Merry Christmas to all

Children's Bible Studies

Children's Bible studies

325 bible studies of the entire Bible free to download and use for nonprofit use. Each study features quizzes, puzzles, and a picture to color. Free Adobe Acrobat is required to view.

Keys for Kids

Unlocking God's Word for young faith
You can learn more about God’s love every day! Read a fun story and hide God's Word in your heart with the Key Verseof the day. Check out today’s Key, or look for your favorite story in the archives!

Uncle Noah's Children's bible study I thought this site interesting. It Even has studies for little children...non-readers. Most sites don't do that.

I've been familiar with Calvary Chapel's stuff for years now. I've often used it as inspiration when doing Children's bulletin's.

This Geocities site looks promising. I'll have to check it out more sometime.

Steward Ship

Friday Freebies at The Old Schoolhouse, pointed me in the direction of Steward Ship.
These folks produce Unit Studies and other such things to help homeschoolers teach their children.

With the unit study method, we choose one topic and combine different subjects to revolve around and tie into that topic. First of all, the unit study approach is different from the traditional textbook approach (which is to read a portion of text, usually full of facts and not very interesting and then answer some questions at the end).

Unit studies are conducted in a more relaxed fashion and are interactive in nature.

.........

A unit study can be anything you want it to be. It can be short or long, filled with lots of activities or just a few, it can be something you do alongside your other studies or a full blown unit study that takes several weeks. But the key is, YOU get to decide.

There are three avenues to consider when deciding how you will do a unit study:

— Purchase a complete unit study
— Use a prepared topical guide
— Create your own from scratch

If you want to know more, check out their website. For a brief unit study, check this out.

Jesse Tree

I've heard of these before.
It's something that my sister does.
I have not embarked on the Jesse Tree journey, at this point, what Justin and I is this.

Anyways, Jesse Tree resources, these from Friday Freebies via The Old Schoolhouse, are:

Here is a PDF file of designs for making Jesse Tree Ornaments.

And hey...my very own denomination has section for doing Jesse Tree devotions! That was a surprise to me. Kinda like that. :)

There are other sites on Jesse Tree
Here is one from The Voice.
Another from Catholic Culture.
Diocese of Erie has downloads and instructions.

In the month before Christmas, the church anticipates the coming of Jesus, the light of the world, through readings that span from the Old Testament creation story through Jesus’ birth. Jesse, for whom the tree is named, is the first person in the genealogy of Jesus. At the top of this family tree are Mary and Jesus. Depicted in church windows and artwork for hundreds of years, this visual tree of life may even have been a forerunner of today’s Christmas tree.

All you need for this project is a homemade drawing of a tree that can be taped to a wall or hung on your refrigerator. You can also make a Jesse tree by putting a few tree branches in a pot filled with gravel or sand, or using a tabletop Christmas tree on which to hang Jesse tree ornaments.

Reflect on the readings and symbols of this ancient tradition. You can download our symbols on card stock, or print them on paper and glue them to construction paper or felt. Sharing the Jesse tree story is a great way to help build anticipation for the birth of the Christ child, allowing the roots of faith to take hold and grow.

Just look around the web, if you want to do a Jesse Tree, there's lots of help out there for you. :)

Sail to the New World

Okay, this Friday Freebie sent in the newsletter from The Old Schoolhouse, sounds VERY familiar to me, but I can't see where I might have posted on it before so here goes.

Sail to the New World. Put out by Tapestry of Grace

Sail to the New World takes you through the first three week-plans in Unit 3 of Tapestry of Grace Year 2: Between Ancient and Modern. Tapestry is designed as a rotational program, and many families discover Tapestry after they have already studied world history with other programs. Tapestry plans are available by the unit, so you can take up your Tapestry studies wherever you left off with your other program. This Colonial America unit is one of the most popular places to begin Tapestry mid-year. Do you have a break coming up in your regular school year? Try printing out these weeks out and using them to do a three-week mini-unit on early Colonial America as you approach Thanksgiving.

Korea

For a unit study on Korea, go here. Better yet, join Knowledge Quest and get a newsletter sent to you with interesting stuff in it. :)

For more on Korea you could check out the following:
Wikipedia.
You could go to google earth and explore it via satellite.
You could check out South Korea's tourism site.
Or you could see what the CIA has on South Korea and North Korea.

