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Steve and I happily enjoying a new restaurant in Newtown
Thanks so much for the feedback last week about weekend links! I picked up some excellent ideas, plus it was fun to hear that you still enjoy these posts.
This go round I’d love to hear your ideas about the actual content posts on the blog twice each week (written by myself & the contributors):
How would you rate these on a scale of 1-10? If you wouldn’t rate them a 10, how could we improve them?
What would you like to read more of/less of? (It might help to keep in mind the mission of the site as well.)
Click here to leave a comment, and thanks for keeping your comments constructive! I want this space to meet your needs as much as we can.
Weekend homeschool links:
- Calming the chaos of motherhood (one list at a time)
- How (& why) to teach alphabetizing
- The master list of graphic novels to include in your homeschool
- Homeschooling when everyone needs you
- Reader Spotlight: Mary’s homeschool day with 8 kids
- To share with the kids: How balloons are made
What we’re enjoying this week:
- Jamie – Age 40
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– Project-Based Homeschooling
– Understood Betsy
– Spark Joy
- Trishna, Jonathan, Elijah – Ages 12, 11 & 10:
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– Extreme Weather Survival Guide
– History’s All-Stars: John F. Kennedy
– Mustang: Wild Spirit of the West
Featured sponsors:
When I first found out about Little Passports, I remember wishing I had come up with the idea of helping families “travel” & learn about new countries each month–so brilliant!
That was over 2 years ago, & my kids have outgrown it now. =( But it’s still one of my top learning picks for ages 5 to 10.
Going through one of those seasons when you need the kids to learn more independently?
I’ve been there before, and the animated lessons/games from Time4Learning.com got us through! It can be used as a complete online curriculum, but we used it as enrichment and it was a perfect fit for the time.
“Genius is an exceedingly common human quality, probably natural to most of us.” ~ John Taylor Gatto
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We’re reading Understood Betsy down here in Australia too 🙂 My comment is – just love your blog. Thanks for your posts and encouragement. Am lurking through Feedly.
I love posts written by Shawna, Sarah and you, of course! I am always encouraged by the posts on homeschooling children with special needs.
I’ve been hanging out here since 2013, and one of the first posts I ever read was the one about the site’s mission. At the time, I had one child in third grade attending public school and one about to start kindergarten, and I loved this: “If you believe it’s right to send your kids to school, then send them and come here for learning inspiration after hours. This blog is for you.” It was encouraging because I wanted so badly to homeschool but was a bit (okay, A LOT) intimidated. Today, I’m preparing to bring my seven year-old home next year and I of course look to this site so often for inspiration. Thank you. My fifth-grader, though, will remain in public school for the time being due to my custody agreement with her father, who doesn’t (yet) see the value in homeschooling. This brings me to what I’d love to see more of: posts geared toward those of us who are sending our kids to school, and what it looks like to continue their education at home. Learning is a very important part of our family’s culture, and it is my heart’s desire to inspire a lifetime love of learning in the hearts of all of my children, though that looks slightly different for each of them because of their differing circumstances. I would love to hear about those who are in the same boat we are! Keep up the great work and, again, thank you.
I have been a faithful reader and subscriber for over 5 years and I recommend this wonderful blog to homeschoolers and non-homeschoolers alike. What I’m looking to see more of now as my children grow older (about the same age as your kids) is how kids in middle and high school are homeschooled. And I’d love to see blogs about organized homeschool activities I’ve heard about like Destination Imagination, Model UN, National History Bee, etc.
I’ve been reading here on and off for about 3 years and I find so much inspiration here. I would really like to see more diversity among the homeschooling methods/philosophies represented. It seems to me that a lot of the contributors lean towards unschooling and interest based methods. I would love to read more from families who follow Charlotte Mason or classical homeschooling styles. Thank you for all the work you do!
Practical tips on surviving sick days such as how to redeem the day so learning can still occur for the ones who aren’t sick. When my toddler is sick I find it nearly impossible to teach my young elementary aged children who are not yet independent readers. Thanks so much for the constant inspiring posts!
