When our eldest son graduated two years ago, I had no idea how much it would shift my priorities and our family dynamic. While it’s been a joy to watch him pursue his post-homeschool educational endeavors (and work in his first research internship with Oak Ridge National Laboratory), the honest truth is that… when he […]
Homeschool High School Lesson Plans
Our Homeschool High School Lesson Plans are here! A few years ago, we started to pursue a long-term vision of developing a complete course of study for Grades K-12, one in which families can experience many of the benefits of a one-room schoolhouse atmosphere. As a first step towards that end, we offered a suggested […]
How to Teach Public Speaking
Public Speaking. It strikes a fear and dread into the hearts of almost all of us. A quote often attributed to Mark Twain makes the point more bluntly: “There are only two types of speakers in the world. 1. The nervous and 2. Liars.” And yet… this is one of the most important skills we […]
Framework for a homeschool co-op
The Mission Great Commission curriculum series is a family-style schooling approach built upon a missions-focused, biblical Christian worldview. The program incorporates scriptural truths while teaching world cultures, history, geography, science, art, hymns, and orchestra/composers. While the program has been developed for families that have at least one student in grades 2-8, students older and younger […]
Hide the Word Scripture Memory Work System
I have hidden your word in my heart that I might not sin against you. Psalm 119:11 (NIV) Scripture Memory Work Of all that we memorize in our family, scripture is the most important. And although we memorize scripture in our home, we often fall short in this area. After all, it’s easy to focus […]
Story-Driven Economics Curriculum: Economics for Everybody
“I just love this curriculum.” – David, Age 17 When embarking on a study of high school economics, this was not a statement I expected to hear from my teenage son. I did not expect our 17-year-old to become an economics enthusiast. In fact, I have not seen him this excited about a course of study […]
Great Empires Overview: Hands-On History Study
Over the years, our family has often enjoyed digging into history using an activity-based unit study approach. Our boys have remembered so much more history when we reinforce those lessons with crafty, hands-on messes history projects. Because we didn’t complete these while we were reading through The Story of the World (as I had originally […]
Spring Semester Read Alouds, Plans, & Schedules
Teach us to number our days, that we may gain a heart of wisdom. Psalm 90:12, NIV I tend to approach this time of year with caution. While part of numbering our days aright is planning well, part of numbering our days aright is letting go of those plans when God has something else in […]
Books we read and what we thought
As I looked back over our list of books for this year, I could hardly believe it. Our family shared over 48 books together as read-alouds this year! (This doesn’t count the personal independent reading of each of our children.) How on earth did we manage close to fifty books together?!? Well, I attribute it […]