I used to believe that to give advice as an older woman, I needed to be the perfect role model - but that's a lie. Good advice often comes from hard knocks!

Wow! I literally exclaimed when I opened our box of review materials from Zeezok Publishing LLC. Their Music Appreciation Book 1: for the Elementary Grades is amazing! Truly, Zeezok's homeschool music program is a living-books-and-music-appreciation heaven for families like mine that enjoy an eclectic homeschool style loosely inspired by Charlotte Mason and largely focused on family time. Components of the program include: 6 softcover living books and one hardcover one about Bach, Handel, Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven, Paganini and Schubert, which are written oh-so-well-and-accessibly by Opal Wheeler and Sybil Deucher and are illustrated with engaging black-and-white pictures by Mary Greenwalt. (We chose to begin with the Beethoven one!) 5 CD’s with musical arrangements by Bach, Handel, Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven, Paganini and Schubert as well as supplemental music that ties into the life and times of each composer. a cd filled with directions and templates to create lapbooks about each of the seven composers. a full-color, 350+ page, 3-hole punched, student activity book replete with lesson plans, comprehension questions, character qualities, music instruction, puzzles, tidbits of interest, and hands-on learning activities, such as lapbooking pages and recipes to make. Geared for children in grades K-6, with aspects that appeal to visual, auditory, and kinesthetic learners, and elements that can be used by individual students or families alike, the program looked perfect for us! And, it was. Our Experience If there is one thing I am not, it is a "boxed curriculum" sort of homeschooler. Even back when I used to teach at brick-and-mortar schools, no matter how good a prescribed curriculum was, I rarely followed it to a "T" in a conventional way. My students, their needs, my moods... any number of factors played into how I approached and adapted pre-written lesson materials. As a homeschooler, my pechant for adapting curriculum materials has grown stronger. In fact, I dare say, no matter how beautifully a curriculum provider designs and orders its materials, my children and I never manage to use them "as intended". Rather, we dig in and let delight and the needs of our days lead us. This is exactly what happened with the well-ordered, comprehensive homeschool music program by Zeezok Publishing LLC that we received. I quickly noticed that Zeezok Publishing LLC took the time to carefully lay out 4-week lesson plans for each composer that beautifully knit together the living books, CD's, activity book, and lapbook portions of the program. However, I also recognized that the way it was knit together (which would be perfect for most families!) would not perfect for mine. My children simply do not like to stop books we are reading to do "lesson" work. Writing, cutting, pasting, etc. are things they will and do attend to, but they prefer to do so after immersing themselves in one of their first-loves - read togethers - and I am okay with that! So, right from the get-go, I began (easily!) adapting our use of Zeeok Publishing LLC's music appreciation program, and, in doing so, found the materials a perfect fit for us even if we were using them in an "imperfect" way. Basically, I asked the children what they wanted to read first, as they are already slightly familiar with some composers due to an AMP (Art-Music-Poetry_ club we have been doing with friends this year. Likely because we'd spent an afternoon chatting about Beethoven shortly before taking this review, they chose Ludwig Beethoven and the Chiming Bell Tower Bells as the first book to read together. So, we snuggled up, and immediately, were all hooked! Over the course of several consecutive snuggled up sittings, we read the entire book. Then, I began hearkening back to it by sharing related information from the student activity book with all my children and encouraging my oldest to complete puzzles and exercises in the activity book. Meanwhile, my children and I also began listening to the musical CD's in our minivan and at home, and sometimes found ourselves going back to the music written in the book as we did. Finally, we reviewed what we'd learned about Beethoven by printing out lapbook minibooks, completing them, and affixing them to cardstock for a composer binder we are building as a family. This method worked well for us and, so, we've begin repeating it with the Haydn book. The Children's Thoughts When I asked my five-year-old what he'd like to share about the music curriculum I am so excited to have in our home, he said: I liked that it (the Beethoven book) has pictures, because most chapter books do not have many pictures and I like pictures. The CD is mostly just music, and I like words (lyrics), but it is okay. I know Beethoven was deaf. He turned deaf. That was hard, because he could not hear the music he was composing, so he did not know if it sounded good or bad. It sounded GREAT! Of course, my five-year-old knows the music sounded great, because, because he listened to it on the CD's, and, even if he says he likes lyrics (which is true), he also obviously liked "just music". If you could have seen my youngest's little head "dancing" in the back of our minivan or his sister and him "conducting" in our living room, you'd be able to attest to this fact as I can. My oldest son, at 10, had this to day about the program: I think it (the music appreciation program) is fun. I like doing the lapbooks. I don't really like cutting, pasting, and stuff, but I like the ideas - how they make the books for the information. I also like the (activity) book. I liked how I got to choose how songs made me feel and how the book is in color. I also liked the puzzles, but I do not like the writing part. So, my mom does things out alouds