Tina's Dynamic Homeschool Plus

Activity, Change, Progress

middleschool

Homeschool High School Chemistry & Free Reference Sheet and Resources

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

Tiny is finishing up middle school courses and scooting now into homeschool high school chemistry. Also, look at my page How to Homeschool High School.

(Yikes, with my third one going into high school, maybe I will learn something. tee hee hee.)

For his first course, we chose Paradigm Integrated Physics and Chemistry.

Homeschool High School Chemistry & Free Reference Sheet and Resources

One of my reasons for Pace Integrated Physics and Chemistry for high school chemistry this year is that its available online for .pdf download.

Homeschool High School Chemistry

When you are living overseas or are short on space, these .pdf downloads are a great option. Don’t forget to check out my post Digital Homeschool Curriculum – Big Ol’ List.

One tip that may help you when organizing digital content is that I use Google Drive for using and storing the curriculum on multiple devices.

By putting it on my google drive, Tiny can access it from his iPad and I can access it too from my laptop or any other computer that I am on.

Also, the beauty of digital downloads is that you print off what you want or don’t print at all and the curriculum is always with me.

Instead of lugging books back and forth with me from and to the states, I just get the .pdfs printed when I get  back here to Ecuador.

Like I said too, we always have our “school on the go” to.

The Paradigm Accelerated Curriculum we are using this year is more of a textbook approach and I prefer a much more hands-on approach to all subjects.

However, I know that I can “liven” up any curriculum with free resources or ones I create.

Free Chemistry Reference Sheet and Resources

Look at these four free resources that I have found and created that I will be using with our high school chemistry to bring it alive and make it fit our preferred approach.

Golden Book of Chemistry 1.Homeschool High School Chemistry & Free Reference Sheet and Resources

The Golden Book of Chemistry is apparently a beginners bible in chemistry though it can be a bit controversial.

It was written in the 1960’s (a long time ago when concerns were different then). It shows you how to set up your own home laboratory and conduct over 200 experiments.

Note: I have read that it is banned now because many of the experiments are considered too dangerous to do at home, but it is still considered one of the best diy chemistry books.

Too, we are looking at it for other value, like the word lists and understanding the changes involved in chemistry.

So NO, we will not be using it for hands-on activities, but as a reference to compare to modern day chemistry.

My research shows that it is also free to share because the copyright was not renewed. (If that changes, I will take this down and let you know because I respect copyright laws.)

Here is the free download of this book or this nifty little tool. It already has sparked Tiny’s interest in chemistry, which is what I wanted.

Too, because one of the reasons we are focusing on it is to build a beginner’s foundation in chemistry and to understand the history of chemistry, I created this Chemist Reference Sheet from the book as a quick way of glancing at terms.

Chemist Reference Sheet 1 @ Tina's Dynamic Homeschool Plus

I added a portion at the bottom so that when we come across an updated view about the word definitions, Tiny can add them.

Download the free Chemist Reference Sheet below

Moving on to what I will use as a guide to hands-on activities, I have a free Middle School Chemistry curriculum and High School Chemistry curriculum, both of which have hands-on activities.

High School Chemistry

The high school free chemistry has links to multimedia in it, which I think will be helpful to mix in with his textbook.

Download the free High School Chemistry Curriculum here.

Middle School Chemistry


The middle school curriculum is excellent because it has more actual hands-on activities ideas to include as we plod along in our study this year. So it will help to round out our study.

Download Middle School Chemistry Curriculum here.

See what I mean, you actually can use just about anything when it comes to curriculum as long as you are willing to spice it up.

More Homeschool High School Chemistry

Curriculum is just like cooking, add a little a bit of this and that that your family likes and you have something new.

Hope you enjoy the free downloads and find them helpful with your middleschooler or highschooler.

I know we will enjoy our study of chemistry this year and doing this the third time around makes it more enjoyable.

HOW TO GET THE FREE CHEMIST REFERENCE SHEET

Now, how to grab the free lapbook. It’s a subscriber freebie.

That means when you sign up to follow me, you get my emails in your inbox and you get this freebie.

1) CLICK HERE ON THIS LINK TO SIGN UP ON MY EMAIL LIST & TO GET THIS FREEBIE.

2) Grab the freebie now.

3) Last, look for all my emails in your inbox. Glad to have you following me!

Also, you may want to look at these other helpful posts.

Homeschool High School Chemistry & Free Reference Sheet and Resources @ Tina's Dynamic Homeschool Plus

Hugs and love ya,

Narration – Telling Back or Testing? Books that Make Teaching Narration Easy Peazy.

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

Gauging homeschool progress is only natural. Besides, we do need to know what our children are retaining.

Narration not only works for filling a child’s mind with useful facts, but it is a gentle way of measuring progress.

