If you’ve visited a homeschooling website or flipped through a curriculum catalog, you’ve seen it. Bucolic setting. Engaged children. Peaceful mother. There’s an unspoken promise that homeschool days are packed with joyful learning and family camaraderie. So why, you wonder, is your fourth grader crying over his multiplication tables while your sixth grader sulks and Read more

The school year is winding down, and everyone feels a sense of accomplishment as they close their books for the last time. Biology is done! History is over! No math until autumn! It’s time to swap pencils for pool noodles and online classes for family road trips. Summer is here so it’s time to relax…with Read more

The modern world is increasingly visual. (IKEA assembly directions, I’m looking at you.) Nevertheless, reading remains a fundamental part of education, work, and culture, and it’s essential for our students to become independent readers. If you have little ones, you probably know that reading is one of the best ways to build vocabulary. In fact, Read more

The ability to write clear, effective prose is a primary goal in my homeschool and in my online classes. Every approach to writing has its defenders and detractors, so how does a homeschool parent pick the best one? This is how I became an IEW devotee. My Story In the summer of 1997, I was Read more

As a homeschooling mom of five who’s been at this gig since 2006, I have a lot of reasons to homeschool. I would never pretend, though, that there are no drawbacks. Here are some reasons not to homeschool. Drawback #1: Your Time or Your Money Raising five kids on ten paychecks a year (my husband Read more