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Homeschool Resources

Deciding to homeschool your child can be both exciting and overwhelming. I’ll never forget the moment we decided to make the leap, albeit only for a year. There’s so much to consider, but you don’t have to have it all figured out on day one. With a bit of planning (and a lot of patience!), you’ll find your rhythm, adjust it, and find it again and again!  Below, you’ll find advice to new homeschool parents (or veterans) from the perspective of a veteran teacher and someone who has homeschooled.

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Homeschool Blog Posts

  • A FREE compilation of creative and critical thinking games for your classroom with quick and fun ways to keep students engaged in learning AND stretch their thinking.

    ZERO Prep (and FREE!) Creative and Critical Thinking Games

  • Combining our time as homeschoolers and my 16+ years in education, I have some tips for homeschool parents to make homeschooling the best it can be!

    Advice to New Homeschool Parents from a Veteran Teacher (And former Homeschool Mom!)

  • My best tips for how to prevent summer slide with a strategic blend of reading and math activities. It IS possible to turn the summer months into a period of growth!

    How to Prevent Summer Slide in Upper Elementary

  • Curated book lists, practical teaching tips, and resources that will make teaching your upper elementary units of study so much easier to plan.

    Units of Study Using Rich Picture Books

  • First Chapter Fridays is an engaging way to introduce new books, authors, and genres. These tips keep students engaged during whole-class reading.

    First Chapter Fridays and Novel Read-Aloud Engagement Tips

  • "Giggles and Grammar" is the BEST grammar curriculum that engages students in meaningful, systematic grammar lessons and helps students LOVE learning grammar skills.

    “Giggles and Grammar” Curriculum for Upper Elementary

  • This Teaching With a Mountain View Resource guide is your shortcut to finding exactly what you need for your students separated by topic and season for easy navigation.

    Teaching With a Mountain VieW Resource Guide

  • Download lists with the best upper elementary books and free printable bookmarks with reading response questions to share with families throughout the year.

    The Best Upper Elementary Books and Free Printable Bookmarks

  • Teaching a vocabulary word of the day helps upper elementary students develop a wider knowledge of words, tackle complex texts, speak confidently, and think critically.

    Increase Word Power with Vocabulary Word of the Day

  • Daily math word problems play a pivotal role in mathematical understanding and critical thinking skills. These 3rd- 5th grade sets make implementation simple!

    The Importance of Daily Math Word Problems

  • Make planning your next novel study easy with these 5th grade novel study books! These books will entertain and ignite a passion for reading.

    5th Grade Novel Study Books

  • Register for 8 weeks of FREE professional development. The weekly tips will leave you better prepared to teach 8 key upper elementary reading and math skills.

    8 Weeks of Free Professional Development for Teachers

  • Make planning your next novel study easy with these 4th grade novel study books! These books will entertain and ignite a passion for reading.

    4th Grade Novel Study Books

  • Make planning your next novel study easy with these 3rd grade novel study books! I've also included my favorite accountability tips!

    3rd Grade Novel Study Books

  • Critical thinking in math helps students learn to analyze and evaluate math concepts, identify patterns and relationships, and explore different strategies.

    How To Encourage Critical Thinking in Math

  • Favorite upper elementary math manipulatives and tips for hands-on learning to meet a variety of student needs.

    Must-Have Math Manipulatives For Upper Elementary

  • Tips for organizing your upper elementary literacy block. Includes daily routines, whole group lessons, and literacy rotations.

    How I Organize My Literacy Block

  • teaching domain specific vocabulary upper elementary

    Teaching Domain Specific Vocabulary

  • Math Workshop Ideas for Upper Elementary

    Math Workshop Ideas for Upper Elementary

  • Incorporating Picture Books In Your Upper Elementary Classroom

    Incorporating Picture Books In Your Upper Elementary Classroom

  • math projects upper elementary

    Math Projects: Differentiated Hands-On Learning

  • reading fluency

    Teaching Oral Reading Fluency

  • Supporting Student Learning at Home

    Supporting Student Learning at Home

  • Anchor charts serve as daily references for your lessons, empowering students to solve problems independently. Here are 8 of the best anchor chart tips!

    8 Anchor Chart Tips & Tricks

The Best Homeschool Resources

  • math and literacy anchor chart templates 8305636
  • math and literacy flipbooks
  • Vocabulary WOD Cover
  • Mental Math Task Cards scaled 1
  • reading skill of the day bundle
  • language skill of teh day
  • 3rd grade math skill of the day
  • 4th grade math skill of the day
  • 5th grad math skill of the day
  • 3rd complete bundle
  • 4th complete bundle
  • 5th complete bundle
  • fluency task cards
🍂👻 The leaves are changing, so it’s the perfect ti 🍂👻 The leaves are changing, so it’s the perfect time to share THREE of my FAVORITE fall picture book lessons, and they are PACKED with meaningful reading comprehension skills and can be adapted for a huge range of grade levels. These are tried and true lessons that I’ve used in my classroom and absolutely LOVE! 🧡

🍂 Comment below, and I’ll send you the links to more info about all three lessons, including the FREE printable for the Leaf Peeps.

