HOMESCHOOLING Archives - Becca Katz Printables

Printable Flashcards: Small Cards, Big Results

beccak — Tue, 25 Jul 2023 22:53:19 +0000

Printable Flashcards: Small Cards, Big Results

Advantages of Flash Cards

Versatile
Customizable
Portable
Effective study method

Flashcards are versatile and can be used for a wide range of subjects, including language learning, math, science, history, and more. They are especially useful for young children

You can customize flashcards including the size of the cards, the font, and the color scheme. You can create flashcards that are tailored to your learning style r that of your child.

You easily carry flashcards with you wherever you go, making them a convenient way to study on the go.

Printable flashcards are an effective and efficient tool for learning new concepts and reinforcing existing knowledge. They are physical cards that contain information such as words, numbers, images, and more. These cards can be easily printed from a computer or mobile device, making them accessible to anyone with an internet connection.

Where to get flashcards

Ready-made.

Buy them ready-made in stores or online. This is the most convenient way to get flashcards, but you may not be able to find the subject or approach you need.

Create your own.

Design

Design using templates on Canva or create your own design from scratch. Make them easy to read and include graphics if possible. Make sure the important information is easy to understand.

Printing

You can print the cards at home using a printer and cardstock paper. Make sure to adjust your printer settings to the appropriate paper size and print quality.

Laminating

Laminating your flashcards is easy. First, cut out your flashcards to the desired size. Then, place each flashcard in a laminating pouch and run it through the laminator. Make sure to follow the instructions provided with your laminator for best results.

Types of Flashcards

Academic Flashcards

Math

Phonics

Sight Words

Fun Flashcards

Animals

Colors

Games

Flashcards for Age Groups

Preschool:

Alphabet
Numbers
Shapes & Colors
Fun flashcards

Older Kids:

Sight Words
Vocabulary
Math
Science

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Printables for Homeschooling and Distance Learning

beccak — Sun, 16 Jul 2023 11:00:20 +0000

Printables for Home Schooling and Distance Learning:

Homeschooling vs. Distance Learning

Homeschooling:

Parents take full responsibility
Customize the lessons for the child's interests
Parents must research and fulfill legal requirements
More 1 on 1 time with your child
Must provide your own resources

Distance Learning:

School provides curriculum and instructors
Structure and support from certified teachers
School district follows state and national standards
Interaction with other kids
Access to the school's resources and technology

Key Resources for Home Schooling

Homeschool Printables

Homeschool printables are a great way to supplement your curriculum and keep your child engaged. These printables cover a wide range of subjects, from math and science to language arts and social studies. You can find free homeschool printables online, or you can purchase them from educational websites.

Free Printables

Free printables are another great resource for home schooling. Many educational websites offer free printables, including worksheets, flashcards, and coloring pages. These resources are a great way to supplement your curriculum without breaking the bank.

Educational Workbooks

Educational workbooks are a great way to ensure that your child is learning the skills they need to succeed. These workbooks cover a wide range of subjects, from phonics and reading comprehension to math and science. You can find educational workbooks online or at your local bookstore.

Online Resources

Online resources are a great way to supplement your home school curriculum. There are many educational websites that offer free resources, including lesson plans, videos, and interactive activities. You can also find educational apps that can help your child learn on the go.

Educational Games

Educational games are a fun and engaging way to help your child learn. Many educational websites offer free games that cover a wide range of subjects, from math and science to language arts and social studies. You can also find educational games on mobile devices, such as tablets and smartphones.

Set Up a Schedule

Why Is a Schedule Important?

1. Provides Structure and Routine:

2. Helps to Cover All Subjects

3. Allows Flexibility

4. Helps with Time Management

5. Use a Visual Schedule for Small Children

Printables for Different Subjects

Math Printables

Math can be a challenging subject for many students, but with the right resources, it can be made easier. Math printables can include worksheets, games, and flashcards that cover a variety of topics, such as addition, subtraction, multiplication, division, fractions, decimals, and more.

Science Printables

Science is a fascinating subject that can be brought to life with the right resources. Science printables can include worksheets, experiments, and activities that cover topics such as biology, chemistry, physics, earth science, and more.

