Cyber Monday Deals for Homeschoolers - 2024

With all the sales online this year, for Black Friday and Cyber Monday, I got together with my friends to offer you great sales for your homeschool.

Homeschoolers deserve to have Black Friday and Cyber Monday, too!

This is a chance to find the perfect resource for your homeschool, to make 2025 a great year for your kids and teens.

Each of these items are made by homeschoolers! They are written by my friends, well known veteran homeschoolers.

This list includes homeschool curriculum and resources for:

Social studies
Psychology
English
Art
Gift ideas
My high school guide

7 Sisters Homeschool

7 Sisters Homeschool

ENGLISH

LIT GUIDES

WRITING CLASSES

ELECTIVES

FINANCIAL LITERACY

HEALTH

CAREER EXPLORATION

ETC

SALE was a few years ago, but check out their regular prices.

Most are 1 year long courses for less than 30 dollars.

I am sorry to say that these courses are not on sale this year. But have you checked out their regular prices?

Let me mention that again:

Full year courses are only 30 dollars for the whole course.

These courses focus on building skills, and avoiding any busywork.

Do you want some ideas from 7 Sisters to get your started? Here are some of our favorites.

- 7 Sisters Social Studies

Are you looking for something a little different for homeschool high school history?

7 Sisters Homeschool offers History and Philosophy of the Western World.

This is a 1 credit ebook based course includes both World History and World Philosophy.

This is a fun and thought provoking course can be done by your teen independently. It includes church history, too.

Did you know that many colleges accept Psychology as a Social Studies course?

- 7 Sisters Christian Psychology Course

This course has been thoroughly updated. I wrote about it in this article, which gives you more of an idea of the course.

It includes character development as it is a Christian course.

Frugal Social Studies Elective

- 7 Sisters English, Writing, and Literature Courses

I have written a lot about these already frugal, no busy work courses.

Click here for more info:

Our Favorite Frugal English Curriculum

Tricia is offering a sale on her video based art lessons, perfect for your holiday homeschool. Don't miss out!

She is offering an introduction to Chalk Pastels for FREE.

- Art for FREE?

Do your kids and/or teens enjoy art? What a great way to spend a winter afternoon.

Looking for some resources for your homeschool art in the afternoons?

SALE - FREE!

Reduced from $15.00

Get Started in Chalk Pastels shows you how easy and simple it is to do fun and educational art projects with chalk pastels. and is on SALE for FREE all week. Perfect for all ages.

Are you wondering how to make art into a high school elective? This article tells you how we did that.

LINK: Frugal High School Art

Awe, nature study. My favorite thing to do with my daughter. Cindy is offering one of her most popular nature studies.

Thanks for stopping by BJ's Homeschool,

Betsy

Betsy is mom to her now college grad, whom she homeschooled through high school. She blogs at BJ's Homeschool, about the early years, highschool,
college, gifted/2e and wrote -Homeschooling High School with College in Mind, 2nd Edition, She offers homeschool help through messages at BJ's Consulting, and has had some of her articles picked up by the Huffington Post.

Stay in touch through my

Pinterest

How to Plan High School at Home -

This post has moved. To reach this article please click here.

4 Steps to Planning High School at Home- Updated

-------------------------------------------------------------

Are you Homeschooling High School with College in Mind?

To learn how to assign high school credit and more, check out my ebook/book on college sharing how I helped my 2e daughter get into each of the colleges on her list, including an ivy.

What people and reviewers are saying about it:

"For parents new to homeschooling, this book is full of ideas, examples, and helpful advice. Since homeschooling is about having choices, we like that the author highlights how her family made their decisions and sorted through their options every year.

I would recommend this book to any homeschool student and parent." Lit Pick Review

Homeschooling High School with College in Mind

Kindle -Amazon - ON SALE 45% OFF

Also in Paperback -Amazon

More high school posts are on Pinterest here: Homeschooling High School Pinterest Board.

Also on the blog:

101 Reasons to Homeschool High School

Thanks for stopping by BJ's Homeschool,

Betsy

Betsy is mom to her now college grad, whom she homeschooled from day one. She blogs at BJ's Homeschool, about the early years, high school & college and wrote the book - Homeschooling High School with College in Mind. She offers free homeschool help through messages at BJ's Consulting.

Want to stay in touch?

Pinterest, G+, Twitter, Facebook

Subscribers will get the first chapter free!

Click here to get yours.

This post was shared on my favorite linkups here.

7 Benefits of Homeschooling & Dealing with "Those" Questions -

Summary: Deciding to homeschooling high school can bring up "those questions" from others. Here's a number of reasons why homeschooling teens is a great educational option. #homeschoolhighschool #highschool #homeschooltocollege

#whyhomeschoolhighschool

Are you getting "those" questions about your choice to homeschool when meeting people for the first time?

Do they even interview you with tons of questions about homeschooling your teen?

I remember those days, but not so fondly. Especially when we were in the thick of it, homeschooling during the winter months, which often kept us in the house more than we liked.

