Homeschooling Archives - Schoolio™️

Ten Ways to Help Your Child Eat Healthier.

Getting your picky eater to make healthy choices and eat healthy foods can be a significant challenge. This is why jumping on the Nutrition Month train is so essential! If you didn’t know, the month of March is Nutrition Month. The Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics sponsors a fantastic campaign each year. They aim to highlight the importance of healthy food choices while developing sound eating and physical activity habits. And we’d like to help by exploring ten ways to help your child eat healthier, along with four fantastic recipes and a free meal tracker.

Malnutrition and Obesity are genuine threats.

According to Global Nutrition Report, North America is experiencing two extremes: the population is either malnourished or overweight. Furthermore, North America is experiencing severe malnutrition among children under five. The other extreme is that 9.1% of the childhood population is overweight, much higher than the global average of 5.7%. In addition, it’s no surprise that the adult population also struggles with malnutrition and obesity. With 8.7% of men living with diabetes and 6.7% of women. Along with 39.4% of women and 38.3% of men living with obesity.

How can we break the trend?

We all want our children to live healthy and wholesome lives. We should also want that for ourselves. You may feel intimidated by uprooting your family’s go-to menu and switching things up to help your family avoid such things as malnutrition and obesity. And while you may feel overwhelmed, please know that it’s possible! Making small changes to your family’s eating habits will have lasting and impactful results on everyone’s well-being.

Ten ways to help your child eat healthier.

It can be tempting to stick to the meals you know they’ll eat when you have a child constantly saying no to foods, especially new ones. When you gain the courage to get your child to try something new, it can result in a very stressful and frustrating mealtime for the entire family. Let’s try these ten ways to help your child eat healthier first!

1. Remember that food is more than nourishment.

Food has been uniting people since the beginning of time. A family meal can bring us together at the table each day. Additionally, food is almost always the centre of most celebrations! Food is life; food can improve health, keep us well, and prevent disease. Good food is a gift in more ways than one. Helping our children understand the gift of food is an essential first step.

2. Eat together as a family.

We live in a fast-paced world. As a result, we often find ourselves exhausted by the end of the day, which can cause us to gravitate toward the TV for mealtime. While this is ok here and there, it’s essential to sit down together as a family to eat at least one meal a day. According to Stanford Children’s Health, sitting together to eat as a family helps your child handle the stresses of daily life.

3. Involve your children in food prep.

There are many simple tasks that your child can partake in regarding kitchen tasks. Giving your child age-appropriate tasks to help prepare a meal for the family is a good practice. Your child can wash the fruits and vegetables, push buttons on the microwave, get ingredients together, tear lettuce and more. When you involve your child in meal prep, it boosts their interest and curiosity around food. While also setting an example for a healthy lifestyle.

4. Plan meals together.

Give each of your children one day a week when they can help choose a healthy meal for the whole family. Doing this helps reinforce good eating habits while helping them understand the importance of preventing food waste.

5. Give them choices.

Kids are always looking for ways to establish their independence. This is especially true when it comes to food. Like you don’t enjoy being forced to do something, neither do they. Instead of giving them one thing, provide them with a couple of options. When your child chooses between pear slices or apple slices, they get the autonomy they desire. You’re still in control of your child’s nutrition, but they also get a choice. It’s a win-win!

6. Allow your child to make their plate.

Allowing your child to make their plate is another fantastic way to build their independence while keeping them interested in new healthy foods. The results might not be immediate. However, most kids will be much more willing to make healthy food choices when given a choice.

7. Offer healthier snack options.

Kids seem to gravitate to sodium, preservative-filled foods. There’s just something so satisfying about crunching on your favourite snacks. But many times, these traditional snacks that kids love are filled with sugars and ingredients you can’t pronounce. We get it; it’s so easy to hand your child a bag of their favourite goodies. As you can probably imagine, this isn’t the best option for them. Your child’s snacks should be rich in fibre and protein, as this will help keep your child full for longer. Try giving your child healthy snack options to choose from instead.

These can look like this:

Apple slices with peanut butter.
A cup of nuts and raisins.
Veggie sticks with hummus.
Lightly salted popcorn.
Hard-boiled eggs.
Grapes and Kiwi.
Whole-grain crackers with cheese.

8. Be a good role model.

Who has the most influence on your child’s eating habits? You as their parent. Your attitude towards food and healthy eating habits will affect your child. If you find yourself cringing when eating a particular vegetable, they will too. Additionally, if your go-to snacks aren’t healthy, how could their choices be better? If you choose a can of pop or juice instead of a glass of water. How could we expect them to choose differently? Always remember you are the most outstanding example for your child.

9. Always offer but don’t force it.

I understand that offering your child healthy snacks or meal options can feel pointless when you know they will still gravitate to less healthy options. Don’t give up! Keep offering. If you’re making your child’s plate for them, still add the vegetables they don’t like. Alternatively, if they’re making their plate, advise them to choose at least one protein and one vegetable for their dish. Always be sure to offer healthy options for your child. However, be cautious that you never force or battle over food. This can cause them to have a greater aversion, and the dislike becomes a more significant issue.

10. Don’t give up.

Getting your child to make healthy food choices can ultimately feel overwhelming, especially if you have a picky eater. Don’t become discouraged; you’re doing an excellent job helping your child make the best choices. The easy road would be to hand your child the snacks they want and avoid offering them the healthy snacks they dislike. But the easy road never leads to anything significant. Don’t give up! Keep offering, keep trying, and keep offering.

This free meal tracker is a bonus to the ten ways to help your child eat healthier!

Sometimes kids love to track what they are doing and eating; try out this FREE Meal Tracker downloadable pdf. To encourage healthy eating habits and adequate water intake throughout the week! Print and go!

Download Your Free Weekly Meal Tracker Here

Four fantastic recipes to get you started.

We hope that the ten ways to help your child eat healthier were helpful for you. You can get creative with mealtime by adding unique meal ideas to your meal plan to help your kids enjoy their food. Try out these four amazing recipes:

Lentil Meatloaf Cups

These delicious Lentil Meatloaf Cups by She Likes Food are perfectly paired with mashed or roasted potatoes.

Ingredients:

1 1/2 cups brown lentils, dry
3 cups vegetable broth or water
One teaspoon of olive oil
1 cup small-diced carrot
1 cup small-diced celery
1/2 medium yellow onion, diced
One clove of garlic, minced
One teaspoon of chopped fresh thyme
1/3 cup bread crumbs, gluten-free if necessary
One tablespoon of ketchup, plus more for the top
One flax egg (1 tbsp ground flax mixed with 2 1/2 tbsp water, let sit for 2–3 minutes)
Two tablespoons chopped fresh parsley
1/2 teaspoon smoked paprika, optional
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
Cooking spray

She Likes Food Vegan Lentil Meatloaf Cups Instructions.

Broccoli Cheesy Bread

This fantastic recipe boasts that even the pickiest eaters can’t resist it.

Ingredients:

3 cups riced broccoli
One large egg
1 1/2 cups shredded mozzarella
1/4 cup freshly grated parmesan
Two cloves of minced garlic
1/2 tsp. dried oregano
kosher salt
Freshly ground black pepper
Pinch crushed red pepper flakes (optional)
2 tsp. freshly chopped parsley
Warmed marinara for serving.

View the full recipe by delish.

Gnocchi Chicken Skillet

If you’re looking for an easy, wholesome dinner in a hurry, this is it! Just throw it together, prep a salad and go!

Ingredients:

One package (16 ounces) of potato gnocchi
1 lb ground chicken
1/2 chopped onion
Two tablespoons of olive oil
1 jar (26oz) spaghetti sauce
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
Shredded Parmesan Cheese

View the full recipe on Taste of Home.

This meal is simple, filling, quick and nutritious. And most of the ingredients can be found in your pantry!

Ingredients:

6 oz. egg noodles
2 (4oz) cans of tuna in water
One tablespoon of canola oil
One small onion, diced
Two stalks of celery, diced
Kosher salt and ground black pepper
2 (10oz) cans of condensed cream of mushroom soup
2 cups shredded sharp cheddar cheese
1 cup frozen peas

View Tuna Noodle Casserole Directions here.

10 Of The Best YouTube Channels for Kids

An excellent source of education and entertainment is YouTube, which makes it a fantastic tool for boredom. It can feel like an overwhelming task to try to find the best content for your child to watch as you try to sift through thousands of channels. And unfortunately, if you’re not using the Youtube Kids app, your child could find something that isn’t suitable for them to watch. So we have made a list of 10 of the best YouTube channels for kids to subscribe to.

10 Of The Best Youtube Channels for Kids

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vQSECrMIygg

Homeschool Pop – The Sun for Kids

Homeschool Pop

When it comes to 10 of the best YouTube channels for kids, Homeschool Pop is one of the greatest. Homeschool Pop has many amazing educational clips for your child to choose from. They cover many topics from History to Geography to Math to Biology and even Social Studies. This channel has taken great care to explore many different areas of education. Homeschool Pop can provide an excellent boost of information for your child with videos like Oceans of the World, Antonyms, Helen Keller for Kids, Rosa Parks for Kids, The Sun, Rocks, Analog Clocks and more. HomeschoolPop is a fantastic channel created in 2015 with over 856,000 subscribers and 116 million views.

