Homeschool Planning for Year Round Homeschoolers

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Do you homeschool year-round? Does it feel like you never celebrate the end of the homeschool year but just move from one curriculum to the next? For the most part, our family homeschools year-round for a number of reasons. Our homeschooling high schooler gets a significant break from most courses while his younger brother and sister continue their studies through the summer.

Evaluate Materials 

If you homeschool year-round, it becomes very important to take regular breaks and evaluate the materials you are using to teach your children in your homeschool. If something is not working, you should feel free to replace it. Yes, even if you spent a lot of money on it. I know I feel great regret if we have to put curriculum or materials away that were costly, but I have found the homeschooling environment becomes too disrupted when our children are not learning well. (And you can always look to gift that material to another homeschooling family either by reselling it or just passing it along.)

Even if you homeschool year-round, you can still take advantage of traditional homeschool sales. There is no rule that says just because you purchase your new curriculum in July, that you need to start using it in September. In fact, I purchased a history curriculum for our upcoming second-grader from Notgrass History in March and we won't be using it till mid-summer at the earliest.

Planners 

While many traditional school planners run from September to June, there are also a great number of ones that allow you to organize the months, weeks, and days yourself by either printing or purchasing blank pages. This way you can completely customize your planner to meet the needs of your year-round homeschool. With technology today, you could even keep a planner entirely online. Scheduling ones' homeschool year is so easy with all the resources available.

Organizing and Cleaning 

When you are evaluating your curriculum materials, it is a good time to organize or reorganize your homeschool area(s). Clean out all your books, manipulatives, resources, etc. and decide if your previous set up was working for your homeschooling family. I have found this is also a great way to see just exactly what materials one needs to purchase as you might find things you forgot you had for your homeschool.

If you are looking for some new organizational ideas, check out this post: Top 5 Suggestions for Best Organizing Your Homeschool Materials.

At the End of the Day...

Every homeschooling family needs to do what is best for their family. Whether that means you homeschool year-round or use a schedule that follows a more traditional school calendar, we can all follow the same basic planning tips:

• Evaluate Curriculum and Materials
• Look for Sales and Discounts 
• Find the Planner that Works for You
• Organize and Clean your Homeschool Area 

So whether you purchase a full curriculum from a company like Timberdoodle, you are a member of SchoolhouseTeachers.com, or you purchase your materials from many different companies and locations, you can plan with ease as long as you keep your family homeschooling goals in mind. Think about your goals—maybe they need to be reevaluated—and get planning!

Treat yourself to a mini-convention in a bag when you sign up for SchoolhouseTeachers.com’s Ultimate (PreK–12) Annual Membership. Use code: 19GIFTS before June 1 to lock in the annual price of only $139 (reg. $224.97) and receive $527.71 worth of gifts from IEW, Writing with Sharon Watson, The Brinkman Adventures, Chess House, Learn to Play Publishers, and more! With your SchoolhouseTeachers.com membership, you will receive access to 450+ courses. One low price covers the entire family! (Non-refundable. U.S. only.)

Art for the Whole Family: A Review of Beyond the Stick Figure Art School

Disclaimer: I received a FREE copy of this product through the HOMESCHOOL REVIEW CREW in exchange for my honest review. I was not required to write a positive review nor was I compensated in any other way.

For the past several weeks our family has been working through the Beyond the Stick Figure Complete Drawing Course PLUS 3 Bonus Courses together. These courses are offered by Beyond the Stick Figure Art School and can be by everyone in your household. It is designed to be used as a daily program for the homeschool year but we have been working on different parts in a quicker fashion as fits our needs and homeschool style. With over 60 lessons, we can incorporate art into almost every day of our homeschooling week.  

What is Beyond the Stick Figure Art School? 

Working on the premise that famous artists use techniques and skills that they have learned and practiced, your family will learn the very basics of drawing that they then can take with them into more artwork. The person behind Beyond the Stick Figure is Sally who is from England (so expect an English accent while you are learning your art!). She homeschools her children and wants to share her passion for art with other homeschooling families. 

What Are the Courses? 

