Tina's Dynamic Homeschool Plus

dy•nam•ic constant change, progress, activity

Welcome

When We Used Beautiful Feet Books as our History Spine

| 13 Comments
This post may contain affiliate links. For more information, please see my full disclosure policy.

When we used Beautiful Feet Books as our history spine, it came closest to what I feel teaching history should embrace.

Learning about history is not about dead people, but about bringing the past to life through events and the lives of people.  Beautiful Feet Books uses that method and more particularly through their choice of living books.

Today, if I had to choose just one program, Beautiful Feet Books would be my top choice at any grade level.  I used Beautiful Feet Books for a few years of high school with Mr. Senior 2013 and it refueled our love for history after having chosen a not so good program the prior year.

Mr. Awesome still uses their books for his required high school reading.  We have used the Early American and World History and the Medieval History Sr. High levels.

The things I am fond about the most about Beautiful Feet Books are that:

  • Living Books are used.

The series of books that made us lap up our history time I have mentioned before are by Genevieve Foster.

Focusing on a famous character of the time period, in each of her books she weaves other events going on and other important characters living at the same same time of the famous character.  One of the most beautiful features of the books is that line drawings of characters and events are in each section.  Mr. Senior 2013 was so inspired by them that he started keeping a notebook and drew some of his events from history.

History Guides As Springboards

Events are folded in naturally and told like a story. No one at any age ever tires of an action packed story.  Too, Genevieve Foster wrote the books in the forties and fifties, pre-politically correct times.  Those kinds of books I hunt high and low to stock in our home.

  • Their philosophy in teaching history, which is that you don’t have to use a chronological method for kids to make important connections was another draw for me.  I was able to relax and realize that though the chronological method to teaching history benefited me at times, it was not the only way to teach history.
  • Their no fluff style of their manuals I also enjoy at this season of homeschooling.  A few ideas on how to engage your child through notebooking, extra reading or a few extra assignments are assigned in the guide and that’s it.
  • I like the fact they help you with planning middle school and high school by assigning credits. This was much help when planning high school credits.
  • I also liked seeing the overview of all the programs or scope and sequence.

However, some of the same things I am fond about the most may be the very things that might not work for you depending on what you are wanting to achieve this year.

Look at some of these things to consider.

  • The manuals are nothing more than a question/answer format.  I prefer this style now in my homeschooling because I prefer always to add in my own content and to use the guide just as a guide.  If you are looking for extensive help on fleshing out background information or hand holding, it is not found here.  For us that year, it served us well because I expected Mr. Senior 2013 to do his own research if he didn’t understand some background information.  Too, Mr. Senior 2013 or Mr. Awesome really didn’t follow the guide for reading assignments. They just read each day within out time schedule and at their pace and use the guide as self-checking.
  • It uses a more Charlotte Mason approach which is a more gentle approach to high school.  At the high school level, some parents want more reading assignments.  This gentle approach suited us because I wanted my sons to have reading assignments in our Bible material and language arts.
  • Some of the books that are used move fast and events change quickly.  I feel a good reader would be able to keep up with the quick stepping pace of the books.  However, a slower reader may get lost in how fast the books can change topics.  It may require some research for background events.  However, if your child keeps on reading past parts that don’t make a complete picture at the moment, all of the main points soon are tied together.  My sons used the guide to help them see the main points or events from the reading.

Middle school and high school though wasn’t my first introduction to Beautiful Feet Books.

When I first started homeschooling, I did one elementary level, the Early American History, with Mr. Senior 2013 when he was in Kindergarten. Or I should say, I used the D’Aulaire books for our read aloud time.  I absolutely savored our time together reading those books, but soon left Beautiful Feet Books because I was afraid of repeating a mistake.

At that time, I was attempting to move away from boxed curriculum after having failed miserably the first time in putting my curriculum together.  So I was real cautious about laid out curriculum and didn’t have enough experience to know that it had the gentle nature that I was fond of.

Little did I know then that I would be returning to Beautiful Feet years later, seasoned and with a lot more clarity about the way I wanted my sons to learn history.  Too, I realized that Beautiful Feet Books had just the right amount of guidance that we wanted.

