Homeschool Theater

If you are new to home schooling and haven’t a clue as to what to do about curriculum other than buying a set out of a catalog, there is a wealth of learning possibilities available to you. Many are free or low-cost. You just have to dig a little!

There are advantages to using boxed curriculum, if you have the money they require. If time is short or you really dislike planning, then a boxed set may be the way to go. On the other hand, if your budget is tight, there are many alternatives:

1. Your child is the one being home schooled so start here. What does he love to do? Read mysteries, skateboard, collect seashells, play with his dog, and draw? For each of his interests you will be able to find books to read, documentaries, clubs, lessons, web pages, or activities. Build a unit study or theme around one of those interests. You may be amazed at what your child will learn if it starts with something he is truly interested in.

2. Check with your home schooling support group to see if a lending library is available. Some groups keep books about the different styles of home schooling while others may have unit study kits or materials arranged by learning subject.

3. Use the public library. Every library system is different; you will have to investigate to see what your library offers. If your library is in a city or county system, you may be able to request items from other libraries to be delivered to your own branch for you to pick up. Some libraries offer science learning kits, toys or musical instruments, or have hired or volunteer guests do experiments or magic or present plays, etc. You will find DVDs of movies, lessons and documentaries, audio books, foreign language CD sets, etc. Most libraries sponsor book clubs.

4. Use the Internet. I love having our computer nearby as it is wonderful to be able to look something up as we are discussing a subject and a question arises. You will find tons of learning resources such as worksheets, coloring pages, online dictionary, thesaurus and calculators, lesson plans, educational games and skill practice. Moreover, so much of it is free! Your kids will be able to take classes online as well.

5. What resources will you find in your own community? Look for Girl or Boy Scouts, 4-H, YMCA sports, community classes, the Civil Air Patrol, government student council, Toastmasters, community gardens, Parks and Rec events and sports, extracurricular activities at your local school. There are clubs for aviation, writing, horses, the arts, radio-control racing, bird watching, dog sports, etc. Do you attend a church, synagogue or temple? Is anything available for your kids there?

6. Take a second look at the people in your life. Grandpa fishes and is a top-notch cook. Grandma plays lively music on her piano. Uncle Joe is an avid bird watcher, and Mrs. Garcia next door loves talking about Shakespeare. See what potential you may find!

7. Keep a daily journal about the activities your kids do, such as science experiments, buying their own meal at a fast-food restaurant, exchanging a roll of dimes at the bank or building a model of Stonehenge in the backyard. All of these involve learning!

Learning occurs anywhere in so many variations that you can create your own curriculum for your own home schooling kids.

To learn more about home schooling and the many options available to you, please visit our website at http://www.homeschooltheater.com. You can follow us on Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/homeschoolart.

Homeschool preschool activities do not have to be expensive. An excellent method for your preschooler to build fine-motor skills and strengthen eye-hand coordination is by playing with lacing cards. This type of activity also encourages focus and concentration on a task.

Lacing cards are available to buy where toys or teaching supplies are sold, but they are very easy to create your own. You probably have all the supplies at home already, so the cost involved is minimal. Another benefit of making your own lacing cards is that you can directly relate the subject matter to your child’s interests. Make a boot card for your little cowboy or a castle tower for the fairy-princess. You can make cards that fit what your child is learning about, such as Brachiosaurus for dinosaurs, a house for the letter “”H” or a character from a book you are currently reading together.

You need thin cardboard, such as the back of pads of paper, or cut from a food box, like a cereal box. Now you need an image. Either draw an object yourself on the cardboard or find a design online or in a child’s coloring book. If you print the picture out, draw on a piece of paper or tear a page from the coloring book, you can simply use spray-adhesive or water-thinned white glue to attach the paper to the cardboard, or copy with a pencil. The image needs to be simple. If there are many lines in the picture a good idea is to use a fine-point dark marker, like black or brown, to trace over the lacing lines. It is best to have the lacing lines close to the edge of the card so a paper punch will easily reach them. If not, trim the cardboard back, or cut around the image.

Next, determine where you will place the holes on the picture. You can mark lightly with a pencil where the holes will be. When you are satisfied, go ahead and paper-punch them.

The final step is preparing the lacing string. A shoelace is ideal, but a piece of string or yarn works just as well. Tie the string to the first hole. You can leave the strings free of the card, but an advantage to tying them on is that they won’t get lost. Lace the picture yourself to see how much string is needed, and add 6 to 9 extra inches. If you use a piece of yarn or string, to make it easier to lace either dip the lacing end in white glue and draw it through your fingers, then let dry, or wrap a piece of tape around the end.

You can begin with one or two lacing cards, or make a set all at once.

If you are pressed for time, there are a number of very nice lacing cards for sale at places such as Amazon. However, don’t be afraid to try your hand at making your own supplies for your homeschool curriculum.

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Michelle B. has been homeschooling for 20 years and continues to do so today. She writes about projects in gardening, education and literacy.

(Editor’s Note: Our reviewer is a 14-year-old homeschooled teen. She shares her thoughts on review from a complimentary copy of the book.)

