I love science projects for kids that use things we have around the house already. It’s a great way to recycle things that would ordinarily be thrown away and it allows you to do some really educational science activities without spending a lot of money. This simple science activity is perfect for preschoolers and elementary school aged kids and it’s a great way to teach about the structure of a seed and how a plant grows.

To prepare for this project, I saved eggshells for several weeks. I washed each eggshell half out and kept them in the fridge just to make sure everything stayed fresh (I realize that once we started the project I put all the eggshells outside but it made me feel better knowing they weren’t rotting on my kitchen counter.

Materials Needed

A dozen or so eggshell halves, washed and stored in the egg carton

Potting soil

Seeds – Look for something that germinates quickly. We opted for green bean seeds but anything will do

Instructions

Once you have collected enough empty eggshells for this project you can take your egg carton outside and fill each eggshell half with potting soil.

This is a great chance for kids to get their hands dirty — something that doesn’t happen enough most of the time.

Have your kids gently place one seed on top of each eggshell and then push it down into the dirt with their finger. Be sure the seed is towards the middle of the eggshells so it has soil all around it.

Now For the Fun Part . . .

Water your seeds and leave them to grow for 3-4 days. You can watch them if you want. They don’t grow any faster unfortunately.

Once they have had a chance to be in there long enough for some changes to start taking place, have your kids pick one eggshell to crack open and have a really good look at the seed.

Have your kids notice how the seed has changed. It may be helpful to have your kids draw a picture of what the seed looked like at first (or take a picture) and draw a picture of what it looks like after being in the soil for a few days then compare the two.

Repeat every few days and have your kids pay attention to the details that are happening as the seed grows.

You may want to leave the last few seeds in the eggshell and allow them to grow into a mature plant. You can use the eggshells as planters and place them directly in the ground to grow.

You can expand this activity by talking about the parts of a seed, what things a plant needs to grow, the parts of a plant, and the plant life cycle.

Additional Resources

Parts of a Seed

Science Fun you can Eat – Parts of a Plant Salad

Plant Seeds and Watch them Grow

How a Seed Grows (Let’s-Read-and-Find-Out Science 1) - I HIGHLY recommend this series

Now that Easter is over, you probably have all kinds of leftover candy and plastic eggs that you need to do something with. This homemade matching game is really, really simple to make and is a great way to use up some of those extra plastic Easter eggs.

Matching games are a fantastic way to introduce preschoolers to early math skills and this simple game helps with number recognition at the same time.

Materials

Plastic Easter Eggs

A permanent marker or small round stickers

Instructions

Count out 10 plastic Easter eggs. You can use more if your preschooler has already mastered counting to 10 and recognizing the numbers 1-10.

Use a permanent marker to write the numbers 1-10 on the top and bottom of the plastic Easter Eggs. You can make this game a bit easier by putting matching numbers on the same color eggs or a bit more difficult by mixing the colors up so that the matching numbers are on different color eggs.

Allow the marker to fully dry so it doesn’t rub off. Depending on what type of marker you use, the numbers will likely start to rub off eventually but considering this game took me less than 5 minutes to put together, I’m not really concerned with long-term durability.

If you want, you can write or print numbers on small stickers and use those to label the plastic eggs.

Variation for Older Kids

While my preschoolers were enjoying using this activity as a matching game, we changed up the rules a bit for my 7 year old. Since he is working on memorizing all his addition tables we turned this into a quick math game.

Take all the plastic eggs apart and drop them into your Easter basket (or another container). Reach in and pull out two egg halves and fit them together. Have your older child then add the two numbers together (or multiply them together if your child has already mastered addition). This activity turns into a fun way to quiz your child on his addition (or multiplication) tables!

Busy Mommy Media Recommends

Colgate has a great educational program they sent out every year for FREE to kindergarten classrooms, home daycares, preschools, and homeschoolers. I used this program every February for dental health month with my preschool dental health theme when I ran a home daycare and I continued to use during the year we homeschooled. I’m excited to incorporate it into our preschool co-op this year because the kids always love it and it comes with some great toothbrush and toothpaste samples for each of the kids.

