Saturday 15 September 2018

Not back to School

If you follow home educators on social media then you will probably have seen #notbacktoschool.

Why do home educators celebrate not going back to school?

  • this is a time to look at the positives of home education.
  • the rest of social media is full of pictures of smiling children going to school and yes, it is easy to wonder whether that is where our children should go too.
  • why shouldn't our children enjoy celebrating their education?
So, yes, many of us celebrate. I also think it is a time to re-evaluate why we home educate. This is often a helpful cure for the wobbles.

How to celebrate? There are so many ways.
  • picnics abound
  • this is an excellent time of year to visit busy museums. Most children are back in school and school parties haven't started in earnest. The Science Museum tends to have special home educator days near the start of terms. 
  • playgrounds are empty again!
  • the cost of holidays plummet. This year, we have just come back from North Wales.
  • Poetry Teatime 
  • and of course, add your own ideas for enjoying a new year of learning.
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Saturday 8 September 2018

Catch Up

I haven't posted in over two months. We have been busy: our eldest daughter was married in July.


Wedding photos by John Hollingsworth

Our middle son celebrated his 18th on the same day. He is hoping to start university later this month. Elder Daughter has now moved to the West Country with her new husband.

There have been some trips. Beachy Head was impressive but I don't recommend it as a restful trip with children. 

The Postal Museum was somewhere we hadn't been before and is worth visiting.
As usual, there has been loads of cooking, this is part of Younger Daughter's cooking challenge,
 and planning for the new term with one child who is year 5 age and another year 7 age.

 Our morning basket

Our not back to school activities have included a home educator day at the Science Museum, seeing Elder Daughter after her graduation and a trip, way out of London.

Anyway, just a few things that I have been reading.
Se7en has written about lessons she has learned about homeschooling. This is the first of a series through this month.

Frugalwoods has posted about postpartum depression. Some of her description brings back memories of the first year of my eldest son's life when I felt much the same. I have vivid memories of planning my husband's funeral when he was late one day and the dreadful anxiety about my little one and his health, including how my state of mind would permanently scar him. Anyway, please see a doctor if you are feeling depressed or anxious after having a baby or for that matter, at any other time.  

On a more cheerful note, this recipe for cherry chocolate brownies is one of the best!
I am hoping to keep up this blog rather more regularly, especially, posting about resources, articles and books that have been inspirational, challenging or otherwise thought provoking.

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Friday 29 June 2018

Summer Learning

This summer seems to to running away with learning, a 93rd birthday and of course, wedding preparations. Anyway, this is mainly about learning although life and learning are inextricably mixed.


Morning Time

Currently, morning time consists of
  • prayer
  • learning Psalm 119 v1-8
  • Training Hearts: Teaching Minds: Family Devotions on the Shorter Catechism
  • a hymn from our church hymnbook. This half term, we are singing a different adaptation from Psalm 119 each week. 
  • God's Smuggler. Prior to this, we read Natasha Vins' autobiography Children of the Storm
  • a double page spread from the Usborne Introduction to the Second World War.
On a rotating basis, we read from the children's book club books (The Endless Steppe and The Treasure Seekers), a book about bridges (Who built that? Bridges) and songs from The Pirates of  Penzance. 


Science has involved several components:

  • Mystery Science
  • a science theme at our local home education group. As part of this we had a mushroom kit from Grow Wild
  • a series of lifecycle days at the home of another home educator. We came home from one session with frog spawn and were able to watch our spawn turn into tadpoles and finally, much more slowly than everyone else's, into frogs. The frogs have now been released.

    We now have caterpillars which are proving less stressful than tadpoles!
  • a hedgehog detector from the London Wildlife Trust. Sadly, we haven't spotted any hedgehogs yet.
History has been about the Second World War. I have already written about the resources that we have used.

Youngest Son has finished Dancing Bears! We have been working through this series for a looong time. There have been some interludes, particularly a long one a couple of summers ago with Nessy.  I would recommend Dancing Bears for a child who needs a second line phonics programmes. The stories are rather wacky and we gave up on them near the end of book B but by this stage it is easy to substitute with other books.