BFB Notebooking 1BFB Notebooking 2

Fast forward to the high school years, Mr. Senior 2013 soaked up his high school years because he went down trails of history that he blazed as I once again used Beautiful Feet Books. One day he would focus on art and another day he wrote about mythical gods.  None of this was assigned in Beautiful Feet Books, but it just served as a springboard to studying what he was interested in at the time.

I think your reader of history would love the books even if you didn’t follow the guide and reading assignments like we did.   Making it our course, we thoroughly enjoy this style of learning history and using Beautiful Feet Books as guides when we need them.

Hugs and love ya,

Want to read more?

Review of What Every Child Needs to Know About Western Civilization by BrimWood Press.

How to Use a History Spine to Build Your Study of History

When we used Notgrass World History as our History Spine

8 Ways to Teach Homeschool History Other Than Chronologically

Should Homeschool History Be Covered in Chronological Order?

When We Used Story of the World as our History Spine

How My 25K Pinterest Followers Avoid Pinterest Pandemonium

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

Because Pinterest tops the board of social media hogs, not only do you want your Pinterest account to flourish, but you also want to capture unique followers in your niche on their first visit to your page.  Sharing how my 25k Pinterest followers avoid Pinterest pandemonium, I hope you too can avoid some rookie mistakes made by some bloggers or businesses.

What Are You Pinning?

Growing your blog or business presence in Pinterest land is quite different than pinning strictly for personal reasons.

Obviously the two concepts, pinning strictly for business reasons and personal reasons become intertwined because businesses are made up of real folks.

However, there are a few Pinterest savvy tips that help me to remember to hone in on my unique business audience with each pin regularly.  Too, though I am sharing tips here for either a business or a blog and because I want to keep my explanations easy, I will just refer to blogs since I am a blogger.

Blog Niche = Pins and Pins = Blog Niche.  This is a simple concept.  But everyday on Pinterest, I see mistakes of this very important but basic idea.

There is a huge disconnect between blogger niche and the total number of relevant pins I see when I visit the Pinterest stream.

For example, just today, I was visiting a blog, which touts organization as a niche.  Everything on the blog from presentation, to blogging articles to branding was beautifully laid out and there was no doubt as to her niche.

However, that same concept that did not carry over to the blogger’s Pinterest stream or recently pinned pins.  I could not tell what her unique niche was from viewing her recent pins.

Scrolling, scrolling and scrolling in her Pinterest stream and in between wellness oils, how to blog, and dessert recipes (all of which nobody minds if that is what you expect) I could not find one pin about organization.

Yes, she had a board set up for her niche, but more than that is required.  Like a blogging brand, your Pinterest pins or branding needs to be consistently pinned throughout your stream to attract your unique followers.

Too, just like your blog, followers don’t mind a mix of content for spice.  But very soon, they want to read about what they came to your blog for.  This same consistent branding needs to be followed when you pin.

When a new visitor lands on your Pinterest page, it should not take more than 4 or 5 pins for them to know exactly what you pin about and if they want to follow you or not.  Within those 4 or 5 pins, you should be able to capture your target audience because you have pinned pertinent pins relevant to your blogging niche.

Primo Pinterest Spaces

Not only is it important to be consistent about pinning pertinent pins on a regular basis that capture your target audience, but board arrangement is extremely vital in attracting unique visitors.

The top two rows of boards, which most people can see without having to scroll down is premium advertising space.  Do NOT give away the space to boards that are of a personal nature or to topics that are secondary to your main branding.

My top two rows of boards are carefully selected by me to attract my target audience and I also rotate some boards by season.  Simply put, the top two rows should mirror your blogging niche.

Avoid confusion for potential followers by selecting pins that pertain to your niche.  It should not be a balancing act when determining personal pins versus pertinent pins.  Always have more pertinent pins if you want to continue to grow your blog.

The flair in your personality can by spotlighted by pinning personal pins and it adds spice to your page, but should never overshadow your main branding.

Pertinent pins and the well-arranged top two rows of your Pinterest account will seesaw your blogging niche and visa versa.  Just like a seesaw, your boards and pins will balance and highlight your content even when the pins are not from your blog.