English Literacy Printables

English literacy is an essential subject that covers a wide range of topics, including reading, writing, grammar, and vocabulary. English literacy printables can include worksheets, reading comprehension exercises, writing prompts, and more.

Geography Printables

Geography is a subject that covers the study of the earth and its features. Geography printables can include maps, worksheets, and activities that cover topics such as continents, countries, oceans, rivers, mountains, and more.

History Printables

History is a subject that covers the study of the past. History printables can include timelines, worksheets, and activities that cover topics such as ancient civilizations, world wars, and more.

Spanish Printables

Spanish is a language that is spoken by millions of people around the world. Spanish printables can include worksheets, vocabulary lists, and activities that cover topics such as basic phrases, grammar, and more.

Combining Fun and Learning

Many educational printables incorporate fun activities that can help your child learn while playing. You can find printables that involve coloring, cutting, and pasting, which can help improve their fine motor skills while also teaching.

Some educational printables also incorporate games and puzzles, which can be a great way to make learning more engaging and fun. You can find math printables that involve solving puzzles or English printables that involve word games.

Record Keeping and Planning

Record keeping is important and may be required by your school system.

Attendance records are essential in homeschooling. Keeping track of attendance is necessary to comply with state laws and regulations. You can create your own attendance record or use a free printable attendance record.

Checklists are helpful for keeping track of your child's progress on specific tasks or skills. By keeping track of your child's progress, you can identify areas where they need more help and adjust your teaching accordingly.

A homeschool planner is a great organizing tool. Look for one with sections for attendance, lesson plans, grades, and other important information.

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Is Homeschooling Expensive?

beccak — Wed, 24 Nov 2021 17:02:06 +0000

The Story

Home schooling can be very expensive or cost very little. It depends on your choices in terms of materials, time, and effort. Here are some things to keep in mind as you explore the question of homeschooling expense.

Don't Compete:

Don’t compete with other homeschoolers. When choosing a curriculum for your child, competition with other home schoolers can be counterproductive. Just because your neighbor spent hundreds of dollars on her curriculum this semester (some curricula do cost that much or more) doesn't mean you have to spend that much or more.

Think Quality:

Large quantities of books and materials can be expensive, but a large quantity is not necessarily better. Examine each book to be sure it complements your child’s learning style and that it contains valuable information that is different from books you already own.

Many worksheets and other materials are available at low cost as digital downloads you can print yourself. The library can be a wonderful resource.

You may be able to construct your own manipulatives.

Consider field trips and other hands-on activities as a substitute for books and other printed matter.

Save your dollars for the unavoidable expenses, such as some art or science project supplies.

Family Income:

Home schooling becomes expensive when the parent doing the educating is spending those hours planning and teaching rather than earning money. Consider splitting home schooling and income earning so that both parents share in each and schedule learning time to allow for work time, making home schooling a less costly.

Internet and Library:

The internet and your local library are invaluable for saving you money for your home school. It seems there is a lesson for everything on YouTube. Ask your librarian to help you gather a collection of books for a unit study or other theme-based lesson.

Local Resources:

Your place of worship or local homeschooling society may hold free book giveaways where you can donate and/or collect all sorts of books and materials. August and January are common times for these events. Get involved in your local homeschool community to find out more about these types of sales and giveaways.

Co-ops:

Join other homeschoolers in a co-op or other group. This can be a great way to save money. You can get group rates for field trip transportation and admission fees. Many homeschool group members lend or give away their materials or curricula.

Based on these examples, it’s clear that Homeschooling doesn’t need to be an expensive proposition. A thoughtful and creative approach will help you reduce the costs.

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Tips for Homeschoolers Who Work Outside the Home

beccak — Tue, 23 Nov 2021 17:49:43 +0000

The Story

When we picture a homeschooling family, we often imagine a stay-at-home mom, a working dad, and one or two kids. While this scene may be what we picture with regard to homeschooling, it is not necessarily typical.