Maths
Youngest Son also finished his Galore Park Junior maths book 2 early so has now started on book 3. His daily maths is divided into two or three sections.
  • Schofield and Sims mental maths. This is independent work.
  • Galore Park- this is his main text and I use this to guide me teaching new work and the exercises to practise what he has just learned.
  • If time, either Prodigy maths free programme or a maths game either a download from somewhere like Nrich maths or Trilemma, fraction dominoes or the fraction pizza game. Sum Swamp is much loved but I don't think it contributes to his learning anymore!
Younger Daughter uses Schofield and Sims Understanding Maths series and is currently working through the Stats and Multiplication and Division books. She does a bit from each every day.

Of course, summer has to involve Sports Day. We went to the East London Christian Home Educators' event by the Thames Barrier. Over 120 children took part and it was lovely to meet friends old and new. 

This term, I am especially glad for strength for each day and God's all sufficient grace.

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Tuesday 12 June 2018

Free days out in London

Recently, I have been feeling a bit overwhelmed by the prospect of a long summer holiday which we plan to spend mainly in London. Looking back, I realise that there are so many London based activities so I plan, partly for my own benefit, to post about activities in London. The first post is about free days out  and I hope to follow this by posts about cheap activities in London, other London activities and ways of reducing the cost and last, a post about reducing ancillary expenses such as travel and food.

These are activities that we have done but please comment with other recommendations.
  • Parks-London has so many parks and they are free. Some are more child friendly than others. I know the South London parks better than those in the North but feel free to make other recommendations. Particular favourites are Coram Gardens (central), Princess Diana Memorial Park (central),  St James' Park (central-the playground is quite small and can get very busy), Dulwich (South), Battersea (South-parking is very expensive best to go on public transport), Danson (South-boating lake),Ladywell Fields (has a zip wire). 
  • Adventure playgrounds. There are a few around including Peckham Rye. Adventure playgrounds tend to have odd opening hours so do check first: we have been caught out!
  • Museums-some of the largest museums are free. In some ways, though, they can be a bit uncomfortably full in school holidays. We have found that this particularly applies to the Science Museum. Other free museums include the Victoria and Albert, the British Museum (look out for their children's Gallery Backpacks. These are only available in school holidays and at weekends.), The Natural History Museum, the Maritime Museum in Greenwich, the Imperial War Museum
    and the much smaller Horniman Museum in South London.
  • Art Galleries. Some of the major galleries are free: The National Gallery, the National Portrait Gallery, the Tate and the Tate Modern.
  • Other Green spaces. Wild London manages many spaces including the enormous Walthamstow Wetlands
    and the tiny Centre for Wildlife Gardening.
  • Swimming. Southwark and Tower Hamlets have free swimming on certain days of the week for residents. It is necessary to register. Hackney under 18s can swim free.
  • The Thames path-a great place to spend a day and free.
  • Central London-it is easy to put together a day touring the sights. This could include climbing on the lions in Trafalgar Square, changing of the guard, seeing Buckingham Palace and the Houses of Parliament. Alternatively,if your children are older, then going round the famous shops is an amazing experience-just make sure that the children know that you won't be buying everything you see! Fortnum and Mason and Liberty are particular favourites. 
Please comment with any free activities for children that you recommend in London.

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Friday 25 May 2018

May Inspiration

Between home education, wedding planning and caring, life seems to be getting busier and busier. I'm trying not to let the important get wiped out by the urgent but it isn't always easy! 


Anyway, here are a few links.

Pam Barnhill has a podcast about morning time which is amongst my regular listening. This blog post has 100 things to do in morning time. Please note that Pam is a Roman Catholic and this is reflected in some of her choices. However, the "Religion and Virtue" section does include Little Pilgrim's Progress, How God used a Thunderstorm and The Children's Story Bible by Catherine Vos which I would happily recommend. There are so many other suggestions, in different categories: some of which we have used; some I plan to use and some unknown to me.

My Little Poppies has a post with many art appreciation resources. We are hoping to use Vincent's Starry Night and other stories, which is mentioned here, as part of our Morning Time next year.

A very practical post from The Frugal Girl about Reasons your grocery bill is too high.

Like many home educators, we don't have a specific room for home education. We use our living room, the kitchen and the garden. However, I was struck by this post with thought out areas in a homeschool classroom. The Jumping Station particularly appealed.

This list of Morning Time Games has ideas for games which might also work well over the summer. It doesn't include Monarchy perhaps because it is a US list but I would certainly add this  game! Do you have any games that you would add to this list?


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Wednesday 9 May 2018

Not without tears: the Life of Favell Lee Mortimer

Last Saturday, I was at a curriculum fair where I was delighted to meet Christina Eastwood. Chris is a seasoned home educator with three, now grown up, children. She produced The Mother's Companion-a set of home education resources which we have used over the years. Chris has just written a new book: Not without tears: the life of Favell Lee Mortimer. 

