Tag: resources

Art and Drama Resources

Art and Drama Resources

Posted on by Melanie

 

For homeschool students, there are lots of options for incorporating these subjects into the curriculum through private lessons, community programs, or private classes. However, my son didn’t want to participate in any of these, which meant I had to improvise (no pun intended!)
It turned out that these are two subjects that I had the hardest time teaching, mostly becasue I had forgotten much of what I learned in school, but also because a lot of the resources online for teachers is geared to a classroom with many students. However, I was lucky to find some great references that helped me adapt them to our homeschool program:

ART:

 

DRAMA:

This is one subject that can be hard to teach at home, and it was only part of my son’s curriculum in Grade 7 and 8. Though there are many private drama classes available, my son didn’t want to participate because he’s too shy. So, I found some helpful links that allowed me to teach him the principles of dramatic arts.

  • Shakespeare in the Classroom is a great learning tool for kids old enough to watch the film Shakespeare in Love. Miramax created a companion video and guide for teachers and parents to use as an introduction to Shakespeare and how to study that artform.

Shakespeare in the Classroom Companion Guide

Shakespeare in the Classroom Video Lesson

 

Teaching Resources To Help Parents

Teaching Resources To Help Parents

Posted on by Melanie

Here are some of my favourite teaching resources. Even though my son’s homeschool program followed the provincial curriculum, I sometimes needed additional help coming up with extra materials to supplement those provided. These are some of the links I found helpful:

  • Khan Academy  – This is an excellent source for lessons on nearly every subject and grade, and most (if not all) of the content is free.
  • Teachers Pay Teachers – Most of the materials available here are not free, but it is created by teachers and there is a good selection that is reasonably priced. I found it to be one of the best places to find unique or specific lesson plans, activities, and project ideas.
  • Calendarpedia – Though this site doesn’t have teaching resources, I found this to be a great free source of downloadable and editable calendars you can use for schedules, physical activity or reading logs.
  • Special Needs Homeschooling – A site that focuses on resources for families homeschooling kids with ADHD, Autism, learning disorders, or other special needs.
  • Tripsavvy’s Virtual Field Trips – Designed for kids of all ages, Tripsavvy has information on 15 locations that offer virtual tours.
  • Smithsonian Learning Lab – This amazing museum offers a wide variety of virtual resources, including: millions of digital images, recordings, texts, and videos in history, art and culture, and the sciences.
  • Funbrain – A collection of free educational games, comics, books, and videos for children in Kindergarten to Grade 8.
  • Storyline Online – This is a fun resource for virtual story time, especially for the little ones. From their website: “The SAG-AFTRA Foundation’s Daytime Emmy®-nominated and award-winning children’s literacy website, Storyline Online®, streams videos featuring celebrated actors reading children’s books alongside creatively produced illustrations. Readers include Oprah Winfrey, Chris Pine, Kristen Bell, Rita Moreno, Viola Davis, Jaime Camil, Kevin Costner, Lily Tomlin, Sarah Silverman, Betty White, Wanda Sykes and dozens more.”

 

Schedules, Routines, and Deadlines

Schedules, Routines, and Deadlines

Posted on by Melanie

One of the more challenging aspects of homeschooling, especially when following a heavy curriculum like we were, is keeping up with the workload. Having homeschool schedules helped my son and I stay on track and stop worrying that we might fall behind.

 

Term Schedules

This is the homeschool schedule that I considered the most important, because it was the ultimate deadline guide. No matter what, the lessons, assignments, quizzes, and tests had to be completed by the term end date.

The school was flexible here however, and did allow things to carry forward until the end of the year deadline, but I decided that wasn’t an option for us. My reason was that we had so much material to cover that falling behind would too stressful and start interfering with evenings, weekends, and holidays, which I didn’t want. I also felt that it was important for my son to learn the importance of respecting and meeting deadlines, as this will be something he’ll be dealing with a lot as an adult in the workplace. This is simply what worked for us in our situation, and may not be the right approach for everyone.

While our school did provide a guideline for what should be handed in each term, I needed something more detailed. So, I fired up my spreadsheet software and devised a schedule. I created one worksheet within the spreadsheet for each term. I’ve uploaded a sample one I made for Grade 8 here in case it might be helpful. Please feel free to download and use it if you think it might work for you:

Four Term Assignment Schedule.xlsx

 

Daily/Weekly Schedule

I like using daily and weekly homeschool schedules that are easy to edit and customize. I created one each week with two goals: work required and a rough timeline per subject. That said, I was happy to let my son work according to his needs and motivation, and shift the daily goals if needed. As long as he made progress every day and finished all or most of his work for the week by Friday, I counted it as a success.

The following is a sample of our typical schedule. I modified a nifty Weekly Schedule from Calendarpedia and added a Goals list that detailed what my son needed to be working on. It helped us both stay organized and on track. I’ve uploaded a copy here, that you are free to download and use:

Daily Weekly Schedule.xlsx

 

Set the Homeschool Rules

Set the Homeschool Rules

Posted on by Melanie

A few weeks into my homeschool journey, I learned the importance of clearly defined homeschool rules. Taking the time to come up with a simple list, along with contracts that spell out the obligations and expectations, helps in several ways:

1: It provides a framework to build on the daily routine

2: It reduces the chance for misunderstandings

3: Outlining the rewards and consequences up front helps keep both sides motivated

Here I’ve provided links to download free printables of the contracts I created for our family. I liked knowing he understood what I expected of him, and he liked knowing I had homeschool rules to follow too!

