Tina's Dynamic Homeschool Plus

Activity, Change, Progress

Tina Robertson

4 Benefits to Planning Early for the Next Homeschool Year

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This post may contain affiliate links. For more information, please see my full disclosure policy.

There are 4 benefits to planning early for the next homeschool year. Also, look on my page The Dynamics of How to Homeschool Easily and Smarter.

Whether you are a plan-a-holic or prefer to wait until your children cover most of the curriculum you got the year before, planning for the next homeschool year is one of the most thrilling things about homeschooling.

4 Benefits to Planning Early for the Next Homeschool Year

Besides being just plain fun to do, there are at least 4 benefits to planning early for the next homeschool year.

Too, look at some of the how to homeschool books which will help you have a great start or if you need to switch midstream.

5 BEST How to Homeschool Books

I've rounded up some of the best books to help you get started homeschooling.

Homeschooling for New Homeschoolers: When You Don't Know Where to Begin

Homeschooling 31 Day Boot Camp for New Homeschoolers is a real eye-opener on homeschooling. It will alleviate a lot of the anxieties about getting started homeschooling. Reading each chapter’s highlights will give you encouragement, knowledge, guidance, and peace of mind to homeschool with confidence. The best part is that you’ll be educating the person who loves your kids the most in this world--YOU! Armed with the knowledge to make better choices in curriculum will empower you to continue the path of home education. Unlike many books based on one family’s experience, Homeschooling 31 Day Boot Camp for New Homeschoolers is also based on Tina’s many years of mentoring hundreds and hundreds of new homeschoolers at live workshops. When you don’t know where to begin Homeschooling 31 Day Boot Camp for New Homeschoolers equips you to successfully homeschool your children.

The Unhurried Homeschooler

Homeschooling is a wonderful, worthwhile pursuit, but many homeschool parents struggle with feelings of burnout and frustration. If you have ever felt this way, you’re not alone! Most of us need to be reminded of the “why” of homeschooling from time to time—but "The Unhurried homeschooler" takes parents a step further and lifts the unnecessary burdens that many parents place on themselves.

Teaching from Rest: A Homeschooler's Guide to Unshakable Peace

Those who have made the decision to homeschool their children have done so out of great love for their children and a desire to provide them an excellent education in the context of a warm, enriching home.

The Brave Learner: Finding Everyday Magic in Homeschool, Learning, and Life

Parents who are deeply invested in their children's education can be hard on themselves and their kids. When exhausted parents are living the day-to-day grind, it can seem impossible to muster enough energy to make learning fun or interesting. How do parents nurture a love of learning amid childhood chaos, parental self-doubt, the flu, and state academic standards?

Unschooled: Raising Curious, Well-Educated Children Outside the Conventional Classroom

Education has become synonymous with schooling, but it doesn’t have to be. As schooling becomes increasingly standardized and test driven, occupying more of childhood than ever before, parents and educators are questioning the role of schooling in society. Many are now exploring and creating alternatives.

Next, look at these 4 benefits to planning your homeschool year early.

4 Benefits to Planning Your Homeschool Year Early

If you have kept up with what is working and what is not working during the year, then you have a beginning point in what you are actually wanting to purchase.

1. You Have a Beginning Point for Purchases

Walking into a curriculum filled convention, smelling all those wonderful smells is too enticing for even the most experienced homeschooler.

It is hard to resist buying on impulse. I know, I have done it.

Having a beginning point helps you to buy curriculum that your children will actually use and benefit from.

2. Purchases Can Be Spread Out

Helping a lot of homeschoolers, I know money matters when it comes to purchases.

Too, the more children you have to buy curriculum for the smarter it is to spread your buying out over several months.

I know when I have done this, I have gotten exactly what each child needed.

I didn’t feel like I settled for anything because I didn’t wait to the last minute to buy and feel the pressure of the new school year.

Sometimes the best time to buy is when you have received your tax refund, if you get one.

Curriculum vendors know this and will run a spring sale on curriculum.

Take advantage of spring savings and buy online from reputable places like Rainbow Resource.

3. You Get Choice Picks of Second Hand Homeschool Materials

Like me, if you like to use part new materials and part gently used curriculum, then you have to start early.

