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Blog Cruise

Overwhelmed, Under-challenged, Unmotivated, Disobedient, or Just Plain Lazy?

May 10th, 2010
by Annie Kate.
5 comments

  I’ve spent a lot of time thinking about this week’s Blog Cruise question,  “How do you help your child if he is struggling to learn?”  We’ve dealt with this issue several times, and have discovered five different reasons for learning struggles.     The child could be overwhelmed.  In fact, this is what most [...]

Raising Bookworms

May 3rd, 2010
by Annie Kate.
7 comments

  We are a family of bookworms. In fact, I often say, “Stop reading and go do something.”   People have asked me how I get my kids to read.  First of all, I’m not getting them to read; often I’m trying to get them to stop!   According to some schools of thought, that could [...]

Summer Learning and Project Contracts

Apr 26th, 2010
by Annie Kate.
1 comment

   This week’s Blog Cruise question is, “Do you school during the summer? What do you do? Why or why not?”   I think learning is a natural part of life and can hardly be avoided.  Obviously, then, we continue to learn during the summer, even though we do not do formal schoolwork.  We read, [...]

We All Need to Learn Obedience

Apr 19th, 2010
by Annie Kate.
3 comments

  This week’s Blog Cruise question is, ‘How can I homeschool if my child won’t obey me?’     I don’t think you can do so effectively.  Of course, no child has perfect obedience—just as no adult does—but in our homeschool many of the difficulties are either due to trying to learn things too early or [...]

How do you nurture a love of learning in your child?

Apr 12th, 2010
by Annie Kate.
3 comments

    This week’s Blog Cruise question is, “How do you instill a love of learning in your child?”      I think that’s the wrong question.  Children are naturally curious and eager to learn, and God has instilled this in them.  I think the question should be, “How do you nurture this love of learning? [...]

Battling Burn-Out: Simple but Not Easy

Apr 5th, 2010
by Annie Kate.
4 comments

  Today’s Blog Cruise questions are: How to avoid burn out? What to do if you burn out?  Before we can tackle these questions, we need to know what burn out is.   Burn out:  to fail, wear out, or become exhausted by reason of excessive demands on energy, strength or resources (Webster’s Unabridged Dictionary) [...]

Homeschooling: A Life-Style to Be Thankful For

Mar 29th, 2010
by Annie Kate.
3 comments

  How has homeschooling changed our life?  That is a difficult question to answer, because our family knows no other life.  We’ve been homeschooling forever, it seems… in any case since Miss 17 was old enough to attend junior kindergarten.   So I’ll answer the related question:  How would our lives be different if we [...]

Homeschooling Advanced Subjects: Our Thoughts and Experiences

Mar 22nd, 2010
by Annie Kate.
3 comments

  The Blog Cruise question this week is, “How do you teach advanced subjects?”  Well, after puzzling over the question for a week, I’m still not sure how to answer it.  What we do depends on the specific course, but we do follow some general principles.    1. I rarely teach advanced subjects.  I make [...]

Q: How do you do it all? A: You don’t have to.

Mar 15th, 2010
by Annie Kate.
6 comments

  Just how can I get it all done?  This is the question that haunted me for many years.  There were so many things that needed doing, and I just couldn’t get them all done.  So I read time management books (for fun and relaxation) and I did learn a lot from them.  But… I [...]

While Our Things Have Fairly Well-Defined Places, the Children are Free to Roam

Mar 8th, 2010
by Annie Kate.
2 comments

  Ever since I spent several sunny spring afternoons on my parent’s barn roof studying geography, I’ve understood that learning can happen anywhere.  In fact, sometimes the unusual places get the best results. I got 100% on that course, an unheard-of mark in our high school.   With that in mind, how do we organize [...]

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