It isn’t very often that a book changes my perspective on things. However, The Teen’s Guide to World Domination by Josh Shipp was one of those books.

Right off the bat, Shipp tells you that the goal of the book is not about helping you dominate the world- but to help you dominate your own world by rocking at what you do and defeating the “villains” in your life.

Generally, the problem I have with most teenage advice books is that they try too hard either to appeal to teens, or become more of a cheesy life-coaching session than an advice book. Luckily, The Teenagers Guide to Dominating the World strays far away from these two pitfalls. Josh Shipp writes in such a way that when reading, you really feel as if that is how he would talk to you if you were sitting down together in person, making the book easy and fun to read.

In the book, Shipp talks about his often-painful childhood, but rather than looking for pity, he wants the reader to learn from his mistakes, and use them as examples, telling stories from his past as ways of showing you how he dominated his own world, and defeated his own villains.

The “villains,” as Shipp calls them, are described with names such as Pirate, Ninja, Puppy and Robot. Further into the book, there are step-by-step introductions to each of the villains. Josh describes how to know one when you see one, what their intentions are, and how to defeat them.

This book offers up witty humor, funny stories, and good, solid advice. It’s definitely worth the reading.

(Editor: You can find this book and others in our Home School Theater Bookstore.)

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Kieran is the guest author of today’s post. She is a homeschooled teen in Arizona. In addition, she and a friend are the creators of their own fashion, fashion, makeup and beauty blog.

Organizing Homeschool Supplies?

A very useful tool for organizing supplies in a busy household is the over-the-door pocket organizer. They are easy to find, in a wide price range, in different colors and sizes. Some will keep the contents out of sight, and in others the items will be visible. The pocket holders are excellent space savers when you have a number of small items that need storage but there is no room for a cabinet or bookshelf. My family has an organizer in nearly every room.

There is an organizer on the door of my husband’s office for his office supplies and one in the bathroom for toiletries. I keep my garden tools, knee pads, gloves, etc. in another.

My girls have a clear vinyl shoe organizer over their bedroom door. When they were younger, in the pockets they kept stored and on display their collection of fashion dolls. Now they have outgrown the dolls but not the organizer! Their little bean bag animals are the new occupants.

One of my favorite pocket organizer uses has been to keep track of our homeschool supplies. We keep this one on our pantry door. The pocket contents depend on what we are currently learning about. Sometimes they are filled with flashcards, or maps, or science tools. The pockets have been wonderful in keeping our viewfinder toy accessible and the discs organized by topic. Whenever I buy a set of discs relating to something we are currently learning, I have a space for it. Currently our pantry organizer is filled with pens, pencils, index cards, erasers, rubber bands, small notebooks, glue sticks and a paper punch.

What else can you use an over-the-door pocket organizer for? How about kid’s toys, such as Matchbox cars, action figures, trading cards, or doll clothes?

Science supplies, such as magnets, microscope slides, eye droppers, magnifying glass, beakers, test strips, or scale weights.

Math: small geoboards, rubber bands, manipulatives, flash cards, clock dial, play money. A clear organizer can also be used as a teaching tool to display one number card per pocket, such as for investigating place value or adding two-digit or larger numbers.

Art supplies, like paint brushes, watercolor trays, pencils, markers, acrylic paint tubes, packets of clay, and modeling tools.

Craft Supplies:magnets, pom poms, glue gun and gluesticks, feathers, seashells, pasta, strings, beads and buttons.

The organizer also makes a wonderful display holder for collections for your children’s current study: seashells, rocks, nature items, plastic animals or historical figures, or information booklets.

If you need to keep your homeschooling supplies in check, I recommend the over-the-door pocket organizer.

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Michelle B. is a homeschooling parent in Arizona. We like the Homz Kidz 12-Pocket Over-the-Door Hanging Organizers

Creating a collage can be an excellent tool for a homeschool preschooler who needs to work on tearing or cutting skills. It creates focused attention and builds motor skills. It can be used for sorting and classifying if your child has to choose only, say, the square or green pieces out of an assortment. And for a hands-on learner, it’s just plain fun!

Your preschooler may enjoy the very tactile experience of creating a collage art piece . The homeschool materials you need are probably already in your home.

Give your child a background piece, which could be cardboard, thin plywood, a paper plate, canvas, or anything that can support objects glued to it.

A gluestick can be used if all the items are paper. Craft glue is best for thicker objects or fabric.

The materials can be paper, such as tissue, old magazines, ads, junk mail, expired coupons, napkins, candy wrappers, wrapping or scrapbook paper, you name it. Fabric bits, ribbon, buttons, beads, sequins, feathers, stickers, yarn, string, game pieces, tiny toys, etc.

A collage project can relate to anything your child is currently learning about:

–If your little one is learning colors, say, purple, go on a hunt through the house with your child in search of purple bits, and choose the ones that can be adhered to the board.

–Studying birds? How about feathers, nest-building pieces such as string or grass, seeds.

–Plants- leaves, flower petals, seed packets.

