Want to know how to homeschool in the UK? Read this complete guide to UK homeschooling with links to homeschool resources, FAQs and more!

As a potential homeschooling parent you no doubt have plenty of questions. Or maybe you know someone who homeschools and you are curious. Each of these are real questions that most of us have been or will be asked at some point. 1. Is homeschooling legal? The short answer, yes it is legal. The long answer is, well, long. Some states regulate homeschooling quite a bit, some states a small bit, and some have no regulation at all. The best place to find the most current homeschooling law is http://www.hslda.org/hs/default.asp Just click on your state’s picture, and the laws and current legislation (if there is any) will be shown to you. 2. Is your day like “regular school?” Well, first we have to define “regular.” In my house what we do is normal and “regular.” But, if you are referring to the standard eight hour day, with multiple times of standing in line, getting permission to go to the bathroom, waiting in line 25 minutes to go to lunch and then only getting 20 to eat that lunch, then the answer is no. But, this is different for every home schooling family. Some people may want to school for eight hours, I personally only do three. Some people may want their kids to stand quietly in line for 25 minutes for lunch. We just try to do this at the checkout at Kroger. 3. Don’t you have to have a degree to be a teacher? Well, if you are teaching in a public school the answer is yes. But, since we are answering questions about home school, I will refer you back to question number one. It depends on the state you are in. Some states have different opinions on this. 4. How do you handle all their classes when you have children in multiple grades? Again, the answer depends. If you take a unit study approach you may school all the children together – you know like they did waaayyyy back when public schools were started. Everyone sits together and hears the lessons for the day, and then will break apart to work independently in areas like reading and math. If you take a work book or text book approach, then each child will have their own set of materials, and you would work with each child separately, at different times. See how the answer to this is dependent on the individual homeschooling family? 5. How do you differentiate being a teacher from being a parent? Being a parent is no different from being a teacher in that, we are both responsible for the instruction and encouragement of the children we are responsible for, however, as a parent, we have a bigger responsibility to our children, for we see immediately the results of the children learning and unlike a teacher who manages a classroom of 20-30 children, that changes every year. As parents, we have both the time and emotional investment to understand and learn how our children best learn and are able to more easily adapt to each of our child's needs without having to sacrifice the needs of the individual over the whole. 6. Don’t you think they need to be in “real” school? Ahem. I will try my personal best to not to be offended. After, all my kids are learning “real” phonics and “real” math. I am not really sure what answer to give here, as the question is not asking anything specific. It is more like a derogatory statement about homeschooling in general. Ask a real question, get a real answer. 7. How could you possibly homeschool if ____________? (Fill in blank with whatever circumstance you can think of.) If someone wants to homeschool, they can generally figure out a way. This question is typically referring to different circumstances like single parenting, special needs children, gifted children, etc… I have a special needs child. I have a friend with an extraordinarily gifted child. Our homeschools look different. Some people may need to school when they are not at work, so their school may be in the evening. I school during the day most days and during the late afternoons when I have morning appointments. So, you really learn how to work it out according to the needs of your family. Got something to add? Be sure to let me know and I will keep this updated (serious and snarky questions allowed hehe)!

Panic No More!

From Grant Snider comes a new wonderful cartoon, “The ingredients of Shakespeare.” He created it for The Southampton Review. Via Incidental Comics. More to explore: [ef-archive number=5…

Check out these activities for teaching interjections including mini posters, Youtube songs, games, suggested books to use, and more.

Last year after completing my full year biology curriculum, I decided to write a blog post to give context for why I chose the particular scope and sequence

Looking to create good study habits? See habits that create an effective daily study routine, make you a better student & life long learner.

When we decided to homeschool three years ago I really had a desire to make character training part of our homeschool curriculum. I felt that teaching our children to have good character was just …

How to solve letters b-d reversal problems with simple tips and activities.

It amazes me how much class size affects my teaching and my students. I started the year with 31 students. I just lost my second one at the beginning of this week, so I'm down to 29. I've had 2 kids out all week on long vacations and 2 more out sick. So I've had a class of 25 ALL week!! It's been a big difference. Even though the ones gone are little angels and I still have all the hard ones, it really makes a BIG difference!! Our district and researchers keep telling us that class size doesn't make a difference but I have to beg to differ with them. It makes a HUGE difference in first grade. With a smaller class I can spread myself out more- work with more kids, more often, for longer periods of time. We can get more done- 25 kids take less time to finish an assignment than 31. With all the activities we do in first grade through out the day it can really add up. With less kids, fighting for my attention, I can give more attention to those that really need it. During class discussions, there is more participation by more kids. The shyer kids start to open up. It just feels more like a close knit community rather than a big city. I can hardly imagine what it would be like to teach less than 20. What a dream!! Back to reality. Our school has been doing training in SIOP this year. It stands for Sheltered Instruction Observation Protocol. You can find out more HERE. It actually is training in teaching English Language Learner but our school does not have a very high percentage of ELLs. We actually have only 3 out of 180 in our grade level. But the SIOP model is really best practices and a great review in how to teach better. With the new common core our principal thought is would be a great help. We've had to do lesson studies and just finished one yesterday. Our team did ours on Synonyms. It's great to collaborate and work together as a team developing and analyzing a lesson. Here's a practice page we used and a cute song we found. I don't know who to give credit for the song but our kiddos really liked it. Click HERE if you'd like to grab a copy. Hey, believe it or not but it's FRIDAY tomorrow- again! Gotta love FRIDAY! I hope you all have a GREAT one.

