Summer Camps; Reading, Lunch, & Free Programs; & Other Summer Opps (Homeschoolers and More)

 You can find my always-growing list of Summer Camps; Reading, Lunch, & Free Programs; & Other Summer Opportunities on my main site, Homeschooling in Kansas City.

See you over there!

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Kansas City Area Homeschool Facebook Groups and Pages

You can find the massive list of Kansas City Area Homeschool Facebook Groups and Pages at my main site, Homeschooling in Kansas City.

See you over there!

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12 Articles I've Written About Homeschooling

I've been writing articles for parenting articles almost as long as I've been homeschooling, so I figured I should pair my two loves and make some money for my family at the same time. This income even paid for a trip to Florida with my family for two weeks in October 2017 :-) (roadschooling!)

Most of these articles have been published in multiple magazines, so I've just picked a few magazines to represent. Thanks for checking them out!

*And if you are also a parenting writer or want to be one, please check out my self-published book full of advice on how to get started, as well as contact information for hundreds of parenting and family publications. You can get it here as an instant download and get started immediately, or you can wait for the print version to be ready for purchase on Amazon. Shoot me an email at mommykerrie@yahoo.com if you'd like to know when the print version is ready, or join my Facebook Parenting Magazine Writers group!

Back-to-Homeschool Tips and Traditions in Birmingham Parent

Conquer Homeschool Clutter in Calgary's Child

Find Your Homeschool Circle in Calgary's Child

Homeschooling 101 in Baton Rouge Parents

Homeschooling High School in Calgary's Child

How to Start Homeschooling This Fall: Lessons from a Homeschooling Mom in ParentMap

Mistakes to Avoid when Homeschooling (10) in Montgomery Parents

Questions to Ask Yourself Before You Homeschool (5) in ParentMap

Unique Benefits of Homeschooling (10) in Calgary's Child

Venturing Into Unschooling in North Texas Kids

Virtual School: Where Homeschooling Meets Traditional School in Orlando Family

Mom's Homeroom: How to Work and Teach at Home in Sonoma Family-Life

First Day of School Signs Set PreK-12th Plus College and Adult!

I love when the first day of homeschooling rolls around! The first day of school is usually sometime at the end of August at my house, and we do some light schoolwork during the summer as well. My kids know that when the first official day rolls around, it's time for the photo of them holding their "first day" signs.

Now, it looks a little different now since I have two kids left homeschooling and three adult kids. It's not so easy to get all five of them together to hold their signs and smile for the smartphone. Plus their ages are 14+ and this means they are kind of "over it." Still, they'll do it for me if I beg them enough 😂

Lately I might have a photo of my two youngest, another of my adult son who has a career now, and then another of my two who are in college. (I created a "First Day at KU" sign for one of my sons for this fall, but it's just for us since I'm sure the logo is protected.) 

Likewise, your homeschool might look different each year. Maybe you have a couple at home, a couple in public school, and your oldest in a private Christian school. 

I got tired of trying to find these signs every year online, figuring out if they were free and if they were easily printable (you know when you download something, but the size is all wrong and you can't make it work?). So I decided to make my own set of 21 First Day of School Signs and sell it in my Etsy shop. That's how I seem to do a lot of things in my entrepreneurial mind: write non-fiction books I need (writing markets, cookbooks, etc.), create signs I need every year, create printable lists and planners I will use myself and then realize others might also find them useful — you should try it! I bet you have some great ideas for products you could sell on Etsy or TeachersPayTeachers, etc.

I pray that your school year is amazing and full of friendships, fellowship, faith-filled adventures, and lots of fun and learning!

P.S. Please let me know if you have suggestions for signs I could add to the set of 21 (and I'll keep the price the same). I don't want to leave out the babies and the in-the-womb little ones, and everyone deserves a "first day of" sign.

Pastel Printable Multiplication Table

In third grade, I had no choice but to memorize multiplication facts using flash cards. My parents would practice with me at home, I would practice at school, then I would get tested by the teacher on how well I knew them. I had to learn one set before moving to the next. I remember the 8s and 9s kicking my butt. I also remember my mom giving me a little prize, like a book, after I'd mastered the harder ones.