I love all the posts!!! Of all the millions of emails i get Simple Homeschool’s are my favorites & i never miss reading them! They have so helped shape my thinking/philsophy for homeschooling my 3 littles. Thank you thank you!! I have passed you all on to so many of my homeschooling friends!!! You all are such a blessing to sooo many of us!!!
I’d rate them a 9 or 10–the only thing I’d change is frequency, as I would love to see one or two more posts a week, but I know that that may not be possible, because hey, everyone has other things going on too.
One of the reasons I enjoy posts on this site, by the way, is that they are not only enjoyable content-wise, they are well written and well edited. I’m a copyeditor and proofreader by profession, and there are some homeschooling blogs out there that I want to like, but I just can’t abide the sloppy writing. So just to let you know, the care y’all put into your work is noticed and appreciated!
That means so much, Helena, thank you!
I’m in a bit of a quandary. I find that this is one of the few blogs I really look forward to seeing, but at the same time I find much that is not applicable to me, so then I feel like I’m wasting time. In this particular post, I enjoyed “Homeschooling When Everyone Needs You”. There was a time when the lists article would have been right up my alley, but I was recently introduced to David Allen’s system, and it works much better for me. (It still includes lists, but it helps me to make & organize them).
You can pretty much count on my not even bothering with anything that requires money. We’re trying to become debt-free, and w/ 3 kids (including a special needs child) that doesn’t happen quickly.
I’d say an 8. I find myself going in phases of what I enjoy reading, so I’ll end up catching up on a bunch of food blogs, then a bunch of parenting blogs, then a few homeschool blogs. And I enjoy the variety when I come here. It’s not all about the same thing, but it still all relates to the bigger picture of learning at home. Not everyone can cover a broad scope of things and still do it well, and you do.
I’d love more of the nuts and bolts posts (which maybe is harder if you don’t have specific things you do or use all the time). I really enjoyed the “how I plan in 3 parts” post that was just up. Even if it’s not my style, little peeks into how other people do school and the systems they use are really helpful. But I also like the more philosophical, “why we do what we do”, type posts too. So, in short to my rambling, keep up the good work.
Katy’s latest post: Whole 30 Menu Plan #2
I have 12 children, and I’ve been homeschooling for a decade and a half now. I’ve mostly found what works and what doesn’t work for us. I don’t need new ideas or lists or articles on how to homeschool or keep my house clean or get organized or keep a bullet journal . . . but lots of people do need them. And because my newest children have special needs, and because every child is unique, and because I’m constantly entering new phases/stages of life, I just might need something that I don’t know I need. So I read almost everything. I pay attention to what resonates; I skim and forget that which does not. You all have a solid and interesting blog here, so even when a few weeks go by without posts that I need, I find that eventually one will give me just what I do need to keep going.
Anne’s latest post: A Week, Briefly (Adoption Week!!!!)
I rate this blog top in my homeschool blog reading so I give you a 9.9. It is the blog I direct new people to in our Local FB group because I know they will find information as a place to start. Love the Weekend links, just shared one from this week (graphic novels). Plus some of my fav bloggers are contributors.
One topic I would love to see addressed is speech and language delays and how people deal with them, work with their kids at home etc. Lots of writers mention speech therapy in passing but rarely talk about how a speech and/or language delay is impacted their child’s learning, behavior etc. We have been dealing with this all my son’s life (nearly 8) and recently have learned he is experiencing a hearing loss over the last two years that is now impacting his speech as well. So now I will also have a child with hearing aids. So if anyone would take on that subject I would love it.
Thanks for the kind words, Angela! I wanted to pass this post along just in case you haven’t read it yet: http://simplehomeschl.wpengine.com/speech-therapy/
I love the posts that offer a glimpse into other homeschooling families’ lives. I wish the “A Homeschool Day in the Life” series happened more than once a year! Homeschooling is a new path for me, and there’s such variation in how we all do it, so reading about routines, philosophies, curriculum, logistics, and the minute day-to-day is very helpful.