This year’s Bright Smiles, Bright Futures kit includes:

For the Teacher

• Dr. Rabbit and Friends Sing-along CD
• I Know What To Do! Classroom Big Book
• Dr. Rabbit and Friends Teacher’s Guide
• Bright Smiles for Children Oral Health Digest

For the Kids

• My Bright Smile Storybook (English & Spanish)
• Bright Smiles at Home Family Booklet
• Colgate Kid’s Toothbrush
• Colgate Kid’s Toothpaste

If you are a teacher, whether as a homeschooler, home daycare provider, or preschool/kindergarten teacher, sign up for your Free Classroom Kit from Colage Here.

There was a time when I thought the baby years were the hard ones. I had no idea that one day, I would look back with fond memories on the days when I was sleep deprived because of a baby’s cries rather than losing sleep over the many complicated worries of childhood drama. My oldest is only in 2nd grade and I’m already terrified of the teenage years. If I could shrink my kids down small enough to carry them around in a sling again and take them with me everywhere I went, I would do it. Judge me all you want but after a hard day in the trenches of parenting, you would do it too.

We homeschooled last year and, while we loved it, my now 2nd grader wanted to give public school a try. As a work at home mom, I certainly wasn’t going to turn down the extra time in my day but I’ve been surprised at how hard the transition has been for both of us.

I went to public school for my entire school career, and like anyone else in the public school system there were ups and downs. I can’t remember what I did this morning but I have vivid memories of spit wads being thrown at me on the bus and nicknames that just wouldn’t seem to go away. On graduation day, I washed my hands of all that and joined the real world. I had no idea that school would actually be harder as a parent.

I’ve decided that my ability to survive elementary school as a parent will boil down to trust and communication.

Trust

Turning your child over to a complete stranger for 6 hours a day is a bit overwhelming. you hope that everything will go smoothly but it’s hard to ignore the stories of bullying and school violence that appear in the news far too often for comfort. While my son is young, I’ve decided that the person I need to have trust in is not necessary his teacher (although that helps too) but him. From the moment kids are born they work to be independent and as a parent, we have to trust that they can make good choices. Children may not have experience on their side but they understand right and wrong far better than most adults and that by itself can go a long way.

Communication in Public School

One of my biggest complaints when I sent my son to kindergarten in public school was the lack of communication. My son, while generally chatty, could never be counted on to give me an account of his day at school unless I wanted to know about which games were played at recess. I was hoping that as an older and wiser 2nd grader things would be different, but personality is fairly ingrained and my accounts of the day still consist of lunch menus and playground games.

After hearing that my son was physically bullied on the playground during the first week of school (likely on one of the days when all I heard was that he ate his full sandwich at lunch), I made a point to do my part to communicate better with his classroom teacher. Several lengthy conversations later and I finally feel like I have a better idea what is going on during his day.

Returning to public school has also made me realize how vital it is that my son and I communicate with each other. I’ve always thought we knew how to talk to each other but I’m starting to suspect that I didn’t teach him how to express his feelings. As the oldest, he’s used to taking charge of a situation and fixing it. He’s not used to asking for help. The first few weeks of school could have gone much more smoothly for my son if he had known how to open up with me and his teacher about things that he didn’t understand and a few things that were causing him stress.

This is a new stage of parenting for me and it certainly comes with it’s challenges. We’re all still undecided whether or not we’ll ultimately continue on with public school or go back to being a homeschooling family long term. For us, the decision will be determined by our kids and what is ultimately best for them as individuals.

Photo by Megan Skelly

My 7 year old son started 2nd grade this week and it’s a big milestone for him because he’s making the transition from homeschooling to public school. We homeschooled last year using the K12 curriculum, which I LOVED by the way, but we’re new to the area and my son wanted the chance to meet more kids (and for some reason he was really, really excited about the chance to eat lunch at school). It’s going to be an adjustment for our family for sure. The first night my son was so excited he couldn’t fall asleep until after midnight. The second morning, I couldn’t drag him out of bed. I’m not sure public school was exactly what he thought it would be but I’m hoping once he adjusts, it will be a good experience.

The Difference Between Homeschool and Public School

We had a unique homeschooling experience. Our family was in the process of moving out of state and we spend some time living in timeshares while we figured out exactly where we wanted to be. That gave us the chance to explore areas that were brand new to us and turn homeschooling into an adventure. For our ocean science unit we dissected seaweed on the beach and went on a whale watching tour. For the desert unit we went camping in Moab and discovered desert plants and animals up close. We read book after book after book and counted money until it was second nature.

