Tina's Dynamic Homeschool Plus

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Home Management Binder and Free Important Dates Printable

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

This is the first time in a long time I have not had some kind of home management binder, but then again moving here to South America with only two suitcases and not all the baggage (I’m on a corny pun roll) you have with owning a house, it has been a nice change.

However, we are now settling down to our new home and finding new doctors for the Mr. and there are now things to start keeping up with in our new house as we get the swing of living here in Ecuador.

So I am excited about setting up my binder again.  Today I’m sharing home management binder and free important dates printables because I want to slowly set back up my binder.

Too, not all of my printables have made their home to my main page for my home management binder (this is my sister site) that I have on New Bee Homeschooler so I wanted to be sure you got all of them that I have created so far.

Home Management Binder @ Tina's Dynamic Homeschool PLus

I think I still prefer just a plain white notebook like I had back home in Texas and I have several color cover choices on the Home Management Binder page at the New Bee Homeschool site.

Free Home Management Binder Printables

This printable, which I loved and have been using didn’t make its way to the main home management binder page either.

The printable is an annual date and events page.

Don’t you find that the dates you need to remember for special occasions seems to grow longer each year? Maybe not every year but sometimes it needs to be updated.

Whether I need to buy gifts, plan for a party or just send a card, I like seeing the annual dates at a glance.

When creating this form, I fussed a little bit more over this form than usual.

I have shared dramatic stories of my blogger printables and curriculum planner about how I use them for several months before I release them, right? I do this because I do use my forms and I know if they don’t work for me then they may not work for you.

My original form didn’t have a line between the date and the event. It bothered me because it all seemed to run together.

I like this one much better because I have a place to write the day and then a slight separation before I write the event. The little things on forms means a lot to me.

Download Important Dates Form Here.

Hope you like the form and I will be sharing my blog posts as I slowly set my home management binder back up.

Also, I love this quote today. It reminds me of how I still love to write things down and still love my lists.

“If you have a goal, write it down. If you do not write it down, you do not have a goal — you have a wish.”

~Steve Maraboli~

Look at what else I use to stay organized when meal planning!

Beef and Chicken Dump Bundle 300x250

Also, look at these posts.

Hugs and you know I love ya,

Middle School Homeschool Science 50 Free Spring Activities

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

I’ve collected middle school homeschool science 50 free spring activities. Also, look at my page homeschool middle school for more fun tips.

Instead of starting on our next unit study, we have been waffling about whether or not we want to do a spring unit.  We have the itch to make a switch.

So today, I gathered middle school homeschool science 50 free spring activities to give Tiny a round up to choose from.

Middle School Homeschool Science 50 Free Spring Activities

Some of the ideas are free printables, some are hands-on activities and others serve as a springboard (ha ha, I know, corny pun) to do your own spring unit study.

I even love the free quality coloring book on wildflowers even though Tiny wasn’t a bit interested in coloring wildflowers.

The funny thing is that he is my kid that loves to color the most and especially at the middle school age.  I know, I know, it’s because they’re flowers but I couldn’t convince him that flowers are for manly men too.

Oh well there are still plenty of other ideas to choose from.

50 Free Spring Activities for Middle School.

50 Free Spring Activities

Springtime fun is not just for your young kids. Keep your
middle school kids having fun by doing one or more of these springtime
activities.

You’ll love some of these fun activities too:

Spangler Science

Enjoy and Happy (almost) Spring!

Middle School Homeschool Science 50 Free Spring Activities

Check out these other posts for middle school:

Hugs and love ya,

Paradigm Accelerated World History Curriculum

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

This is a sponsored post and that means I received the curriculum free and was compensated for my time.  What it does not mean is that I have to write a positive review or have to accept any reviews that I don’t want to. All opinions are my own or those of my family and you know I will always tell you what is on my mind. You can click here to read more about all that legal stuff.

Since moving here to South America, I have been focused on sharing and using more digital courses. Too, with this being the last year for Mr. Awesome, he wanted a no fluff approach to world history.

Though Mr. Awesome shares my love of hands-on history, he would rather not lounge around in all the details of history like Mr. Senior 2013 did.