There are four courses that we have access to for the review: 

• The Beyond the Stick Figure Complete Drawing Course 
• The Complete Pen & Ink and Watercolor Course
• Introduction to Acrylic Course 
• Introduction to 3D Design Course 

The courses focus on techniques that you can use to develop your drawing skills using various materials. In the first drawing course, the short videos are sometimes accompanied with PDFs to download for drawing, tracing, and practice.

There is a list of materials that you will need to purchase before you begin creating your art that is now available before you start looking at any lessons. You can then view specific videos within the courses that show and discuss the necessary materials. (For example, Acrylic Part 2 Materials, you can view the video that shows the paintbrushes, paints, and other items you will need to create a beautiful brown and white lake scene.)

We had to pick and choose which supplies to purchase for the review of Beyond the Stick Figure courses. As our teenager was going to be working on the painting portion of the course with me, we spent the money we allocated to the course on those supplies. In the future, we will purchase the marker set but with the current state of things we were unable to purchase them. We also had to substitute a few other things (like picking a different color paint) due to being able to go to the craft stores and online supplies being limited. (Personally, I don't think using a different color for our watercolor painting was too detrimental.)

The picture was supposed to be drawn with a black fine point sharpie marker but I couldn't find ours anywhere in the house!

How are the courses set up? When you log into the site, you will see that you need to go through each lesson and watch the videos and then mark them as complete. You cannot skip ahead to the further courses (I went through and marked the courses as complete so we can do the different drawing and painting lessons. This was a bit time-consuming.)

Here you can see the parts of the course are listed to the left side of the screen.
There are a couple of ways to navigate once you have checked off courses as completed. 

But beyond getting the materials you need ready (purchasing or printing out documents) and have accessing to the lessons online, Beyond the Stick Figure Art School can be very easy for homeschooling parents. There is no need to write out lessons or spend time doing the teaching yourself. The instructions are provided in each video.

How Are We Using the Courses in Our Homeschool? 

Our younger children and I are working on the beginning Drawing Courses. There are three parts to the Drawing Course which focuses on the basics of drawing. Our children have been drawing straight lines, curved lines, circles, and dots. They then took those skills and worked on drawing abstract pictures and flowers.

I really like that the children work on 8 x 11.5 papers cut into fourths. It makes it a lot easier to provide them with page after page for drawing as well as being less intimidating, as is talked about in the lessons. (You aren't staring at a huge drawing page that you have to fill.)

For many of the beginning lessons, our children worked on mastering drawing lines and shapes.

There were also some parts in the early lessons of the Drawing course where children practiced dots, circles, straight lines, and curved lines. We printed out the pages for our younger son to complete included pages that examined primary and secondary colors.

I watched and completed the first Pen & Ink drawing myself. I plan on working on the second one from Part 2 but I need to purchase tracing paper prior to completing the tree scene. I also went through and watched the Introduction to Acrylic Course videos.

I am really looking forward to completing this painting. I just need the tracing paper!

I am looking forward to painting with acrylics. 

At the end of each course, there is a rubric that you can download so you can determine how well you think you did during the course. The rubric focuses upon self-reflection. So, if your children are younger, you may want to complete it with them.

Our teen and I sat down to complete the watercolor course together. As we did not have access to the recommended gray color paint, we each choose a different color to create our small painting. I think I will have fun practicing this painting more and more to get the technique and details to my liking.

What Are We Looking Forward To?

Our teen son and I are looking forward to working with acrylics. This part of the course is in three parts. We have about half of the supplies we need but with the current state of affairs, it has been difficult to get all the materials suggested or needed. I have gone through and watched them. I can't wait till I can start to practice painting a lovely sky, a mountain scene using brown and white, and another lovely countryside scene.

The final course, which we have not started, is on 3D Design. There are three parts to this course. I think our children will enjoy working on this part as they will get to create an animal.

There are a few things that I feel could make the online courses even better that mostly deal with navigation. I wish that the lessons were labeled with more detail. As in Watercolor Part 1, Day 9: Foreground. It would make it easier to navigate back to lessons when taking a break. And while I understand the skills taught in the courses are meant to build upon each other but it is difficult when one child wants to work on art while another is more interesting in painting. We had to go through and click complete on parts of the courses we actually had not finished yet. Perhaps each course could be individual rather than be grouped together.   

