Señora Gose's Homeschool Spanish Blog (aka "Seriously, Suzanne")

Remember when you would get a sticker or a stamp on your paper in school? Motivating, right? Well, there's NO REASON you can't spice up your lessons at home with lots of fun little treasures from the local dollar store. Here are a few of my favorite cheap treasures to add to my lessons in co-op classes, our Community Homeschool Center classes, and yes, back when my own children were growing, they loved them too! Wander the aisles with us at our local Dollar General and see how educational the kitchen aisle can be! Each of these lovely educational investments cost you...

As a former public school teacher, the grade on the report card was literally EVERYTHING during the semester each year. That darn two digit number for each classroom subject determined a child's mood, status, equality among peers, and even their treatment, in some cases, from the entire school staff. It was soul sapping and gutting.  So, when I escaped, um I mean,... retired from public school to stay home with our first born baby in 2001, I was determined to not repeat that number ranking game in my own little private Spanish classes. That I taught in the Game Sample...

This is HARD to do. Every year, since 2014 or so, I have held a priority party for my friends. I started with my little ladies' Bible study, because I needed to get my habits in gear, and they were the BEST people to help me stay accountable!  When I spent time thinking about why my priorities did not line up with what I WANTED my life to look like, I discovered the main point of contention included how much TIME I spent on the most important parts of my life. If you want a good relationship, you have to...

As homeschooling parents, we often feel like we're barely keeping our head above water. There's regret peeking around every corner, and guilt-ridden unfulfilled lesson plans in piles and heaps, right next to the living room book basket. It's just part of motherhood - we care, so these are emotions that creep in. What do we do? We do the "basics." We decide that we "just need to push through." Learning slowly becomes a chore, a burden, rather than a delight. AUGH.You know in your heart that NOW is always the time to learn a foreign language, and you WANT to, but...

How do you FIX these stress points during the most problematic parts of homeschooling? 1) Take a one day break (not on a weekend!)     - For this I mean an UNEXPECTED break. My homeschool flow has always been dependent on charts.  I have a chart posted on the wall for the week for each child. We look at the day, the week, and sometimes just the box each school day. If math is the worst subject ever for us, then in order to "take a break," I would walk over to the chart WITH the child, and say, "Let's...