The foundational idea of a homeschool co-op is to “cooperate” with one or more families to share any part of the home education process. Co-ops can be as simple as two families meeting regularly to cover one subject or as complex as a large, organized, fee-based program covering a myriad […]
Tag: hands-on
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Why Multi-Generational Travel Matters
For us, family travel is a legacy: It’s a priceless inheritance that’s been passed on from one generation to the next. From immigrant families that established new roots in the United States to pioneering families who headed west and farming families who settled down across the plains, my husband’s family […]
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Take the Complexity out of Homeschool Co-Ops
Today we wrapped up a semester of Botany with our informal homeschool co-op by taking a scavenger hunt hike with three families who have children close in age to ours. This concept of sharing educational experiences with a few friends is the essential definition of an educational “co-op” — or at least it should be. However, as homeschooling […]
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Ten Things to Let Go of This Year: Not Qualified
One of the top reasons for not homeschooling that I hear from parents is that they don’t feel qualified to teach their children. They believe that if they don’t know Chemistry or Calculus, or whatever the subject, this lack of knowledge will hinder their child’s education. Personally, I don’t struggle with this concern or give it merit because: […]
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Real-Life Homeschooling: A Day in Our Life
Last week I got to thinking about how our homeschool days have been flowing… all over the house. So I decided to take a few pictures of where we “did school” throughout the day to give you a glimpse of what real-life homeschooling looks like for our family. On this particular day, I was late getting […]
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Ten Things to Let Go of This Year: “School”
You might already be asking yourself: What do you mean let go of school? Isn’t homeschooling all about school at home? Yes and no — and the longer I homeschool, the more I understand the “no” side. Let me explain… When we started homeschooling, I thought I was being pretty out of the […]
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Top Homeschool Posts of 2014: Hands-On
Welcome to NextGen Homeschool’s Top Homeschool Posts of 2014 Series! This week we’ll be sharing the top homeschooling topics — and most viewed posts — of last year based on the number of reader views and pins at NextGen Homeschool. Pin this page so you can refer back to each topic […]
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31 Days of Homeschool How-To: Learning Styles
Welcome to our October “31 Days” series at NextGen Homeschool: 31 Days of Homeschool How-To Tips! As NextGen Homeschoolers, we remember what it was like to be homeschooled ourselves, and our experiences as students have helped shape many of our best systems and strategies today. In the next 31 days, we’ll be […]
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Planning Our 1800s America Unit Studies
I decided to spend this entire school year immersed in 1800s American history. To say that I am excited about this would be an understatement! When I started planning for this upcoming rotation of history last year, I was struggling with how to teach through all of American history in one year […]
3 min read
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Hands-on Homeschool: Medieval Fair Trip
Last Friday we took the kids to the Medieval Fair in Norman, Oklahoma. We had been studying The Middle Ages earlier this year, so the kids were excited to go. When I was researching which fair we wanted to attend, I quickly discovered the difference between a Medieval Fair and […]
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Hands-on Homeschool: Garden Prep Field Trip
Last week we took a few days off for a spring garden prep “field trip” at the home of my in-laws in Kansas. Grandpa and Grandma Gotcher are “firstgen” homeschoolers: They began homeschooling my husband and his two sisters in the early 1980s. They needed help getting their orchard and […]
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Hands-On Homeschool: A Backyard Farm?
Last year I wrote about expanding our backyard garden and involving the girls in every step of the process, from choosing what to grow and starting seeds in the house, to transplanting and harvesting. What I left out of the story is the fact that we’d also decided to try […]