Educational Pace

My son was homeschooling for 1st grade but as a family, we all learned (my 4 year old can tell you all about ancient Egypt now). We didn’t do many worksheets though and while we tried to keep some semblance of a routine, we mostly followed a child-led daily routine, focusing on the things that were interesting to the kid’s at the time. Public school requires constant classroom management and the one-on-one attention that my son is used to is simply not possible. Education happens in the closed environment of the school, and requires kids to a learning style that may not be ideal for them to be successful.

Homeschooling allowed my son to work at whatever pace he was comfortable with. Public school follows a stricter schedule. We’ve spent quite a bit of time over the past few days wondering if we’ve done our son a disservice by helping him progress beyond his grade level – until we realize how silly that sounds and that we just need to help find a way for him to continue to progress, where he is at and not where the class is, at public school.

Parent Involvement

One of the things that frustrated me the most when my son attended kindergarten in public school was that I felt out of the loop. Beyond a few vague details I got at the end of the day, I didn’t know what he’d spent his time doing and what he was learning on a daily basis. I felt disconnected from my child. He had a life apart from our family, which is healthy and normal, but I wanted to catch a few glimpses of it from time to time. At the end of the year I was shocked to hear that my son, who had known how to read before entering kindergarten, was still working on his ABC’s every day at school. It felt like a waste of a year. I’m determined not to make that same mistake again this time. I’m going to be as involved as I can be and make sure I’m aware of the material that is being covered in the classroom and if it doesn’t meet the needs of my son – I’m going to step in and make some changes.

Being Defined as a Homeschooler

Transitioning to public school has been an adjustment for all of us because it doesn’t just involve the student, it involves the whole family. My family grew closer together through our year of homeschooling than we ever have before. The experience taught us to rely on each other and taught us how to learn together and progress together. I think we all miss that a bit. My younger children miss having their brother around and I miss seeing the boy who has grown into such a responsible, caring child.

There’s no denying that homeschooling is lifestyle. For over a year I’ve defined myself as a homeschooler. It’s changed the way my family has looked at every day experiences. Everything is an opportunity to learn. There’s almost a sense of loss at not being a homeschooler now and I didn’t expect that. Homeschooling is a full time job and while I won’t complain about being given some extra time (my laundry pile will surely appreciate that) it’s a huge adjustment. I’m homeschooling my younger 2 for preschool (keep an eye out for our week by week preschool lesson plans that you can do at home) because I don’t see the purpose of sending a 4 year old who is nearly reading and who knows his addition and subtraction tables to preschool but things have changed and we’re not quite a homeschooling family anymore. I feel very mainstream all of a sudden.

I used to think the baby stage was the hardest part of parenting. I’m quickly realizing that parenting gets a lot more complicated as kids get older. There are so many schooling options available now and I’m glad that I’m aware of them now. I don’t know what my children’s educational future will hold but I do know that we have choices and we won’t be afraid to make changes if we need to.

Do you find yourself spending more time hustling your children out the front door than you spend enjoying your time together at home? You are not alone. In today’s world, there are so many worthy causes pressing for our time that it becomes very easy to over-commit ourselves with responsibilities and activities. However, when we over schedule ourselves and our children we are not teaching them how to recognize their own limits and prioritize their time.

The Benefits of Scheduling Less

• You will have more time to spend one-on-one time with your children.
• You can spend more time providing your family with a fresh, homemade dinner. You can eat it while sitting down at the table together rather than grabbing a quick sandwich as you load up the car.
• You will have more time to perform better at the responsibilities you choose to keep.
• Downtime. A popular buzz word today, but it is true. We all need time to sit down, relax and enjoy some time doing something that lifts our spirits and rejuvenates our souls.

Think of other benefits unique to your family and write them down so you’ll remember just why you need to say no to one more activity.

Reduce Your Outside Commitments

While it is important to complete the task or responsibility you committed to doing, you can excuse yourself. Any respectable organization will admire and respect your decision to put your family first. Recognize your limitations, decide what you can still do and excuse yourself from the responsibilities that you can not fit into your new schedule. You do not have to explain further than “My family needs more of my time.” You may provide a more in depth explanation if you want, but do not feel obligated to do so. If your schedule later opens up and you want to return, you can do that, too.

Involve Your Children

Involve your children as you learn to schedule less. Talk to them about your reasons for excusing yourself from various activities. Role play with them to help all of you to grow more comfortable with saying no to new responsibilities and activities when they do not fit in your schedules. When your child comes to you with another activity she wants to do, walk her through the steps of determining what will have to go if she takes on a new activity. Also, take a look at what it will require from you to help him keep his commitment.

