The Joy of Teaching

As a parent, you are already your child’s first teacher. Maximize your time at home with your child with fun learning activities that foster their love of learning and help them prepare for kindergarten. These materials, tips, and recommendations will help you get your child ready for school in the fall.

Workbook Resources

Smart Start: Read and Write: This activity book (available for grades PreK-1) uses fun animal alphabet stories to help children recognize and write letters. Each unit contains a story (which also includes an audio read-aloud option) and corresponding activities, like matching, drawing, listening to letter sounds, and more!

This is a great resource for kids who are just beginning to read, and helps with recognizing letters, fine motor skills, following directions, and visual recognition (all important skills for kindergarten readiness.) Purchase it on the Evan-Moor website, here.

Smart Start: Sight Words: Similar to Read and Write, this workbook (for grades PreK-1) helps beginner readers but focuses on recognizing high-frequency words. For the PreK level, high-frequency words are short words like: a, I, see, you, me, the, up, go, and not. These, and other sight words, are important for building reading fluency in young children. This full-color activity books pairs nicely with Smart Start: Read and Write to develop early reading skills.

Each unit introduces new vocabulary, practice activities, stories with audio read-aloud options, and review materials. These specially designed units help kids get a head start on sight words that will help them build reading fluency and gain confidence in their reading skills. Purchase it here, on the Evan-Moor website.

Read-Aloud Book Recommendations

Modeling reading and reading with your child every day are the best things you can do to help your child prepare for kindergarten. Reading aloud introduces vocabulary; models fluent, expressive reading; and helps children develop a love of reading. These book recommendations below are a great way to introduce a future transition to kindergarten.

The Night Before Kindergarten by Natasha Wing and Julie Durrell: This cute book tells the story of kids starting kindergarten, from saying goodbye to parents to making new friends and having fun!

The First Day Jitters by Julie Danneberg and Judy Love: Follow Sarah Jane as she starts at a new school and faces all kinds of nervous jitters about her first day!

Countdown to Kindergarten by Alison McGhee and Harry Bliss: With 10 days until the start of kindergarten, a little girl faces pre-kindergarten anxiety, fueled by some crazy things she heard from a first grader.

Miss Bindergarten Gets Ready for Kindergarten by Joseph Slate and Ashley Wolff: This book, from a fun series about Miss Bingergarten, follows the teacher as she prepares the classroom for her students, and the students as they get ready for the day!

I Love You All Day Long by Francesca Rusackas and Priscilla Burris: When Owen is nervous about kindergarten, Owen’s mom promises to love him all day long until he returns home again in this sweet, illustrated storybook.

Lookout Kindergarten, Here I Come by Nancy Carlson: Henry the mouse is so excited to start kindergarten, but gets nervous once he gets there. Everything works out though, and he has lots of fun and makes a few friends, too!

Hands-on Activities and Projects

There are other ways to prepare your kids for kindergarten apart from reading and writing practice! Here are some fun, hands-on activities to practice foundational skills such as counting, shape matching, alphabet identification, fine motor skills, and more.

M&M Sorting: This is a fun activity with a sweet reward! Practice counting and organization skills by dumping a pack of M&M’s (or any multi-colored candy) on a plate. Have your child organize them by color, then count how many there are of each color.

Play-Doh Letters: Using your favorite color of play-doh, form letters of the alphabet and then practice the sound it makes. Spell out single letters, short words, or their name in different colors! You can also use this activity for shape recognition.

Baking Activity: Though your kid may be too young for measurements, having them in the kitchen while you bake together can help them understand how counting and reading are used. It is also great for practicing fine motor skills, patience, and following directions.

Cardboard Shape Matching: Using a piece of cardboard or a cardboard box, cut basic shapes out of one side (you can use multiple sides if using a box). Using the scraps of cardboard, paint them different colors (or use construction paper and glue). Then have kids match the colored shape to the right cut-out!

There is a lot you can do to prepare your child for kindergarten, including a mix of reading-aloud, educational activity books, and hands-on activities. Preparing your child for kindergarten is about giving them beginning practice with letters, counting, following directions and most importantly, being flexible in a new environment.

For more information and help preparing your child for kindergarten, check out these articles.

Kindergarten Readiness Checklist

5 activities to get active boys and girls ready for kindergarten

10 Tips for Teaching Kindergarten at Home

Christine Wooler has experience working with children as a youth soccer coach and summer camp counselor. She is currently studying English Literature and journalism in college. She enjoys exploring educational topics that help students have fun while learning.

Are you noticing your kids or students making the same simple grammar mistakes over and over? Correcting common grammar mistakes early in kids’ writing careers is a vital part of building a strong writing foundation and improving writing fluency.

Here are the top 10 most common mistakes kids make in grammar and some ideas to improve them:

1) They’re, Their, There

These three words are homophones, meaning they sound the same but are spelled differently and have different meanings and purposes.

