Flexibility and Freedom to Learn! These two concepts make a major difference in the home-school environment. Some families are still struggling with online schools or virtual school programs. Some children find virtual schools boring, uninteresting, or not challenging enough. Others find the blocks of time required for certain subjects to be restrictive or too limiting. These issues all hinder the real learning children could be pursuing.
Virtual school programs – as an alternative to face-to-face learning – might sound okay. To some, virtual schools might seem similar to homeschooling. But as most homeschoolers know, homeschooling isn’t “school at home.”
Homeschooling is a whole-child, well-rounded, natural way of learning that occurs every day – just as children naturally learned and acquired necessary skills from the time they were born, with guidance and care from parents. True homeschooling automatically puts your child’s happiness, health, unique learning style, innate curiosity, life skills, life goals, and real interest in learning first and foremost.
Keep Flexibility and Freedom to Learn in mind this week – and in all the weeks to come. If your child is interested in cats this week, read books, picture books, and illustrated articles on cats of all types – pet cats, domestic cats, feral cats, tigers, lions, cheetahs, panthers, cougars, leopards, jaguars, ocelots, pumas, and more in the Felidae family of cats and wildcats.
Watch cats in real time, online, at rescue centers or zoos, view images of cats and their anatomy, compare their likenesses and differences, compare their running speeds, distances they can cover, their habitats, their behaviors and characteristics, the way they care for their young, the challenges they’ve faced in the past and could face in the future.
Allow children plenty of time, flexibility, and freedom to learn all they want to learn about cats – or dogs, birds, bears, whales, fish, frogs, insects, spiders, snakes – wherever their interest lies this week, or next week, and in the weeks to come.
Maybe it’s robots that excites your child this week. How many different types of robots are there? Walking robots, talking robots, flying robots, swimming robots, crawling robots, one-legged robots, bipedal, tripedal, quadrupedal, hexapods. Who knew there were so many different types of robots!
What types can your child design or build? There’s wheeled robots, mobile robots, stationary robots, remote-controlled robots, autonomous robots, virtual robots, military robots, space robots, social-services robots, industrial robots, domestic robots!
Robots, alone, could encompass an entire month or semester of learning! And with freedom and flexibility, this one topic would include all areas of learning: reading, creating, drawing, describing, writing, calculating, programming, math applications, scientific applications, historic applications, creative thinking, critical thinking, analytical thinking, logical thinking, reasoning skills, inventive skills, and problem-solving skills.
All children deserve freedom and flexibility to learn about a wide variety of subjects and to pursue topics that capture their interests. That’s the beauty and the benefits of homeschooling!
Hundreds more learning ideas and educational activities are provided by EverythingHomeschooling.com for a well-rounded, interesting school year.
Happy homeschooling!
Monday, August 10, 2020
Friday, July 31, 2020
Lesson Plans, Curriculum, Educational Goals Explained
You might find yourself confused by terms such as Lesson Plans or Curriculum. Sometimes educational terms can be as confusing as legal terms. However, your Lesson Plan can be as simple as jotting down ideas and activities for learning this coming week. And your Curriculum can include the Educational Goals and Objectives for your children.
Here’s a few examples of a Curriculum and Lesson Plans: Your Science Curriculum for this coming year could include goals for your child to learn about Earth Science (earth’s composition, volcanoes, earthquakes, planets); Life Science (plants, animals, insects, humans); or Physical Science (magnetism, energy, motion, matter).
Educational Goals and Objectives for Earth Science could be: Learning the different layers of the earth; collecting and identifying rocks; learning the different types of clouds and their impact on earth's atmosphere; creating a miniature water cycle in your backyard; experimenting with erosion in your backyard; constructing an erupting volcano; plus reading and discussing books, articles, and photos on each of these topics/experiments.
Lesson Plans for these Earth Science topics could be: Creating an actual model showing earth’s layers; reading Rocks and Minerals and labeling various rocks collected; making a colorful display showing cloud types and tracking a week’s worth of cloud types and precipitation in your area; photographing the mini water cycle experiment and recording descriptions of how and why it works; recording the erosion experiment, then researching and describing the impact of larger-scale erosion on earth, river banks, seashores; reading Volcanoes and Earthquakes and discussing why, how, and where volcanoes erupt, plus constructing a volcano and recording its eruption.
