Monopoly Jr. and Monopoly This is a complete snore for the adult (to me anyway) but it really did teach my kids one to one correspondence, how to follow rules and most importantly how to be a banker!!!! Rummikub A dice game version of rummy.  My oldest two went through a phase where they played this every afternoon during quiet time. Shut the Box A fun game to haul out once in a while which helps practice addition facts. Card games War, Go Fish, Crazy Eights, Gin Rummy. . . and Poker.  My husband taught my kids poker.  Really sharpens strategic thinking and adding to 21!!! Uno We just played the junior version but my kids enjoyed it.  It was something to pull out when kids were bored. Here's a link on how to use cards to teach all sorts of math concepts. Set We went through a brief period where we played this game all the time, then something tragic happened to the deck, I can't remember what.  Something spilled all over it?  T

Various types of books to indulge in this month: Children through history Childhood of American Heroes American Girl series - I don't want to link to this because the website is this massive marketing rabbit hole!  Go to the library and check out the books there is my advice. Read Alouds: All of a Kind Family - this worked for us because we also celebrate Jewish holidays and these books recount the various fall ones that come in September and October Little House books - we loved these and read all of them out loud at least 3 times over the course of the years. Little Women -but especially the sequels where Joe and the Professor run a school for boys. Jo's Boys, etc. The Moffats series In both the Moffats and in Jo's boys the kids decide to make their own museum.  Let your kids work on collecting things to make their own museum.  Besides playing museum, let them play old fashioned one room school house or old fashioned general store. Old fashion

I am so sad now that the school year is starting and I don't have anyone to homeschool anymore.  I am going to be super busy.  I am going to start watching our resident 3 year old in a week. And I'll be nannying my new grandson come October.  I mean I am going to be BUSY!   Still, feeling nostalgic, I went back to my old blog posts.  I remember those days, after it taking so long for reading to finally click, when my kids would lose themselves in a book.  Must be one of greatest joys to witness. So here ya go.  Top Ten First Chapter Books My Late Bloomers Enjoyed

My family usually tries to go to the beach for a week in August.  We don't do this quite every summer.  We've sometimes gone to other places, but mostly the beach.  This summer we went over the July 4th week because we are expecting our grandchild sometime around August 8th!  That's the due date.  Even if you live far from the sea and maybe visit other bodies of water (pond, lakes, rivers) I'll include some of things we've read and done over the years. Family Read Alouds: Treasure Island Kidnapped Island of the Blue Dolphin Call It Courage Sailing Alone Around the World Kon Tiki - this is one I wish we had done, but never got to.  I loved reading it in high school. Swiss Family Robinson Seabird Paddle to the Sea Water Sky Great Horned Spoon - mostly for the part about sailing around Cape of Horn Swallows and Amazons - our middle son absolutely adored these books.  And now works at a sailing marina! Teens: Life of Pi (mature teen - lots of religio

We did the most slapdash way of keeping records and it all turned out just fine.  If I, the most ADD home manager in the world, can handle it, anybody can! EASY WAY TO KEEP RECORDS You know how you have a file folder somewhere with your kid's birth certificate and immunizations records in it or what have you?  Simply use that file and every time you get one of the following, put it in to this file: The ok from your county to homeschool for the upcoming academic year (we do this in Virginia) Any score you get back from the end of year testing (We always did the CAT but occasionally the PSAT) Your kid writes a good essay, story or paper that would work well as a writing sample. Any grade or evaluation from any on line class, co-op class, community college class, workshop, camp, etc. If you are like me, you only actually file that kind of stuff a few times a year at most.  EASY ORGANIZATION TRICK I am a piler not a filer. Usually during the year, a Dr. Seussian sizeD

We tried to let our kids into our decision making process as much as possible when it came to planning high school.  It might be helpful for your student to go and tour an actual brick and mortar high school.  If your child has been homeschooled all along, the idea of high school might be fuzzy to her/him.  To see an actual high school and what is required of the kids and the whole elaborate set up, might help your student see how significant the whole endeavor is.  It will give them a wider framework.  High school diplomas are a real thing!  You need it to pretty much get anywhere in adult life, whether you see this as a good thing or not, it is there, something that needs to be addressed. Since my husband wanted to ensure that our kids felt on an even playing field with kids who went to brick and mortar schools, we actually looked up what our county required and showed that to the kids.  Probably somewhere on your county school website, it shows what the expectations are to grad