The Bridgeway Blog

If you’ve read our previous Student Spotlights in this blog, you’ve learned that families just like yours homeschool for a wide variety of reasons–from dissatisfaction with the public school system to bullying to traveling, and everything in between. Our newest spotlight focuses on Braelyn Wasem, a Bridgeway Academy 7th grader who has been homeschooling for most of her student career. And, like all our Bridgeway families, the Wasems homeschool their children with us for a number of important reasons.

Darya Stoughtenger, a seventh-grader with Bridgeway Academy, recently experienced the thrill of a lifetime. She was able to participate–from afar–in the opening ceremonies for the 2022 Winter Olympic Games, currently taking place in China! But we’ll get to that incredible experience shortly. First, let’s learn more about Darya and what led her to this moment.

To be honest, we could create a whole series about Darya’s achievements, both on and off the ice. To say that she’s talented would be an epic understatement. She’s an honor roll student, a decorated figure skater, an accomplished musician, a featured artist, a community activist, and bilingual–she’s literally a renaissance woman, at the age of 11!

February is Black History Month, a time to honor and remember important African American people and events. There are too many to mention in one blog post, so throughout February we’ll commemorate various individuals and happenings to celebrate Black History Month. The people and events listed here are so vital to American history and make fascinating and important history lessons for your homeschooling.

February is Black History Month, a time to honor and remember important African American people and events. There are too many to mention in one blog post, so throughout February we’ll commemorate various individuals and happenings to celebrate Black History Month. The people and events listed here are so vital to American history and make fascinating and important history lessons for your homeschooling.

Did you know that there are an estimated 2.3 million homeschoolers in the United States? That makes the U.S. the leader in homeschooling nations around the world. But it’s starting to catch on internationally as more and more families (and military families) are turning to homeschooling to meet their children’s educational needs.

The reasons international families choose to homeschool are similar to those of American families: the freedom to customize curriculum to children’s interests and passions, the convenience of flexible schedules, bullying at school, dissatisfaction with the local public education system, and constantly rising tuition costs.

Homeschool co-op…maybe you’ve heard that phrase tossed around among your homeschooling friends. Or, maybe you read it on some homeschooling blog or overheard someone talking about it in the waiting room of the orthodontist and you can’t help but ask: what exactly is a homeschool co-op?

A homeschool co-op is just what it sounds like: a cooperative of homeschoolers who get together on a regular basis and do homeschooling together.

The 4th of July is right around the corner! What better way to celebrate America’s birthday than with a barbecue, pool party, sparklers, and…a history lesson? You might be saying to yourself, “Learning on the 4th of July, who wants to do that?” But, there’s lots to know about the history of the United States. We’ve provided some fun facts and noteworthy nuggets as well as some awesome family trip ideas that are full of Independence Day-related history!

As any parent knows, there’s a lot to juggle when it comes to our kids’ lives. Throw homeschooling into the mix and there’s even more to balance between school and life: proper paperwork for the state, researching curriculum, planning lessons (sometimes for more than one student and grade level!), organizing field trips, gathering materials, teaching and grading, doctor’s appointments, vacations, extracurriculars, and more! That’s why — as great as the flexibility of homeschool is — it’s essential to have some sort of organizational system in place.

Why is it important to be organized? Well, it can help better facilitate learning, lessen distractions, create more peace and calmness, and separate “school” life from “home” life.

We think the homeschool environment can be a great experience for parent and student alike, for quite a few reasons. In addition to the family bonding and unity it can create, you are also given an incredible gift through schooling from home: a unique flexibility to turn your classroom into exactly what you want it to be. Remember that it doesn’t have to be inside! You have the freedom to choose your learning “spot” and to venture out into the world just to see what the day may bring forth as a learning experience.

The spring season is the perfect time to move your classroom out of doors; the simple act of being outside and breathing fresh air, and feeling the breeze on your skin, can be invigorating and inspiring. Taking learning outdoors shouldn’t just be a case of half an hour of story-time in the sunshine. The outdoor classroom is a world full of opportunities for learning, creating, and exploring. So, we’ve taken the opportunity to put together some fabulous outdoor spring lesson plans for you!

When I was a kid, I didn’t like to take tests. For some reason, I could not translate what I learned about World War II to a timed multiple-choice quiz. The agony and anxiety of racking my brain for the right answer scared me. If I had the chance to be creative, I took it. I once acted out The Odyssey by Homer in world literature class as one of the characters, and received an A! I realized I did so much better being CREATIVE than taking a test.
There’s a lot more to assessments than tests. Enter project-based learning, where students can show off their creativity in ways that tests could never measure. This type of learning style can be used with almost any subject. Here are a few great ideas of how to integrate project-based learning into the four core subjects: English language arts, science, social studies, and mathematics.

If you are in the home stretch of homeschooling high school, you are most likely staring down one of the biggest mountains yet, the college application process. Applying for colleges, from the essay and the transcripts to the campus visits has left many seasoned homeschoolers shaking in their boots. But, while college admissions for homeschoolers, studying for SAT and ACT exams, deciding on a career and determining the best college options can be overwhelming and scary, you do not have to fear. Here is what you need to know to ensure that your homeschoolers get into the college of their dreams – worry-free.

Now that you know some study tips that you can use to prepare for the SAT exam, we wanted to give more hacks dedicated to each section of the test. As you practice, keep these things in mind and you will breeze through the SAT and see improvements in your scores.

It’s spring, and for many families the end of the school year is in sight. After a long, cold winter the last thing we want to do is sit inside at a desk or table and look outside at the beautiful sunshine. And as homeschooling families, we don’t have to! While nature walks, hiking, and gardening are great learning experiences, most of us have done and redone these perennial units each spring. It’s time to find new ways to enjoy and experience spring while finishing the year strong, and these homeschool lesson plans can work for preschoolers to high school homeschool students. So let’s try something new with these exciting hands-on spring lesson plans that are perfect for experiencing learning while getting dirty and having fun.

“He can’t sit still to hear the story,” his teacher said, “and he is too much of a distraction to the others. So we let him do his own thing.”

There is a moment carved into my memory of when *Josh was younger, the moment I realized that he was different. He was a joyful, fun-loving, hard-playing boy, as many are, but this experience brought to the surface the struggles that Josh was facing that others his age did not.

He was sitting on the carpet at circle time in pre-school and each child had their own small carpet square to sit on. While other children were bouncing up and down on their squares, somewhat distracted and yet still paying some attention to the story, my son was in a completely different part of the classroom playing at a kitchen set – alone.