In Conjunction with these Lesson Plans and Activities, children can describe each of the lessons and experiments in their own words, explaining what they learned, or describe the activities in writing or by drawing illustrations of the experiments. They could display their illustrations or photos of this week’s lessons and activities on a bulletin board, or do a few worksheets on these topics to add to their portfolio. And, always, they can be encouraged to pursue topics branching off from the lessons and activities they’ve done.
This Easy-to-Follow Format will help you create Educational Goals for your children, plus Lessons Plans on topics and subjects to support your goals, as you follow your Curriculum, which simply describes your Educational Goals, Objectives, Lesson Plans, and Learning Activities.
Many more examples are on our website at EverythingHomeschooling.com.
Happy Homeschooling!
Here’s a few examples of a Curriculum and Lesson Plans: Your Science Curriculum for this coming year could include goals for your child to learn about Earth Science (earth’s composition, volcanoes, earthquakes, planets); Life Science (plants, animals, insects, humans); or Physical Science (magnetism, energy, motion, matter).
Educational Goals and Objectives for Earth Science could be: Learning the different layers of the earth; collecting and identifying rocks; learning the different types of clouds and their impact on earth's atmosphere; creating a miniature water cycle in your backyard; experimenting with erosion in your backyard; constructing an erupting volcano; plus reading and discussing books, articles, and photos on each of these topics/experiments.
Lesson Plans for these Earth Science topics could be: Creating an actual model showing earth’s layers; reading Rocks and Minerals and labeling various rocks collected; making a colorful display showing cloud types and tracking a week’s worth of cloud types and precipitation in your area; photographing the mini water cycle experiment and recording descriptions of how and why it works; recording the erosion experiment, then researching and describing the impact of larger-scale erosion on earth, river banks, seashores; reading Volcanoes and Earthquakes and discussing why, how, and where volcanoes erupt, plus constructing a volcano and recording its eruption.
In Conjunction with these Lesson Plans and Activities, children can describe each of the lessons and experiments in their own words, explaining what they learned, or describe the activities in writing or by drawing illustrations of the experiments. They could display their illustrations or photos of this week’s lessons and activities on a bulletin board, or do a few worksheets on these topics to add to their portfolio. And, always, they can be encouraged to pursue topics branching off from the lessons and activities they’ve done.
This Easy-to-Follow Format will help you create Educational Goals for your children, plus Lessons Plans on topics and subjects to support your goals, as you follow your Curriculum, which simply describes your Educational Goals, Objectives, Lesson Plans, and Learning Activities.
Many more examples are on our website at EverythingHomeschooling.com.
Happy Homeschooling!
Saturday, July 25, 2020
Homeschool Help for All Families
As families struggle with decisions regarding the new school year – whether to keep kids at home, send them to school, or use virtual school programs – remind friends and neighbors that homeschooling is always an option. If school choices don’t work out, homeschooling can usually be implemented at any time during the year.
Even if parents are working full-time, homeschooling can occur in the evenings or on weekends. That’s because just 1 to 2 hours is required per day, on average. Often, the time parents spend helping schooled children with homework in the evenings can consume 1 to 2 hours per night. That time could, instead, be used for homeschooling.
New ideas and fun learning activities will be provided at EverythingHomeschooling.com, as we approach “back-to-school” days.
Our site will be even easier to use as we go forward. Parents deserve simplicity in their lives, especially now. Families need dependable, reliable resources for keeping their kids learning, motivated, and happy in a safe and healthy environment.
EverythingHomeschooling.com will be here to help families, every day, all year long!
Visit us often in the coming days and weeks!
Happy homeschooling!
Even if parents are working full-time, homeschooling can occur in the evenings or on weekends. That’s because just 1 to 2 hours is required per day, on average. Often, the time parents spend helping schooled children with homework in the evenings can consume 1 to 2 hours per night. That time could, instead, be used for homeschooling.
New ideas and fun learning activities will be provided at EverythingHomeschooling.com, as we approach “back-to-school” days.
