As a homeschool mom and educator, I appreciate projects that give children a chance to slow down, work with their hands, and explore something new. The Sea Turtle Soapstone Carving Kit from Timberdoodle Co. offers an introduction to sculpture with a keepsake to display when the work is finished.
What’s inside?
The kit includes soapstone for the sea turtle project, a carving file, sandpaper, polishing materials, and step-by-step instructions. Students work through the stages of shaping, smoothing, and polishing the stone, gradually refining their turtle’s form. The final polishing brings out the stone’s natural color and gives the sculpture a smooth finish.
The process is part of the learning. Each stroke of the file removes a little material, giving students opportunities to observe their progress and decide where to work next. It’s an activity that rewards careful attention and steady effort.
A creative addition to homeschool
This kit is included in the 4th Grade Timberdoodle Curriculum Kit, and I can see several ways to build a lesson around it. Pair the carving with sea turtle research, a discussion of ocean conservation, or an exploration of soapstone and its properties. Students could also photograph each stage and write a short explanation of how they created their sculpture.
From an educator’s perspective, the activity offers practice with fine motor control, following a sequence, and perseverance. Students also make artistic choices as they refine the shape and decide how smooth they want their finished turtle to be.
Not just for kids!
Although it’s included in a fourth-grade curriculum, this kit has appeal well beyond elementary school. It’s a great kit for adults, too! Working with real stone offers an interesting creative challenge, whether you’re a teen, a parent joining homeschool art time, or an adult looking for a hands-on hobby.
It also makes a wonderful gift. Give the unopened kit to someone who enjoys crafts, turtles, or trying something new or give a finished carving as a personal, handmade keepsake.
My suggestion is to allow plenty of time and enjoy each stage. This is a project to approach patiently, with room for breaks along the way. For families looking to explore a different art medium together, the Sea Turtle Soapstone Carving Kit offers creativity, learning, and something special to keep.
I am so glad resources like Your African History exist for students like my high schooler. This year, we are studying World History, and if you have been homeschooling for any length of time, you probably know that sometimes even the curriculum you carefully select will leave you searching for more. Not necessarily because the curriculum is bad, but because you realize your student needs another perspective. That moment happened for us while my son was reading one of his required history book about the pharaohs of ancient Egypt. After reading for a while, he came to me and said, “Mom, this book is informative, but it is telling the history of the pharaohs of Egypt kings from one perspective.”
And there it was.
He noticed it on his own.
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We have become accustomed to moments like this throughout our homeschool journey. When something feels incomplete, we do what we have always done we pivot. We research. We add another source. We ask more questions. We look at who is telling the story, whose voices are included, and whose voices may be missing. Thankfully, this year we did not have to pivot very far because we already had one of our favorite resources in our homeschool arsenal: Your African History. I have talked about Your African History several times on my social platforms because it has become such a valuable resource for our family. We even continued using it over the summer. Eventually, I made the decision to stop not because my son was tired of it, but because I wanted us to have something exciting to return to during the school year.
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My son loves history. But more importantly, he wants history that encourages him to dig deeper. He wants to know what happened, why it happened, who benefited, whose perspective is being presented, and how the past connects to what we see today. As he has gotten older, I have watched him move from simply learning historical facts to questioning historical narratives. That is exactly where I believe high school history should take our students.
Your African History is an online educational platform centered on African history, culture, people, civilizations, and their influence on the world. It gives students an opportunity to explore African history through engaging lessons, storytelling, characters, visuals, and interactive learning experiences. Instead of treating Africa as a brief chapter within a much larger world history story, the platform gives students space to explore the depth and complexity of African history itself.
Designed to Grow With Your Student
Another thing I appreciate about Your African History is that this is not a resource students are expected to rush through in a few weeks. The course is designed to be completed over the course of one year and is geared toward students in grades 3–12, which gives families a lot of flexibility in how they incorporate it into their homeschool.
The program comes with a detailed syllabus and lesson-plan schedule, and there are several scheduling options for families to choose from. I really appreciate this because every homeschool does not operate the same way, and every family may not want to use the program at the same pace. In our homeschool, we typically follow the one-day-a-week schedule, allowing Your African History to complement the World History curriculum my son is already completing. Sometimes, depending on what we are studying or how deeply we want to explore a topic, I switch to the two-day-a-week schedule. Having those options allows me to use the program intentionally without making my high schooler feel as though I am simply piling another full history course onto his workload.
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For high school especially, I love having that flexibility. I can look at what we are covering in our primary World History curriculum and strategically bring in Your African History where it adds another perspective, expands the discussion, or gives my son an opportunity to investigate a topic more deeply. Some weeks that means one lesson; other weeks we may spend two days with the platform because what we are learning connects so well with our current studies. It works with our homeschool instead of requiring our homeschool to work around it.
Recently, the platform received a beautiful upgrade. The new characters are visually engaging, the platform feels fresh and inviting, and there are even more features for students to explore. Even though my son is now working at the high school level, it does not feel like something he has outgrown. Over the last few weeks, he has genuinely enjoyed working through the platform alongside his World History curriculum. And that “alongside” part is important.
We are not throwing away our World History books every time we encounter a perspective we want to investigate further. We are learning how to place resources beside one another. My son can read his assigned textbook or historical book and then use Your African History to explore additional context and perspectives. From there, we can discuss the differences, research questions that arise, and determine what additional primary and secondary sources we may need.
That is high school learning.