Strange kid I know to not share my love of savoring history and geography at every waking minute, but my goal in high school is for Mr. Awesome to pursue high school courses in a way to help him accomplish goals he has set.

So when I heard about Paradigm Accelerated Curriculum, I was delighted to do a review of World History because I wanted Mr. Awesome to move along at his pace and not mine.

A nice plus about the PAC homeschool curriculum is that it comes in both a digital format and printed book.  Mr. Awesome liked having both options but almost always prefers to read in a digital format.

Paradigm Accelerated Curriculum – Back to Basics

When I first got the curriculum and we looked it over together, it almost felt too light on content.

However, going through it longer, we liked that it was just the back to basics in world history that Mr. Awesome wanted.

There were other things I liked about it too.

In the course description it certainly takes the guess work out of creating your own high school curriculum because it gives not only a course description but gives you the amount of credit hours.

It is easy to create your own unique high school transcript too with Paradigm Accelerated Curriculum because you have both credit hours and course description.

Too, during the high school years, is the time to prepare your teen for the type of educational approach that will take place either in college or a vocational school, which is really a textbook format.

It is hard to maintain your homeschool approach that has worked so well for you up to this time and balance that with preparing your teen for a more formal approach.

I don’t want to have to give up my unit study approach with a love for living books in high school.

I want to feel I have a choice when we want to pursue a unit study approach and add in what I need to prepare Mr. Awesome more formally for the next steps in his life.

Using PAC and integrating it with the themes we discussed over these past months has been very doable because of the set up the curriculum.

At this grade level, independence should be encouraged and required and the curriculum is set up in a straightforward and easy format.

Homeschool World History Digital Course

Look at some of these details that make this formal approach pretty easy to navigate even for the most unorganized teen.

There are 3 parts to the world history curriculum.

 

World History Text @ Tina's Dynamic Homeschool Plus

One part has 6 booklets or chapters, which is the student text.

I actually think this part of having only 6 chapters is a great way to encourage a teen that may feel behind or overwhelmed with a lot of information.

The part I like as teacher mom who wants this kid to have a well rounded out view of world history is that each chapter contains the following 15 topics:

  • Agriculture Architecture, Art, Fashion and Furniture
  • Communication
  • Discoveries & Explorations
  • Dominant Personalities
  • Literature, Music & Education
  • Family & Home
  • Food
  • Government & Economics
  • Industry
  • Energy
  • Military
  • Religion
  • Sports & Recreation
  • Transportation

Can you think of anything else to include in a world history course?

Student Activity Books @ Tina's Dynamic Homeschool Plus-1

The second part is the Activity book.

This is where the student reviews the text by filling in the answers by multiple choice, filling in the blanks, defining vocabulary and labeling small portions of the map.

You know my fondness for quotes too.

So one part I really like is that each chapter ends with a character building quote called Life Principle.  Your teen then copies this life principle in the student activity book.

Then, like a high school course should be, it also encourages independent self-checking by the student using the teacher’s resource kit.

Teacher Resource Kit - PAC @ Tina's Dynamic Homeschool Plus

The teacher’s resource kit is the third component to this set.

Though I glanced at this tool in the beginning, it was mostly Mr. Awesome who used it to check his work.

The teacher’s resource kit has the answers for each chapter’s activities, quizzes and test.

There are a few extra forms in the teacher’s resource kit, which are formulated more for use by private schools.

However, there is one form that I see being particularly helpful to homeschoolers, which is the High School Transcript Planner.

PAC – World History in Broad Strokes

Another important reason I wanted to review this was because I was looking for a high school program that could cover world history in broad strokes too.

I know that not every child of mine is going to want to linger over all the details of world history.

You know we have used a program at the elementary level that had broad strokes and it was such a huge success for my kids.

Since I can’t be selective about the details when it comes to history because I love them all, having the world history program from PAC, which is a framework for world history, keeps Mr. Awesome from being weighed down with nonessential details.

