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25 Creative and Tasty Edible Math Activities that Keeps Learning Fun

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I have 25 edible math activities that keeps learning fun.

Food and kids connect. And the sweeter the food the better. My boys always perked up when it came to edible learning. Whatever subject it is, edible projects are some of my boys best memories and teaching moments.

Teaching through edible manipulatives is another advantage we have over public school because with so many allergies, public schools are limited in edible hands-on projects.

25 Creative and Tasty Edible Math Activities that Keeps Learning Fun. Yum!

Hands-on Math

So today, I have rounded up 25 ideas for edible math and a few books for some edible fun.

Delicious Edible Math

Move out of those workbooks and grab one or two of these sweet ideas for your next homeschool math lesson. Your kids won’t forget it!

Also, you may love to check out these other helps!

Hugs and love ya,

Signature T

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10 Biggest Homeschool Burnout Triggers (and how to cope)

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

10 Biggest Homeschool Burnout Triggers (and how to cope)

No matter what you do, positive person or not or how well-organized you are, homeschool burnout looms because the 10 biggest homeschool burnout triggers are linked to life. Avoiding the unexpected is not possible, but you can plan for the unexpected.

Look at these 10 biggest homeschool burnout triggers and a tip or two on how to cope. Besides, instead of telling you how wonderful homeschooling will be, I want you prepared to dig your heels in when times are tough.

One/A pregnancy (complicated or not).

It may seem obvious that a pregnancy causes burnout, but when you have pregnancy brain it can seem otherwise. Somehow I thought I could keep on pushing because we were in a school year.

It took my third pregnancy before I actually planned activities when I would have to stop and rest.

Laid up on the couch and on bed rest for a few weeks, I pulled out activities for my preschooler and kindergartner, which nowadays are called busy bag activities.

Key to keeping your kids entertained and learning is to have everything they need for an activity in a bag. I could get up once, pull down several activities from the closet and have my two boys sit at my feet on the couch while we learned.

Two/ A long term sickness whether it’s your immediate or extended family.

In addition to pregnancy, I have experienced an ICU stay for my husband, an ICU stay for my sister and a long-term facility care for my mother-in-law.

At the time, it can seem that your life will never return to normal. It might not and may be changed. But change is also part of homeschooling.

I did four things to cope with what seemed like insurmountable stress.

  • I divided our school subjects in half and did half one day and the other half the next day.
  • I bought each kid a backpack so that we could learn on the go and moved our schoolroom into the backpacks.
  • I purchased easy workbooks because this is the time to use them.
  • I purchased an online subscription to Time4Learning.

Avoiding Top Homeschool Burnout Triggers

Three/ The transition to high school.

You will eventually get to high school and hear my heart when I say that is not the time to quit, but it may seem like it at the time.

If you have a rebellious teen it can make this time period worse.  One tip I learned was to be sure that your teen has a say in what he wants to learn and pursue.

Don’t feel like you have to give up everything you have dreamed of for your child, but know that they are entering adulthood and are a unique person.

Part of being a unique person is recognizing their interests, strengths and weaknesses and then allowing them explore them. When you’re at this point in your journey, remember what brought you to homeschooling, which is being able to raise a unique individual.

Instead of throwing in the towel and sending your kid to public school, work with him and decide whether or not an online high school is an option. Some kids do better by answering to somebody else.

My boys never had to experience this, but we also homeschooled from the beginning, which I have learned makes a huge difference.  If your child has had other teachers besides you, he may view that as normal.

Be willing to compromise, but not give up your standards always makes for a fair way of getting through the high school years.

Four/ When homeschool planning is overly ambitious.

Guilty as charged. I can always tell newer homeschoolers or homeschoolers who will burnout quickly by the exhaustive lists of homeschool subjects they think they will cover.

Writing it down is key to being sure your list is doable.

When you simply list it, and not plug a homeschool subject into a time slot on your day, it stays as overly ambitious. The next step is hitting a brick wall and burnout follows.

Overly ambitious homeschooling can backfire with sad consequences.

I have known families through the years that have lost their teens because they would not yield or compromise their plans. How sad.