• They’re is a contraction of they are. When teaching “they’re,” have students expand the contraction to check if it makes sense in a sentence.
• Their is a possessive. Have students ask themselves who owns the object of the sentence to see if “their” is the right word to use. (Ex: It’s their car. Whose car is that? Theirs.)
• There is usually used as a noun or adjective. The easiest way to remember this one is to use it in describing placement. (Ex: There is my car. My cup is there).

Frequent and focused practice is the best way to help children learn these rules. Write practice sentences for your students, some using the correct homophone and some the incorrect one, and have your students identify the incorrect ones and change them to the correct ones.

2) You’re and Your

These two words are another example of homophone but are a bit easier to remember which one is which.

• You’re is a contraction of you are. Similar to “they’re,” practice this homophone by using its expanded form until students are comfortable with its use.
• Your is a possessive. Students can use the process of elimination to determine if  “your” is the correct homonym, or by remembering “Your does not possess an apostrophe or extra letter.”

A fun way to practice these is to make up silly sentences like “You’re blue bike/Your blue bike” and have students pick the correct one. It’s okay to expand the contraction as they’re learning!

3) Then and Than

Not quite homophones, but this word pairing is also tricky for students to understand.

• Then is often used to talk about time. Students can remember that “then” is used for time because there is a “t” and “e” in both words. There is no “e” in “than.”
• Than is used to compare two things. Exaggerate the “a” sound when teaching this so children can better differentiate the two.

Have children write “than” and “then” on separate flashcards, two sides of a popsicle stick, or other materials. Read sentences aloud, leaving a blank where the correct word should go, and then have students hold up the right word.

You can make this activity easier by drawing a clock next to “then,” and a balance next to “than” to show comparison.

4) Lie and Lay

This is a common grammatical mistake made in all levels of writing!

• Lie is to recline, like when someone needs to lie down. Have students remember this by noting that “lie” and “recline” have similar sounds and letters.
• Lay is to place. There is an “a” is “lay,” just as there is in “place.”

Students can also remember these like this: “Lie” usually refers to one’s self or another person (lie = I). “Lay” is usually an action taken on another object, like to lay down a pencil (lay = a = another).

5) Who and Whom

This is another pairing of words that kids find hard to understand, but there is a simple replacement trick to determine which is which.

• Who is often the subject of a verb. If it can be replaced with “he,” “she,” or “they” in a sentence (Who wants ice cream? / She wants ice cream), use “who.”
• Whom is usually the object of a verb. If it can be replaced with “him,” “her,” “them,” or an object (The letter was addressed to whom? / The letter was addressed to him), use whom.

“Whom” is largely ignored in casual speech or writing, meaning kids often don’t get the hang of it until later in their writing careers. If they can nail it down now, they will stand out in their academic efforts.

6) Two, To, and Too

This group is another set of homophones that trips kids up, but each has a very distinct purpose.

• Two is the written form of the number 2. Have students substitute 2 in the sentence to see if it makes sense, and if it does, use “two.” If they need help remembering which one is 2, note that “w” is pronounced “double-u.” Hopefully the double will remind them of the number.
• To is a preposition and usually indicates direction (I went to the store). Students most commonly mix up to and too.
• Too usually means also or additionally. Students can substitute “also” to test if it makes sense (You want to come to the store, also/too?). Note that there is an additional “o” at the end of too, emphasizing that this is the word that means in addition.

Another test to differentiate between “to” and “too” is to remove it from the sentence. If you remove “to” from a sentence, it likely won’t make sense, but if you remove “too” from the sentence, it won’t affect it.

• I want to go to the store to buy ice cream, too.

If you remove “to,” you get: I want go the store buy ice cream, too.
If you remove “too,” you get: I want to go to the store to buy ice cream.

7) Affect and Effect

There is a simple spelling trick students can use to remember which word means what in this case.

• Affect is the verb, meaning it is the action. Affect = action, both words start with an “a.” An example is: The rain affected our plans.
• Effect is the noun and is usually used to show the end result. Effect = end result; both words/phrases start with an “e.” An example is: The rain had an effect on our plans.

Remembering affect/action and effect/end result will help students know which one to use in a sentence.

8) I and Me

Knowing which version to use in a sentence can be decided by temporarily dropping other words in the sentence. For example: You and I want ice cream/You and me want ice cream. If you drop the “you and,” you get:

• I: I want ice cream. That sounds right!
• Me: Me want ice cream. That doesn’t sound correct.

Have students use that trick on any sentences where they aren’t sure if it’s “I” or “me,” and they’ll be able to figure out which one is correct.

9) It’s and Its

This is another simple mistake that can be solved really easily.

• It’s is the contraction of “it is.” Expand the contraction in the sentence to see if it makes sense.
• Its shows possession. Its does not possess an apostrophe.

10) Principal and Principle

This word duo can be differentiated with the pal trick.

