Spelling is getting boring, at least according to my kids.  So I’ve been trying to find a way to jazz things up a little.  The routine, you know, gets old.   So I started looking at alternatives and things to supplement our regular curriculum with, to generate some new interest in the kids.

You can build vocabulary skills in many ways, and it doesn’t have to be boring.  Games are a great way to start, and if you look at any teacher supply store you’ll find tons of phonics and word-building games.  You could even play Scrabble or Boggle and improve vocabulary and spelling skills.  The internet is a vast resource, and there are tons of spelling games online too.

Speaking of the internet, my crowd really enjoys some of the free educational videos I’ve discovered online too.   There’s lots more at our local library, and plenty to keep us busy.  The kids appreciate a little variety!

I just realized that here we are, entering the home stretch until the end of this school year, and I’ve really been slacking in teaching my sixth grader some art.   Sixth grade homeschooling is hard enough, with so many required subjects, objectives to meet, and goals to attain.  Art has fallen by the wayside.  What to do?

I got some library books about different artists, mostly really famous ones that are commonly known.   I”m kind of winging it, and teaching the kids a little something about impressionism, for example, and then studying a couple of artists who’ve used that technique, and then attempting a little impressionism project ourselves.  So far, my daughter enjoys it and we’re busy meeting those pesky objectives and attaining goals for the year – Yea!

There are tons of online resources for this kind of thing.  You can search your local library’s catalog for related titles, and find some pretty neat interactive art lessons and tutorials online too.  Even YouTube has worthwhile resources for homeschool art lessons!  So far so good, we’re doing one lesson a week in art, and we may be able to fill in blank spaces in our schedule with a little more, as time allows.  Panic averted!

I’m continuing along with my recent theme of trying to keep my kids interested in school just a little longer, until Spring Break.  It’s getting harder by the week!  The weather is warming up, the tulips are peeking out of the ground, the snow is finally gone.  It’s tough to keep kids working on academics when the swingset in the backyard beckons, and they haven’t been able to play outdoors in so long!

I’m trying to switch away from our regular curriculum just slightly and bring in some new and different ideas into the mix.  This week I tried a little mini-unit to review grammar skills.  I found some cool printables online and ideas for games and such.  The kids have also really enjoyed an online grammar course I found too.

My younger child is in preschool now, which is a tough age to be when you have several older siblings being homeschooled.  The preschooler tends to get overlooked!  So I’m also renewing my effort to keep her busy with learning activites to make sure she’s ready for kindergarten.  With this age, preschool games are a big hit at our house.  It has to be fun to work!

This is the time of year when burnout sets in.  Spring break is right around the corner, but we all want to be productive as long as possible before we “lose” the kids for a week of fun.  And even if you don’t take time off from homeschooling for spring break, this is still the time of year when most of us could use a change of pace to liven things up again and make it through to June.

I thought it would be a good idea to break from our usual curriculum choices for a little while and do something different.  Random math worksheets are a great way to review, and  instead of the routine spelling stuff we usually do, I printed some spelling printables and we mixed things up with some games to help us learn the words.  A little mini-spelling bee is a lot of fun!

I think I’m unconsciously following the principles of unschooling, where anything goes, as long as it is beneficial and the children learn from it.  Unschoolers often shun more traditional methods of teaching and learning, and prefer to use something different for each subject, or to focus on project-based learning or even letting the kids dictate the methods or subject matter.  When I’m fighting burnout and marking off the days until spring break, I’ve found this mindset really helpful.

Fractions can be tough for some kids, mine included.  I probably worked longer at figuring out how to effectively teach fractions than I did at actually teaching them.  Our fractions lessons just weren’t working.  The kids would get a glazed over look on their faces after just a few minutes with the math book, and I knew I’d lost them.

So I tried a different math book, and then a workbook, and some printable worksheets that looked fun, with things to color and such.  But even then, we were just inching along toward real understanding.  I found that online math games helped a bit, and for some kids they may help even more.  Everything is worth a try!

What really did it though, and got them to understand?  Cooking!  I’d heard about the old teacher standby of using a pizza or a pie to divide into a certain number of slices and teach fractions that way.  The kids, however, were only lukewarm on the concept.  Then one of them asked if we could make our own pizza instead, from scratch, and a lightbulb went off in my head!  So I told them we could, but only if we doubled the recipe.

Ah-hah!  There are fractions usually involved in doubling recipes, and lots of ingredients to measure in fractional parts, so plenty of teachable moments went on in the kitchen that day.  If you’re having trouble teaching fractions, get the kids to help out in the kitchen, and it might just do the trick!