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3 Risks of Not Tracking Your Homeschool Lessons (Even If They’re Laid-Out)

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

Today, I’m sharing 3 risks of not tracking homeschool lessons.Too, I have hundreds more free homeschool planner forms on my page Homeschool Planner.

I get asked all the time that if you’re using laid-out lesson plans is it necessary to lesson track.

My answer is always the same — YES. 

Tracking homeschool lessons is different than lesson planning although they are linked.

3 Risks of Not Tracking Homeschool Lessons {Even Using Laid-Out Lesson Plans}. Having tracked lesson plans from the beginning prepared me for record keeping in the higher grades, but there are other reasons. Check out these SUPER helpful lesson tracking tips! #homeschooling

Look at these 3 risks of not tracking your homeschool lessons even if you’re using laid-out lesson plans.

DON’T CONFUSE LESSON TRACKING WITH LESSON PLANNING

One/ Kids can advance to a higher level mid-year. You want to be ready.

I had one son who struggled with spelling consistently each year until middle school.

He jumped a whole year in our spelling curriculum and I was ready to pull the trigger because I was tracking his progress.

I was writing down the words he was struggling with, writing down the errors he was making in his usage, and having him review his errors.

Checking off boxes is not tracking progress, it just shows completion.

3 Risks of Not Tracking Homeschool Lessons Even if You Use Laid Out Lesson Plans. Scoot by and check out the AWESOME tips!

If you don’t track progress, it’s easy to fall in a public school mindset.

For example, instead of homeschooling for mastery or being ready to move to another level in a subject, you may think that completing a laid-out curriculum is key to mastery.

Don’t fall for the mindset that completing a laid-out curriculum equates with your child mastering concepts. It does not.

Tracking and writing out progress lets you see a true picture of what is going on each day. Completing laid-out lesson plans means just that. It doesn’t always mean success.

I’ve always referred to my well-written notes although I didn’t start off that way.

Two/ NOTHING can replace your well-guided tweaks to a lesson plan.

The second thing I’ve learned is to not forget one of the most fundamental reasons that brought me to homeschooling which is to adjust the curriculum to meet each of my kids’ needs.

When I track lesson plans, I can adjust them immediately to fit my sons’ needs for the current moment.

For example, early on I could tell that one of my sons was advancing quite rapidly in math. Instead of having him do all the math lessons, I would pick and choose the problems.

Other days I had him do only the odds or evens.

Tweaking lessons plans and tracking his progress while using a laid-out math curriculum, I knew he could maintain practice in whatever skill he was learning. But he could also move ahead.

If I hadn’t tracked his work in a lesson planner, it would’ve been very frustrating for him.

Early homeschool planners while I've been lesson planning and tracking for years.

Doing work that has been previously mastered is a turn off for kids who are advanced or gifted and can cause them burn out.

Then, as homeschool parents we wonder why our kids hate a subject that was previously loved.

Tracking progress on a lesson planning page you’re tweaking is key to looking back and planning forward.

Also, having a place to track your tweaks made to laid-out lesson plans reminds you of the progress your child is making or problems he is having.

Three/ Lesson planning and lesson tracking are inextricably linked when you need to view progress and when preparing for older grades.

Another reason lesson tracking is critical is because it prepares you for teaching the older grades.

It’s the difference between sailing effortlessly into teaching high school and drowning in feelings of being overwhelmed.

Lesson planning early on equals awesome record keeping in the older grades. See how over at seasoned veteran Tina Robertson's blog.

Doing both lesson planning and lesson tracking, the high school years were a cinch from a record keeping standpoint.

More important to me was that I had a good pulse on the skill level of my rising high school teen because I had journaled and tracked his progress along the way even while using boxed curriculum.

A teacher’s manual is a guide. Your lesson tracking is your child’s unique visual map of his strengths and weaknesses.

Through the years, it’s been easy to look back and read my notes on each child’s progress. Immediately I could adjust either my lesson plans I created or tweaked laid-out lesson plans.

PURPOSEFUL HOMESCHOOL LESSON TRACKING

I’ve come a long way since creating my own planners way back and I know you’ll really love my detailed and beautiful pages to use for either tracking or lesson planning.