Look at the tips on my three part series What Homeschool Subjects to Teach and When to Teach Them and Divide And Conquer The Ever Growing List of Homeschool Subjects.

Five/ Too many fun activities outside the house.

There have been years that we have been able to do more than other years, but balance is the key no matter how fun are the activities.

This is also exacerbated by how many kids you have. Don’t think that a mom with an only child can’t fall into this trap by trying to be sure her kid gets a social life.

Whether you are a mom of many or an only, your child needs you. There is no substitute for your guidance. Be selective on choosing outside activities and one thing I did when my kids wanted different ones was to alternate them each week.

One week we did art and the next week we did music to satisfy all of my kids. We went slower, but all of my kids benefited from mixing up and cutting back our activities.

Six/ Too many volunteer projects by mom.

When I conducted workshops, many of the moms confessed how many volunteer programs they were a part of.

I encourage you to make your family priority. Even good and worthy volunteering projects can add stress and cause burnout when it’s not necessary. As kids grow older and circumstances change, I have been able to do more things I enjoy.

From Daunting to Doable

Seven/ Failing to plan is planning to fail. It’s true.

The opposite end of overly ambitious planning is feeling like your wings would be clipped if you followed a more scripted schedule.

It takes time to find a middle ground that suits your unique personality. Key to success is knowing your personality and knowing how to rein yourself in.

For example, I know that I tend to be a drill sergeant and have my kids march to the minutes on a schedule (nobody liked me when I first started homeschooling).

All these years I have worked on being more flexible by following more of a block schedule or scheduling zones of times.

If you have the opposite problem, then start by scheduling things for 15 minutes at a time until you find a rhythm to fit your style. You can even use a timer in the beginning as you get the feel for the amount of time needed for a subject.

Training yourself to move through your day accomplishing what you plan without pushing you and your kids will lead to a productive and meaningful day.

Eight/ Job loss or change.

Coping with several of these changes too, I learned to cut back my school to just the core subjects as we adjusted to a new schedule or change in income.

We have owned our own business and my husband has worked 7 days a week for 12 hours days. In all the cases of job changes, I have allowed myself a month or so to adjust to the schedule. For example, when my husband worked 12 hours a day for 7 days a week, I got my kids up early as well so that they were ready for bed at the same time as my husband.

If you don’t get the rest of your household in sync with your husband’s schedule and try to maintain different family schedules, it can trigger stress.

Nine/Moving.

When we moved, I always thought I could keep on homeschooling during that stressful time. I learned that learning to pack and moving can come under Home Economics if you train your children while moving.

My boys always wanted to help pack and looking at the positive, moving is a wonderful time to declutter.

Instead of thinking that our schooling was being interrupted, I viewed that time as our time off of school. Of course we had to make up but it’s so much more easier making up when you choose to take time off to move.

Ten/ Unbending, inflexible, stubborn and immovable and no it’s not the toddler.

Flexible, bending and reasonable didn’t exactly abound in my life or should I say they are not my best qualities. However, homeschooling has a way of seasoning you to showcase those qualities.

Learning to adjust your homeschool course, accepting you and your kids shortcomings and allowing others to help you when you need it, keeps you on the sane road to homeschooling.

By giving you this heads up on things that you may experience in your journey, I hope you can enjoy the high moments that you will encounter and remember that the lows will pass.

Also, look at 4 Reasons Your Homeschooled Child is Uninspired To Learn (and what to do) and 3 Tips from the Pros Before You Become a Homeschool Educator.

Hugs and love ya,

Signature T

Don’t forget to follow BOTH of my Pinterest accounts for AWESOME pins.

Visit Tina Robertson’s profile on Pinterest.


Visit Tinas Dynamic Homeschool ‘s profile on Pinterest.

6 Best Homeschool Hacks Teaching Multi-Aged Children

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

I have sanity-saving homeschool hacks about how to teach multiple ages. Also, look at my page The Dynamics of How to Homeschool Easily and Smarter.

And having specific how-tos is a must. Today, I have rounded up 6 homeschool hacks teaching multi-age children.

6 Homeschool Hacks Teaching Multi-Age Children @ Tina's Dynamic Homeschool Plus

Look at these specific ways to teach multiple ages of homeschooled children.

