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Not much can boost a mood quite like getting outdoors and releasing some energy. But what about those days that you just can’t get outdoors? You might be snowed in, sick of the heat or just needing a relaxing day at home. If you’re not prepared, kids will quickly become bored, and transform into electronic zombies or fine-tune their meltdown skills. Lucky for you, we’ve rounded up 25 fun and easy indoor activities for kids. They’re certain to keep your kiddos happy and keep you sane, without ever leaving the house.

Every year for the past twenty years people around the world have contributed to a better universal understanding of bird numbers and movement by counting birds in their very own backyard as part of The Great Backyard Bird Count (GBBC)! The GBBC can be a ton of fun for homeschoolers of all ages. There is no major commitment, no fee, and no professional knowledge necessary to participate.

One of the things I love most about homeschooling is the ability to school wherever you go, and for us that includes Disney World! Since the girls were tiny we have made an annual trip to the happiest place on earth, and once we started homeschooling it just made sense to use some of our fun vacation time as learning time. Disney World is an amazing place and chock full of learning opportunities for both kids and adults, and many times the kids don’t even realize that we are learning as we go! Here are some great ways that you can add some fun learning on your next Disney Trip.

I was so excited to start homeschooling. New curriculum, new supplies, the smell of sharpened pencils. Unfortunately, the newness wore off pretty quickly. It was replaced by confusion and frustration. I was keeping every students tasks to complete in my head. Not just their tasks but also their progress. How many more lessons until the next unit? How many letter sounds do we still need to cover? Which book are we reading this week? On and on.

If you’ve watched my Day In the Life video, you saw me jumping on a trampoline first thing in the morning. This is something I try to do for a few minutes every morning I usually put a song and and bounce until the song is done. But Why? Exercising for homeschool moms is a crucial step in daily well-being.

Right about now, after all holiday hustle and bustle, we may be wishing for a solo vacation! Can you imagine such a thing as extended time alone? Particularly at this time of year, it’s important for homeschool moms to consider self-care practices. Attending to our well-being helps us be better mothers and teachers. For me, self-care right now will not include a solo retreat. I am guessing it may not for you either.

Each December, I see the families around me enjoying the hustle and bustle, baking cookies, and trimming their home for Christmas. I get an extra dose of excitement, as I take the opportunity to see if my homeschool year is working for my family. Is there something I should change going into the new year?

Ever since making the decision to homeschool 9 years ago, I’ve found many different reasons to be thankful for this journey. But is it all about my gratitude? Of course not! Here are the 13 reasons my 12- and 13-year-old sons revealed for being “eternally grateful for the opportunity to be homeschooled”.

I am certain that I am not the only well-intentioned, world-class-procrastinator homeschooling mom out there. I am the pro to which the word procrastinate refers. If you’ve just read that and think that we must be kindred spirits, fear not. Those of us who really do want to capitalize on the election year and teach our kids about the election process can still make it happen with these 10 resources for teaching kids about the election process – for procrastinators like me!

