Where our Homeschooling Happens









Our homeschool space, through the years, has been ever-changing and evolving...

I remember starting out with my 4 year old, when we just used a wooden table that we set it by the window, for my daughter to practice her letters and such....



..She could watch for birds at the same time....



Science happened wherever we were, as long as we had a pail for collecting her important specimens....



Then, in the kitchen, we encouraged our young artist with pudding fingerpainting, drawing, gluing, cutting, and even painting with apples.  I just had to remember to cover the table with a plastic tablecloth, first, lol!


For a reading nook, I used a bookcase from the thrift store, and filled it with books, changing them out as she developed her reading skills.  Most of the books were either presents from family or found at one of our local children's consignment stores.

Here is how our Book Nook looked, in the early years...



We found the whale at a local garage sale.  It was great for my little one, to snuggle up with, and even read to!

My daughter continued to fill this bookcase with her favorites through the years, including books that she saved from her Oak Meadow literature courses and other books special to her. 

Here's how our updated book nook looks today...




These days, my teen prefers to study here.....




....in her own room, with the desk that she set up herself, decorated with her favorite things.  She used the same wooden table you saw from her earlier years, and just added the top piece from a desk set that she found at Goodwill.

The fish rug in the picture, above, was made from a puzzle years ago, that we put together with a layer of plastic wrap.  And she added a penguin stuffed animal, as well, one of her cherished things.  By the way, our kitten ran in while I was taking this picture, so he was a surprise addition to it...

That's all about our homeschooling space, at home.  But lots of our homeschooling took place outside of it......starting with preschool ballet and ending with some high school activities, such as Youth and Government.  Here's a picture from that....when they were goofing off.



My teen earned an English credit in speech and debate, through this fun teen activity.

And, our nature studies, of course, took us outside.  First, to explore our backyard, then later to explore the pacific northwest through mini road trips.  Sometimes my teen "took me", as she was practicing her driving skills....


And now, my previously very neat and tidy little one, will finally let herself get muddy....yes!

Thanks for stopping by, to see where our homeschooling happened...and, as you know, homeschooling happens everywhere!




Thanks for stopping by BJ's Homeschool,

Betsy


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

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Thanks for stopping by BJ's Homeschool,


Betsy


Betsy is mom to her now college junior, whom she homeschooled from day one.  She blogs at BJ's Homeschool, about the early yearshigh 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?  


This post was shared on my favorite linkups here.
Copyright @ BJ's Homeschool 2017 
All Rights Reserved


Homeschooling in Washington State

    
    



    Summary:  How to homeschooling in WA state, with resources and homeschooling group links, too!
    
    


    My family has homeschooled in Washington State for 14 years now.  Our homeschool law is very homeschool friendly, and there is a lot of homeschool support here, too. 


    We homeschooled our daughter here in WA state, starting in preschool and we decided to go all the way through high school.  

    Our daughter is now in college, and in fact, is almost ready to graduate from the University of Washington, one of the four colleges that she was accepted by after graduating from our homeschool.

    Today, I am sharing resources on our law, and all the good support that our state has to offer to homeschoolers. 

    SO we will cover today:

    • Our WA State Homeschool Law
    • Support and Resources
    • Annual Testing and Assessments
    • Our State Convention
    • Nature Study/Field Trips
    • Ask Betsy at BJ's Homeschool Help
    • What about college bound teens?

    First, to get started, here is information on our Washington State Homeschooling Law:

    --------------------------------------------------------------
    1.  Washington Homeschool Organization - WHO

    This is our statewide homeschool organization, with a large website, full of resources and information on our homeschool law.

    It also explains how to fill out the required Intent to Homeschool Form each year, by September 15th, once your child is 8 years old.

    WHO also offers a free Introductory Parent Packet to all new homeschoolers.

    2.  Qualifying Homeschool Courses are also offered by WHO and Christian Heritage.

    3.  Christian Heritage also has a brief description of our homeschool law.


    Support and Resources


    1. Teen Events@ Auburn Library

    2.  Maple Valley Covington Homeschool Group  is a Facebook group that offers park days, field trips, and weekly play times.

    3.  To reach info on our Homeschooling Co-ops, click on Support Groups & Co-Ops 


    4.  Youth and Government, through the YMCA, offers teens a chance to learn about our state government, speech and debate, and more.  We so loved doing this activity and the Youth Mock Legislature meeting event in Olympia.  

    5.  BJ's Homeschool - This is my website, full of homeschool resources for 

    6.  GHF Learners  

    Do you have a child who is gifted or twice exceptional?  

    A child who is struggling with sensory processing issues, or one who has ADHD behaviors?  

    Check on my page on that and also the wonderful site that I write for at Gifted Homeschool Forum, too.

    Looking for quality curriculum? I write reviews for this site, along with other veteran homeschool moms.  


    Testing/Assessments


    Washington Homeschoolers are required to do annual testing or  assessments each year, starting at age 8.  Here are four resources for getting that done, including options for testing yourself, in your own home.  


    Our Homeschool Convention

    Every year, we all gather at our statewide homeschool convention!  For more information, just click on  our WHO Convention.



     Nature Study/Field Trips




    For ideas on nature oriented field trips, click on Stay-cation in Seattle, full of fun ideas to get your kids out into nature. 





    Homeschool Help



    I offer homeschool help and also free messaging exchanges through my page, BJ's Homeschool

    This can be as simple as asking a few questions and/or any of these:

    1.  How do I Get Started Homeschooling?
    2.  Choosing  Curriculum
    3.  Adapting things to fit my child's needs.  
    4.  Homeschooling Styles
    5. Am I doing enough?
    6. What about Special Needs?
    7.  Homeschooling High School
    8.  How to Apply to College
    9.Washington State Homeschooling
    10.  Homeschooling preschool, K, elementary, middles, too.  

