27 Comments
Reading Time: 5 minutes

The Big Book of Homeschool Ideas: Transitioning from Teacher to Mentor in Your Homeschool

| | | | | |

Blog, She Wrote: Transitioning from Teacher to Mentor in Your Homeschool & The Big Book of Homeschool Ideas

This post contains an affiliate link. Thanks for your support!

Welcome to the start of The Big Book of Homeschool Ideas Blog Tour where we’re going to be stopping in on the authors of The Big Book of Homeschool Ideas. 55 homeschool moms contributed 103 chapters of homeschool awesome. My contributions were a chapter on mentoring, one on geography, and the last on teaching sewing. Read on to find out why I wrote these chapters and a glimpse at their content.

The Big Book of Homeschool Ideas Blog Tour

Everyday in the month of October, we’ll meet a new author of The Big Book of Homeschool Ideas. You’ll find out why they contributed their chapter or chapters to the book and why they feel passionate about that particular topic.

How it works:

  • Visit each author on the blog tour and participate in the giveaway they may be hosting. You can see the giveaways in red in this post. Tomorrow’s giveaway is listed below at Harrington Harmonies.
  • Enter the giveaway for The Big Book of Homeschool Ideas & iHomeschool Studio Bundle below.
  • Purchase the bundle! Don’t worry. If you win the giveaway, you’ll get your money back. Buy now while you can!
  • October 2 – Stephanie Harrington from Harrington Harmonies. Author of the chapters Everything You Need to Know About Gardening and You CAN Teach Art. Stephanie will be giving away a Teaching Art Basketful of Goodies.
  • Click the calendar to see the other authors on the tour and to see their giveaways.

Big Book Blog Tour CalendarTransitioning from Teacher to Mentor in Your Homeschool

When you are homeschooling young children, much of your time is spent in direct instruction with your students whether it be basic skills in reading, math, or writing. As your children get older, your teaching role begins to transition to more of a mentoring role. This chapter discusses the details involved in being a mentor.

  • Why does your role as a teacher change as your students get older?
  • The benefits of a strong mentoring relationship with your older student
  • How to transition from direct instruction to being a mentor who consults
  • What does mentoring look like for mom in a homeschool?
  • What role does your student take on as they grow and how does that affect your homeschool?
  • Tips on how to be a good mentor to your student.

Taking ownership of their learning is very important for students as they approach high school. This chapter is full of concrete advice on how to foster this growth for you and your student.

Teaching Sewing in Your Homeschool

Regular readers know that our high school freshman is an aspiring fashion & costume designer. She leads the way on her learning and gains new skills all the time. How did we get to this point? If you have a student interested in learning to sew, what is the next step?

  • What if mom doesn’t sew? Many moms today never learned to sew and aren’t sure where to turn if their children want to learn. I offer ideas and resources for families.
  • Finding resources– There are many ways to start and you’ll find ideas and resources which will help you begin.
  • Materials– What are the essentials? What about machines? Other supplies? What do you really need and what can you wait on?
  • Advice on allowing time for students to learn
  • How to go from small projects to longer projects– building sewing endurance
  • The Learning Curve– How to add skills so that eventually your student can design and draft patterns if that is a goal.

Teaching Geography with Geography Quests

Here at Blog, She Wrote, I offer Geography Quests which allow families to explore the world together. They are offered according to season, headlines, and the calendar. You’ll find topics of all kinds. In this chapter, I explain some details and advice regarding the Geography Quest such as:

  • What is a Geography Quest?
  • Why did I choose this format for them?
  • How to engage your students with a Geography Quest
  • How to implement the Geography Quest
  • Benefits of studying Geography with a Geography Quest

Geography Quests are a regular feature on my blog. Find out how to use them with confidence in your homeschool.

Chance to win the Bundle with The Big Book of Homeschool Ideas & the iHomeschool Studio

We are giving away 10 bundles as part of the blog tour! Don’t let the giveaway deter you from purchasing the bundle right away though. If you win a bundle, we’ll get your money back. It’s a win/win!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Purchase The Big Book of Homeschool Ideas & iHomeschool Studio Bundle

For a limited time you can buy The Big Book of Homeschool Ideas with iHomeschool Studio for $15. That’s less than half price! The sale will run from October 1, 2014- November 10, 2014.

The Big Book of Homeschool Ideas contains 103 chapters, 560+ pages, from 55 authors. The digital ebook comes in three formats for Kindle and other mobile devices. The iHomeschool Studio files come in the mp3 format and can be played on any device which plays mp3s.

I love The Big Book and Studio because it’s helpful to moms on a practical level. There is something for every age and stage of homeschooling inside both inspirational and practical. These resources reach out to where you are as a homeschool mom- veteran or beginner.

buyitnowbundle-promo

Studio and Big Book Bundle

Similar Posts

27 Comments

  1. I’m so glad to have found your blog! I have a wide range of kids, too, and I love the topics you address! Thanks!

  2. This looks like lots of fun! Thank you for all your hard work. I really enjoy your blog and your daughter’s sewing creations.

    1. Bonnie, I had to learn fast about helping a talented girl to sew! I sew minimally, so her skills are way past mine. I’ve got lots of ideas on how to make it happen!

  4. I can see the need to become more mentor and less teacher, but I’m grasping at methods to make that happen. Maybe though, I’m creating 3 first born ISTJ peeps (Oh My!).

    1. That’s me too! I’ve found conversation goes a LONG way Dee. My very J son (we are off the scale J) and I get each other. He appreciates that!

  5. We are just beginning our second year of homeschooling and I love reading about new ideas for our homeschool adventure. I just purchased the bundle and am excited to start reading. And I have a fashionista in my home who really wants to learn to sew…and I have NO sewing skills. I can’t wait to read your section on sewing. Very timely!

    1. Carrie- thank you! I hope you’ll find many helpful tips in the bundle. If you have questions about sewing, please feel free to comment and ask or send an email. I’m happy to help!

  6. So proud of you, Heather! Congratulations on this book and all your efforts! I know your kids personally….you and your hubby have done a fabulous job!

    I so agree with you on the whole part of transitioning from teacher to mentor. We now have our first daughter away at college and I can see how all that independent study and mentoring on our part helped her transition into college be very smooth.

    Thanks so much! And again, congrats on the book contributions! 🙂

    1. Sniff. Thanks Rachel! You know we love your kids. Samantha’s story is a win and so encouraging!

  8. I’ve seen so much about this book in the last few months, but this is the first time I’ve really looked at what’s included in it. I think your chapter about transitioning to mentoring would be very beneficial to me in a few years!

  9. What a great giveaway- thank you! I really need to reed this chapter on becoming a mentor. My oldest is almost 15 and I want him to be successful at learning on his own. Love that nature journal picture by the way. Is it from an older blog post?

    1. Thanks Jess! Actually, the nature journal picture is a new one I hadn’t used for anything else yet. It seemed to fit the bill for an image!

      1. Yes, Heather, the image does fit. And I just realized I did not spell “read” correctly in my previous comment. Yes, I homeschool my kids………

  12. With my oldest being only 8, I’m not at the mentoring stage yet. But I love to plan ahead! Thank you for sharing your perspective!

  13. Just commenting because even though I’m in music and not sewing, I finally realized the need to back off and allow students and mothers to grow as a mentor instead of thinking I was “making” them learn. So yes, the ‘student’ could surpass the ‘master’ BUT we could also collaborate, jam together, converse and discover instead. Thanks for this nice post!

      1. Thank you so much!!!!!! I was worried that it was a personal nature book so I couldn’t buy my own, I’m so happy it’s not. 🙂

Comments are closed.