• Principal is the head of a school or organization, and is a person. They can be your pal!
• Principle is an idea, truth, or theory. It is an abstract thing, and can’t be your pal.

Let us know how you remember these fundamental grammar rules!

For more grammar and language practice, check out these Evan-Moor essentials:

Skill Sharpeners Grammar and Punctuation is a full-color activity book that makes practicing grammar and punctuation fun! The game-like activities and stickers create positive learning experiences and give children important practice opportunities!

Download a free sampler unit of Skill Sharpeners Grammar and Punctuation here. 

Daily Language Review is available for grades 1–8 with short, daily lessons and activities. The lessons are easy to complete in 15 minutes or less and get children practicing grammar and language.

Download a free sampler unit of Daily Language Review here. 

Language Fundamentals is an in-depth language book that teaches the most common grade-level grammar and punctuation skills. Activities include visuals and practice pages for practice of grammar, vocabulary, spelling, and language rules.

Download a free sampler unit of Language Fundamentals here. 

Christine Wooler has experience working with children as a youth soccer coach and summer camp counselor. She is currently studying English Literature and journalism in college. She enjoys exploring educational topics that help students have fun while learning.

March 2 kicks off Read Across America, a week-long event that encourages reading instead of screen time.  To celebrate this event, teachers and parents are encouraging reading all week with special activities and read-alouds. Here are some fun ideas and book suggestions to incorporate into your week! 

How to Celebrate at School

• Encourage Reading of Any and All Books: Reading is a very personal thing. The books children choose may not be of interest to teachers or parents, but something in them has captured a child’s interest. Children need the ability to find joy in reading apart from AR scores, Lexile scores, page numbers etc. They will be far more likely to read as adults if they learn to enjoy the process of reading rather than see it as a chore. 
  
• Book Exchange: This can be a classroom or school-wide event, in which each student brings in a wrapped used book and exchanges it with a classmate. Or you can hold a used book sale and sell the donated books for 25 cents!
• Lunchtime Read-ins: Hold a read-in during lunch and challenge students to finish a chapter or a book they’re reading! Offer a reward to motivate students to do so, like a homework pass or a treat. 
• Special Read-Aloud Assembly: Hold a special assembly where the principal reads a book aloud to everyone. This is a great way to bring awareness to this event and encourage reading at home.
• No Screens for Ice Cream: This is a conjoined program that takes place at home, but it is rewarded at school. In exchange for students replacing screen time with reading and other activities, they will be rewarded with an ice cream party! In order to participate, students must refrain from watching TV or playing video games from Monday to Friday. Schools should send home a No Screens for Ice Cream parent permission slip on the Friday before the week you celebrate it and have students return the signed permission slip verifying their participation the next Friday.

How to Celebrate at Home

• No Screens for Ice Cream: Students can choose to quit technology (like TV, video games, etc.) Monday through Friday. It’s encouraged that other family members also participate (screens related to homework or work are okay). Once students succeed, they bring in a form signed by a parent and are rewarded with an ice cream party at school! Here are some ideas for non-screen activities:
  
  • Board games
  • Puzzles
  • Card games
  • Arts and crafts
  • Reading as a family or individually
• Make it a goal to read the recommended 10–30 minutes (based on your child’s age) per night for Read Across America week. If your child does it every night for the whole week, reward him or her with a special treat or activity! Hopefully this habit will carry into other weeks going forward as your child starts to read more!
• Have your child pick out a brand new or used book! This will be the initial motivation to read, but rewarding him or her based on chapters read, time spent reading, or completion of a book is a great idea to foster motivation.
• Read aloud! There is a famous quote from Emilie Buchwald that says, “Readers are made on the laps of their parents.” Choose a family book to read aloud before bed or purchase an audio book to listen to with your children. These experiences will expand your child’s imagination and develop language and listening skills beyond their abilities. 
• Create your own book! Use your imagination and creativity, and color pictures to go with the words!

Book Recommendations For Kids

30 Recommended Summer Reading Books Grades K–2

35 Best Summer Reading Books for Grades 3–6

For more book ideas, check out this themed book list! 

For more educational ideas and resources for grades PreK–8, subscribe to Evan-Moor’s free education newsletter.

Christine Wooler has experience working with children as a youth soccer coach and summer camp counselor. She is currently studying English Literature and journalism in college. She enjoys exploring educational topics that help students have fun while learning.

Students who struggle with writing have probably been deterred further by the transition to distanced or at-home learning. Though they may feel more discouraged or unmotivated at home, there are plenty of ways you can still promote creative writing skills, whether you’re the student’s teacher or parent! Here are some tips and strategies you can use to encourage reluctant writers!