Every student needs a high school transcript. They are essential when you’re applying for college, the military and for some entry-level jobs. Today, most colleges and universities are open to, and excited about having homeschooled students apply. Although some colleges might ask homeschooled students to include additional application requirements, most schools require only the basics. These include college entrance exam scores, letters of recommendation, and high school transcripts. Goal setting is very important for your student in these formative years. It doesn’t matter whether your teen is just starting, or half-way through high school. Think about where you want him or her to be academically, spiritually, physically and emotionally. When deciding on a direction for your student, start with the end in mind. It is your responsibility as a homeschooling parent to keep a record of your child’s academic progress throughout their high school years. You should start working on your student’s transcripts in the ninth grade or earlier. Although it usually does not matter when your student takes particular courses, it is important to ensure your they complete the minimum requirement of courses to graduate from high school. Creating transcripts does not have to be a daunting task. In fact it is easy to keep up with the task as long as you’re consistent over time. All you need is a transcript template and the discipline to write down the course material credits, and dates of completion. Simply include every class and record his or her grades consistently over the next four years. And that’s it! There are also some programs that will do it for you. It is also a good idea to save schoolwork samples using the most important assignments or projects. This allows your student the ability to showcase his or her best work and reference examples when applying for college or a job. Be wary of people or companies that sabotage your homeschooling efforts with statements such as “students need their classes accredited,” in order for them to be credible. Transcript Format There is no wrong way to format a transcript. Colleges and universities expect to see a variety of transcript styles because every school uses a different style. As the homeschool administrator, you can choose whatever format works best for you. Again, consistency and clarity are essential. Transcripts can be created on any computer program, including Word. Some homeschool parents prefer a traditional transcript format where details are recorded by semester. Other parents prefer an unconventional transcript format and section the information by class content or subject matter. Either works as long as you are consistent throughout the transcript. Biography Information All transcripts should have identifying information including a student’s name, address, phone number, date of birth, email address, gender, and social security number. Schools use this information as a quick reference to identify applicants and to organize a student’s information. If your student’s transcript is more than one page long, ensure that there is enough biographical information on every page to properly identify the student. This way if the pages get separated, the information can easily be put back together. It is helpful to insert a footer with your child’s name and the document page number. Course Titles and Descriptions When filling out a transcript, you need to use specific course titles such as English I, II, and III; Algebra; Biology; American History, and so on. While it is perfectly acceptable to give your student’s courses generic titles such as English I, you may like to give their courses more specific titles such as Comprehensive Essay Writing. Specific course titles give colleges and universities a better idea of the material your student has focused on. They also add variety and flair to your student’s transcripts and make them more impressive. If you are having trouble coming up with creative course titles, look at a local college course catalog to get some ideas. You can also go to your state’s educational agency’s website to help you name your classes. Grading Scales In order to evaluate your student’s abilities, colleges and universities need your child’s transcript complete with grades and an accompanying grading scale. Establish the grading system for each course. This can be as simple as stating that 90-100 equals an “A”, and so on. The other side of this equation is making sure that your teen knows exactly what is expected of them and how the class is measured. It does not matter what particular grading scale you choose as long as you are consistent. A possible grading system can be broken into 1/3 tests, 1/3 daily work and 1/3 final exam. The standard can be set to accentuate your student’s strengths. Credits While every state’s requirements are different, students typically need to complete an average of 24 credits in order to graduate from high school. A high school credit is a unit of measure to record class time. Typically, students receive one credit per 120 – 150 hours of completed class time in a particular subject. This does not include homework, which should be an extra 50 – 65 hours. Credits are generally given in halves for 60 – 75 hours of class work and wholes for 120 – 150 hours of class work. Credits may also be based on finishing a particular curriculum or book or reaching the level of mastery required for a particular course. Curriculum Information Not all subjects that you include in your student’s transcript have to fall into traditional classroom subjects. Students who undertake independent studies, such as career training, computer skills, or home skills, can receive academic credit. Students just need to put enough hours into these subjects to warrant credit and their work needs some sort of evaluation scale. Credit can be awarded for textbook approach, logging in actual hours, combining related experiences, through college courses and demonstrated expertise. You can also choose to give your students pass or fail grades on such courses. Independent studies are great ways to turn your student’s extracurricular

Top Ten Teaching Ideas for Celebrating Art Show Week 1. Organize an art show for your local homeschool group. 2. Turn your living room into a museum with art created by your children. 3. Research an artist, dress up as him/her, and make a presentation where the artist talks about his/her life and work. 4. Create art in the style of your favorite artist, and organize an at home art show around different artists. 5. Use pages from old art calendars or art books to create your own themed art show in the living room. Make displays of different themed art either by subject, time period, region, or artist. 6. For younger children, read a picture book and create art or a craft based on the story. 7. Turn your children’s art into greeting cards. 8. Make messy art outdoors or use natural materials (berries, leaves, sticks, mud) as your media. 9. Set up independent learning centers for different artists or have your children do it for each other. 10. Create lots and lots of art! See the videos below for a tutorial. Download all of these ideas in a convenient PDF. Art & Artist Notebooking Pages Crafty Recipe Cards Top Ten Teaching Ideas for Art Show Week Videos for Art Show Day Teaching Art in Your Homeschool Looking for resources to help teach your homeschool students art? Join our panel of experienced homeschool mothers, along with our featured guest See the Light, as we discuss tips, tricks and techniques for teaching art, even for those of us who can’t draw a stick person. Yes, You Can Teach Art in Your Homeschool Does the idea of teaching art and tackling the basics overwhelm you? Would you like to enjoy teaching art or find new and creative ways to fold it into your homeschool? Our special guest, Tricia Hodges of Southern Hodgepodge, will be joining us and sharing her tips and encouragement on teaching art in your homeschool. Apple Chalk Pastel Tutorial Art for all ages with a quick art tutorial in chalk pastels by Lucia Hames. iHomeschool NetworkiHomeschool Network is a group of around 90 bloggers who provide outstanding content in the homeschool niche. ihomeschoolnetwork.com/

All students engage in blended learning one way or another. Previous generations did the same, but without technology. Several decades ago, blended learning was basically limited to combining textbooks with classroom experiences that involved chalkboards, peer collaboration, and computer labs. Blended learning is practical, beneficial, and necessary in order to address individual student personalities, academic competencies, and dreams, and parental priorities.

