When we venture out on field trips, our kids get first hand experiences that a book can never mimic. At the same time, homeschool field trips can be stressful, time consuming, and sometimes expensive. Weather is an added factor to consider with outdoor events such as a Civil War re-enactment.
One alternative to packing snacks, loading the van, and buying tickets is the virtual field trip. These online explorations can awaken your child’s love of American history. Besides supplementing your American history curriculum, virtual field trips also provide a way for your child to explore places that may be inaccessible.
Virtual field trips can be just as enriching and interactive as a physical one as long as you plan ahead. For example, print out a notebooking page or prepare a scavenger hunt for kids to fill out. Many websites provide these kinds of helps in the educational resources section of the domain. Do a little hunting prior to your virtual visit to make the most of any freebies the site offers. Some children may like to work as they explore while others will want to totally immerse themselves in the experience and make notes only after the field trip is over.
Tina Robertson celebrated the graduation of Mr. Senior in 2013 and Mr. Awesome in 2015. Because of her love for new homeschoolers, she mentors moms through her unique program called New Bee Homeschoolers. She loves all homeschoolers, though, as she shares her free 7 Step Curriculum Planner, unit studies, lap books and homeschooling how tos. She can’t sing, dance, or craft, but she counts organizing as a hobby. She is still in the homeschool trenches blogging at Tina’s Dynamic Homeschool Plus.
For our family, paying attention to time is a huge piece of why we homeschool:
having enough time for things we love
spending time together
learning at the times when we feel our best
I homeschool because I want my children to have time to learn and follow their passions. For us, this means we don’t follow a traditional school schedule. Depending on the day, season, year and the outside classes my children take, our learning might happen in the early morning or late afternoon.
I’ll be honest. Sometimes I love our rhythm, and other times it’s challenging. I’m a morning person and prefer to get going right away. My nine-year-old is a night owl and has been since birth. Her creative juices get going about bedtime.
While I am not willing to practice math facts late into the night, a recent question in a homeschool group regarding homeschooling in the evening, got me wondering: Are there certain times in the day that are better for homeschooling?
What’s the Right Time of Day to Homeschool?
Research suggests, yes, there are times in the day (or night) when our children learn best. Giving Students the (Right) Time of Day by Roger John Callan in the journal Educational Leadership discusses how looking at our circadian rhythms can help determine the best time to learn.
The only caveat is that our rhythms vary. Callan says,
"Subsequent research has confirmed that some people reach their temperature peak before noon, some in the afternoon, and some in the evening. Hence, a picture emerges of the morning person, afternoon person, and evening person."
My daughter and I are clearly on different rhythms.
So, what is the best time of day to help each individual child learn? Callan says,
“In the best of all possible worlds, each school district would have three parallel systems. The principal school for the majority of students would hold classes in the late morning through the afternoon. Two smaller schools—one open earlier in the morning and the other in the evening—would cater to the remaining students. Classes would begin just as the students began to approach their period of peak efficiency and understanding. For most students, according to the research of Dunn and Dunn (1993), that time is mid-morning—about 11 a.m. A significant number of students, however, are morning people. And there are evening people, as well.”
In the article, Does Time-of-Day of Instruction Impact Class Achievement?, Amanda J. Wile and Gary A. Shouppe, out of Columbus State University agree. They considered a number of studies centered around the best times to teach children and found, “Learning-styles research reveals increased learning occurs when a student is taught and assessed at their preferred time-of-day.”
The National Sleep Foundation also agrees but notes our circadian rhythms can change: “Changes to this circadian rhythm occur during adolescence when most teens experience a sleep phase delay. This shift in teens’ circadian rhythm causes them to naturally feel alert later at night, making it difficult for them to fall asleep before 11:00 pm.”
While finding the right time for each child to learn, might feel impossible or even be impossible considering class schedules and family needs, paying attention to our children’s circadian rhythms may add insight when kids are struggling or feeling frustrated. It might make homeschooling feel a little more doable or explain why some of our kids are paying attention during reading time and others are flipping off the couch.
In order to find the best time for our children to learn, we have to pay attention to several factors.
