It's Over - Curriculum Breakup by Liz Bradford

It’s Over! Breaking Up with Curriculum

Dear Curriculum,

 

I’m not going to beat around the bush; this is exactly what it looks like, a dear John letter….

 

We had a good run. You looked so great with your glossy pages and beautiful pictures, but you just aren’t right for me. I always thought you were amazing. You have a solid Christian base, and you’re everything I always thought I wanted… however, it’s just not working.

 

It’s not you… it me. Or maybe it is you… Read More

Different Approach to Spelling by Liz Bradford

A Different Approach to Spelling

I will always remember the day. I was in fourth grade (one of the two years I wasn’t homeschooled and went to a private Christian school). It was Friday afternoon, and I sat back in my desk only half listening to the teacher. After all, it was the time every week when she passed out spelling tests. She always announced the grades of those who got a 100 or higher (bonus word were extra points), and then those kids would go up and get a piece of candy from the jar. Now, my name NEVER got called. I was lucky I wasn’t failing spelling. Seriously, I couldn’t spell to save my life. But that day… I had to do a double take Spelling You See Review by Liz Bradfordwhen she called my name off. A 103%??? How is that even possible!?! I jumped out my seat and bounded to the front of the classroom to get my test and a piece of candy. I got a piece of candy! I carefully selected a piece of gum (you know, those hard ones that come in the cheap bags of candy?). Well, I chewed that thing until my jaw hurt and then kept chewing. Even set it on the side of my plate during dinner and popped it back in. Didn’t throw it out until bed time. That piece of gum was precious to me. All because it proved I wasn’t a complete failure.

 

But I still hated spelling. I hated studying for a test. I hated trying to memorize a stupid list of words that I knew I was just going to forget anyway. Of course my only hope was to memorize them, because that was at least one thing that came more easily to me. Read More

Something’s Gotta Give… when your curriculum isn’t working

Picture this with me for a moment:

It’s January (or February), and you’re sitting in your school space with your adorable little devils angels. It’s cold outside; everyone is tired of being cooped up, even those of you, like me, that detest having to leave the house, you at least like having the option baby-tears-small-child-sad-47090of going to play outside occasionally. Everyone (and I mean everyone) is crying about something. The second grader is crying because she hates phonics (who knew it would be so hard to copy five words out of a wordbank…). The kindergartner is crying because she forgot fifteen… again, while trying to count to 20. The two year old is crying because the kindergartner (who was supposed to be counting) took the horse that she was playing with two days ago. I You are just at the point of “if you can’t beat ‘em, join ‘em”!

Sound familiar? (Please tell me it’s not just me!)

So what do you do?

Read More

I Think I Want to Homeschool… But Where Do I Start?

A dear friend of mine called today to pick my brain about homeschooling. I couldn’t call her back fast enough. I LOVE talking about homeschooling. For me starting to homeschool was second nature. Being a second generation homeschooler, plus a former teacher, gave me a huge jump start into the homeschool world. But what do you do when you’ve started thinking about the idea of homeschooling, but don’t have the background I do.

Well, the first place to start is the same for every other important decision that make. Prayer. But I’m sure you already knew that. Seek God for His guidance as you traverse this journey.

But once you’ve prayed where do you start looking? What do you need to know?

Here are a few things to start with: Read More