For me, Your African History is about much more than learning the names of ancient civilizations, kings, queens, empires, and historical events. It creates opportunities for students to examine how they think about African history in the first place. Too often, African history is reduced to slavery, colonization, poverty, or struggle. When that becomes the primary framework through which children encounter Africa, they can miss thousands of years of civilization, scholarship, innovation, trade, government, architecture, culture, resistance, intellectual traditions, and human achievement.
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I also think about what happens when Black and brown history becomes less visible in what children encounter. What will future generations know about the people who came before them if we do not intentionally preserve, study, question, and discuss these histories?
That is why resources like this matter to me.
Whether your child is homeschooled or attends a traditional school, having access to additional historical resources can help them become a more thoughtful student of history. Our children should know how to encounter a historical claim and ask, What is the evidence? Who is telling this story? Is there another perspective? What sources support this interpretation? What happened before this event? And how does this history connect to the world I live in today?
Those are skills that extend far beyond a history course.
What Your African History Adds to Our High School Studies
A broader lens on African history that allows us to explore people, civilizations, events, and ideas that may receive limited attention in a traditional World History resource.
Critical-thinking opportunities that encourage my son to question, compare, investigate, and examine what he has previously learned.
Connections between the past and present, helping him understand that history is not a collection of isolated events but a story whose effects continue across generations.
Conversations about stereotypes and historical narratives, including where certain ideas about Africa originated and how those ideas have been repeated.
Growth mindset, confidence, and empowerment, because there is something powerful about young people encountering histories that expand their understanding of what people who look like them have contributed to the world.
A natural companion to our World History curriculum, giving us another resource to place beside textbooks, literature, documentaries, maps, primary sources, and other historical materials.
One of the additions I have especially enjoyed is Jamal’s story. To me, it feels like a call to action for young scholars. It pushes students beyond simply receiving information and toward becoming active participants in their own education. That is something I want my son to carry with him throughout high school and eventually into college: the confidence to read, question, investigate, and think for himself.
At the high school level, I do not want him to believe something simply because it appears in a textbook and I do not want him to automatically believe something simply because it appears on an alternative educational platform either. I want him to develop the skills to examine sources, compare perspectives, recognize bias, look for evidence, and form thoughtful conclusions. That is one of the greatest benefits I see in incorporating Your African History into our homeschool. Our goal is not just to finish a World History course and put another credit on his transcript. Most of all, I want him to understand that learning history comes with a responsibility.
A responsibility to ask questions.
A responsibility to seek evidence.
A responsibility to listen for voices that may have been overlooked.
A responsibility to challenge stereotypes without replacing them with new assumptions.
And a responsibility to keep learning.
One day, our children will be the adults responsible for teaching the next generation what came before them. I want my son to enter that future knowing that his history—and the history of people across the African continent and throughout the African diaspora is worthy of serious study, thoughtful discussion, and preservation.
That is why Your African History is not just another online resource sitting in our homeschool toolbox. For us, it has become part of how we teach our high schooler to approach history itself: read deeply, question thoughtfully, compare perspectives, search for evidence, make connections, and never stop learning simply because the textbook reached the end of the chapter.
Homeschooling high school is a whole new level of homeschooling.
And I don’t think we talk enough about the anxiety that can come with it for the student and the parent.
When I started planning this school year, I thought I had it all together. I had mapped things out. We had the curriculum. We had the classes. I had researched credits, electives, future plans, and all the things homeschool moms convince ourselves we need to have figured out before high school begins. I was READY. Or at least I thought I was. What I wasn’t prepared for was how much he would change.
Even School Supply Shopping Was Different
I should have known something had shifted when we went school supply shopping. School supply shopping has always been one of those little homeschool traditions. New notebooks, pens, folders, highlighters you know, all the unnecessary school supply glitz that some of us homeschool moms get way too excited about. My son? Completely unbothered. We walked into Target, and he casually looked through the notebooks. He found one notebook he liked. Great. Then he picked up another one. And another. And another. This child bought six of the exact same notebook with the exact same cover. Meanwhile, my Type A personality was internally screaming. How are you going to know which notebook is for which subject?
In my mind, math needed one color, biology another, history another, English another. There needed to be a SYSTEM. He wasn’t concerned. And you know what? He figured it out. Then came the Great Highlighter Battle of 2026. We seriously went through four different brands before he finally decided that BIC Brite Liners were the highlighters. Apparently, high school requires very specific highlighting technology. But those little moments were showing me something bigger. He was developing his own preferences, systems, and ways of doing things. And I needed to let him.
The Independence Happened Almost Overnight
The biggest thing I wasn’t prepared for was the super independence. It honestly felt like it happened overnight. We went from being a homeschool team to him becoming a solo act. For years, homeschooling meant that I was right there teaching, planning, explaining, checking, redirecting, researching, and organizing. Now? He mainly needs me to help organize his curriculum, map out his lesson plans, and make sure the bigger picture makes sense. Then he takes it from there. That has been one of the biggest adjustments for me as a homeschool mom. But I’m realizing that this is something we’ve been working toward all these years.
High School Changed the Plan Too
His classes have changed this year as well. Over the summer he completed a lot of his freshman high school credits. Math credits for high school are almost complete, so his next stop for math in 2027 is college math credits. He decided to begin dual enrollment with ASU and is taking additional elective classes online. Suddenly, our homeschool isn’t contained within the curriculum I selected. His education is expanding, and he’s beginning to make decisions about what he wants his high school years to look like. Even his graduation timeline changed. He has decided that he may graduate in 2030 or 2031, based partly on his age and his desire to take full advantage of the educational funding opportunities available through our state. His goal is to graduate from high school with an associate degree. And here’s the thing:
That was his decision.