More Homeschool Pop

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TcUX6eNT2j4

Crash Course Kids – Succeed by Failing

Crash Course Kids

The excellent Crash Course Kids channel was created in 2014, with over 73 million views and 680,000+ subscribers. It’s easy to understand why it is a preferred choice of parents as it boasts of being one of the best kid-friendly YouTube Channels. They offer bi-weekly shows all about grade school science. These unique videos take a deeper look at Earth, Space, Engineering, Habitats, Chemical Reactions and more. With fun host, Sabrina Cruz. There are new uploads every Tuesday and Thursday. It’s no wonder Crash Course Kids describes itself as “Science with a side of awesome.” This channel is perfect for helping your child gain more interest in how the world works.

Find more Crash Course Kids Page

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C1aQVApevDM

Nat Geo Kids – Discover Dinomania

National Geographic Kids (Nat Geo Kids)

Nat Geo Kids is a child-friendly version of The National Geographic Network. Furthermore, each video is kept short and simple while being packed with information for your child. In addition, Nat Geo Kids aims to make exploring the world fun through weird, wild and wacky videos. These fun videos vary from cool science to funny pets to unique animals and more. Nat Geo Kids was created in 2014 and now has over 120 million views and 612,000 subscribers.

Find out for yourself why Nat Geo Kids is such a hit.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O3mSkMFZ44c

WordWorld – Boppin’ with the Bug Band/Shuffleword

WordWorld

Designed to help your child learn words, this channel is specific to younger children. Obviously, this channel is a fantastic find for parents with young learners. Additionally, this channel offers weekly episodes that last 30 minutes each. Furthermore, each episode has a different star of the show, the star being the words. Therefore Word world is an excellent channel for encouraging reading, writing and spelling. Created in 2012, this channel has over 10 million views and 82,400 subscribers.

Find more WordWorld Videos.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mz6o8b2bFd0

Storyline Online – The King of Kindergarten Read by Terry Crews

Storyline Online

This YouTube channel is a total gem! Storyline Online by the SAG-AFTRA Foundations award-winning and Daytime Emmy-nominated children’s literacy website. Storyline streams unique videos that encourage your child to use their imagination. Additionally, stories are read by actors like Allison Janney, Justin Theroux, Viola Davis, the late Betty White, and more. As a result, Storyline Online is one of the best kid-friendly YouTube channels; founded in 2011, Storyline Online has over 304 million views and 535,000 subscribers.

TVOkids

Some of the best kid-friendly YouTube channels are the ones that feature other children. And TVOkids offers a variety of fantastic video series for your child to choose from that features other children. Like My World Kitchen, All-Round Champion, Family Fun Time, Dino Dan: Trek’s Adventures, Abby Hatcher, Odd Square Mobile Unit, The Brilliant World of Tom Gates, and more. Consequently, TVOkids aims to help children prepare for school, life and the world through the power of learning. Created in 2015, TVOkids has over 81 million views and 210,000 subscribers.

Check out TVOkids.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PeNuj2GH8xg

FreeSchool – All About Stars for Kids: Astronomy and Space for Children

FreeSchool

Providing age-appropriate videos on subjects like Language Arts, Science and History FreeSchool is a preferred YouTube Channel by parents. Particularly, FreeSchool offers a safe and friendly learning space that teaches children about famous art, literature, natural science and classical music. As a result, many parents describe FreeSchool as educational, entertaining and enriching. FreeSchool was created in 2014 and had 513,000 subscribers and over 165 million views.

Kids Academy

This fantastic Youtube Channel, Kids Academy, was created in 2016 and now has 545,000+ subscribers and 160 million views. Additionally, kids Academy has a large selection of educational videos. Moreover, these videos help kids learn important lessons that can be very useful in school as well as, their videos are short, informative and interactive, keeping kids engaged and learning.

Simple History

This unique channel helps visualize the past by bringing history to life through neat animations. It should be noted that Simple History is geared towards older children. And will help your child learn about how people lived throughout history. While also including lessons on their culture, epic battles and events and developments in technology. Additionally, they’ll know what it would’ve been like to be in the trenches of the First World War? Or to be a pirate in the Caribbean or a factory worker in the Industrial Revolution? This channel was created in 2014 and now has more than 955 million views and 3.75million subscribers.

Simple History for older children videos.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D9N7QaIOkG8

TedEd – Why is it so hard to escape poverty?

TedEd Lessons Worth Sharing

Why do parents love TedEd for their older children? Because it’s phenomenal and filled with incredible lessons. Without a doubt, one of the heated channels with videos like ‘Building the Impossible: Golden Gate Bridge,’ ‘The Dark History of the Overthrow of Hawaii,’ ‘Spaceship vs. Space Elevator.’ Furthermore, TedEd was created in 2011 and has 16.4 million subscribers and over 3 billion views. Apart from its popularity, this channel is committed to creating carefully curated educational videos for your older learners.

Find more TedEd videos.

Things to remember when searching for educational content for kids.

We hope you enjoyed learning about 10 of the best YouTube channels for kids. It should be noted that while the media listed here are loved by parents and children worldwide, it’s important to remember that all kids respond differently to content. Furthermore, your child might be more advanced for some younger learner videos. In comparison, for some of the older children’s videos, your child might be overwhelmed by some of the content.

Unquestionably, you should always watch videos before your child does and gauge whether or not the video would be something that your child should watch. Indeed these channels come highly recommended; however, only you can determine whether or not your child should watch a channel.

Learn more about Schoolio After-School

Benefits of Tutoring

Many parents understand the frustrations of watching their child struggle in school. You are just unsure how to help them, so you take a closer look at tutoring. Only then you’re faced with questions like, “How do I choose a wholesome tutoring program that will work well for my child?” “How will tutoring help?” “And what are the benefits of tutoring?”

How does tutoring help a student?

Parents choose to get tutoring for their children for a variety of reasons. Some of them are that their child is struggling in school, they aren’t challenged enough, or they need a little extra help to master a particular concept. A personalized learning experience with the gift of one-on-one attention can give your child the support they need. This help translates into better study skills, a massive increase in their knowledge and a love for core subjects. While also igniting a passion for learning.

When deciding which tutor your child needs, it’s important to consider critical factors about your child, like their age, grade, and any diagnosed or undiagnosed learning disabilities. These all can impact what type of tutor your child needs. This is why it’s essential to get familiar with the tutoring company you are looking to use and meet with the tutor beforehand to discuss.

Which children need tutoring? And what kind of program should you use?

Tutoring isn’t just for children that are struggling in school. Most children can benefit from one-on-one tutoring. While it’s true that children struggling with a learning disability or struggling with a particular subject will benefit the most from tutoring, children who are doing well in school can also greatly benefit from the fantastic boost that tutoring will provide them with.

When looking for a suitable tutoring program for your child, you should look for one that focuses on your student’s needs. A program with customizable learning solutions and one-on-one sessions is essential. If your child is struggling in school, then it’s necessary to find a program that has a supportive environment. This way, they can have the freedom and flexibility to work through those complicated concepts in a specialized course that works for them. Avoid large classes with little to no one-on-one help because a program like that will only cause your child to struggle more and feel behind.

Programs like Schoolio After-School check all the right boxes (more information below).

Benefits of tutoring:

First, one-on-one attention.

A good tutor will get to know your child while learning about their learning style and needs. The tutor will then adapt their teaching strategy to match the child’s learning style. They are acting as your child’s private teacher.

Second, improved academic performance.

Your tutor has the skills to prepare your child for necessary tests and exams. While also working with your child’s problem areas. You will see an improvement in your child’s grades and understanding of the program subjects when working with their tutor.

Third, unique and individualized learning.

Through tutoring, your child will have the opportunity to receive an individualized learning experience. This unique experience isn’t always offered in a traditional classroom. Your child’s tutor will work to customize lessons and activities to meet your child’s needs.

Fourth, it significantly improves your child’s attitude toward learning and school.

Learning will become fun for your child when your child has access to one-on-one tutoring through a unique tutoring program like Schoolio After-School. The tutor will encourage and praise your child, which will help your child not feel frustrated and overwhelmed by school.

Fifth, it can encourage self-directed learning.

Your child will benefit from learning at their own pace. When working with a tutor, your child will learn how to take the initiative with their school. While also learning how to control their own learning pace.

Sixth, improved study and work habits.

Your child will learn critical study and work habits. These crucial habits will prove to be useful throughout their life. These skills will help prepare them to succeed when working to achieve their goals. These results will be seen both inside and outside of school.

Seventh, a positive impact on self-esteem and confidence.

When a tutor provides your child with the resources and skills they need to excel in school, you will boost your child’s self-esteem and confidence.

Eighth, responsibility and independence are encouraged.

One benefit of tutoring is the ability to do schoolwork independently. With a tutor’s help, your child will soon do school work independently while noticing their personal growth.

Ninth, creating a positive workspace for ideal learning.

An environment free of distractions, with fewer or no other students, will help create that positive workspace that your child needs. One without the disruptions the classrooms are usually full of. This will help your child to focus better on their learning.

Tenth gives your child the encouragement they need while helping them feel confident enough to ask questions.

Sometimes children may feel uncomfortable when asking questions in front of their peers. A tutor will work on helping your child feel comfortable about asking questions and doing so without feeling self-conscious.

Eleventh, it teaches them how to overcome learning obstacles.

Your child’s tutor will take note of the areas your child is struggling with the most, whether math, writing, or reading. Then your child’s tutor will target the learning area they are having the most trouble with.

Twelfth, it helps them improve their behavioural and social skills.