I learned that just doing a search on Korea will draw up more resources for south korea than for north. I found that interesting and am not sure why that it is. Perhaps later today I will have a chance to discover the reasoning behind that.

There are a lot more resources on-line, just go check them out. :)

Math Helps

This Old Schoolhouse continues to send out their Friday Freebies.

Sept 13 contained these math ones:
Games, games, games

Worksheets and Printable games on math

In other places I found these:
SoftSchools.

Toon University has these two sites: grades 4-6 and grades 1-3, I think they are a little stupid in how they "reward" the correct answer. But I'm not a child so perhaps I'm a bit out of it. :)

This one seems neat. Actually gives some examples of how to do different math. Called Coolmath4kids. Taught me again how to teach long division.

This math game page actually contains how to's with printouts. So not done so much on-line as it is in real-life.

I haven't checked this site out a whole lot, seemed a bit more advanced at first glance, but Free math Help might be a good site to check out sometime.

I do find it surprising just how many sites there are on-line to help with math.

Challie's Contest

Math for Kindergarten

From what I've been able to determine, math for kindergarten means teaching

EQUAL and NOT EQUAL

LESS THAN and GREATER THAN

MAKING TWO GROUPS EQUAL

That these concepts lay the foundation not only for arithmetic, but also for algebraic thinking.

One also needs to teach the basic number families 0 - 20.

I can do this! :)

Some places to go from printables and such like:
Free Kindergarten math sheets.

Not sure how do able this will be...it's all online, Kindergarten math.

AAA math lists some Kindergarten math topics.

once again, not sure how doable this is for kindgarten children, but it's an idea generator in the very least. :) From Harcourt school publishers.

Kindergarten Math Worksheets. These pages look doable.

lots of math pages here at this about.com page on Kindergarten math sheets.

Ideas for make it yourself math worksheets from Lesson Exchange.

Unit Studies

Corresponding with this post over at Fisher of Disciples, Here are some places to find unit studies that are already made. Need to be purchased for the most part.

Amanda Bennett's Unit Studies.

Heart of Wisdom Publishers has unit studies.

homeschooling at Sassafras Grove has some unit studies. Took a quick breeze through the site and wow! Using this will save me time and energy. ;)

Family Classroom. net has unit studies, free, already made up for use. Might make good base for developing unit studies of my own.

From Homeschool in the woods comes this unit study on Christmas.

Home School Learning Network lists units of study I would not have thought of on my own. They give actual studies too! This site also have unit studies that you can purchase, and a whole whack available through a subscription program.

Zone Unit Studies has some fairly basic studies as far as I can tell. Might be a source of inspiration. :)

Home Sweet homeschool lists a fair number of resources. Worth checking it sometime.

Autumn

The Old Schoolhouse has once again, sent out a treasure of freebies. :)

This focus of this one is Autumn stuff, goes to figure since well....summer is technically over. :)

First up... I really like this, It comes from treasure house press. A PDF file of the science of autumn.

It's called "The Science of Autumn" (and trees!) and looks like loads of fun! There are activity pages, informational write-ups, notebooking pages, web resources and more!

Next up is a page loaded with Fall craft ideas for children. Bookmarks, place mats, ponytail holders. Fun for children. More can be found here and here.

Sunday School Curricula or a Home-school aid?

So Carla at Reflections of the Times pointed my way to Children Desiring God and their Sunday School Curriculum.

Looks good to me.
Not the cheapest curricula out there.
But looks good. Makes me think I could use that with my boy child as he matures a bit.

Scripture memory

I have to admit, I do like this idea as well for scripture memory.

Use clipart to illustrate the verse/s that you are trying to learn. Connect the visual with the mental. :) might help!

Applying Scripture in your home

So ran across this site: Doorposts.

This is a site designed to help people use scripture effectively when they are parenting.
They have a page of free resources, as well as books you can purchase.

One of the things that I don't like about the site, is some of their charts I think are interesting, but would like to actually see the whole thing before ordering it.

Homeschooling with Toddlers

I get a newsletter from Knowledge Quest.

This week they had a link to an article on homeschooling with toddlers in the house. I thought it interesting and helpful.

