!
So, before my family leaves the northwest Chicago suburbs, I want to post a “brain dump” of all the northern Illinois homeschooling resources I’ve found over the years. We’ve been parenting and homeschooling here for over a decade and have collected a list of awesome co-ops, support groups, nature centers, field trip ideas, and more!