Reading List for Grades 6 to 8
By the time kids reach middle school reading levels, they typically have gained more advanced word attack skills, increased their reading rate, and have at least basic comprehension skills. If your student still struggles to decode multisyllable words, it would be wise to add a vocabulary curriculum that goes through syllable rules and the meanings […]
What are Sight Words and What are High Frequency Words?
Just as the debate between the phonics and sight words approaches to teaching reading, there appears to be a current discussion on the difference between sight words and high frequency words in teaching word recognition. This article will define and show examples of the differences between various methods of teaching word attack skills, and then […]
Writing Opinion Paragraphs
If you are a homeschool mom trying to get your older kids with dyslexia or other learning disabilities to write, you may find it’s not as hard as you think. I work with my students to learn to type and use bypass tools in Google Docs, like speech-to-text and text-to-speech. I also teach a simple […]
Learning Multiplication Tables the Easy Way
One of the most common questions I am asked by homeschool moms and see in social media groups is how to help kids learn the multiplication tables easily because they don’t seem to stick. This article will go into some depth describing how kids learn math and memorize multiplication facts without it becoming a boring […]
How to Use January to Make the Most of Homeschooling the Rest of the Year
Thank you for your patience through the holidays. I took a couple of weeks to deal with life events. The whole cycle of life is happening in our family. I needed to visit aging parents with health issues and adult kids who are launching into new realms with pets, vehicles, homes, and growing families! I […]
Reading List for 5th Graders
Our homeschool language arts program when the kids were young included, phonics/spelling, sight words, reading practice, and starting in third grade, a basic grammar workbook that included writing exercises. A homeschool language arts program should balance between teaching kids how to read, spell, and write with practice reading great literature! As the kids got older, […]
What are Executive Functions?
Executive Function Skills is a buzz word term in recent years. Parents of kids with special learning needs are often told by teachers, psychologists, OT therapists, and other professionals that their children lack executive function skills. Kids with ADHD, autism, dyslexia, and other learning issues have various difficulties with eight common executive functions. But…what are […]
Tips on How to Homeschool Through the Holidays
Every year homeschoolers in the US face the hectic time between Thanksgiving and New Year’s. New homeschoolers often try to continue doing academics right up to each holiday and worry about how to get it all done. You can survive holiday homeschooling! Here are tips on how to homeschool through the holidays that I figured […]
Teaching the Meaning of Subtraction
When primary students have worked on addition, we start to introduce subtraction. Since addition is putting things together or more people joining with others, we usually begin with subtraction as things taking things apart or things going away. Some kids have a hard time making the shift from addition to subtraction. Sometimes the issue stems […]
Book List for 4th Graders and Older Students Ready for Reading Level 4
Students who have learned to decode multiple syllable words are ready for literature at a bit higher level. The transition from Grade 3 books to Grade 4 reading level requires a shift in several ways that frequently requires explicit, direct instruction in comprehension strategies for tweens and teens with language-based learning issues: 1. Rapidly recognizing […]