sometimes. The (Beethoven) book is great! Once we started reading it, we read it a lot, because we liked it so much. We did the work for it after. We also read Haydn. I thought it was interesting that he started off as a peasant and, then, became a well-known person. We have not done any work for it yet, but I want to. I like the CD's, too. I like all the music. I like being able to hear what the notes in the books say and how they add other songs like battle marches. I think lots of people would like this program, because the stories are fun. The CD's have a great selection of music. The lapbooks are easy to do, except when you have to say what quotes mean. The workbook has a lot of fun activity choices in it. I think it's great! The fact that we could adapt this music appreciation program to be light on writing and conventional schoolwork (which do not appeal to my oldest son), while still being heavy on learning and enjoyment (especially through the CD's and read together time), made it a hit for us. My oldest son is enthused about it and has begun pre-reading the other composer stories and randomly reading parts of the activity book before we get into them together as family studies. My daughter, eight, had said: I loved it - the whole program. I like the music. There are all different composers so there is all different music mixed into one CD series. I like that it is just music without words. It helps me hear how it (the notes in the books) would sound. I like looking through my big brother's workbook, because I like the pictures. Some are in color and some aren't. There is a mix of real pictures and cartoonish ones. I like them. I like how the books go from when the composers were kids all the way to their adulthood. There are a lot of pictures that help you picture how things were. The pictures help you imagine things more than just the words. I like the words, too. Mommy read them to my brothers and me. When she finished a chapter, I often asked, "Can we read another?" We read Beethoven, Haydn, and even a little of Bach. I like doing the lapbooks as a review. I like that there are little books and that there is a little bit of freedom in them. You can arrange everything the way you like. You can choose to color them in or not. Plus, there is not a lot of writing. I like (the curriculum) and I am glad we have it. I want to keep reading all the stories, finish all the lapbooks, look through my brother's book a lot more, and listen to the music more. I think people who like music would like it. It is different than other ways of learning about composers, because it is interesting and fun. It is not just a bunch of dates and names. It makes the history and the music come more alive. My Take If I could only offer one soundbite about the Music Appreciation Book 1: for the Elementary Grades, it would be just what my daughter concluded her thoughts with: "It makes history and music come alive." The living books drew us into our studies through their charming age-appropriate text and illustrations. The CD's brought the music to life for us, since neither my children nor I can read music. The activity book filled in details about history, character, music, and more. And, the lapbook wrapped our learning in a neat little package we could reflect back upon. As someone who was not taught much about music/composers when growing up and who thought history was dry and lifeless, I do not have much expertise in either area to pass onto my children. Thus, I depend on finding resources created by those with a passion for these things so that I can ignite music and history learning for my children (and me). It is clear that those at Zeezok Publishing LLC have such passion and expertise. Their homeschool music appreciation package is fantastic and has deepened our appreciation for music and love for history. I could not be more thrilled with how wonderfully comprehensive the program is and, yet, how easily we have been able to adapt it to fit our homeschool style. The only thing I might change about the program - and more for other families than for mine - is the presentation of the activity book. The activity book is a lesson plan book, text, and workbook rolled into one and is well-designed and beautiful with its full color presentation and 3-hole punched perforated pages. However, for families that like to have all of their children do written work, it would seem that having an option for smaller supplemental "workbook" with only the consumable pages of the activity book, or simply granting permission for families photocopy consumable pages for family use only, would make sense. Because the books and CD can be used by the entire family at once or over and over with separate children, and some of the information pages in the activity book can, too, it would make sense to me to make the consumable pages more family friendly as well. However, honestly, this is a small "could be improved" point when weighted against all the "how awesome" things there are to say about Music Appreciation Book 1: for the Elementary Grades: Gentle, yet comprehrensive. Engaging and geared for a visual, kinesthetic, and auditory learners. Easy to appreciate even if you know very little about music. Cross-curricula with literature, music, history, and even things like character/virtues and cooking. Family-friendly/user-friendly for multi-age groups. I could go on and on with what I like about this music appreciation program. It is ideal for our eclectic homeschool family, but could also fit perfectly for those following Classical Charlotte Mason, Unit Study or other styles of homeschooling. Learn More If you'd like to hear what other homeschoolers thought about it, or find out about some of the other books in the program, be sure to click over to Schoolhouse Review Crew to see how 60 families have been using Music Appreciation Book 1: for the Elementary Grades. You can also find Zeezok Publishing LLC at Facebook and Pinterest.