Our site will be even easier to use as we go forward. Parents deserve simplicity in their lives, especially now. Families need dependable, reliable resources for keeping their kids learning, motivated, and happy in a safe and healthy environment.
EverythingHomeschooling.com will be here to help families, every day, all year long!
Visit us often in the coming days and weeks!
Happy homeschooling!
Tuesday, April 7, 2020
Home as School
For years, homeschool families have shared the fact that school buildings are not required for learning and education. Now, nearly every family around the world has first-hand experience and knowledge of this fact.
A long school day is also not required. An hour or two per day is an average timetable, depending on your child’s age. For kindergarten to first-grade levels, the time requirement is about 30 to 60 minutes per day. For elementary-school levels, the time required is approximately 60 to 90 minutes per day. For teens and high-school levels, it’s about 2 to 4 hours per day, depending on their individual electives, studies, and goals.
Of course, outside of these time requirements, children will consistently be learning on their own. They’ll do this automatically, with extra time to experience each day in their own ways, to pursue topics that interest them, and through acquiring new knowledge due to their innate, natural curiosity.
With the Internet, online libraries, and online courses covering every topic imaginable, children can learn anything and everything from the comfort of their homes.
As homeschool families have often said: Homeschooling is NOT school at home. Classrooms, desks, textbooks, test materials are NOT required. Many families now understand this.
Your children simply need a safe, comfortable area where you can spend time together and learn together, read together and have discussions together. A place where your children can experiment and explore, stretch their minds and stretch their abilities, acquire new knowledge and soar in new directions.
Help your children to see that this is an exciting time for their education, to see how much more they can learn and how much farther they can go, without the constraints of school buildings and long schooldays.
There’s no limit to what your children can learn, no limit on how fast and how far their minds can expand. Help them to grasp and make the most of this extraordinary time. And treasure these special moments together!
Happy Homeschooling from EverythingHomeschooling.com!
A long school day is also not required. An hour or two per day is an average timetable, depending on your child’s age. For kindergarten to first-grade levels, the time requirement is about 30 to 60 minutes per day. For elementary-school levels, the time required is approximately 60 to 90 minutes per day. For teens and high-school levels, it’s about 2 to 4 hours per day, depending on their individual electives, studies, and goals.
Of course, outside of these time requirements, children will consistently be learning on their own. They’ll do this automatically, with extra time to experience each day in their own ways, to pursue topics that interest them, and through acquiring new knowledge due to their innate, natural curiosity.
With the Internet, online libraries, and online courses covering every topic imaginable, children can learn anything and everything from the comfort of their homes.
As homeschool families have often said: Homeschooling is NOT school at home. Classrooms, desks, textbooks, test materials are NOT required. Many families now understand this.
Your children simply need a safe, comfortable area where you can spend time together and learn together, read together and have discussions together. A place where your children can experiment and explore, stretch their minds and stretch their abilities, acquire new knowledge and soar in new directions.
Help your children to see that this is an exciting time for their education, to see how much more they can learn and how much farther they can go, without the constraints of school buildings and long schooldays.
There’s no limit to what your children can learn, no limit on how fast and how far their minds can expand. Help them to grasp and make the most of this extraordinary time. And treasure these special moments together!
Happy Homeschooling from EverythingHomeschooling.com!
Sunday, March 22, 2020
Fun Experiments!
Fun, Hands-On Experiments! Here are Dozens of Fun Experiments to keep kids learning in all areas of science.
1. Slime, Sound, Iso-Thixotropy, Air Pressure, Airplanes, Buoyancy, Cartesian Diver, and more!
2. Biology, Chemistry, Physics, Forensics, Fingerprints, Floating & Sinking Objects, Magic Jumping Coins, Swimming Fish, Wriggle Worms, and much more!
3. Hovercraft, Levitating Orbs, Balloon Rockets, Geodes, Volcano, Bending Water, Optical Illusions, and more!
4. Technology, Geology, Lights, Liquids, Jet-Powered Boats, Bouncing Soap, Dancing Raisins, Telescopes, Solar Cells, and much more!