5 Tips for At-Home Writing

1. Use Open-Ended Prompts
   Students who struggle with writing often don’t know what to write about, or have difficulty writing about things they aren’t interested in. Use prompts that allow students to write about what they are interested in so that they start to enjoy creative writing. Here are some examples:
   • Describe your ideal day off from school
   • I am proudest of…
   • If you had $20 to buy anything you want, what would you buy and why?
   • What I’m looking forward to most is…
   • If I could go back in time to one moment, I would go…
   • My favorite candy is ______ because ______…

2. 

   Voice Typing in Google Docs
   Google Docs has a feature called voice typing, or voice dictation, so that students who struggle with the writing process can more easily tell their story. This tool will help students with the narrative part of their writing and get them started in the process of creative writing.
    
3. Provide Templates for Students to Follow
   Some students struggle with the form or outline of their writing. While creative writing can take many shapes, each assignment students complete at home should be accompanied with a general template or outline for when students get stuck. This can be the different parts of a story, a shape guide for a poem, or just a guide for how to write.
   
   If you’re looking for writing templates, check out Paragraph Writing (grades 2–4). This workbook from Evan-Moor provides students with practice for all kinds of writing, including narrative, descriptive, compare and contrast, and more! The book uses writing templates of different forms, like outlines, information webs, and more!
4. Hold One-on-One Conferences or Shared Google Docs
   If students need some more one-on-one encouragement, set up separate Zoom meetings to go over the students’ work with them. If they work better individually, you can share a Google Doc with their work on it and make comments, suggestions, and notes.
   
5. Encourage Shorter Works of Writing
   Length can be especially daunting for struggling students. One option is to encourage them to write shorter assignments. Assign several short pieces of writing, such as stories, poems, one-page short responses, etc., and turn them into a portfolio at the end of the year! They can even write one long story, but a few pages or a chapter at a time.
    

5 Tips for Distance Learning Writing

1. 

   Group or Partner Writing
   Create a fun breakout room activity for distanced learning by assigning students to write with a partner. Students can collaborate on ideas and switch off writing sentences. This can make the writing process fun and may encourage shy students to enjoy writing when they have a partner to share their ideas with.
    
2. Play Mad Libs
   If you’ve ever played mad libs, you know it can really fun to pick random words and see how the story turns out! Do this in distance learning, either as a class or individually. You can also pick 5–10 words that students must use in their writing and see what kind of stories they create on their own!
   
   
3. Rewrite Popular Stories
   To give students somewhere to start, assign each of them a popular story, such as a nursery rhyme, real-life event, etc. and have them rewrite it in their own way. For example, have them rewrite “Goldilocks and the Three Bears” with the roles reversed, or if Goldilocks decided she didn’t want any porridge. Students will have a strong foundation for their writing if they have somewhere to start and can focus on the creativity part rather than the writing. Some other fun stories to rewrite are:
   • The True Story of the Three Little Pigs by Jon Scieszka and Lane Smith
      
     
     
   • Click Clack Moo Cows That Type by Doreen Cronin
      
4. Teach All Parts of the Writing Process
   Rather than focusing on the grammatical, editing, or writing aspects of creative writing, guide students through the entire process. Introduce one new skill a day so students have the opportunity to tackle each small component of the writing process without feeling overwhelmed. Begin with:
   • Brainstorm in partners or as a group to help children foster ideas
   • Introduce the concept of a “hook,” or thesis statement (depending on the writing assignment)
   • Drafting: give plenty of time for students to write their body
   • Write a strong conclusion
   • Revise and edit: have students re-read and edit their writing in partners
5. Picture Writing Prompts
   Use a picture or multiple pictures as story starters, which is especially helpful for students who are visual learners. You can also have students write a story and then illustrate it themselves after they’re done.

Check out Picture Writing Prompts for Sequencing for Grades 2–4 for free picture prompts and tips.

Other Tips:

1. Assign a weekly diary that is graded on completion rather than substance, so that students get into the habit of writing. They can write about anything they want, as long as they’re writing! Have them decorate their diary or notebook.
2. Provide seasonal writing prompts to keep creative writing fun and festive!
   
   • Winter writing prompts
      
   • Spring writing prompts
      
   • Fall writing prompts
      
3. Include cross-curricular writing opportunities so students who excel in science, math, and art learn how writing can apply to their strengths and interests.

All of these tips will help students become stronger writers and hopefully enjoy the writing process more. The most important thing is that students write about what interests them and what they know, so foster these values to encourage young writers!

For more writing tips, check out: Writing Fabulous Sentences and Paragraphs: How to Teach Beginning Writing.

Christine Wooler has experience working with children as a youth soccer coach and summer camp counselor. She is currently studying English Literature and journalism in college. She enjoys exploring educational topics that help students have fun while learning.

Prepositions, despite seeming confusing and complex to students, are actually some of the most commonly used words in the English language and are an important steppingstone in developing students’ descriptive writing!