I can help him research. I can help him understand credits. I can help him look at requirements and long-term goals.
But the final picture is becoming his to create.
Then Music Came Out of Nowhere
This summer, he had another explosion of creativity that completely shocked his dad and me. He started producing music and songwriting. Now, this is a kid who literally grew up around music. His dad is a music producer. He has grown up seeing equipment, hearing sessions, and being around an in-home studio. And for years? Very little interest. Then one day, he asked his dad if he could play something he had been working on. His dad loaded the song into the studio. We listened. And then his dad and I looked at each other.
Where did THIS come from?
The kid who had grown up in the studio but showed very little interest in music production had composed and produced a song that sounded like something we could actually hear on the radio. Suddenly, music wasn’t just something his dad did. It was his. His newfound love for music production and songwriting has now become one of his passion projects, right alongside the novel he has been writing. And this is where my training as a Montessori educator came full circle:
Follow the child.
I’ve said those words for years. Now I’m having to live them in a completely different way. Following the child when they’re little may mean noticing that they’re fascinated by dinosaurs and building learning opportunities around that interest. Following the child as a teenager may mean making room for interests you never planned and recognizing that some of the most meaningful learning may happen outside the curriculum you carefully selected.
So…What Does the Homeschool Mom Do Now?
That has been my question. What does a homeschool mom do when her student has taken the reins of about 80% of his homeschool journey? I’ve realized that my job didn’t disappear. My job changed. I’m spending less time hovering over assignments and more time preparing him for life. I have stepped into a new role college counselor and life coach. These days, our lessons together look different. We’re working on cooking, paying bills, making appointments, filling out forms, managing schedules, communicating with adults, and handling responsibilities. But I’m also becoming much more intentional about our relationship.
We are reading more books together and discussing them. We’re talking about growth mindset, confidence, character, and self-esteem. Gameschooling has come back to the forefront in our house because sometimes sitting across from your teenager laughing over a game creates opportunities for conversations that would never happen if you simply sat him down and said, “We need to talk.”
I’m prioritizing family time and making memories. We’re having conversations about self-awareness, friendships, relationships, peer pressure, boundaries, decision-making, and safety when he’s out without us. We’re giving him room to experience more of the world while still having home as a place to come back to for guidance. Even his bedroom is changing. He recently asked us to update his room so that it feels more like a teenager’s space. Instead of me deciding what looks good, we’re getting his ideas and slowly making purchases based on the environment he wants to create.
It’s another small reminder to follow the child.
And Then There Is the Social Calendar!
Apparently, teenagers have places to be. His social calendar is absolutely off the chain these days. Between his homeschool co-op teen group, National Beta, National Honor Society, Kappa League, friends, classes, projects, and activities, this kid has a fuller calendar than some adults I know. But I love seeing it. One of the concerns people sometimes have about homeschooling through high school is whether homeschooled teens will have enough opportunities for friendships, leadership, activities, and community. Our experience has been the opposite. As he’s gotten older, his world has actually gotten bigger.
What I’m Learning About Homeschooling High School
If you’re entering the high school years, here’s what I’m learning along the way:
Your role is supposed to change. You may move from teacher to advisor, mentor, planner, chauffeur, sounding board, and safe place. That doesn’t mean you’re less important.
Give them ownership. Let them choose some courses, electives, supplies, organizational systems, projects, and goals. Even if their system makes your Type A personality twitch a little.
Teach life alongside academics. Transcripts matter, but so do scheduling appointments, managing money, cooking, communicating professionally, solving problems, meeting deadlines, filling out forms, and knowing how to advocate for themselves.
Make room for unexpected passions. The thing your teenager becomes passionate about may not be anywhere on the curriculum map you created. Leave room for it anyway.
Don’t confuse independence with disconnection. They may not need you sitting beside them for every lesson anymore, but they still need connection, conversation, guidance, boundaries, and a safe place to land.
Keep reevaluating the plan. High school doesn’t have to be four rigid years mapped out before ninth grade begins. Goals change. Interests change. Opportunities appear. The plan can change too.
Protect your relationship. It can be easy for high school to become all about credits, grades, transcripts, college, dual enrollment, and what’s next. Your relationship with your teenager matters too.
Let them practice adulthood while the stakes are still lower. Let them make the phone call, schedule the appointment, manage the deadline, communicate with the instructor, organize their calendar, and even make a few mistakes while you’re still close enough to help them figure out what to do next.
What I’m Holding Onto
As the academic side of homeschooling changes, I’ve found myself becoming even more intentional about the things that keep us connected. I want us to keep reading books together and having conversations about them. I want him to be able to bring ideas to me, challenge my thinking, ask questions, disagree respectfully, and know that our home is a place where we can talk about hard things. I want to keep gameschooling too. Not everything valuable needs a grade, transcript entry, or credit attached to it. Sometimes the lesson is simply sitting around the table laughing together. I want life skills to become an even bigger part of our homeschool because my goal isn’t simply to raise a teenager who can graduate. I want to raise a young man who can function confidently in the world.
I also want to protect space for his passion projects. Music production, songwriting, writing his novel, and whatever else catches fire along the way deserve room in his education. Those things may not have been part of my original high school plan, but they may become some of the most important parts of his. Most importantly, I’m choosing connection over completion more often. There will always be another assignment, another lesson, another box to check. But I won’t always have a teenager sitting at my kitchen table.