Pay Attention to Sleep
When does your child naturally fall asleep? When do they wake up? I have an early riser and one child that can only be compared to a snail in the morning. Is it possible to read or do math with your early bird and let your night owl sleep in a little?
While we may assume it’s easier to have everyone learning at the same time, an individual schedule for each child could make learning a lot smoother.
Pay Attention to Energy
While a child’s energy level can certainly be linked to sleep and food, they can also have times of days they need to move. My son is ready to move the second he wakes up. When he was little, we often went on morning bike rides before breakfast. We’d get home, eat, and then he was ready to learn something new in his curriculum. If I tried reading with him before he moved, he could not sit still.
Pay Attention to Hunger
I am a fan of meal times. We sit down together as a family at least once if not twice a day. My daughter is rarely hungry during these times. She picks at her food and inevitably goes back to it later, once we have all finished. For years I tried to make her eat, and for years she told me she wasn’t hungry. Finally, I listened. Now, she happily sits with us (because family time is really why we are gathering) and eats later when she is actually hungry. This, in turn, helps her feel better and our learning time goes smoother.
Pay Attention to Quiet
We all need quiet. It recharges us and actually gives us energy. For my daughter, she seeks quiet when she wakes up. It’s important I give her plenty of time to wake up, get ready, and eat breakfast. She’s happy to get up earlier if it means she has this time. Rushing her out the door is never a good idea and always starts our day badly.
Pay Attention to Focus
My son is most focused mid-morning, my daughter at mid-afternoon and evening. I’m focused early in the morning while my husband is the oposite, preferring late at night. While we can’t always learn and work during our ideal times, it’s helpful to know this about ourselves and try to accommodate when we can.
In a perfect world, our children learn when their bodies and minds are in sync. But let’s be honest, regardless of whether we are homeschooling one child or seven, it’s not always possible to give our children the exact thing they need at the exact moment they need it. Paying attention to their circadian rhythms does not mean we homeschool from dawn till dusk.
It means we pay a little more attention and use the information when and if we can. It means we recognize why our children may be having a hard time sitting still and let them take breaks or jump on the trampoline. We don’t feel discouraged if our child is reading well past bedtime, or worry as much about having everyone do math at 10 am. Paying attention to each of our children’s natural rhythms (and our own) helps us remember that we are learning at our own speed and there is no one right speed in which to learn.
About the Author
Kelly left teaching middle and high school English to homeschool her children and reclaim how she and her family spent their time. Followers of interest-led learning, her family’s days rarely look the same, but they tend to include a lot of books, art supplies, and time outside.
Kelly facilitates local writing circles for women and children and blogs about nurturing the love of learning on her blog, Curiosity Encouraged. She loves to journal, read memoirs, hike, and travel. She seeks quiet mornings and good coffee daily.
Astound your children by turning a pipe cleaner into a delicate crystalline decoration!
This craft is easy to accomplish with minimal mess. Enjoy it as a simple handicraft project or take it a step further and learn some of the science behind the activity.
This particular tutorial uses a star shape, but of course, you can form the ornament into whatever shape you’d like for any holiday or just everyday crafting!
Make letters and to spell out initials, names, or words.
Make leaf or pumpkin shapes from orange pipe cleaners for fall.
Make hearts out of red pipe cleaners for Valentine’s Day.
If your shape is large, you may need to create a double batch of epsom salt solution. For multiple children doing this craft, each child will need their own crystal forming solution. Or you could mix up a much larger batch and suspend multiple ornaments into it as long as they aren’t touching each other or the sides of your container.
Supplies Needed Per Ornament
1 cup water, hot but not boiling
1 cup epsom salt
embroidery thread, string, bakers twine, or ribbon
scissors
1 pipe cleaner
1 stick, straw, or pencil
jar or other container*
*Make sure your container is wide and deep enough to submerge your pipe cleaner ornament in the epsom salt solution without touching any edges or the bottom of the jar.
Epsom Salt Crystal Ornament Directions
Read through all the directions and watch the video first so you have the big picture of where this craft is heading. Then go back and follow the steps one by one.