Beautiful, colorful and detailed Glam It Up Homeschool Planner over at Tina's Dynamic Homeschool Plus

(This is the Glammed Up Option – don’t you love it?)

You’ll gain some other valuable seasoned tips from these posts:

Hugs and love ya,

Homeschool Lapbooks – Powerful Tools For Mastery Learning

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

There is no comparison of homeschool lapbooks to digital enhanced content today, but there may be competition. Bring it. You’re sure to find a homeschool lapbook here at Tina’s Dynamic Homeschool Plus.

When I started homeschooling, I stuck CDs in the computer and I controlled the digital content that my children were watching.

Homeschool Lapbooks - Powerful Tools For Mastery Learning

After being introduced to lapbooks, I knew it was a learning tool that could be a contender to digital content now and in the future. I wasn’t wrong.

My affection for lapbooks, however, was not immediate.

At first glance, I assumed it was a learning tool that was opposite of what I thought learning should look like. The lapbooks seemed more like a crafty project and waste of our learning time with all the cutting and coloring.

First, what is a lapbook?

What is a Lapbook

A most basic definition is that it is a group of small books or minibooks, mostly of different shapes and sizes that contain information about the topic the lapbook is on. It is a hands-on tool which can easily take the place of worksheets, tests, and memorization. Created by the student each one will be different. A lapbook can be as creative or not as the child wants it to be.

What is Lapbooking

Sometimes I get asked what is lapbooking. It just means using a lapbook to cover a subject or theme and it means the process that your child goes through to create one. It can take anywhere from a few days to weeks to complete one.

In addition, your child can used ones with prepared minibooks or he can create the minibooks without any assistance.

How to make a Lapbook With Paper

And creating a lapbook doesn’t have to be in-depth or can be as you want it to be. This is the best thing about lapbooks. Like any hands-on tool, it bends to the needs of the child.

Look at my two videos on how to make a lapbook and what is a lapbook.

Additionally, we do use worksheets in our lapbook occasionally. However, what can make even a worksheet interactive is how it’s folded to put into a lapbook to store it.

Look at my post How to Turn Boring Worksheets into Fun Minibooks – From Boring to Interactive

Lapbook Materials

Moreover, most of the materials for a diy lapbook you already have in your home.

My top 3 favorite supplies are bright colored letter size file folders, clear packaging tape, and glue acid free. These top materials are important if you’re creating lapbooks to last as memory keepers.

Of course, paper matters too the most.

If you’re creating lapbooks and want to do them as inexpensive as possible, then regular paper works fine.

However, if you want your child to keep them to use another year or for memories, you need cardstock. And you want the lightest weight cardstock that you can get. Anything too thick and your child can’t fold the paper minbooks easily.

However, there are SO MANY things your student can add to his lapbook.

My post 75 AWESOME Things to Add to a Lapbook will get you started.

Ancient Civilization Lapbooks

Next, look at these fun ancient history lapbooks divided by time period. I have many lapbook ideas for history.

Homeschool Lapbooks - Powerful Tools For Mastery Learning

I have history lapbooks organized by time period as close as I can get.

Middle Ages to Renaissance Lapbooks

Also, you’ll love these next lapbooks which are topics we covered from the middle ages to the renaissance and reformation time period.

Exploration, Colonization, and Industrialization to Revolution Themed Lapbooks

World Wars to Modern History Lapbooks

LAPBOOKS TO LEARN COUNTRIES AND STATES

3 Best Things About Lapbooks

I love details, but when I teach I also can overwhelm my sons.

1. If your child wants a whole to pieces or wants a big picture first look at a topic, he’ll love lapbooks.

A lapbook allows us to add minibooks or facts to remind my kids of the major teaching points I want them to remember.

Homeschool Lapbooks - Powerful Tools For Mastery Learning

Information can be arranged in a lapbook to give a child a quick glimpse of a topic. That’s the point. It can be as general or as detailed as you or your child want it to be.

2. If your child does better with a mastery based approach, lapbooks allow him freedom to master the material that piques his interest.