The Part Nobody Warns You About
I’m incredibly proud to see all of our hard work beginning to come together. But I’d be lying if I said it wasn’t a little bittersweet. When you’re homeschooling a little one, the days can feel so long. You wonder whether they’re ever going to read independently. You wonder whether they’ll ever stop needing you to explain every math problem. You wonder whether you’ll ever be able to say, “Go do your schoolwork,” and have them actually go do it.
And then one day…
They do.
The child who once needed you beside him for nearly everything suddenly has a calendar, goals, classes, organizations, friends, projects, ideas, and plans of his own. And you realize that the homeschool journey you’ve spent years building is beginning to do exactly what it was supposed to do.
It’s preparing him for what comes next.
That realization is beautiful.
And hard.
And exciting.
And bittersweet.
So yes, high school homeschooling looks very different around here. There are six identical notebooks. There are very specific BIC Brite Liners. There are dual-enrollment classes, music sessions, a novel in progress, leadership organizations, friends, a packed social calendar, and plans for the future that I couldn’t have completely mapped out even if I tried. And maybe that’s exactly how it’s supposed to be. Because after all these years of homeschooling, I’m finally understanding another side of “follow the child.” When they’re little, following the child often means discovering how they learn. As they grow, it becomes making space for them to discover who they are. We’re not finished yet. There are still lessons to teach, credits to earn, conversations to have, mistakes to make, and memories to create.
But the view from here is changing.
And while part of me wants to slow everything down, another part of me looks at the young man emerging in front of us and thinks: This is what we were working toward all along.
One thing about our homeschool you are always going to find games mixed in with our academics! I am a big believer that learning does not always have to come from a textbook, worksheet, or computer screen. Sometimes some of the BEST learning happens when you pull out a game, sit around the table, and let the kids think, talk, problem-solve, and have fun.
We recently pulled out Prime Suspect: At the Campground, and this is such a cool logic game to add to your homeschool, especially if you have middle or high schoolers. It combines mystery, logic, critical thinking, and deductive reasoning in a way that feels more like you are trying to solve a case than completing a school assignment.
The whole idea is to pay attention to the clues, think through the information you have been given, eliminate possibilities, and use your reasoning skills to figure out the prime suspect. I really like games like this because our kids are doing so much more than simply playing. They have to slow down, pay attention to details, make connections, question their first assumptions, and actually explain how they arrived at their answer.
This is definitely one I would put in a Morning Basket for older students. Morning Basket does not have to stop just because your kids get older! You simply have to change what you put in it. Instead of everything being a read-aloud or traditional morning work, add some logic games, critical-thinking activities, puzzles, current events, conversation cards, or other things that get their brains working. Something like Prime Suspect is a fun way to start the homeschool day without immediately saying, “Okay, pull out your math book!”
I also really like this one as a brain break between heavier subjects. After Algebra, Biology, History, writing, or a long reading assignment, sometimes our kids need to step away for a minute. But a brain break does not always mean turning on a screen or completely checking out. Sometimes it can simply mean using a different part of the brain. Pull out a logic game for 15–20 minutes, solve a mystery, laugh a little, and then get back to the school day.
For middle and high schoolers, these types of games are especially valuable because we want our older kids learning HOW to think, not just memorizing information. They need opportunities to analyze evidence, recognize patterns, eliminate possibilities, defend their reasoning, and change their conclusions when new information doesn’t support what they originally thought. Those are skills that carry over into math, science, literature, writing, research, debate, and everyday life.
And don’t put this one away when the homeschool day is over! I think this would also make a fun family game night addition. When parents and teens play logic games together, you naturally get conversation going. Everybody is sharing what they noticed, challenging each other’s conclusions, trying to figure out who saw something everyone else missed, and probably getting a little competitive along the way. That is one of the reasons I love gameschooling so much it brings learning and family time together without everything having to feel academic.
Another cool thing about Prime Suspect: At the Campground is that it was included in the Timberdoodle Co. 6th Grade Curriculum Kit. I really appreciate curriculum companies recognizing that logic and critical thinking deserve a place in our homeschool right alongside our traditional subjects. This is what I love about homeschooling. We have the freedom to say, “We’re going to work on critical thinking today,” and that lesson might happen with a pencil and paper, or it might happen sitting around the table trying to solve a mystery.
Prime Suspect: At the Campground can be Morning Basket. It can be a brain break. It can be logic and critical-thinking practice. It can be gameschooling. It can be family game night. And sometimes the kids don’t even realize how much learning is happening because, to them, we’re just playing a game.
There is something so special about building a child’s very first library. As we continue adding quality books to the newest little one in our extended family’s collection, I’m trying to choose books that he can enjoy now but also continue growing with over the next few years. With him turning one this past July, My First 100 Words Wimmelbook is the perfect stepping stone for helping him build his vocabulary while beginning to make real-world connections between pictures, words, and the things he sees around him every day.
What I really like about this book is that it goes beyond simply showing a picture with a word underneath it. Wimmelbooks are known for their busy, detailed illustrations, giving little ones plenty to look at, point to, and discover. My First 100 Words introduces young readers to familiar objects and vocabulary through colorful scenes that encourage them to slow down and explore the pages.
At this age, we aren’t worried about him memorizing 100 words. Instead, this is a book we can use naturally throughout the day. We can point to an object, say its name, talk about its color or what it does, and then help him recognize that same object when he encounters it in real life. Those simple interactions are wonderful for building early vocabulary, observation skills, and language development.
