Search Results for: blog making math and science fun for kids

Making Math Fun

Just because your child doesn’t easily makes sense of math now, doesn’t mean he’s doomed to fail as a future number cruncher.  There are plenty of kids, who struggle with addition, subtraction, multiplication and division in their early years, and then something finally clicks, and they end up as successful accountants or actuaries. To ensure that your homeschooled student achieves success in the world of mathematics, don’t rely solely on memorization.  Having children memorize math facts without teaching them why the answer is correct often leads to future problems. Kids will be much more receptive to learning math if you … Continue reading →

Spring Fling Activities

One minute I’m blogging about spring break and the next thing I know Old Man Winter decides to come out of hibernation and dump 14 inches of snow on my neck of the woods. So, instead of featuring more fun boredom busters I planned to unveil during my kid’s spring break, I’m scrambling to find additional projects to use as snow day fodder. Here’s what we worked on today: Bird Feeders: I didn’t have spare pine cones to coat with peanut butter and bird seed, so we used stale bagels instead. If you have a younger child, the bagel works … Continue reading →

Spring Boredom Busters

Spring break is right around the corner. For parents, this means finding ways to keep the kids busy and your sanity intact while school is out for an extended period of time. Instead of turning to the TV to occupy your little ones, consider the following spring-themed projects that will keep your kids entertained and your home filled with new decor: Fancy Flower Pots: This project is suitable for kids of all ages. All you need is an inexpensive terra cot pot and some embellishments. Children can paint the pot or decorate it with markers, and then glue on sequins, … Continue reading →

Letting Your Kids Set the Schedule

There are days when it’s hard to motivate your homeschooled students to do their work, but we know the value of what we’re doing, and we want to press forward and continue on the positive path we’ve chosen. One way I’ve found to help my kids get more in the groove is to let them choose their schedule. There are a number of different ways to do this. First, you can let them decide which subjects to do first, second, third, and so forth. For the first little while, they’ll probably choose to do all the fun things first, leaving … Continue reading →

Springtime Fun in the Great Outdoors

After two days of near 70-degree temps, reality hit, and our sleepy Wisconsin city got slammed with six inches of snow last week. Fortunately, the snow only stuck around for a couple days. Unfortunately, we got dumped on during my young daughter’s spring break from school. Despite the crazy weather pattern (a.k.a. spring in Wisconsin), we managed to salvage spring break with a few outdoor adventures that got my daughter itching for summer vacation. Spring has sprung in most states, and if you are looking for ways to take advantage of the seasonal temps with your kids, then consider the … Continue reading →

Unexpected School: A Student’s Worst Nightmare

I guess I shouldn’t be surprised that Wal-Mart has already started stocking its back-to-school supplies. So long beach towels and sun chairs. The area, where just last week, I picked up a mini cooler for my daughter’s summer soccer camp is now filled with pencils, pens, paper and shiny new scissors. The new arrangement was met by more than just a few sighs from the parent-shoppers I passed. If Wal-Mart’s back-to-school displays are disconcerting for them, imagine how it must feel for students and parents in Southern California. Thanks to a clerical error, kids at Dickson Elementary in Chino and … Continue reading →

Websites for keeping homeschooling fun

If you don’t find ways to keep homeschooling fun it will be just a matter of time before the kids begin longing for public school. In fact, I often counsel homeschoolers whose kids are hesitant to homeschool to take extra time to show them how fun homeschooling can be. Here are some ideas for keeping homschooling fun with online games. The internet is chock-full of online games. There are games for math, reading, science, and even art. Whenever one of my kids is struggling with a particular subject, I do a search for an appropriate online game that will give … Continue reading →

Memorial Day Family Fun

For most families the Memorial Day holiday weekend provides a taste of summer fun. Unfortunately, most schools don’t break for summer vacation until June, so the long weekend is typically reserved for abbreviated, wallet-friendly family activities. If you are looking for affordable Memorial Day getaways, consider the following kid-friendly picks: PENNSYLVANIA Seven Springs Mountain Resort, located in Seven Springs, Pennsylvania, kicks off its summer season this weekend with a slew of family-friendly events. The resort is sponsoring live entertainment all day and well into the night. In addition to the concerts, the resort is offering climbing wall races, fishing demonstrations, … Continue reading →

Affordable Educational Kid-Friendly Activities

The learning doesn’t have to end just because your kids aren’t in the classroom. If your children are on temporary hiatus from school because of the swine flu scare, then consider using the time to participate in educational activities as a family. Here are some low-cost learning opportunities: Tour the nation’s only frozen cemetery in Scottsdale, Arizona. The Alcor Life Extension Foundation is where Baseball Hall of Famer Ted Williams is cryogenically preserved. Tours are free. Bird-watch at the Great Dismal Swamp Birding Festival, May 7-9, in southeastern Virginia. The event includes demonstrations, guided bird walks, bus tours to Lake … Continue reading →

What homeschooling means to me

Dana at Principled Discovery asks, “What does homeschooling mean to you”? Her article centers on whether or not homeschooling is normal and to what degree. Normalcy however has bearing on what homeschooling means to me. I cannot remember a time in my life when I aspired to or pretended to be normal. That is except for those conversations with my mother where she would say that of her nine children, I was her least normal, and I would reply, “Maybe I’m the one who’s normal and you all are strange”. Anyway, for me homeschooling means freedom to be different. We … Continue reading →