Narration Telling Back or Testing. Books That MakeTeaching Narration Easy @ Tina's Dynamic Homeschool Plus

Instead of administering a test, try narration.

What is narration? It is simply telling back what they have read or what you have read to them. It is telling back what a child knows.

A child doesn’t really own the information until he or she can tell it back.

Gentle Art of Narration – Equals Meaningful Progress

This is a Charlotte Mason technique that has produced positive results in children of all ages and learning styles.

In addition, it can be a useful tool to use when you have recently taken your child out of public school and has test burnout.

True, it can be used a lot of times with younger children, but for children that are having trouble comprehending, it is a great tool.

Start off small with a few lines from one paragraph, move to one paragraph to two short paragraphs, to a page and eventually the whole story.

I used the The Classic Treasury of Aesop’s Fables for longer stories and then for funand to fill my boys’ mind with beautiful thoughts, I used a A Child’s Garden of Verses.When they were real young, I used a higher elementary age book like American Tall Tales and A Child’s History of the World, which was a nifty way of adding history to the day too.
Instead of dumbing down the answers by making a child choose a multiple choice question for a story, have them tell you all the details or facts.

In time, as the child grows, help them to learn techniques like summarization. For now, narration is a very useful tool to find out exactly what the child knows.

They can delight in the love of being read to or enjoy good literature without the fear of reducing it to a worksheet that is dull and boring.

The next time you are wondering if your child is understanding what you are teaching them, ask them to tell back the story to you or to a friend.

Start off small and by letting them narrate to you, they can give the whole scope of their understanding instead of being limited by a few multiple choice questions.

Have you tried narration?

Hugs and love ya,

Also, look at:

Instant Credit, Instant Baby food – Why NOT Instant Homeschool?
Controlling the Time Spent on Homeschool Subjects or Running a Homeschool Boot Camp
Biggest Challenges to Homeschooling

3 Reasons Hands-on Geography is Important in Middle and High School Homeschool

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

It’s easy enough to understand the importance of hands-on geography in the younger years, but it is equally important to understand why hands-on geography is important in middle and high school. Also, look at my page homeschool middle school and how to homeschool high school page for more fun tips. Too, look at my page Homeschool Geography for hands-on and simple ideas and tips.

Having one child who rolls his eyes at the mere mention of hands-on and prefers taking a hands-off approach and another child who fails to comprehend anything unless it’s hands-on, I want to share tips on why it’s important to keep homeschool geography hands-on.

3 Reasons Hands-on Geography is Important in Middle and High School Homeschool @ Tiina's Dynamic Homeschool Plus

Hands-on geography requires participation or collaboration.

The tendency when teaching this age group is to assign a boring text, drill and kill and then move on.

Geography is a subject that is fascinating because it is not only about describing the earth, but it includes pictures, maps, diagrams and it includes a description of life here on earth.

It is a subject that is overflowing with possibilities because to some extent it also includes man’s interaction with the resources of the earth.

With all of these facets to study about geography, collaboration gives the middle and high school student the teaching reins.

Hands-on geography requires active and not passive participation or studying in isolation.

My sons have taken the teaching reins as we have studied North Star Geography.  That is one reason too why we didn’t just crack open the curriculum and study the first page.

When my boys studied together, they skipped around to hone in on a part of geography that interested them first.

Guess what? You can do this when studying geography because geography covers so many topics.  You can have several trails in geography and decide which topics interests you.

homeschool high schoolgeography north star geography @ Tina's Dynamic Homeschool Plus

Contrary to what some people may think, hands-on learning shifts the focus of learning to the responsibility of your child.

Middle and high school years are about teaching them more independence and project learning is one of the best ways to do that.

That is one reason we use North Star Geography because it has projects that foster independent learning skills.

Geography Bundle

I will continue to use North Star Geography, which is for middle and high school kids, with Tiny now that Mr. Awesome 2015 is about ready to graduate.

Our middle and high school students just don’t know geography.

Just because a child is in middle or high school doesn’t mean his learning style has changed.  We are in a visual world and visual learners are valued now more than ever.

Too, the conventional method of throwing a map to outline at the student and a textbook to read is not working.  More and more students, including homeschoolers are graduating with little to no knowledge of geography.

Visual learners who learn best through hands-on still need projects and activities at the high school level. Rote memorization does not work for all kids.  We need to abandon the notion that hands-on geography is not for mature learners.

We want to avoid turning out middle and high school students who are geography illiterate and conventional methods are not working.  Returning to what did work in the elementary grades which was hands-on learning without doing babyish projects is key to helping our upper grade kids make meaningful connections.

Hands-on geography instills a greater awareness and fellow feeling for other cultures and historical activities.

When we studied about the American Civil War, geography took on another whole meaning when we tied it to our family roots where our ancestors fought in the battles.

It is one thing to read about history and geography in a dry text book and another to visit the physical area and walk the grounds.

