Once a child hits 11 or so, the average homeschool mom starts to wonder where all his common sense, self-control, and good habits went. Just when she thought she was getting somewhere and things were going alright, he hits 11 and all momentum seems to be going backward, not forward. Although I’m no fan of…
It will happen. “I hate this book!” “Do we have to do Morning Time?” “There’s no point in learning algebra!” When it happens, you have not failed. Pick up your shield of imperviousness, homeschool mama; these complaints are not about you. They are not even about what you are studying. They are growing pains. Learning…
I picked up John Gottman’s The Seven Principles of Making Marriage Work after years of curiosity. I had heard about his “love lab” several times over the years, first in a Malcolm Gladwell book, and I was intrigued with the notion that he claimed to be able to predict divorce with surprising accuracy after a…
I am in a local book club, studying Charlotte Mason’s 20 Principles using the study guide by Brandy Vencel. I’ve done this study in an online group before, but there’s something different and more personal in a local group that includes people who know your kids and family. Last month’s meeting was on Principle 1:…
If you’ve homeschooled for any length of time, you’ve probably encountered them: math fits. On good days, it looks like mad math doodles and rhyming complaints. On average days, it looks like snarky word-answers to word-problems and bitter mutterings about John or Sue finding out how much they spent for themselves instead of asking someone…
At long last, here is the post I promised back when I wrote about how I teach writing on how I teach grammar. Grammar and diagramming is not something that has always come easily for me. I remember 7th or 8th grade when diagramming was introduced in my Bob Jones Language Arts workbook. My mom…
Like I said last week, review is necessary, but so many methods for review have problems. Some review is just regurgitating the information or going over the same material again. That might be review, but it makes the student tune out rather than engage and retain. Neither Charlotte Mason nor John Milton Gregory nor Gilbert…