Oh gifts. They’re so fun to pick out, but quality gifts add up quick ($$$) and if you have more than a kid or two, the amount of things in your house can pile quickly. Truthfully, when our kids were younger, we didn’t do much for Christmas or birthdays. We always got them something small, …
Skip counting to familiar tunes is a great way to learn to skip count. Learning to skip count at a young age is the best precursor to mastering the multiplication facts. I started having my kids listen to our skip counting songs in kindergarten. We just cycle through our 33 math songs each school year, …
The short answer is – much less time than traditional school. If you’re talking mainly about how much time sitting at a table, working on book work, then here are my recommendations: Less than an hour of desk/ table type work in kindergarten & 1st grade 45-60 minutes for 2nd-3rd 1-2 hours for 4th grade …
Today I’m going to explain exactly how to teach phonograms to your child at home so you can teach them to read. Phonograms are the building blocks of the English language. The phonogram tips, resources & activities in this post are the main tools I’ve used to help our children learn to read between ages …
Once your child has learned the first 26 basic phonograms, he or she is likely ready to start reading or spelling. You can totally use a done-for-you curriculum, but I’ve found it’s actually easier to start with teaching phonograms and a couple simple activities at home. Once your child has the basics, you can dive …
You can teach your child to read at home. You don’t need fancy curriculum or expensive toys. You don’t need a professional education either! Once you understand 3 simple keys to reading readiness, you can teach your child to read at home. The 3 keys are: print awareness, learning phonogram sounds, and learning auditory blending. They’re all …
This skip counting by 2 song is so short & easy to learn! The familiar tune is a portion of She’ll Be Comin’ Round the Mountain When She Comes. Skip Counting by 2s (mp3) We practice basic math songs every school year for review, regardless of the child’s grade level. One day, my 3.5 year …
This post is full of ideas for what to do during your summer months as a homeschool family. Whether you take the whole summer off of formal schooling or continue your regular curriculum year-round, chances are things look different for your family in the summer than the other seasons. There is no right or wrong …
Musical Memory is very flexible, and you should feel free to tailor it to suit your family’s homeschool needs. A veteran homeschool momma once wisely told me, “You don’t serve the curriculum. The curriculum serves you!” To that end, we sell the same songs organized a couple different ways. The simplest option is to choose …
It can take a while to figure out how to best incorporate memorization into your homeschool day. The key to long-term mastery is exposure & repetition in the day-to-day practice. Don’t stress out if your 5 year old can’t pronounce “conjugation” correctly on the 2nd try. Keep playing the songs, keep playing echo games, keep …