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Enjoy 725 words of homeschool inspiration below. ⬇

Earlier this week I told my kids that we are starting school on Monday - I hadn't actually decided until around then when I was going to be ready to start. This coming school year has so many changes in curriculum that I'm feeling somewhat nervous and "behind' in prep myself...anyway...I asked them what they thought about that and I got some mixed reactions. My youngest is thrilled, she can't wait to start first grade, while my third and fifth grade boys are somewhat more hesitant. In fact, this morning my fifth grader likened starting school to the Norman conquest (as in he was going to be conquered?!)....anyway we have mixed feelings around here, but at least I know he remembers something from history last year!

Here’s what's new this school year...

📝 Fresh Picks

Writing Curriculum - My fifth grader will be working through the video-based lessons for IEW Structure and Style for Students this year. I am excited for the independence that I hope this will provide. The package I bought was quite an investment, but I plan to use it in future with my other kids, since I bought the "forever streaming" version.

​Language Smarts B* - Update - I cannot tell you how much my first grader wants to start this book. She is sitting on the couch staring at it while I write this, and she keeps saying "I wish I could just do one page." It is very colorful and visually appealing, but I have decided I would NOT want to buy the ebook of this one and print it myself - it's worth the price of the book to have it already printed. I've also created a checklist for this one and will upload it to the Free Printables page on my site later today. I found that the sections do not align with the colors of the pages, which is weird, so I color-coded the checklist to align with the pages so you can see more easily what I mean.

🧰 Teaching Tools

​Draw the US (Draw the World series)* - Last year we used the Africa book because our history focused a lot on that continent, and this year I'm excited to try drawing the USA, since it coordinates with our history.

​Visual Timer* - I love being able to set a timer for my kids and they can "see" how much time is left. Compared to my previous one (the knob to turn it eventually came off and got lost), this new one is tiny. The settings for the "alarm" include a tone (loud or soft) or a flashing light. They last approx. 20-30 seconds - I didn't actually count it - then turn off on their own. I also noticed that this one moves the opposite direction from my previous one. Just notice if you care which direction it counts down from.

📚 On My Bookshelf

​A Child's Introduction to Poetry* - This book just arrived from Amazon this week and it is really awesome. Not only is it visually attractive, full of colorful pictures and graphics, but it also has short bits of background information about the poems. Each section focuses on a different type of poem or a different poet and then gives a sample of their work. My kids seemed to like the little I've read with them so far.

​Pizza and Taco: Too Cool for School* - Super short graphic novel style book but it's a huge hit in my house with all three kids. I borrowed this one from the library and will be searching for more...they were recommended as similar to Dog Man but less potty humor. Apparently it's worth a re-read from each of my boys.

​Haggis and Tank Unleashed: All Paws on Deck* - My boys are currently reading this book and the one above, trading back and forth and showing each other the funny parts. I think we'll be borrowing more of these from the library too.

​The Detective's Assistant* - I haven't decided if I'm going to use this one as a read-aloud or just let my kids read it independently. It's a chapter book based on the story of the first female detective.

💰 Deals and Steals

​All About Learning Press* - monthly GIVEAWAY signup

Good luck everybody! ;-)

Emily

​TeacherTutorMom.com​

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

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