Another lure of lapbooks is that if you have an independent learner, he doesn’t always want a lot of direction when his curiosity has been piqued.

Lapbooks incite an uncontrollable urge to research and add more information that your child wants to learn. It gives an independent learner freedom to learn what he wants to.

One of the best things about this step is that he has to learn to organize that material so it fits compactly into a minibook or chart. That is a higher level skill.

That technique has been one of the things I’ve liked most about lapbooks.

Our kids amass so much knowledge. But instead of using rote memory to tell it back, they need to learn how to connect it to other topics they know.

Understanding comes from manipulating the information and categorizing it.

Because the books are small, a learner has to manipulate and extract key points. In a setting that seems more fun than work he learns to organize his information.

3. No amount of digital content can rival your child’s own work for a masterpiece that lasts into adulthood.

When my older two sons look back at their learning journey, they haven’t mentioned any learning app, but they do remember the hard work put into their lapbooks.

Homeschool Lapbooks - Powerful Tools For Mastery Learning

Not only is it a learning tool that they used for constant review, but it’s a project worth keeping.

SCIENCE, NATURE AND MATH LAPBOOKS

In addition, I have many lapbook ideas for science and nature lapbooks to help bring your topics to life.

3 Worst Things About Lapbooks

I almost stopped doing lapbooks because I fail into traps that most new lapbookers do.

1. Lapbooks can turn crafty project if you allow it to overtake your day.

I admit it. I wasn’t all that much into crafts. I’ve come a long way since I first started using lapbooks.

Now, I realize the value of allowing children creative outlets and try to look past the mess.

If you and your kids love crafts this won’t be a negative for you. For me and my sons, we focused too much on the crafty part of the lapbook instead of the research part of it.

I soon learned that minibooks didn’t have to be all designed by the kids. We could use some premade ones.

2. Lapbooks can be expensive if you choose color pictures and clip art.

If you only use black and white pictures and have your children color them all, you can save some money.

But in the process you may create a lapbook hater if you have kids that don’t really like coloring.

Coloring by younger children for the most part is enjoyable, but as they grow, emphasis needs to be on clip art and pictures that inspire a learner to dig into the information.

Cardstock, printers, and colorful clip art costs money. If you have multiple children, it can cost a bit more.

Although it can get costly, I also remember that we will have a tool that lasts almost a lifetime. And lapbooks can have flips and flaps added to it each year as your child grows.

It costs something to have a portfolio for my children’s work other than a bunch of boring stapled worksheets.

Lapbooks have been worth every penny, nickel, dime, quarter and dollar I spent through the years to have something my children can look back on that they had a hand in creating. What a worthy investment.

3. The prep work can be time consuming.

If coloring is one gripe then right behind that is my gripe for the time it takes to prep the minibooks.

Through the years, I’ve learned a few tips. I don’t have us sit down at one time and do all the minibooks at one time. By doing one or two each day, I can help each child and it doesn’t become too overwhelming to prepare one or two each day.

Also, unless I’m teaching a course in fine motor skills, I’ve learned to cut some of the minibooks on my own time. My kids seemed more impatient than me and having to cut out all the minibooks just seem torture.

Although I still don’t like the prep work, I see the value of having it done before we sit down to work on the lapbook. Emphasis is put on the content instead of cutting.

Now, I will print and cut out some of the minibooks on my time. I kept each of my kids’ books in separate ziploc bags.

By storing each kids’ books in separate ziploc bags each kid can add special things he discovers to his lapbook when he puts it together. One of my sons found a shed snake skin and kept it in his ziploc bag until he put his lapbook together.

Lapbooks are not time wasters but a good use of time. It’s a fun and interactive way for kids to remember information. Whatever digital curriculum comes, it just can’t equal the time each child puts into preparing a lapbook.

A premade book or digital curriculum is no comparison to a handmade interactive tool made by your child.

The 3 Best and Worst Things About Lapbooks. Lapbooks are not time wasters but worth your time. You'll love the over 30 FREE Lapbooks on this site. Come on over and try one or two.

