R-E-S-P-E-C-T…Defining what it means to me… Respect is a two-way street. I want my students to feel respected. I work hard not to react to students in a way that is unkind or condescending. To keep myself from losing my mind, I set clear expectations about actions that I do not appreciate in our classroom.Read more
Countdown to the Beginning of the Year Getting your secondary class set-up is a scramble. If you are anything like me, you are heavily focused on reviewing content, setting up engaging activities, and creating an initial semester or year-long pacing schedule in the weeks (or days) leading up to the beginning of the school year.Read more
With the homeschool year coming to an end, here are seven things you can do to wrap up the year successfully. 1. Have your child complete a student-selected project We know that projects can be time-consuming and messy. We also know that kids love and remember their projects for years and years. Allowing your studentRead more
Parents take on a lot of responsibility when they decide to homeschool. Sometimes it can be a difficult, isolating process. Outsourcing is a great way to meet others while helping your child (and yourself). What is outsourcing? What does it have to do with homeschooling? Simply put, outsourcing is when you hire a person toRead more
Homeschooling is NOT easy, especially when you’re a first timer. After working with homeschoolers for more than a decade, I have identified five mistakes that I consistently see with brand new homeschoolers (and some veterans as well). 1. Expecting too much New homeschoolers expect a lot out of their kids. They tend to overestimate theirRead more
Here is a great lesson/activity for using geometric sequences to model real world problems. Feel free to use/modify this lesson plan to meet the needs of your students. Lesson Objectives Define terms related to geometric sequences. Relate the terms in geometric sequences to real-world situations. Give an example of how the formula is derived. DetermineRead more
The beginning of the school year, calendar year, or semester is a great time to teach your students about SMART goals. There’s a lot of correlation between growth mindset and SMART goals so I like to link the two together. Here is the way I work with my students on SMART goals. Step One: DiscussingRead more
Here is a great activity to teach one variable equations using Excel (Google Sheets, etc.). This is a great activity for 9th and 10th graders completing Algebra 1/Integrated math, or for 8th graders working on one variable equations. Why Use Real-World Math Connections to Teach One Variable Equations? When working on topics such as howRead more
In my first year of teaching, I had exactly two days to prepare to teach 9th-12th grade math and literature after having student taught in 1st grade. Halfway through the school year, a teacher was let go and I had exactly 20 minutes (!!!) to prepare to teach her 6th/7th grade combo for the remainderRead more
Research writing can be an overwhelming process for both students and teachers. We wanted to provide a few tips to help your students produce excellent research reports without causing you to lose your sanity. Here are our top 5 tips for supporting your 3rd, 4th, and 5th graders through the research writing process. 1. Don’tRead more