I also love that this is the type of book that can grow along with him. Right now, reading together may mean pointing, naming objects, making sounds, and letting him explore the illustrations. As he gets older, we can begin asking questions like, “Can you find the ball?” “Where is the dog?” or “What do you see? Eventually, he can start naming objects independently and even using the pictures to create his own little stories.
That makes it much more than a one-and-done baby book. As we build his family library, I want it filled with quality books that encourage curiosity, conversation, and a genuine love of books from the very beginning. My First 100 Words Wimmelbook fits beautifully into that goal.
For our newest one-year-old reader, this has been such a sweet addition to his growing library and I have a feeling this is one we will be pulling off the shelf again and again.
This is part 2 of our 3-part blog series on Logic & Critical Thinking Games for High Schoolers, and this time we’re talking about SmartGames Anti-Virus. I have to start by saying I REALLY like this game! This has become one of those games that everyone in our family seems to fight over who gets to play next.
How Does SmartGames Anti-Virus Work?
SmartGames Anti-Virus is a one-player sliding puzzle game that challenges you to remove the red “virus” piece from the game board. You select a challenge and arrange the pieces on the board according to the challenge. From there, you have to slide the colorful pieces around the board to create a pathway that allows you to move the red virus completely out. Sounds easy, right? Not necessarily! The pieces can only move in certain directions, so you have to think several moves ahead. Moving one piece might solve one problem but create another. That’s where the logic, planning, spatial reasoning, concentration, and critical-thinking skills come into play. As you progress through the challenges, they become increasingly difficult, which keeps the game interesting for older students and apparently the adults in our house too!
A Fun Game for Our Homeschool Day
One thing I love about Anti-Virus is how easily it fits into our homeschool routine. It has been a great game to pull out between Biology lessons. When we’ve been reading, taking notes, or working through something that requires a lot of concentration, Anti-Virus gives us a chance to switch gears while still keeping the brain working. But honestly, one of my favorite times to play has nothing to do with school. We pull it out while we’re waiting for dinner to finish cooking. Instead of everyone disappearing into separate rooms or immediately grabbing their phones, we’ll hang around the kitchen or dining room, pull out Anti-Virus, and see who can figure out a challenge. Someone starts playing, someone else starts giving suggestions, and before you know it, everybody wants a turn. Technically, Anti-Virus is a single-player puzzle, but in our house it often turns into a family activity.
Why I Like It for High Schoolers
As our homeschool moves into the high school years, I’m realizing that games still have an important place in learning. They just need to grow with our students. Anti-Virus doesn’t feel like a little kid’s educational game. It requires students to plan ahead, recognize patterns, problem-solve, and rethink their strategy when something doesn’t work. Those are exactly the kinds of thinking skills I want to continue developing throughout high school. And the best part? Nobody feels like they’re doing another assignment.
Our Final Thoughts
SmartGames Anti-Virus is definitely a winner in our house. It’s challenging enough for our high school homeschool, fun enough that the adults actually want to play too, and easy enough to pull out whenever we have a few minutes. Whether we’re using it as a brain break between Biology lessons, challenging ourselves during the homeschool day, or simply hanging out together while waiting for dinner, Anti-Virus has become one of those games that gets used instead of sitting forgotten on the shelf. And considering everyone in this house seems to want it at the same time, I think that says plenty. Next up in our 3-part Logic & Critical Thinking Games for High Schoolers series: another SmartGames favorite!
We received IQ Circle for our honest review from Timberdoodle Co.
As we move into the high school years of homeschooling, I’m always looking for ways to keep critical thinking, logic, and problem-solving part of our day without everything feeling like another lesson or assignment. That’s one reason I’m loving the SmartGames IQ Deluxe collection, and IQ Circle has quickly become a favorite. It looks simple when you first open it, but don’t let that little circular board fool you! 😂 IQ Circle definitely makes you think.
What Is SmartGames IQ Circle?
SmartGames IQ Circle is a one-player logic puzzle designed for ages 14+. It includes 120 challenges, ranging from Easy to Expert, along with 10 double-sided puzzle pieces and a portable game board with a lid. The goal sounds simple: complete the circle. You choose a challenge and place the indicated pieces onto the board. Then you have to figure out how to fit all of the remaining pieces correctly. But there’s a catch!
The pieces contain different-sized balls that must fit into specific areas of the circular board. The board also has ribs that restrict where pieces can be placed, and because the pieces are double-sided, sometimes you have to completely change your approach and flip a piece over to find the solution. Each challenge has only one correct solution.
More Than Just a Puzzle
What I really appreciate about IQ Circle is how many skills are being used while you’re simply trying to solve a puzzle. It encourages:
Critical thinking
Logical reasoning
Problem-solving
Concentration
Visual-spatial reasoning
Planning
Pattern recognition
Persistence
As the challenges become harder, fewer clues are provided, so you really have to slow down, analyze what you see, and think ahead. For high school students, I think activities like this are a great reminder that developing thinking skills doesn’t always require a textbook.
Why I Like the IQ Deluxe Games
The IQ Deluxe line is geared toward older teens and adults, and I think that makes a big difference for homeschool families with older students. The games have a more sophisticated design and presentation than many logic games created for younger children. IQ Circle’s unique geometric board isn’t just there to look nice the circular design actually influences how you have to approach and solve each challenge. It feels like a legitimate brain teaser rather than something we’ve simply adapted for a teenager.And apparently, Circle and I understand each other pretty well because I’ve been doing surprisingly good at this one!
