Friday, March 13, 2015

Homeschool Learning Styles


How do you learn? How does your husband or wife learn? Do you know the homeschool learning styles of your student? Regardless of how you school, public, private, or homeschool, knowing how you and your child learn is crucial. If you are not teaching toward your child’s learning style, you are paddling up a swift running river. It can be done, but you will fight hard the whole way.

A simple learning styles inventory (test) will shed light on which styles are most dominant. Most people will have more than one learning style, but one will shine more than the others. Once you know your preferred learning style and the preferred learning style of your child, you can tailor your homeschool lessons to fit you both. It doesn’t matter if you are use eclectic homeschooling, traditional homeschooling, or unschooling, teaching and learning with learning styles in mind will make homeschooling easier and more productive.

Wednesday, February 18, 2015

Homeschool Science


Science is a favorite subject for many first graders. One reason science in elementary is so fun is because it can be very hands-on and it involves studying animals at one time or another. Who doesn’t love kitties and puppies?

There are great homeschool textbooks with super illustrations, but illustrations can only take you so far. Sometimes you just want to get your hands dirty. While first graders typically do not participate in elementary science fair projects, you totally can since you homeschool. Lots of homeschool co-ops and homeschool support groups offer science fairs that first graders can enter. This is a great opportunity for your child to shine and learn tons along the way. If there is not a science fair event in your local support groups or co-op, maybe you can be the pioneer and start one.

Monday, January 5, 2015

Alphabetical Order

You and your first grader have been working hard learning to spell words. Now it is time to teach your child about putting words in ABC order.

A good mix of worksheets, hands-on activities, and games work well to accomplish teaching alphabetizing. ABC games can be games you make up or online educational ABC games. Most first graders benefit from learning to alphabetize up to the second letter or third letter. If your child has a hard time, just teach them to go to the second letter for now. There is plenty of time to master this skill, and it is practiced each year in subsequent years in most elementary homeschool curriculum programs.