Give your child practice with his sentence building skills with this printable worksheet that's all about capital letters.

A poster for the classroom on commas. Can be given as a handout, too. - ESL worksheets

In this blog post, read about my best teaching strategies to teach writing narrative endings. Grab all the freebies to help you teach.

Homophones drive adults crazy, let alone our students! Make the fun anchor chart on this post, then play learning games on the computer that make learning homophones not only easy, but fun! Don't miss the fun video and the freebie!

This will mark the ending of our very first year of Classical Conversations. Joshua's class will be reciting the Preamble, Caleb's class will

Easy way to learn Spanish

Download Free Worksheets for English, EFL and ESL Lessons

Diagramming sentences helps kids see English grammar at-a-glance. It's easier to practice analyzing English parts of speech on the diagram charts and worksheets.

Here's one more reference poster from our new 'Grammar' series, this time it's about the Past Perfect tense. You'll love these activities when the time comes to practice or review this tense

Anyone who knows me, reads this blog, or uses my resources knows that I am passionate about differentiation. I think that is because I grew ...

This past week, we learned about synonyms. The kids really grasped the concept by mid-week! I am excited to see them start using synonyms...

Check out these great ideas for teaching conjunctions including a video lesson with an organizer, posters with rules, and anchor charts.

Keep this study aid handy during homework time, or keep a copy in the back of your binder for classroom reference.

Are you ready for the month of March? We are all geared up for some fun learning this month! Our March NO PREP packets are done and we are ready to go!

Best Christian homeschool curriculum: BJU Press, Abeka, My Father's World, Apologia, Notgrass, Veritas Press, Masterbooks & Compass Classroom.

Can you tell we are tackling Beowulf next week? I am amazed at the number of quality resources available for free! This list includes research pages, writing assignments, history lessons, and literature guides. Updated 08/12/22 Beowulf Resources Beowulf: Still a Hero An Introduction to Beowulf The Beauty of Anglo-Saxon Poetry: A Prelude to Beowulf [...]

We've been learning about the parts of speech in the most fun ways. A parts of speech printable and flip book, writing our own mad libs, and more.

Community outings can help teach students in a natural environment. Grab your free printables for high school students today and start practicing...

Last year I wrote about relaxed homeschooling in middle school. I shared our plans for not just last year but the middle school years in general. It was interesting to go back and read it just now to see what worked out and what didn't. We're still relaxed homeschoolers in seventh grade. I would still

Early screening for reading is so important. Do you have a student who is not graspins the letters or no phonemic awareness - start here.

Last year, I found (and made my own version of) a study sheet called "Words into Math" for my students in Algebra 1. (Credit: I Speak Math) I decided this summer to adapt it using posters, word strips and velcro into an activity. I bought colored poster boards at the Dollar Tree and began cutting out each sign from a different color. I drew the arrow and parentheses on half sheets of white poster board. I had bought word strips the year before at the Dollar Tree (yes, it is one of my favorite stores!) I wrote out all the words from the sheet above on the word strips and trimmed them. I cut 1 inch strips of velcro and placed the soft side on the words and the other side on the posters. Here is a picture of my work in progress. This is what the students will see when they come in. I will hand out the words on strips when they walk in. Since there are 34 words, some students will get more than one. I will explain the activity and have a couple of students at a time place their word(s) on the poster(s). If someone is struggling, he/she can ask a classmate for help. As a group, we will discuss the words and determine if all of them are placed properly. This is my intro to word problem solving for all levels that I teach. It will be new to some and a refresher for others. These will be hung at the back of the classroom from the ceiling on clips with string (Lakeshore Learning store in Tampa). This is what the activity looks like when it's ready to store. Words into Math UPDATED: I noticed that the picture of the Words into Math Worksheet and the uploaded doc had errors. Both of those have been corrected and re-upoaded. Sorry for any inconvenience!

Changing nouns from singular to plural can sometimes be tricky for the elementary student. This free, printable Plural Rules Poster will be a big help in reminding your child of all the plural rules! Its graphics are cute, and it's neatly laid out.

I have created this worksheet for my intermediate ESOL learners who will be sitting a writing exam. It will give them enough practice as to when to use capital letters and correct punctuation. - ESL worksheets

One of the objectives we’re working on this week {and last week} is alliteration. There are SO many great books to read to introduce and cover this topic. Some of our favorites are… Shel Silverstein poems are great for alliteration, too! My kids loved Picture Puzzle Piece, Noise Day, and Spoiled Brat 🙂 the most!! …