The lessons are full of some great advice – including a video just for moms (or dads) that encourages us as parents to not crush the spirit of our children when they are going through the lessons. Another piece of advice I enjoyed hearing was that of not squeezing the paintbrushes in the paper towel. Never thought anything of doing that till watching the videos at Beyond the Stick Figure. I really think everything is presented in a very clear manner to help those who are not used to drawing or working with the different types of paint or clay used in the courses. If you are looking for a beginners course to help you or your children get started as artists, Beyond the Stick Figure Art School will be a great resource for your homeschool.

Do You Want to Learn More?

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There were many families who had the chance to review the Beyond the Stick Figure Art School courses. Be sure to check out the Homeschool Review Crew reviews!

Journaling through the Bible: Mother's Day

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The Bible provides so much wisdom for mothers to pass along to their children. Our own eyes can be opened as to how we can parent our children through the examples provided by God. In the past, it seemed like many more parents would seek the advice of their Bibles when they had trouble raising their children. Today ,we have a plethora of resources to aid in parenting but sometimes it is best to return to the Bible for wisdom and advice. A great place to look is in the Book of Proverbs: 

"My son, if sinners entice you,
Do not consent." 

Proverbs 1:10 

"Trust in the Lord with all your heart, 
And lean not on your own understanding." 

Proverbs 3:5

"The wise shall inherit glory, 
But shame shall be the legacy of fools." 

Proverbs 3:35 

"A merry heart makes a cheerful countenance, 
But by sorrow of the heart the spirit is broken." 

Proverbs 15:13 

"Train up a child in the way he should go,
And when he is old he will not depart from it." 

Proverbs 22:6

Building love, patience, kindness, joy, peace, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control in our children is one of my goals as their mother. If I can teach them to hold these character traits in their heart, then I will feel I have been successful as their mother.

Sometimes it is not easy to find the words to pray for our children. Soon I will share a review of Warfare Prayers for Women: Securing God's Victory in Your Life in which there is an entire part devoted to praying for children and grandchildren. The prayers range from praying for the unknown born to stepchildren closing with a declaration: "I declare that my children will see the light of the Gospel of Christ" (118). 

This Mother's Day, I pray that my children will not only celebrate me as their mother but also celebrate God today and every day. I want to be a good example for them as a mother and follower of Jesus. I pray that they will find as much wisdom in reading the Bible as I have found myself.  

May Peace and Mercy be Upon You. 

Working on Writing Beautifully: A Review of Perfect Reading, Beautiful Handwriting eBook

Disclaimer: I received a FREE copy of this product through the HOMESCHOOL REVIEW CREW in exchange for my honest review. I was not required to write a positive review nor was I compensated in any other way.

So many individuals would like to work on writing more clearly. Perhaps even some may want to write beautifully. Our family began using the Perfect Reading, Beautiful Handwriting eBook last month from Everyday Education, LLC.

We received access to a PDF eBook of 218 pages which not only focuses upon phonics but also introduces italic penmanship going from straight to slant to jointed writing. As it is an eBook, I am able to print as many pages as I need for my children to use and practice upon over and over. What a great bonus for a handwriting book! (If you prefer a print book, you can purchase that instead of the eBook.)

There are 60 lessons with a phonics-based approach that can be used across 60 days to teach your young child to read. One of the features of the eBook is that your child will practice writing directly on the page where they see how to form the letter or letters. It can also be used with the Charlotte Mason approach to homeschooling. So there are multiple ways in which you could use Perfect Reading, Beautiful Handwriting eBook in your homeschool.

Within the opening of the book, Janice Campbell provides ideas as to how to use the book and a weekly schedule you can use in your homeschool. The author, Caroline Joy Adams, then presents four specific ways the book can be used:

1. To teach young children how to read and write
2. To teach children with reading difficulties to read effectively 
3. To teach children to have fast, legible, attractive handwriting
4. To teach yourself beautiful handwriting 

Why use the Italic style of handwriting? The typical style of handwriting taught is not easy for children to master beautifully. Most letters require more than one stroke and the formation of circles. Italic style are written in mostly one stroke (only 6 letters require more than one) and follow a more natural shape of an oval for writing. This helps children master handwriting more easily. A very interesting concept and I can't wait to see if our daughter will do better with this style. (I didn't use this eBook with her during the review period because she just turned five and she sometimes gets very upset or frustrated when writing.)