–Food groups- food wrappers, ads, dried corn, beans or rice.

–Textures- sandpaper, watercolor paper, foil, wax paper, tulle, burlap, fleece.

–For shapes, you can provide your child a variety of sizes of the shapes you have cut from different papers, or let an older preschooler cut them himself.

Magazines can provide a wealth of images for nearly any study topic.

Provide enough materials for your youngster to choose from to create her art piece, but not too many or she may be overwhelmed (and the clean-up will be too big!).

A collage work, whether to conclude a study topic or for the value and fun of creating, will lead your preschooler through exploring the process of art. And you get a wonderful art piece to boot!

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Michelle B. is a homeschooling mother who’s been at this homeschool curriculum for 20 years.

Nearly everything we do in an average day involves math in one form or another, and it is easy to include our homeschool children in many of the activities. When thinking about homeschool math planning, it is helpful to know (and good for our budget!) that learning many early math concepts in the preschool homeschool requires no textbooks, workbooks or special equipment. Included here are a few of the basic concepts for our children to understand and simple learning activities for each one.

*Same and different. By offering choices to your child you can help him learn to recognize different traits in objects. “Would you like a green grape or a red one? Do you want to play with the big blocks or the little ones? Do you want to slide down the long bumpy slide or the short curvy one?”

Lay out four items in a row, three the same and one that is very different. For example, three spoons and one drinking cup, or three stuffed kittens and a teddy bear. Ask which one is different from the others. When your child can easily pick out the odd item, lay out four more objects but with only one different trait, such as three blue buttons and one yellow button, or three teaspoons and a tablespoon. “Same and different” is the precursor to sorting.

*Sorting: When your child understands the concept of “same and different” he will be able to easily begin sorting. Sorting requires a child to identify certain attributes in an object, such as color, size, item usage, etc., and then form a group of objects according to those traits. As adults, we do sorting every day: putting away freshly-washed laundry, the groceries on shopping day, and the dishes from the dishwasher. Separating the sales ads, junk mail, and personal mail. Organizing our collections. Determining which books to turn in on library day and which to keep at home. Involve your young child in some of the sorting that regularly happens in your house: give him the pile of socks to pair up while you are folding clothes. Have her determine which foods go in the pantry, the freezer or the cupboard. Let him put away the silverware. As you determine the usage of the day’s mail, hand the mail one at a time to your young sorter and let her place each piece in the appropriate pile or basket. At play time, sit with your child and ask him to corral the plastic animals into their families, drive the cars into the correct garage, separate the dinosaurs into meat-eaters and plant-eaters, or collect the play food into main dish or dessert piles.

*Patterns: Patterns are all around us: in music, art, building designs, nature. This concept is also related to “same and different” and “sorting.” You can use toy race cars, building blocks, pencils, coins, buttons, beads, candies, etc. to create patterns. Line up a pattern using two attributes: red car, green car, red car, green car. What car comes next? When your child can easily copy your simple pattern and extend it correctly, then add a third attribute. Red car, geen car, yellow car. Keep building the base pattern when your child has mastered the previous one. Have your child make a pattern for you to follow. As you extend your child’s pattern, speak out loud for your child to hear how you solve the problem. For example, “Okay, I see first a dime, next a nickel, then a penny. Since the first coin is a dime, I will place a dime next in the pattern.”

You can draw base patterns on paper with markers or crayons and have your child extend it. This would provide a boredom-buster in waiting rooms or at the restaurant table.

What patterns do you find around you? Cars in a parking lot, flowers in a garden, silverware on the table, products on a store shelf; on giftwrap, fabric, scrapbook paper, wallpaper. “I see a red rose and then a yellow rose. If we continue this pattern, what rose would be next?” “Do you see the pattern your feet make on the sidewalk when you walk through a puddle?”

Same and different, sorting and patterns are a few of the many easy-to-apply early math concepts for our young homeschool children.
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Michelle B. is a homeschooling mom. With 20 years of past and present homeschool experience, she shares her insights with our guests.

Five Minute Tales: More Stories to Read and Tell When Time is Short. By Margaret Read MacDonald

Every storyteller, whether a paid professional or someone who uses story as an addition to their primary job or activities, needs to have quick stories to tell in any situation. On the heels of her “Three Minute Tales” book, Margaret has gathered even more quick-to-tell stories from all over the world.

The stories are divided into nine loose categories such as “Origin Tales,” “Lessons to Be Learned,” and “Riddle Tales.” One of the most useful categories is “Tiny Tales” with stories that can be told in under a minute. Storytellers must always be ready to demonstrate their art form to others and these quick tales are great fillers to have in your repertoire.


Dr. MacDonald is one of the leaders in the classification and understanding of world tales, so one of her expanded comments regarding the type and origin of the story follows each tale. This provides excellent material for research for storytelling for teachers or storytelling in the education.

Margaret has written a number of “must have” books for the potential libraries of storytellers, public speakers and teachers of all types of groups. “Five Minute Tales,” too, will be a book you use often to fill in that “just right” space in your programs and presentations. -Storyteller.net Reviews