A good tutoring program will help your child develop better communication skills. While also allowing them to form better relationships with their peers. And help them to make more behavioural and social adjustments.

Thirteenth, it helps your child manage their learning.

Tutoring helps your child become more capable in their learning. While also allowing them to be more successful when managing their schoolwork.

Fourteenth, it helps children who are bored in school.

Some children may appear to struggle in school when they are bored and under-stimulated. One of the benefits of tutoring is that it will help your child reach their full potential.

Fifteenth, it can better prepare your child for what’s ahead.

One of the other benefits of tutoring is that it will help them prepare for what’s ahead by creating crucial study skills and learning superior time management skills for more advanced grade-level plans.

Try the Schoolio Digital Platform for free!

The Schoolio Digital Platform has 4000+ videos and interactive lessons to help your child excel in their learning. Whether you are a parent, teacher or tutor, this program is the perfect fit.

20 Celebrities You Probably Didn’t Know Were Homeschooled.

TL;DR: Which famous people were homeschooled?
Many successful celebrities, athletes, and world leaders were homeschooled, including Ryan Gosling, Serena Williams, Thomas Edison, and Billie Eilish. Homeschooling allowed these individuals the flexibility to pursue their passions—from acting and sports to scientific innovation—while receiving a tailored education that supported their unique career paths.

Will Homeschooling Ruin Your Child?

Do you remember the day you brought your baby home? In those precious moments, you likely had a significant mix of emotions: joy and a hint of fear. This nagging worry that you were going to do something wrong, which would inevitably ruin your child. Despite all the baby books and pre-natal classes you took, you still felt unprepared. As your child got older, you felt comfortable, like you were getting the hang of this parenting gig. Only for the pandemic to hit, those worries and fears you first thought about in the beginning days have come to light again. All the things you thought you knew about parenting are now being questioned. You’re now asking yourself: ‘Should I homeschool?‘ ‘Should I keep sending my kid to school with all the educational uncertainties?‘ Will homeschooling ruin your child?

This wasn’t in the plan.

You likely never even considered homeschooling. But now, with the pandemic, health concerns, education cut-backs, and school closures, you aren’t sure where you stand. There’s this nagging worry that if you homeschool your child, they won’t ever be able to get back into ‘real’ school. Or that you’ll somehow ruin your relationship with your child. Additionally, you might fear that you will mess up their education and social skills.

Will homeschooling ruin your child?

You already know the answer to this question. And the answer is no. Homeschooling your child won’t ruin them. Of course, you want to do the right thing for them and their education. And I can’t tell you whether or not homeschooling is the right option for your family; only you know that, however, if you can homeschool and have the desire to help your child thrive on their educational journey. Then homeschooling might be a good choice for you and your family. Homeschooling doesn’t ruin children, in-fact many homeschooled children lead successful lives, both socially and academically, with most going on to University and leading successful lives.

8 things to consider about homeschooling:

1. Your schedule.

Unfortunately, in our current economy, both parents usually have to work. Gone are the days of one parent staying home and minding the house and kids while the other went out and earned money. Breadwinner is a term that often applies to both parents now. If you’re a stay-at-home parent, you work from home or have the opportunity to work evenings while your partner is home. Then you have a much more accommodating schedule for homeschooling.

If you work during the day, you’ll have to walk through the obstacles of finding childcare during the day and doing school in the evenings. Which many parents know is not ideal as kids are usually wound up or exhausted.

2. Your motivations.

There are many different reasons to homeschool your child. Some factors that can sway your decision are Your child’s health, the quality of their education, religious views, special needs, having a flexible schedule, and stability for your child’s education. Every homeschooling parent and family have reasons and motivations for homeschooling their child. Figuring out your motivations is essential.

3. Your child’s learning style and learning needs.

Even before the pandemic, children were falling behind in traditional learning venues. It is basic math, with one or two teachers responsible for a class of 20-25 children. Someone will fall behind. Perhaps your child needs more individual attention to thrive. Some children might succeed in the traditional learning setting because they enjoy collaborating with other children and want a competitive learning environment.

Additionally, some children with unique learning needs may need to be in school because they require specialized instruction from teachers and staff trained to work with them. However, some children with special learning needs may need more one-on-one time in a quiet setting with a curriculum customized to help them thrive.

4. Your ability to be a parent-teacher.

Believe it or not, you don’t need a teaching degree to teach your child. Teaching degrees do help people become great teachers. However, being a good teacher boils down to the characteristics that you already have. Excellent teaching characteristics include Patience, the ability to learn a concept to teach quickly, and your ability to go with the flow. Another fantastic characteristic is the ability to inspire your child. Do you have that ability (only answer if you’ve put your self-doubt away)?

5. The cost.

Homeschooling does come with a cost, as homeschooling parents have to spend hundreds of dollars on curriculum and supplies. However, there are many affordable options available. It’s essential to set a budget and then do adequate research to find the best curriculum for your price range.

Schoolio’s curriculum is loved by thousands of parents and students and comes at a very affordable price. Check it out for yourself.

6. Socialization.

One of the main concerns of parents that are contemplating homeschooling is socialization. Will homeschooling ruin your child because of the lack of socialization? Are homeschooled children behind on the socialization ladder? Let me clear this one up for you quickly. This idea that homeschooled children aren’t socialized is a complete myth. Despite this myth being extremely popular, it’s highly untrue. Most homeschooled children have a great social life. Curious how this could be true? Read Socialization and Homeschooling.

7. Your support system.

Homeschooling parents need a village. Because when you’re home with the kids all the time, you will need help with things like appointments. If you need to visit a doctor’s appointment during the day, do you have someone to watch your kids? Are you connected with other homeschooling parents that can help answer your questions and guide you down the best homeschooling path? Having a healthy homeschooling support system will make all the difference.

8. Local homeschooling rules.

What are the rules around homeschooling in your province/state? You will need to do some thorough research into this. If you have local friends already homeschooling, you can reach out to them with your questions and concerns.

Only you know what’s best for your family.

You and only you know if homeschooling is the best option for your family. If you see that it would cause more stress on your family than good, then obviously it’s not the best option. Alternatively, if you think you can do it and benefit your family, go for it.

Will there be tough days? Absolutely! And there will be days that you question your decision and wonder if you should give up. Everyone does. And as parents, it’s almost second nature to guess ourselves second. Don’t let your self-doubt determine your decision.

Boost your confidence.

If self-doubt is standing in your way of homeschooling. Then remind yourself just how awesome you are, and give yourself some credit. You have been teaching your child since day 1. You taught them how to walk, talk, eat, and make healthy choices. You inspire them daily to be the best version of themselves. So, you can do this; you need to believe in yourself.

Keep Your House Tidy with 15 Tips for Homeschoolers.

Oh, the clutter! Even if you started the school year with organized folders, ideally put-together bedrooms, and a tidy toy room. You may find that your table has a pile of books, papers, art supplies and other odds and ends. Your kitchen counters have become a dumping ground for the entire household. And let’s not even discuss the basement. How do you keep your house tidy when you’re a busy, overworked, exhausted homeschooling parent?

Keep Your House Tidy with these 15 tips!

1. Declutter

I know this is tough! Especially when you throw random toys no one cares about into the donation/trash pile. Suddenly, that doll with no hair has become your child’s best friend. This happens every time I try to declutter my kid’s rooms. They come into their rooms and see the bag. I am instantly rummaging through it to know what I’m tossing. Suddenly, the keep pile has grown astronomically, and the donation pile is essentially nothing.

How do you declutter with kids? Is that even possible? Yes! You can get them involved. That way, they see what you’re doing – and hey – they might even begin to enjoy decluttering. My kids, they aren’t those kids. So, I declutter their rooms when they’re not home. Suppose they’re with their grandparents or at a movie with their dad. I will try to make an effort to go through the room and throw out odds and ends. Being ever so careful not to mess with the critical toys and things.

Decluttering will make you feel so much better. Teaching, working, and living with clutter around you are just miserable. So, do your best to declutter your spaces.

2. Utilize storage bins and baskets.

Storage bins and baskets are a life-saver for the homeschooling/stay-at-home/virtual learning parent. Those books that are sitting on the table? They can have a bin. The barbies all over the house? They can also have a bin. Everything gets a bin! You can label the bins ‘toys’, ‘books,’ ‘misc’ and so on. Be strict with yourself and your family about what goes in the bin. Making sure that the label and the contents of the bins/baskets always match.

3. Everything has a place.

Have a bookshelf, cupboard, or bin specifically for homeschooling materials. Be sure to have a bucket for all those markers, so they don’t end up all over the tabletop. This goes beyond the homeschooling area. Everything in your home should have a place when you have random stuff with no home, even if it’s just a few items. They quickly turn into piles of clutter that you don’t want around.

4. Create a Cleaning Schedule.

Breaking down house cleaning tasks into small, not-so-intimidating tasks is so beneficial. Many people think they need to have a specific day set aside for cleaning. The problem with that is that by the time cleaning day rolls around; your house is so messy that cleaning it overwhelms you. That’s why you should break cleaning down into smaller, daily tasks. I understand the desire to clean it all, but who are we kidding? The kids will destroy it in less time than it took you to clean it. So instead, keep your house tidy by replacing the intense cleaning day with daily 30-minute cleaning routines.

What a daily cleaning routine could look like:

Sunday:

Clean the upstairs bathroom.
Vacuum Bedrooms.
Wash the bedding.