Send the Right Message

Each time you put your family ahead of outside obligations, you are telling your children that they are very important people in your life. That knowledge will go a long way in helping them to feel confident and secure in your love and create a bond between you that will help you all through the rough times that do come from time to time in parenting. As you help your children to learn how to recognize they abilities & limitations, problem solve, prioritize their time and put family first, you are helping them to become a healthy and successful adults.

Photo credit: ppdigital @ morgueFile

For many reasons, a parent may feel overwhelmed or exhausted when parenting in general. The same is especially true when the parent is also the full-time teacher. In an ideal world, we would have ample time and energy each day to prepare and implement teach moments, take of the day-to-day parenting, clean the house, get to extra-curricular activities and sports, etc. We would wake each more with a full night’s sleep feeling refreshed and rejuvenated. Undoubtedly, this is not the world where you or I live.

The real world is where the neighbor’s dog barks all night, the kids fight through the entire science experiment, a relative or friend drops in unannounced, or the car breaks down on the way to a field trip. Something is bound to go wrong, distract us or simply disable us for the time being.

Just like adults, kids get burned out, too. They have bad days, sleepless nights, worries and frustrations that wear them down. A unit study that was exciting three weeks ago is not even remotely interesting now. Living in close proximity and spending all day, every day together can cause even the closest of siblings to get on each others nerves.

Tips to Recover from Burnout

Often, parents will catch sight of the fact that they or their children are on the road to burnout and take action to avoid it. When that does not happen, here are some tips to help your family to get back on the right path.

• Talk to your support person. If you do not already have someone in your life who supports your homeschooling efforts, you need to find and establish a trusted friend or family member who knows your goals and reasons for homeschooling and understands that you are simply overwhelmed and exhausted.
• Evaluate what you have been doing and determine if a change is necessary. If it is working, keep at it. If not, find a way to modify it or replace it.
• Ask your children what they believe is working and not working. Their answers may inspire you.
• Evaluate your family’s health. Are you drinking enough water? Taking your vitamins? Eating right? Exercising enough?
• Go to bed early for 2-3 nights in a row. That means the kids, too. Everyone go to bed at the same time.
• Take a day off. Declare a pajama day, go to the beach just to enjoy it, read a book together simply because it’s a great book, go for a walk. Whatever you do, do it to relax, not to educate.
• If you truly must get your school work accomplished, do it somewhere new. Try the library, park, airport, beach, your lawn, a friend’s house, anywhere.

Self-Evaluation

Once life is relatively stable again, evaluate how you got so far into burnout mode. Have you been using the tips for avoiding burnout? Has there been a stressful life event? Have you been taking enough holidays or field trips to break up the day-to-day routine? Are you trying to cram too much into your schedule? Or a lesson plan? Whatever it is that contributed to your feeling so overburdened, you need to find a way to resolve it or you’ll be right back where you started.

Rough times are inevitable. It’s a part of life and it affects our homeschooling efforts. Remember to slow down once in a while and enjoy the journey.

Photo credit: kakisky @ morgueFile

Homeschooling was not one of those things that I always knew that I would do. While I had always loved the idea of homeschooling, I wasn’t sure I could handle the day to day demands of homeschooling while raising a young toddler and preschooler and then there was that all consuming questions of socialization. My oldest son went to kindergarten in the public school system and while he loved it and I liked his teacher, many of the things he learned were below his skill level and some things, I found, had to be re-taught at home after school. Life events during the summer between kindergarten and first grade gave our family reason to reconsider our schooling choices and in the end we settled on a happy medium – homeschooling through a charter school program.

Why We Decided to Homeschool

Shortly before my son finished his kindergarten year, our family went through some drastic changes. My husband lost his job, I found myself unexpectedly pregnant, our baby was born too early and passed away not long after birth, we sold our house, moved into my parent’s basement, and my husband graduated with his MBA.

I found myself dragging my feet enrolling my son in what would have been his new school. After experiencing so much change in such a short period of time, I was hesitant to put my son in a new school only to pull him out in a few months when my husband had (hopefully) found a new job.  I wasn’t satisfied with the quality of the education my son had received in public school – not disgusted with it, just not satisfied – and I found that as we got closer to the start of the school year, sending my 6 year old away for the entire day was really unpleasant to me. We planned to travel quite a bit as my husband looked for work and had no idea how that would work with a child in school.