By mid-spring or later, popular used curriculum is in hot demand and sellers know this.

If you are wanting to sell and get top dollar, then plan to have your gently used curriculum ready early in spring to sale.

If you are a buyer and want to get a good value, then look at off-peak times like January or February when sellers are clearing out for the next school year.

4. Avoid Back Order Backup

Is it just me or are you sorely disappointed when you finally decide to buy that curriculum that makes your heart go pitter patter only to find out that it is on back-order?

I have done this several times because I thought I was being cautious. I ended up delaying the start of my school year.

More Homeschooling Year Around Tips

Disappointed is an understatement to how I felt when all books or supplies were not in my shipment.

To the outside world, we may seem slightly insane to be so over the top when it comes to homeschool planning.

However, planning for the next homeschool year is one of the best ways to brighten up the coming months in spring, especially if you are coming out of long cold winter days.

How about you?

Are you a plan-a-holic and pretty well plan year around or do you have a specific time you plan?

4 Benefits to Planning Early for the Next Homeschool Year @ Tina's Dynamic Homeschool Plus-2

Finding Joy In Homeschooling When You are Not Really Feeling It

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This post may contain affiliate links. For more information, please see my full disclosure policy.

Finding joy in homeschooling when you are not really feeling it is not easy when you don’t know the secret to keeping to it.

First, it really is important to think of the blessings we have received and progress we have made to this point. We need to be thankful for them.

Finding Joy In Homeschooling When You Are Not Really Feeling It @ Tina's Dynamic Homeschool Plus

Discontentment is about not appreciating the progress you and your children have made so far.
The overwhelming pressure to keep pushing our children and our self to maxed out limits triggers discontentment.

Fault finding and complaining are close allies of discontentment. Discontentment can rob you of homeschooling joy.
Because we are imperfect we will always have feelings of being inadequate.

Too, we are not immune to this world’s constant bombardment of thinking that more academics and beginning at a very early age equates to homeschooling success. <

Miserable or Merciful Homeschool Mom

Second, as moms if we constantly fault find with our children and keep switching curriculum in the hopes of finding something better, we rob our children of valuable time that could be spent together.

The most rounded out, happy and contented successful homeschooling families have all shared a common thread.

The environment the child learns in and the attitude of joy that was maintained by the whole family was of far more importance than being overly concerned about national test levels.

True, it’s not easy to feel joyful if we are sick, have fallen behind in our goals, have a household of young demanding children, or have very little support from our husbands as far as homeschooling.

However, focusing on the things we do have, can do and the progress made so far are all incentives to fueling up my homeschooling tank again.

Do You Value the High Cost of Homeschooling?

Do you view it as a privilege to homeschool?
When it’s viewed that way we never take it for granted. If joy is missing in your homeschool day, have you spent time reflecting on the positive?

Savor the progress you made this year. Progress is measured in tiny baby steps. If it’s moving forward at a crawl, it’s still progress.

Contentment is of great value in your journey. Do not compare your progress to others.

Journal or record the progress however tiny it was this year.

The secret of joyfully homeschooling for one year, five or even ten years is sweet contentment.

What about you? Have you found the secret to staying the course?

Also, look at 7 Homeschool Lies I Want to Tell My Younger Self, What I Gave Up to Homeschool (and what I got in return), and 6 Things I Won’t Regret After Homeschooling 16+ Years.

Hugs and you know I love ya,

Signature T

Linking up @ these awesome places:

20 Awesome History Books for Kids

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This post may contain affiliate links. For more information, please see my full disclosure policy.

Whether you’re looking for homeschool history books or just plain good ancient history books for your homeschool, I have 20 awesome history books for kids,

Too, you’ll find history books for every age.

And I have listed books for topics like castles, Greeks, Egypt, mummies, warriors, pyramids, inventions, the medieval world and time travelers.

These history books for kids can be used as a stand along spine which is a framework for your unit study or they can be used as supplements.

20 Awesome History Books for Kids

In addition, I love these series of books because some have additional activities for history.

History Books for Kids

History should not boring and so I look for books that have activities. You need reference books, but you also want ideas for all ages.

The books below on different eras of history are sticker books, about time travel and learning about Greek myths.

From preschool to young adult, these books give a diverse look at life in ancient times as well as some of the most important events.