Do you see a few changes today that you can make or that will help you grow your personal Pinterest page into a flourishing business?

If you are a blogger and want to grow your blog as a business, then checkout iBlog Pro for more of my Pinterest tips. Click on the book below and when you get to the page, be sure to look for iBlog Pro.

 

Hugs and love ya,

2012Tinasignature 7 Step Homeschool Planner Back Cover

Did you read my other articles about Pinterest?

Pinterest Tips to Grow A Business From Just A Mom With 24K Followers

How to Grow Pinterest From a Few Hundred Loyal Followers to Thousands

Linking up @ these fabulous places:

 The Hip Homeschool Hop | The Mommy Club |

7 Step Homeschool Planner Back Cover

| 4 Comments
This post may contain affiliate links. For more information, please see my full disclosure policy.

It has been crazy good around here because we had another two showings on our house yesterday.  Though I am excited, we are hopping busy because of the showings.  I forgot just how exhausting it is to show your house.

Though we ask for 24 hours notice before a buyer wants to see our house, you know it doesn’t always happen like that.

Because we haven’t been able to do school lately with all the house showings, I decided to use the time as a chance to feed my font fetish fever (say that 3 times) and create a new form.

Making a tiny confession here, do you know that planning the creative part to my 7 Step Homeschool Planner forms is something I just can’t do?  As much as I thrive in planning and plan most things, the creation part of making my forms is not one of them.  I keep a running list of ideas, but not the way I want the form to look.

I don’t want to sound corny but I haven’t really told you how I feel when I create and design my forms.  I think it’s the same intoxicating way people feel when they can run their hand through dirt to plant, or take an art brush to a blank canvas or that euphoric high after a workout.

Maybe it’s because I love constant change in my planner each year too.  I don’t know, but I do know that after creating each form as I am inspired, sharing it with you is just another sweet high.

Enough of that deep talk.  I can’t take that too often or maybe I am sheer exhausted from all the house showings.

I hope you like the 7 Step Homeschool Planner Back Cover option that I have for you today.  It has been a while since I have created another option for the back cover.  Too, you know my fondness for inspirational words and quotes because they keep me fired-up about homeschooling.  I used some words and fonts that I have been pining over lately to create this newest back cover.  Remember, it’s your choice if you want to use the back cover for a front cover, middle insert to your planner or wherever.  I am just letting you know how I designed it.

I hope the words and fonts keep you stoked about homeschooling too.

Back of Planner Cover 2

 Download the new back cover option here.

Hugs and love ya,

Tinasignature

 

Because you always get my new forms first & I take my time adding my new forms to my blog for my guests, did you grab them all?

Linking up @ these fabulous places:

Hearts for Home | Thrifty Thursday |The Thoughtful Spot | The Hip Homeschool Hop | The Mommy Club |

Finishing Strong – Homeschool Link Up Party {Homeschooling Middle & High School Years} #18.

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

Finishing Strong- Homeschool Link Up Party

Thank you for joining us this week at Finishing Strong–the link-up that focuses on middle & high school students.

Finishing Strong Link Up Tinas Dynamic Homeschool Plus
This week we’re highlighting our most popular posts from the past month.

Finishing Strong ~ Homeschooling the Middle & High School Years #18 Education Possible

During June, we had many great middle school & high school posts shared here at Finishing Strong. Thank you so much for stopping by each and every week to link up your informative and encouraging posts.

Here are four of our reader’s favorites:

If you haven’t read these, we hope you’ll take take a look at them this week.

And while you’re at it, don’t forget to check out all of our link-up co-hosts – Aspired Living, Blog She Wrote, Education Possible, Eva Varga, Milk and Cookies, Starts at Eight, and Tina’s Dynamic Homeschool Plus.

Follow Me Linky Party Finishing Strong

Blog Button Link Up Pinterest Button Link Up Google Plus Link Up

Twitter Link Up You Tube Link Up

Follow Group Boards Linky Party Finishing Strong

Pinterest Button Link Up-1 Google Plus Group Link Up

Easy Details to Remember & Even Easier Guidelines.

