How to Survive Spring Fever in Homeschooling and April 2019 Writing Prompts {FREE PRINTABLE}

April 1, 2019 By Adrienne Bolton

It can be tough to survive spring fever in homeschooling, but these tips and free printable writing prompts can help!

Written by Adrienne Bolton of The Mommy Mess.

Spring. That time of year when every homeschool parent wants to throw in the towel. Or better yet, grab a towel and a good book and head to the beach!

No? Just me?

Getting past the slump of spring is tough, and that tricky homeschool freedom makes it SO easy to slack.

How to Survive Spring Fever In Homeschooling

1. Focus on what you’ve accomplished.

Don’t waste another second worrying about what you haven’t finished yet. Stop stressing over the lesson pages you’re afraid will be left blank when you sit down to meet with your year-end evaluator.

Your family has accomplished so much this year! It’s easy to start panicking at this time of year about all the lessons we haven’t completed yet, but what we should be doing is taking some time to recognize all that we have achieved!

What positives has your family had this homeschool school year?

Sit down and make a list of milestones, achievements, and memories.

Spring is the perfect time to begin compiling and organizing your annual portfolios if your state requires them (or just for a keepsake). Seeing everything you’ve been working on all year reminds you how much you’ve accomplished and helps to relieve that spring panic you’re not doing enough. [Read more…]

March 2019 Writing Prompt Calendar {FREE PRINTABLE}

March 1, 2019 By Adrienne Bolton

Try our free writing prompts calendar for daily writing inspiration. Plus, check out our tips to help your student overcome the dreaded blank page and just get started writing.

Written by Adrienne Bolton of The Mommy Mess.

“Just get started.” Three magic words from my college kid to you and yours about writing. I asked him this morning what tips he’d give someone who was struggling with writing.

He’s a man of many words. Ha!

He was an extremely reluctant writer when he was younger. You’d never know that now. He survived writing on my watch and then pushed through all those required essays in Comp I & II when he got to college. The length on some of those essays was enough to make me cringe. Just watching him get through them was painful, but he did it!

I got to thinking about his advice this morning. “Just get started.” [Read more…]

February 2019 Writing Prompt Calendar {FREE PRINTABLE}

January 31, 2019 By Adrienne Bolton

Use these free printable writing prompts to get your kids writing every day. Plus, pick up tips for building confident writers.

Written by Adrienne Bolton of The Mommy Mess.

I remember when my oldest was in fourth grade. He was still going to public school then (his last year there). At that time, fourth grade was typically the year the schools in our state pushed hard on writing skills to prepare the students for the writing portion of the state standardized test. Yuck. I know.

My son used to get so stressed when it came to writing.

He’d clam up, panic, and just sit there staring at the paper with his pencil in his sweaty little fourth-grade hand. His scores were always crazy amazing when it came to those stupid tests, but when it was time for the essay portion? He flopped. I remember him getting some ridiculous low score because his page was virtually blank when he finally turned it in — poor kid. The writing process was always so hard for him.

That was the year we pulled him out of public school, and I never shared his scores with him when they came in the mail that summer because, one, I didn’t care about them and, two, I knew he’d be so bummed. He cared so much about test scores and the like. We all did back then — silly us. [Read more…]

January 2019 Writing Prompt Calendar {Free Printable}

January 1, 2019 By Adrienne Bolton

Is one of your goals to include more writing in your homeschool this year? Check out our free monthly writing prompts! We’ve got an idea for every day this month.

Written by Adrienne Bolton of The Mommy Mess.

Hi, friends! I hope you all had a very Merry Christmas! Can you believe it’s time to put 2018 behind us and step into the new year? What are some of your homeschooling goals for 2019?

We want to help you meet them! I have a few goals in mind, but there’s one, in particular, I’m excited about because it involves YOU!

Do you struggle to get your kids writing? I know I do. What do you say we do something about that this year?

Introducing …

Monthly Writing Prompts for Weird Unsocialized Homeschoolers

Oh yes, we did! We even got fancy and made a printable calendar for you, too! [Read more…]

When Your Reader Struggles: What May Be Missing

October 23, 2018 By Guest Author

Written by Lindamood-Bell Learning Processes.

Between the tears and the slipping progress in schoolwork, you know he’s struggling. But why? The first step in helping your child overcome his struggles is figuring out what’s causing them.

lindamood-bell academy help for reading challenges

This post is sponsored by Lindamood-Bell Academy. Please read my full disclosure policy for more details.

Perhaps he is struggling with a more challenging curriculum this year. Do you notice patterns of difficulty?

You may see:

struggle with reading words in context (trouble sounding out unfamiliar words)
problems remembering what the student read or heard
new or increased difficulty spelling with longer, multi-syllable words
declining math skills when presented with more complex concepts

Possible Causes of Learning and Reading Challenges

Reading and spelling challenges could result from weak symbol imagery. This weakness affects a student’s ability to visualize letters and sounds within words. It also causes difficulty mastering sight words, reading fluently, and spelling.

Weak concept imagery causes students to get only part of the information they read or hear. This weakness can result in reading, language comprehension, or math struggles. It also interferes with reading and listening comprehension, memory, oral vocabulary, critical thinking, and writing. Sometimes it affects affect math skills because students fail to grasp basic concepts.

Without a solid foundation of symbol and concept imagery, students may develop coping mechanisms. Kids often memorize facts instead of building their reasoning and problem-solving skills. Developing strong symbol and concept imagery are vital to reading, comprehension, and math skills.

Solutions for Learning and Reading Challenges

One solution for learning struggles is getting your child evaluated to find the cause of the difficulties. Evaluation can provide valuable insight. Once they identify the area of weakness, parents and students can work on solutions. Lindamood-Bell’s programs develop the foundational skills that support reading, comprehension, and math. By strengthening these areas, you provide your child with the tools she needs to overcome her academic troubles.

At Lindamood-Bell Academy, we offer in-person or online instruction. We work with students to develop the imagery-language foundation for success in language processing. This foundation is essential for success in all curriculum.

We combine instructional expertise with a full curriculum to develop the sensory-cognitive foundation and apply it to academic content. Parents and students can expect the same quality online. Our students do not work alone. Our Academy is successful when traditional approaches are not, even with students with a diagnosis such as dyslexia, autism spectrum disorder, or general learning challenges.

Lindamood-Bell Academy operates in 60+ permanent Learning Centers located throughout the United States, the United Kingdom, and Singapore.

Make sure you are giving your child a strong foundation for language processing and academic success. Find out if Lindamood-Bell Academy is the right fit for your student!

For more information on Lindamood-Bell Academy, call 800-300-1818 or visit us at www.LindamoodBellAcademy.com.