Other History Books:

20 Awesome History Books for Kids

History Books for PreK – Kindergarten

1. Look Inside a Castle

Kids will follow a lord and lady as they go about their day in a medieval castle.

Children will learn all about castle life as they lift up over 60 different flaps to reveal facts about the medieval time period.

2. Mini Greek Myths for Children

These traditional Greek myths are retold so young children can understand and older children can read on their own.

This book is beautifully illustrated so that the whole family will enjoy reading it again and again.

3. Sticker Dressing Long Ago

What did Vikings, Pharaohs, and Japanese Samurai wear long ago?

Children will find out by dressing each character and reading about the facts that go with each.

Even after all the stickers are gone, children love reading about these historical people.

4. Ancient Egypt Jigsaw Book

Complete 6 easy jigsaws to reveal facts about life in ancient Egypt.

There are lots of things to seek and find which makes this book one of the most fun history books I’ve ever seen.


5. Look Inside Mummies and Pyramids

This lift and look books gives more details of how the Egyptians buried their dead and how the pyramids were made.

Kids love the flaps to lift and look inside the pyramids!

Elementary History Books

6. Living Long Ago

Details on everyday living in ancient times are revealed in this fun book.

Topics include clothing, homes, food, travel and more!


7. Sticker Dressing Warriors

Use over 200 stickers to dress warriors from the past. This book covers Mongols to Native American Chefs!

8. The Story of Inventions

This best selling books tell the stories behind the things we use everyday.

Children will be inspired to come up with their own inventions after reading this book.

9. Time Traveler

Follow a young boy as he travels back in time to 4 different civilizations.

This action-packed history book is just what kids who hate textbooks need to get interested in history.


10. Illustrated Stories from the Greek Myths

This collection of famous myths from Ancient Greece include: “The Horse”, “The Minotaur”, “Bellerophon and Pegasus”, “The Twelve Tasks of Heracles”, “Perseus and the Gorgon”, “The Odyssey”, even more myths and a guide to the gods.

Children will love the beautiful illustrations and introduction to Greek beliefs.

11. Ancient Egypt Sticker Book

This sticker book explores Egypt through ancient artifacts and monuments.

With over 120 stickers, this book is an awesome resource to have when studying ancient Egypt.


12. Ancient World

Lavish illustrations and detailed tid-bits help make this book intriguing for all children.

They’ll love learning about the rise and fall of major civilizations and the internet links featured will help them further explore the ancient world.


13. Medieval World

To find out all about the lives of knights, peasants, warriors, and more, this book is your ultimate resource.

It contains lots of internet sites with more resource for your children to learn about the history of the Medieval world.

14. Encyclopedia of World History

A 12000-year illustrated time chart, over 100 maps, clear descriptions of historical events and more make this book a must-have resource for any home library.

History Books for Young Adults

15. The World Wars

Based on true events, this book is perfect for reluctant readers and takes you on a thrilling journey through the lives of people who experienced the first & second world wars.
16. War Stories

Based on true events, this book is perfect for reluctant readers and takes you on a thrilling journey through the lives of people who experienced the first & second world wars.


17. Book of Castles

This book is for the castles buffs who want a detailed look inside castle life. With photographs, artworks, computer graphics, and internet references, you’ll get to see inside the world of castles like never before.

18. Greeks

Who were the Greeks and how did they come to dominate the Western world for centuries? Find out in this exciting book all about the Greeks!

19. Illustrated Guide to Greek Myths & Legends

This reference guide contains a detailed list of all the Greek gods, heroes, and monsters and their attributes. It is a great introduction to the myths and characters that make up Greek culture.


20. Romans

One of the most powerful empires that ever existed, their influence is still felt to this day.

They were pioneers of trade, engineering and government.

That’s why this book is great to have as a reference or to read a full chronicle of the Roman way of life.

20 Awesome History books for Kids

Homeschool Day: 3 Smart Strategies to Fitting It All In

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This post may contain affiliate links. For more information, please see my full disclosure policy.

I can’t drive and talk on the phone at the same time and have any kind of quality conversation much less pay attention to my driving. Add in a homeschool day and In this day and age it’s called multitasking.

I really don’t like that term in my homeschooling day because it makes me think that I am not giving 100% to the task on hand.