    To reach me or for more info, please click here.


    Do you have a college bound teen in your house?  



    Homeschooling High School with College in Mind - 2nd edition
     Amazon 
    and 
    Barnes and Noble 




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


    This post is linked to the blog hop at Homeschooling State by State, where there are many resources from all around the US.   And I work with families from all over, too.



    Thanks for stopping by,


    Betsy



    Betsy is mom to her college grad whom she homeschooled from age 3.  She blogs at BJ's Homeschool, about the early yearshigh school & college and wrote the book Homeschooling High School with College in Mind - 2nd Edition.  She offers free homeschool help through messages at BJ's Consulting



    Want to stay in touch?  

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    Copyright 
    Revised 2022





    All Rights Reserved



    7 FRUGAL Ways to Prepare Your Middle Schooler for Homeschooling High School




     This post may included affiliate links to products that we love and have used or would use in our  own homeschool. Please see my 
    disclosure policy.




    Do you have middle schoolers at home, who you are thinking about homeschooling through high school? 

    The other day I spoke with a homeschooling family, whose middle schooler was interested in going to college, when the time came. 

    She wanted to homeschool her through high school, but was not sure how that would work.

    Another parent wondered how she could prepare her middle schooler for high school.  She wanted to keep her interest-led style going, but also did want to be sure she would be ready for high school at home, when she was old enough for that.

    During our discussion, I came up with seven factors to look at, for your middle schooler to help prepare them for high school at home.  

    And keep your nurturing, interest-led homeschooling style all the way.


    Let's start with English skills: 


    1. Whatever English curriculum you are using, take time to Discuss what you Read



    Does your curriculum, whether published or homemade, include critical thinking questions to discuss?  Is your child beginning to analyze what they are reading?  

    There are, of course, many options for middle school English.  In our home, we used Oak Meadow, and also 7 Sisters Literature and English courses and lit guides.

    7 Sisters Homeschool Middle School English is all about introducing the components of good literature to your middle schooler.

    .
    This is by 7 Sisters Homeschool, a FRUGAL PDF course that is also Christian based.

    Through this course, literature became something that my daughter looked forward to each day....She enjoyed learning about plot, setting, point of view, and characterization. 

    For many more ideas for middle school English, go to The Curriculum Choice, and read about 7 Sisters Frugal English courses.  They have lots of middle schoolers, too and are less than $30.00 for a whole year long course.


    2.  Encourage Free Reading.

    Kids who read a lot, develop strong vocabularies. We  know that.  My daughter loved reading science fiction and adventure stories, and we encouraged that.  It doesn't have to be limited to good literature.

    Check out the many Literature Guides that 7 Sisters Homeschool offers.



    3.  Math - Get Pre-algebra done.

    Most colleges ask for algebra 1 in 9th grade.  So a good understanding of pre-algebra during middle school can really help.  

    We used Teaching Textbooks, then went to Switched-On-Schoolhouse's, which helped my daughter with retention. There are many great resources for pre-algebra. 


    4.  Write a lot! 

    Encourage all kinds of writing, fiction, essays, reports, biographies, autobiographies, etc.

    We all know how important writing skills are to the college student.  How is your child doing with their writing?  

    The key to learning to write well is to make it FUN!


    This Fairy Tale writing course is by 7 Sisters Homeschool, which is Christian based and very frugal.

    One year, my daughter was really interested in airplanes and the airline industry, so that became the focus of her research report that year.  

    We all know how important writing skills are to the college student.  How is your child doing with their writing?  

    Do they have a chance to practice different types of writing? Are they finding a way to express themselves in the  written form? 

    Use their interests for their writing assignments!


    5.  Consider providing Practice in Test Taking.

    We used hands-on approaches in our homeschool, with lots of unit studies.  But somewhere in 7th grade, we began to incorporate some quizzes and tests. 

    Test taking skills are key to success in college.  And starting in middle school gives your child plenty of time to practice.  

    I hated to add this in, but starting in middle school gave my daughter plenty of time to get used to tests, and not be anxious about them.  Knowing how to take tests has helped her so much in college.

    More ideas on this is here, from my friend Vicki at 7 Sisters Homeschool: Authoritive Guide to Transitioning to High School


    6.  Encourage their Budding Interests.

    It's never too early to encourage our young teen's special interests.  And isn't this one of the reasons that we homeschool anyway?  


    Does your child like to babysit?  Then they might like to begin this fun course from 7 Sisters Homeschool?  


    It's also very FRUGAL, and a fun way to explore what a high school course might look like!

    7 Sisters Homeschool has lots more elective courses, to look at, too. Such as drama.. 

    There are many ways to show your child's leadership skills, volunteering at church, assisting in a class in co-op are just a few.

    What would you add to the list?  

    Homeschooling is a great way to educate our kids, and to prepare them for future endeavors in their life, including the college option.

    Are you looking for information on transcripts, assigning high school credit and more?

    My book below, is FREE to read on Amazon Prime, and goes over all the details you will need for doing high school at home. 

    Plus college tips, not that that is the only way to go.  After helping my teen get into each of the colleges she applied to, I wrote a book, which is mentioned below. It can serve as your guide to homeschooling high school and help with college applications, too.







    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 yearshighschool



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    Just encouragement for your homeschool in your inbox.


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    Revised
    All Rights Reserved






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