Though we covered as much of the booklets in chronological order as we could, one of the advantages for me in using this with our unit studies is that we can pick and choose which booklet we want to do because each one covers a certain time span.

For example, Chapter 1 covers from 5000 to 1200 BC and Chapter 6 covers from 1800 to 2011.

I have changed my mind from when we first got this curriculum because it has been a good fit for Mr. Awesome who wants to move along faster in world history.

Genghis Khan

Too, covering such broad strokes has allowed him to match or parallel the same material or theme we are doing in our unit studies.

Paradigm Accelerated Curriculum World History Curriculum @ Tina's Dynamic Homeschool Plus

For example, Mr. Awesome was able to read Chapter 4, which included Marco Polo while I did that unit study with Tiny.

Certainly, with the booklets you do not have to cover history in chronological order, which is the part I love because I can still use this program and cover unit studies in the order we want to.

PAC would be a good fit for a teen who wants to move on with world history at his pace and still review major turning points in history.

If a teen has failed to get a good picture of significant events because he has been weighed down with unnecessary details, this curriculum would bring a blessed relief.

Written in a conversational tone, with black and white images and with timelines, PAC makes a workbook approach a lot more appealing.

There is just one thing I want you to know about too that I wish were a bit different.

The box with the printed curriculum arrived fine but the curriculum had dog eared and wrinkled pages.

I wish the booklets were packed with a bit more care and conscientiousness because first impressions do mean a lot.  Maybe this was just an oversight, I don’t know.

When you pay for a high school level course, you want it in excellent condition.

Overall though Mr. Awesome was very happy with this straight to the point no frills world history curriculum and I was delighted that we used this curriculum.

I am looking over other parts of this curriculum to complete some of  the other requirements for high school for Mr. Awesome.
Look at the details I gathered up and put here for you in one spot.

Product Facts a Glance

Company Name: Paradigm Accelerated Curriculum

Website: PACWORKS

Product Name: World History

Age: High School

Credit Hours: 1 credit.

Format: In both digital and print.

Note: PAC is in the process of incorporating QR codes into all their courses, allowing the students to access extra content via smartphone. As of now, the only course with this technology is biology.

Price in printed format:  $111.35

Price in digital format (remember you need all 3 components): World History Text $24.00, World History Activities $18.00 and World History TRK $5.69

Note: PAC has informed me that they are updating their website to make it easier to recognize the digital downloads. A lot of people get confused because the digital downloads serve 2 purposes.

One is just to make the print curriculum available to their customers at a cheaper price by providing them with a digital download option.

The other is to use in unison with a  third-party text-to-speech software for students with reading disabilities, such as dyslexia, which they call Audio Enhanced Learning.

Essentially, they are one and the same, but some people get thrown off by the title, which is what they are changing to make it more recognizable.

The digital downloads are titled “Digital Downloads (Audio Enhanced Learning)”.

Discounts you’ll love:

20% Discount

PAC offers a 20% discount to active military, ministers, missionaries, farmers, ranchers, and first responders (police, firemen, EMS, EMT, etc.).

40% Discount

PAC offers a 40% discount to single parents.
PAC also offers a 40% discount for homeschool support groups who make a combined purchase of $1000.00 or more retail.

Follow them:

Facebook

Twitter

Pinterest

YouTube

Hugs and you know I love ya,

All product information is correct and accurate as of the date of this review.

When My Homeschool Curriculum has Lost that Lovin’ Feeling – Grab 3 Teaching Tips!

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

For sure you do not want me to start singing for you and after I share when my homeschool curriculum has lost that lovin’ feeling with you today I will probably be singing You’ve Lost that Lovin’ Feeling.  It is one of those catchy songs for me.  That song reminds of the lovin’ feeling we have when we first purchase homeschool curriculum that we think is going to love us back.

When My Homeschool Curriculum has Lost that Lovin’ Feeling

You know the curriculum I am talking about.  The pictures are perfect, your husband thinks the price is a real steal and it seems to be laid out where you think it can be finished in a school year.

Let’s not forget the smell of those tantalizing pages as we flip through them imagining that our children are going to eagerly sit down, embrace and complete them.