My husband and I knew we were doing the right thing for our daughter. But when hit up with multiple questions about our homeschooling, and sometimes we just did not know what to say.

Once our daughter got into college, those questions all but dropped. Finally!

And she did fine in her college classes, so it was obvious to our worried friends, that homeschooling had not "wrecked" her.

Actually, we credit homeschooling for helping our 2e kiddo get into college, and also in her making Dean's List there.

Thinking back, there were a number of factors that made homeschooling our best choice for our daughter.

I share 7 ways that it did below.

And when friends and neighbors asked about our choices, I often drew my answers from this list.

Feel free to use any of these ideas, when you are confronted with folks who challenge your educational choices.

7 Benefits of Homeschooling High School

1. Homeschooling can best meet your teen's individual learning needs.

Homeschooling created an environment that nurtured and prepared our daughter well for college. It gave us the flexibility to not only challenge her intellectually, but also explore and find ways to accommodate for her learning issues, similar to ADHD.

If she had been in public or private school, she would have been faced with learning most everything through listening to the teacher, in front of the class. That would not have worked for our daughter. And if she was tested, with only verbal directions, she would have failed. In homeschooling, we used visual and tactile (hands-on) approaches, and she loved learning and excelled in it.

As a homeschooler, she was able to learn in the way that she liked best. That is just the tip of the iceberg...

2. Homeschooling builds confidence by providing a strong foundation, and a soft place to fall, so crucial for kids, during the teen years.

Nothing like knowing that a cozy home is a waiting our teens, when they just finished a difficult day at their part time job, a new activity, or just finished up with the ACT test. She was well rested and able to focus on her test prep. Later, in college, she is still taking advantage of this, as she commutes to campus.

3. The 1 on 1 focus of homeschooling catches any learning gaps.

As homeschoolers, we can review, go back, switch up our curricula, or even add another year of high school, if that would help our teen.

My daughter benefited from the freedom to switch curricula or approaches when needed, gearing our homeschooling to her strengths. She was a visual learner, and we could set up her learning to focus on that, as opposed to auditory learning, and that made all the difference for her.

She could work ahead on some subjects, take extra time for others. It allowed us to accommodate for her sensory issues easily, day to day.

4. Homeschooling allows for time to build special gifts and foster and grow your teen's interests.

Following their interests motivates our teens so much, even for doing the less interesting work that would be required for their chosen field of study.

Helping our kids discover their inner-most gifts and interests, not only helps them grow, it also creates strong motivation for them to learn, study those things that will help them in the future.

When my daughter wanted to try her hand at becoming a leader, we found activities that would foster those skills.

Homeschooling gave her the time, and the resources, to pursue her interests in leadership. And when my daughter applied to her college honors leadership program, her high school activities helped her get accepted. More information on Youth and Government and the Mock Youth Legislature program can be found in Chapter – Electives and Activities.

5. Interest-led learning produces motivated, self-starters.

Encouraging their interests builds self starters! That is just what many colleges are looking for, motivated and independent learners,and those are things that makes a college student succeed.

6. Homeschooling teaches self management skills

Homeschoolers learn how to organize their studies, plan their days, and prioritize what needs to be done first, etc....... all skills that are essential to success in college or a new vocation.

My teen even took our workboxing organization style with her to college! Organizational skills learned at home were key to her success in her freshman classes at college.

7. Homeschooling teaches problem solving and researching skills

My daughter watched me search and choose homeschool curriculum each year. During homeschool, she had often seen me search for resources, as we chose curricula, searched for a dance class, or surfed the net for help in algebra, from Khan Academy.

Through the years she learned how to problem solve and research things for herself, as she did that every day in our homeschool.

When faced with a difficult class in college, she put her problem solving skills to work.

So her first thought, when faced with this difficult college math

class was not how she could find a way to drop it. It was, instead, a question to be answered - What resource would help me to deal with this?

She came to me and we worked out a plan together. She completed the class and did well in it. Homeschooling taught her the problem solving skills to do that.

Those are my top 7 reasons why homeschooling prepares our teens well for college.

What would you add to this list?

I helped my daughter get accepted by each of the college on her list, including a tier one U, with scholarship offers.

Have you seen my new book yet?

________________________________

Do you want a guide to high school and college, plus my exclusive guide to the Common Application for homeschoolers? 

I have gathered together all my best tips for high school and college and put it into my new book, Homeschooling High School with College in Mind, 2nd Edition. 

It gives you everything that you need to plan your high school homeschool for your college bound teen.  Plus how to help them get into the college of their choice.

Paperback is on Amazon for only $11.99

This book is an easy-to-read guide to college for homeschoolers, recently updated with 7 NEW chapters 

Recommended by: Lessa Scherrer, Certified College Counselor

                               from College Inside Track

"Betsy has a wealth of understanding and knowledge to share with the parents of college bound homeschoolers.  She provides support, encouragement and step-by-step advice on all aspects of the homeschool high school and college application process. This book is a must-read for parents considering homeschooling high school and for parents in the thick of the application process."

