One of the best things we ever did in homeschooling, was to have each child have a “school box”. We got those plastic totes that are more upright and with a handle. Each child has their own. All their workbooks and papers and reading books and favorite pencils and such fit in their box. And when the day is done, they neatly stack in the kitchen and the clutter beast is under control!

Submitted By: Amanda D.
Visit her favorite site at: www.ebay.com

After reading the “The Hundred Penny Box” by Sharon Bell Marthis, we decided to make our own timelines with pennies. It was great fun to find a penny for each of our own years of life and then we took an index card and wrote down four different events that happened that year.

Two events were personal, such as learning to ride a bike or getting a pet. The second pair were about world events and we wrote those down, too. Even Mom and Dad joined in and we all started penny boxes of our lives!

Submitted By: Jennifer C.
Visit her favorite site at: www.homeschoolbuyersco-op.org

To encourage my young daughter to write poetry, I decided to start by example. I wrote her a poem and then asked for one back. My poetry writing is a little rusty, but it was delightful to see her light up to the idea of swapping beautiful prose with her old man! We’ve been exchanging poems now all week and we’re both getting much better. She has been reading more poetry to get ideas and we have been discusing each other’s work as well! Sometimes you need to teach by example instead of just assigning work for your kids!

Submitted By: Dave R.
Visit his blog at: www.journalinglife.com

I love to plan out a month of lesson plans or our quarterly unit studies but finding a block of time is often difficult. What I’ve discovered that works great is to “time swap” with another homeschool mom. I can take my time at home where I can assess my resources and use my computer or I can use the quiet and resources of the library. The other mom takes my children for a few hours and then I trade and take here so she can use her time alone to prepare her homeschooling plans. It’s is important to schedule Teacher Planning Days periodically throughout the year! It really helps!

Submitted By: Cheryl P.
Visit her favorte site at: www.home-school.com

If you use text books for your schooling plans, take the number of pages in a book and divide it by your number of school days. Record how many pages a day you need to accomplish and you will have a game plan to help you keep the year moving ahead smoothly.

If you get behind, or are going too quickly, you can always adjust the page numbers to get back on track. I like this plan and I hope that it helps others too!

Submitted By: Olivia M.
Visit her favorite site at: www.Homeschool.com

If you have a reluctant writer and reader in the family, try this fun trick… Start emailing your kid!

They will need to have access to a computer and have their own email account. Everyone loves to get mail! And be sure to ask questions that beg to be responded to. Send funny pictures and links to safe sites. Just keep at it. Be silly, short and sweet and build on this. It might take a little while to get hooked, but I know it really worked with my daughter. Now she even starts the ball rolling with her own first email to me. (We’re in the same house, but it’s still fun and always smile when I get an email from my kids!) Her typing is improving as well and I know it’s safe, because I’m the one writing to her. My older daughter now does the same and it’s kind of fun. We have even caught ourselves IMing silly things back and forth about dinner or chores or just a good laugh!

Submitted By: Sherri C.
Visit her favorite site at: www.rocksmineralsandfossilsforkids.com