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Getting to Know Patty

My family is… full of crazy monkey’s! We have 4 kids aged 5 (almost) to 13. My husband and I have been married for 15 years. We have recently settled in Idaho after moving all over the world with the Navy. Name 5 homeschool products you cannot live without. 1. Homeschool Tracker Plus 2. Workboxes–fabulous for...

To Test or Not to Test . . . Is this really THE question?

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Before I begin I must start out with a confession! I have been anti-test since the beginning. I feel that the government has taken the “standardized” test and twisted it to the point that it is no longer a useful tool. It has become a yardstick to measure how much money a school is granted. And this has turned into...

Writing Workshop at Home: Get to it!

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For the last portion of the Writing Workshop at Home we are going to go over the last parts of the work shop—elaboration, revision, proofreading and editing. Elaboration: “There is just something missing” you think to yourself. And that’s exactly where elaboration comes in. It’s filling up that hole...

Writer’s Workshop at Home: Get Set!

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In my last article, I began explaining how to do a writer’s workshop at home. I introduced the 2 notebook concept, but only explained the first notebook. This month, I will explain the second notebook and add to the use of the first. For this section of the writer’s workshop you will need the first composition...

Letting Them Choose

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With so many different subjects to cover it is hard to know where to focus a fine arts study. Focusing on the great painters will leave little time for the great composers. Likewise, focusing on photography may leave architecture hanging on a beam. Choosing ballet may leave a child too tired to also take up theatre. There is...

Writer’s Workshop at Home: Get Ready!

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I love writing. I’m sure that’s not that much of a surprise since I write articles, I have a blog, and I can’t seem to tell my fingers to just quit. Once I get on a topic, I have a tough time just letting it go. But my affliction does not seem to affect my children. In fact, writing even one sentence seems to...

Organizing Your Way

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There are so many wonderful organization tools available today that it is really hard to pick one method that suits your every need. This has become especially true when it comes to Homeschooling. Not only does every family need their own way of doing things but often times, every child needs their own unique twist as well....

A Chosen Path

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When mothers first began homeschooling their children there were few if any options. Each mother had to do extensive research. They had to not only find information to share with their children, they had to figure out just how to teach it so that their children could benefit from it. There were no philosophies, no ideals, no...

A Lesson Learned

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There are so many lessons that we must teach our children that we sometimes get overwhelmed and often by just those that fall under the label academics. But these aren’t the only “must-do lessons” that haunt our every waking moment. There are lessons in manners, character, values, life-lessons, and spur of the...

Look First, Learn First

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You know there are times when we wish to really bury the past. It haunts us, reminds us of what was, and terrifies us of what could be. And it colors everything we do, because it dictates who we are and what we have become. For me, my past placed a deep shadow on the subject of reading. I have a mild case of Dyslexia,...