There are three strategies to use when homeschooling with toddlers in your home and these are 1. Keep them busy, 2. Divide and Conquer and 3. Get Creative.

Some of the ideas listed I liked.
like the one about having a preschool box with activities to do. Just stuff ready to do in a ziploc bag. Takes a bit of prep work...but makes it easier later on.

This one I do all the time:

Put the step stool up to the kitchen sink, close the drain and run a drizzle of water into the sink along with a little bit of dish soap. Give your child some plastic cups, bowls and spoons to "wash". He'll feel glad to know that he is helping with the chores.

The divide and conquer I haven't had to use too much. I only have the one boy...though two dogs so sometimes hubby watches the boy while I walk the dogs. :) Does that count?

So anyways, check it out. Good ideas to be found there.

Geography Layouts

I get an occasional bulletin from the homeschool e-store. I find it a useful bulletin, most come focused on one thing or the other.

This week it came with some good geography lesson planning ideas.

Geography Reference Tools
By Maggie Hogan

Assigning students to label maps or to do some other mapping project is a great hands-on way to instill map skills. But don’t jump in too soon! Before making assignments, it’s vital to: Instruct students in the use of geography reference tools!

Choose appropriate reference material. Consider:

* Typeface. Look carefully at the font style and size. If it’s too small for the student to read clearly, it will cause frustration. Younger students need bigger, clearer fonts.

* Lay-out and design. Busy and detailed maps that may appeal to a high school student may easily frustrate a fifth grader.

* Content. Look for atlases containing material complimentary to your lesson plans. While studying American history, you’ll be pleased to have a USA atlas on hand. (These too, come in a variety of levels.) Some atlases are almost strictly maps, while others include a wealth of other information: flags, planet and earth statistics, and cultural information.

* Atlas age. Is your only household atlas a ponderous volume from college days? It may be useful for some projects, but its political maps will be hopelessly out of date.

* Variety. No single atlas is going to answer every question asked. One atlas may be strong in political maps, while another is a great atlas for thematic maps, and another has exciting, eye-catching cartography.

* Wall Maps. Look for:
Africa in the center so that Asia isn’t split. (Many American made maps use a projection with the USA centered on the world map. This projections makes the USA look bigger than it really is and has the added disadvantage of splitting Asia in two. It’s hard to explain to younger students why one continent appears on opposite sides of a map!!)
Politically up-to-date.
Pleasing to look at and read.
Enough labeling to be helpful, but not cluttered.
Teach students which reference to use when:

* Road Map - for specific driving directions.

* Wall Map - countries and continents at a glance. Excellent for current events and the “big picture.” Not well suited for detailed map work.

* Globe - countries and continents in relationship with one another. Excellent for physical geography/science topics such as: latitude, longitude, hemisphere, rotation, eclipses, seasons, day and night, time zones, etc. Not well suited for most “find this place” type activities.

* Atlas - for finding specific places, political and physical features, and thematic information such as climate maps, population maps, etc. Not well suited for the “big picture” of physical relationship of continents/countries around the world.

* Almanac - concise information in one easy source on a huge variety of topics. Typically updated yearly. (Think of it as the “highlights” of an encyclopedia.) Not well suited for in-depth studies.

* Encyclopedia - in-depth information on countries, peoples, places, events, etc. Not well suited to current events - only as current as its publishing date.

* Dictionary - concise definition, pronunciation, and spelling of geographic terms. What is a “butte” and how do you say that?!

Excerpted from: The Student History Notebook of America by Maggie S. Hogan. Available from www.BrightIdeasPress.com

Scheduling Downloads

The Old Schoolhouse sent me to this site for free downloads. Give them your name and email address and you get these downloads.

~ Microsoft Excel Family Budget

~ Children's Chore Chart (editable, with clip art)

~ Editable Daily Schedule (MS Word)

~ Two editable planner pages (one home management, one homeschool)

~ Love Coupons for Married Couples

~ Bible Memory Verse Posters (set of five, illustrated with clip art)

~ Homeschool Grade Book/Report Card Generator (MS Excel)

Free scheduling downloads. Sure helps with me not having to start from scratch. Must say though, some I think I would modify for my own personal taste.

Home School in the Woods

Home School in the Woods.

offers unit studies, timelines, downloads etc.