Tried and Tested Teaching Tips

1. Let the kids take turns reading.

When kids on the same reading level hear each other read, there may not be any motivation to improve.

But when a younger sibling hears an older sibling reading, it’s personal and can inspire an immature reader to keep improving.

And when an older sibling hears a younger sibling reading, it can reinforce key or basic points about an idea or teaching point in a book or story.

Try reading round robin while each child takes a paragraph and it will keep all of your children learning and it’ll add some fun and spice to your day.

2. Listen to a motivating audio reading together.

Have you ever listened to a story told by Jim Weiss?

If not, you may be missing out. Learning while a story is being told or listening to a book being read is an essential skill to lifelong learning.

Interest is a key point in learning to listen and so it’s important to hear stories that your children are all ears to listen to.

Don’t just pick things to listen to willy nilly and don’t underestimate the value of learning how to listen well.

3. Do Map work.

Map work can be done together while each child works on his own skill set.

The key to not becoming completely stressed out is to find one theme or time period for all the kids to work on together.

For example, if you’re studying the American Civil War then choose one or two maps from that same time period.

Older children can locate battle sites within a certain region or choose battle sites by year. Younger children can label the states involved in the war.

When my boys were younger, they also drew animals that lived in a certain area like deer or birds.

A map can be a project when your child goes beyond just labeling.

Drawing in local foods, animals and landmarks also makes it coming alive.

We would spend a few days working on maps for a certain period.

And by keeping the maps all within the same theme or time period, each child would put what piqued his interest about that area.

It was a great learning experience because my kids would learn from each other as child focused on something differently.

It was an enriching experience for all of us.

Too, instead of all the work being on my shoulders, the children learned research skills and were responsible for their own learning.

4. Do ONE lapbook or notebook for ALL of your children.

Don’t think each child has to do a lapbook. Our Civil War lapbook is a joint project.

Each child added pages and the lapbook turned out unique and memorable.

Joint Civil War Lapbook @ Tina's Dynamic Homeschool Plus

In addition, learning how to collaborate together, especially with a sibling is a lifelong skill.

More Homeschooling Multiple Ages Tips

If a child can’t get along with his brothers and sisters, he will have a hard time transitioning to a career or college which almost always involves collaborating.

5. Memory work.

Learning poetry or memorizing lists is another easy and valuable way to teach multiple ages.

Each child can memorize an amount of lines or words that corresponds with his age.

This is a ton of fun and more than I realized as we did it through the years.

Each child is normally adamant about repeating back his lines correctly and each sibling listening is equally adamant about correcting him if he falters.(wink)

Look at How To Teach Your Homeschooled Children Shakespeare to grab a helpful resource.

6. Virtual field trips.

For the most part, my boys looked forward to field trips because it meant they could see other kids.

And in today’s technology filled world there is no choice to have to attend only a physical location.

Having a choice of attending a virtual field trip without having to leave your home is a wonderful tool we need to embrace.

Virtual field trips that are interactive allows your kids to learn together without the stress of trying to leave the house when you’re zapped of energy or finances.

Look at my post 7 Benefits of Virtual Field Trips that May Change Your Perspective to get some ideas.

Whether you’re using a boxed curriculum or an eclectic curriculum, these 6 teaching shortcuts will keep learning fun and easier.

Also, grab some tips here 5 Days Of The Benefits & Challenges of Teaching Mixed Ages Together and grab my free form on that page for showing you which subjects are best taught together.

Hugs and love ya,

Signature T

Don’t forget to follow BOTH of my Pinterest accounts for AWESOME pins.

Visit Tina Robertson’s profile on Pinterest.


Visit Tinas Dynamic Homeschool ‘s profile on Pinterest.

3 Unique Things a Homeschooled Teen Learns From a Teacher’s Manual

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

3 Unique Things a Homeschooled Teen Learns From a Teacher's Manual @ Tina's Dynamic Homeschool Plus

When your kids are middle school or high school level, beginning to homeschool can be tough. For many years they have been away from you and have been conditioned to learn one way.