After extensive thought, we decided that homeschooling was really the best fit for our situation even though it was not something we had seriously considered before. We felt the experiences he would have traveling and receiving individualized education would provide more of a benefit than spending  a few months in a classroom before switching schools.

But What About Socialization?

The question of how to provide enough social experiences for a homeschooled child was our top concern. We had no doubts about our ability to provide a quality educational experience, especially with help from a charter program, but socialization was a worry. My son has always been a little on the shy side, although I finally got smart and stopped actually telling people he was shy when he was 3 and told me he couldn’t play on the playground while other kids were there because he was shy. He did well in kindergarten but still struggled with his confidence at the end of the year.

I thought back to my own school experience as we made our decision to homeschool because shyness has always been something I’ve had to fight against as well, so I really felt for my son and I saw my school experience in a new light. I remembered bullies who made me dread going to school, peer pressure that made me feel like nobody, teachers who convinced me that I would never amount to anything and I realized that my public school experience had done as much, if not more to hurt my socialization than it had to help it.

I talked to a few of the homeschoolers I knew in the area and they directed me to homeschool groups, activities, co-ops, and classes. After only a few days I was overwhelmed by the number of options for socializing that my kids had as homeschoolers. We joined a homeschool soccer league, attended homeschool field trips, and scheduled homeschool park dates but I was still concerned that my son was not receiving the same daily interaction he would have had with other kids in the public school system. I quickly found that I didn’t need to worry. My previously shy son had discovered on his own that if he wanted friends he needed to take the initiative and take advantages of the opportunities he had to spend time with other kids. Now as we near the end of the school my son confidently walks into a group of kids of any age, tells them his name, and incorporates himself into the group seamlessly. This year I have seen things I never would have expected: my son knocking on a door to invite a neighbor’s child he had never met to play, my son jumping in to organize group activities with a group of kids he doesn’t know at a park, and my friend developing loyal friendships with the children he sees on a regular basis. Homeschooling has provided a social education of a different kind than public school could offer but my children know how to make friends and treat others with kindness. Isn’t that really what socialization is all about?

The First Time Homeschooling Experience

Homeschooling is a full time job. I knew going in that it would be hard work, but I had no idea the discipline that it would really take, day in and day out. After my son spend his kindergarten year mostly in school and playing with friends after school, I loved the chance to strengthen our bond and get to know each other all over again through homeschooling. Just like any other job though, some days are good, some days are bad. I think it is in the nature of parenthood to always question whether you are doing the right thing for your children. Children are always changing, so we, as parents, need to constantly decide whether what we are doing is working or not.

My children have had some wonderful experiences through homeschooling this year that they would not have had in the public school system. My kids learned about the desert by going on a multi-day camping trip in Moab, Utah and working through the education kit provided by the National Parks. We learned about the ocean as a family by visiting tide pools in southern California, going whale watching on an ocean boat, and exploring the ocean shore as a family. We learned about ancient Egypt by studying and reading, but also by talking to a grandfather who had spent time in Egypt and had a large collection of items from Egypt that my children could see and touch.

When I tell people that I am homeschooling my children, I get a lot of mixed reactions. I’ve had people tell me what a wonderful education my kids must be getting by having one-on-one attention from a mom with previous teaching experience and I’ve had people tell me I’m going to turn my kids into nerds.  Overall, I’ve been surprised at how accepting most people have been of our decision and we trust that we have made the right choice for our family at this time in our lives. As a first time homeschooler, it has definitely been a learning process but we’ve learned along the way that you can really create a homeschool that is customized to fit the needs of your families and the individual development of your children. At this point, I don’t know if we will homeschool forever. I guess, like everything else that comes with parenting, we’ll take it one day at a time.

Congratulations Susan Mayer! Susan is the winner of the Magic School Bus Science Kit Giveaway!

My children and I recently had the opportunity to The Magic School Bus Going Green science kit courtesy of The Young Scientists Club. The kit is a collection of hands-on science experiments for intended for children ages 5-8. It arrives with most of the supplies necessary for each experiment. You will need to supply such things as newspaper and acetone, but most families may already have those items on hand without requiring an extra purchase.

If you need a great science activity to keep your kids occupied during their holiday break from school or a fun activity for homeschoolers, you will definitely want to check out The Young Scientists Club.