Mothers are often discouraged from home schooling their children because they work outside the home. They have been told that it's simply not possible to home school their kids and work, too. But it is actually possible. If you are trying to juggle homeschooling and working outside the home, or are just considering the possibility, here are some tips that may help.

Get rid of assumptions:

Get rid of assumptions about how long a school day needs to be. If you grew up in the public school system you’ll tend to think of school as taking all day, from early morning to mid- or late afternoon. However, the homeschooling day is usually shorter than the public school day.

Homeschooling is more focused, has fewer students, and does not have to allow for transportation time and other activities. Compare this to the public school teacher who must spend some individual time with 25 or 30 kids. Depending on your curriculum and the number and age of your students, you could actually spend as little as 30 minutes each day homeschooling, and still be doing a thorough job.

Curriculum:

Choose a curriculum that is not too complicated or involved. Look for curricula that are based on short, daily lessons that cover one or two subject a day. It’s a myth that you have to have lessons in every subject every day.

Combine Tasks:

Combine errands in with your commute to and from work. For example, pick up reserved books at the library during lunchtime. Stop by the art store and market on the way home.

Enlist your daytime caregiver's help:

Let your kids' daily caretaker do some lessons with them, too. You may find that the caretaker appreciates having planned activities during the day.

Teach in the evening:

It's okay to homeschool in the evenings. You can do science projects or math problems after dinner. You can read at bedtime.

Plan ahead:

Make a schedule of lessons for each week so you maintain an organized teaching plan and you don’t waste time in the evening.

Include Dad:

Include Dad in the planning and teaching. Many Dads value this time with the kids and can provide a new perspective on the material being taught.

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Friends For Your Kids: Socialization and Homeschooling

beccak — Mon, 22 Nov 2021 23:01:44 +0000

One of the things that homeschooling parents often hear is that their homeschooled child or children will not be "socialized." Public schools are one of the conventional ways that kids make friends and engage in social behavior, but it is by no means the only way.

Socializing the Homeschooled Child

Let's look at some of the ways you can help your homeschooled child interact with others and develop healthy friendships.

Community Activities:

Find out what's going on around you and take part! Search online, the newspaper or the community newsletter for local kids sports teams, theater groups, choirs, clubs, group art and dance lessons and other activities. A good place to start is your local library – the librarian is often a fund of information about community events. Many events are held at the library itself.

Religious Communities:

Joining a church, synagogue, mosque, or other religious community can help your child connect with others. Many religious centers have group activities like choirs, game night, camps, and other events.

Homeschool Co-ops:

Another good way to help your child foster friendships is to join a homeschooling co-op. These are groups of homeschoolers who pitch in to teach, plan events, or otherwise participate. Sometimes co-ops have classes. Parents may offer to teach a science or reading class or plan a field trip.

Members of the community can also participate. Local firefighters, police officers, and others can contribute information and fun activities. Co-ops allow for a great variety of experience and interaction.

Field Trips:

You don't have to be a member of a co-op to plan field trips. During the day, when public school kids are at their desks, you and your home school child can be at the local museum, talking and interacting with curators and museum visitors. Take along other parents and kids from your homeschool group. These field trips can be an opportunity for kids to learn new vocabulary, learn to handle money at the museum store and practice conversational skills.

Scavenger hunts can be arranged with other kids in the community or neighborhood.

Organize Neighborhood Events:

Nothing going on in your community? Organize something! Maybe the neighborhood kids would like to hold a pet show or participate in a clean-up day or reading club. There might be many neighbor kids you haven’t met. Invite some neighborhood kids over for a day of arts and crafts or baking.

With all these suggestions – and some ideas of your own – your homeschooled child should not have any problem finding ways to socialize and form friendships with other children.

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6 Homeschooling Philosophies

beccak — Wed, 17 Nov 2021 16:17:38 +0000

Homeschooling Philosophies Explained

If you home school, you will want to consider what home school philosophy to follow. You might be trying to find a philosophy that fits your lifestyle. Following is a partial list of some of the more prominent home school philosophies and/or curricula.