Not only do I not feel productive while driving and talking, but in a lot of places it is illegal because of the dangers.

Simply put, we can get side-tracked.

Homeschool Day: 3 Smart Strategies to Fitting It All In

1. Homeschool Prioritizing = Important Things First

Prioritizing is a term I prefer to use because that is really what a homeschool day is about.

Did you know that prioritizing is the secret in not surviving homeschool, but treasuring each day?

Homeschooling is a long trek and stacking all the things we want to do in our day by multitasking can leave us sidetracked with very little ability to do what is needed.

Prioritizing your tasks in order of importance is the key to a stress free day.

I am not really even talking about getting an early start in the day even though this proves very successful for most homeschoolers.

What you need to remember is that what ever time is first in your day, that time needs to be your school zone.

Your teaching needs to be given priority so that before anything else comes up, you have accomplished some of your goals.

2. Do Opposite Planning

Another mistake I was making for many years is setting my homeschool schedule to the beat of my oldest son.

If your household is filled with lots of little ones, your rhythm needs to beat to the youngest and not to the oldest child.

Many years ago, I heard David Hazell of my Father’s World give the best piece of advice.

He said the oldest child needs to be dethroned.So true! In other words, quit setting the schedule to suit them.

We worry so much about our oldest child that he may view his time as absolute to the other children’s time.

It is okay to worry about doing school with them, we need to be conscientious.

However, the lessons we teach our oldest child about patience, forgiveness and an independent attitude to pursue some learning on their own is what homeschooling really is about.

How does this fit in with getting it all in the day? We are moms first and it always take priority.

Caring for our family’s needs, whether it means cradling the toddler, hugging the preschoolers or wiping the tears of a hormonal middle schooler, our homeschool schedule needs to work around our family.

3. You Have to Plan

Sample Homeschool Schedules

Another tip for maintaining a calm flow to your day is to plan it or schedule it.  Don’t let a schedule stranglehold you.

A homeschool schedule is a like a vacation plan.  You use it to be sure you don’t miss any of the important things along the way.

It is a guide to your day but should never be viewed as another stress inducer.  It points your direction so that you keep going along.

Look at two of my homeschool schedules I followed for quite a few years.

Older Household

Mon. off.

Tue –  Fri. School

9:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m.

2:00 – 4:00 reading time, chore time and quiet time.

Younger Household.

Mon. off

Tues – Friday School

10:30 a.m. – 11:30 a.m.

1:00 p..m. – 3:00 p.m. school (school, hopefully while the toddler and preschooler napped)

3:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m. chore time and quiet time.

I even did school on Saturday one year when I had a toddler and a newborn.  The Mr. was home and I could get so much accomplished with my oldest son.

If you love white chalkboards like I do, then you’ll love this whiteboard for organizing.

Instead of panting through the day and giving homeschooling, cooking or caring for the little ones with meager energy, prioritize your day.

Seasons of time pass by quickly. Don’t spend precious homeschool days that won’t last forever by pushing your limits to the max.

And if you need more help, you’ll love my book, Homeschooling 31 Day Boot Camp for New Homeschoolers: When You Don’t Know Where to Begin Paperback.

You’ll like these other posts and helps:

Homeschool Day: 3 Smart Strategies to Fitting It All In
Homeschool Day. 3 Smart Strategies to Fitting it ALL In @ Tina's Dynamic Homeschool Plus

What does your homeschool schedule look like now?

Ancient Egypt Unit Study – Trip through Ancient History

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This post may contain affiliate links. For more information, please see my full disclosure policy.

I am so tickled and excited about starting our Ancient Egypt Passport Project from Home School in the Woods that I can’t wait until the review to share all what we are doing.

We will be using this curriculum over the next month or so and you know I am so visual that I have to share a ton of pictures with you before I do a final review.  I know you like pictures too.

One of the reasons I was so giddy to get my hands on this was because of all the activities and projects.  We couldn’t wait to get started.

Take a trip through history and discover cultures at another era of time with hands-on projects and activities that drive the lessons home in a fun way! You’ll love this Ancient Egypt Hands-on Homeschool Unit Study. CLICK HERE to get it!