Step 1: Bend the pipe cleaner into your desired shape and twist the two ends together. (For more elaborate shapes, you can use two pipe cleaners. Just make sure they are securely connected.)Step 2 Loosely tie a piece of thread or string through one tip of the pipe cleaner star, being sure to leave plenty of leftover length for tying to the pencil in step 5. This thread will eventually be discarded, so its appearance doesn’t really matter. Step 3: Add the epsom salts to the hot water and stir until fully dissolved. Pour the solution into your container.Step 4: Using the thread you added in step 2, tie your ornament onto a stick or pencil so that the ornament can be easily suspended in the epsom salt solution without sinking to the bottom of the container or touching the sides. Step 5: Holding the pencil, lower the star into the solution and balance the stick over the top of the container. (If your threads are long enough to fall into the solution, they will form crystals, too. So snip them off or pull them to the side.) Set the container aside where it won’t be disturbed and allow it to cool to room temperature. How fast the crystals form depends on temperature. If you have a cool house and leave it on the counter, it can take 24 to 48 hours to form the crystals. A warmer house will result in slower crystal formation. However, you can speed up the process by chilling your project in the refrigerator for 10 or more hours.Step 6 After the crystals have formed to your liking, carefully lift the star out of the mixture. Discard the water then lower the star back in a glass to fully dry. The end results can vary greatly depending on how small your shape is and how long you leave it soaking. For example, in the photos here, the smaller, tighter star is more completely covered in crystals not only because it’s a more compact shape but also because it was left soaking in the epsom salt solution for a longer time. After 10 hours in the refrigerator or 24 hours at room temperature, check the progress of your ornament every few hours and remove it from the solution when you have the desired amount of crystals.Step 7 When the crystals are fully dry, snip off the original thread for suspending it in the epsom salt solution. Then add your choice of decorative ribbon, thread, or string for hanging your ornament. The crystals are delicate, so be careful during this step.
Science Background
To take the activity farther, learn some of the science behind your activity. Read pages 66-67 from the Usborne Illustrated Elementary Science Dictionary, part of Science E Package. Discuss solutions, suspensions, and separating mixtures. Ask your children these questions about the activity:
Q. What is our solute?
A. The epsom salts
Q. What is our solvent?
A. The hot water
Q. Did we create a solution or a suspension?
A. Solution
Q. How did we partially separate our mixture?
A. By letting the epsom salts reform as crystals on the pipe cleaner, we removed much (but not all) of it from the liquid solution.
Q. How could we remove all the epsom salts from the solution?
A. By boiling it or simply allowing it to evaporate naturally.
Want more hands-on projects? For science activities, shop BookShark’s Science Experiments + Science Kit combos (or opt for the complete science curriculum packages they are part of).
When we first began homeschooling, I never thought about adding PE to our schedule. I knew my boys were active on their own without any coaxing. I figured that as long as we kept moving, we’d be developing motor skills. I didn’t see a need to add a formal Physical Education course to our routine. Lately, I have been more intentional about adding physical activity into our days, and I do that using a wide range of activities like the seventy-five options below.
Homeschool PE in the Backyard and Around the House
Exercising with children, tweens, and teens doesn’t require a lot of money or even much specialized equipment. We tend to look for ways to get PE accomplished with supplies and materials we already have around the house. We try to keep mixing it up so that we don’t get bored. And we take the liberty to make up our own rules for standard games just to make them more interesting. Sometimes we mix school facts into the games for extra review.
1. Wiffle ball/baseball
2. Basketball
3. Throwing and catching
4. The monkey bars and swing set
5. Hopscotch (Can be done on tile floors with a masking tape outline.)
6. Exercise video
7. Dance marathon
8. Ping pong
9. Air hockey
10. Foosball
11. Lifting weights (You can use soup cans and water bottles as weights, too!)
12. Jump rope
13. Using tools to dig trenches and build forts
14. Running
15. Building an obstacle course
16. Skateboarding
17. Shoveling snow
18. Making snow forts
19. Volleyball
20. Corn hole
21. Going for walks around the neighborhood
22. Riding scooters & bikes
23. Water play with sprinklers or slip and slide
24. Jumping jacks
25. Push ups and sit ups
26. Heavy household chores
27. Playing Twister
28. Yardwork
29. Juggling
Homeschool PE that Requires a Bit of Money or Travel
There are some really great exercise opportunities out there that I want my children to be able to experience. This often means spending a little money and getting out of the house. Lessons and organized sports require more of a commitment of time and money but can be well worth it. We also enjoy taking advantage of homeschooling days at our trampoline parks, roller skating rink, and ice skating rink.
