Welcome to The Learning Link! Your weekly dose of homeschooling tips, tools, and inspiration to make teaching easier and more joyful. If you were forwarded this email, you can sign up for your own copy here.

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Enjoy 535 words of homeschool inspiration below. ⬇

I recently watched a video discussing how schools should be designed around the science of learning. How teens should start school later, kids should have longer breaks, and school days shouldn't be so jam-packed. I thought, as homeschoolers, we can do this. We can slow down when we're having a particularly rough day, or speed ahead when they are eager to keep learning. We can take breaks to run around the yard or start school later when they need more sleep. In other words, we get to adjust our homeschool to match the "science" and to do what works best for our kids - each individual person. What an incredible gift.

📝 Fresh Picks

A mix of posts, freebies, products, strategies, factoids, and even non-homeschool items.

​Brain Rules* - I borrowed this book from the library a while back as part of my research into the science of learning. However, I never finished it, not because it wasn't awesome - just because my brain cried "squirrel" and rushed on to something else. So, I added it to my Amazon cart. In the meantime, I wanted to share a few of the nuggets I gathered from it regarding exercise and its effect on learning:

• Imaging studies indicate that exercise increases blood flow to part of the brain central to memory formation.
• Exercise strengthens and increases the growth of blood vessels and thus the body’s ability to remove toxic waste and to better deliver oxygen and food.

🧰 Teaching Tools

​Daily Word Ladders* - Available in a range of grades, these "word ladders" build phonics, spelling, and vocabulary skills in a fun way. When I taught 3rd grade, I would cut out little letter tiles for the kids to manipulate as they tried to determine the next word up the ladder.

​Fun Science Demos - My kids and I discovered this channel today and watched three of their videos in a row! I linked to just one of the videos because I think it was our favorite.

📚 On My Bookshelf

Updates on books I've previously mentioned...

​Nathan Hale's Hazardous Tales* - So, this book series IS a hit with my 10-year-old, BUT he just showed me today that one of the books in this set has several 4-letter words in it. I had mentioned getting these a while back, so I wanted to make you aware of this information so you can make the best decision for your family.

​Cobble Street Cousins series* - This precious series is being thoroughly enjoyed in my house. My 6-year-old is loving them, and now even her 8-year-old brother is flying through them.

​The Complete Brambly Hedge* - Our current read-aloud has the most adorable and intricate drawings of the mice's elaborate homes. I feel the child in me wanting to jump into the story. We've only read one of the stories so far, but it seems like it would work for a family that included somewhat younger kids than our previous James Herriot* read-aloud book. I'll keep you posted.

💰 Deals and Steals

​All About Learning Press* - monthly GIVEAWAY signup

Happy Homeschooling!

Emily

​TeacherTutorMom.com​

P.S. Don’t miss my latest posts on TeacherTutorMom.com for encouragement, strategies, reviews, and more.

*AFFILIATE DISCLOSURE: This email contains affiliate links, meaning should you decide to make a purchase I will receive a commission at no extra cost to you. As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases. I try to to mark each affiliate link in my emails with an * for the sake of transparency, but occasionally I may miss one. See the full list of my affiliations and learn more here.