And though homeschool moms who’ve homeschooled their teens from the beginning may find it easier to hand over the teacher’s manual to their teens because they know what standard they have set day to day, they can still find it challenging to teach study skills.

Regardless of whether you’ve homeschooled from the beginning or jumped into homeschooling with teens, there are 3 things a homeschooled teen learns by you handing over the teacher’s manual.

One/ A teen learns that you won’t control them. This may not seem important to you, but to a maturing teen it’s everything.

This is not as paramount as they grow older, but in the early teen years with my boys, it was important for them to see me as a confident, not controlling teacher.

Hear my whisper and feel my gentle nudge, failure is a good teacher for your teens. More on that in a minute.

As my sons grew older and became more confident, we didn’t clash about control. However, when they were entering the teen years, I tried to not it let it get to that point. I simply handed over the teacher’s manual so they could dig in it on their own.

Giving them the teacher’s manual is not about a power struggle, but empowering them to learn.

Two/ Forget independent learning skills, they need to learn how to study first.

I’m not against independent learning skills, but at this time in their life is when a teen learns how to study. In the rush to prepare our teens for adulthood, we expect independent learning skills without teaching them how to to do it.

You can’t expect your teens to be independent until they have practiced how to study or have a few trial runs.

Now, I know you may be thinking that your teens will look straight at the answers and write them down without studying. They may.

Lessons I Learned From My Homeschooled Teen

My teens tried it a few times with some problems they couldn’t solve in math and language arts.

Let them think they are getting away with something if that is how they feel. However, here is the secret!

They have to be able to tell you back what they learned.

If a teen can’t tell you back what he has learned without looking at the book or the material he has studied, he hasn’t mastered his material.

So if my boys chose to look at the answers first and work back from that how to solve it, I didn’t care.

At first, I was apprehensive letting them have that freedom, but too I have never spoon-fed my boys or thought the only way to learn was a question answer format. I’ve always allowed them to learn, even in reverse if necessary.

I learned that if they were to be independent learners, I had to quit being the teacher and be the coach to guide them.

Three/ Problem solving skills are learned in middle school or high school where they should be and not in college or on the job.

Whether your teen chooses a college or career track, the ability to solve problems when an answer isn’t correct is critical to flourishing in the real world.

It can be easy to identify a problem, but solving it is another skill set.

Learning how to attack a problem with a plan or order for determining importance, finding the right and wrong assumptions and then determining a solution is something that even adults struggle with.

Here and now when your child is a teen is when they learn such a valuable skill that will boost their college or career track.

I mentioned before failure is a good teacher. Your mom voice doesn’t have to be brittle or harsh when your teens don’t want to listen to you. I’m not talking about tolerating a disrespectful attitude but allowing your teen to disagree with the way you teach.

You have nothing to prove.

Give your teen the manual and if he can’t explain back what he learns without constantly opening the book, then the material needs to be reviewed. Learning is that simple.

Don’t try to be confrontational. If they don’t get the point that they have to redo the material if they don’t understand it, then encouraging them to do it again with the teacher’s manual teaches them to not give up.

After a few times of doing it that way, my boys would work many times without cracking open the teacher’s manual. After they completed their work, they self-graded and reviewed from the teacher’s manual.

How to Stay Motivated While Homeschooling Teens

They can surprise you too when you gently guide them. My boys, without my prompting, would rework their problems or redo their work to be sure they understood it.

They need to understand that this is their education and they have the right to learn in a way that benefits them the most.

Fast forward many years now, I recently asked Mr. Senior 2013 if that was the right thing to let him have the teacher’s manual. He absolutely agreed and added that if he didn’t get the problem correct after checking the teacher’s manual, it made him rethink how he solved his problem. I loved what he said because that it was what every homeschool parent wants – to equip their child for the real world.

Do you have a teen that you’re butting heads with? Try this and let me know if he or she flourishes.

Also, look at these other helpful articles. Homeschool High School–How to Log Hours for High School, Homeschool High School Readiness and Homeschool High School The Must Cover Subjects Part 2.

Hugs and love ya,

Signature T

Don’t forget to follow BOTH of my Pinterest accounts for AWESOME pins.