30. Karate lessons
31. Gymnastics
32. Aerial obstacle courses
33. Trampoline park
34. Inflatable play places
35. Organized sports through our town’s recreation department
36. Hockey
37. Ice skating
38. Treadmill or elliptical machine in your home gym
39. Wii sports or other active video games
40. Bowling
41. Skiing or snowboarding
42. Dance lessons
43. Homeschool gym classes
44. Horseback riding lessons
45. Golfing
46. Fencing classes
47. Boxing or kickboxing
Homeschool PE with Other Kids
There is nothing like getting together with other kids their own ages to inspire my boys to get up and get moving. We often meet up with other homeschooling families during the day. Sometimes we play organized games; other times we let the kids run around and decide what they’d like to do. Some of our favorite new games have been introduced to us through other families. Best of all, getting together with other families allows us to play sports that require more players.
48. Local parks and playground get togethers
49. Kick ball
50. Dodge ball
51. Pick up games of soccer, baseball, basketball, etc.
52. Capture the flag
53. Gaga ball
54. Hosting a homeschool field day
55. Playing tennis at the town courts
56. Playing at the skate boarding park
57. Nerf gun fights
58. Limbo contests
59. Classic kid’s games like Red Rover, Mother May I, and Red Light Green Light
60. Double Dutch
61. Chinese Jump Rope
Homeschool PE with the Family
We have so much fun exercising as a family. We enjoy trying new things and encouraging each other to keep trying. We enjoy making family memories while trying to stay fit and healthy. I firmly believe kids learn by example, so it’s only fitting that we’d plan activities we can all do together.
62. Bike riding
63. Kayaking
64. Swimming
65. Body surfing or boogie boarding at the beach
66. Indoor rock climbing
67. Snow sledding
68. YMCA family membership and classes
69. Hiking
70. Letterboxing
71. Geocaching
72. Roller skating at the local rink on family night
Studying ancient Egypt is an exciting adventure for both you and your child, especially when you immerse yourself in the period through the help of great books. BookShark covers Ancient Egypt for several weeks in both Level B Reading with History for ages 6-8 and Level G Reading with History for ages 11-13, so your children are exposed to this fascinating period twice during their elementary and middle school years. To supplement your reading, there are plenty of excellent movies to help you further visualize the ancient Egyptian culture, history, and geography. Below are my top 8 choices for online streaming about this ancient civilization. Take your pick from YouTube, Netflix, or Amazon.
YouTube Videos about Ancient Egypt
1. Kid’s Animated History Egypt
This short, animated show is perfect for kids using BookShark Levels B or G. It explains how Ancient Egyptians took advantage the Nile’s flooding and also explains how Upper and Lower Egypt unified. Your kids will learn fun facts about Egypt told in a simple, easy-to-understand way.
3. King Tut and His Treasure for Kids: Biography of Tutankhamun
Ideal for kids using BookShark Level G, this five minute documentary offers a fascinating look at King Tut’s life and his tomb.
Netflix Movies about Ancient Egypt
NOTE: These shows are no longer available at Netflix. Hopefully you can locate them on other streaming platforms.
4. The Pyramid Code
This documentary explores the pyramid fields and ancient temples in Egypt over the course of 5 episodes. The Pyramid Code features interviews with experts in many fields: geology, physics, astrophysics, archaeology, hieroglyphics, etc.
5. Egypt
This BBC documentary dramatizes several exciting discoveries in Ancient Egypt including Tutankhamun’s tomb, several other tombs discovered in the 1800s, and the decoding of the Rosetta Stone. This is rated PG and should be appropriate for students using BookShark Level 6. Your budding archaeologist will love this documentary, but others should also find it interesting.