Favell Lee Mortimer is almost unknown but was a best selling author in her day. Her books for children explaining the Gospel in simple terms may well have sold more than Alice in Wonderland.

Favell's life was completely unknown to me before reading this book but is fascinating. Descended from a slave and with uncles in the Prince Regent's circle, she was brought up in a wealthy household where her mother was converted through the witness of a governess.

Favell, herself, came to know the Lord after a family crisis but also after her mother had decided to send her daughters into high society, despite her previous convictions that this would not be right. After her conversion, Favell made the most of opportunities to teach children and became an expert teacher. She later used these skills in her books of which Line upon Line and Peep of Day are probably most famous.

Favell had some interesting friends. She was in love with the future Cardinal Manning, although was herself a convinced evangelical, and was entertained in the home of William Carus Wilson who was the infamous clergyman in Jane Eyre.

This book benefits from the discussion of characters and motivations. Sadly, Christina Eastwood didn't have access to the original letters which, apparently, still exist so she was reliant on secondary sources. Hopefully, the letters will be released at some point as they may well make fascinating reading.

This book is a quick read. It is worth learning about this gracious lady: Whose faith follow.
Highly recommended.

Chris Eastwood is due to speak about Favell Lee Mortimer at the Learn Free Conference, in Coventry, on Saturday, 19th May.

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Disclaimer: I purchased this book for my own use. The opinions are mine. I chose to write a review because I enjoyed reading this book and wanted others to know about it.

Thursday 3 May 2018

Second World War Learning Resources

Last term, we had a project about the First World War and this term, we switch to the Second World War. This is a plethora of resources which can be used for teaching children about the Second World War. These are books that either we have used or we hope to use soon.

Spine book
We are using the Usborne Introduction to the Second World War.
We read a double page spread each morning.
We have found that the linked videos for these books are often worth watching. I haven't seen all of them though!


Read alouds
There are so many Second World War read alouds. This is a small selection which we have enjoyed.


  • The Endless Steppe by Esther Hautzig
    is the true story of a Jewish family deported from Vilna, then in Poland (now Vilnius in Lithuania) to Siberia after the Russians invaded Poland in 1941. 
  • The Hiding Place by Corrie ten Boom is another true story about a Dutch Christian family who hid Jews. This book is quite sad in places. I recently read it with my eleven year old who thought it was one of the best books she has read, however, do avoid this with very sensitive children and I would suggest reading this together for children who are not yet teenagers. Christian Focus have a children's biography of Corrie ten Boom called The Watchmaker's daughter by Jean Watson. We read this before The Hiding Place. This book provoked discussion and led to the read of The Hiding Place.
  • Number the Stars  by Lois Lowry is a fictional story about the escape of Jews from Denmark to Sweden. This book was read in my home education book club by children aged 9-13 and was well received. It uses historical facts to weave the story. 
  • Chinese Cinderella is a rather different book which is set in China at the time of the Second World War and afterwards. This isn't directly about the war but brings to light how it affected China.
  • When Hitler Stole Pink Rabbit is the account of how author Judith Kerr's family escaped Nazi Germany in the preWar years and their life in exile. This book is suitable for older children. I haven't read the sequels but my understanding is that they are not so child friendly.
  • The Silver Sword is about refugees at the end of the War. I loved this book as a child although rereading as an adult, it seemed that the ending was unrealistically optimistic but it certainly gives ground for hope.
  • Hero on a Bicycle, by Shirley Hughes, is a story about the Italian Resistance.
Picture Books
  • Grandfather's Journey tells how an American-Japanese family was affected by the War.
  • All those Secrets of the War is about an American father going away to the War.
  • A new coat for Anna shows the devastation in post War Europe as the mother works to get her daughter a new coat.
  • Boxes for Katje tells the story of how a friendship was forged helping the people of post War Netherlands.
Other Resources
  • Family history/members. We have a Second World War diary written by the children's Grandfather and oral history about grandparents/greatgrandparents/greatgreatgrandparents. For us, this covers the Blitz, the Battle of Britain, rationing, the War in Italy and Africa, the Observer Corps and MI5 so plenty to talk about. I imagine that many families have a similar amount of World War Two history covered.
  • Bombsight is a website which maps places where bombs fell in the UK during the War.