Connecting geography with a physical location helps a middle and high school student to develop higher critical thinking skills.

For example, after studying together and creating maps of the battlefields during the American Civil War it lead to discussions about whether or not man learned anything about history from that bloody war?

At the high school level, my boys have formed strong opinions about the war and I am able to pass on our family values.  If they studied this in isolation, they might not have reached some of the same conclusions.

Middle and high school should be a time for activities and projects that are selective and purposeful.

It’s true that many times I didn’t insist that my son who preferred a hands-off approach to join us, however, many times I did insist and not give him a choice.

Our high school kids still need guidance, direction and interaction with us. They are preparing for adulthood, which means they are not ready yet.

I am so grateful that North Star Geography sees the value of hands-on learning in the upper grades and I will continue to use it with Tiny for the next couple of years.

When I asked both of my oldest sons what they remembered about geography, it never was about a book, but it is always about a hands-on project we worked on together.

Also, you may like to read:

Hugs and love ya,

Relax! How to Easily Add Art and Music to Your Homeschool Day

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

How to easily add art and music to your homeschool day is well – so not easy. Also, look at Fun Facts About the Phantom of the Opera & Styles of Music Unit Study.

They tend to be subjects that can be left out.

Although we have good intentions, it just doesn’t happen.

Besides art and music are really what stirs the imagination and are creative outlets.

Relax! How to Easily Add Art and Music to Your Homeschool Day

I’m sharing tips on how to easily add them to your day without a lot of planning.

One secret tip to easily add art and music to your day is to not schedule them.

As fixated as I am on schedules, I am equally fixated with homeschooling simply.

6 Ways to Add Art and Music to Your Homeschool

Look at these easy ways to fold in art and music to your day simply without adding one more subject to your day.

1. Add Art to Writing or Composition

With the growing list of homeschool subjects that comes with each grade, it is easy to run out of homeschool day before you do subjects.

Relax! How to Easily Add Art and Music to Your Homeschool Day @ Tina's Dynamic Homeschool Plus

I learned this double duty tip when Mr. Senior 2013 was first beginning to write.

Kindergarten Art @ Tina's Dynamic Homeschool Plus

I learned he was very much more interested in writing when he could express his words through pictures.

Instead of scheduling a formal time for art, he just folded it in when he was writing.

Because I was developing his imagination and love for creativity, having a story to go along with his picture gave him the spark he needed to create.

When I started, I used the whole series of Draw Write Now. 

These books allowed a small part of writing and then drawing to strengthen fine motor skills. 

And these books are absolute keepers in my homeschool world.

2. Music or Art can be added to your current study of history.

As Mr. Senior 2013 grew and had a similar love of history, I allowed drawing of history scenes or battles as a way for him to express himself.

Again without having to add in drawing, we just covered history along with drawing.

Then the love of simple drawing morphed into a full art study in high school.

We loved the series Draw and Write Through History in the early years.

Additionally, looking up what is the music during a history period is a perfect introduction to the history period.

For example, we’ve also used Music in our Homeschool Courses.

For example, look at the list of music courses below which you can teach in your homeschool.

Too, with science there is no need to make a choice between science and art. 

3. Add Art to Science.

Find creative opportunities to add in art.

Science and Art @ Tina's Dynamic Homeschool Plus(Draw a cell and label it.)

If there is a way to illustrate a science concept, let your child do it.

He will remember projects and the content too for many years after he is older and especially when he can add in an artful element.

4. Add Music to every day learning.

Music was no different. We folded it into our day naturally too.

Music can be done while exercising and too some children learn better while listening to music.

  • Add music to every day learning.
Early Learning Music Resources @ Tina's Dynamic Homeschool Plus

I rounded up the DVDs I created way back (I’m not that old but in this day and age with technology you feel that way) when I had “opening” in Preschool and Kindergarten with all of my boys.

I rounded up learning songs and arranged them in the way I wanted to so that my learning day could last longer with music.

We sung these songs every day as a way to learn our ABCs, days of the weeks, continents and even math.

I used resources like Sing to Learn and Rock ‘N Learn:Addition & Subtraction Rap.

Too, though I had no musical background when I first began to homeschool, it was up to me teach them how to read music in between their music lessons.

5. Music can be added to phonics.

  • Do music instead of phonics one day.

Right away, I learned that music is like learning another language.

Many days we simply sat together in the living room and did music theory.

Not only did we learn about  the musical notes but the rhythm helped my boys to learn about the “beats” or syllables when reading.

I never felt like I was skipping on their reading for the day but giving them another way to feel the beat or syllables within each sentence.

All of my boys not only managed to read above grade level, but learned music theory in the process.

6. Fold art & music together for the subject.

  • Focus on a musical composer.

We did lapbooks using Zeezok to study a composer, some language arts, geography and hands-on activities.

