Another school year has come to an end. Our kids have worked hard and made great progress in all areas of life! I am humbled and grateful to be their mother. I have a unique front row seat view of their education and childhood. I have never appreciated my children more than I do now. …
This week’s Star Wars Scene… The Trooper on the Pooper! Now with that smidgen of Star Wars joy, we can move forward to the real reason for this post… Board and card games can be a powerful educational tool. Playing a game helps to develop critical thinking, problem solving, and decision making skills. In addition, …
The other day while chatting with a kind ward member he turned to Zaylee and asked, “Was my niece, Mrs. Aullman, your kindergarten teacher?” Zaylee, a little confused, responded, “My mom is my teacher.” Realizing we homeschool, he asked me the sincere question, “How do you find the time?” I quickly responded, “Teaching my children …
This week’s Star Wars Shining Moment: the re-enactment of the trash compactor scene. Now… moving forward to the topic of this post… Our Star Wars Reward System. I love reward systems! Acknowledging hard work, effort, and goodness always helps to improve the morale of every day life. We kicked off the year with a ‘Star …
The start of school is a magical time! New school supplies, a new classroom, and the anticipation of what the year will bring. Would my kids miss out on the excitment of a new school year because we homeschool? I have learned there is no need to fret. The excitement of my children for the …
Since 1st grade, Jozlin has displayed a strong resistance to writing. Assigning a paragraph or even one sentence would send her into a downward spiral of emotions. For over a year much of my mental energy was spent trying to develop a way to kindle a love of writing within her heart. Thankfully I’m not in …
This year, Jozlin is learning cursive. To her it’s an exciting secret code. Jozlin says, “I love learning to write cursive because it is beautiful, it strengthens and exercises my hand, and it teaches me to read better.” Cursive is now the coveted subject in the Barnes Family Homeschool. Zaylee flew through level 1 handwriting, …
In the past we paid our girls allowance. Some questions that I struggled with were: What constitutes a fair allowance? Sometimes the kids don’t help well with chores… what should I do? I teach my kids to pay tithing… beyond that how do I teach them to balance spending and saving money? Those questions were answered when we switched …