 Places to Visit
  • Imperial War Museum has a permanent exhibition about a London family during the War. This is child friendly. We have been to this exhibition several times. There is also a Holocaust exhibition which is not recommended for children under the age of 14. I haven't seen this as I haven't been to the Museum without a child under 14 for many years. 
  • The Jewish Museum do have a small Holocaust section which is suitable for younger children. 
  • Cabinet War Rooms-I haven't been to these although one of the children went on a home education trip.
  • Dover Castle-Secret Wartime Tunnels and Hospital.
  • Chartwell-the home of Winston Churchill.

Please add your recommendations for teaching children about the Second World War in the comments.
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Thursday 5 April 2018

April Inspiration

The sun has come out! The last few days of grey and rain have seemed so long but today is spring.  I took the children out to Walthamstow Wetlands which is new to us. By the way, I seem to be running out of ideas for places to go or things to do in London for my 9 and 11 year old and the Summer holiday isn't far away. Any suggestions? 

This is an amazing list of maths resources for children who struggle with maths but don't let the title put you off; this list would be useful for most children. It does include Sum Swamp which is a brilliant game for young children learning number bonds. We used to play Sum Swamp daily! 

Again, about maths, Jo Boaler talks on this podcast about fear of mathematics, worth a listen.

Frugal Girl published an encouraging post about how to make your house lovely for $0.

I have been reading Sarah Mackenzie's new book, The Read-Aloud Family: making meaningful and lasting connections with your kids. This is a book that I will probably return to again and again. The book lists and questions to use to discuss books with children are particularly worthwhile as well as the chapter around having a book club atmosphere at home. I think that Sarah goes too far about the moral benefits of books but otherwise the book is worth a read and a place on the bookshelf.

The current read is about sleep: Matthew Walker's Why we Sleep. Reading this has taken a little while and I haven't finished yet, partly, because it keeps reminding me about the importance of sleep and that takes away from reading time! This book runs through what is known about sleep and its importance as well as scary stuff about sleep deprivation. Most of the latter isn't new to me but having it in one place does pull a punch. 

More book recommendations are always welcome! 


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Thursday 15 March 2018

March Inspiration

I'm afraid I haven't written much recently. Life has been busy. My eldest daughter has got engaged and we are looking forward to a summer wedding. Just alongside this, my husband's Mum has been less well and of course, family life and home education  have carried on. Sadly, the blog has suffered!

We've had snow, in London, in March! The temperatures were well below freezing but now there is no trace of snow.


Seterra is one of our favourite sites with its free geography games. It now also has some anatomy quizzes.

This is report on improving maths at Key Stage 2 and 3. Much of this is applicable to home educators and is worth a read.

Recently, we spent time with some friends painting using a tutorial from Mr Otter Art Studio. I was really impressed with a quality of the instructions and hope we can work on more of these.

This is an interesting list of handwriting resources. We actually use something different: Morrell which uses a more UK style. 

Read aloud Revival has just published a list of books that boys like. There are many that I haven't read but The Mysterious Benedict Society and My side of the Mountain have been real favourites here recently. 


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Friday 9 March 2018

Beginning of the Year Update

We are well into our second half term of 2018.

Our major project this term is around the First World War. I've written about some of the resources that we are using. The Usborne Introduction to the First World War has proved invaluable as a spine. We read a double page spread each day and frequently use the videos linked through the Usborne site.

The other main part of our project has been working on family history. We have made a large family tree and added a sentence of two about family members who were involved in the War. One of my husband's great aunts was a nursing sister in the War and left a diary about her time on a hospital ship going between the Greek Islands and England as well as her time nursing under canvas, at Camiers. We have looked at the diary and one of the children made a poster about her and also included an incident when she was on hunger strike with Mrs Pankhurst.
Hand drawn cartoon found in a commonplace book from a family friend who was killed in the First World War.

We spent an afternoon at the Imperial War Museum looking at their First World War gallery.

This term, we have changed spelling curriculum to Apples and Pears. Our previous spelling programmes whilst highly recommended, just wasn't working for us. So far, so good with Apples and Pears although I have discovered that often spelling/reading resources seem to work well initially, while the work is mainly revision but then breaks down when there is new material to be learned. I'm hoping that this won't happen this time!

We have also started a different science curriculum: Mystery Science. This is very easy for me- videos to watch and easy activities, generally, using household items.  So far, we have used, and finished a chemistry unit. Next up, I plan to use a human biology unit. This curriculum is working very well with my nine year old. My eleven year old finds it a bit young at times.