Then, it happens.  Compliments of curriculum turn to criticism.

Tantalizing pages turn to torture and feelings of being trapped by curriculum brings more stress. Everybody is bored and has the doldrums.

It just makes me tired thinking about it.  Feeling overwhelmed is normal and happens to all of us.

Teaching Tips to Breath Life Back Into Your Homeschool Curriculum

How can we breathe life back into our day?  Here are some tips.

Subjects are not really boring, only the presentation of material or maybe the teacher (ouch).

Many parents I help try to find out what is wrong with the child but never reflect on the type of teacher they want to be.

It has been said that an excellent teacher can use any resource and breathe life into it.  Are we the kind of teacher that others want to learn from?

We don’t always have the luxury of ditching our textbooks or expensive curriculum but we can cut back assignments or embellish them.
Do you know what an embellishment does?  It makes something more attractive by adding a detail.

This doesn’t make teaching harder because a detail is not reworking the whole process but adding an enhancement.

For example, leave out the worksheets and add in one hands-on activity.
Better yet, do the hands on activity with not 10 families (too much energy when you are drained) but with just 1 family.

Let another mom teach and you listen one week and then trade places.

Let the children teach one day or two, or…..

I LOVE doing this with my boys because my days are so exciting. Seriously though I know my boys do get tired of me talking.

So let your children run school for a day teaching their younger siblings. Even the youngest child can lead the Bible reading assignment and act like “mom”.

I learned a lot about myself as I saw it reflected in their teaching. Of course it adds excitement to the day if you could act like you don’t get anything they are trying to teach you.

When the boys were much younger, this teaching tactic worked because it made them explain back to me what they were learning. It was a lot of fun because I made sure I was always the hard kid to teach and the kids got a great laugh too.

Be selectively creative and try to prevent fatigue and exhaustion.

Many things are thrown at us in the homeschool world and we may think that we can’t have boring days.

Understanding that mundane things in curriculum cultivates determination and endurance helps us to be selectively creative.

Do we really need to do a lapbook or unit study on every topic? Does every science topic have to have an experiment?  There is nothing wrong with reading material and moving on.

We live in a world that sows the seeds of discontentment.
Being bored or not bored is more about attitude than curriculum.

Lack of imagination and initiative using any curricula can be more at the root of the problem.

We were created to want a challenge and our minds hunger for it.

Challenges, imagination, and a change of pace generates more energy for the doldrums. When your curriculum has lost that loving feeling remember variety can be the spice of life.

Do you have a favorite thing you do when your curriculum has lost that lovin’ feeling?

Hugs and love ya,
Tina 2015 Signature

“But the little dear doesn’t want to homeschool”
 When does homeschooling become “normal“?
3 Easy Fixes to Recharge Your Homeschool Routine

P.S. I couldn’t resist sharing, now you’re humming the same catchy tune. Plus, I just love this song!

 

When Homeschooled Kids Are Not Excited About Ordinary Days

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

Hearing other homeschoolers say how excited their child is about a new unit study, a new curriculum or the new school year when you may feel your child is not can certainly make you feel alone.

Do you have a child that is only thinking about what is required so he can spend the rest of the day playing, on the computer or his device?

Facing head on potential road blocks in our homeschool journey like when homeschooled kids are not excited about ordinary days or about anything pertaining to learning is the way I always prefer to tackle hurdles but I didn’t always feel so confident.

Do you feel that homeschooling is like choosing  the lesser of two evils? You are in good company and not alone.
When I started homeschooling I had conjured up a vision that because my education lacked in many areas that my sons would be bright-eyed and eager to learn every day.

I was excited to learn about all of the things I never did in school, but also I was determined to make my sons’ experiences different than mine.
Back to reality, I have had many times when the only thought on my boys’ mind was when is school going to be done so they can get on the computer, turn on the game or eat the left over pizza in the refrigerator.

Guess what? That is why they are not in charge. Let me share a few of my coping techniques.

Whose job is this anyway?

Early on I made it clear to my sons that it is their job to learn even if I am the most boring teacher.