I discovered The Well Trained Mind almost ten years ago now when my eldest child was just a toddler. Having renewed my copy at the library more times than I...

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Every year at this time two things happen in my life: (1) I begin evaluating our current home education approach, deciding what to tweak for the coming school year. (2) My phone and computer message indicators light up with inquiries from folks interested in homeschooling that ask, "How do you do it?" Thus, when an opportunity came up to review the Successful Homeschooling Made Easy Course by Successful Homeschooling Made Easy, I took it. The course acts as a Homeschooling 101 for both those who are beginning their homeschool journey and those that are simply ready for a reboot. Beginning it at this time of year seemed like perfect timing to me! What is Homeschooling Made Easy? The Successful Homeschooling Made Easy Course is a 26-week, online course designed and written by Stephanie Walmsley to help new and veteran home educators know exactly what they might do to begin successfully homeschooling right now. As soon as you sign up for the course, you immediately receive the first lesson, which will get you started on a successful homeschool journey, without overwhelm, right away. Then, over the course of 26 weeks, you receive a topic-based PDF each week via email to help you continue to build upon an approach that will keep you and your kids sane as well as happily learning. Throughout the course, an array of homeschool-related topics are presented in logical, bite-size pieces that include tried-and-true strategies for: scheduling planning selecting curriculum record keeping handling obstacles when things get tough avoiding common pitfalls fireproofing yourself against burn out fitting in homekeeping choosing extra curricular activities and so much more! Thus, whether you are a parent who is just beginning your homeschool journey, or are a veteran homeschooler simply ready for a fresh start or a bounce back after burnout, the course acts like a home education coach that offers practical tips, insights and encouragement, as well as step-by-step how-to's in order to incrementally help you to build a thorough, successful homeschooling approach. Each lesson is organized with: a preface loads of targeted information and examples space for taking notes in order to tailor ideas to your personal homeschool situation a helpful summary an assignment a look at what is coming next. Some of the Pages I Printed Lessons are meant to be printed, but can easily be read on a computer or handheld device. (I only printed pages with forms, lists or notes spaces that I wanted to write on.) My Experience As I mentioned above, the course is typically delivered in 26 weekly sections. However, for the purposes of this review, I received the first four lessons all at once, and, then, further lessons each week, thus, making my way through the first nine lessons before I sat down to write this review. Lesson One: Start Homeschooling Today is one of the longer lessons, at 26 pages, but it did not feel long. Rather, its length seems just-right for getting families (re)started on a successful homeschooling approach through the practical step of developing a basic eight-week schedule. The chapter concludes with a do-able assignment, which I opted to tweak, gently adapting our schedule rather than posting it for the family: Lesson One, p. 24 Excerpt Prior to the assignment, among other things, the lesson discusses implementation of a "Literacy Hour", complete with photographic examples of writing time journals from emerging readers and writers to practiced ones. As I read this portion of the lesson, I was reminded me to renew my commitment to daily journaling with my children. Admittedly, that effort has still not become a daily one for us yet due to a trip to see an ailing relative thrown into a mix of which includes many pre-scheduled clubs and classes, but at least writing became more consistent! An Excerpt from My Daughter's Journal Lesson Two: Math Made Easy breaks the sometimes daunting task of choosing a math approach for your children into five understandable components which can make teaching math both easy and fun - and it did so in a mere 15 pages. Since I have already landed on a math curriculum that works for my oldest and am happy with our approach for our two younger children, I did not need to apply much of this chapter into our personal homeschool endeavors, but I did fins myself nodding in agreement with the 12 Tips the lesson offered for choosing a math curriculum: Lesson Two, p. 10 Excerpt Lesson Three: Welcome Home is 17 pages long and offers testimony from 15 homeschoolers. Again, this lesson was not that relevant to my circumstances, but, I think, would be poured over by newbie homeschoolers. I appreciate the enthusiasm and reassurance of all of the homeschool moms that shared their experiences in this lesson. Lesson Four: Fireproof Your Homeschool is right up my alley. In its 14 pages, it encouraged the scheduling of a fun activity, asked me to reflect on what I want from my life and our family's home education pursuits, and offered a short list of resources for further resources. Lesson Five: Three Key Ingredients for Success offers more opportunities to think, plan and solidify why you do what you do. In its 11 pages, it also offers titles for further readings, before coming to its conclusion: Lesson Five, p. 11 Excerpt I could not agree more with the idea that clear goals makes homeschooling and family life happier, more fun and more successful, so I appreciated the opportunity to reflect further on goals I have