Prepositions have a lot of different functions, such as describing movement, time, place, manner, means, or possession. Prepositional phrases expand the job of prepositions into modifying verbs, nouns, or adjectives in greater detail. Once students understand the function and importance of prepositions and prepositional phrases, their writing fluency will increase, and they’ll be able to write more descriptively and in more detail.

Examples of Prepositions
The basic prepositions that we use most often are:

• to
• of
• in
• for
• on
• with
• at
• by
• from
• above

The main function of these prepositions is to show the relationship between two words in a sentence. For example:

• The table by the window. By, in this sentence, describes the table in relation to the window. It connects the window and the table and adds direction and detail to the sentence.

The words listed above are used in many of our sentences without us realizing it. Notice how many prepositions are used in the previous sentence! They’re everywhere in our language, but how do we teach that to students? Check out some of the activities below.

Beginning Prepositional Phrases

A prepositional phrase is a preposition followed by a noun, pronoun, or noun group. Some examples of this are:

• I went to the store. “To” is the preposition, and “to the store” is the prepositional phrase.

In addition to the prepositions listed above, some other beginning prepositions are:

• across
• behind
• below
• beneath
• near

These prepositions describe position and movement, which is an easy way for students to remember them.

• The plane is below the clouds.
• The river is beneath the bridge.

Evan-Moor’s Language Fundamentals (grades 1–6) is a resource that focuses on teaching the basics of the English language, such as nouns, pronouns, adjectives, and prepositions! Using practice pages, students will learn about each concept and then put it to practice.

Here are some examples of the beginning preposition workbook pages:

Download this free introduction to prepositions worksheet from Language Fundamentals.

Advanced Prepositional Phrases

There are other prepositions that can sometimes be more difficult for students to remember. Though they are more advanced, they still function the same as beginning prepositions and serve similar purposes like movement, means, or manner. Here are some examples:

• against
• according
• between
• during
• except
• past
• since
• through
• toward

More advanced prepositions also sometimes use multiple prepositions in one phrase. This is called a complex prepositional phrase. For example:

• The store is across from the gas station.
• According to the news, it will snow today.

There are also adjectival and adverbial prepositional phrases, which use nouns, prepositions, objects, and adjectives to add more detail and description to a sentence. Here is an example:

• The car across the street is purple.

The car is the noun, across the street is the prepositional phrase, and purple is the adjective. Prepositions are often used in a sentence like this to help modify nouns.

Language Fundamentals also covers more advanced prepositions, as well as adjectival and adverbial prepositional phrases. Here are some examples of the lessons students use to practice advanced prepositions:

5 Hands-on Preposition Activities

In addition to worksheets and practice sentences, there are many hands-on activities to help students understand prepositions! These can be done in the classroom, at home, or during online learning!

Simon Says Prepositions Game

• Each student needs a cup (plastic or one from home) and a small toy, like a car or plastic bear.
• Using directional prepositional phrases (below, next to, under, on top of, etc.) call out commands Simon Says style.
• For example: “Simon Says the toy is behind the cup.” Students must follow suit until you have a winner!
• You can also practice writing sentences by having students place the toy and then write a sentence describing its position.

Preposition Scavenger Hunt

• Hide an object in the classroom or at home, then give clues (or have your students give you clues), but they can only use prepositions.
• For example: The object is under the desk. The desk is next to the window.
• Challenge your students to give descriptive clues or make it a rule that the searchers can’t move unless they get a clue. This activity is fun for students and practices prepositional phrases.

Preposition Pictionary

• All you need for this simple and fun activity is drawing paper and pens or a whiteboard and markers.
• Read a prepositional phrase, like “The dog is next to the cat.”
• Have students draw the picture to match the sentence.
• Now reverse it! Draw a picture for the class, like a car on top of a bridge.
• Students must write a sentence describing the picture!

Preposition Board Games

• Adapt one of your favorite board games to use prepositions for movement! This can be done with a variety of board games, but the easiest may be Candy Land.
• Instead of pulling color block cards for movement, write a series of cards that have directional prepositions on them (before, after, between, in front of, behind, across, below, above).
• Students will pull a preposition card, for example, behind, and then a color card! If they pull behind and purple, they move to whatever color is behind the nearest purple. If they pull a between card, they pull two color cards and move to a space between those two cards.

Square Movement Game

• Using an outdoor space (this is a great activity for in-person, distanced learning) mark out squares using tape or chalk. Model it after a chess or checkerboard.
• Have students each pick a square.
• Call out prepositional commands, for example: Move to the square in front of you! Skip to the square across from you.
• To make this more fun and active, label each square with an exercise, like jumping jacks, star jumps, or toe touches.

Using the activities, workbooks, and resources provided, prepositions can be easy and fun for students. Mastering prepositions is the next step in improving writing fluency and allows students to be more descriptive in their writing for all subjects!

For more grammar and punctuation tips check out: How to Teach Grammar and Punctuation: Commas.

