My daughter, Emma, joins me as cohost for our second Listener Q&A episode! Listen in to hear lots of laughter and some teen snark, plus answers to YOUR burning questions. Here in the show notes, I’ll summarize a bit of what we discussed and include links to the resources I mentioned. I know that I usually include a full transcript of each episode, but this is just the way things are working out this time. Thank you for understanding! And don’t worry… I already have the transcripts for the rest of the season ready to go!
Be sure to check out all the other interviews in our Homeschool Conversations series!
Watch the video. Listen to the podcast. Read the show notes. Share with your friends!
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Welcome to podcast Season 6 of Homeschool Conversations with Humility and Doxology!
Prefer to listen to your content? Subscribe to Homeschool Conversations on Apple podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts so you don’t miss a single episode!
What to expect from the Homeschool Conversations podcast this season:
New episodes will drop every other Monday. I’ll go ahead and tell you I already have recorded and scheduled 4 additional bonus episodes that will publish on some of the “off” weeks, so be sure to subscribe to the podcast in your app of choice so you don’t miss a single one. In fact the first bonus episode publishes next week. I have no chill.
Topics covered this season include homeschooling in times of crisis, organization, writing, Charlotte Mason homeschooling, Plutarch, and storytelling. I even interviewed my childhood friend and current IRL book club founder, so that was an especially meaningful episode for me.
If you’re new to the podcast, welcome! Definitely don’t miss the opportunity to binge past episodes! I’ve interviewed so many amazing people including Sarah Mackenzie, Cindy Rollins, Amber Johnston, Pam Barnhill, Marty Machowski, and more. You can always email me to request a personalized playlist of episodes that will be most helpful to you in your current season of homeschooling, too.
Here’s your official podcaster reminder that subscribing, rating, reviewing, and sharing the podcast with friends really does make a difference. So let’s kick off season 6 strong with lots of new reviews, and maybe you’ll hear yours read on-air in a future episode!
Homeschool Listeners Q&A
Rachel: This is my first year homeschooling my kindergartener. I have a question about standardized testing. I know it’s different in each state, but do homeschooled kids still need to take standardized tests? Thanks for all that you do!
- First step is to find laws specific to your area (HSLDA, state homeschool organizations, read the law yourself); everything I say next obviously has to submit to legal requirements first
- Homeschool parents know that there are so many important things that a standardized test can’t measure. Things like compassion, creativity, kindness, and wisdom.
- Achievement tests can help you pinpoint strengths and weaknesses your child has in comparison to others who are using the same level of curriculum. Testing itself is a skill that most kids will need at some point, so there is value in the first test your kid sees not being the SAT/ACT/CLT.
- On the flip side, testing can be a stressful situation for some kids. Especially when it comes to those very early elementary years, again assuming your state law doesn’t require it, I would dissuade you from using standardized tests until your child is a little older. In my state you have to test from age 7 or 1st grade on. Some of my kids have been fluent readers at that stage, and the test has basically been a breeze. This past year, my son who is a struggling reader had so much trouble with the test. He was crying and feeling so discouraged and overwhelmed, and I essentially let him skip a good bit of the test. Because crying over a test is the exact opposite of what I want to promote: learning/intelligence has nothing to do with the score on the test, and I don’t want test anxiety to be there in future
- I never tell my kids their scores until they take PSAT/SAT. We don’t need comparison/bragging/stress/all the things. The test is testing Mom, not the kid.
2 posts on my site for further information: Standardized Test Prep for Homeschool Families and How to Choose the Best Standardized Test for your Homeschool
Emily: I’ve listened to your podcast for a while now and haven’t heard you mention anything about homeschool co-ops. Does your family participate in one or did you in the past? We recently moved to a new area and I’m trying to decide if joining a co-op is worth it. We would love homeschooling friends since we haven’t made any yet, but the commitment of joining seems overwhelming to me at this point. Obviously there are lots of factors to think through, but I’ve love your thoughts.
- We participate in a local support group that facilitates field trips, parties, and monthly moms meetings.
- I like to be able to customize our homeschool and pick my own curriculum, outsourcing when I need to. I don’t want to give up that flexibility of curriculum and schedule for a full-scale co-op.
- Other places to find homeschooling friends: nature groups , local Facebook groups to find likeminded people, homeschool sports/art classes
When recording, I forgot to mention this excellent episode from the Schole Sisters podcast with my friend Melissa Cummings all about building a local homeschool community.