already set using the prompts in this lesson. Lesson Six: Fulfill Your Dreams devotes its 13 pages to a reminder so many moms, whether homeschoolers or not, need: take care of yourself! I, for one, always need to be reminded to be kind to myself and to take time for self-care. I appreciated all of the ideas, examples and reflective questions in this lesson and found two quotes quite timely: Lesson Six, p. 9 Excerpt Lesson Six, p. 9 Excerpt In fact, as I read this lesson, I recalled an important medical screening that I had been neglecting to schedule and of the fact that I need to start exercising and eating better again. I also smiled as I thought about how self-critical I can be, and yet how my kids love, appreciate and learn with me daily despite my "failings". Lesson Seven: Why Curriculum Doesn't Matter, in its 12 pages, explains a bit about the history of education as it related to home education and summarizes a number of homeschooling styles and method. It also succinctly puts into words what I have explained to folks countless times: Lesson Seven, p. 7 Excerpt I could not agree more with the idea that, while curriculum can be helpful, education can happen even without a formal boxed curriculum and that what is right for you and your family are different than what is right for others. I also love that the Successful Homeschooling Made Easy Course does not start with curriculum talk in week one (since curriculum is hardly the first priority in successful homeschooling) and, then, in week seven, when it finally dives into curriculum, does so with perspective. Lesson Eight: Why You May Need to Let Go of Good Things gets into socialization, out-of-home activities and the need for balance with at-home time in its 12 pages. For me, it was a rather apropos lesson since an area of discord between my husband and me right now is how often the kids and I are not at home and how it is affecting the condition of our house, if not our family. Thus, part of the checklist in this chapter hit home for me: Chapter Eight, p. 11 Excerpt The quote at the end of the list did, too. For admittedly, home has hardly been as rich an experience for my children as outside our home has been this year and, looking ahead, I need to choose to change that. As I read this lesson, I thought about how our family committed to embracing an experiential home education style this year and how, as a part of that, our home-out balance ended up getting rather skewed. Between field trips, clubs, classes, library programs and other outings, we have been out almost every day for one part of the day or another, and, although I have ensured that my children still get daily time to hang, play, decompress, etc., I admit, that time often happens outside of our home. "Home" has not been as rich a place as "out" has been this year. I want it to be. This lesson worked to speak to me more about the fact that where there have been benefits to all of our out-of-home happenings this year, there have been deficits, too. Lesson Nine: Housework and Homeschool spends 15 pages getting into a shortcoming of mine: housekeeping! Despite having involved my children with chores from an early age, I have not been consistent with housekeeping (perhaps because of all that out-of-home time we have!). So, this chapter hit home, too. I know I will be re-reading all the details that go with its summary! Chapter Nine, , p 15 Excerpt Along with these lessons, I also received on of the bonuses involved in the course - Bonus One: More on Math. This 14 page supplement contained a variety of games, book ideas and charts which were rather old-hat for me, but would likely be quite helpful to a novice homeschooler. I look forward to continuing through all 26 lessons of the Successful Homeschooling Made Easy Course and only wish there were an option to receive larger chunks of the course at one time - or even the entire course at once. For, while I appreciate the idea of doling the course out week-by-week so as to help homeschoolers focus on one topic or habit at a time without overwhelming them, I also would prefer to pace myself through the course instead of having to remember to scan my overloaded inbox each week for the next portion of it. I would guess other home educators (especially veteran ones) would also prefer to receive and download materials just once. I hope, in the future, this becomes an option. Final Thoughts If you are quite new to homeschooling, this course could act as a welcome "virtual coach" to guide you through getting started with your journey and building habits that can lead you and yours to success. It is truly packed with both the big picture ideas and smaller details that any homeschooler might consider. If you, like me, are a veteran homeschooler that is simply reflecting and revamping before another year of homeschooling, this resource can be helpful, too. While some parts are definitely written more for a novice home educator, in the parts of the course I have seen thus far, there are plenty of practical ideas for more experienced homeschoolers. The Successful Homeschooling Made Easy Course is definitely one I am benefiting from and one I would recommend to others. Learn More Wondering if the course would be a good fit for you? Try the first lesson free. Or purchase the course at its current price of $9.50 per month or $48.62 up front (a 15% discount) with a 4-week money-back guarantee for those that are not completely satisfied. Find Successful Homeschooling Made Easy on Facebook. Read what 8- other Schoolhouse Review Crew parents think about Successful Homeschooling Made Easy. How might Successful Homeschooling Made Easy help you enjoy stress-free homeschooling?

