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Five Good Things: Family Favorites

It’s been quite the whirlwind start to the school year!

Our pace has picked up a lot - in comparison to the extremely relaxed days of quarantine.

As I’m interacting with people in our private FB group, talking to homeschool moms I know in person, and answering emails, I’m discovering there are many of you NEW to homeschooling this year. While I know it might not be what you had planned, it is my prayer that you will see the joys and benefits of homeschooling even on the hardest days.

It’s a joy and an honor to serve you in this homeschool community!

Today’s installment of Five Good Things contains five things that we’ve been loving as a homeschooling family. (I think you’ll find at least one in here you’re bound to love and use, too!)

Five Good Things: Family #Homeschool Favorites

Five Good Things: Current Family Favorites

  • Classical Stuff You Should Know

    This podcast is WONDERFUL!

    We’ve been enjoying some of the episodes about Medieval Literature as a family, but I know a lot of parents who listen to this podcast on their own - just for fun. If you’d like to become more familiar with all things “Classical” in a humorous way, this is for you!

  • iBeanie

    Raise your hand if you love to read! (ME)

    I love to read on the iPad at night so I don’t have to keep my husband awake. My hand would always get tired holding the iPad (first world problems, huh?), and this iBeanie is so helpful. Plus, it’s super cute!

  • Art For Kids Hub

    This has been a favorite in my house for YEARS. I just recommended it to a mom today. My son was just using it last week. (You get the picture.)

    These drawing tutorials are humorous, educational, and just FUN. My son always enjoyed doing them on a big whiteboard with lots of dry erase markers - and saved a very few to complete on paper and save.

    There’s just so much to choose from here - and it’s great that the tutorials are done WITH children and at all ability levels. Everyone can gain confidence this way.

  • Super Simple Planner

    This planner is the best one I’ve found (and put into practice) with my homeschooler. As a high schooler, he needs to keep track of his assignments for the week.

    This planner is just SIMPLE. No frills (great for a boy) and plenty of room to write. My son is using it faithfully, so that’s a WIN!

    (I purchased this one at Staples, but this one on Amazon looks to be almost the same.)

  • Shut the Box

    You might get tired of hearing me talk about this game. I wrote an entire blog post about it.

    (It originally started off as a pub game in England, so it has an interesting history to it.)

    All ages enjoy this simple game, and it’s one that kids can play by themselves, too. It’s great for math facts and you can then make up all kinds of games, too.

Are you inspired to use one thing from these five? What is it?

Let me know in the comments below!

Five Good Things - Family #Homeschool Favorites

5 Good Things: Helpful Resources

Happy second week in July! The craziness continues…

School reopening is now at the front of everyone’s minds. (It also makes me think about what the future will be for homeschool co-ops and activities this year.)

I wrote a post about masks and young children returning to school. Wow. That’s a hot topic. Did you read the post? My focus here is and always will be what is best for CHILDREN.

I’m longing for things to return to “normal”, but I’m not sure if and when that will happen. Our homeschool group will begin again in about a month and we are longing for joy, friendship, and our familiar routine.

Who’s with me?

5 Good Things This Week:  Helpful #Homeschool Resources

I hope everyone had a restful 4th of July holiday. Ours was quieter than usual, but we made the best of it.

My daughter made a yummy peach cobbler for our celebrations.

(One of the best things about homeschooling is that it allows us to train our children in ALL areas - cooking, laundry, and cleaning are huge parts of life, right?)

We (along with millions of others I think) watched Hamilton over the holiday. I enjoyed it VERY much - but I would not have young children watch it, that’s for sure! I will be starting My Dear Hamilton this week, which I understand is a great book.

I also got a chance to publish the June 2020 reading recap - it was a wonderful reading month for me.

My husband and I will celebrate our 23rd wedding anniversary tomorrow.

Life marches on and we continue to find joy in the small moments.



This week’s good things are just basic helpful resources for your homeschool - and your development as a homeschool parent. Enjoy!

  • Introverted Mom

    This book by Jamie Martin, is free to read on Kindle if you are an Amazon Prime member. Especially in the beginning of our homeschool journey it was very difficult for me to adjust to not having quiet during the day - homeschooling can be taxing for an introverted mom, and Jamie’s book provides a lot of encouragement!

  • 100 Things Worth Memorizing With Your Child

    Memory work was (and still is at certain times) extremely important in our homeschool. This post from Sonlight will help spark some interest for what to memorize! We always had memory work as part of our Morning Time.

  • Issues Facing America’s Homeschoolers

    This podcast from Focus on the Family is the first of two - I highly recommend listening, especially if you are a newer homeschooler.

  • The Curriculum Choice

    Do you know about this site? If not, bookmark it and refer to it often! This is your go-to site for curriculum reviews - written by homeschool parents just like yourself. There is a wealth of information here.

  • Sneaky Summer Learning

    Open up your library’s website and start reserving some of these books. They are all great for some “sneaky” summer learning. I have recommendations for math, history, science, fine arts, and more in this post!


Do you have a resource that you would like to share with us?

Leave a recommendation in the comments below!

5 Good Things: Helpful #Homeschool Resources