Common Question: What curriculum do you use?
- Eclectic mix, different year to year and kid to kid
- Heavy on the books, especially with a textbook-free approach to history and science
2nd Grade Homeschool Curriculum 2022-2023
Math: Math With Confidence (see my interview with the author, Kate Snow, here)
Reading: 15 minutes read aloud practice each day (currently reading this)
Spelling: All About Spelling
First Language Lessons (this edition, that Amazon tells me I purchased in 2009!)
Textbook-Free Early American History
Science: Human Body using this unit study from The Waldock Way and this audiobook.
Not mentioned in the podcast, but he also does Italic, piano, and Clap for Classics!
5th Grade Homeschool Curriculum 2022-2023
Math: Zeta from Math-U-See
Grammar: Well Ordered Language
Science: Human Body using this unit study from The Waldock Way and this audiobook.
Textbook-Free Early American History
Latin:
- Latin Per Diem (Morning Time)
- Latin Chart Chant Loop (Morning Time)
- Vocabulary and Grammar Chant Videos from Latin for Children
- Libellus de Historia
- Latin Monkey Match Go Fish
Writing: Poetry unit study with a variety of poetry books and resources we already have
Not mentioned on the episode, but she also takes piano and ballet
7th Grade Homeschool Curriculum 2022-2023
Math: finishing Algebra 1 with Mr. D Math
Writing: (class with a local teacher; read why/when we outsource writing here.)
Science: Human Body using this unit study from The Waldock Way and this audiobook.
Latin:
- Latin Per Diem (Morning Time)
- Latin Chart Chant Loop (Morning Time)
- Vocabulary and Grammar Chant Videos from Latin for Children
- Libellus de Historia
- Latin Monkey Match Go Fish
Humanities: Early American History based on Dr. George Grant’s curriculum
Not mentioned on the podcast, but she also takes piano and ballet
10th Grade Homeschool Curriculum 2022-2023
Humanities: Early American History and US Government/Economics
French 2 (with a local teacher)
British Lit and Writing with CenterforLit (see past interviews with Missy Andrews and Megan Andrews)
Statistics: Life of Fred
Astronomy: Signs and Seasons from Classical Astronomy
Music Appreciation (dual enrollment class at local community college)
Not mentioned in the podcast, but she also takes violin and voice lessons.
12th Grade Homeschool Curriculum 2022-2023
My senior is a full time dual enrollment student this year and also works outside the home 21-24 hours a week. We are also figuring out college application stuff these days, so that’s a whole thing…
Questions I ask every Homeschool Conversations podcast guest…
What are you reading lately?
What is your best tip for helping the homeschool day run smoothly?
But to find out our answers, you’ll just have to listen to the whole podcast episode. 😉
Check out all the other interviews in my Homeschool Conversations series!
Tell me more about that human body unit study! We’re doing the Human Body with grades 1, 5, and 6. We have books (https://www.amazon.com/Human-Anatomy-Kids-Scientists-Breathe/dp/1648768636/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_product_top?ie=UTF8, https://www.amazon.com/Exploring-History-Medicine-Hudson-Tiner/dp/0890512485) but need a hands-on element. Do you like it?
I have that History of Medicine book literally sitting beside me right now! 🙂 I’m going to assign some of it to my 7th grader over the course of the year to supplement what she’s learning. 🙂
So I really am enjoying the unit study resource from The Waldock Way, although I am not personally using it for the hands-on activities. I’m mostly printing out the crossword puzzles, coloring pages, and labeling exercises. (For example, this week as we studied muscles there is a diagram of a body with the muscular system and the kids label each muscle with its name. There is also a page depicting the 3 types of muscle cells and their characteristics, and the kids have to match the name of the muscle cell with its details.) We’ve also used some of the YouTube playlists she links up in the pdf. It works great to print out just what is best for each grade level who is using it!
That being said, Jessica *does* include at least one hands-on activity for each chapter. The muscular system has instructions for making a working model of the hand using paper and string to demonstrate how the muscles make our bones move. The skeletal system chapter included instructions for leaching the calcium from bones with vinegar. All of the activities will be things you can do easily at home. She also includes lists of supplemental books to get from the library for each section! Now is a great time to get her study while it’s on sale.
You may also enjoy my very popular “Bones of the Human Body” song! https://youtu.be/C80a-MDPwRY
I shared other ideas for human body studies and activities on the iHN website here.