Visit Tina Robertson’s profile on Pinterest.


Visit Tinas Dynamic Homeschool ‘s profile on Pinterest.

7 Step Free Homeschool Planner – Top 5 Questions Asked Are Answered

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

Today, I am taking time to answer the top 5 questions that I get frequently about the 7 Step free Homeschool Planner. Look at my pages Homeschool Planner and 7 Step Curriculum Planner for more forms and ideas.

I always, always appreciate your questions and because I don’t like you having to wait a long time for answers, I am rounding frequently asked questions here.

7 Step Free Homeschool Planner - Top 5 Questions Asked Are Answered @ Tina's Dynamic Homeschool Plus

7 Step Free Homeschool Planner

And because I have a method to my madness, I hope these answers help you.

ONE/ What if I begin my school in a different month than when your printables begin in July and end in June?

I understand you may begin your school in August, September or even October, however, that is not when you begin to plan.

When setting up my organized system many years ago, it was and still is my goal to help you stay organized.

This means that generally, like most teachers, we should begin our planning months before we start teaching our kids.

However, because you get a full 12 months, it doesn’t matter when you choose to begin your school.

You can still use my forms by just starting on the month when you begin to plan.

By maintaining one month to begin (July) and one month to end the year (June, my system stays uniformed as I create hundreds of free forms across the 7 steps for you.

This would not be possible if I created forms to begin a year with May, June, August, September or even October because there is no way I could give you so many wonderful options.

TWO/ Do you create other sizes like A5, personal or mini pages?

No.

Most of my audience, like me, wants all the room they can possibly get to write down lesson plans.

My planner utilizes as much as I can get on a regular size page and still leaves room for coil binding.

I can see when you have only one child, you may not want all that room and I have a Unit Study Planner that has a unique lesson planning page which would work well for one child, but it is regular paper size.

THREE/ What if I don’t have a fancy printer? Can I still create this?

Absolutely!

I have used three very different printers over the years and the least and most inexpensive one does just as great of a job as my fancy HP one I had albeit the smaller one takes a bit more time.

Right now, I am still using the portable CANON PIXMA iP110 Wireless Mobile Printer I used when we moved overseas.

I still love it and have changed the way I do things.

Before we moved, I had an office in my house.

But when we traveled and stayed in different hotels in different countries, I  got use to plugging up my printer anywhere I was sitting at and have loved the flexibility of moving around.

a-portable-printer-for-the-7-step-homeschool-planner

FOUR/ I’m having problems with my download.
Some of the numbers or boxes are missing. What causes that?

Most of the time, when your download is not printing correctly, it can be traced back to a problem with reader and browser compatibility.

Too, it may be because you use the default reader for the MAC or for a smart phone.

Adobe is a universal reader and Chrome a universal browser.

It’s always best to print from your tablet or laptop as phones can cause hiccups.

Maybe one day technology will make it all possible with no hiccups.

FIVE/ Do you recommend a binding machine or products for binding the planner?

Though I love all the easy binding machines now offered, the whole foundation of this planner is a DIY project.

This means using things that are easily found or relatively inexpensive, which is coil binding.

It shouldn’t take buying fancy office supplies to do that.

You certainly can invest in cool products, but again, my goal is that this planner can be made by anybody with minimal products to purchase.

Are you ready to begin building your 7 Step Free Homeschool Planner?

7 Easy Steps – “Tons of Options & Pretty Color”

Step 1. Choose a Pretty Front/Back Cover

Step. 2. Choose Calendars/Appointment Keepers

Step 3. Choose Goals/Objectives

Step 4. Choose Lesson Planning Pages Right For You!

Step 5a. Choose Unique forms JUST for You! Not a kazillion other people

Step 5b. Choose MORE Unique Forms JUST for You!

Step 5c. Choose MORE MORE Unique Forms Just for You!

Step 6. Personalize It

Hugs and love ya,

Signature T

Don’t forget to follow BOTH of my Pinterest accounts for more AWESOME pins.

Visit Tina Robertson’s profile on Pinterest.


Visit Tinas Dynamic Homeschool ‘s profile on Pinterest.

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