How to Go From a Boring Homeschool Teacher to Creative Thinker (Boring to BAM)

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

Every day we coax, cajole, and con our kids into learning. After homeschooling for a few more years, we next try to switch out curriculum because we can’t switch out kids (okay, okay). One day it clicks and we turn the table to focus on our teaching style. But deep down we never really want to admit that we may be a boring homeschool teacher. It hurts, it’s personal, and it’s a blow to our ego.

It’s complicated too because somehow we seem to tie in our quality of mothering with our teaching.

What I learned from my miserable failure was that if I was going to continue homeschooling, I had to change how I was teaching.

I had to move from thinking like the masses that strict desk work with kids churning out worksheets which I could put a little red mark on was working.

The truth of it was that it wasn’t working and my teaching wasn’t creative, inspiring, or motivating. And my kids told me so. Ouch!

Quitting was one option. I almost did.

Out of my stress came strength because I wanted something different. What I was doing wasn’t working and nobody was happy.

6 SIMPLE STEPS TO A SUPERIOR HOMESCHOOL TEACHER

Look at these 6 simple steps I did to make my teaching not only come alive, but to teach with passion.

Step 1. It starts with wanting something different.

It’s scary to move away from what you think is a successful way of teaching. But the first step is wanting something different than what you have.

It’s humbling realizing that how you’re teaching is not working for your family. If everybody is miserable, you realize that you have nothing to lose when you try something different.

Step 2. Then, find what is working for your kids, not you.

The classical approach worked for me, but I was overboard with my intense language arts focus.

It was arrogant of me to think that other homeschool approaches meant that other homeschooled kids were less intelligent. I mean I never said, I just felt it.

It’s a wake up call when your ideal homeschool approach doesn’t work for your kids. I had to identify what worked for my sons so that I could relearn how to teach in a way they understood.

Look at these key points that I could put my finger on at the time:

  • Two of my sons learned well with hands-on activities. I had one son that didn’t mind the textbook approach.
  • All three of my sons excelled and retained information better when it wasn’t piecemeal.
  • A mastery approach worked well for my sons.
  • Information was better retained when the reading, writing, and activities had a common theme.

From there I realized that a unit study approach is a mastery based approach.

Step 3. Educate yourself about the new approach. Sifting through what will and what won’t work.

Then, don’t do like I did. Swing to the other side or to another approach and try to totally implement everything about that approach.

Take what is working and add tips for what is not working. For example, I knew with our language arts focused teaching that our tips about how to outline were solid.

However, our writing topics were boring because they were not taken from unit study topics that my sons chose.

Using our books on how to outline and do paragraphs, we added in our unit study topics on the American Civil War and the Amazon Rainforest.

FROM EXHAUSTING TO ENERGIZING

Now, our learning had a small spark to ignite.

Step 4. Now, push yourself. Yes, the hardest part.

Determined that I had the wherewithal to try something different, that I could identify what was and wasn’t working, and that I didn’t totally didn’t throw out everything, I focused next on my actual teaching.

This was the hardest part of the whole process because by nature I didn’t view myself as a very creative person.

I remember thinking that when it was time to prepare unit studies, my ideas were dry, uninspiring, and hard to do. They were.

Being creative for some people happens naturally. For me, it takes work and time.

Creativity is like any other teacher skill.

It needs to be nurtured, cultivated, and trained. Look at my article The Creative Process: 5 Ways to Cultivate Inspiration & Ideas as a Homeschool Teacher.

Instead of lingering on in our classical approach, key to my inspiration for another approach was to walk away right then from what wasn’t working.

Going cold turkey was the only way that worked for me. Instead of gradually cutting down on our classical approach, my motivation was high because I stopped the classical approach and implemented the unit study approach.

Why linger in a place where we were all miserable?

Step 5. Education is key – for the teacher. Is that the same thing as cultivating a growth mindset?

The next step was investing in books or reading material to help improve my teaching. Sure, my kids need study resources, but I do too.

Step 6. Practice what you teach.

The last step that propelled me forward was putting into practice what I was teaching.