Hello Inksters! Happy Valentine’s Day! As we exchange cards and sweets with classmates and friends, it’s also a great time to think about what we love. To help you think about love, thi…

There are fewer things as daunting in homeschooling than teaching subjects you are not good at. In my experience, art and math seem to be the two biggest struggles for homeschool parents. I’m not touching on math today, but I think I can help you with the art thing a bit. Art is really a…

Freedom Homeschooling lists free high-quality homeschool composition curriculum for all grades. Complete programs, not supplements.

Ready to add chores to your homeschool schedule? Check out how we break up the chores throughout the day creating miniature chore routines!

How to have them HAPPY when they walk out of the classroom. Of course we want them happy. Here are some ideas on how to do just that!

Happy New Year! I know it is totally cliche to set resolutions for the new year and such, but if it works, who cares? Today we are talking about making it work. Have you heard of mind mapping? Or visual mapping, which is what I thought it was called until I browsed the google. Well, […]

This coming week, our local Catholic homeschool group will be enjoying at St. Ignatius of Loyola celebration together. As I have been pl...

Last week I told you I was struggling with my sleep pattern. I’m glad to report that this week went much better. I did not get up early twice, but other than that I did it. Slowly this habit is being built. I’ve coupled it with my quiet time. I pray for the Holy Spirit […]