Amazon Films about Ancient Egypt
6. Ramesses II: The Great Journey
Follow the journey from Ramesses II’s death at the old age of 92 to the burial ritual. Explorers search for his tomb in this approximately one hour long documentary. Although it covers very little of Ramesses II’s reign, it is a fascinating look at what happens after his death. Rated G, this is appropriate for kids in both BookShark Levels 1 and 6, though those in Level 6 will likely find it more interesting.
7. Egypt’s Lost Queens
This documentary, which explores the Egyptian women who went before Cleopatra—Hetepheres, Hatshepsut, Nefertari, and Arsinoe–is rated PG-13, so you may want to screen it ahead of time. Watch this show to learn an angle of Egyptian history that isn’t often explored.
8. Ancient Egypt: Life and Death in the Valley of the Kings
This documentary is hosted by Dr. Joann Fletcher, a renowned Egyptologist and the same person who hosted Egypt’s Lost Queens. Here, she examines the life of a couple who lived in Ancient Egypt and whose remains are now housed at the Egyptian Museum of Turin.
While your children are learning about Ancient Egypt and reading excellent literature related to the time period, choose some of these interesting documentaries and shows to teach your children in a different way and to enrich what they are learning. Bonus: Add in some of these hands-on activities, too.
When most people think of the library, they think of long shelves of books, tidy reading nooks, and librarians with glasses on their noses; they don’t often think of games. However my boys and I have a lot of fun in our library by planning a few fun activities ahead of time. I do remind my boys that we need to play games quietly and be careful not to disturb others by running or being boisterous. But being quiet and courteous does not rule out enjoying ourselves with these ten activities and games.
Form Here
1. Scavenger Hunt
To get my kids acquainted with our library, I send them on miniature scavenger hunts with a list of things such as:
a music CD
a book that’s thicker than 2 inches
a magazine
a picture book with yellow on the cover
a bookmark
a reference book that cannot be checked out
We’ve done a few different scavenger hunts through the years, and my goal was to help them realize all that our library has to offer while playing a game.
2. Random Acts of Kindness
One morning the boys and I spent a few minutes writing encouraging messages on decorative squares of paper: “I hope you have a nice day” or “I hope you enjoy this book.” Then we spent a few minutes scouring the shelves for some of our favorite books. We stuck the messages inside and hoped that the next reader would enjoy finding them.
3. I Spy
My kids love the game I spy, so it was a natural choice for a library game. Find a location where a lot of book covers are showing and you can talk quietly. One person looks around and mentally selects a book. Then he offers clues while the others guess.
I Spy With my Little Eye
a book about dragons
a book that is green and white
a book that has animals on the cover
The rest of us would try to guess what book they had chosen. It was a great way to get us looking at new and unusual books while honing our observation skills.
4. Find the Author
Compile a list of book titles and have the kids find the author of the book. This game helped my kids learn to use the online card catalog to find specific books and their location in the stacks.
5. Book Tic Tac Toe
Draw up a large blank tic tac toe board for each of the kids. Before arriving, have them fill in each section of the board with the title of a book and the author (if they know it). Once at the library have them search for the books. If the books are available, they can put an x in the box. If the book is checked out, they put an o in the box. They win if they get three x’s or o’s in a row.
6. Random Writing Game
Pick a book category like skunks or dinosaurs. Then have your kids find a nonfiction book about that topic and challenge them to write down the first word or sentence they see on the tenth page of the book.
7. Alphabet Hunt
There are two variations to this game When my kids were younger, I’d write all the letters of the alphabet around the edge of a paper plate and make small cut marks between the letters. Then I challenged them to find each of the letters on their plate in the library. When they find a letter they fold the letter out of sight. The game ends when all the letters have been found. For older kids I challenged my boys to find a book title or author for each letter of the alphabet and fill in an alphabetized list. This version often required a few trips to complete.
8. ABC Order
Pick a random stack of books, and have your children work to put them in alphabetical order. We typically do this on a small table with a selection of books we plan to check out anyway. That way we aren’t making extra work for the librarians.
9. What’s My Number?
Write a list of non-fiction books by title and have your children write down the Dewey Decimal number once they find the books. Sometimes I pick titles of the same topic so they can see how they are arranged and put in order by number all the way to the hundredths. Other times I make sure to use vastly different subjects to get them moving throughout all the non-fiction shelves.