Monday:

Clean the downstairs bathroom.
Dust the living room/dining room.
Wash the towels.

Tuesday:

Clean sliding glass door.
Organize desk.
Wash the kid’s clothes.

Wednesday:

Clean surfaces of kitchen cupboards.
Organize homeschool materials.
Wash the blankets on the couch.

Thursday:

Dust hallway photos, stairway photos, and light fixtures.
Clean microwave.
Wash your clothes.

Friday:

Clean the fridge.
Sweep/vacuum main floors.
Mop main floors.
Wash the outdoor coats and jackets.

Saturday:

Sort and manage all the random papers/art projects/mail accumulated.
Focus on areas that have become cluttered during the week, and aim to declutter.
Organize homeschool materials for the next week.

Each of these tasks can have a designated duration of 10 minutes, bringing your total time cleaning to 30-40 minutes a day. It’s important to remember that you will have daily tasks, like dishes, sweeping, cat litter boxes if you have pets, spills etc. But those extra ‘big projects’ that maybe stress you out – don’t have to! When you simplify your cleaning to simple routines, keeping your house tidy will be much easier.

5. Daily laundry is a must.

This is especially true if you have multiple kids. Laundry is one area of life that so many parents feel they fall behind on. It’s so easy to throw it in a basket and then wait 5-10 business days to wash or fold it. So, throw in a load every day. Towels? Bedding? Clothes? Do one load a day. Having a laundry day is overrated. If you have access to a washing machine, throw a load in daily.

6. Designate chores.

You don’t have to do it all by yourself. Especially if your kids are older, you can give out a different task to each of your kids and get twice as much completed in half the time. It’s so good for our kids to do chores and learn the primary responsibilities of life. You will want to keep the chores age appropriate. Getting your child involved in that 30 minutes of cleaning each day will benefit them and your family home.

7. Do a quick nightly clean.

It’s evening, are the kids in bed? Do a quick 5-10 minute sweep of the floors. This doesn’t have to be extravagant. Just enough to pick up some legos, so you don’t step on them when you walk to the bathroom at night.

8. Don’t just cook; clean up!

Some people cook and leave it out all over the countertops for later. That in itself drives me crazy. While I’m cooking, I’m cleaning. I’ll wash it quickly if I just finished using a mixing bowl. If the pasta bag is empty, I’ll toss it in the trash. Cleaning up while you cook is one way to make the clean-up job more manageable. This is important, especially for the homeschooling parents making breakfast, lunch and dinner. You’re the real MVPs!

9. Give your kitchen some extra love.

When you’re finished cooking and everyone has devoured the meal, spend an extra 10 minutes making sure the counters are clean and organized. I don’t know about you, but my kitchen counters need to be clean, or I feel gross. Although right now, my daughter has her dolls on them because it’s a secret world. Keeping your kitchen clean is one way to keep your house tidy. A pro tip: Never, ever leave dishes in the sink overnight. I always make it a point to load the dishwasher or wash the dishes while I cook and after eating. Because waking up to a sink full of dishes is never fun.

10. Do it now.

When you walk through the house, you see a random toy lying on the floor. Pick it up and find its home. Don’t just leave it there. If you walk into the bathroom and find the towels on the floor, pick them up. Do it now. Don’t leave it for later. If you find that the shoes by the front door have turned into a pile of chaos, do a quick organization of the shoes. Don’t wait; just do it now.

11. Make cleaning seem less like a chore.

Whether it’s during your 30-minute daily cleaning routine or you choose to do a deep clean of the house. Just remember, it doesn’t have to be a chore! Turn on your favourite tunes, and make it fun. Dance around with your kids. Teach them that cleaning a house is a gift, not a punishment.

12. Clean the air while you’re cleaning surfaces!

This is such a nifty hack that I learned about in Readers Digest! When you’re vacuuming, dusting or sweeping, the dust and dirt sometimes end up in the air. Soon it will settle back down on your floors and surfaces. So, turn your home’s thermostat to “fan on.” While you clean, keep it on so it can catch all that dirt and dust floating around. Keep it running for 15 minutes after you’ve finished cleaning. Then be sure to switch it back to auto. You can learn more neat cleaning hacks here: 40 Handy Hints for Cleaning.

13. Sort through school supplies and papers regularly.

Don’t leave this task for the beginning and end of a homeschool year. Set aside weekly time to go through homeschooling content, supplies, and random papers. This way, they don’t pile up all over the place. Keep reminding yourself that everything has a place. Doing this ensures your learning environment is clean and organized. This will help you as the parent-teacher and your child during learning time.

14. Get help.

If you are financially able, hire a cleaning company to pop by once every two weeks for a few hours to tidy those areas that you can’t get to, like the oven or baseboards. There are many excellent-priced options out there when it comes to cleaning companies. Some are as cheap as $18/hour. Sometimes getting that extra help will be such a relief for you. You can then use that energy on something more significant.

15. Know that your ‘good’ is good enough.

It can be tough to think that your home is clean enough, especially when you pop on social media and see a social media influencer’s stunningly clean home. That will make you quickly and painfully fall into the comparison trap. So avoid that. Your house is clean enough. And you’re doing an excellent job! Not everyone can manage all the tasks that you’ve taken on, but you do it! Is it that bad if your house reflects the fun you all have?

Find your favourite on The Schoolio Marketplace.

Schoolio™️ Learning Doubling Down to Support Students Struggling with Covid-related School Disruptions

Schoolio™️ Learning Corp. — a Canadian Edtech startup that has been blazing trails in homeschool learning solutions. Since the beginning of the pandemic. Is launching 2022 with fresh tools and support for families facing continuing education disruptions due to Covid. This is in keeping with Schoolio™️’s mission to modernize education delivery. While also Creating a space for students, parents, and educators to co-create personalized learning. “Our goal is simple,” says founder and CEO, Sathish Bala. “Empower the next generation of kids to be more ambitious, more creative, and think for themselves.”

Filling the educational gap.

Now available in both Canada and the US, Schoolio™️ is doubling down on the strengths that brought them early success. Providing a solid, affordable academic curriculum for homeschoolers and teachers in grades K-8. But they have also felt the frustration. And seen the unmet needs of families who are, once again, left in limbo and uncertainty. By school districts unprepared to grapple with the evolving nature of Covid. To fill the educational gap that is growing due to school closures, staff shortages, and safety concerns. Schoolio™️ is expanding its already substantial set of curriculum for families seeking help with home education.

More than just a curriculum company.

“Schoolio™️ is not only providing support in the form of academic content. We don’t make a sale and say goodbye. As we also have a huge resource library of articles to help parents with everything from getting started to managing schedules to dealing with struggles.” says Lindsey Casselman, Co-Founder. “We have an active community where staff are there daily helping, supporting, and answering questions. We’ve got your back as you figure out home learning.”

Schoolio After-School

Additionally, Schoolio™️ parents have been asking for tutoring support to help ease the stress of at-home learning. To meet the need, Schoolio™️ After School is launching February 2022. This unique program combines 1-on-1 lessons, Schoolio™️ subject books, and additional quizzes and worksheets to help students catch up in 2022. For more information, parents can visit https://Schoolio.io/news/Schoolio-now-offers-after-school-tutoring/ to learn more about the program.

“While our primary focus is to support homeschoolers, with our new Schoolio™️ After School program, we aim to help more families minimize the impact of school shutdowns. Unfortunately, teachers have a schedule to keep, and lost days mean loss of education for the student,” explains Bala.

Currently, Schoolio™️ offers curricula to Canadian families for grades K-8 and U.S. families for grades K-3. Schoolio™️’s mission is to build a one-of-a-kind online learning platform that will bring their essential curriculum to any child, anywhere in the world, for free. Schoolio™️ will offer parents and educators a premium version that allows for complete customization of each child’s learning experience, supplementation with premium Schoolio™️ curated content, user-based marketplace content, and more.

To learn more, visit: https://Schoolio.com

Press Inquiries: Sathish Bala, CEO, Founder – sathish@Schoolio.io

Customizable Curriculum

Homeschooling can be a very overwhelming task to take on. Especially if you’re trying to search for the right curriculum to suit your families learning needs. There are so many different options out there, which can make finding the best one even more of a challenge. Having a customizable curriculum can benefit your homeschool greatly, let’s find out how.

The negatives of purchasing a non customizable curriculum.

Your curriculum should be your tool, not your master. Purchasing a curriculum that isn’t customizable (or doesn’t have room to move, built into it) will only cause issues for you and your child. One of the biggest mistakes I made when I first started homeschooling, was to choose a curriculum without doing any sort of research on it. Or taking the time to review samples before I spent hundreds of dollars on it. I purchased this super expensive curriculum, that wasn’t at all customizable and left no room for anything. This left my oldest, and myself, feeling overwhelmed at the end of each day. Causing our homeschool journey to start out really messy.

I felt like we had to accomplish all the things, on each page, every day. There was this huge pressure to get it all done before the end of the homeschool year, because that’s what the book said! As a result, at the end of the homeschool year we both felt completely derailed. I wish that I could go back in time and give my old self some words of advice. Some of which being: You don’t have to follow the curriculum exactly, in order for your child to succeed with their learning. And also, go purchase a customizable curriculum!

Your curriculum should be your tool, not your master.

