Roland Smith’s Peak amazed me. At first glance, it’s an easy read – a suspenseful survival story great for older middle-grade readers who can handle stories that include death and danger. If you look deeper, though, it’s much more than that. I challenged my students in advance to find the twist in the story –… Continue reading Book Club: Hexagonal Thinking with “Peak”
Tag: homeschool
Excelerate SPANISH from Excelerate SPANISH Streaming – Review
When we started homeschooling, one of my goals was to find a way for my kids to learn another language before the age of twelve. At that point, your brain starts to wire itself differently, and it becomes harder to learn a new language. However, although we tried a variety of options, it was hard… Continue reading Excelerate SPANISH from Excelerate SPANISH Streaming – Review
Brain Blox Wooden Building Planks – Review
My kids love building things – I mean, it’s one of their very favorite things. Always has been. Even when they were tiny, they would take apart board games and play sets and just build things with all of the pieces. They can’t be the only kids out there who love old-fashioned building, but blocks… Continue reading Brain Blox Wooden Building Planks – Review
Book Club Leads to Cooking Club: “Secrets & Scones” by Laurel Remington
We started My Big Helper’s book club seven years ago, and it’s still going strong – and it’s growing a bit this year, thanks to a fantastic middle-grade book by Laurel Remington. When I first read Secrets and Scones last school year, I knew it would make a perfect book club read. With themes of… Continue reading Book Club Leads to Cooking Club: “Secrets & Scones” by Laurel Remington
The Benefits of National History Day Participation
As a kid, I participated in National History Day, and I loved the program – so much so that when My Big Helper neared middle school, I started researching to find out if she could participate as a homeschooler in North Carolina. Happily, she can – and she just completed her third year of competition.… Continue reading The Benefits of National History Day Participation
“Jump In, 2nd Edition” by Writing with Sharon Watson – Review
Writing has always been a subject I’ve enjoyed teaching. For the most part, as homeschoolers, we’ve taken advantage of authentic writing experiences and audiences and kept journals of all kinds. I’ve noticed, however, that while my kids are really good content writers, there are a few areas that they could make stronger – and that’s… Continue reading “Jump In, 2nd Edition” by Writing with Sharon Watson – Review
Famous Artists Online Unit Study with Techie Homeschool Mom – Review
We’ve been studying art more than usual over the past few months as we’ve read The Frame-Up with our book clubs. (Click on the title to find out how we interacted with the book.) We really had fun with this and knew that we wanted art to continue to play a larger-than-normal part in our studies,… Continue reading Famous Artists Online Unit Study with Techie Homeschool Mom – Review
Poetry & Short Stories with Memoria Press – Review
My Little Man was slated to study some classical literature this semester, so we were excited for the opportunity to review the Poetry and Short Stories: American Literature Set from Memoria Press. This set comes with a student workbook, a book full of short stories and poetry, and a teacher’s guide. At first glance, our… Continue reading Poetry & Short Stories with Memoria Press – Review
A Year of STEM Activities with Tied 2 Teaching – Review
My kids love doing STEM projects. We even started our own tiny STEM club this year so that we’d be sure to incorporate STEM on a regular basis (because, face it, finding good plans and collecting the needed materials can be challenging). That’s why I was super excited to give Tied 2 Teaching‘s STEM Activities, Full… Continue reading A Year of STEM Activities with Tied 2 Teaching – Review
Book Club, Hiking Edition: “The Honest Truth”
Just like in Dan Gemeinhart’s debut book The Honest Truth, the weather wasn’t cooperative for this month’s book club. With loads of rain, the rivers ran high, and we had to change plans often, which diminished the size of our group – but not the adventurous spirit with which we enjoyed this book. Mark from The Honest… Continue reading Book Club, Hiking Edition: “The Honest Truth”
