Exploring the Outdoors

Here is a start at listing all of the Outdoor field trips we can think of. You’ll need to do your own research for details about each one because things change all the time. Have a favorite that we missed? Have other information that we should add? Let us know by emailing team@hsok.org and including … Continue reading Exploring the Outdoors

How to Plan a Nature Study Trip

Nature study has been one of the most enjoyable things we’ve done as a family. It has offered multiple benefits including fostering quality family time, honing observation skills, studying nature in the real world, allowing social time for myself and the kids, giving us opportunities to make connections with science. We believe that getting out … Continue reading How to Plan a Nature Study Trip

Where Did the Time Go?

When my children were very young, and everything seemed hard, I would often have other moms that had been there and done that tell me to enjoy every moment because the time goes by faster than I expect. I look back now and wish I had taken that advice to heart a little more. It … Continue reading Where Did the Time Go?

That’s What Break Week Is For

Have you had too many weeks in a row when you couldn’t get everything done? I don’t mean you didn’t finish all the schoolwork; you are way behind in the stuff one would think would be easy. For example, when it’s time to pay the bills, you realize you haven’t filed away the bills for … Continue reading That’s What Break Week Is For

Authors are our Teachers

A word fitly spokenIs like apples of gold in pictures of silver. – Prov. 25:11 Great authors are wordsmiths.  Through vivid imagery and careful syntax, their words ferry our minds to mythical lands with unexpected characters or turn the ordinary into the extraordinary.  This is artistry in ink; a picture painted in intelligible letters placed, … Continue reading Authors are our Teachers

What We Learn When We Learn Chemistry

Introduction “But why do I need to learn this?” is a common refrain from students of all ages.  It is frequently a struggle to answer.  Other people design standard curriculums, and we follow along.  This is disheartening for both the teacher and the student.   “What we learn when we learn…” is a series of … Continue reading What We Learn When We Learn Chemistry

Managing a Home in a State of Flux

How do you get it all done?  Dishes, laundry, meals (both prepping and planning), vacuuming the incessant dog hair, keeping surfaces clean and dust-free, making the beds, chauffeuring kids to activities, AND homeschooling?  The truth is, it CAN’T all be done.  Unfortunately, things that get done are quickly undone by other persons residing with you.  … Continue reading Managing a Home in a State of Flux

Is Your Curriculum working for your family?

Mid-year breaks are a great time to evaluate whether that shiny product you bought in August is still working in your homeschool.  Remember when you bought it?  You were sure that this was the thing that was going to help your kid get it.  But now it’s not proving the test of time (or the … Continue reading Is Your Curriculum working for your family?

Entertaining the Littles while Schooling the Bigs

I think this question has been the most often asked of me through the years by homeschooling mamas striving to teach younger and older students.  It was MY number one question during that season as well.  The quick answer: “You ARE teaching them!”  It is amazing what those little ears pick up and what those … Continue reading Entertaining the Littles while Schooling the Bigs

Rainy Day Fun

One of the advantages of homeschooling is flexibility in your school schedule. However, I always had a schedule that needed to be followed and did not always appreciate the flexibility that homeschooling offered, but rainy days always called to me to stop and just enjoy that we weren’t running from here to there. Rainy days … Continue reading Rainy Day Fun