homeschool help

Homeschool Help: Typical Homeschooling Day

August 20, 2014 Leave a Comment

Since I don’t have a household helper, I typically wake up around 5:30 am to take our dog Charlie out for a walk. When we come back, I do chores like wash clothes, sweep the floor and prepare breakfast. The kids wake up around 7:00 am and we start off by 8:30 am.

The kids read their own Bibles and we study the Bible together using the curriculm. We then proceed to our next subject. Usually the kids work on their Math separately. I work with the little one first then go to my older one. We work on 1 lesson a day in Math since we do Math every day. Then they move on to their next subject. We take a break by 11:00 am and start with a read-aloud by 1 pm. Then we do the remaining subjects until 3:30 pm.

The subjets we do together are Bible, Science, Art and Music . We do History, Math, English, Filipino, and Social Studies separately. There are some subjects that we do daily like Bible and Math while the other subject gets done twice or thrice a week.

After 3:30 pm, the kids usually play or read books or do little projects. There are days that there are ballet classes, football training and once a week Bible study meeting so our schedules are tweaked on those days.

We don’t follow a very rigid schedule but we have a daily subject guide for us to follow.

Filed Under: homeschool help Tagged With: schedule

Homeschool Help: World History

August 16, 2014 Leave a Comment

Since my daughter started first grade a couple of years back, we have started studying world history. It is not a common thing here in the Philippines as I remember studying world history only during my high school years. But reading, studying and discussing world history with my daughter has given her a deeper appreciation of life, of the world and of God. I believe that it has shaped her world view that evil things happen, men can be evil but God is always good and faithful.

As I study history along with my children, I realized that the struggles of mankind hasn’t really changed over the years. The problems often start from man’s selfishness and sinfulness. The cycle of history often repeats itself throughout the generations because man didn’t learn the lessons from the past.

There are different world history books out there but we chose to use books which are written from a biblical perspective. I am sharing with you some of the world history books and curriculum which I think are worth checking out.

Mystery of History by Linda Hobar. Published by Bright Ideas Press, this history series has 4 volumes. It is written in chronological order and classical study style. It includes multi-age activities, book and video lists, memory helps, timeline suggestions, quizzes, and map work. We’ve used the first 2 volumes for the past 4 years and we’ve enjoyed reading through it.

Story of the World by Susan Wise Bauer. Published by Peace Hill Press, this series has 4 volumes. It is written in a straight forward and engaging style. It is also available as an e-book and audiobook. We’ve not yet used this series but have heard of good reviews.

Self-paced Online History by Veritas Press. This is an online video history curriculum and has 5 courses available. It is a fun and interactive history curriculum. My daughter has recently been using this and has helped her remember her lessons more.

Veritas Press Review

Studying world history expands one’s world view and understanding of the world. Moreso, it allows us to see the true state of mankind and what God has done for us. I have personally been enjoying history time with my children, and look forward to learning more with them!

Homeschool Help: Fun Math Enrichment Activities

August 11, 2014 Leave a Comment

Math is a subject where consistent practice is necessary to master the subject matter. Worksheets, workbooks and math labs provide my child the needed exercises to master the different areas of mathematics. But once in a while, we would do activities where math becomes a part of life.

Pretend play. Just recently, I asked my son to pretrend that he is selling books and we used play money to buy books from him. He enjoyed the role playing and giving us the change needed from every transaction. He had to add and add then subtract so he knows how much he needed to give us.

Board Games. We love playing board games together as it allows us to spend time with each other and do something together as a family without using any technology gadgets. There are several board games which helps my kids hone their math skills without them knowing it. Monopoly, Let’s Go Shopping, 7 Ate 9 and Math Bingo are some of the Math board games we use.

Baking and cooking. Preparing dishes uses math! I involve the kids while I prepare their lunch so they learn to apply measurements and fractions in preparing the ingredients. It is like hitting two birds with one stone as they also learn a basic life skill as they learn about baking and cooking.

Math doesn’t have to be just worksheets. Make Math fun and your kids will appreciate it better!

Filed Under: homeschool, homeschool help Tagged With: math help

Learning Cursive Writing

June 26, 2014 Leave a Comment

With the influx of modern technology, teaching cursive writing has taken a back seat. I acknowledge the importance of understanding how computers, mobile gadgets and keyboards work but I believe that learning cusrive writing is still an important art worth studying.

It has been noted that there are benefits to learning cursive writing which includes improvements in brain development in the areas of thinking, language and working memory. It is for this reason that I am still letting my kids learn cursive writing.

I have been searching the internet for free and realiable cursive alphabet writing guides and worksheets and I’m sharing the links that I’ve found:

http://www.confessionsofahomeschooler.com/blog/2012/10/a-z-cursive-handwriting-worksheets.html

http://www.k5learning.com/cursive-writing-worksheets/cursive-alphabet

http://www.k12reader.com/subject/cursive-handwriting/

http://donnayoung.org/penmanship/index.htm

I also found some free printable Bible verses for copywork and handwriting practice:

http://www.heartofwisdom.com/homeschoollinks/free-printable-bible-verses-for-handwriting-and-copywork/

http://www.biblestoryprintables.com/BibleCopywork.html#.U6ukxJSSySo

http://biblebasedhomeschooling.com/free-bible-copywork-resources/

Filed Under: homeschool, homeschool help Tagged With: cursive writing

Tools in Teaching Filipino

June 17, 2014 6 Comments

If your family is not speaking Filipino as your first language at home, teaching the Filipino subject can be quite challenging. The Filipino textbooks are not at all fun too. I’ve seen some materials which could help you as you teach Filipino to your kids.

> The Learning Lion Filipino Learning Sets. I’ve shared about Alpabasa products before so you can read more about it from my old post.

> Samut-Samot Worksheets. You can get different worksheets made by a Filipina mom who homeschooled her daughter for two consecutive years. The worksheets are designed for different grade levels.

> Schoolkid.PH. Schoolkid.Ph is an online resource for parents and educators of preschool & elementary school-age children. It offers free printable worksheets to be used as review or supplemental learning of the child.

>theGoMom Filipino Worksheets. The reviewers or worksheets are actually made by a Filipina mom for her own kids and she has decided to share it with others over at her blog.

>Learn Filipino thru MyLanguages.org There are audio sounds to some of the Filipino words that your child can listen to.

> Story books with English and Filipino translation. Adarna, Hiyas from OMF Literature and Lampara books.

Teaching Filipino doesn’t have to be a nightmare. Enjoy learning the national language with your kids and they will surely pick up the lessons even faster!

Filed Under: homeschool help Tagged With: Filipino