Looks also to be a good resource.

One of the Things I like about them, is that they offer samplers of their materials, such as this lesson from their colonial study. Lesson 9. Or Lesson one from their New world explorers unit.

Government Resource Helps

Friday Freebie. The Old schoolhouse.

A US government help for homeschoolers. Federal Resources for educational Excellence.

Covers a wide range of topics : art, music, history, math, science, and so forth. Looks to be a godo resource. I figure that it will be very US based, but for most stuff....who cares? Math is math regardless of where you live, as is art, science and music.

Heart of Wisdom

Okay, this looks like an excellent teacher resource page.

Called heart of wisdom.

Hands and Hearts

Home school Publishing company as far as I can tell.

Must say a couple of their preschool things look interesting :)

Company is called Hands and Hearts.

Poland

Knowledge quest. A fascinating website. Gives nice downloads. :) subscribe there and get stuff free :) for instance this Unit Study on Poland.

Music

I am thinking that at some point I would like my little boy to learn music.
Vocal or instrumental or both. :) Both I think would be good, but I don't know if he has a good singing ability or not. he has skill on both sides of the family, but who knows how God has bluessed him.

Anyways, this old schoolhouse has come up with these freebies to look at.
First one is Free Music Utilities It has a bunch of little programs to help musicians get better. :)

Then we have Ear Power. an ear training website. Looks interesting but I haven't tried it out yet.

How to analyze information

I have to admit, I found this interesting. How to analyze Information.
Step one: Figure out where you are

Until you know "where you are" you cannot make good use of the available information. That's because you cannot know what specific information you'll need next, or what the information you'll be looking at when you get it will mean. So take the time to figure out "where you are" - literally or metaphorically -- before moving on to the next step.

Step two: be sure you are seeing clearly

When we deal with information, we sometimes see through prisms - not real ones, made of glass, but "intellectual" prisms, in our minds. In other words, we approach an issue with a distorted view of it. ..... The key to seeing information clearly is to make certain there isn't a prism between you and whatever you are looking at. ........ Seeing information clearly, just as knowing where you are, means you need to have a generally accurate idea of whatever person, place, organization, situation, or issue that you're looking at.

Step three: Decide what you need to decide

"The question is more important than the answer." ........ In other words, sometimes you must pause for a moment to be sure you're asking the right question.

Step four: determine what you need to know

What ingredients are to a meal, information is to a decision. Once you've decided what you're going to decide, the next step is to make a list of the information you'll need to make that decision.

Step Five: Collect your information

The first thing you need to figure out is the most reliable source for each piece of information you need: .......

You've already made a list of the information you're going to need. Now, next to each item, write down the most reliable source for it - a government agency, a university or another organization such as a business or an industry association, or specific individuals.

Now it's time to figure out the best way to collect the information from the sources you've identified: .......Give yourself as much time as possible to collect all the information you need. If you're lucky, the "information supermarkets" will supply everything through the websites to which they link. If you're not so lucky, you'll start with the "information supermarkets" and then go on to look up information in books, magazines, and by talking with people in person, on the telephone, or by email. Sometimes you will be able to do all this without ever leaving your chair. Other times you'll need to visit a library, meet with someone in person, or even travel to another city or country. As a general rule, you'll discover that there is always one source - one website, for instance, or one person - where the correct answer to your question can be found. Keep going until you find this source.

Step Six: Turn The Information into Knowledge

As you study the information you've collected, the first thing to look for is facts.

As you continue to study the information you've collected, you must also keep an eye out for patterns. .... This is how you will make sense of the information.

By studying the information you've collected until you have determined the facts and seen the patterns it contains, you have turned raw material into a finished product. You have turned information into knowledge.

Step seven: Add the final ingredient

Before actually making your decision, there is one final ingredient you will add whether you want to or not: your own judgment.

Judgment is the sum total of who we are - the combined product of our character, our personality, our instincts and our knowledge. Because judgment involves more than knowledge, it isn't the same thing as education. You cannot learn judgment by taking a course, or by reading a book. This is why some of the most highly educated people in the world have terrible judgment, and why some people who dropped out of school at the age of sixteen have superb judgment. After all, the most visible pattern in the world is that different people respond to the same circumstances in different ways. Some people are naturally sensible, while others are naturally foolish. Some people enjoy taking risks, while others tend to be cautious. Some people are congenital optimists, while others are always pessimistic. Some people just seem to have good instincts, for instance about other people, or about technical issues such as whether the price of crude oil will rise or fall in the coming months. Other people's instincts always seem to lead them astray.