Happy Homeschooling from EverythingHomeschooling.com!
1. Slime, Sound, Iso-Thixotropy, Air Pressure, Airplanes, Buoyancy, Cartesian Diver, and more!
2. Biology, Chemistry, Physics, Forensics, Fingerprints, Floating & Sinking Objects, Magic Jumping Coins, Swimming Fish, Wriggle Worms, and much more!
3. Hovercraft, Levitating Orbs, Balloon Rockets, Geodes, Volcano, Bending Water, Optical Illusions, and more!
4. Technology, Geology, Lights, Liquids, Jet-Powered Boats, Bouncing Soap, Dancing Raisins, Telescopes, Solar Cells, and much more!
Happy Homeschooling from EverythingHomeschooling.com!
Wednesday, March 18, 2020
Virtual Field Trips!
Enjoy Virtual Field Trips from the comfort of your home!
See Animal Cams, Baby Polar Bears, Explore Mars, National Parks, Zoos, Aquariums, and more!
Learn About: Habitats, Animal Behavior, Animal Care, plus Geographic Details and Scenery across the nation.
A Printable Field Trip Form provides space for kids to describe their Virtual Field Trips, what they liked best about the trips, and space to draw pictures depicting the field trips.
Happy homeschooling from EverythingHomeschooling.com!
See Animal Cams, Baby Polar Bears, Explore Mars, National Parks, Zoos, Aquariums, and more!
Learn About: Habitats, Animal Behavior, Animal Care, plus Geographic Details and Scenery across the nation.
A Printable Field Trip Form provides space for kids to describe their Virtual Field Trips, what they liked best about the trips, and space to draw pictures depicting the field trips.
Happy homeschooling from EverythingHomeschooling.com!
Saturday, March 14, 2020
Learning at Home!
We’ve often said that your local library has nearly every resource a homeschooler needs for learning. If your library is currently closed, you can still use online libraries, either through your local library or through online websites.
For free books, here’s links to great sites for easily reading books or picture books online, or downloading free classics, fiction, or nonfiction on a variety of educational topics.
So even if you can’t visit your favorite library right now, you can still have fun and continue learning every day!
Also, continue to share your homeschooling knowledge and experience with all those who are suddenly learning at home, too!
Happy homeschooling from EverythingHomeschooling.com!
For free books, here’s links to great sites for easily reading books or picture books online, or downloading free classics, fiction, or nonfiction on a variety of educational topics.
So even if you can’t visit your favorite library right now, you can still have fun and continue learning every day!
Also, continue to share your homeschooling knowledge and experience with all those who are suddenly learning at home, too!
Happy homeschooling from EverythingHomeschooling.com!
Thursday, January 9, 2020
New Year! New Knowledge! New Ideas!
As the New Year unfolds, New Learning Ideas are available from EverythingHomeschooling.com.
Examples include:
1. New Views of Our Galaxy
2. Fascinating Facts about Our Galaxy
3. Earth – Layer by Layer
4. Science Vocabulary and Terms
5. Dogs - Fascinating Facts
6. Cats - Fascinating Facts
7. Math Strategies
8. Math Flashcard Games
9. Climate Change Teen
10. Reading Aloud for All Ages
- Reading Suggestions for Ages 3-6
- Reading Suggestions for Ages 6-8
- Reading Suggestions for Ages 9-12
- Reading Suggestions for Ages 13+
Visit Everything Homeschooling at EverythingHomeschooling.com.
Happy New Year and Happy Homeschooling!
Examples include:
1. New Views of Our Galaxy
2. Fascinating Facts about Our Galaxy
3. Earth – Layer by Layer
4. Science Vocabulary and Terms
5. Dogs - Fascinating Facts
6. Cats - Fascinating Facts
7. Math Strategies
8. Math Flashcard Games
9. Climate Change Teen
10. Reading Aloud for All Ages
- Reading Suggestions for Ages 3-6
- Reading Suggestions for Ages 6-8
- Reading Suggestions for Ages 9-12
- Reading Suggestions for Ages 13+
Visit Everything Homeschooling at EverythingHomeschooling.com.
Happy New Year and Happy Homeschooling!
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