Our home education group also has a science theme this year although we had to postpone our last meeting due to the snow. The snow meant sledging with friends-three days running! Snow is so rare in London that we have to make the most of it.


Our read alouds this term are
  • Twice Freed by Patricia St John. We have almost finished this fictional retelling of the story of Onesimus. 
  • War in the Wasteland which is a First World War story by Douglas Bond.  
I have another couple of First World War books planned but suspect that we will run out of time. There are so many more things that we could do but sometimes less is more!

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Friday 9 February 2018

February Inspiration

We've just finished the first half term of 2018. These few weeks seem to have flown by with our home education dominated by a First World War project.

This post starts with a couple of lists.

Elsie at Farmhouse Schoolhouse has a post about the books that have shaped her homeschool. I haven't read many of these but have been busy adding them to my wish list.

A rather different list is of top UK money blogs. I haven't looked at all of these yet but for home educators on single incomes (most of us!) there are certainly some with helpful ideas, as well as some rather crazy ones. 

I have never been certain about the idea of taking time off education to establish discipline. Surely, working consistently imposes its own discipline? Dawn has written a post about the benefits of consistent home education.

At the home education group, my book group has been reading Linda Sue Park's book, A long walk to water, which has led to discussion about water supply and drought. Se7en posted about the reality of living in Cape Town in a serious water shortage-it goes a bit beyond watering the plants with the water left in the water jug!

Finally, a bit of fun. Antipodesmap is a website where it is possible to enter your location and find out what is on the opposite side of the world. It also gives a list of opposite cities.

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Friday 26 January 2018

January Inspiration

January is almost over but here, in England, it always feels a month where it is most difficult to go outside but where the rewards for being outside are greatest. The photo is from Richmond Park on a rather murky day but so good to get outside even in the mud.

I loved this post about how to teach maths consistently. Not mega-science, just a reminder to keep going every day.

This literature map of the world made me wonder whether my book club could make something similar.

Another common sense post was this one about talking to tweens from Ben and Me.

One of the children and I have been reading The Hiding Place about the work of Corrie ten Boom and her family who hid Jews in the Second World War.  Her home is now a Museum and looks fascinating. I've wasted a bit of time, this week,  looking at how to get from London to Haarlem.

For a bit of beauty, pop over to Raising Little Shoots to see Lyn's lovely nature journal.

Hope that you are having a happy January!


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Saturday 20 January 2018

Top Home Educating Resources

Welcome to week three of the Virtual Homeschool Fair run by Susan of Homeschooling Hearts and Minds. This week the topic is How do we cover it all? This is about the programmes and resources that we use.
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We have been home educating for almost nine years. This post is about some of our favourite resources.  Some of these items we no longer use but they are ones that have left happy memories. Two of these are free!


My children are now too old for Five in a Row but this was a happy curriculum. Five in a Row is a gentle curriculum aimed at 4-8 year olds around picture books. Each week a different book is selected and read each day. The handbooks then have activities around the book which cover science, maths, art, English, craft and cooking. 

Plus points
-the children and I loved Five in a Row.
-excellent selection of picture books
-manuals have a high resale value
-enormous range of activities so those which fit your family can be selected.
-designed for home educating families

Bear in mind
-Five in a Row is probably better for the lower end of this age range.
-many of the books are American and some are out of print. We decided only to buy the books which were inexpensive and easily obtainable and were able to find the vast majority. 
-It isn't necessary or desirable to do every activity in the manual.
-Branch Out World is written by a UK home educator. This is a similar sort of programme based around picture books but these are based in the UK. For example, Mousehole Cat or Katie Moray.
Veritas self paced history is an on-line history course which is used daily. It has an accompanying list of literature which we used and found enhanced the course. We used it for two years covering New Testament, Greeks and Romans and for the second year, the Middle Ages, Renaissance and Reformation.  A typical day would include teaching, maps, a history song, a game and a revision game and more.
Plus points
-generated a love for history.
-requires little parental time and virtually no preparation.
-attractively designed.
-literature bundle enhances the on-line programme

Bear in mind
-after the Middle Ages, Renaissance and Reformation year, the course starts to cover mainly US history. We stopped using the course at this point.
-not cheap but there seem to be sales about twice a year with major reductions (about 50%).
  • Exploring Nature with children
This is a weekly nature curriculum written by UK home educator, Lyn Seddon. 
Exploring Nature with Children is based around a weekly nature walk to the same venue. This can be the back garden, a local park or some countryside. Each week has a theme, for example, seeds, lichen or birds and the weeks are grouped into seasons. Each week includes a poem, book recommendations, an art suggestion and activity suggestions. This may be art or craft, science, writing or music. Children and parents are encouraged to keep a nature journal but there is a separate, more structured journal which can be purchased either with print copy or cursive copywork.