Homeschool Expectations and Obligations.docx

Homeschool Contract.docx

First Step Resources

First Step Resources

Posted on by Melanie

 

Making the decision to transition to homeschool* isn’t always easy. As parents we want the best for our children, and for many kids the public school system works well and many kids do thrive. However, for kids like my son who don’t, or for parents who wish to be more hands on with their child’s education, homeschool can be an excellent choice. Here I share some first step resources.

My main piece of advice when starting out is to talk to as many people as possible. Speak to teachers, school administrators, and other homeschooling parents. If your child is followed by a specialist, such as a psychologist, therapist, councellor then they too can be a good sounding board for advice on how to transition from public school. There are also many parent groups on Facebook, for example, that will allow you to connect with people locally and all over the world. Experienced homeschool parents, especially those in your area, can be an invaluable source of information on what programs and resources are available.

My Favourite First Step Resources

These were the main sources I used when researching the homeschooling options available in my province of British Columbia. Please note that I have not included links to other jurisdictions because I can’t vouch for their accuracy, but any country, province, or state that allows or offers homeschooling as an option should have similar resources for parents.

  • B.C. Government Classroom Alternatives – In my province, the Government has two homeschool options available to parents: Distance Learning and Homeschool. Online Distributed (Distance) Learning is overseen by certified teachers and students follow the same curriculum as students in public school and qualifies them to receive a graduation certificate. Homeschooling is not overseen by a certified teacher and does not qualify students to receive a graduation certificate.
  • B.C. Schools that offer Homeschooling options – A curated list of schools in British Columbia that have distance learning programs.
  • B.C. Ministry of Education: Curriculum – This is a detailed description of the current B.C. Curriculum. Regardless of which homeschooling program you choose, it’s helpful to see what the learning guidelines and expectations are for each grade level.

 

*Note: I use the terms homeschool and homeschooling to mean education that is completed at home, not the specific homeschool program available in British Columbia.

 

Science Resources

Science Resources

Posted on by Melanie

These are a few of my go to science resources. I found all of them helpful for me in teaching, and for my son in practicing various concepts.

 

 

 

Social Studies and History Resources

Social Studies and History Resources

Posted on by Melanie

 

Though our homeschool program included many lessons on each topic, my son was expected to do additional research, especially for projects and assignments. Many of these Social Studies and History resources regularly appeared in his bibliographies, as a testament to how often he used them:

 

  • History for Kids – Good site to use when researching specific topics as the information is easy to search for and understand.
  • Britannica Online – This is a very good place to start when looking to research specific topics.
  • Crash Course Video Series – Offers fun, enjoyable, and easy to understand videos covering Big History, European History, Government, Mythology, U.S. History, and World History.
  • Ducksters Education Site: History for Kids – This site covers Ancient History, World History, and U.S. History.
  • Canadian History – Comprehensive information about Canadian History and Heritage.

 

 

English and Writing Resources

English and Writing Resources

Posted on by Melanie
Some of my favourite English writing resources for homeschool, including links to some of the best loved classic novels that are now free in the public domain. I have also included some printables that I created that are free to download and use.

FREE PRINTABLES TO DOWNLOAD

In addition to the English writing resources for homeschool, here are a couple of my custom printables. Over the years I created a few anchor charts to give my son a quick visual reference for several key concepts and elements of creative writing. They are all free to download and use.

Figurative Language Devices Anchor Chart 

The 5 Step Writing Process 

Math Resources

Math Resources

Posted on by Melanie

 

Here is my collection of math resources to help at homeschool. I feared this subject the most when we started homeschooling, but to my great relief, there are many terrific places to find help. Whether you need explanations of various concepts, or extra practice worksheets, these are some of my go to resources:
  • WCLN.CA Math Videos – These were the video lessons most often used by my son’s homeschool program. Their website also allows you search by grade level and keyword.
  • YouTube – an excellent place to try for specific math lessons. Most searches returned several videos that were helpful, and being able to filter by view count to narrow down the most popular ones saves time.
  • Free Math Worksheets– Free printable Math Activity and Practice worksheets for Grades 1-6.
  • Free Math Drills and Worksheets – Free printable Math worksheets with answer key included. I used these often and found them to be great for weekly practice as well as a refresher after Spring and Summer breaks.
  • PHET Simulations – Free interactive simulations for practicing math concepts.
  • Photomath – This smart phone app is brilliant! One click provides detailed answers to just about any math equation. Our homeschool program didn’t always give me an answer key, leaving me to hope I hadn’t made a mistake in my calculations. Photomath saved me so much time and assured me I had the correct answers. Note that I have only used the free version, and recommend this app with the caveat that their pop up ads can be annoying.