10. Map It
Practice map drawing skills by mapping out the interior of the library, labelling all the different parts.
The upside to all of this fun is that my boys are also learning how to use the place at the same time. I want my boys to associate the library, books and reading with fun and enjoyment, so playing these simple games keeps their moods upbeat when we visit to checkout or return books.
About the Author
Joanne Rawson is the author of the blog Our Unschooling Journey. Known around the web as Mother of 3, Joanne began her blog when she first started homeschooling her three boys in 2012. She lives in Connecticut with her family and enjoys reading, crafting, and travelling… all of which usually ends up on her blog.
We all have days where we need a break or something extra to cope with a bad day. Netflix is the perfect resource for finding those little extras. And since there are so many educational shows on Netflix, you don’t even have to feel guilty about regularly relying on these videos.
My kids thinking watching Netflix is a treat and they hardly even realize they are learning. But they’ve absorbed so much about ecosystems, outer space, and the human body in ways that visually supplement our literature-based curriculum.
The science shows listed below are specifically good for kids in Kindergarten through fifth grade and cover topics especially interesting to them: animals, space, the Earth, the human body, and so much more.
1. Magic School Bus
The Magic School Bus is a classic show that is still relevant today. Ms Frizzle covers topics from geology and dinosaurs to weather and the water cycle. If there is a science topic you want to learn more about, The Magic School Bus probably has an episode for you. Pair the program with a Magic School Bus picture book for extra reinforcement.
2. StoryBots
Have you ever heard the statistic that four year olds ask almost 300 questions a day? Well StoryBots is out to answer those random questions.
Why is the sky blue?
Why does it rain?
How do birds sing?
This show is definitely for the younger kids, but it will still engage older elementary kids who have the same questions, especially if you go a bit deeper beyond the video by doing extra research.
3. Cat in the Hat Knows a Lot About That
If you like the nonfiction Cat in the Hat books, you’ll love the videos that go along with them. They cover many topics but mostly focus on nature. There is a lot of information about different animals and habitats. We’ve enjoyed episodes about deserts, bees, bats, and rainforests, for example.
4. Space Racers
For kids who love space and want to learn more, Space Racers is a good fit. It covers all kinds of space topics like satellites, the moon, and stars. This show is probably better for younger elementary, but it’s a great supplement for your homeschool science curriculum about outer space.
5. Bill Nye the Science Guy
Bill Nye was a staple of my childhood, and I am so excited to be able to share him with my kids. His videos are fast paced and entertaining which is the perfect combination to hold children’s attention. Plus he tends to cover intriguing topics in ways that kids can appreciate: the human body, electricity, and chemical reactions, for example.
6. Quiz Time
This show is for younger kids, probably preK and Kindergarten, but it covers some science concepts as well as observation, logic, and more. It’s in the form of a quiz show as the characters complete tasks and solve problems.
7. Jungle Book Safari
Jungle Book fans, now you can learn all about animals from Mowgli and Baloo! Each episode of Quiz Time features a different animal. The shows are only 10-15 minutes long, so they are a quick way to learn more about animals in short bursts of time.
8. Mighty Machines
Have a truck lover? Mighty Machines will be a lifesaver. From airplanes to trucks, this show covers many different types of machines, showing them up close and personal. Although it’s a bit cheesy with some silly voice-overs, it has real footage of massive tools that kids are fascinated by.
9. Fishtronaut
If animals, animal habitats, and animal behavior are on your list of things to study, Fishtronaut is the right show for you. It’s meant for preschool age and up.
10. Brain Games
This show answers questions you didn’t even know you should ask. Brain Games thoroughly explains each topic using multiple experiments and explanations. This show isn’t necessarily meant for kids, but it definitely keeps their attention.
Besides these ten shows, Netflix has hundreds of documentaries on almost every topic imaginable. Simply search for any subject that arises in your science curriculum or that your kids express interest in. Even adult documentaries can usually work for kids, especially if they have a natural curiosity about the topic. Go load up your queue now so you’ll be ready for the next day when you need a video diversion.