My initial thought on this is that it does require a good amount of time for set up.  I have never been afraid of a bit of hard work in the beginning for a nice payoff in the long run.

Too, once we made the passport and luggage (so stinkin’ fun) we can use it for all the other project passport studies.

One thing I want to be sure you know when you start using this is to read carefully all the notes provided.

They are worth the time reading so that you don’t make mistakes in printing. 

For example, I appreciated the very fine point of printing “actual size” and not shrinking the pages because the measurements will be off on all projects.

Just be sure you read all the details and take your time.

Hands-On History Ancient Egypt

So the first couple of lessons, which are called Stops (there are 25 Stops total), is where a lot of the prep work is done. We have done 3 STOPS and stopped so that we could catch up on some of the fun projects.

Ancient Egypt Unit Study 3 @ Tina's Dynamic Homeschool Plus

We started by making the fun passport first.

Ancient Egypt Unit Study 5 @ Tina's Dynamic Homeschool Plus

All the templates you need to make each printable is with this download. It is the total package. 

Tiny wanted to use a photo for his passport where he was wearing his Ecuadorean hat. He is proud of that native hat.

He actually thought this was cool to make because when we got our passports for coming here to Ecuador, he learned a lot about visas and passports.Ancient Egypt Unit Study 6 @ Tina's Dynamic Homeschool Plus

Then next we worked on making the timeline called “Snapshots Moments in History”. This baby has 8 pages plus 4 pages of timeline figures and extra pages for decorating. 

You can choose to do the pages notebook style or accordion style.

Ancient Egypt Unit Study 1 @ Tina's Dynamic Homeschool Plus Ancient Egypt Unit Study 2 @ Tina's Dynamic Homeschool Plus

Since we love lapbooks, we decided to go ahead and do the timeline accordion style.

It took a bit of time to cut each page and tape it, but now we have the timeline for the whole project and will be gluing our timeline figures as we go along at each Stop.

Homeschool History Based Activity Study

Ancient Egypt Unit Study 4 @ Tina's Dynamic Homeschool Plus

Then this luggage idea, complete with luggage tag is so creative.

Ancient Egypt Unit Study 7 @ Tina's Dynamic Homeschool Plus

Just a heads up, my luggage looks a bit different than what the instructions said.  You will be able to create yours like the model one shown in the download because you probably live near a Wal-mart.

Since everything is not easy to find here in Ecuador, I had to help Tiny create something just a bit different.

First, I couldn’t find a file folder with pockets and brads. I went to 7 stores and they just don’t have that here in Ecuador.

So we made our own pockets and instead of using the brads like the instructions said, we used a file fastener.

If you make it and you live near civilization, it won’t take you near as long as it did for us to make our luggage.

We loved making it though and Tiny even wanted to glue some luggage stickers that we found on the internet onto the outside. It came out so cute.

Inside we store the travel log pages, which Tiny will write on at the end of our journey.

We can store other items in the pockets too.

Ancient Egypt Unit Study 8 @ Tina's Dynamic Homeschool Plus

Then lastly we made our beginning scrap book called Scrapbook of Sights.

The instructions called for a clear outside pocket and a 3 ring binder.  Guess what?

They don’t have clear outside pocket binders here and there are only 2 ring binders used here in Ecuador like the picture shown above.  Again, your final product will look a bit different than mine does here.

This wasn’t such a big deal though because we just glued the cover page onto the outside and can use a 2 ring binder.

This binder is for storing the map we did about Upper and Lower Egypt and it will store our timeline as we add “snapshots” of our trip.

Too, we listened to our first audio as we headed down the Nile River.

I really like this part to this curriculum because out of all of my boys, Tiny is the strongest audio learner and he just curled up beside as we listened to this audio tour complete with sound effects. So much fun.

You see, there is no way I will be able to get this all in one blog post because there is way too many wonderful things to tell you about this project.

I will update you as we move along through a few more Stops and do more of the projects.

Do you have plans for an upcoming unit study on Ancient Egypt?

 

Take a trip through history and discover cultures at another era of time with hands-on projects and activities that drive the lessons home in a fun way! You’ll love this Ancient Egypt Hands-on Homeschool Unit Study. CLICK HERE to get it!

You’ll love the other parts to this unit study:

Hugs and love ya,