9/11 I remember…

This post is a bit of a departure from my normal homeschool science tips, but on a day like today, I want to honor the memory of those who gave their lives on such a tragic day.   I remember the day started out perfectly normal, I went to work just as always. I remember the phone call from my husband that my manager was handing to me, which was strange because he never called me on … [Read more...]

5 More Tips to Help You Get it All Done

Awhile back I wrote a post with 5 tips for how we get it all done, but since then my little guy has arrived fully into toddler land. He's decided not to take a nap anymore, which was my work time, and teaching him about rest time is not going as well as I had planned.  Plus, my daughter is more active in dance this year, which takes up extra time and requires that we are more diligent about … [Read more...]

The Basics of Notebooking

I recommend notebooking over straight comprehension worksheets during the elementary and middle school years because it is an excellent way of engaging the student with the information he is learning. In notebooking, the student is not merely regurgitating facts; he is thinking over what he has read or heard and responding with what he has found to be meaningful. Notebooking is an extremely … [Read more...]

The Science of Exploration

Every child loves to create things and mine are no exception. I'm always amazed at the different things they create. If I'm honest, sometimes I get frustrated by all the mess (I know that I'm not the only one who feels this way!), but I have to remind myself that they are learning. You see, exploration is the purest form of learning, especially for learning science. I can tell my daughter … [Read more...]

What is Living Book?

Everywhere you turn, homeschoolers are touting living books and the benefits of using them in educating our children.  The title is being slapped on all kinds of different books, so much so that many non-living books are being labeled as living. Even I have been guilty of mislabeling a reference book as living, which I believe has largely come out of a misunderstanding of what a living book … [Read more...]

A Day in the Life of…

Welcome to the fourth installment of the "Not" Back to School Blog Hop!  If you haven't been to this blog before, let me begin by saying... Hi, I'm Paige and welcome to my corner of cyberspace!  Be sure to check out Elemental Blogging's bi-weekly Science Corner posts to grab some useful tips and tools to help you with science education this year. This week we get to share what a day in our … [Read more...]