If you feel like you are constantly dredging through your curriculum. And the assignments and activities are actually just overwhelming you and your child. That’s a pretty good indicator that your curriculum needs to be customized to fit your child’s learning needs, and your own unique teaching style. All too often people give up on homeschooling, because they think there’s something wrong with them. When it’s actually their curriculum that needs to be reevaluated. Assignments and activities aren’t there to be your boss, they’re there to help you teach your child.

You as the parent teacher, can pick and choose the assignments and activities that you know your child needs help with. If you’re finding that a certain assignment is just not working, skip it! If an assignment 3 lessons ahead seems to be a better fit for your child, then jump ahead to it. You get to decide how the curriculum is presented to your child.

Why is customizable curriculum a good thing?

Having a customizable curriculum is a great thing because it helps you let go of those unrealistic curriculum expectations. This then gives you an amazing sense of educational freedom. When your curriculum is customizable, you can choose what your child actually needs to learn. Based on where they are at. Unfortunately, the educational system is famous for pushing kids along to the next grade. Even when they know a child is lacking in certain areas. And clearly need help with aspects of their education, like reading.

When your curriculum is customizable, you can dig deeper into the areas you know your child needs help with. Without this pressure of ‘I better finish this book so they can move onto the next grade.’ Wouldn’t it be so much better for your child to actually know what they need to?

Work with your child’s strengths.

If you focus on an area of your child’s education, that you know they’re struggling with, have your child use their strengths to accomplish it. This will help to boost their confidence. If you know that your child is really good at art, then incorporate that as much as possible into your day and curriculum. Have them paint numbers, do play dough math problems, or trace letters in sand. If your child is really good at creating or building, have them build their own math problems, sentences words, and paragraphs.

Many children need a lot of movement in order for the information to stick. You could put sight words on the stairs, and have them read each word before they can go to the next step. This causes a lot of anticipation and excitement, which can help get the wiggles out. Also, be sure not to sit at the table or desk for too long. I totally get that sometimes you feel like you need to push your kids to finish a lesson. But you don’t. Take breaks, run around, go outside, put a pause on an assignment until some energy has been released.

Schoolio’s customizable curriculum fits!

The amazing Schoolio writing team came up with the phenomenal idea to create unit studies for you to choose from. Most curriculum companies only sell their curriculum by the book. Schoolio offers individual units. That means, that if you’d like to start mid year, and know that your child needs help with Grade 3 Numbers, then you can purchase the Grade 3 Numbers unit. Or if your child has been homeschooling all year but needs help with a certain aspect of Language Arts, you can pick up the unit of Language Arts that your child needs.

We also offer bundled curriculum options, which have all the core subjects, and units included. It’s important to remember that even if you purchase the bundle, you can still customize it to fit your child’s learning needs. You can choose what unit of which subject your child should work on, and when.

What if your curriculum isn’t working for you?

If you’re finding that your curriculum is causing a lot of stress for you and your child. Or it just isn’t cutting it at all. Consider making some necessary adjustments to it. This doesn’t mean that you have to completely abandon the curriculum. You could add in some units here and there to help your child. Additionally, you could skip certain lessons that aren’t relevant to your child. The point is, you know what your child needs to learn, and you have the power to adjust the curriculum.

There’s help for you.

Fortunately for you, homeschooling has become so much more mainstream in the last 5 years. And homeschool curriculum companies, like Schoolio, exist to help you. Schoolio Learning was created by a team of extremely passionate individuals. All of whom care deeply about making education simple, affordable, customizable, and enjoyable. If you’re in the process of weighing your options and figuring out what curriculum works best for you, don’t hesitate to reach out to TEAM Schoolio for guidance.

If you’re feeling stuck in your curriculum, just remember it’s not the master of your homeschool. You are.

Browse Schoolio U.S. curriculum

Browse Schoolio Canadian curriculum

15 Habits of Successful Homeschooling Families

Small Changes for Huge Growth, Utilizing 15 Habits of Successful Homeschooling Families.

Making small changes for bountiful growth is an ideal way to ensure that your homeschool is everything that you want it to be, and more. Maybe you’d like to homeschool your children in the new year, or perhaps you’d just like to be more successful at homeschool. We are going to dive into 15 habits of successful homeschooling families, to help you obtain your homeschooling goals.

It’s the time of the year when you get to set goals and hope to stick to them. Many people often list all the amazing things they’d like to accomplish like sticking to that diet, organizing the house, getting a new job, or committing to an exercise regiment. We often start out with the best of intentions but many of us end up reverting to our old ways in a matter of weeks.

This usually happens because the changes that we wanted to take place were just not feasible. Why is that? The answer is simple, because life happens! Life is a never ending cycle of ups and downs. The key is to set manageable, realistic and obtainable goals. Goals that will benefit you and your family.

This is imperative when it comes to setting goals and habits for a successful homeschool. You don’t need to wait until the new school year to begin homeschooling or to change things up to make your homeschool more successful. The time is now to utilize 15 habits of successful homeschooling families. You don’t need to be overwhelmed, or stressed about learning new habits. Because these habits and goals are just so much more simple than you’d think.

What are the 15 Habits of Successful Homeschooling Families?

1. Successful Homeschooling Families are Flexible.

When it comes to successful homeschooling families, they have learned that in order to be successful, they must be flexible. Realizing that life happens, and homeschool happens around your life not the other way around, is key to a much more peaceful homeschool. You can plan things out in perfect detail, but sometimes things will happen that will shift your best laid plans.

It’s always important to factor in flexibility so that when things happen like, sickness, job loss, doctors appointments, or a headache that keeps you from teaching, you won’t feel burdened down by unrealistic expectations.

2. Successful Homeschooling Families Make Learning a Lifestyle.

Learning isn’t just something that happens from 9:00am – 2:00pm. And learning certainly isn’t something that happens only when the workbooks hit the table. Learning is all around them, all the time. Successful homeschooling families utilize opportunities to gain more knowledge. Many homeschooling parents are constantly teaching their children in various forms. While instilling a genuine love for learning in their children.

3. They Ask For Help.

You’re familiar with the term “It takes a Village”. Well, it takes a village to homeschool your children. It’s not a one parent does all the teaching, all the time, kind of situation. You will need help, from family, sometimes from friends, and from your partner. Never be afraid to ask for help.

4. Successful Homeschooling Parents Share Responsibility.

Going along with habit number 3 of the 15 habits of successful homeschooling families, is sharing responsibility. You cannot do it all by yourself. Having an understanding with your partner is extremely important. As is having real conversations about sharing the responsibilities of homeschooling and raising your children. Doing so is imperative to a successful homeschooling journey. Sharing responsibility can look different for every family. So be sure to find your own vibe.

5. Never Fall for Comparison.

Which brings us to the next point. It’s important for your family to find it’s own unique vibe. Chatting with your partner about ways to share responsibility is so important, but so is not comparing what that shared responsibility looks like to another families shared responsibilities.

Perhaps your homeschool family friends have an amazing system where the partner teaches math when they’re home from work and also does the dishes and laundry. But your partner isn’t doing the dishes or laundry, or teaching math. However they take the kids for amazing nature walks where they teach your children really important lessons about nature while you take a break at home.

When you start to compare yourself to other homeschooling families, you will inevitably feel miserable about some aspect of your homeschool, family, or life. So be sure to stay far, far away from the comparison trap. Because once you fall into it, it’s really hard to get out of.

6. Say No!

It can be so tempting to say yes to everyone and everything. Maybe your friend just planned a really cool field trip for the homeschool community. But you’re feeling burnt out and exhausted, you can say no. Maybe a family friend thinks that you are just staying home doing nothing all day, so has asked you to babysit their child. You know that this will have a negative impact on your homeschool. And you really just can’t. Say no! They will find alternative help. All too often people think that homeschooling families just sit around and do nothing. Now’s your time to prove otherwise.

7. Avoid Jumping at Every Opportunity.

It can be so tempting. Sometimes homeschooling parents feel like their children are lacking in some form because they aren’t going to ‘real school’. Therefore they must be missing important aspects of socialization and field trips. This may cause you to jump at every opportunity that arises. Doing so will only cause your schedule to get overbooked, your kids to be tired, and you to burn out. When you dive at every opportunity, your homeschool lessons will fall way behind which will then cause another layer of unfortunate stress, that you simply don’t need. So, avoid jumping at every opportunity.

8. Understand the Importance of Community.

Another really important habit/ goal to have, when it comes to the 15 habits of successful homeschooling families, is the ability to embrace community. This doesn’t mean that you’re going back on number 7 and suddenly doing all the activities with the local homeschool community. No, this means that you are investing in healthy homeschool relationships with other homeschool families. Families that you meet through the local homeschool communities.

Building those friendships is so important. Because they get it! Other homeschooling parents understand just how crazy homeschooling can be. They understand the frustration of people constantly poking them and teasing them about how their kids should be in school. When you have that important community built up around your homeschool, your homeschool will thrive in the safety that the community brings.

9. Successful Homeschoolers Read a lot!

I get it! You’re busy. You have 10,000 things to do, at any given time. Sometimes, reading gets pushed to the very bottom of the agenda because it requires stillness. And, your mind is anything but still. I understand that you feel like you need to be moving and doing things at all times in order to feel like you are getting anything done. But trust me when I tell you, that spending time with your kids reading is extremely important work and truly needs to be at the top of the list.

Reading together sparks conversations, enhances the imagination, grows bonds, and builds vocabulary and reading comprehension. Truly reading together is a gift.