      • The link up party goes live at 5:00 a.m. CST each Wednesday and stays open until the following Tuesday at 11:55 p.m.
      • Each week we will pick our favorite links as features and share them.
      • You can link up to 3 posts. Please do not link up advertising posts, or other link ups, or parties. I will remove them. Homeschool related reviews are permitted and of course all topics related to homeschooling middle to high school students.
      • Grab a button to add to your post after you link up and if you were featured, grab an “I was featured” button.
      • By linking up with us, you agree for us to share your images and give you credit of course.
      • That’s it! Glad to have you here and let’s party!
Tina's Dynamic Homeschool Plus
Tina's Dynamic Homeschool Plus

5 Signs That You Need to Switch Your Homeschool Approach

| 3 Comments
This post may contain affiliate links. For more information, please see my full disclosure policy.

Sharing 5 signs that you need to switch your homeschool approach, maybe I will spare you my same stubbornness struggle.

5 Signs to Switch Your Homeschool Approach

Switching from a strictly classical approach to a more unit study approach with an eclectic twist was not easy for me. However, there were tell-tale signs.

Unless you have a public school teacher background (I did not) when you first started homeschooling, you probably were unaware of a homeschool approach. I wasn’t even able to define the term.

First, being able to define a homeschool approach helps to sort through what will work for your family and what will not.

5 Signs That You Need to Switch Your Homeschool Approach
A simple definition for homeschool approach would be the techniques, style, manner, and beliefs as to how you will educate your child.

1.You now understand that you may have chosen your current homeschool approach by default not choice.

Being able to understand and articulate that simple, but powerful definition of a homeschool approach was my first prompt in realizing now that I had homeschooled a few years, I needed to research more carefully the best way to teach my children.

When I started homeschooling I almost felt like I chose a homeschool approach by what I call default.  Classical approach was the homeschool approach my brain was drawn to; it made sense to me.  By default because I was the teacher, I chose that homeschool approach for my children.

2. Regardless of your teaching preference, your children learn better with another style.

My second sign was that although the classical approach worked most of the time for my oldest son, my middle son learned best by more hands-on activities.  I truly was not going to leave any child behind.

3. When you’re losing your homeschool joy because you want something to be successful.

The next sign was one that was real important to me and that was that all of us, including myself, were losing the joy of learning.

Although the definition of homeschool approach in its simplest form means your individual style of teaching, it has to be something you enjoy doing each day too.

Losing a bit of my joy in teaching, I knew the classical approach wasn’t exactly a perfect fit for my teaching style.

Constant moans when we got ready to homeschool played a part too.

You know they weren’t the normal I-am-not-in-a-mood-today-for-school moans, but major moans. The I hate to read now were words spoken in my house. 

My heart was heavy because my push and my drive for a heavy language arts focus was stealing our joy.

Although I can’t all together blame the classical approach because I could have added balance, it certainly started feeling like a noose around my neck.

I could easily move past not having such a great day teaching, but young children don’t have the same ability to reason that sometimes things are temporary.

4. Your day is getting longer and longer because you’ve been focused on following the curriculum instead of the lead of your children.

Another negative sign was that I started making our days go longer and longer, which is beyond anything that I preach tout for teaching kids in the younger years

5. Knowing that when we added in something else other than what our curriculum called for, my kids were more engaged. In our case, it was hand-on activities.

Also, we were finding delight when we took time out of our reading and writing.

For instance, we added a volcano activity, outside geography hunt in the yard or made a themed history meal. They were indicators that we needed more hands-on activities.

Careful Stubborn teacher that I was, it still took me another two years before I changed.

Also, I knew that I had to adopt a homeschool approach that fit my whole family and not just suited me as the teacher.

The good thing about homeschool definitions that you adopt is that they can be expanded.

Now, my expanded definition of homeschool approach would be this:

A homeschool approach would be the techniques, style, manner, and beliefs as to how you will educate your child AND it is the way a teacher nurtures a love of learning recognizing and accepting how a child learns best.

You’ll also love these other tips:

5 Signs That You Need to Switch Your Homeschool Approach

Do you have any of these symptoms signs?

5 Signs That You Need To Switch Your Homeschool Approach @ Tina's Dynamic Homeschool Plus.

Hugs and love ya,