OK. So, I know not everyone visits the SHS Homepage and I want to make sure that everyone sees this. Any questions, feel free to contact Andrea at A2Z OR you can PM me. I am no longer an admin for SHS but happy to help in any way I can. https://www.secularhomeschool.com/co...school-moving ..read more

I've heard of gameschooling and done some research into it, but haven't found as many ideas for older kids, so I figured I'd ask here. We're having some struggles here with my 11 year old - his anxiety and ADHD aren't playing together very nicely right now, and he's having trouble with emotional dysregulation. He calls it "stress attacks" and they leave him either physically hiding from his emotions, or frozen in place from overwhelm. Neither is a good state of mind for learning. Some days, he really can't pull himself together enough to do any schoolwork, which I understand. But I also don ..read more

Wondering if anyone here has used Mr. Q's Science with their kiddos... We were having a miserable time with a textbook that was just too dry/dense for my son, so I went scrambling for an alternative Earth Science text. I bought Mr. Q's advanced level Earth Science book because it covered the topics we'd planned to learn, the (brief) sample seemed approachable, and it seemed pretty rigorous (maybe 9th grade level?). My son's 11, but science at his grade level had him bored almost to tears, so I've been working at a higher level with him to keep things interesting. I felt pressure to come up w ..read more

I'd say time flies when you're having fun, but this year, time just seems to get away from me. How are all of you?!?!?!? Anyone "doing" Halloween this year? I decorated a bit but will not have any trick or treaters. We are sufficiently out in the country that we never do anyway, so the COVID year doesn't really affect that. In the towns nearby, trick or treating is being held, but with modifications. My state and local areas are still seeing increases in COVID (local positivity rate around 10%), so that's disheartening. DH and I are headed out this morning for early voting and to get flu s ..read more

I have a photo to get off my phone to add to this post, but here is a link to some photos of pretty horses that we got to meet recently. https://www.kigermustangsnz.com/photos They are Kiger mustangs, which are actually from over your way (Oregon) but a lady in NZ has imported two and we got to meet them at a horse expo. Extremely beautiful and seemed like really chilled out and relaxed personality (she said they were so laid back that sometimes they were hard to get moving). Has anyone here got to meet any in the US? I thought I would post them here because I think someone's son liked hor ..read more

What is the most random/strange/interesting thing you or your kids have learned lately? DD7 learned that chickens have earlobes, which I totally did not know, and that silkies have blue earlobes ..read more

I just saw that Amazon is rebranding its Kindle Freetime Unlimited subscription (thank goodness because it was very confusing with Kindle Unlimited. It will now be Amazon Kids+ and they have an offer on till Oct 12 for a 3-month family plan for $0.99. My kids have enjoyed having a subscription. It is like having a virtual library on hand. It does not have all the new, best seller type books but it has a lot on there. DD7 loves reading National Geographic Kids books at the moment, and both kids have liked finding recipe books, art/sketching instructional books, and books to learn foreign langua ..read more

Ok, so is this just me, or is this slightly irritating. We don't give our kids pocket money. They get enough money spent on them on after school activities. If they want money extra to that, they need to earn it by doing chores around the house. DH's parents typically give the kids money (in addition to presents) on birthdays and christmas. Now it is the school break, just a regular 2 week one between terms 3 and 4, and DH's mother has randomly sent each of the kids $20 for "money to spend in the holidays". I find it slightly (quite) irritating as we do not give pocket money, if they want spen ..read more

So we have been on a school break and I actually took some time off work, which is rare, and we have been trying to do outings and stuff and not online at all. Hence not on here. But to get to my question, 3-ish weeks ago, DD7 managed to shut her own finger in the hinge of a door and partially amputated her fingertip. It is not healing very well and is still gaping a bit. The doctor we saw initially (not our regular doctor or clinic as we had to go to after hours) did not suture it. He said it would heal "really well" with just steri strips and be healed in about 4�5 days. Our regular docto ..read more

Hi everyone, I just posted an introductory post and thought I would post about the curriculum I chose. This year we went with Oak Meadow for the all in one, open and go ease of it. My being an artist I wanted my girls to have a curriculum that to would appeal to my girls' creative side. My husband being a scientist wanted something fact-based, fully secular and not religion-neutral. After reading about this curriculum and that it does teach evolution, I thought we had a winner. I'm disappointed because this curriculum is kind of weak-sauce on the evolution. The beginning paragraph explains ..read more