I LOVE pairing picture books that share similar themes, and I’ve come up with MANY different paired sets. It’s research-based and gives students opportunities to compare characters, analyze how different authors develop similar ideas, and make connections across texts—all while keeping fun, seasonal themes with authentic texts!

Here are the three lessons I’ve been LOVING over the past few years:

🍁 The Leaf Peeps: We read four adorable leaf-themed books and compare their topics, themes, and important life lessons. These books pair together extraordinarily well and work well anytime between now and Thanksgiving. BONUS: I have a FREE lesson guide and reflection for this one!

👻 Gustavo’s World: You can use any combo of these books, and the kids just love them. We explore character traits, character change, and theme with these sweet spooky stories. Then students create their own characters (with Play-Doh!) and imagine a new book for the collection!

🎃 Stand Out: We pair Millie Fleur’s Poison Garden, Beatrice Likes the Dark, and The Little Ghost Who Was a Quilt to explore what it means to stand out and embrace our differences. The discussions are SO good, and the lessons behind the books are so impactful!

These are the kinds of lessons I always LOVE most. Simple to prep, rich in discussion, and full of opportunities for students to think deeply about what they’re reading AND grow as little human beings. 💗
Picture books are one of my FAVORITE ways to teach Picture books are one of my FAVORITE ways to teach character development skills in upper elementary, and these are some of the very, very BEST! 📚❤️

Every week (and sometimes more often), I use a carefully selected picture book to help my students explore some big personal growth concepts! I incorporate books about everything from managing big emotions and navigating friendships to embracing differences, building confidence, and working through challenges. 🫶 

I love how a single picture book can lead to some of the most meaningful conversations we have all week!

I’ve rounded up several of my favorites, along with a specific learning objective for each one, so you can see exactly how I use them in my classroom.

And YES, picture books absolutely belong in upper elementary classrooms! 🥰

Which of these have you read with your students? Any favorites I need to add to my collection?
Can I tell you about one of my FAVORITE types of n Can I tell you about one of my FAVORITE types of novels to teach (I mean, if you know me, you know they are ALL my favorite, but this type is a ✨ students ✨ favorite — and not just while you’re teaching poetry)!📚🩷

🥁 Novels in verse! If you haven’t tried teaching one with your upper elementary kiddos yet, this is your sign.

I’ve found they’re the perfect way to get my readers to actually SLOW DOWN and pay close attention to the text — what’s said and what’s left unsaid. When there are only a handful of words on a page, every single word has a job to do. A line break changes everything. A word sitting all by itself on the page? Figurative phrases that tell more than an entire paragraph alone could? There’s a reason the author made every single choice. 

🌟 And for teaching inference? Oh my goodness. So much is left unsaid in these books. Truly, so much. My students have to piece together what a character is feeling from tiny details, and the conversations we have are AMAZING.

I just put together a whole blog post with everything I love about teaching them, my favorite titles for grades 4, 5, and 6+, and a giant list of annotation ideas you can use right away. 🎉 Comment below, and I’ll send the info your way!
Book beads ➡️ Book Lanyards ⭐️ No matter which one Book beads ➡️ Book Lanyards ⭐️ No matter which one you choose, your kids are going to love this reading celebration!! 🥰 

Comment below, and I’ll send you all the info or both options!
❇️ I have a few must-have anchor charts in my clas ❇️ I have a few must-have anchor charts in my classroom each year, and these are two of them! 🚨 BUT, I don’t just hang them up and go. It’s so important to spend time teaching my students how to use the prompts in their reading responses, how to develop their questions using each prompt, and discussing how to answer each type of prompt. 

Once students are familiar with how to use the prompts, they are able to have so much ownership over their reading response while also thinking critically about the book or chapter being discussed!

🎉🎉Comment below, and I’ll send you a link to three free sets of reading response resources and my favorite reading response task cards!
You won’t ever catch me in an ELA teaching positio You won’t ever catch me in an ELA teaching position where I’m not teaching word parts. 🩷💚 I believe wholeheartedly in the value of teaching morphology, especially in the upper grades! 

Comment below, and I’ll send you info on ALL my resources, including an entire FREE starter kit for teaching your students the basics of prefixes and suffixes!
🎉We start every math class the same: I read just a 🎉We start every math class the same: I read just a few of these mental math cards orally, step by step, and when I’m done, I count down from three silently using my fingers. When my students see a closed fist, they share their answers in unison. It’s so quick, simple, and low stakes for kids. They increase in complexity throughout the year, and I’ve seen massive gains in my students’ mental math abilities.

Comment below, and I’ll send you the info! ❤️❤️
Podcasts in the classroom are SO fun while still b Podcasts in the classroom are SO fun while still being academically worthwhile! 👏 🎙️ I designed them to address listening and reading comprehension skills in an engaging, relevant format. Each one comes with show notes and assignments and covers topics ranging from sports and science and tales and more! 🥰 Comment below, and I’ll send you all the info.
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