Just like I would be working on my teaching skills, I made sure my kids knew what their role was in homeschooling.
Don’t think that parents who pull their kids out of public school in which they may have had a bad experience are the only ones that deal with a spoon-fed mentality by kids.

Learning to learn is a process for our kids. It is cultivated and nurtured through time and experiences.
There are many days our kids want to just play mindless games and sit back while we spoon feed them.  They are really no different than us if we give in to that inner person or side of our personality that just doesn’t want to show up some days to teach.

The difference between our kids and us of course is not only age but the ability to see the disastrous results if we live our life or homeschool in a mindless way.

Like us, the first step in getting children infused with learning is to teach them that what they can control is to show up at school with a positive attitude.

I have found through the years that instead of putting down how they may feel about homeschooling, I give it merit or validate it.

When our children see that we too as adults have the same feelings at times, it not only makes them feel that they are not alone, but that they can share the negative side of homeschooling and not be chastised for it.

Communicating true feelings even when our homeschooling may be boring is a wake up reminder that we might need to change a few things.
Attitude is the first subtle change to making a difference in our learning and that is something that nobody else can control.

If my children are old enough to cop an attitude about learning, they are old enough to start understanding the disastrous results.

I find it is better to be frank, set boundary lines for learning and explain why you have them for your children than for them to think life is going to be about eating their favorite leftovers of cold pizza each day.

A lot of things in life are just about doing things that we find boring and mundane but we will show up.

“I am not an entertainment act.“

We carry a lot of guilt as moms and negative thinking can make inroads in our hearts.

It is hard to carry around the guilt that our day doesn’t look as exciting as another family’s day.

That clear cut line, in that your child knows your expectations, allows them to work on their positive attitude while you decide where you can make improvement.

While I am sharing secrets, did I tell you that my lapbooks and unit studies were born out of my desire to be a better teacher?

I use to think lapbooks where for only young children. I set a bar for myself, like I do for my sons and wanted my teaching and activities to be something that draws my sons to learning.

Sharing my unit studies and lapbooks allowed me to not only set a standard for the type of teacher I wanted to be but it also shoved deep down that tyrannical mother I could be when it came to learning.

I have learned to let go of the fact that it’s not my fault that some days are just well – routine.

Life and school are very similar because life is more about routine than life altering moments.

I have learned that from routine comes the tiny moments I cherish in homeschooling.

Teaching my sons to value routine was also the start of changing their attitude about learning when most people may think that routine is boring.

Establish a routine. 

We all have interruptions in our school.

It can be hard to break the habit of letting things that are nonessential take over our day and break our routine.

I feel all homeschoolers crave routine even though sometimes we don’t recognize our natural desire to have a flow to day that we can predict.

Following our body’s natural rhythm to sleep, eat and move around, we have that same desire to learn and be educated.

When my sons know what to expect each day and don’t wander around aimlessly asking what we are going to do each day, it makes for calm in my home.

Post a visual homeschool schedule if your children are young or post a class schedule in their notebooks if your children are older.

Help them to get started on time by not having so much chaos in the house that it is distracting to their routine.

I still find everything fascinating about learning but more importantly I find happiness in being passionate about teaching my sons.

Enthusiasm is contagious and it starts with you, not them.

It doesn’t mean we don’t require a positive attitude when our children show up for learning, but it means we model the type of adults we want our children to eventually be.

Weaved into that attitude is the reason we are excited about showing up each day to homeschool.

I don’t believe the only reason we should be eager learners is to get a good paying job or to go to college but for the gift of curiosity.
Curiosity has sticking power unlike any career or any college degree.

I have also  learned that it is my job to try to make each day a little better than the next day.
Because I can’t sing, dance or draw my sons will have to accept I will do my best to teach and I will accept that they will do their best to show up for days that are just ordinary.

How about you? Are most of your days just ordinary?

Hugs and love ya,

Check out these other tips!

How To Fake Homeschooling

Biggest Challenges to Homeschooling

Easy Ways to Break Out of a Homeschool Rut

Helping our Homeschool Children Find their Inner Drive When We are Not Sure We Have It