Adult Supervision

With this age group, all of the experiments should be adult supervised–both for the guidance but also for the safety of your young scientist. A few experiments, however, do require an adult to perform a few tasks, such as running the blender or using a hot stove. So parents, do plan on completing the experiments with your child.

Instruction Guide

The colorfully illustration instruction booklet is printed on thick, glossy paper similar to a high-quality magazine thereby allowing it to withstand the rigors of getting messy. It is set up similar to the Magic School Bus books with the characters talking in bubbles, notes, and illustrations.

Experiments Use the Scientific Method

There are twelve experiments in the Magic School Bus Going Green science kit. Some of the experiments build upon each other therefore some require the end result of a previous experiment. The amount of time required for each experiment varies from a few minutes to a few weeks so be sure to read the requirements and plan accordingly.

Each experiment is introduced by a Magic School Bus character, who gives an explanation of the experiment and shares some basic facts. Using the Scientific Method as an outline for experiments, each one begins with a question to be answered. The young scientist is then asked to make a hypothesis based on the information available.

Once you are ready to begin, there is a list of the materials necessary and an outline of the methods necessary to complete the experiment. Each experiment ends with a place to record the results of the experiment and for the young scientist to write down his conclusions based on the results.

Space is available in the instruction booklet to record all the information or you can have your young scientist(s) write on another sheet of paper or in a notebook.

Extending the Lessons

Three of my four children are beyond the target age for the Magic School Bus Go Green science kit, but they still enjoyed their experience. Homeschoolers can easily extend this kit by a more in-depth study of the science around each experiment and supplementing with field trips.

More Kits Available

The Young Scientists Club is not limited to Magic School Bus kits! Their catalog also includes Nature Series, The Scientist Series, Adventure Science Series, and more.

You can visit their website at The Young Scientists Club.

Enter to Win

Win your choice of the following kits from The Young Scientists Club – School Bus Going Green, Magic School Bus Diving into Slime, or Science on a Gardening Adventure. This giveaway is open to the U.S. and will end on December 30, 2009.

Enter the giveaway by commenting on this post.

Please see our site’s Terms and Conditions for a complete list of our contest and giveaway rules.

In compliance with the new FTC Guild lines, please note that this is a sponsored post.  I was given a copy of the Magic School Bus Going Green science kit courtesy of The Young Scientists Club to test and review free of charge.  However, I was not paid for the review and the opinions are my own.

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If you find yourself spontaneously homeschooling your children mid-school year, you may be wondering what to do and where to begin. First of all, take a deep breath! No matter the age of your child (or children), no matter the reason you chose homeschooling, you have time to take a deep breath and research your options. Time is on your side.

While You Adjust to Homeschooling

Now that you have your children at home during the day, get out. Go to the park, go to museums, visit with other homeschooling families, go to the library. Go and enjoy this time together simply absorbing the world around you as you begin your family’s new lifestyle. You will be surprised by the educational opportunities that will seemingly fall into your lap, and it will do your family good to spend this time getting reacquainted.

Read Together

Go to the library and pick up a few books to read aloud to your children, and have them pick out a few books to read on their own. If you’re not sure where to begin, the text of many children’s picture books are written at high school or adult leveled reading. Choose several from various genres and with a spectrum of illustration techniques. You can spend time admiring the artwork, you can ask for predictions as to what may happen next, have your older children read to your younger children, act out the story, make up alternate endings. The sky is the limit on what you can do with just one children’s picture book.

Find a Local Homeschool Group

In our high-tech age, you may already be a member of one or more online homeschool forums. They are a fabulous resource for ideas and support, but they are not a replacement for “in real life” human interaction with like-minded people. Though this may be much easier to do in more diverse and large communities, if you live in an area with very few homeschoolers, even just one other homeschooling family can provide the support and human contact you and your children need.

Before You Buy Curriculum

If you have not already researched some of the possible instructional methods and educational philosophies, now is great time, but don’t feel obligated to research them all at once. You have plenty of time for researching. Right now, focus on the basics. What are the laws in your state, county, school district? What is your child’s learning style? Why did you choose to homeschool? Does your child have any special needs? How do you want to approach your family’s daily learning? With the answers to these questions, you will be well on your way to successfully homeschooling your children.

Suggested Resources

A to Z Home’s Cool
Leaping from the Box
The First Year of Homeschooling Your Child : Your Complete Guide to Getting off to the Right Start by Linda Dobson
Honey for a Child’s Heart by Gladys Hunt
Honey for a Teen’s Heart by Gladys Hunt