Christine Wooler has experience working with children as a youth soccer coach and summer camp counselor. She is currently studying English Literature and journalism in college. She enjoys exploring educational topics that help students have fun while learning.

When you have made the decision to homeschool your child(ren), it certainly comes with many emotions, including feeling excited, nervous, happy, and possibly, overwhelmed. You get to be an integral part of your children’s learning, and most importantly, decide what lessons are taught and what materials will be used. But, if you’re thinking about homeschooling or new to homeschooling, you may need some tips on how to get started in the homeschool process.

Begin with my How to Homeschool: 5 STEPS to Get Started Homeschooling series that will help you determine the fundamental steps: what to teach, how to choose a homeschool curriculum, how to plan your schedule at home, and how to organize your homeschool space.

How to Homeschool: 5 Steps to Get Started Homeschooling – Step 1: What do I Teach My Child?

Your homeschooling journey likely begins with one question: What do I teach my child? This blog will answer that question and continue to guide you through your journey to becoming a homeschooler! We will address state laws, educational philosophies and recognizing your child’s strengths and weaknesses.

How to Homeschool: 5 Steps to Get Started Homeschooling – Step 2: Choosing a Homeschool curriculum

How to choose a homeschool curriculum that meets your family’s needs and provides a strong educational foundation is a common question from beginning homeschoolers. This article will walk you through how to build a homeschool curriculum, discover your child’s learning style, and manage your time.

How to Homeschool: 5 Steps to Get Started Homeschooling – Step 3: Creating a Homeschool Schedule

Creating a homeschool schedule that works for your family is one of the most important aspects of a successful homeschool year. The easiest way to start crafting your homeschool schedule is to outline your current daily schedule and create a homeschool curriculum that fits into it.

How to Homeschool: 5 Steps to Get Started Homeschooling – Step 4: Homeschool Organization

This is one of the most exciting topics in this homeschool series: creating and organizing your homeschool space! Here are a few tips on how to efficiently organize your space that are all about location, location, location!

How to Homeschool: 5 Steps to Get Started Homeschooling – Step 5: How to Plan Your Year

To wrap up our beginning homeschooling journey, let’s talk about planning your year! Here are a few tips on how to efficiently plan your homeschool year that include curriculum planning, homeschool communities and year around homeschool options.

Learn about all five steps to get started homeschooling in the How to Homeschool video series. I wish you all the best in your homeschool journey! Feel free to leave a comment if you have any questions.

Amy Michaels is a former teacher turned homeschooler. She creates fun learning activities based on popular children’s books. Connect with her at BookBrilliantKids.com.

Welcome to the last blog in this 5-step series! To wrap up our beginning homeschooling journey, let’s talk about planning your year!

Now, I’m the first one to confess that it feels really nice to use that shiny new homeschool planner and plan out the whole year in one sitting, but most of the time we don’t follow that plan to the T. Then if you stray from that “master plan,” it’s easy to get stressed about falling behind. Here are a few tips on how to efficiently plan your homeschool year:

Plan 1–3 months at a time

Veteran homeschoolers will tell you to plan for one to three months at a time. I know that goes against our initial instinct to have everything planned out…but life happens, and sometimes kids work faster than expected, sometimes they need more time, or maybe something unavoidable comes up and you have to move some things around.

When we plan 1–3 months at a time, it gives us an opportunity to reevaluate and make sure the pacing is realistic for our children for each subject (this is something that may change year to year or even month to month). Reevaluating consistently is the advantage of having a flexible schedule!

How many subjects can you fit in a week?

I briefly mentioned in Step 3 about how to alternate subjects within homeschool schedules to avoid cramming every subject in every week. For example, you can do a month of science, then a month of social studies, and so on to create a rotating schedule.

There are so many subject areas we can cover in homeschooling, but honestly there just aren’t enough hours in the day to teach our kids everything we want them to learn.

What we recommend is called a loop or rotation schedule. This is where you have a list of subjects or extracurricular activities and you rotate through the list by having a specific time slot in your schedule for that rotating subject. For example, you could do a week of music appreciation, then art appreciation, then physical education, and then critical/creative thinking or problem solving.

When you’ve completed your list, you go back to the top and work through the list again using different activities from your curriculum resources. This type of schedule keeps things fresh and fun and also allows you to cover a lot of material throughout the year.

Join homeschool classes and communities

Another great way to plan ahead for your homeschool year is by joining homeschool groups! Whether they’re local or online, they’re great for inspiring ideas or providing tips for other homeschoolers.

Homeschool groups are typically run by volunteer homeschoolers just like you! They often have fun events or lessons to incorporate into unit studies or around seasonal events for homeschoolers.

You can also look into doing homeschool co-ops! Sometimes, co-ops teach certain subjects that you don’t want to teach your child or your child may be really interested in and are beyond your curriculum.

