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I think homeschooling comes down to two categories with digital: you either love it, or you hate it. I want to show you how you can make digital homeschool work for you and your kids. I want you to enjoy using it, if you chose to use it, and not just get it done.

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When I say digital homeschool I don’t mean, you can’t use anything but digital resources. We use a great mix of digital and paper homeschool resources.

The beauty of digital curriculum and other digital resources like digital interactive notebooks, is that you as the parent can take a more hands off approach to your child’s learning.

Digital Homeschool Curriculum

Our favorite digital curriculum would have to be Teaching Textbooks. Math is done completely online for two of my kids. Giving me time to work with their brother, or on other things. .

There is a LOT of curriculum that is now available digitally. A number of the larger curriculum companies are now offering their curriculum in a digital option as well as their print.

Using digital curriculum is also a great way to stretch your homeschool budget.

Digital Interactive Notebooks

Digital interactive notebooks are great for young learners in particular. Not saying they can’t be used for older learners as well though.

I really like them as a way to introduce younger learners to using digital learning. They are often less distracting, easier to move things around on the screen and just give them a general understanding of using a computer.

Digital Homeschool Planners

Some people love their paper planners, and that would be me too. But there are some great options for digital planners too. Homeschool Planet has a great one that we used for a year. It was great. You can set up reminders which is helpful to make sure you don’t mess something important.

Digital Homeschooling

Keeping A Digital Homeschool Portfolio

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Using Digital Curriculum to Stretch Your Budget

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Educational Online Games for Kids That Are Fun and Free

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These online educational games are fun and free and can be helpful when it comes to learning. Kids will get to interact and play games while learning at the same time.

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Digital Learning Resources

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Hands up if your kids are also learning at home with digital learning resources? It is quite a time to be a school kid! Resources for you to check out!

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100+ Educational YouTube Channels for Homeschooling •

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YouTube has revolutionized the way some kids learn. Online learning and educational videos have made a huge impact on my son’s education.

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Why I Use Digital Tools in Our Homeschool

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Play A Game About Science That Doesn’t Feel Like A Game About Science

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Like lots of parents, we’re always trying to introduce learning by stealth – give us something that combines education with fun and we’re all over it.

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Why CTCMath is the Best Online Homeschool Math Curriculum

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Learn about why this math curriculum just might be the one for you.

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Super Cute Phonics Flashcards - Digital with Matching Printables 2020

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Does phonics instruction and phonics flashcards help kids to become better readers? The answer according to the experts is a resounding YES!

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Google Slides for Homeschool Lessons & Projects

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Free Art Lessons on Youtube for Homeschoolers

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Createful Kids is a mom and child-friendly account with tons of tutorials on painting and some drawling. There are even videos to highlight famous artists as well.

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10 Ways to Use Google Slides for Teaching

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Resources for your digital homeschool:

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Homeschool Resources – What We’ve Used and Use

Using Screen Time for Homeschoolers

Educational and Fun Screen Time with Reading Eggs

SPACE! I think all kids are interested in learning more about space, which is why I thought a DIY summer camp space theme could be super fun!

Backyard Summer Camp: Space Theme

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I don’t believe that we should have our kids scheduled for every minute of everyday. My kids don’t expect me to entertain them. But there are definitely times when they need a something else to do and if I’m not introducing then it might not happen.

Space Themed Activities

Galaxy chalk Pastel Art – This is a great art project for kids to explore layering and blending chalk pastels together. It would also make a great addition to any space theme in the classroom.

Balloon Rockets – Thread a piece of straw through a straw. Then attach one end of the straw to a spot, and attach the other somewhere across a room or yard. Blow up a balloon, but do not tie it off. Tape it to the straw. LET GO! You c=have just made a balloon rocket!

Nebula in A Jar – A Nebula is a beautiful cloud of gas and dust in outer space. You can find ways to do this on Pinterest, or in our space themed backyard summer camp printable pack.

Gravity Test – Make some parachute out of materials around your home and test out gravity. While traditionally people use eggs, you can use whatever object you’d like. Test dropping your object from different highs and see how fast, or slow it drops.

Stargazing – Grab a blanket, and stay up a little later one night. Look at the starts and maybe make up your constellations.

Oreo Moon Phases – Moon Phases are a wonderful thing to learn, and when you add in Oreos you get learning and a snack at the same time.

I have been MIA when it comes to creating new products of my own, and in actuality teaching my kids lately. Moving when there is a pandemic beginning isn’t easy and really shifted our focus away from studies to survival. BUT I know there are a lot questions about how teachers, home and public, can use Google Classroom right now, and with it Google Slides. I found 10 ways that I think we can all use it the same way.

10 Ways to Use Google Slides

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I also want to add that NO ONE is homeschooling right now. We are all in survival mode, and surviving this stage in our life is all that matters. Homeschooling means field trips, going to the library, or park, not being stuck at home. At least for us it does.

Presentations

This one may seem obvious but I definitely want to mention it. Many teachers think that slideshow presentations are only for older students…this is simply NOT true! In fact I find it so much easier to create a slideshow that I can reuse for all my kids, each year.

