As a Christian homeschooler, I often use secular curriculum to educate my children. I believe using a variety of resources from various viewpoints can be an opportunity to foster discernment as my children grow.

Love All About Reading and wish there were a math curriculum just like it? You are in luck! Check out my new review of the All About Math Level 2 curriculum for first and second graders.

Math with Confidence (MWC) is a homeschool math program for grades K-6, written for a parent to work one-on-one with a child. Check out this detailed break-down of the Kindergarten level written by a certified elementary teacher and homeschool mom.

Math with Confidence is a homeschool math program for grades K-6, written for a parent to work one-on-one with a child. At the time of writing I’ve used levels K-3rd with my kids. Here’s my detailed break-down of the third grade curriculum!

Love All About Reading and wish there were a math curriculum just like it? You are in luck! Check out my new review of the All About Math Curriculum Level 1.

Math with Confidence (MWC) is a homeschool math program for grades K-6, written for a parent to work one-on-one with a child. I’ve used levels K-3 with my kids and am preparing to repeat K and 2nd and start 4th next year. The First Grade lessons take about twenty minutes per day, 4-5 days a week, with an Instructor Guide and one student workbook. I explain the structure of each book, the units, chapters, and lessons, as well as give suggestions and tips from my experience using it. Check out my very detailed break-down!

Using Story of the World Volume 2 to teach your elementary kids about the history of the middle ages? This is a compilation of the resources that coordinate with this book. It’s like an online index for me to store ideas - and share with you!

Using Story of the World Vol. 1 to teach ancient history? Here’s a bunch of fun, low-cost (and free!) resources we’ve used or plan to try—books, videos, printables, and more to make history come alive at home.

I love learning about history, but I never loved history textbooks. Instead, I prefer to learn through stories that bring the past to life. That’s why I’m excited to share two homeschool history programs that do just that! The Tuttle Twins and The Story of the World turn history into an engaging narrative. If you’re looking for a way to teach history while making your kids feel like it’s just story time, these might be the books for you.

Looking for a way to add written phonics practice to All About Reading? We use Explode the Code workbooks to reinforce phonics concepts and provide written practice with All About Reading.

Thinking about homeschooling your four-year-old? Good news—you don’t need a rigid schedule or a stack of workbooks to make it work! PreK is all about play, exploration, and learning through everyday moments. In this post, I’ll share simple, stress-free ways to prepare your child for kindergarten as well as some of my favorite resources.

How can we add grammar alongside All About Reading without overwhelming our kids or ourselves? My mantra for kindergarten and first grade “grammar” is keep it short and simple. In order to do this, I used an oral grammar program for my kindergarten through second graders and then move to a more independent program in third grade.

Looking for a math curriculum that is both fun and easy to use? Math with Confidence has been a hit in our home with its playful lessons and open-and-go format. I'll share what I love, how it's set up, and tips for making the most of it.

Looking for curriculum for kindergarten? Let me give you a few ideas with the resources I used for my oldest child in Kindergarten.

Learn how I prepare and organize the Math with Confidence curriculum for my homeschool room. Using a 3-ring binder and a photo storage box, I gather almost everything I will need for the math curriculum before we even start the year so that it is TRULY Open and Go!

After using All About Reading (AAR) for several years, I have picked up a few tips that I hope might help someone else just starting out….Check the front of each workbook…Prep the student workbook…Make the fluency review fun…

I am a huge fan of the All About Reading (AAR) series from All About Learning Press.…Many parents online mention that AAR is not a complete Language Arts curriculum. And, I agree. It is predominantly a PHONICS curriculum -- and in my opinion, an excellent one. But, in order to round out our kids' education, most parents want to include a few other components to this…here are my recommendations...

How I set it up to REUSE all the materials with each kid…I pre-assemble the activities in a large 3-ring binder before we ever start the next level - The student book that comes with each level has lots of hands-on manipulative games to reinforce the concepts being taught throughout the book. I hate collecting and assembling lesson pieces on a daily (or even weekly) basis. I would much rather have a huge “project” where I gather everything for the whole year at once, spend several hours, and get it all done. Then when we are in the middle of a busy homeschool day, I can just grab it and start teaching.

All About Reading, the brain-child of Marie Rippel came about as she struggled to help her dyslexic son learn to read. Hers is a phonics-centered (Orton-Gillingham based) curriculum for early elementary students. All About Reading (AAR) includes four levels as well as a Pre-Reading curriculum. At the time of this writing, I am part-way through level three with my oldest and feel like I can finally say IT WORKS with some authority. Check out the All About Learning Press website here.

Rather than waiting until children struggle, every child should receive systematic phonics instruction from the start. This is why I chose a dyslexic curriculum for my neurotypical child. Moving beyond the whole language approach, phonics focuses on understanding the sounds and rules of English. In this article, I explain the differences between these approaches, share my teaching experiences, and recommend valuable resources for effective reading instruction.