Lastly, consider homeschool classes! These are usually offered either locally or online and can teach or enrich certain subjects. It’s a great option for teaching subjects you aren’t comfortable with or excited to teach yourself.

Homeschooling year round

One last suggestion for planning your year is schooling year round. We’ve experimented with it in the past, and my kids actually prefer it! They like having shorter school days, but it also keeps us in that rhythm and provides structure to our weeks all year long. My kids want to keep learning about the things they enjoy studying, and it allows them to keep pursuing projects that they’re interested in learning about.

Year-round homeschool doesn’t work for everyone, but it is an option worth considering. Just remember to plan for some breaks!

In these 5 steps to getting started homeschooling, we’ve discussed how to:

• Know what to teach your kids,
• Choose a homeschool curriculum,
• Create your homeschool schedule,
• Organize your homeschool space, and
• Plan ahead for your homeschool year.

I hope you found these blogs and videos helpful! If you have any other questions about homeschooling, please leave them in the comments below; we would really love to hear from you! Though our beginning homeschool guide has ended, your journey has just begun! Good luck and thanks for reading!

Learn about all five steps to getting started homeschooling in the How to Homeschool video series.

Amy Michaels is a former teacher turned homeschooler. She creates fun learning activities based on popular children’s books. Connect with her at BookBrilliantKids.com.

Welcome to Step 4 in our 5-part blog and video series on How to Homeschool! In this blog we will be talking about one of the most fun topics in the series: creating and organizing your homeschool space! This one is especially fun to research on Pinterest to find all the creative ways homeschoolers are making homeschool organization affordable and easy by using what they have, but here are a few tips on how to efficiently organize your space that are all about location, location, location!

Whether your homeschool space is a room, shelf, cabinet, or a collection of boxes, it’s helpful to keep all of your materials in one area, or in the place they’ll be used during homeschool.

Tip #1: Keep materials in one place

Wherever you keep your homeschool materials, whether it’s in your homeschool space or somewhere else in your house, it should be a location convenient for both you and your kids. If the kids can get their materials on their own, it will save time and encourage independence.

Tip #2: Decide where to homeschool

Also consider where each of your children work best when organizing your homeschool space. Your children may prefer sitting at a table, standing at a countertop, or lying on the floor with their materials. Some kids prefer a quiet space, while others like having background noise or music.

Think about what will work best for your children when you’re setting up that space, whether it’s at your kitchen table or in an extra room. If you read Step 3: Creating a Homeschool Schedule, you know that sometimes it’s productive to alternate between group work, teaching time, and independent practice.

This can be tied into your homeschool space, as well; for example, starting as a group at the table and then letting the children go to their separate work spaces for independent work time, especially if they require a different learning environment.

One of my daughters needs a very quiet space when she does math, so we do our group lesson together, and then she goes and does her math in another room.

Tip #3: Bookmarking location in curriculum

This last tip is how to save time (and I’m sure we all like those, right?).

As kids are working through a few curriculum resources at a time, it’s super helpful to use a checklist of the assignments or lessons as a bookmark! Just fold a piece of paper in half lengthwise and write down a list of each chapter, lesson, or assignment in that book. The kids will learn to track their own progress, saving time and encouraging independent work.

Another homeschool secret? That checklist helps the kids feel a sense of success and accomplishment as they check off each completed lesson, motivating them to keep going as they visually see their progress.

If you have any homeschool organization tips, feel free to share them in the comments! We’d love to see your best tips and tricks.

Learn how to choose a homeschool curriculum in Step 5: How to Homeschool: How to Plan Your Year 

Learn about all five steps to get started homeschooling in the How to Homeschool video series.

Amy Michaels is a former teacher turned homeschooler. She creates fun learning activities based on popular children’s books. Connect with her at BookBrilliantKids.com.

What is your family’s typical daily schedule?

The easiest way to start crafting your homeschool schedule is to outline your current family schedule. You know your family’s schedule better than anyone, so ask yourself these simple questions:

• What is a realistic time to start your homeschool lessons without having to rush or make anyone anxious?
• When do you and the kids usually get hungry for a snack or lunch? This is the ideal time to take a quick break.
• What the time of the day do you and the kids need to be finished? When everyone gets a little burnt out, the kids need time to run around outside, and learning time is done…

Your homeschool schedule is going to vary from other families’ schedules, as each one is dependent on their life situation, how many children they’re homeschooling, and what age their children are! Starting with an outline of your family situation will help you create a natural flow for your homeschooling schedule.

Answering these questions will also help provide a framework for how many subjects and lessons you can fit into the day. The next step is planning for breaks that are necessary for every homeschool parent and child.

Optimizing teaching time

Another common question is how to optimize teaching time when homeschooling multiple kids. If you are homeschooling multiple kids, try alternating independent work with teaching time! Integrating this into your schedule can help optimize teaching time and balance multiple kids who may be in different grade levels.

