The #1 fear of most people is public speaking!  But teaching your children public speaking skills has a ton of great benefits: increased personal confidence; better writing, organizational, and research skills; critical thinking; and improved communication skills.  Plus, if your child likes public speaking, it can be a marvelous activity to include on your activity and award list!You can find speech and debate organizations in every state, and there are lots of different opportunities to be involved.  Here are...

For non-geeks, let me explain first that cosplay is a contraction of two words, costume and play. It means dressing up as a fictional character. Most ...

I have to confess, I was tempted to call this post "Logic for Dummies" but I was afraid you would know I'm not actually an intellectual. You see, I know that I could never possibly have taught logic to my logic-loving children without some help. Affiliate disclaimer: This post contains affiliate links. If you click and buy I may make a few pennies, but not enough for a latte. Logic, and logical thinking, involves essential skills that every...

The nice thing about homeschooling is that you can create almost any electives for your child under the sun!  You aren't limited to electives that a teacher is interested in, and you aren't limited to electives that you feel comfortable teaching.The bad part about homeschooling, is that when you recognize you can teach any elective under the sun, you have to somehow find the materials for your child to use!  Donna was talking to me about...

I love hearing about families involved in 4-H! As a rule of thumb, ALL 4-H activities are educational in nature, like Scouting is almost always educational in nature. It's fun to discuss different ways to divide these activities into meaningful high school courses. Face it - 4-H is just great fun! Learn how to put fabulous fun on your homeschool transcript and convert natural learning into high school credit with this free ebook. Download now: How to Convert...

Many families consider Home Economics to be a key course for high school. There are ten more. Curious about what they are? Click to find out more...

There are plenty of ways to teach public speaking in your homeschool! You can focus on speech and debate. It's pretty intense, and takes a lot of work...

You can put FUN on your homeschool transcript! Did you know that? It's such a freeing concept! High school credits created for fun will be the easiest your child will ever earn. Your children do something for fun, you count the hours they work, and give them appropriate credit on their transcript. Easy-peasy! Capture Learning for High School Credit Evelyn wrote an example, so you can see how it works in real life....I have been following your blog and newsletter...

This post contains affiliate links. If you click through and buy I may make a few pennies, but not enough for a latte. Rosetta Stone or Power Glide? I am often asked about which foreign language curriculum to use. There are many to choose from out there! Choosing probably boils down to learning style, and the ways your child learns the best. The three I often recommend are Tell Me More, Power Glide, and Rosetta Stone....

Homeschool Teaching Tips for Foreign Language  It's important to start your foreign language study early in high school, because some states require 2-4 years for high school graduation, and some colleges require it for college admission.  When I was homeschooling, I felt stumped on how to teach it, though!  So I collected a bunch of fun ideas in this article that I think will really help you. What will you learn in this article? 25 Great...

Have you ever struggled to document your students co-op classes? I’ve had a few questions lately from homeschool families who are struggling to do this very thing. All co-ops have particular elements that make their classes unique and it can be hard to develop a class description for these classes when you weren’t the one teaching your student, but you want to make sure and get all of your students credits on their high school transcripts....

If you’re struggling to evaluate your student’s courses, and how to assign credit, you’re not alone!  A lot of parents have a particularly hard time figuring out how to evaluate special courses, such as the culinary or fine arts.  One approach is to think of all the different skills that your child demonstrates. In culinary arts, sometimes people come up with things like shopping, meal planning, and menu creation. Other times people will list general skill...

My Facebook Friends helped me create this great list! "Ideas for Volunteer Leadership and Community Service"Melanie ~  5 K walks and runs, local shelters, United Way, Food Pantry, Red Cross, Nursing Homes, Animal Shelters, Assisted living Facilities, Salvation Army, local Libraries and volunteer tutoring or babysitting for younger kidsAnimal Shelters and Animal rescue clinics.Dana ~ Your local community access cable station (they film things like town meetings and high school concerts) probably uses volunteers for their...

I used Latin Road for 3 years. My boys were RATHER successful with it, not to mention my son still remembers all of his Latin even after three years without cracking a book! He was required to take a college placement test at the college he’s attending, so they could find out which course would be applicable for him. He passed all 3 levels of Latin, and began the university in Junior level! Yippee! He liked...

Dear Lee,"Did you schedule the art studies or simply allow them do it as they wanted? I debate a lot about whether its worth setting aside the time for art study." Art is really, TRULY my weak area, for that reason I basically reserved time for art study, or else we would most likely never do it! We never had a challenge getting math or science finished, only art, LOL! I planned it for 2-3 times...