We are living in a time where STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Math) education is gaining in popularity.

Many exciting and innovative career choices will centre around STEM subject areas which, as homeschoolers, we have an opportunity to provide our children with in a more real life way.

I am excited to share a new user friendly CAD (Computer Aided Design) program that we can teach our kids!

Effective How To STEM Projects

Learn Onshape is a company dedicated to teaching online 3D design projects to anyone interested with a special interest in also helping families and kids learn this real life program application!

It is one thing to learn STEM projects, but as homeschoolers we understand the amazing and magical growth which can happen when we teach from real life experiences; and Learn Onshape knows this too!

Learn Onshape has released the first in many videos on “How to Set Up Your Free Onshape Account” which you will need in order to learn and complete the exciting project he has lined up for us very soon!

Or download this Getting Started pdf to help you set up your Free Onshape Account.

To stay informed of all the inspiring content Learn Onshape will be offering, you will definitely want to sign up for their newsletter!

Pop over and do that now:  https://www.LearnOnshape.com/Sign-Up

Here’s a sneak peak of the first project!

What kind of 3D designs do your kids want to build?

Questions about curriculum are some of the most common, perhaps even running neck-and-neck with the ‘socialization’ question.

A vast array of amazing curriculum  exists to support you in this journey, no matter what method(s) you use or special needs you may need to address.

We have options!

In fact, it can sometimes feel like there are too many choices and you can feel overwhelmed.

Homeschool Curriculum

 (Remember the first homeschool convention you went to and the vendor hall? There is a lot!)

You don’t have to feel paralyzed when it comes to sorting through and choosing your curriculum.

Take Action

• Grab your pencil and notepad – Make a Pro/Con list

• Ask for sample lessons

• Ask fellow homeschool families what they use

Once you discover some of what is available to you and you start to browse and research, it can help if you keep these things in mind.

 Be Mindful of:

• Who is it for

• What is their learning style

• Will the curriculum support their learning style

• Will it span the ages of your children, or do you care if it does

• Will it help you achieve your end goal for your child(ren)

• Can you photocopy pages for use within your own family (check with publisher) “Homeschoolers Honor Copyright” (from iHomeschool Network)

• How will it fit into your schedule

• Can you easily adapt lessons for more than one child

• Is it available as a download

• Will it support your method of homeschooling  “8 Homeschooling Methods“

• Will this help fuel the love of learning within your children

• Do you even need a curriculum to educate your child that particular subject

Truth is, as homeschool parents we can have many different levels of feeling overwhelmed when it comes to choosing curriculum for our children.

We can feel both blessed and cursed by the sea of books available to choose from.  One of the most common questions I hear about curriculum is:

“What if it doesn’t work, what if I buy it and never really use it?”

And you know what?  We have all been there, and done that!

From those who unschool to those who follow a more aligned path (meaning very much like the curriculum of local schools) we have all bought something we thought would be great, which turned out to sit on the shelf.

We have all held onto those resources and tried it with all our children, some of us get to finally use it and some of us end up writing it off completely.

As much as we plan we also have to be ready for the detours and sideroads.  

A purchased curriculum which turns out not to be exactly what you needed doesn’t always have to be tossed aside.  Instead you can adapt the lessons or at minimum use them as a guide to help plan a study.  You can then head out to the library for books,  find some hands on activities, or search for some YouTube videos to support what you are teaching.  

Remember

• Break down your subjects and your goals for each child within that subject

• Get to know your child’s strengths and weaknesses

• Foster a love of learning

• Support your child’s curiosity, creativity and intelligence

• Have fun and be flexible

Homeschooling is not a contest, it is not a race and there are no “curriculum police“.

You are blessed with the freedom to choose, adapt and change if necessary.

Tip for Choosing Homeschool Curriculum

For a peek into what we have been reading or using check out my  Reading List page; Resources page; and my STEM Resources page.

Ok, your turn…

Share 1 tip about choosing curriculum to help encourage and support your fellow homeschooler!

There is a time for pen to paper and copying out words, but what if we could make it more fun?

What if we could get our brains firing and connecting more efficiently?

Spelling Help

Well we can!

We can make spelling fun and we can improve our brain function at the same time.

(In this post I am not going to cover too much about the brain part of things as that is a whole series of  different posts. 

I will, however, offer you a few examples of what we do in our home to get those spelling and vocabulary words to stick!)

Supplies You Will Need

•  Dry Erase Markers

•  Dry Erase Board (preferably with ability to adjust height)

•  A Large Window or Mirror (this will work if you do not have dry erase board)

•  Chalk and a chalkboard will work too (again adjustable height if possible)

The Fun Part!

1. Have your list of words (start with 5 words, use 1 word per day, or even just 1 word for the week)

2. Decide the order of words to be studied

3. Have your child stand nice and square to the dry erase board looking straight ahead, holding marker. (Note where their fingers are on marker, you don’t want their grip to be too close to tip, this will block their view)

4. With your finger, point to each corner of their back; as if to mark all the corners of a page. (Each shoulder blade and each side of waist, for instance)

5. Have them take a deep breath, to be relaxed and ready to go (note: relaxed but not sluggish)
   

6. With your finger tip draw the first letter on their back, and then have them print it on the board. If they are incorrect, have them erase it, remind them to clear their mind and draw it on their back once again.

7. Continue in this way until the word is spelled correctly.

8. Number each letter up above.  i.e. walk is four letters, the w will have a 1 over it, the a will have a 2 over it…etc. (this is a bit of organisation which will help them to truly learn each word)

Working through your spelling list this way can be a lot more fun for everyone!

Will you have to set aside a bit of extra time to do it?

  Yes… but you can choose to do it once per week if you want.  Or you may want to do this on Monday as an intro to their word list, then have them do their regular spelling T/W/Th and then do this fun approach again on Friday as review?

If you take the time to do this with each of your children, they will reap the benefits!  Once you have gone through this a few times your children could take turns and partner up with each other.  The ones who are drawing the letters on the back will benefit just as much as the child having to write out the word.

We even do this with our youngest, it is a great way to get those alphabet letters going!  They can just verbally tell you which letter you drew, or they can also take a turn at the dry erase board.  Once they get the hang of it, there is no reason to not start with some small words.  They don’t even have to know they are spelling.

You could draw three letters… CAT.  Then after they have it written out in front of them you could say something like:  “Look, you just wrote cat!”

For my younger kids, I tend to not focus on the fact they are spelling…I just let them have fun with letters!

Go ahead and give this a try, be patient and see where it takes you!

  I’d also love to hear how it went!

If you like this post and want more ideas on how to make Spelling fun check out my other posts I wrote (they include and yoga ball and some letter tiles ):

• “Spelling Can Be F-U-N!”

• “More Spelling Fun – video”