Charlotte Mason:

Charlotte Mason is sometimes credited with being the founder of the home schooling "movement." She emphasizes good habits and character development in her approach. A home school teacher who follows the Charlotte Mason (CM) model would seize learning opportunities as they come, and work with the individual child's learning style and interests. All of the core subjects are covered in CM, and an emphasis is placed on classic literature and poetry.

Classical:

This approach is based on a "trivium" - grammar (birth to age 12), logic (ages 13-18) and rhetoric (high school) - that are said to be compatible with the natural way the child's brain learns and develops. Classical education involves learning Latin, math, world history, the arts, and science.

Structured (Traditional):

This type of home schooling is the closest in style and approach to "regular" schools. The subject matter and lessons are divided into grades, and planning is essential so as to avoid gaps. Every subject is covered each day, and students are tested as in an educational institution. Textbooks and teacher's manuals on each subject are standard with this philosophy.

Unit Study:

Learning via unit studies is a way for home educators and their students to delve into a subject in-depth and hands-on. A unit study-based curriculum takes one broad subject and integrates the core subjects into the main one. You can create your own unit study curriculum; choose a broad subject - art or science, for instance - and design all other lessons with an art or science theme.

Biblical Principle:

This type of home schooling philosophy bases the core subjects on the Bible. A Christian worldview and Biblical reasoning are taught. The development of Christian character and Biblical principles are emphasized. In a way, it's something like the unit study approach with Biblical themes.

Design Your Own:

Some home schoolers do not subscribe to one particular philosophy. Instead, they choose to design their own curriculum and philosophy, which may or may not be based on one of the main approaches. You may want to combine approaches. The important thing is to have some sort of consistency in your home schooling philosophy.

Read the above descriptions and consider whether one of these fits your family. That is the one that will work best in your home.

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Pros and Cons of Homeschooling

beccak — Tue, 16 Nov 2021 19:02:10 +0000

The Homeschool Decision

Still undecided? Maybe it would help to look at the pros and cons.

Pros

You make the decision about WHAT your children learn. Some parents have reservations about what is being taught in public schools, and want to protect their children from certain information they deem inappropriate. You also may see deficiencies in what is being taught in public schools, and want to enrich your children’s learning experience.
You make the decisions about HOW your children learn. A public school classroom can't tailor its teaching style for each child. As a home schooling parent, you can teach your child in the style that best fits him or her, and you can tweak your teaching style as needed.
You get to choose the curriculum. This ties in with the "what your children learn" note listed above. You can decide how many books, worksheets, crafts, and so forth that your student does. You can reject or accept aspects of various curricula and/or design your own.
Your child gets one-on-one instruction. Time and again, studies have shown that children learn well with individual instruction.

Cons

Home schooling takes time. Not only do you have to commit to the actual teaching time, you may also have to research and prepare lessons, copy or print out worksheets, maps, exercises, etc., and keep careful track of your child's progress. This all means less time to work at your job, run errands, clean the house, cook meals and so forth.
Depending on the laws and regulations in your area, you will have to present a portfolio or submit your child to standardized testing. This means you have to keep careful records.
Home schooling can cost money. It is not just the curriculum - while some curricula are very expensive (over $1000 a year just for the study materials), others are based on free resources like library books. So the expense is not necessarily the materials. The expense also extends into loss of income - the parent who is teaching usually ends up spending less time at work.
Unfortunately, criticism and even contempt from others comes with the territory of home schooling. You alone can decide if you will find this aspect of home schooling stressful.

Conclusion

After you evaluate these pros and cons you will be better able to make an informed decision about what is best for your family.

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Homeschooling – Where To Start?

beccak — Tue, 16 Nov 2021 00:55:06 +0000

At the beginning of your homeschool journey, it may seem like home schooling is just too difficult or complicated, or takes too much time. It can also seem overwhelming - where do you start? If you want to home school but are not sure where to begin, here are some tips that may help.

Talk to other home schooling families. Try to talk to a variety of home schoolers, so that you can see how home schooling works for different lifestyles and family groups. Search with Google for home schooling groups in your area. There are many home schooling groups on Facebook where you can connect with other parents.

Look online for tutorials and literature. There are e-books and YouTube videos that discuss the topic of getting started with home schooling.

