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Weekly Homeschool Roundup - 4/17/20

We are entering the home stretch for the formal end of my son’s 9th-grade year.

Despite quarantine, everything has proceeded quite smoothly. Thank goodness for homeschooling - I feel like it has been a huge blessing for us!

The weather here was glorious this week and I spent a lot of time sitting on the front porch working and reading. One day a friend came over and sat with me (6 ft. apart) in the front yard and we chatted. Isn’t it a sweet benefit of this time that we are appreciating the little things again?

My daughter is in her last week of freshman college classes before exam week.

Life is proceeding - just with a new normal.

Weekly #Homeschool Roundup - 5 Good Things For Your Homeschool Each Week

I read an article today about how this crisis will most likely impact Gen Z’s worldview.

It’s a lot to think about. Right now we are all in survival and adjustment mode, and I imagine next year at this time we will begin to see how this has truly changed our world - and the world our children will be living and working in one day.

For now, homeschool is that wonderful anchor that has remained largely unchanged!

I hope you find the five things in this week’s roundup of use to you!

  • The Tale of Peter Rabbit & Other Stories (Audio)

    This lovely audio of the stories of Beatrix Potter and Thornton Burgess is narrated by Jim Weiss! If you’ve never listened to Jim Weiss you are in for a treat! I recall listening to him read stories to a group of children at a homeschool convention and it was MAGICAL.

    I have been using Chirp discounted audiobook for over a year and find the best deals through this platform. Purchase the book and then use the Chirp app to listen. Use this link and receive 20% off your first purchase!

  • Memorization for Moms (and other Busy Ladies)

    The author of this article encourages us to memorize for life - and what a beautiful thought this is. “It really is possible for memorization to be soothing, not stressful.  Let your memory work be a comfortable companion, whose presence you will enjoy for the rest of life.”

    This is one of my favorite blogs, and this post truly spoke to my heart this week.

  • Have you heard of Bookshop?

    Amazon has some new (and exciting) competition. If you want to purchase books and support your local Indie bookseller, you should investigate Bookshop. I have recently created a Bookshop page and will be working to list our favorite books! I’m excited to support this website.

  • Speaking of Books… The Latest Read-Aloud We Just Finished

    I’m not giving up on reading aloud to my high schooler! Our time we spend reading aloud is so valuable - and even when he might resist, I find that after a few minutes he settles into reading aloud and enjoys it.

    We just finished Rocket Boys, by Homer Hickam. I recommend this for high schoolers. Friday night movie and pizza night this week will feature “October Sky”, the film based on the book.

    It was fun to go down a space rabbit hole for a while, and of course, we incorporated some LEGO bricks into the mix. Check out this amazing Apollo Saturn V rocket Grant built to go with our book.

    (If I am being totally honest sometimes I mourn all of the interest-led learning we had when the kids were little - but even in high school we can do some bigger things that the family takes part in.)

  • Homeschool to College (a blog series)

    I have pointed several people in the past week to my high school posts - specifically how to prepare a homeschool high schooler for college. The series I wrote last year is very popular, so if you haven’t read it I hope you can gain valuable insight and information.

Did you have a good thing in your homeschool week?

Tell me about it in the comments below!

Weekly Homeschool Roundup - 3/13/20

These are interesting times, aren’t they?

Because of the Coronavirus, it seems that many people are being thrust into homeschooling for at least two (and I’ve heard of situations going beyond that amount of time) weeks.

I must admit that I sat back and. thanked my lucky stars for the gift of homeschooling more than once this week. Our children’s education continues as normal. We aren’t dependent upon a “school” to educate our children.

In that spirit, today’s roundup will bring you things you can use in your homeschool and also an article or two for your self-education as a homeschooling parent. No Coronavirus updates here, just business as usual.

Weekly #Homeschool Roundup at Homegrown Learners

My son has been knee-deep in a LEGO Shakespeare project for his Challenge 1 class. He is working with some friends to recreate the balcony scene from Romeo & Juliet. I’ve been so pleased with his enthusiasm, creativity, and joy for this project.

This morning, as I read aloud Rocket Boys (a fabulous book, by the way), he organized more bricks and finalized Minifigure assignments. It brought me back to the “old” days of homeschooling when we would read aloud each morning and he would happily play with his LEGO sets.

As of now, these are the main Minifig characters:

Characters for a LEGO Shakespeare Project

We don’t have to lose the wonder in our homeschool high school years. Sometimes it takes some work to cultivate that wonder, but it is SO worth it.

Ideas & News You Can Use

My prayer is peace for your family’s soul as we navigate these unprecedented times. Thank goodness for the gift of homeschool, where we can hold our children close and also have those heart-to-heart talks about their fears.

I’d love to know your plans for the next couple of weeks. Does anything change in your homeschool? How are you approaching this unique time in our world’s history with your children?

Leave me a comment below!