These days I notice that public and private school kids alike don't know their facts. I remember trying to do it with Joel and failing miserably. Kids in school have a handy dandy multiplication facts table like the one below that I created. I think the reasoning is that they will learn them this way if they have to look them up over and over, and I've found it to be a really helpful resource.

I created a cute multiplication table in my Etsy shop for just $1.00 and would love for you to come over and check it out.

Happy mathing!

Childhood of Famous Americans Book Series -- Alphabetical List

I love it when you can combine more than one subject at a time, and I think it's essential to the successful homeschooling of more than one kid. 

That's what I love about the Childhood of Famous American series of books. It combines Language Arts with history in an engaging way, not like a boring textbook. 

Below is a list of the entire series of books. I hope to print it out and cross them off as we read them as a family. Some are Easy Readers and fast to get through. Some are full books. 

Enjoy!

Prepare Your Kids for Liberal College Stuffs (and Loving Those Who Are Struggling)

*Originally written in 2023 but I had to sit on this post a bit. I'd love to hear your respectful comments.

First day of community college for a couple of my kids, and it's the same old story in a couple of their classes...

Don't want to start a Facebook war, so I'm keeping this post on my very own blog. And here is my question:

Why do so many teachers at places like a local Kansas City community college try to insert their liberal agenda into places it doesn’t even need to be? 

Why start Intro to Psychology class on the first day talking about how we came from monkeys? 

Do these teachers think their way is the only way, or do they just not care about being respectful? And is it even necessary to insert certain things into the lesson? 

Pretty sure if I went into my first day of teaching at JCCC for a Comp class and was like, “So we all know Jesus died for our sins so let’s all write a paper about that,” I would be booed off the campus. 

The best teachers are the ones who you don’t have a clue at the end of the semester if they are religious or not, gay or not, vegan, etc. Nothing much personal is shared unless it’s boring, like an allusion to their children or the fact that they like to swim.

During my 10 years off and on at community college from 1989-1999, I don't remember much about my teachers' personal lives or opinions. There was one teacher who I suspected was gay, but she didn't say a word and never hit us over the head with it. 

Now I follow her on Instagram because she was a FANTASTIC teacher, and, yep, she's gay and is free to share all her opinions on her social media. Where it should be kept. Not in the classroom.

As a teacher, I am not there to teach about my own personal opinions and profess them as the only way. Nope, not even when I teach high school at the Catholic homeschool coop. Of course, we are mostly all Catholic there, so that makes it easier.

Heck, even in the Dave Ramsey Personal Finance class, where I am supposed to teach that CREDIT CARDS ARE EVIL, I listen respectfully to the kids who say their parents have a credit card that racks up mad points for trips and such, and they pay it off monthly and always have. I acknowledge that Dave Ramsey is not a financial god and that everyone has to do what's right for their own family. (I now advocate for my kids to get a credit card when they hit 18 because you can't get an apartment if you have zero credit, as we found out when my 21-year-old with plenty of money in the bank tried to get an apartment in the town where the college is located where he got a full scholarship.)

Side Note: 

Please teach your children to be respectful of other people and their different views. I'm not talking about being respectful of someone who knowingly does horrible things with no regard for humanity or animals. I'm talking about things like this:

My daughter mostly keeps to herself on matters of religion, as she's currently struggling.

Someone says something to her about, "Thank God..." and she says something back like, "I don't believe in God."

Unhelpful responses might include: "You're crazy!" or "That's dumb." or "But your whole family does."

Nobody knows God's plan for anyone else. My daughter who currently does not believe in God could very well end up being a nun or a pastor's wife or a very helpful person in the Catholic community. To judge her harshly at the age of 15 is not only wrong, but it's also potentially harmful to her coming back to being a believer.

Will I love her and support her either way? Yep. And I know you don't have to. But you also don't have to cause harm.

So, yes, my kids are respectful to the teachers who say we came from monkeys or like to insert things about trans rights into lessons where they don't even belong.