10 Things We’re Loving Right Now in our Homeschool
Now that we’re settled into our new school year I wanted to share a few things we’re currently enjoying…
T E N
This is my first year trying out this cute homeschool planner and I am loving it so much! I love the big weekly plan grid because it has so much room to fill in our plans for the week. Even more than that, I’ve found I’ve been using the weekly goals and notes pages the very most. This year I am embracing that checklists work really well for us and so this page has been super helpful for me to organize my own tasks. A few months ago I did a complete blog post on how I customized this planner which you can read here: Organizing My schoolnest Homeschool Planner.
N I N E
Checklists also work really well for my kids. They love having a good visual of what they need to do each day for their chores and schoolwork. This year we’ve been keeping their lists in dry erase sleeves and they use an ultra fine tipped Expo marker to check off what they’ve completed for the day. These are also super handy for worksheets that you want to re-use. I like these particular ones because they have a place to store the marker. (And, yes, these editable job and school charts are going to be available in my shop very soon!)
E I G H T
If you follow us over @homecenteredlearning on IG, you’ll know we just started reading the Wingfeather Saga. I have heard so many good things about this book so it’s one I was really excited about. My girls and I are about a quarter of the way through it now and we’re to the point where we don’t want to do anything else but read read read! If only we could read books all day every day!
S E V E N
During our read-alouds the kids new favorite thing to do is diamond painting. This is SUCH a great fine motor activity and it’s a big bonus it keeps their hands busy while I am reading. Last month we went through this entire set of little animal stickers so we just got a bunch of new sets. I got these larger and more challenging animal ones for my 10 year old girls, this Star Wars sticker set for my 6 year old son, and a little vehicle sticker set for my 4 year old (who is still hit or miss on this activity). Since apparently this is a new hobby of ours I also ordered a diamond painting storage box and, let me just say, it’s been a life changer! It’s been far less messy around here and so much easier for the older kids to manage. I would absolutely recommend it if you find yourself doing lots of diamond painting!
S I X
Last summer we started a read-aloud family journal and it’s quickly become one of my favorite things. I have been recording what the kids say during our reading time and also writing down their final book reviews. My only wish is that we started this years ago, but I think it’s going to become a treasured keepsake.
F I V E
These last few weeks have been such a beautiful time to be outside. We’ve been doing lots of nature hikes and bike rides as a family and I’ve loved it so much! As many of you probably know - we gifted our kids hydration Camelbaks for their big back-to-homeschool gifts and they’ve been a major success! We’ve used the hydration packs a few times and the other times we’ve just stuck a water bottle in the side and used them to carry our nature journals or other supplies. I love how versatile they are. They’ve also housed some of our nature findings as we’ve been out exploring. So, far these have been a 10/10 and well worth the investment.
F O U R
I wasn’t sure how we wanted to document our nature studies this year, but these nature journals have turned out to be a good solution for us. We’ve been using them in conjunction with our Seasons Afield study, but they are definitely great just as a simple beginner nature journal. One of the reasons why I went with these is because there are a few prompts to help get our minds turning for observations. There are also lined pages and plenty of room to draw, color, or tape in some nature treasures.
T H R E E
Our Yotos are still a strong favorite around here and this month Room on the Broom is on repeat over and over and over. I am so excited that the Chronicles of Narnia is now available on Yoto cards. We just finished listening to The Magician’s Nephew and next up is The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe. My kids love to listen to the classical music cards while they do their school work. If you haven’t seen these screen-free audio players, be sure to check out my One Year Review of the Mini Yoto Player. These make great special occasion gifts.
T W O
When the Art Makes Me Smart Around the World curriculum was released, I just knew this would be the perfect companion to our history and geography studies. This is one of those resources that can serve your homes in so many ways. We already dug in and used it when we were studying India last month and it was so fun to try our hand with some new art mediums! Over the next few weeks we’ll be pulling from the Scandinavia resources. One of the things I love about this study is that it combines so many useful resources all in one place - it includes a lots of hands-on projects, book lists, and tons of pre-screened educational YouTube videos which has made my job much easier.
O N E
Last, but not least, I am so excited for this new release from Beautiful Feet Books! Again, the moment I saw it, I knew it would be a great addition to have on hand in our homeschool. The thing I like most about this reference book is that it has REAL pictures of the countries! I feel like sometimes when we look up things on-line we’re bombarded with so much stuff and so this book really keeps it simple, but gives us a good grasp of what the country looks like and some interesting facts about it. If you’re looking to add this to your home library, the discount code Nations2023 will get you $5 off. It expires October 31, 2023.
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