10. We Get Really Excited!

Your kid just read a full sentence? That’s a reason to celebrate! Your child just memorized their times tables! Celebrate! Successful homeschoolers don’t save celebrations for birthdays and report cards, they celebrate all the little moments along the way to the big milestones. Celebrate those small wins! You and your family have earned it.

11. Successful Homeschooling Parents Start the Day on a Positive Note.

Before the children are awake, you can often find a homeschooling parent reading a book, journaling, meditating, or exercising. This is the time of day to get that inner peace and balance that they will need to carry them through the craziness that the day will inevitably hold. Finding out what your jam is when it comes to starting on a positive note is essential.

12. Successful Homeschoolers Involve the Kids.

Starting a garden? The kids are right there, getting their hands dirty. Working at a soup kitchen? Your kids are right there handing out food with you. Successful homeschool parents involve their children in the many different areas and aspects of life. Giving them the opportunity to learn vital lessons from a young age.

13. Avoid Conversations with People who Just Don’t Get it!

Whether that be an internet troll, or a moody aunt. There will always be someone who has something negative to say about your choice to homeschool. Even if you’re doing an amazing job, they will find something wrong with it. They will throw out harsh accusations and rude comments regarding homeschooling. These are the people and conversations that you want to avoid. They are not life giving, they are life draining. Make it your mission to stay away from that drama, because your mind doesn’t need to be filled with nonsense.

14. Successful Homeschoolers Aren’t Afraid to Switch it up!

The curriculum you purchased is just not working? Your kids mastered a concept and are bored with the repetition of the concept? Maybe your kids need extra practice work to master a concept but your curriculum wants you to move on. Don’t! Successful homeschoolers aren’t afraid to throw out a curriculum and start something new.

They will spend more time or less time on a concept based on how their students are doing. You are with your child all the time, so you know what your child is responding to better than anyone else. If something is just not working for your homeschool, you can ditch it and find something that does work!

15. Understand Just How Difficult the Task Is.

Because you are always teaching in some capacity, you as a homeschooling parent will know that even the tiny, mundane moments are leading to something great. You have the ability and opportunity to stay home with your children, not everyone can do that. In fact, most parents can’t. You have an abundance of patience and dedication to your children and their education. We don’t need to tell you that this is a difficult task, because you already know.

But you also know that you have the ability to do it. You know that each moment is unique and that one day you will see the rewards of all this hard work that you are pouring into your children’s education. You should be so proud.

Summing it Up!

There are a million ways to homeschool, finding your rhythm is essential. Will you find thousands of reasons as to why you shouldn’t homeschool? Yep! But, for each reason there is two reasons why it’s so important to press on and homeschool your kids. Will you have ups and downs? Absolutely! However, the ups are so amazingly great that they make the downs seem like nothing.

Be proud of yourself, the strength you are demonstrating by homeschooling your kids is simply amazing. Now go ahead and write down 10 things that you’d like to accomplish in the new year with your homeschool. Make sure they are realistic and obtainable goals. Then each day, aim to work towards them.

Should Homeschool Curriculum be Accredited?

We all want the very best for our kids. So naturally many of us are feeling overly stressed with the ups and downs of pandemic learning and school closures. As a result, many parents have turned to homeschooling. Doing so as a method of greater stability for their children’s education. Even after taking this large step, many parents are still worried. Especially if they’re struggling with questions like: ‘Should homeschool curriculum be accredited?’ Or: ‘If my child goes back to school, will they go into the correct grade?’

Question 1: Should Homeschool Curriculum be Accredited?

The short answer is no. Your child’s homeschool curriculum doesn’t need to be accredited so please don’t stress yourself over it. The reality is, most home learning programs aren’t accredited. Because accreditation requires that a particular program is being delivered. While assurances are made that it’s being delivered properly and completely. It’s very difficult for the company that sold you the curriculum to keep tabs on all families. They would need to insure that all curriculum is completed and standards are met. Which would obviously be a huge undertaking for any company.

Supervision would be needed by the curriculum company. This supervision would often come in the form of standardized testing. This would be to ensure that students are completing the program. And also helps the supervision to know if the student has obtained satisfactory understanding of the content that they have been learning. In this situation, not only would you need to comply to their assessments and scheduling. But you would also expect additional fees for testing or a higher price-point on the home-learning program itself.

This often goes against most homeschoolers reasons for homeschooling.

For most homeschoolers, this goes strictly against many of the reasons they chose to homeschool in the first place. Because teaching things that they choose are valuable rather than having strict adherence to a particular program is important to them. Additionally, many homeschoolers enjoy having the opportunity to alter, delete, or add in lessons to tailor learning to their own unique child. These are both important reasons why most homeschool families aren’t worried about questions like “Should homeschool curriculum be accredited?”

Another awesome aspect of homeschooling is the opportunity to have flexibility when it comes to scheduling. And how much time is needed or taken to learn. This way you won’t feel trapped by test dates. Or be stuck to the idea that testing is the only way to determine how much your child has learned. As we all know that standardized testing is suited to particular types of minds. Which is why it’s important to remember that not all minds think the same. This is especially true for our kids with unique learning needs.

Are there any accredited homeschool curriculum companies?

Some homeschool programs are accredited but be careful of what governing body is accrediting them. Sometimes accreditation just means that a particular college (usually an American Christian College) has approved the program. This is usually more of a marketing position on the part of the college. As they are trying to encourage students of the program to apply to their college after homeschooling. Therefore, it’s usually not a genuine concern for the program of study.

The Results:

Should homeschool curriculum be accredited? No, homeschool curriculum can not be accredited and should not be accredited. Because homeschool curriculum can’t be accredited on its own. The homeschool curriculum would have to be a part of an institutions program. Because homeschool curriculum isn’t a part of a school, it can not and does not need to be accredited.

Question 2: What if I want to put my child back in school?

If you decide to put your child back into the education system after homeschooling, your child should be able to go back into their grade level without hassle. You would simple need to enrol your child back into school. For elementary school, your child would usually just be placed back into their age/grade. Without any need for additional testing.

Therefore, you don’t need to worry about whether or not your child would be able to join back into their grade. As long as you are keeping up with their homeschooling curriculum they will stay on track with their peers. Even if you find that your child is struggling in different areas with their education because of pandemic learning. Please know that your child will quickly catch up. With a little time, dedication, and understanding, your child will be back on track in no time.

The Takeaway:

With the right curriculum, guidance, and time, your child will stay on track with their education. And your child will be able to attend traditional school again.

Try not to worry!

Please know that you aren’t the only parent worried about your child’s education. Most, if not all, parents are worried in some capacity about their child’s education right now. You are doing the very best that you can for your child’s education. And while sometimes you may feel like you haven’t done enough, you have. It’s normal and healthy to have questions about homeschooling like “Should homeschool curriculum be accredited?”

No one wants to “mess up their child’s education”. So, let us assure you that you are doing a great job. Asking questions, doing research, finding the best learning solutions for your child – those are all huge steps in the right direction. You’re doing an excellent job, and your child’s education will show that, with time. Try not to get so consumed by the idea of how things should look. Because homeschooling often looks very different for everyone. Just take it one day at a time. And tap into more amazing homeschooling resources to help you get started on the right track.

Check out “The 20 Do’s of Homeschooling” for helpful tips on how to have a successful homeschooling journey. https://schoolio.io/news/the-20-dos-of-homeschooling/

The Homeschool Mom – Is Your Curriculum Accredited? Does it Matter? https://www.thehomeschoolmom.com/is-your-curriculum-accredited-does-it-matter/

15 Ways to Find Joy During the Holidays

Being a parent is challenging enough somedays, now throw in the magic of Christmas and chances are you’re over the top exhausted. We all want our children to have a wholesome childhood filled with fond memories. The kind of childhood that shapes them into the amazing adults we are aiming for them to become. But let’s face it, it can be very exhausting when you’re always trying to make things great. Especially when it comes to the holidays. Which is why 15 ways to find joy during the holidays is extremely important.

Advertising lays the pressure on thick when it comes to holiday traditions and gifts you must buy. As a result the added stress of trying to make the holidays magical can compound the overwhelm of trying to give your children a wholesome childhood. Many families are just scraping by, the holidays often bring the extra pressure to buy gifts and decorations. Which then causes parents to go in debt to try to make things magical. And that debt is something that most will carry through the coming year.

The holidays don’t just place stress of finances, there are many other areas that hit a stressful point. Like the waking up early part. Wrapping gifts with time that you already don’t have. Moving the elf, then moving the elf again, and again and again. Spending hours in the kitchen making a holiday feast, only for it to be eaten in five minutes. We as parents can often become so overwhelmed by the never ending lists. Which causes the holidays to lead us to cringe with exhaustion just thinking about all the added pressure. So what’s the remedy? What are 15 ways to find joy during the holidays as a parent?

15 Ways to Find Joy During the Holidays as a Busy Parent.

We’ve compiled this pretty incredible list of ways to bring joy to yourself during the holidays. And please don’t think that that’s selfish. It’s not selfish to take steps towards untouchable happiness, it’s actually the opposite. Because if you are finding joy, even in the tough moments, your entire family will benefit.

1. Let the Schedule Go.

Does the idea of falling out of schedule make you nervous? That might be because your parenting schedule is something that you have control over in a world that is anything but normal. However, you may find that during the holiday season, it will be so much more difficult to stay on your normal routine and schedules. Bedtimes might get pushed, morning routines may become messy. When this happens, don’t fight it. Just go with it. Your families routine isn’t a reflection of your parenting skills.