Now you can understand why two people, facing the same decision and armed with precisely the same information, will make different choices. As you reach your decision, you will be combining the knowledge you've gained from the information you've collected with your own character, your own personality, and your own instincts. You cannot help but do this, because you are a human being and not a machine.

At least in the short term, there is little you can do to change your judgment. It's who you are. But if you are aware of who you are - and if you have worked hard to collect information and then to turn this information into knowledge -- you will be more likely to make the decision that's right for you. And this, of course, is what analyzing information is all about.

As the Author states:

Our world is wonderful and infinitely fascinating. But it is also complicated, and therefore very dangerous. If we are to live in peace, freedom and prosperity -- if the human species is to survive -- we must learn to rely more on our minds than on our muscles. We must force ourselves to value wisdom above strength. And this is why it's worth the time and effort to master the steps I've outlined here. When you learn how to analyze information, you are really learning how to think.

Random stuff

Okay, this is just a bunch of random stuff pulled from the Friday Freebies that This Old Schoolhouse sends out.

Kid Genius. It has games, worksheets and a variety of other things. I have not checked it all out yet.

Shiller Math. Has diagnostic sheets to help see where you are missing in your math program.

How to make a Patriotic AirPlane. Not being stateside, the only real use I see for this is sharing it with my American friends, or using it as a template to make a Canadian one! :) It's a PDF file.

Colouring Pages of all sorts, flags, alphabet, basically whatever

Scratch your own Fireworks. A way to make firework picture, an art thing. I'm thinking the Kinder art page might be good over all for crafts.

Worksheets for math

Math Worksheets. Can one ever get enough of these?

Kindergarten Resources

Thanks to Carla at Reflections of the Times I have a few new resources options for when Justin is ready to start some "official" schooling time.

Handwriting for Kids all types of helps here for teaching handwriting, basic math etc. Sheets to print off. Can even do some of your own stuff. :)

She listed off three books available through Christian Books.com
Noah Webster's Reading Handbook
Hearts and hands
The World God Made

Good books from the sounds of it. Things I can keep my eyes open for.

Christian Preschoolers

this looks like it will be a good resource.

Christian Preschoolers, bible activities.

Critical thinking

Want books to help you develop critical thinking? This website, called Bright Minds, is devoted to such things.

Be sure to explore the full online catalog by going to the webpage and clicking the "products" tab above. Every product page has free printable sample activity pages or software trials available for download. So click around and take advantage of the freebies!

Grace Talk Soup

The Old Schoolhouse sent me to Talk-shoe. Here is a list of their programs.

This is a brand new podcast by JoJo Tabares that brings you stories of courage in sharing/defending the faith, with inspiring testimony and tips for doing it effectively.

How to use manipulatives

Here's a post that tells me how to use manipulatives. Done by Intoducing the World. Gives me good ideas and so forth. Never really thought about these. I can do this with Justin! :)


Can't remember where I was browsing, but one link led to another and then I was at the National Library of Virtual Manipulatives. Rather a neat site. I played for a while. Learned a bit more about the use of manipulatives. It took me it seemed like forever before I figured out how to work the ladybug maze for gread 3-5 geometry. Boy...am I bit slow or what! :)

Reading Resources

Five books on-line (these are samples) geared for different age levels. All you have to do is provide your email address in order to read them. Seems at this point, a good resource for reading helps. Site is called Raz-kids.

Reading a-z.com has all types of samples to look at. Check it out here. I have to admit, I don't quite get the alphabetized level thing yet, but in time it will come to me. :)

I have to admit, I haven't thoroughly checked this out yet. It is supposed to be a help for writing.

Logic, Oh so helpful.

Here is a good post with links to resources for teaching logic.

How a Kid Proved That Lacking Logic is 'Noble'

Poem - I Think Mice are Rather Nice

MICE

I think mice are rather nice;
Their tails are long, their faces small;
They haven't any chins at all.
Their ears are pink, their teeth are white,
They run about the house at night;
They nibble things they shouldn't touch,
and, no one seems to like them much,
but, I think mice are rather nice.