Instead of feeling like I was only covering music for the day, we added in writing about the composer, the history of the time period they lived in and geography when studying about the country the composer lived in.

Instead of scheduling separate assignments for art and music, let those areas embellish the every day things that your child needs to learn.

More Homeschool Music Curriculum Resources

Art and music have a way of presenting up learning in an alternative way and of finding a way into your child’s heart that makes learning fun.

Should we Give Grades to Our Middle and High School Homeschooled Kids

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

It made perfect sense to me because I was modeling a public school by grading papers.  I thought grades were needed then. Also, look at my page homeschool middle school and how to homeschool high school page for more fun tips

My thinking has changed and been tweaked quite a bit since my start up in homeschooling.

I had to rethink the whole purpose of grades and grading. Why was I just following what public school did?

Who were the grades for anyway?

Homeschool Grading versus Homeschool Grades.

Mr. Senior 2013 was wanting some way to measure his understanding of the papers and that is very normal.

Too, he wanted my approval and to know that he was doing things correct.  Again, that makes sense and it is a natural way to make progress.

Taking a closer look at my feelings and experience so far, I understood then that there is a fine, but significant difference between grading and giving a grade.  The two concepts have to be separated.

For example, in elementary grades, I would mark the papers with how many answers were correct.

If there were 20 math questions, and Mr. Senior 2013 got 3 wrong, I would mark 17/20. He would know he got 3 wrong and would look to correct those answers.

This method very much satisfied his need for wanting to be sure things were right and gave us an informal way of grading.

Too, it fit the purpose of what I think grading is all about in the early grades, which is making progress and having quality work.

When the boys started the middle school years, grades became more important.

They were interested in how they measured up against others who were doing the same thing.

As homeschool parents we know we are not comparing our kids to each other, but kids want to know how they would measure up in a formal setting to others their same age.

Realizing too that if I wanted to start seeing more independence at this age, my sons needed some way to chart what they knew versus what needed to be improved.

Should We Give Grades to our Middle and High School Homeschooled Kids @ Tina's Dynamic Homeschool Plus

I came up with yet another system during the middle school time.

I just graded math, quizzes, tests and essays.

This system was not only doable, but it gave my boys something to measure by so they could improve their skills. At this point, they wanted a letter grade.

Too, I realized there was no need to give grades daily because I expected them to check their work each day against the teacher’s manual.

The quizzes, tests, reviews and essays were all done without the answers keys or teacher’s manual. Too, I do oral evaluations with them and this is part of my grading system.

This is much like narration. If they can’t tell me back what they know without looking in the book did they really learn it?

As the high school years crept in, I had to think again about the importance of letter grades because high school is a time to prepare my kids for more formal learning.

After wrestling with many different systems, when the boys entered high school, grade keeping was easier but still needed to be finely tuned.

When Mr. Senior 2013 entered high school, I started off grading all assignments. It made me flash back to my early days of grading in elementary school.

Soon, I realized that there was no way I could keep this pace up as I had other children to teach and I realize it was my fear of homeschooling high school that made me go a bit overboard.

Again, I had to rethink why I was grading each day.  I knew high school was the important stage to keep grades for his transcript, but again, I had to come up with another system.

I started grading weekly instead of daily for three reasons:

  • It saved time because there was no need to grade daily work that he was learning;
  • It gave me a better look at what he was doing for the week by glancing at it for a week because then I was able to judge mastery more critically; and
  • It was a much better and simpler way to record keep in high school when I only had 4 grades (4 weeks) to average and give him a grade for the month instead of 30 grades (30 days).

Pretty easy uh?

When homeschooling high school, you don’t want record keeping or grading to get away from you and I have learned it is much better to keep up with as you plod along.

I know some homeschoolers who scrambled for grades for their high schooler at the end of four years, but I can’t imagine that would be easier or even accurate.

The key is developing a system for the needs of your kids, your needs and what your children will need in the future.

How to Reassess A Homeschool Grading System EACH Year.

Look at these questions that will help you determine an easy system for charting progress at whatever level you are at in your homeschool journey.

  1.  At this time do I just need grading or grades?
  2. After my child has had time to decompress from being at public school, is he the the type of child that needs some feedback? If he needs feedback, what form is best for him? According to his age, will a smiley face suffice? Will an E for Excellent, S for Satisfied and N for Needs improvement be sufficient? Does he need a letter grade for accurate measuring?
  3. What is my reason for grades?
  4. Do I want to reward for good grades or just expect my kids to do their best?
  5. How do my children view grades? Do they stress out on a quiz or test knowing that I will grade it?
  6. Do my kids understand that there is no way we can accurately gauge everything we know but that grades are measuring sticks only?

What do you give grades for in homeschool and in which grade do you start keeping grades?

Hugs and love ya,