Most “homeschooling in the kitchen” articles focus on the underlying scientific principles behind the project; what makes the bread dough rise or causes fermentation—you know, the sciencey stuff. We are a food geek family; we relish those projects. But this article is not that. Don’t feel a need to justify your time teaching important life skills; we can let those skills stand on their own educational merit.

We’ve got a sweet surprise for all of you homeschooling families out there! iHomeschool Network Bloggers and Friends have teamed up to bring you the Homeschool Wishlist Cash Giveaway! One lucky family will win $800 (paid via PayPal) to put towards your homeschooling needs!!! How neat is that?! Woot! To enter, follow the directions below: 1. Start with Marlene on Instagram (@marlenegriffith) 2. Like the giveaway image and click follow to follow Marlene if you aren’t already. 3. Tap on the image to find the next person, Amy (@amystults3), in the loop. Tap on her name to go to her profile. 4. Find this same image on her Instagram page. 5. Repeat these steps on every photo/profile until you make it back to Marlene. This will complete the loop. You’ll be fully entered for the $800 giveaway and you’ll have found some wonderful homeschool bloggers to follow. This Giveaway will run until September 14. The winner will be announced by @marlenegriffith within 72 hours of the giveaway closing. RULES: This giveaway is only open to homeschoolers, so we will verify that the winner chosen is indeed a homeschooler. All entrants must make their account public for the duration of the giveaway. This is to verify entries and ensure that you are following all of the participants. The winner will be chosen at random and will have 24 hours to claim the prize after being tagged in this post. If within 24 hours we do not hear from you, another winner will be chosen. iHomeschool NetworkiHomeschool Network is a group of around 90 bloggers who provide outstanding content in the homeschool niche. ihomeschoolnetwork.com/

Are you looking to try something new and fun into your homeschool classroom? Using email in your classroom can put a different spin on learning while allowing your children to use technology. Here are seven awesome ways you can use email as a learning tool:

52 homeschool bloggers have joined together to provide one massive back-to-homeschool basket giveaway! Take a peek around these 52 sites and enter to win as many baskets as you like. Each blogger is conducting her own giveaway, so you never know…you may end up winning more than one! All giveaways will be live on Monday, August 15.

Every child loves to create things and mine are no exception. My guess is that yours are not either. I am always amazed at the different things my kiddos create. Although, if I am perfectly honest, sometimes I get frustrated by all the mess—I know that I am not the only one who feels this way! But I get over that by reminding myself that they are learning. You see, exploration is the purest form of learning, especially for learning about science.

Writing an essay is not an easy feat, because it requires you to keep track of so many different aspects of it, such as proper form and tone for it, and provide sources and proper citations every time you manage to complete one. It is certainly a challenge, but it’s not something that cannot be done, especially if you follow some of the links which we are about share with you in this article, and which will help you complete a brilliant and intelligent essay in no time.

Homeschooling is a challenging endeavor, but you can make it harder on yourself than it has to be. Don’t make these ten common homeschooling mistakes.

The school year is over and there you sit, surrounded by piles of papers and projects trying to decide what to toss, what to keep, and where in the world to store the pieces you do decide to keep. I can’t help you with the what to keep, but I can offer you some tips on how to preserve it once you decide.

With summer in full swing, we thought it would be a good time to share some ways to spend family time. As homeschoolers we obviously spend time with our family. Afterall, we are at home with, or doing field trips, or other outside classes alongside our children everyday. But, there is more to family time than just the educational time. Spending time as a family is important. It’s during these times we form memories, and encourage each other through conversation. It is during these times that we bond over laughter, or heart to heart discussions at the dinner table.

It has been said that a mother’s work is never done. That statement rings especially true for homeschool moms. Juggling the responsibilities of mothering and teaching can easily consume every waking moment–and still the laundry isn’t caught up! These homeschool moms are there, too. They understand this busy season of life. Let their words encourage and inspire you to find time to renew yourself during “mom time.”