Plus points
- a major encouragement to get outside and to look at nature.
-plenty of activities for a range of ages.
-ideal for UK seasons.

Bear in mind
-this book is written for UK weather and seasons. It may need some modifying if your seasons are very different.
-it isn't necessary to do every activity.
-these are ebooks. The main title can be used on a tablet but the journals obviously need to be printed.

  • Poetry Teatime
Poetry Teatime is a brainchild of Julie Brogart who designed Bravewriter. We have used Partnership writing and certainly use some of the ideas around teaching writing. However, the part of the Bravewriter programme which has impacted us most is the concept of a Poetry Teatime. This is a time set apart for reading poetry, and sometimes other books, over a drink and a snack. Sometimes, we have a carefully laid table and a special snack and other times, the poetry reading is less formal. I have complaints when we miss Poetry Teatime.

Plus points
-poetry in a relaxed environment. 
-reading aloud practice
-sometimes, we write. Covering the table with brown paper and providing pens helps this.
-sometimes, we invite friends to this sociable occasion.
-poetry tea can take place outside the home. We have had poetry in cafes while waiting for an older child taking exams or at Bateman's,  Rudyard Kipling's home, because this seemed the place to read Kipling .

Bear in mind
-you might not want to introduce an extra snack! We are trying to have healthier snacks although this doesn't always work.
-funny poems work well, particularly, with children who aren't used to poetry.

  • Morning Time
Morning time is another free resource. This is a time to gather all your home educated children and spend time together. Morning time can make a definite start to the day and helps put first the items that you want to be first in importance. We start with prayer, a Christian book, memory work and a hymn. 
We then put in either extras that we don't want to miss or a special book/topic. Our current items are
-a double spread of  the Usborne Introduction to the First World War
-a chapter from one of the children's current book club choices: a Long walk to water and the Astounding Broccoli Boy.
-a weekly podcast from Classics for Kids or music from the First World War.

Resources for Morning Time include
-Pam Barnhill's podcasts Your Morning Basket
-Kendra Fletcher's book Circle Time: the best part of your day
-the Farmhouse Schoolhouse posts about Morning Time.

What are your favourite home education resources? 

Looking for more curriculum ideas? Visit my fellow homeschool bloggers! 

Our Homeschool Plan for 3rd, 6th, 8th, & 12th Grades by Susan @ Homeschooling Hearts & Minds
Our 10th Grade Plans by Christy @ Unexpected Homeschool
Planning Out Our Unschooling Studies by Jen @ A Helping Hand Homeschool
The Details of Curriculum by Michele @ Family, Faith and Fridays
Reflections of a Curriculum Junkie by Brittney @ Mom's Heart
Freedom through nature journaling. by Kim @ Good Sweet Love
How I pull together a homeschool curriculum without packaged curriculum by Dana @ Life Led Homeschool
Our Favorite Curriculum and Resources - An Annotated Bibliography by Sabrina @ Kids, Crunch, and Christ
Our 2018 Homeschool Curriculum Choices by Amanda @ Hopkins Homeschool
Top Home Educating Resources by Sarah @ DeliveringGrace
Homeschooling Curriculum We Are Using This Year by Laura O @ Day by Day in Our World
Use the Force and Complete the Course by Kym @ Homeschool Coffee Break
Choices, choices - how to choose your curriculum wisely by Lizzy @ Peaches@Home
Our Curriculum Needs - grade seven by Annette @ A Net in Time
The Heart of Our School by Laura @ Four Little Penguins
What I Use with 7th and 9th Grader - Virtual Homeschool Fair -Week 3 by Joelle @ Homeschooling for His Glory
How to Avoid Gaps in Education by Kristen H. @ Sunrise to Sunset
Tricky Subjects and Starting the Decision Making Process by Lori H @ At Home: where life happens
High School Syllabus by TrueNorthHomeschoolAcademy @ GoldenGrasses

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Please note that the Exploring Nature with Children links are affiliate links.