News, Reviews, and Recommendations!

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Have you ever looked through a Where’s Wally book? Would it be as fun if there was a giant, bright yellow arrow pointing to Wally on every page? No. The challenge is what makes it fun!

It’s the same with all puzzles.

Puzzles are a great way to remind your brain that when you’re faced with a challenge, you don’t need to freeze. You don’t need to feel overwhelmed. You don’t need to give up.

Just think of it as a puzzle!

Maths is an entire subject devoted to solving puzzles. So why do so many students dread maths lessons? 

Well, it may not actually be the maths that they're not enjoying - it may just be the way it's being taught.

Here at Brain Spice, we believe that the brain loves learning. You just need to make it fun! And what better way to make maths fun than to practice maths skills through play!

My educational pick of the week (coinciding with Homeschool Wednesday!) is a little book which we’ve used in our homeschooling program for years.

My Special Word Collection is great for kids who aren’t confident with spelling. Having their own, personalised list of frequently used words which they can access and look up any time they’re writing, can help build confidence as they don’t have to worry about drawing attention to their spelling abilities. Not having to ask for help, and not having to worry that they’re spelling a word incorrectly can give kids more confidence when putting their ideas down on paper.

This tends to help reluctant writers overcome a big hurdle, making writing much less intimidating.

It’s Wednesday! Which means if you’ve been wanting to learn more about homeschooling, today’s a great day to come visit Brain Spice! I thought I’d quickly also mention this cool new game which we’ve started stocking at Brain Spice. It’s such a clever way to help kids practice their reading. It’s great for homeschoolers, parents of school kids, teachers, and tutors!

Hi everyone! Janelle here again (the lucky homeschool Mum who gets to spend 11am-2pm each Wednesday at Brain Spice, chatting about all things education and homeschooling). Something I love about Brain Spice is that the store really encourages “Play is the brain's favourite way of learning”. So in that spirit, I thought I’d share an awesome little game we currently have in stock… 

The Online Classroom is an educational resource which I’ve used in our homeschooling plan for years now. It’s a series which I highly recommend for both homeschooling and the classroom setting.

I’ll explain the History series in this post, however there’s also the Online Classroom Geography series and the Online Classroom Mammals series, which are both just as wonderful.

The Online Classroom series is incredibly easy to follow, allowing for open-and-go learning with little to no preparation needed, or alternatively you can use it as a base to plan a more elaborate program with excursions and further learning added.
Either way, the series is fully curriculum-linked.

Multispin is a fun maths game, designed specifically to help students practice their multiplication skills.

Multispin has been designed by Dr Paul Swan, who is fantastic at thoroughly teaching maths concepts by including as many games and hands on activities as possible. (And he’s from right here in Western Australia!)

A few years ago, a fellow homeschool Mum hosted a workshop, where she taught other homeschool parents how to teach their kids maths in such a way that kids actually felt inspired by the subject rather than dreading it.

For me, this was my lightbulb moment...