If you’ve been following my blog for a while, you know that we have been homeschoolers since the very beginning of our children’s school years.  A few years back, I started writing down our homeschool plans since I would have friends and readers ask me what we used each year.  If you care to look back, you can see what we used in the 2015-2016 year here or in the 2016-2017 school year here. 2017-2018 can be found here. 2018-2019 can be found here, 2019-2020 can be found here, and 2020-2021.

This year, we have kids in 9th, 6th, 5th, and Kindergarten and we are switching it up a bit.  Since we graduated our oldest this past year and our youngest is officially school age, we’ve decided to make some changes.  My youngest 2 will be going to a local hybrid homeschool/private school a couple times a week.  They will be doing all their subjects there and then have homework to work on the other days.  My husband or I will be assisting them with their homework on their off days.

The older two are going to be going to a one day a week program that covers English, History, Logic, and a few other subjects.  Below, I’ll share a little of what we will be doing at home.

Math:

We are continuing with XtraMath.org for my 5th and 6th graders.  It’s a completely free way to make sure your kids understand all of their math facts.  As a mom, I can login and see how they are doing as well and what needs improvement.

For my oldest student, he will start his high school with Math-U-See for Algebra 1.  6th grader will start another year of Horizons Math.  The other 2 will do math with their school and are using Saxon.

Bible:

As a family, we are going to be working through Who is God? And How Can I Really Know Him? from Apologia.

Extracurriculars:

Everyone will be continuing with American Heritage Girls and Trail Life, and of course youth group activities.

Hope you all have a great school year!  I’m looking forward to having a lighter load this year and outsourcing more.  Plus, if you missed this on a previous post, I’ll be returning to work after 18 years at home!  So excited about that!

I have to say that the Tennessee Aquarium is one of our favorite places to visit. It’s well worth the drive to visit. I love the way it is laid out to walk through and of course all the animals.

On Wednesday, Sept. 23, the Aquarium will celebrate the indispensable role of parent-educators with discounted admission for homeschool families and groups.

“For homeschool families, the Aquarium offers exciting opportunities because it is a place where family members of all ages can learn together,” says Dr. Brooke Gorman, the Aquarium’s director of science education. “In a homeschool setting, there is more freedom to let students’ interests guide their learning, and the Aquarium offers many opportunities for one student or a group of students to get excited about different topics.” 

On Homeschool Day, eligible guests can take advantage of discounted, timed-entry tickets at $29.95 for adults and $9 for students ages 5-18. Homeschool families visiting on Homeschool Day also can purchase IMAX tickets and Aquarium memberships at a discounted rate.

Discounted tickets may be purchased in advance by visiting: https://community.tnaqua.org/events/2020/homeschool-day-at-the-tennessee-aquarium . In accordance with local health mandates, all guests ages 12 and older are required to wear a face covering during their visit. All tickets are timed-entry to ensure proper physical distancing within the Aquarium’s buildings.

Here’s a place we haven’t been to before and this looks amazing! The North Georgia Zoo is offering free drive thru admission to homeschoolers on 9/24. Here are the details from their facebook page:

To say thank you to all Homeschool Teachers, we are offering FREE admission to our Safari Drive Thru. Join us Thursday September 24th from 11-3pm. Offer only valid for homeschool teachers & their family. For more info on our Safari Drive Thru visit https://www.northgeorgiazoo.com/safari-drive-thru.html No ticket purchase necessary for this offer, simply show up and you will be admitted to the drive thru!

This park is located in Cleveland, Georgia.

I currently have a homeschooled high schooler. One thing that overwhelmed me was trying to figure out how to create her homeschool transcript. I’m happy to tell you guys that we found a great way to create a beautiful transcript for her!

We having been using a website called FastTranscripts.com. On this website, I can type in her grades and classes and it will formulate her homeschool transcript. We used this to get her driver’s license as a homeschooler and other various things.

Here is a sample of how it looks when you type in your information:

It calculates GPA, keeps track of credits, and makes it very clear and professional. Then you can print it or whatever you need to do.

I definitely recommend this program to anyone wanting to create a student’s homeschool transcript. If you want to check it out, you can snag a 30 day free trial!

I love fun apps and programs that help my children learn.  Right now Vooks is offering 1 year free subscription to all school teachers and homeschool educators!  I just registered for mine as a homeschool parent and received access fairly quickly afterward.

Vooks is a streaming service for kids, where storybooks come to life!  I think we are going to like this!  Head on over to Vooks.com to register!

We’ve been homeschooling for over 6 years now.  During that time, I’ve found products that I loved and some that didn’t quite hit the mark.  Here’s a roundup of some of my favorite math manipulatives.

Counting Bears with Cups –  These are awesome for counting and sorting.  You can even work on patterns by setting the bears up in different color orders.  We’ve had our set for years and have used it with all of our children.

Learning Cubes – These are great for learning patterns and colors for younger ages and as the kids get bigger, you can continue using them with addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division.  My oldest is about to start 6th grade and we are still using them in fractions and such!  Probably one of our most used items.

Wooden Pattern Blocks – These were always one of my favorite things to play with in school.  You can make some fun patterns with them!

Learning Geoboard – You can use these to learn about shapes, area, perimeter, and they are a ton of fun for kids as well.  Really cool to make designs!

Learning ResourcesFraction Tower  – These connective blocks help immensely with learning fractions.  With some kids it’s hard to picture fractions on the page.  It’s easier when you have something to actually touch.  Even better, it shows the decimals and percents.

Double Dice – I actually had no idea about Double Dice until another homeschool mom friend showed them to me and told me how she uses them.  I was amazed at all the ways they can be used!  For example, give one child a double dice.  They roll the dice and whatever the dice comes to, they have to do a math problem.  Keep going until they have created and solved 20 or so problems.  For example, the outer dice is 5 and the inner dice is 2.  5+2=7.  Or for older kids do multiplication,  5×2=10.  Love this!

Do you have any favorites that I haven’t mentioned?  Leave a comment and tell me about it!  I’m always open for checking out new stuff! 

For the past 10 years, I have been using HomeschoolCompliance.com to submit our homeschool records.  It is such a breeze!  At the beginning of the school year, HomeschoolCompliance.com will email me and let me know it’s time to submit my Declaration of Intent to Homeschool.  A few clicks of the mouse and it’s done!  They e-file it and you’ll even get an email confirmation when it’s received and opened.  At the beginning of every month, you’ll also get an email with a reminder to fill out your attendance record.  A few more clicks of the mouse and done!  No headache!  No worrying if your files were lost in the mail.  No forgetting!  No extra paperwork.

If you’re not hooked already, HomeschoolCompliance.com offers a free 3 month trial.  You’ll see how easy and convenient it is that you’ll also be hooked!  I don’t think I’ll ever go back to my old way of filing.  For the entire year, HomeschoolCompliance.com just charges $12!  What a deal for no headache and no stamps and envelopes!  Besides, after 5 kids, my memory just isn’t what it used to be.