Three of our favorite family Christmas traditions happened this past weekend. Saturday afternoon we went to the local tree farm to pick out a tree […]
Real-Life Homeschooling
A Homeschooling Christmas: Week One
Last week in My Tango with Traditions, I shared my struggle with establishing and maintaining family Christmas traditions over the years since becoming a mom […]
NextGen Perspectives
Christmas & My Tango With Traditions
I love the idea of traditions just as much as the next person, and the warm and fuzzy feelings that word evokes in my heart. […]
Hands-On Homeschool, Real-Life Homeschooling
Rethinking Our Holiday Session
In our homeschool, we have made it a tradition in the past that between Thanksgiving and New Year’s Day, we stop our regular school schedule […]
Real-Life Homeschooling
Friday Flashback: Thanking God For Another Day!
By Renée Gotcher This week I’m participating with a homeschool blog link-up called “The Homeschool Mother’s Journal” hosted by The Homeschool Chick. It’s been a […]
NextGen Perspectives, Real-Life Homeschooling
Schedules, Routines and Time Management
MUST. GET. BACK. ON. TRACK. Somehow my life has gotten totally off track this year. I realized long ago that as a stay at home, […]
NextGen Perspectives, Real-Life Homeschooling
The Role of Homeschool Support Groups
This weekend I attended my first board meeting for our local homeschool support group, Homeschoolers of Castle Rock. I recently accepted the board positions of […]
Homeschool Encouragement, NextGen Perspectives
Where’s the “Reboot” Button?
Lately (and more often than I’d like to admit), I have found myself in the midst of trying to gracefully navigate the twists and turns […]
NextGen Perspectives, Why We Homeschool
My Biggest Homeschool Blunder: Thinking I’d Be Ready
Being a homeschool graduate could have turned out one of two ways for me: I could have loved the experience and known from the start […]
Hands-On Homeschool, NextGen Perspectives
Homeschool Traveling as Student & Teacher
When I was 16 and soon to be a homeschool graduate, my dad planned the ultimate homeschool traveling “field trip” for our family. He planned […]
NextGen Perspectives
Standing Out in a Crowd
By Renée Gotcher Last week our homeschool group took an interesting field trip to the Denver Museum of Nature & Science. It was interesting because […]
Hands-On Homeschool, NextGen Perspectives
Guided Free Time
By Rosanna Ward When I was homeschooled, I remember having a lot of free time. After our school work was done, Dad would pretty much […]
Faith & Family
When You Don’t Have a Proverbs 31 Day
I do laundry, pay bills, wash dishes, return movies and library books (sometimes on time), shop for groceries with coupons I spend hours clipping, buy […]
Why We Homeschool
Why We Homeschool: Cristina Eklund
The reasons my husband and I decided to homeschool our two children are many. However, let me first start out with those things that were […]
NextGen Perspectives
My, How Times Have Changed!
“When I was a kid, I had to walk five miles to school… uphill… in the snow!” We’ve all heard that one before — Grandpa’s […]
Hands-On Homeschool, NextGen Perspectives
What Role Can Dads Play in the Homeschool?
By Rosanna Ward Most of the time when you go to homeschool activities or see homeschoolers out and about during the day, children are with […]
Homeschool How-To
High School Homeschool Record-Keeping
I am very blessed to live in “the best homeschooling state in the nation” (quote from OCHEC): Oklahoma is the only state with a constitutional […]
Hands-On Homeschool
The Title Hooked Me
By Rosanna Ward “Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons,” the title beckoned me. Wait, what? Only 100 easy lessons? I can do […]
Real-Life Homeschooling
A New Relationship With Learning: Charlotte Mason & Heart of Wisdom
After completing a fairly successful “warm-up to school” agenda the week of Sept. 12, my girls and I were ready to dive into our new […]
NextGen Perspectives
NextGen Homeschooler Reminisces
Tonight I am sitting here remembering the very first Homeschooling Convention I went to with my parents. It was in 1986 (or 85?) at the […]
Hands-On Homeschool
Play is Child’s Work
By Rosanna Ward Elizabeth’s post about toys got me thinking about the things we use in our home to help teach our children. I realized […]
Real-Life Homeschooling
Our First Week: Getting Back in the Swing
The Sunday before our first “scheduled” day of the new school year, our family spent about eight hours driving back home from Telluride, Colorado — […]
Hands-On Homeschool
Toys, Toys, Toys!

By Elizabeth Thomas During my first year of homeschooling, I realized that play has an important role in our children’s education. I also discovered that […]
Why We Homeschool
An Unexpected Path to Homeschooling
I’m not what I would call a typical homeschool mom — someone who got fed up with the public school system and made the choice […]
NextGen Perspectives, Why We Homeschool
A Curious Campfire Conversation
Our summer vacation culminated in a family road trip across scenic Colorado. We wanted to enjoy the end of summer in the snow-free mountains, see […]
Real-Life Homeschooling
How Often Do You Get to Pet a Rhino?
By Rosanna Ward Last Thursday evening was our first official school field trip for this year. The Tulsa Zoo was having its Member Appreciation Evening, […]
Real-Life Homeschooling
This Week in History: Resolved White, our Mayflower Ancestor
This week in History, we will be talking about the Mayflower and our first intersection with our family’s ancestors. Resolved White was a five-year-old boy […]
NextGen Perspectives, Real-Life Homeschooling
Getting Ready for a New School Year
It’s August 31, and for whatever reason that makes sense to the Colorado Board of Education, most local children have been in school for two […]
Real-Life Homeschooling
First Day of School at the Ward House
First day of school went well. Joel and I got everything on his lesson plan done by noon, and then he got to run errands […]
Real-Life Homeschooling
The Year of the Split: Teaching Different Ages
A “split” in bowling is when you leave pins on either side of the lane, but the ones in the middle are gone. I’m calling […]