Creating lapbooks was opposite of what I felt comfortable with as a teacher. Forming a co-op seemed time consuming at the time, but again I needed a place to hone my skill and a place for my sons to retain what they were learning.

Designing my website here where I could share the skills that I did have like organizing materials, creating printables, and making unit studies spring from my now creative juices. It gives me a place to both share and retain my ideas.

You certainly don’t have to blog or do a website, but what I am saying is that you want a place to organize and keep your now overflowing ideas. It’s true that creativity breeds innovation and then it’s hard to contain all of your creations.

Self-analyzing is not easy by any stretch, but worth it. There is nothing I miss about my old way of teaching.

Each child is unique and we accept those differences. As teachers, we are just as unique but certainly need to be challenged to be creative out of the box thinkers.

Every day we coax, cajole, and con our kids into learning. After homeschooling for a few more years, we next try to switch out curriculum because we can't switch out kids (okay, okay). One day it clicks and we turn the table to focus on our teaching style. But deep down we never really want to admit that we may be a boring homeschool teacher. It hurts, it's personal, and it's a blow to our ego.Click here to go from Boring to BAM!

Do you need help starting now?

You’ll love these other articles.

Hugs and love ya,

7 Unique Ways to Supplement U.S. History for High School

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

When I was taking paralegal courses after high school, I had an assignment to read Wills and Deeds from the 1800s at the local courthouse.

Losing track of time was easy as I was absorbed in reading not only legal language, but reading the household property that was bequeathed to family members.

Engaging US History

It was like stepping back in time as I read about the lives of past Americans. It was fascinating and stirred a love of not only the history of law, but of American history.

Remembering that time in my life, I was determined to supplement U.S. history for high school in a creative way.

I’ve rounded up 7 unique ways to supplement U.S. history for high school because engaging ways to learn history for high school can easily be overlooked.

One/ Read old documents.

Planning a trip to the courthouse to have your teen read old documents which are public record is a fun field trip for a teen.

Also, we used primary resources from Jackdaws when we read about Lewis and Clark.

Scanning, studying, and analyzing old documents are a wonderful way to allow a teen not only a chance to step back in time, but to develop critical thinking skills.

Two/ Historical reenactment.

Many areas in the states put on historical reenactments whether it’s the American Civil War or visiting the Plimoth Plantation.

Remembering the past by visiting and participating in historical reenactments is another way of bringing meaning to past events.

Instead of focusing on the terrible woes of war, we tried to focus on people that lived during that time and how they were were affected by the decisions made.

Three/ Watching documentaries or movies.

Using documentaries as a unit study opener is a great way to engage your high school kid.

I’m always looking at ways to connect what we’re learning about to a movie so that it’s more memorable.

Look at this quick list that hopefully will stir you or your teen’s creative juices:

  • Gone With the Wind
  • Lincoln
  • Amistad
  • The Searchers
  • Drums Along the Mohawk
  • The Alamo
  • Davy Crockett
  • Wyatt Earp
  • Far and Away
  • History of Henry Ford

Four/ Visit historical homes or towns.

Visiting a section of town like the French Quarter in New Orleans which is full of history widens your teens’ love of how other cultures influenced America, immigration issues, and architect.

Also, tour famous historical homes like the White House or Monticello.

Some homes are more famous than others, but many towns have a historical home or two preserved.

What better way to learn about Amelia Earhart than to visit her birthplace in Kansas?

Five/ Use American artifacts.

Whether it’s blue jeans or Fiestaware, this is a great site with a free teaching guide and writing activities using artifacts from American culture to teach history.

Six/ Field trips. And not to the Zoo.

Let’s just face it. Field trips at the high school level may seem harder to find. They are, but there are also many opportunities to extend a teen’s learning past a textbook on a field trip.

It may take a bit more creative wit, but the opportunities are there. Unless your teen is planning to be a zookeeper (which is great too) he probably has been to the zoo many times.

Look at these ideas for field trips for a teen that bring history alive:

  • Plan to attend a trial in the local courthouse or a court docket call. Check with the bailiff because he is the person that deals with the public. He may recommend an upcoming trial that would be permissible for your teen to sit in. We did this one time and my boys never forgot it.
  • I planned a trip to the federal money reserve for our teens to learn about the federal government and how money is made.
  • Our local ferry was a great way to learn about the history of the port and about early life on the coast.
  • Living near a major college, we watched showtimes for plays about history and got invited one time by local students.