SmartGames IQ Circle has been a great addition to our high school homeschool. It gives us something that’s fun and screen-free while still exercising logic, concentration, spatial reasoning, and critical-thinking skills. With 120 challenges from Easy to Expert, there is plenty of room to grow with the game, too. You can start where you’re comfortable and gradually work your way toward those challenges that really make you stare at the board and wonder how one little piece is causing so much trouble. High school homeschooling doesn’t have to mean giving up games and hands-on learning. Sometimes a quick puzzle is exactly what we need to break up a long school day, reset our brains, and make learning feel fun again. And right now, IQ Circle is definitely earning its spot on our homeschool table.
I received Homeschool Planet Planner for my honest review!
As a homeschool mom for many years, I’ve learned one very important lesson: the more organized I am, the more confident I feel. That’s exactly why Homeschool Planet Planner has been one of the best investments I’ve made in our homeschool. I’ve been using Homeschool Planet for years, and every school year I’m reminded why it continues to be my favorite homeschool planning system. But now that my son is entering high school, I appreciate it on an entirely different level.
Instead of feeling overwhelmed by transcripts, graduation requirements, dual enrollment schedules, outsourced classes, and long-term planning, I actually feel excited. Homeschool Planet has truly become my digital homeschool assistant, doing so much of the heavy lifting behind the scenes so I can focus on what matters most teaching my son.
What Is Homeschool Planet Planner?
Homeschool Planet is an all-in-one digital homeschool planner designed specifically for homeschool families. It combines lesson planning, scheduling, attendance, record keeping, assignment tracking, and homeschool organization into one easy-to-use platform. Whether you’re teaching one student or managing multiple children across different grade levels, the system adapts to your family’s unique homeschool style.
The setup is surprisingly simple, and with helpful tutorial videos and an incredible customer support team, you’re never left wondering what to do next. It truly feels like having an experienced homeschool assistant sitting beside you every step of the way.
Lesson Planning That Does the Heavy Lifting
One of my absolute favorite features has always been the lesson planning. Whether I’m using lesson plans from many of our favorite curriculum publishers that automatically populate into my planner or creating completely customized lesson plans for our unique homeschool, everything is organized in one place. Assignments are scheduled automatically, lessons can be moved with a simple drag and drop, and I never feel like I’m rebuilding our schedule every time life happens which, let’s be honest, is often in homeschooling!
For families who enjoy creating their own curriculum, Homeschool Planet makes that just as easy. I can build completely custom lesson plans, assignments, and schedules that fit exactly how we homeschool.
Stepping Into the Role of High School Counselor
As our homeschool has grown, so has Homeschool Planet Planner. This year, I truly feel like I’ve stepped into the role of my son’s high school counselor from the comfort of my own office. I can organize our four-year plan, keep track of credits, coordinate outsourced classes, schedule dual enrollment courses, organize electives, and manage our daily homeschool all from one dashboard. Instead of multiple notebooks, spreadsheets, sticky notes, and planners scattered everywhere, everything I need is right at my fingertips.
That peace of mind is priceless.
The NEW High School Blueprint Is a Total Game Changer
If planning high school has ever made you nervous, this new tool removes so much of the uncertainty. The 4-Year High School Blueprint allows homeschool parents to build a complete four-year high school plan while helping you understand your state’s graduation requirements. Instead of wondering whether you’ve missed an important credit requirement or if your student is on track for graduation, you can confidently map everything out from freshman year through senior year. The best part? It’s completely FREE to use no credit card required. Whether you’re just beginning high school planning or already have a high school student, this resource is an incredible place to start.
Perfect for Dual Enrollment & Outsourced Classes
Many homeschool families don’t do everything at home anymore. Between co-ops, online classes, tutors, community college dual enrollment, music lessons, sports, and enrichment activities, schedules can become overwhelming very quickly. Homeschool Planet keeps everything organized in one place so nothing falls through the cracks. Being able to balance our homeschool lessons alongside outsourced classes has honestly been a lifesaver.
Create Professional Homeschool Student IDs
One feature that often gets overlooked but shouldn’t is the built-in Homeschool ID Card creator which is also free for non members. As homeschoolers, we frequently need student IDs for educational discounts, museums, conventions, travel, homeschool events, and other educational opportunities.
Instead of trying to create one yourself, Homeschool Planet allows you to quickly create professional homeschool IDs for both parents and students, making it one less thing to worry about.
Your Complete Homeschool Command Center
Beyond lesson planning, Homeschool Planet has become the central hub for running our homeschool. Everything is organized in one convenient place, including:
Auto-populating lesson plans from many popular curriculum publishers
Drag-and-drop scheduling
Attendance tracking
Helpful setup videos
Outstanding customer support
Record keeping
To-do lists and so much more!!
Paper Planner or Digital Planner? You Don’t Have to Choose
Whether you love writing everything down on paper or you’ve completely embraced digital planning, Homeschool Planet fits beautifully into either style. That’s one of the reasons it continues to be one of the most trusted and respected planning systems in the homeschool community. It grows with your family from the early elementary years all the way through high school graduation.
My Final Thoughts
As someone balancing high school coursework, honors classes, outsourced learning, extracurricular activities, and future dual enrollment, I honestly can’t imagine planning this season without Homeschool Planet Planner. It has transformed what once felt overwhelming into something that feels manageable, organized, and even exciting. Instead of worrying about whether I’m missing something important, I can confidently focus on giving my son an incredible high school education while Homeschool Planet keeps everything organized behind the scenes.