For example, have your older child work independently while you teach a lesson to your younger child. Then, while your younger child does work or practices independently, you can teach a lesson to your older child.

You can also use group lessons as a way to teach multiple children at a time, by adjusting the grade level and practice for each child.

How many hours do you homeschool a day?

This is another big question when you’re creating your homeschool schedule, and depends on a couple of factors:

1. The laws in your area, which we discussed in Step 1. There may be state or local laws that determine how many hours you must homeschool a day, so make sure you check those first!
2. Your kids’ attention span! Pay attention to this so you can balance academics with other activities.

Sometimes kids love homeschool learning, and would rather spend more time doing lessons and academic activity. For other kids, their homeschool day is something they like to speed through so they can work on other projects. These independent activities should be encouraged – they usually involve learning skills like creating or building things, solving problems, or using strategies to play games.

A learning balance is important so kids feel successful rather than overwhelmed by their academics.

How many subjects do I teach?

Another common question most homeschoolers have is how many subjects to teach at a time. It’s important to consider both:

1. State or local laws (may require a certain amount of subjects taught, or which specific subjects you include).
2. You and your family’s daily schedule, which will determine how much time you homeschool a day, and therefore how many subjects you can realistically include.

How many subjects you include per school year or even per day will vary from family to family. It’s very common to start with reading, writing, and math, and then rotate through other subjects. Since there’s not enough time to do all subjects every week, you can do a month of science, then a month of social studies, or maybe a music unit followed by an art unit.

Rotating through different areas that are important to you and your child’s education helps bring balance into your homeschooling schedule.

Veteran tip: Adjust your schedule!

Whatever schedule you create for your homeschooled kids, try it out for a week or so and see if it works. Keep track of what works and what doesn’t and make adjustments at the end of the week.

Oftentimes, it takes close to a month of making small changes and adjustments to find the schedule that works for you! Give yourself some flexibility as you make changes, and remember that as life changes, homeschool schedules will, too!

Learn how to choose a homeschool curriculum in step 4: How to Homeschool: Homeschool Organization

Learn about all five steps to get started homeschooling in the How to Homeschool video series.

Amy Michaels is a former teacher turned homeschooler. She creates fun learning activities based on popular children’s books. Connect with her at BookBrilliantKids.com.

Welcome to the next step in how to start homeschooling!

In our last blog we covered Step 1, which answered the question: what to teach your children? Now, we are going to discuss how to choose a homeschool curriculum that meets your family’s needs and provides a strong educational foundation!

This is a really common question from beginning homeschoolers, especially concerning specific curriculum for each subject area per grade level. There are a lot of great options out there that offer specific curriculum, but I’m going to walk you through how to choose your curriculum so it best fits your homeschooling.

Build a foundation: Reading, writing, and math

When choosing what to include in your curriculum, I highly recommend you start with reading, writing, and math. These three basic subjects create a strong foundation for your at-home curriculum, and can help you kickstart your curriculum building process.

After you have these three subjects, you can pick and choose other areas depending on you and your child’s needs. Once you have your foundation, it’s also easier to select subjects areas that will build from your basic curriculum, tying it all together! You can add as many as your family schedule allows; how to schedule and organize your homeschool will be discussed in Step 3!

What is your child’s learning style?

Now that you have some subject areas in mind, it’s important to consider how your child learns best when choosing a curriculum. Every child learns differently, and probably has a way that they prefer to learn material. Determining how they learn best will help you choose a curriculum that fits best for your child and their unique learning style.

A few different ways your child may like to learn are:

• Workbook pages
• Hands-on activities
• Online learning

Your child may learn best using one of these or a combination! Try to find a curriculum that matches this learning style, but remember that it doesn’t have to be a perfect match. For example, your chosen curriculum might use workbook pages, so include hands-on activities to supplement your child’s learning.

Time management

A third consideration is how much time you and your child need to prepare, teach, and complete homeschool assignments. Depending on what your circumstances are, you may want a curriculum resource that offers no-prep activities, which require no preparations for each lesson or activity.

Knowing your family’s needs will be extremely helpful in choosing a resource that is optimal for your homeschool experience and curriculum.

Veteran Tip: Involve your child in choosing your curriculum

Here’s another tip from a veteran homeschooler: find a curriculum that is exciting for both you and your child! If both of you are excited and interested in the curriculum style and content, the learning process will be that much more enjoyable!

Get your kids involved by asking their opinion on the layout of workbook pages, learning activities, and types of assignment in the curriculum. It will get them invested in their own education and will help with the build-your-own-curriculum process.

Learn how to choose a homeschool curriculum in step 3: How to Homeschool: Homeschool Schedules 

Learn about all five steps to get started homeschooling in the How to Homeschool video series.

Amy Michaels is a former teacher turned homeschooler. She creates fun learning activities based on popular children’s books. Connect with her at BookBrilliantKids.com.