And they can create their own presentations too.

Stop motion animation

My older kids love this! This video will show you how to do it (though students are so smart they tend to figure it out on their own).

Posters

This past year my kiddos were learning ocean animals and I had them create an poster to go along with their presentation, digital creation is fun.

Hyperlinked Slides 

I love these for science and social studies where there is a lot of content that my kids need to know. I like that even though we are working on the smae content, my oldest can go at her own pace.

There is no limit to what you can link to or create your slides for.

Writing with pictures

My kids love to use images and then create stories that go along with each image. Comic style stories being a favorite. You can do the same thing in Google Docs but the formatting often goes wonky when you add images.

Idea collection space

At the beginning of the year we create a slide deck that was just for our ideas of what we want to cover through the year, interest-led learning at its finest.

Organizing writing 

When I begin teaching various forms of writing I like to provide them with templates to help organize their ideas. We spent a lot of time working on narrative writing because that is what we were most interested in but they really didn’t understand how to put together a good story.

Unit planning

I like to use Google Slides for unit planning because I can easily add images , insert YouTube videos, tables, etc. Changes can be made easily as needed as well.

I have this freebie available for planning your unit studies (not a Google Slide product at this time).

Sharing a writing prompt

I like to do a mix of picture prompts and word or sentence prompts. Maybe prepare a month’s worth of prompts and then share the whole slide deck with my kids. We can work through them one at a time.

This is just the beginning for the ways that you can use Google Slide for teaching your kids.

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Self-care is not a one time thing. It is something you need to do often and make time for it. You, mom, are important and need to take time for yourself. There is a lot going on, and whether you have processed it yet, you are definitely shouldering a lot. These self-care tips might just help you deal with everything that is going on right now.

Self-Care Tips During Difficult Times

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All of these are for you mom. And dad. These are for homeschooling parents, and public school parents. All parents have a lot of pressure on them right now. School, work from home, or a lack of work stress.

Connect with Others

Connect with your people. There are many ways to connect with your people right now even you can’t be with them. Zoom has a free option. There is FaceTime, Skype, and I’m sure more video options. Not to mention texting and calling people.

Get Creative

Use this time for your hobbies. I am working on crocheting through my yarn stash. I have no idea how I ended with so much yarn!

What thing do you enjoy doing but you haven’t had time to do lately with your busy life? I’m sure there is something, maybe just working on reading your huge to be read pile of books.

Self-Care Tips for Technology Detox

I saw a post saying that social media usage has gone up 40%. I do not know the data on it, but judging my my usage, I can see it.

Either turn your devices off, turn your wifi off, or just pick a time during the day to not look at your phone, or even have your phone on you. It could make all the difference and help you feel better about in all aspects.

Too much COVID-19 information isn’t good for anyone. Take an information vacation, pick on source for your information and just go with them to avoid getting too much information and contradicting information.

Relax and Process

Sometimes you just need to stop, and do something mindless for yourself so you can relax, relax and process what is going on it. Just a few ideas of things you might want to do:

• garden
• crochet
• read
• bake
• go for a walk

Self care is going to look different for everyone. I want a hot bubble bath, a glass of wine, and a book. It recharges me, I can lose myself in a great and forget about everything else. You might want to long walk, or take a nap.

All moms want the same thing, the best for their kids. It doesn’t matter if that’s public school, private school, or homeschooling. Who cares as long as you feel you are doing what’s better for your kids, that’s what’s important. Here I have some productive homeschool mom tips for those that choose to homeschool their kids.

6 Productive Homeschool Mom Tips

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Organization

This is key. Without organization everything else falls through, and nothing gets done. When you start homeschooling your home becomes the center of your child’s education, but your don’t want to lose your home to “school”.

Prioritization

What’s most important? Do that first. If you can’t function with a sink full of dishes or your counters cluttered (me!) then deal with that first, and then get started on the lessons.

Pace Yourself

Don’t do too much at one time, or through the day. Or through the week. There is no need to cover all the subjects in one day, plus take your kids to extra-curricular activities, and keeping your house tidy.

You don’t want to burned out from trying to do too much in a short time.

Make a schedule and stick to it. I toss a load of wash in in the morning, and at some point though the day hang it to dry. This keeps me from having to spend a whole day doing laundry.

Interaction

It makes a huge difference when you are interacting with others. Particularly adults. Find other homeschoolers to interact with through local groups, Facebook groups.

The same goes with your kids too. They need to be interact with other kids, kids that enjoy similar activities and interests.

Involve Your Kids

Productive homeschool moms don’t obtain success by ignoring child feedback. If they love the curriculum get more like it, if they are acting up, not enjoying or learning with the curriculum or resources you are using, it it time to find something different.

Education

Productive homeschool moms have a sharp eye for the best deals on learning material. We also take advantage of other resources such as libraries and field excursions to make sure to keep up with our kid’s ever growing needs for quality education and their interest.

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