This is a guest post from Leah Hudson! It has amazing encouragement and wisdom. Find out how to hear more from Leah at the bottom of the post. When I started homeschooling my oldest, I compared the anticipation to jumping off a cliff into a vast ocean. From my pre-homeschool vantage point, I co

physiology block for grade seven still life by Paul Cezanne This first week of Advent, I began teaching as a guest teacher the physiology block on the digestive system for grade seven at East Bay Waldorf in El Sobrante, CA. While the rhythm of the week included preparations for an Advent assembly, my grade seven students and I had a wonderful week learning about the journey of food through our bodies. Here is a brief recap of our week: Day One I introduced the topic of digestion by bringing samples of food to the classroom - a good place to start! Food is valued by us as humans for several reasons. I cut an apple in half and showed the children the five-pointed core. From it, I created a drawing on the board to show the five "Apple Core Values of Food." At each point of the apple star, I worte: Combustion, Nutrtion, Tradition, Recreation, and Inspiration. Food is important to us because we use it for energy (combustion), for nutrients (nutrition), for culture and family (tradition), for social gatherings (recreation), and to inspire art such as in Cezanne's still life of fruit (inspiration). I said that the balance of these core values of food leads to happy, healthy lives. I also posed an idea for them to think about: in going from origin to table, the less steps in food processing it takes, the healthier the food is. We compared an apple, a potato, a bag of trail mix, and a Lunchable. Just in attempting to read the ingredients on the Lunchable box was enough to convince us that some of those chemicals listed should not be ingested! We figured it took lots and lots of step to bring the Lunchable to the table. In contrast, the apple simply was planted from seed, grown, picked, washed, and eaten! Day Two The second day of the lesson we started with a discussion of how we engage our senses to start the process of digestion even before we take the first bite. Not only is this important physiologically, but it brings the whole human into the realm of the lesson (the core values of food also brings this holistic approach). Then I drew the anatomy of the human as I talked about the path of the food. Day Three On this day, I traced for children the path of the food using a schematic diagram of the digestive tract I drew on the board, and talked about what was happening to the food as it passed through the different parts. As a visual aid, I put some crushed crackers in a sandwich bag to show how the food looks in the mouth, then I added some water and flour to show how it looks as a bolus, then chyme, then took some water out to show undigested matter. Day Four For their main lesson book, I had them copy this table to show the functions of each part and organ. This tabular form helped to recap the lecture from the day before. The colored bars represent the five processes: motility, digestion, secretion, absorption, and elimination. Day Five On the last day, I emphasized some important points. I also brought the material back out of the parts to the larger picture of our place in the world. I commented that I believed how truly amazing it is to know that our bodies have been designed to perfectly break down the foods that are available to us from our earth. We are of this world, made of this world.

As homeschooling parents trying to raise our kids for God, anger can be an obastacle. I'd even say uncontrolled anger can be a homeschool destroyer.

Famous art lesson for children to learn about the famous black artist Clementine Hunter and make a day-in-the-life art project.

Why a former public school teacher decided to trade traditional education methods for an unconventional style of homeschooling when teaching her own kids: unschooling.

It is customary to say a morning verse at the start of each day in Waldorf schools, in kindergarten and in the grades. One of the reasons why Waldorf education is so successful in educating kids who excel, is that teaching methods meet students where they are developmentally, in a deep and authentic way. The […]

Get to know your body with this super simple anatomy lesson. Click to download a printable sheet.

This dry erase and water trick will amaze kids and adults alike! You can make your drawings float with just dry erase markers and water!

Trace the path from the mouth all the way through to the rectum or simply color it in to explore the human digestive system.

Sometimes life is quiet. We can stay at home and relax. There’s plenty of time to say such things as “Would you like to watch a Shakespeare play with me?” We read books and drink hot chocolate. We write and chat and work on our individual projects. And as we do all this, I add

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Charlotte Mason was an amazing educator! Perhaps my favorite quote from Charlotte Mason reveals her understanding that a personal knowledge of and intimacy with God is the highest form of education. This is where we must

Organization. Did your heart just skip a happy beat at the thought of this word? Or do you feel otherwise?

The most difficult part of homeschooling isn't the curriculum, it's the "managing it all" part. When I first started homeschooling 11 years ago, I had our curriculum perfectly planned out in my neat little planner. I couldn't wait for our first day. Everything was going excellently until...the laundry started piling up, math papers needed to