In Our Homeschool

I primarily used the Perfect Reading, Beautiful Handwriting eBook with our first grader as we were not using any copywork with him currently. I did not require him to practice writing out the entire alphabet sheets but when we got to the section on short vowels and then blends, I had him write out the sentences and read the sentences aloud.

Some of the lessons were very useful as we are working on having him try to speak more clearly when it comes to certain letters and words. So for some lessons I had him read aloud the entire sheet (we usually took breaks in between the columns). For the other lessons, I sat with our son and randomly pointed to words on the sheet for him to say aloud for me.

Personally, I used the handwriting sheets that focused upon slanted and jointed writing to practice my own handwriting. I am hopeful that I will be able to better my skill at Bible journaling through practice. I traced the sheets several times with highlighters so I could get used the style of the handwriting and then attempted writing out some Scripture.

After that did not end up quite the way I wanted it to, I practiced writing just letters on a separate sheet of paper. I like the way some of them turned out but not all of them. This is through 'user error' not the fault of the book at all. I am very happy to add these pages to my collection of Bible Journaling materials. And because the book is digital, I print the pages out as many times as I need to trace them to get better at copying the style.

I think that Perfect Reading, Beautiful Handwriting eBook would be a good addition for many homeschooling families. As there are multiple ways in which you can use the book, you can incorporate the lessons into your homeschooling day however it suits your family's needs. Lessons range from vowel sounds, blends like th, ch, wh, and others, compound words, contractions, silent letters, endings, and many other topics to help teach reading and writing in your homeschool.

Would You Like to Learn More? 

Website – Facebook – Twitter – Instagram – Pinterest 

There are so many great ways in which you could use this eBook in your homeschool. Be sure to check out the rest of the reviews from the Homeschool Review Crew to see how they used the exercises in their homeschool.

Crafts: R is for Redstone

This post contains affiliate links. For more information, please see my Terms of Use and Disclosure Policy page. Thank you.

For many years our family has enjoyed the game of Minecraft. Our oldest son first introduced us to the game when it was released for the Xbox 360 and now our two younger children play the game as well. It is great for fostering creativity and teamwork as everyone in the family can play in one world and work together to build elaborate towns, farms, and mines. We made multiple crafts including an Enderman-inspired letter E, mosaics based on characters in the game, and we had a special Minecraft Birthday Party for our younger son.

As much as I enjoy playing Minecraft, Redstone is not one of the materials I use beyond building Redstone lamps and minecart tracks. This doesn't mean we can't make a fun craft inspired by it in Minecraft.

Materials

• Construction paper 
• Letter R template 
• Crayons, markers, or paint (you will need paintbrushes if you choose to paint your project) 
• Dot paints or square sponges for paint 

Steps 

1. Prepare the letter R template.

2. Color the letter R gray (or paint it gray).

3. Glue onto construction paper.

4. Make red spots on the letter R. Try to make sure they are not too round as Minecraft is all about squares.

4. Display your letter R after it is dry.

Read Up On Redstone

In addition to this fun craft, there are other ways you can incorporate learning about Redstone into your homeschooling day. Look at one of the many books about the ore in Minecraft. Where can you find it? What are the uses of Redstone? 

In the Game 

If your children are old enough to play Minecraft, you can have them use Redstone in the actual game. They can design a trap using Redstone or create a lighthouse with a 'spinning' light. They can use a silk touch pick to pick up the ore and display it in a Minecraft Museum. 

Extra Craft Idea - Make a 3D Redstone Torch 

Gather together a paper towel roll, red tissue paper, and an electric tea light. After painting the paper towel roll shades of brown, cover the top with the red tissue paper. Place the electric tea light in the top of the Redstone torch if you want the torch active.