Archives for September 2012

Fall Fun Printables

September 19, 2012 by

Fall is finally here! We’ve had a very warm summer and welcome the arrival of Fall. Here’s a set of fall-themed printable activities for your kids. They’ll learn terms related to fall, make a sun visor, color a picture, play a game of Tic-Tac-Toe and more.

The 11-page Fall Fun Printable Packet includes:

  • Fantastic Fall Puzzle
  • Door Hanger, Pencil Topper and Bookmark
  • Fantastic Fall Tic-Tac-Toe Game
  • Fall Sun Visor Craft
  • Fall Wordsearch
  • Fall Crossword Puzzle
  • Fall Multiple Choice Worksheet
  • Fall Matching Worksheet
  • Fall Vocabulary Study Sheet
  • Fall Coloring Puzzle
  • Warm Autumn Greetings Coloring Page

Fall Fun Printables, 11 pages

Filed Under: Beverly Hernandez, Fall Fun, Holidays, Printables

Living the Extremes, Finding the Balance

September 18, 2012 by

My homeschool journey has been just that, a journey.  It will take some time to tell the story of our journey thus far, but we’ll take it much like we take our homeschooling – a day at a time.

I have found that in our family, homeschooling morphs and changes as we seek out what works best for each child, each season of life, each home we live in, the mental state of the teacher (me!) and many other factors. As an overall theme though, our approach has seemed to swing from one extreme to the other. With my first 2 children, I sat them down and we learned. If they were ready to learn, if they were not ready to learn, WE LEARNED!

With my next two, I took a much more relaxed approach. So relaxed an approach that it caused panic among the relatives and friends: “He doesn’t know how to read yet?!” In time, he learned and with joy and happiness, in stark contrast to the tears and frustration experienced by his older brother. He learned quickly too, catching up to the same level as his tortured alumni with speed.

This year seems to be the leveling out and balancing of both extremes. The younger kids are being challenged and taught, but not pushed. The older kids are being pushed and challenged a bit more, but not enough to send them over the edge. I think if I had to label all of our methods I would label them thus: Textbook, Charlotte Mason, Well Trained Mind.

It feels a bit odd to be at this stage of my homeschooling and feel again like I am just starting out, just learning how to homeschool, just discovering my philosophy of education. It’s early in the year and I wonder where we will fall once the year ends, but for now I feel balanced and happy. The kids are learning, we’re doing fun things like launching hydro rockets and making rifle cartridges out of toilet paper rolls and flour. Our notebooks are not perfect, our science hypothesis sometimes read like this: “I think it will work.” There is room for improvement, but we just keep walking down this road trying to do our best.

Excited to share the journey with you.

~ Julee Huy

Filed Under: Getting Started in Homeschooling, Homeschool Methods, Julee's Journey

Alphabet Fun: ABC Coloring Puzzles

September 13, 2012 by

Here are printable coloring puzzles for all 26 letters of the alphabet. There are two puzzles for the letter X: one with words that begin with X and one that also includes words that end with X. The puzzles will also introduce some new vocabulary words to your student. Print the puzzles on cardstock for best results, color the pictures and cut apart the pieces.

These alphabet coloring puzzles are the first in a series of alphabet activity pages. Stay tuned.

Have fun learning the alphabet and beginning sounds with these printable ABC Coloring Puzzles.

ABC Coloring Puzzles, 28 pages

Filed Under: Beverly Hernandez, Homeschool Curriculum, Kindergarten, Printables, Reading Skills