It’s really simple, the joy that you feel from trying to stay on track with your schedule and routine is often false joy, or limited joy. Instead, aim for the joy that comes with your children’s beautiful smiles, and with the laughter that fills the room when you all share a funny memory.

2. Spend Time With Your Family.

Number 2 of the 15 ways to find joy during the holidays comes down to undivided attention. Truly something that your children crave. Society is digital, we can sometimes spend hours chatting with someone who is thousands of miles away. Then when we look up from the phone we see the little eyes of someone that loves you so much, is right here in the room with you but feels miles away. Instead of being glued to your device, put it away. Spend time with your kids. Talk to them, tell them stories about the holidays when you were a kid.

The undivided attention that you can provide them with is worth so much more than a cool new lego set, or barbie doll. When you spend that special time with your children, you will feel so much more fulfilled in knowing that your bond is growing stronger.

3. Make Cards Together.

The last normal Christmas that we had was in 2019. That’s a bit of a scary thought. However, one small thing that can bring comfort is knowing that every person you meet is experiencing this also. So, why not bring some joy to others? Creating some fun holiday cards with your kids, and handing them out to neighbours and friends is an excellent way to share and bring holiday joy. Teaching our kids to be kind to others by doing something as simple as making and delivering a Christmas card, is a life lesson that they will forever keep.

When you do this, you can take joy in knowing that you not only brightened someone else’s day, you also helped your child learn the value of spreading kindness during a time of year that is often cold and dark for so many.

4. Gift a Stranger.

I promise this isn’t sketchy. It’s actually really amazing. Last Christmas I was feeling really blue. The pandemic, impending shut down, losing our dog, and a bunch of other things had left me in a state of blah. Trying to get in the Christmas Spirit was just not something I could do. Until I saw this incredible idea on Instagram. Writing notes of kindness to strangers. I quickly adopted the idea. And took six special cards, wrote special notes inside them and placed $20 in each card.

After we masked up, the kids and I went to the mall, and found six people that seemed like they could really use a ‘pick me up’. We gifted these little cards, with no explanation. Later that day, I saw on a local Facebook group, people writing posts about the random envelopes from the kids at the mall that changed their day and helped them see a light.

This simple gesture brought so much joy to my and my children’s hearts. There’s just something so amazing about gifting to someone. If you don’t have extra money to spare, then don’t place yourself in a stressful spot. Even just writing a kind note and gifting it to someone can be such a a game-changer.

5. Support a Charity.

Recent research has shown that supporting a cause can actually work to increase joy. Knowing that you are doing something bigger than you, can be really mood boosting. This year, I had my kids sit down with a gift catalogue. Not a normal gift catalogue, this gift catalogue had items needed most around the world, and also right here in our own country. My kids selected seeds for a family to plant in another country, a water filter for another family to drink. And to feed a student lunch for one year here in our country.

I watched as my kids faces lit up when they knew that what they were doing was going to help others. They don’t know who it will help, and we will likely never meet those who we are helping. However, the joy of knowing that someone, somewhere will have something they really need because of your gift. That’s joy inducing.

6. Create Meaningful Traditions.

Traditions are something that you and your kids can look forward to with excitement. Set up new, fun traditions. Like holiday baking on December 23rd or having a pyjama wearing, Christmas movie watching, marathon. You could also create your own home decorations together every year, using your imagination and creativity to come up with some awesome designs.

7. Have a Christmas Movie Marathon.

I know, you’re thinking ‘didn’t I just read this as part of the creating meaningful traditions?’ You did! You absolutely did! However, it was too good to leave out of the 15 ways to find joy during the holidays. As parents we can become so busy and overwhelmed. When we lounge around we often think that we are failing in some way because we should be busy doing something else.

Dedicate one day of the winter break to lounging in your pyjamas with your kids, watching Christmas movies. Snuggling, eating, and relaxing are three things that are sure to cause joy and make memories. Take a break from the business and prioritize rest.

8. Lower Your Expectations.

We often think that it’s our children that have the high expectations for the holidays. When more often than not, it’s us that have the unrealistic expectations of how the holidays should go. In our minds we cultivate this vision of you playing holiday songs, drinking hot chocolate, while a three coarse breakfast is cooking. As your children happily open their gifts and the house smells of cinnamon and happiness.

Reality is often so much more different. You’re likely sitting on the couch, looking over at your partner as you both try not to fall asleep while your kids rip through the gifts as quickly as possible. That giant holiday breakfast that you wanted to prepare has turned into a box of cereal and you already snapped when your kids accidentally kicked you in the nose when they were jumping on your bed trying to get you to get up.

So, lower your expectations. Will the holidays be magical? Maybe. But are you going to sacrifice your mental well-being in order to make it that way? No.

9. Keep Things Simple.

This point really goes along well with number eight. Aim to keep things simple. The holidays don’t need to be extravagant and mind-blowing. In fact, keeping the holidays simple will bring more joy to you and your whole family. Because you’re taking that painful pressure off of yourself.

10. Let Go of Resentment.

The holidays sometimes can bring up some feelings that aren’t exactly joy inducing. Thinking about how your mother-in-law didn’t even call the kids to say hello. Or about how your partner didn’t bother to get you a gift again. These feelings of resentment will poison your state of mind and cause the joy to seep right out of you. Give yourself the gift of letting it go. People aren’t perfect, you’ll always be able to find some way that things didn’t go right because of someone else. Please do yourself a favour, and let it go.

“The heart is like a garden: it can grow compassion or fear, resentment or love. What seeds will you plant there?”
Jack Kornfield

11. Let Go of the Bad Moments.

Sometimes it can seem like for every good moment you have, there are ten bad moments that cloud it. Our minds seem to be susceptible to negativity. Being drawn to the bad will only make the good that much more invisible. Will you have bad moments during the holidays? Probably! But not all moments will be bad, truly there will be some wonderful moments that you can remember and focus on with joy.

12. Keep Up With Healthy Habits.

Please don’t be confused by this. I know that number one of the 15 ways to find joy during the holidays was “Let go of the schedule”. However, healthy habits are a different category completely. During the holiday season there are so many treats, and so many opportunities to give up on healthy habits that we have set for ourselves. Let me encourage you not to do that. Make healthy eating, adequate amount of sleep and exercise a part of your holiday traditions. It can be so tempting to devour the box of chocolates that your friend gave you. Or skip exercise entirely.

Healthy Habits are gifts that your body needs to feel great during the holidays. Taking away those healthy habits will only cause you to feel like you aren’t grounded. So stick with it!

Schoolio has a really neat Healthy Choices Challenge that you and your child can participate in. You can check it out and download the neat freebie here: https://schoolio.io/product/holidayhealthychoiceschallenge/

Schoolio Holiday Healthy Choices Challenge

13. Connect With a Loved One.

The pandemic has made connection and community something that is few and far between. I never thought I would be unable to see my family, until the pandemic happened. While it may still not be safe to connect with your entire family, you still have the gift of technology. Set up a time for your family to video chat a loved one. Share laughs, stories and moments. It won’t be the same as the in-person visits you’d love to have. But it will still be worth it for the whole family.

14. Let Yourself Feel the Feelings.

Maybe you are just really struggling with finding joy. But the fact that you are struggling is making you feel more anxious because you feel like you shouldn’t be feeling that way. Did you follow that? It was a little confusing. Listen, if you’re struggling to find joy and you’re ashamed of yourself because you think that you should be exuding joy right now, just know that your feelings are valid. Please don’t try to push those feelings way deep down. Instead, embrace them for what they are. Life is different now, the holidays can be challenging. It’s ok to not be feeling ok. Talk to a friend, family member, or licensed therapist about your feelings.

15. Be Kind to Yourself.

We place such a huge emphasis on being kind to others, but we often forget to include ourselves in the equation. Please remember to show yourself kindness. Please don’t condemn yourself just because you forgot to buy the eggnog. You’re doing a great job, you’re an amazing parent that just wants the best for your family. So, please be gentle with yourself.

Bonus: Are your kids bored? Keep them Entertained for Free!

Is your kids boredom driving you slightly nuts? It can be so much more difficult to find joy when your kids are whining to you about their boredom. Try some of the free special interest units by Schoolio!

Currently on The Schoolio Marketplace you will find these products for free:

Christmas in North America – Special Interest Unit – https://schoolio.io/product/christmas/
All About Hanukkah – Special Interest Unit – https://schoolio.io/product/hanukkah/
All About Kwanzaa – Special Interest Unit – https://schoolio.io/product/kwanzaa/

Check out these amazing free units to help your kids learn and have fun this holiday season. Additionally, we have some pretty amazing, discounted units available for your child to enjoy this season.

The Schoolio Marketplace Discounted Special Interest Units:

Christmas Math Activity Book – https://schoolio.io/product/christmasmath/
Evidence Investigation – https://schoolio.io/product/science-evidence-investigation-special-interest-unit/
Thoughts and Feelings: Learning to Manage How I Think and Feel – https://schoolio.io/product/managingemotions/

Additional Resources for the 15 Ways to Find Joy During the Holidays:

Psychology Today: Tips for Holidays and Parenting – https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/the-older-dad/201111/tips-holidays-and-parenting-letting-joy-win-over-stress
Cathy Taughinbaugh: Find Joy This Holiday Season – https://cathytaughinbaugh.com/find-joy-this-holiday-season-even-when-your-family-is-addicted/

Encourage Learning Throughout the Holidays

It’s the most wonderful time of the year, but chances are you aren’t feeling like it. This time of the year can add a whole new level of exhaustion to the already over-worked homeschooling parent. Are you feeling burnt out from homeschooling, virtual learning or just parenting in general? How can you encourage learning throughout the holidays without causing burn-out for both you and your child?