SEVEN/ Supplement American history through reading about the life of an American.

We love the series of books by Genevieve Foster like George Washington’s World and Abraham Lincoln’s World.

Instead of thinking about the events in American history as isolated from the rest of the world, these books tie in other world events happening simultaneously as key American history events.

Studying U.S. history can be challenging when trying to make it engaging for a teen. Add one or two of these ideas and your teen won’t easily forget some of the key events of U.S. history.

I've rounded up 7 unique ways to supplement U.S. history for high school because engaging ways to learn history for high school can easily be overlooked. Click here to grab these AWESOME ideas!

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Hugs and love ya,

5 Top Mistakes of New or Struggling Homeschoolers

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

No matter how long you’re homeschooling, it is only natural to want to go back to change something done in the beginning or readjust your strategy after struggling a year or two.

By sharing some of the common mistakes I made in my journey, hopefully, I can prepare you and spare you some of the stress, fatigue, and feelings of guilt I encountered.

5 Top Mistakes of New or Struggling Homeschoolers

5 Top Mistakes of New or Struggling Homeschoolers

Mistake 1. Setting Unrealistic Goals and Standards.

To best explain what unrealistic goals are, it’s better to explain what is the definition of realistic. It means to see things or be aware of the way they really are. Not the way we imagine they should be.

After having a newborn, it’s not realistic to believe we are going to hop right back into a normal schedule no matter how much we feel our children are behind.

It is it realistic to believe in one year of homeschooling we will accomplish all that we set out to accomplish? No.

Goals are a must, but measure your circumstances realistically and you will not be deterred when things don’t go as planned.

Mistake 2. No Written Plan.

It does not matter if you lesson plan by writing out your plans, track lesson plans on a computer program, check off activities done in your boxed curriculum or journal after your day, write it down.

Why? Because if we can’t see what we have done, then how can you see what has been achieved?

How can you measure and see where adjustments need to be made? How clear can it be in your mind what your goals are?

See it written and follow it!

Mistake 3. Modeling our school after the school we left.

It sounds crazy, uh? Fear is a gripping force. At times, it can make us set up our educational system by following one that has failed because we are afraid of failure.

I won’t bash the public school system because there are many caring compassionate teachers.

However, if the system was not working for us – why do we want to pattern our day after it?

Get off the public school treadmill and feel homeschool freedom.

Mistake 4. Comparisons.

If we are not careful, our whole homeschool journey is filled with comparing our child to another child. Sometimes it can even be siblings.

If we are not comparing our children to each other, then we might  be comparing ourselves to other mothers. If we can’t find some problem there, then we even examine our husbands. Does Suzy Homeschooler have a better or more supportive husband of homeschooling than I do? After all he does teach the kids sometimes.

Those types of negative emotions robs of the true enjoyment of being satisfied. We need to be content with the circumstance we have been given and not fall victim to the competitive spirit of this world.

Education is as UNIQUE as each family.

Mistake 5. No education for the Educator.

Many times I’ve heard and have seen parents will go to great lengths and great costs to make sacrifices for their children’s education. But the greatest gift besides life we can give our children, is OURSELVES.

From the smallest piece of knowledge like tying a shoe to the most significant issues like the existence of a magnificent Creator, we have the privilege of teaching our children.

No matter how long you're homeschooling, it is only natural to want to go back to change something done in the beginning or readjust your strategy after struggling a year or two. By sharing some of the common mistakes I made in my journey, hopefully, I can prepare you and spare you some of the stress, fatigue, and feelings of guilt I encountered.

Do not underestimate or cheat yourself of the time, knowledge, and resources you need to do this. We can’t pass on to our children what we do not know.

Strive to become a better educator, better teacher, and better student. Use some of the resources you have each year to empower yourself with education, information, and knowledge.

You’ll also find these articles empowering:

5 Top Mistakes of New Homeschoolers