Thanks for stopping by BJ's Homeschool,

Betsy

Betsy is mom to her now college grad, whom she homeschooled through high school.  She blogs at BJ's Homeschool, about the early years, highschool, 

college, gifted/2e and wrote -Homeschooling High School with College in Mind, 2nd Edition,   She offers homeschool help through messages at BJ's Consulting,  and has had some of her articles picked up by the Huffington Post.

Want to stay in touch?

Subscribe, Pinterest, Facebook 

No spam ever. 

 Just encouragement for your homeschool

 in your inbox.

nfb

Making your own High School English Course -

Thanks for stopping by! I am glad that you are here. I invite you to follow me on Pinterest | G+ | Twitter | Facebook

There are many ways to homeschool high school english. One way is to make your own course. One year, we did just that. So today, I'd like to share six things that we included in our homemade English course. You can add in grammar review and vocabulary, too, if that is needed for your student.

Six Important Components to High School English

1. Read A lot

Choosing your own literature to read can really be fun, and that can include some free reading books, too. It all depends on what your teen needs and where you think they are heading. If your student is going into the trades or right into a vocation, then the reading does not need to be in typical high school literature selections, it can be nonfiction oriented to their probable trade or future job.

2. Write alot

I encouraged my teen to write..a lot!

First, I assigned essays to write, related to her reading. But we did a variety of other writing, too, when she wanted to do something else. The important thing is to help your teen get comfortable with the written word.

Sometimes I gave her the choice to write in whatever way that she felt motivated to do....such as: Write about a newspaper article, write some dialog to a short story, write how to's - such as a recipe, or how to find a good deal on cell phones, etc. You

If your teen is interested in writing fiction, I would encourage that. Writing fiction is a great way for kids to learn the components of literature - setting, point of view, characters, plot, etc. That is the basis for literary analysis, discussed below!

It is also helpful to introduce your teen to different types of essays, if they are college bound, eg, narratives, expository essays, persuasive essays, etc. Time for Learning has a great resource for that here. But the topic was always teen-led, in our house. If you want a guide, there is a listing of writing standards for 11th and 12th grades on this link.

3. Practice the Steps of Writing

Time for Learning has a simple outline of these steps here, which include:

1. Prewriting/Making an Outline

2. Drafting

3. Revising

4. Editing

5. Publishing

Taking it step by step, as above, helps to make essay writing or report writing less daunting. Having the goal of making an outline, or sketching out a draft was doable, as opposed to trying to do the whole thing at one time!

My daughter disliked making an outline, but learning to outline has really paid off or her, and helped her to create meaningful essays that were well constructed and made sense!

4. Try Some Literary Analysis

Why do literary analysis? ...I do it because it is a great way to teach critical thinking skills, needed for whatever your teen will be doing.

But what exactly is it?

"Literary Analysis is the practice of looking closely at small parts to see how they affect the whole. Literary analysis focuses on how plot/structure, character, setting, and many other techniques are used by the author to create meaning....." from Arrowhead High School. Click on this title for more info on literary analysis.

Oak Meadow helped us with literary analysis by asking lots of questions to ponder.....about plot, setting, character development, etc. Ambleside Online also has a great sample list of narration questions as well.

We had great discussions together!

Join your teens in pondering the why's and how come's of the story, the plotline, how the setting impacted the plot, etc.

5. Do Research Reports

Writing research reports is probably something your kids have learned to do through the years. Knowing how to research and write up one's findings can be important in many future career opportunities.

6. Take a Break

Taking a break not only helps with writer's block, it can also give your teen something new to write about!

One day, we stopped by a farmer's market, and got a bunch of apples. That got me busy cooking, and making applesauce. Nothing like homemade applesauce. We had it with latkes, potato pancakes, for dinner.

...Recipe writing is a very good skill, too! Learning to write the procedures needed in a recipe, is good practice for later writing the steps to a plumbing problem, or how to proceed when repairing an air conditioner.

What are your favorite ways to teach English? Please share in the comments.

Are you Homeschooling High School?

My book is a do-it-yourself guide to high school, with lots of help for getting your teen into college, if that is where they are headed.

Homeschooling High School w ith College in Mind

Kindle is 45% off thru August 14th - Amazon

In print - Amazon

PDF @ $6.49 on Educents

What's included in the book?

Check out this review by Tricia Hodges.

Click here to get yours!

The iHomeschool Network is doing a blog hop this week on how to creatively homeschool. To reach all the other creative posts
click here.

Thanks for stopping by BJ's Homeschool,

Betsy

Betsy is mom to her now rising college senior, whom she homeschooled from preK through high school. She blogs at BJ's Homeschool, about the early years, high school & college and wrote - Homeschooling High School with College in Mind. She offers free homeschool help through messages at BJ's Consulting.