If you’ve been thinking about trying Homeschool Planet Planner, this is your sign. Grab my affiliate link and start the 30-day free trial no credit card needed. Take advantage of the easy setup, explore the incredible features, attend a member meeting, enjoy the monthly freebies, and experience firsthand why so many homeschool families trust Homeschool Planet year after year. Homeschooling is a journey, and high school is one of its biggest milestones. Having the right planning system doesn’t just keep you organized it gives you the confidence to enjoy the journey. Trust me… you won’t regret it.
It’s summertime, and one thing I was desperately trying not to do was have my son spend his summer glued to screens especially screen time that isn’t adding anything meaningful to his day. But surprisingly, we have been hit with a lot of afternoon rain this summer! When those Georgia afternoon showers roll in, they can definitely put a damper on pool time, outdoor adventures, and all the things I planned to keep us out of the house. So, I was pretty happy to have the iBrick STEM Learning System sitting there waiting for us!
We received the iBrick STEM Learning System for our review. It is part of the 2026 Timberdoodle Fourth-Grade Curriculum Kit. Timberdoodle includes iBrick as its STEM component, and the version included with the fourth-grade kit is designed for ages 9–12. Now, my son is on the older end of the designated age range, but if you know anything about kids who love building bricks, you know there really isn’t an age where they suddenly stop enjoying a good building challenge! He is still very much a brick-building kid, so I knew the age range wasn’t going to be an issue for us.
And right out of the box, I have to give iBrick HUGE points for something every homeschool parent can appreciate:
THE STORAGE!
Everything has a place. Everything can stay together. I don’t have to hunt through random bins around the house trying to find the one tiny piece we need to complete a project. That alone makes me much more likely to actually pull a STEM kit off the shelf and use it.
So, How Does iBrick Work?
This isn’t simply a box of bricks with instructions telling your child what to build. The ages 9–12 program combines a reusable set of LEGO-compatible building bricks with a 12-month digital subscription that provides new engineering missions throughout the year. The subscription doesn’t have to begin immediately, either, which makes it easy to save it for the school year or activate it when you’re ready. Students receive weekly engineering challenges that use step-by-step instructions, videos, building activities, and opportunities to improve or rethink their designs. Instead of stopping at “I built it!”, the program encourages kids to think about how and why their creation works. That is where I think iBrick moves from simply being another building toy into something that can actually earn a place in our homeschool.
Some of the skills students can practice through the experience include:
Engineering and the design process
Problem-solving and critical thinking
Following multi-step directions
Building, testing, and redesigning
Creativity and innovation
Spatial reasoning
Applying STEM concepts through hands-on work
Persistence when the first design doesn’t quite work
I also like the balance between technology and hands-on learning. Yes, there is a digital component, but the screen isn’t the entire lesson. The technology provides the guidance, and then the child actually has to get off the screen and BUILD. That’s a very different kind of screen time in my book.
What About Older Students?
This is probably where I see the biggest potential for our homeschool. Because my son is older, I don’t necessarily have to use iBrick exactly as designed. That’s one of the beauties of homeschooling we can take a resource and level it up. For an older middle school student, I can easily turn an iBrick challenge into an engineering or physics lesson.
Instead of simply completing the build, I can ask: Why does this design work? What forces are acting on it? Where is the load being distributed? What happens if you change the size, weight, wheel placement, or structure? Can you redesign it to make it faster, stronger, taller, or more efficient?
Now we’re talking about force, motion, friction, gravity, energy, stability, mechanical advantage, measurement, design constraints, and the engineering design process. I can also have my son sketch his design before building, write a hypothesis, test different versions, record his results, identify what failed, make modifications, and explain why his final design worked better.
Suddenly, that “fourth-grade STEM activity” has become a legitimate middle school engineering lab. And that is something I always look for when reviewing homeschool materials: Can I stretch it? Can I make it work beyond the suggested grade level? With iBrick, I think the answer is absolutely yes.
My Take So Far
For us, iBrick is landing in a really nice space between play and purposeful learning. My son gets to do something he already enjoys building with bricks while I get a resource that can encourage engineering thinking, problem-solving, experimentation, and even physics. And on those rainy summer afternoons when the pool is out of the question? I’ll gladly take a kid sitting at the table designing, building, testing, failing, rebuilding, and figuring out why something works over mindlessly scrolling on a screen.
That’s the kind of summer screen time I can live with! If you have a brick-loving kid between 9 and 12, iBrick is definitely worth taking a closer look at. And if you have an older student who still loves building, don’t automatically count this one out because of the age recommendation. With a few added questions, experiments, and challenges, there is plenty of room to turn those builds into deeper engineering and physics lessons.
Sometimes the best homeschool resources aren’t the ones that perfectly match the number printed on the box they’re the ones that give us enough room to take our kids’ interests and build something bigger from them. You can learn more about the iBrick STEM Learning System at Timberdoodle and see how it fits into the 2026 Timberdoodle Fourth-Grade Curriculum Kit.
Finding a high school geography course that goes beyond memorizing maps and capitals can honestly be difficult. Many high school world geography programs tend to skim over cultures, provide surface-level geography, or fail to help students truly connect how geography impacts history, economics, religion, government, and daily life. After taking a deep dive into World Geography & Cultures from Master Books, I was genuinely impressed by how much depth, intentionality, and flexibility this curriculum offers for homeschool high school families.