Familiarize yourself with your local laws and requirements. Your local board of education should be able to help you in this regard. Most communities require a "letter of intent" or some sort of official statement declaring that your child will be home schooled in the upcoming year.

You will usually need this at the age that kindergarten starts in your area. Often, the rules and regulations are county based, so investigate on a local level what you need to do.

Join home schooling organizations like co-ops and online communities. There may be a "main" group to which most home schoolers in your community will belong, and you can find out online or when you talk to them. Ask your local board of education for recommendations.

Choose a curriculum that is right for your child. This is where many would-be home schoolers get stressed out! But it does not have to be stressful. Think about what makes your child "tick" - if your child enjoys stories and reading, there are curricula that are based on children's classic literature. There are also more "traditional" types of curricula that are fairly structured. Some curricula are based on social studies and geography, others are based on reading.

Don't worry if you don't pick the "perfect" curriculum right off the bat. You can always change. It's a good idea to start small and maybe avoid purchasing a big, expensive curriculum right away.

Keep good records of your child's schooling. Get some kind of system set up - it does not have to be elaborate. Planners and worksheets are useful for keeping these records. It is important to have an organized system and to record all the necessary info. Talk to other parents and to your Board of Education. At the high end, you can get an entire system of computer software to track your child's progress.

How you keep your records will be affected by your local laws, because different regions have different requirements for tracking a child's progress. Some areas require a portfolio, which is a collection of your child's work in various subjects, and others require standardized testing. Some regions give you a choice.

Last but not least, set up an area where your schooling will take place. This can be the kitchen table, a special chair, or an entire room. You need good lighting and freedom from distractions. It's a good idea to have a set time and area in the house where you do your home schooling. It helps set the mood and enhance concentration when the time and place are somewhat scheduled.

With just a little effort, you can address all these points and be off on a successful homeschooling adventure!

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Would Homeschooling Work For Your Child?

beccak — Thu, 11 Nov 2021 00:10:41 +0000

Would Homeschooling Work For Your Child?

Have you thought about home schooling your child? Homeschooling has become a popular way for parents to educate their children. However , many parents are not sure if their child, lifestyle or situation would be conducive to home schooling. Here are some tips to help you determine whether your child is a good candidate for home schooling.

Ask yourself why you want to home school. It is important to be honest and consider this question carefully. Is it because you want your child to have a religious education rather than a secular one? Do you want to home school to avoid government imposed curricula? Did you have negative experiences in public school and want to avoid those for your child? Maybe the public schools in your area are sub-standard.

These are all legitimate reasons, and you may have some others of your own. Having defined reasons and goals are a necessary first step in making the decision.

Can you take the criticism and misunderstanding that will come your way if you home school? If you choose to educate your children at home, you are likely to hear all kinds of lectures about "socialization" and so forth. Some people will suggest public school any time your child is less than perfect in his or her academic performance. Are you prepared to defend your choice to home school and/or ignore the criticism.

Consider how much time you have. Home schooling is not necessarily an all day, every day kind of thing, but it does take some time. You will have to factor in the time it takes to plan lessons as well as actual teaching time.

Consider how much money you have. Home schooling does not have to be expensive, but it nearly always involves some kind of expenditure. School supplies and the curriculum itself will cost money - anywhere from $100 to $1000 per year. You don't have to spend a lot - the internet and your local library can do a great job of providing literature, worksheets, hands-on science experiments, and so forth. Just determine your budget and plan your curriculum accordingly.

Are there other groups and events in your community in which your home schooled child will participate? In some areas, public schools may offer or even be the only group activity available. If your community has activities like Little League, Boy and Girl Scouts, a home school co-op, and so forth, then you may feel more confident in home schooling knowing that your child will have opportunities to make friends.

Is your child unusually advanced or behind academically? Then homeschooling may be an appealing alternative to traditional classrooms. In the case of the advanced student, you may not want your kids to be held back in a traditional school setting because they is so far ahead of everyone. If your students are behind (by public school standards) homeschooling may give them the one-on-one attention they need.

This is not an easy decision, but with careful thought and preparation, you can make the best decision for your children.

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