February 24th, 2022 by
M3605 Tips that Keep Learners Engaged and Brains FocusedBy Blair Lee, M.S. Homeschoolers are dreamers. We spend months dreaming about what the school year is going to look like for our learners. It is easy to romanticize how it is all going to go academically. There is only one problem standing between our hard work and making our secular homeschool dreams a reality — our children. Don’t they realize how long and hard you worked to make this year perfect? Are you beginning to wonder just what you got yourself into? Or, you might be reading this and patting yourself …
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February 24th, 2022 by
M360Handcrafting a Culture of Thinking: Metacognition What are your plans for your secular homeschool curriculum this coming school year? Language arts? Math? Science? History? What learning skills are you planning on having your children work on? Wouldn’t it be great to handcraft a culture of thinking in your home that is personally meaningful for your learners while providing support for a learner-centered education? If you were thinking these skills are something kids will just pick up, think about how many adults you know who have not mastered all the learning skills. By weaving these learning skills into your secular homeschool …
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February 24th, 2022 by
M360Handcrafting a Secular Homeschool Curriculum for a Balanced Learner Secular homeschoolers are planners. Have you ever thought about the process you use when doing this planning? Do you think about the subjects you will have your child focus on and what secular homeschool curriculum or online programs you will use? What about how you are going to help your child learn how to learn? Do you plan the specific learning strategies you will deploy to help your child become a lifelong learner? Raising Lifelong Learners Homeschooling parents often say that they want to raise lifelong learners. That is a worthy …
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February 11th, 2022 by
M360What is the best secular homeschool curriculum? A common question asked by secular homeschoolers is, “What is the best secular homeschool curriculum?” It is easy to understand why a secular homeschooling parent would ask this. Wouldn’t it be great if there was one well-planned curriculum provider who you could go to for the purchase of all your curriculum needs? Unfortunately, the short answer is that there is no one best secular homeschool curriculum. That doesn’t mean you will not hear from other secular homeschoolers that they have found the latest and greatest secular homeschool curriculum to use with their kids, …
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10 Tips for Secular Homeschooling Deciding to homeschool is a big step. It is a big responsibility to oversee your child’s education. Deciding to secular homeschool can make the job seem even more challenging. However, there are some tried and true tips that can make the job of secular homeschooling much easier. Continue reading to learn more, and if you’re interested in joining the SEA Homeschooling community, join our Facebook group or become a member today! 1. Know why you are choosing a secular homeschool path For most homeschoolers, the How (to do it) takes up most of their time. …
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Vetting Secular Science Curriculum10 Ways to Make Sure Your Science Curriculum IS Secular Phew! You have finally done it. You spent hours, days, and weeks planning the courses and materials you will use for your secular homeschooling during the coming year. Your excitement over planning the best year of homeschooling EVER results in you sharing your plan at a park day or on Facebook. Instead of the expected accolades, you hear from people that your choice for science isn’t secular. Wait… what? The website you purchased the science from didn’t say the science wasn’t secular. Or worse yet, the website …
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Renaissance of a Handcrafted EducationFrom the time I was pregnant with my son, Sean, until he was a toddler, if you had asked me what I wanted him to be when he grew up, I would have told you I wanted him to be a Renaissance man. To me, the term Renaissance man means a person (male or female) who has a deep and nuanced knowledge over a broad range of fields. It refers to a person who is literate and can express oneself through writing, speaking, or both; a person who is a creative thinker; someone who is not …
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What Is Secular Homeschool Curriculum?It can be challenging to find secular curricula and programs for your homeschooled children. To help, SEA Homeschoolers developed these definitions explaining what constitutes secular academic materials. Read on and be sure to connect with SEA Homeschoolers today! Secular Homeschool Curriculum: Science Secular science curricula and programs use empirical evidence-based information from peer reviewed research. Secular science curricula present the accepted facts, principles, models, and theories explaining how the natural and physical world works as recommended by a majority of practicing experts in that area of science. They do not incorporate religious philosophy into the curriculum …
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The Benefits of HomeschoolingThere is a revolution going on right now in education. It’s called homeschooling. I am part of a fringe group in this revolution. You don’t hear a lot from us, but there is a group of homeschoolers who consider our style to be secular, eclectic, academic homeschooling. You don’t hear from us because on the one hand we are the unloved mongrels of the homeschooling community, so we keep a low profile, and on the other hand, we are too busy figuring out how to best facilitate our children’s education. We spend too much time on academics …
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“I haven’t been everywhere, but it’s on my list.” Susan Sontag Travel is a big part of our homeschooling journey. When we can, we worldschool. Worldschoolers incorporate travel throughout their children;s journey through learning. My husband and I want our son to be a global citizen. We want him to understand that many different cultures have looked at situations and come up with equally viable answers, one not necessarily better than the other. We want him to experience and appreciate different cultures and this big beautiful planet he lives on. We started traveling with Sean when he was two years …
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As a follow-up to the talk I gave at the SEA Homeschoolers Convention 2018, “Playing School: Bridging Play and Education for Academically-Minded Preschoolers and Kindergarteners,” I would like to share a list of some of the most-loved items in our child-led homeschool. We are eclectic homeschoolers and that definitely shows in this list. All the products on this list have been selected and tested by my kids. Some are updated versions of materials my teens loved when they were little, and others are new additions to our homeschool toolbox as I start this journey again with my youngest. (This post …
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Making through History: Sometimes We Should all Be Uncomfortable I’ve been leading a class that I created called Making Through History for almost two years, and it has been one of the best teaching experiences I have ever had. The class explores history and the humanities through the art and invention that expressed the values and aspirations of people in a specific time and place. These days STEM/STEAM education is all the rage, and we are told that our children can’t be prepared for the future without it. While I agree that technology and science literacy are essential to navigating …
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Earth Day Online Scavenger Hunt It’s Earth Day! Normally this is a day when communities have lots of organized activities to help people learn about and improve the environment, but with the current global pandemic that is not an option this year. So, we created this fun and educational online scavenger hunt that families can complete together while sheltering at home. We hope that as you check off all of the challenges on this list, you will learn about important environmental issues and find ways you can reduce your family’s environmental impact & help solve the climate crisis. 1. Find …
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The Other Science Crisis: Climate Change Everyone, everywhere is talking about the coronavirus right now and for good reason. But this Earth Day, let us remember that there are at least two major science crises going on right now: The global warming that is causing the climate crisis Of course, the coronavirus The science explaining the coronavirus is not yet well understood. The science explaining climate change is. And there is no time like the present to learn the science of climate change. In part because, "Scientists have long warned that climate change will impact not just our environment, but also …
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Pandemics – Unit Study Several days ago Pandia Press reached out to Pandia authors & SEA Homeschoolers Samantha Matalone Cook, Amy Sharony, Lindsey Sodano, and Blair Lee and asked us to collaborate on a unit study focused on the history and science of the causes, cures, and responses of pandemics. Here it is as a direct download. We worked to create something usable for a large grade range. Much of the science is excerpted, rearranged, and edited (to be specific for this topic) from RSO Biology 2. All the rest is newly written. Even the science has some new labs …
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