This curriculum is far more than a simple geography course. It blends geography, culture studies, worldview discussions, writing, economics, and character development into one comprehensive high school program that can easily become part of a strong transcript-building plan for college-bound students.
One of the biggest things that stood out to me immediately was the structure of the course. The curriculum includes both a student book and a teacher guide, making it incredibly parent-friendly while still maintaining a solid high school level of rigor. The teacher guide lays out easy-to-follow daily lessons, assignments, discussion prompts, and guidance that helps families stay organized without feeling overwhelmed. For busy homeschool parents, this is a huge win.
Where Many High School Geography Programs Fall Short
One issue I often notice with many high school world geography courses is that they focus heavily on physical geography while barely touching the people, traditions, belief systems, or cultural identities connected to those regions. Students memorize locations but never truly understand the heartbeat of the nations they are studying. World Geography & Cultures does not make that mistake.
Instead, Master Books does an excellent job connecting geography to culture, economics, faith traditions, historical development, government structures, and daily life around the world. Students begin seeing how geography shapes civilizations and how cultures adapt based on climate, resources, religion, trade, and regional history.
I was especially impressed with the curriculum’s deep dive into African geography and culture. Too often, African studies are condensed into a few pages or presented through a very narrow lens in traditional programs. I appreciated that this course actually begins with Africa and gives students a more meaningful understanding of the continent’s geography, regions, people groups, resources, traditions, and cultural richness. That alone made this curriculum stand out to me because Africa deserves more than a brief overview in world studies.
The cultural component of this course also makes it an excellent addition to humanities studies. Students are not simply learning “where” places are located they are exploring how people live, think, worship, build communities, and interact globally. That broader worldview approach helps students develop empathy, understanding, and compassion for people from different backgrounds and experiences.
Multi-Credit Potential for High School Students
One of the strongest aspects of this curriculum is its flexibility for transcript planning. Homeschool parents looking to maximize credits while keeping learning connected will appreciate the multiple ways this course can be used. Depending on how deeply families expand assignments and supplemental work, World Geography & Cultures could potentially support credits in:
World Geography
Cultural Studies
Humanities
Religious Studies
Economics
Writing/Composition
Social Studies electives
This makes the curriculum especially valuable for homeschool high school students who are building comprehensive transcripts. Families can strengthen the course further through research papers, presentations, current events analysis, journaling, map work, documentaries, cultural cooking projects, literature pairings, or worldview discussions.
For students interested in missions, international relations, law, ministry, political science, global studies, anthropology, or humanities, this course creates a strong foundation for deeper high school learning.
Standout Features of the Curriculum
One of the most impressive aspects of Master Books World Geography & Cultures is how thoughtfully it combines geography, culture, worldview, economics, writing, and character development into one cohesive course. The curriculum includes both a student text and a teacher guide, making it easy for parents to implement while still providing a rigorous high school experience. The daily lesson plans are clearly laid out and simple to follow, removing much of the planning burden from homeschool parents. Students are encouraged to engage with the material through map work, research, writing assignments, and meaningful discussions that help them connect geography to real-world issues and cultures. Another standout feature is its flexibility. Families can complete the course in a traditional school year or stretch it over multiple years to create a richer humanities experience. The curriculum also offers excellent transcript-building potential, allowing families to incorporate elements of geography, cultural studies, writing, economics, and religious studies into their high school plans. Perhaps most importantly, Master Books does an exceptional job of fostering character, compassion, and global awareness, encouraging students to develop empathy and understanding for people and cultures around the world.
Who Would This Curriculum Be a Good Fit For?
I think this course would be an excellent fit for:
College-bound homeschool high school students
Families wanting a strong humanities approach
Students interested in global studies or missions
Students who enjoy cultural studies
Parents looking for transcript-building flexibility
Families wanting a faith-integrated worldview approach
Students who thrive with discussion-based learning
Homeschoolers seeking deeper world geography studies
It would also work beautifully for co-ops, family-style learning, or independent high school students who enjoy research and exploration.
A Note About the Faith-Based Perspective
One aspect homeschool families should be aware of is that Master Books World Geography & Cultures is written from a Christian worldview. Throughout the course, students will encounter faith-based discussion questions, worldview reflections, and occasional references to Christianity as it relates to various regions and cultures around the world. However, I found that these sections are generally easy to navigate for families from different faith backgrounds or those who prefer a more secular approach. The geography, cultural studies, economics, and humanities content remain the core focus of the curriculum, and the faith-based questions can often be omitted, rephrased, or adapted to align with your family’s own beliefs with very little effort. Personally, I felt that skipping certain questions or modifying them to encourage broader critical thinking did not take away from the overall quality or educational value of the lessons. The curriculum’s strengths in geography, culture, and global understanding remain intact, making it a flexible option for a wide variety of homeschooling families who are willing to make minor adjustments where needed.
Final Thoughts
Overall, I walked away highly impressed with World Geography & Culturesfrom Master Books. This curriculum goes beyond basic geography and creates an immersive learning experience that helps students connect geography, culture, worldview, economics, and humanity in meaningful ways.
For homeschool high school families looking for a flexible, transcript-friendly course that encourages both academic growth and compassionate global understanding, this curriculum is absolutely worth considering. The combination of strong geography instruction, cultural depth, writing integration, and humanities potential makes it one of the more unique high school geography options currently available for homeschoolers today.