The winter break is always welcomed by kids. And with the new chaos that is pandemic learning, more and more parents look forward to the winter break also. For many, it’s a time to reset and refocus. And for some, it’s also a time to catch up on concepts that maybe their child has been struggling with.

How can you encourage learning throughout the holidays without causing more exhaustion for both you and your child?

Step 1:

Identify what it is that your child should be learning during the holidays. Are they struggling with Math? Reading? Or writing? Which area of their education is in need of the most TLC? There are so many amazing ways to mix fun, creativity and learning together during this time of year so don’t get stressed out if they’re struggling in more than one area.

Step 2:

Identify your child’s interests, hobbies and what they just love to do. Do they love art? Playing games? Making snowmen? If you aren’t sure, spend a little time with them throughout the day. Or just ask them!

I’ve identified what they need to be learning and what their common interests are. So, now what?

Now we need to find fun ways to incorporate learning into their hobbies. It’s actually so much easier than you’d think it is. We can often get so caught up in this idea that learning must look a certain way for it to be effective. But that logic is completely flawed.

Fun Ways to Learn Through the Holidays:

Some kids love reading and writing, so if you offer them a workbook during the holidays they will dive right into it. Other kids feel that you encouraging them to learn during the holidays is a form of punishment. Each child is uniquely different, and as such, each child will have their own unique learning style. Therefore it can be a lot more difficult to find fun ways for your child to learn with. And perhaps your idea of ‘fun learning’ is vastly different from theirs, so how can you encourage learning throughout the holidays while catering to their unique learning style?

First Let’s Figure Out Your Child’s Learning Style:

There are so many different types of learning styles so we are going to just focus on the four most common for this blog.

Visual Learners

A Visual Learner is one who learns better by observing, looking at pictures or diagrams. Additionally, a visual learner will often have an easier time remembering what they saw or read vs. what they heard. A visual learner will usually be the one attempting to take notes during class because it helps them focus. They also prefer to work alone, instead of in groups of people. And they usually need quiet time to be able to focus on new concepts.

Some additional characteristics of the visual learner: They often have an easier time remembering faces, but not names. Locations, but not street names. And they often seem to be daydreaming. A visual learner will usually love colours, and need colours in their notes to help them remember and focus. If they’re bored you’ll see them doodling, writing, scribbling or making random lists. Usually with colours and fun designs

How can we help our visual learners during the holidays?

Give them plenty of opportunities to doodle, draw and write. Handing a visual learner a workbook is usually not going to be hugely beneficial for quick and effective learning. Unless that workbook is filled with fun pictures, graphs, and colours. When it comes to visual learners, it’s usually not as easy as just picking up a grade workbook at Costco during the holidays.

When it comes to your visual learner, you will need to get creative.

You could read them a novel each day, like one of Schoolio’s unique Novel Studies. While you read to them, encourage them to doodle what it looks like in their mind. Encourage them to illustrate the story on paper or write down key points that they found interesting.

Learn more about The Schoolio Novel Studies: https://schoolio.io/mini-units/

2. Be sure to use bright colours whenever possible. If you are asking your child to look at a page of math questions, try having them highlight each question with their favourite holiday colours first.

3. Make the key points of what you want your child to learn stand out! Make it brighter and bolder than the rest of the content that is on a page.

4. Give them time to process what you are trying to help them learn and understand. Don’t expect them to just understand right away. Because Visual Learners often need time to think about what they learned for the concept to really stick.

Auditory Learners

Sounds matter when it comes to auditory learners. That’s because auditory learners usually learn so much better when the subject of their learning is reinforced by sounds. These are the learners that would rather listen to someones lecture, a story, or an audio book. They sometimes also like to read out loud to themselves because it helps them focus and understand better. Auditory Learners are usually really good at explaining things to others and they will be the ones to repeat what the teacher says until the concept sticks in their mind.

If your auditory learner needs to work on some math problems but is having a hard time focusing on the book. You could either try letting them be completely alone to complete it. Or, turning on some unique holiday music for background noise. When you’ve taught them an interesting fact, ask them to repeat that concept to you with their eyes closed. Or ask them to repeat what you said in their own words. Let your auditory learners have learning partners. Whether in person, or on zoom. Having someone to talk about concepts with can help auditory learners understand and remember.

Kinaesthetic Leaners

Our Kinaesthetic learners (sometimes called Tactile learners) are the ones that learn best through experiences or doing things. They like to touch and feel, and to get involved, or to act things out. Kinaesthetic learners usually have to get involved in order to understand. And they are often the ones that just can’t sit still which often makes them really good at sports and dancing!

The Kinaesthetic learners need to take more breaks than most other types of learners. If you’re trying to read them a neat story about history, you could have them act it out. Mixing movement with short and simple lessons is an excellent way to encourage learning throughout the holidays for Kinaesthetic learners.

Reading and Writing Learners

This category is pretty self-explanatory. If you have a reading and writing learner, you’ll know. They are the ones that learn the very best through written words. These learners will express themselves best through reading books, writing, and diaries. They often appear to have a hunger for learning, always looking things up and searching for new books to read.

For this learner, you can absolutely encourage them to dive into some novel studies throughout the holidays. Encourage them to write stories about the holidays, and what their favourite part of this time of the year is. Be sure to have plenty of interesting books, and writing materials available for them to utilize throughout the holidays.

What type of learner do you have?

There’s a huge chance that your learner will fall into one or more category. As some of these categories do overlap in different areas of learning. If you’re having trouble identifying which learning category your child falls into. Try taking out and pen and a paper and write down the different characteristics of each learning category. Then circle the categories that are best suited to your child.

If you have more than one child you will likely find that your children are incredibly different in so many ways, including their learning styles. Determining which learning style works best for each of your children, and then finding ways to bridge their learning together will help you not get so stressed and burnt out trying to accommodate everyone.

Using their unique learning styles to encourage learning throughout the holidays.

Now this is the fun part. When you get to find unique ways to help your children learn. I always find it so funny how we get caught up in this idea that learning must only come from workbooks and planned out lessons. When in all actuality, learning is all around us, all the time.

For your hands on learner, they can gain expertise by helping you with the holiday baking. You can encourage them to draw bright pictures for family and friends. Alternatively, for your auditory learner you can press play on some unique stories. Once they’ve completed listening, you can ask them to tell you about it in their own words. For the Kinaesthetic learner, you can get them outside in the snow, shovelling and having fun. Mixing in a neat verbal science lesson while they rummage through the snow. And for your reading and writing learner you can get them to make beautiful Christmas cards, and keep the novels and neat lessons stocked up for them to jump into when they start to get bored.

For every unique learner, there is more than one unique learning activity that you can utilize to encourage learning throughout the holidays. Just remember not to get caught up in the idea that learning must look a certain way, because it doesn’t. And that applies to holiday learning and learning in general.

Keep learning holiday themed to gain interest!

It doesn’t matter which type of learner you have. Most kids really enjoy the holiday theme. Therefore, incorporating peaceful, fun, and holiday themed, mini lessons into your holiday plans has proven to be beneficial for our kids. Even if they aren’t necessarily ‘behind’ or in need of extra practice, it will benefit your learner to brush up on different concepts and take on some light learning through the holiday season.

Which is why the Schoolio Marketplace is the ideal place to land when searching for interest led learning for our kids.

Some really unique lessons that your kids will love this time of year:

The Schoolio Celebrations Around the World Special Interest Unit https://schoolio.io/product/holidays/

Teaching your kids about celebrations had around the world is a fun way to pique interest, and help them learn some amazing new facts. With this Special Interest Unit your child will have the opportunity to learn about Aboriginal People’s Winter Solstice, Lunar New Year, Kwanzaa, Hanukkah, Diwali and Christmas. There’s something for every learning style, from writing activities, stories, to baking and crafts. Adding this to your holiday learning plan, will prove to be beneficial.

“The New Year” Special Interest Unit by Schoolio https://schoolio.io/product/new-year-mini-unit/

Another fun way to encourage learning throughout the holidays is to jump into The New Year Special Interest Unit. Your child will study Math, Science, Language and Social Studies through fun lessons like ‘The History of New Year Celebrations’, ‘Making Resolutions’, ‘Counting Down to the New Year’ and more. Be sure to pick up your copy!

Remember, encouraging learning through the holidays doesn’t have to be holiday themed though.

If your child has no interest in holiday themed learning, then try incorporating some other fun, learning activities. Like lessons about trees and forests, pirates, or investigations. There’s so many neat lessons over at the Schoolio Marketplace. So, go ahead and check it out: https://schoolio.io/mini-units/

Just remember not to stress, instead have fun and happy holidays!

For more information on how to help unique learners:

Hey Teach! – Accommodating Different Learning Styles – https://www.wgu.edu/heyteach/article/accommodating-different-learning-styles-3-tips-guide-you-01702.html
Rasmussen – 4 Types of Learning Styles – https://www.rasmussen.edu/degrees/education/blog/types-of-learning-styles/