I am happy to be participating in the 5 Days of Homeschooling Essentials Blog Series. I look forward to seeing what is essential in other homeschools, as well as sharing about our own.
There are SO many factors that go into making a "successful" homeschool, and I am sure that every family, with its own children, with their own interests and abilities, will have a different list.
First and foremost here in the Home to 4 Kiddos is
HANDS-ON LEARNING
Children learn best when seeing, hearing AND doing, so we incorporate a lot of hands-on activities in our homeschool.
Whether it be building a replica of Jamestown
Making posters of our 4H projects
Powerpoint presentations
Science Experiments
or
Math and other Games,
there is much hands-on, engaging learning going on.
So, you want to incorporate more hands-on learning in your homeschool? There are many free activities and printables available on the internet, as well as amazing unit studies for sale. I also try to make my own educational games, such as the U.S. Landmarks Game or the Punctuation Matching Cards. Feel free to click on the links and download them for yourself.
And, life is hands-on! How about cooking and baking with your children? There is much math in recipes. Try doubling a recipe and letting your children figure out adding the fractions. If you make 5 dozen cookies, let them multiply and figure out exactly how many.
Even though the winter is upon us, next month we start thinking about our garden and will plant all of our seeds. What better way to learn about plant life and biology, than to watch and measure the growth and development of every fruit or vegetable plant? You can make a scrapbook of photos, measuring the growth and documenting the changes as it grows. Have your child label the parts of the plant. Once the weather is warm, transplant them all outside with your children learning how to till the soil and water the garden. As you see bees coming near your plants, what a way to learn all about pollination!
The possibilities are endless with just a little thought and planning. And, your children will not only be making memories for a lifetime, but they will be LEARNING a whole lot, too!
Until tomorrow, with the 2nd essential for our homeschool! :-)
Don't forget to enter the iPad Giveaway here.
Here is the link to all of the 89 bloggers who are writing and sharing this week!
Also, here are 10 of those 89 participating in this series. Stop by and see what they thought were their essentials. :-)
Rebekah @ There Will Be a $5 Charge for Whining
Nicole @ Schooling in the Sun
Leah @ As We Walk Along the Road
Heather @ Thrift Schooling
Joanie @ Simple Living Mama
Lisa @ Home to 4 Kiddos
Amy @ Homeschool Encouragement
Monique @ Living Life and Learning
Jenn @ Fresh Start Academy
Lori @ Special Connection Homeschool
Don't miss a thing! Subscribe to Home to 4 Kiddos by Email and get our posts sent right to your inbox!