Rose Fyleman

I learned this poem as a child and it has stuck with me ever since.
Want to have it here in case I ever forgot it. :)

Have had a reader comment that the proper wording of this poem should be as follows. Note the absence of the word rather in the last line:

MICE

I think mice are rather nice;

Their tails are long, their faces small;

They haven't any chins at all.

Their ears are pink, their teeth are white,

They run about the house at night;

They nibble things they shouldn't touch,

and no one seems to like them much,

but I think mice are nice!

-Rose Fyleman

I learned the poem as I wrote it above, but I'm fine either way. :)

A Place to Find Good Home-school sites

On another note, do you enjoy browsing around quality homeschooling sites?

Check out Danny Carlton's site called Homeschool Gold. It's a really well designed collection of the best homeschool sites, ranked by popularity.

If you have a blog or website and would like the join, the member button (that you put on your site) is really nice and actually looks a bit like an award.

Free Wood Scraps

Able to pay shipping costs?

These folks over at Barclay Blocks will ship you the wood that they can't use for their products. Check it out here.

Great stuff for teachers, schools, or anybody else that hankers to make wooden crafts, toys, or anything else from hard maple scrap. We pack a 12" by 12" by 12" inch box with scrap (Some un-sanded). It contains defective blocks, unsorted block stock, plank stock, round stock and other cut-offs and trim we have left over from making blocks. This totals about 20 lbs. Every box is different. You pay the shipping costs plus $4.95 for the box and handling.

Actually sounds like a good plan to me. :)

Some blogs entries to consider a bit further

I liked this one from School of thought as it gave good answers to why people are concerned about homeschooling vs public schooling.

Heart of Harmony helps us consider steps to take when making a child's garden.

I can't say that poetry is my thing, and I think I will find teaching it a tad bit difficult, but teach poetry I shall at least attempt. This post from Higher up and Further talks about poetic narration (whatever that is)

Free math worksheets (PDF format) at Twaddle-free math handouts.

High Desert hi-jinks brings a post on resources for doing a fox study.

My Domestic Church has a recommendation for using material from Bravewriter. Sounds like it might be a good program to use.

Friday Freebies from This Old Schoolhouse

I'm catching up so here's a hodgepodge of freebies on-line to help with homeschooling.

You Need a Story. you need to go to his site to sign up for his free weekly newsletter. Each newsletter will have a story. This is part of what he has to say:

At our house, reading aloud to the children is one of the pillars of their early education. And when I read to my own, I'd love to have your young'ns gather 'round with them. There's always room for a couple more.

In fact, if you'll let me know where to send it, I'll be glad to email you a FREE audio story each and every week in our FREE Weekly Newsletter. Sometimes I'll do the reading, sometimes it may be someone else. But each installment brings you an exhilarating audio adventure ---unabridged, of course---to enrich your children's minds (not to mention keep them occupied with something beneficial while you get other things done). The selection may be one of the great classics. Or, it may be one of those hidden gems from the vast wealth of children's literature. Or, it may be an enthralling story that has never yet been published. But it will always be clean, wholesome, and enjoyable for the whole family.

Home with Kids has a number of links that go to free homeschooling resources. this is what they have to say:

Most of the links listed below will take you to free resources. There are so many wonderful free educational sites now available online, that I can't possibly list them all. Use the links below as a starting point, but don't be afraid to explore what the world wide web has to offer.

The International Bible Society has a couple of videos that can be viewed on "who is Jesus" and "he has done it" Check them out.

Want to make a smoothie with your children? Check out Elkan's Paradise Smoothie.

I haven't had the time to really listen to this site called Just One More Book. It is a podcast on books.

Lessons at Home with Kids. This is a site with different monthly activities. A link that is from the same folks also does activities topically.

Family Education has a St Patricks day activity, a craft, and st paddy's cookie recipe.

Handwriting Helps

This Old Schoolhouse sends out emails to me every week. They often have a great deal of good information in them. Today's email contained places to find help with teaching children good handwriting skills.

These are the links

ready for kindergarten. This page lists a bunch of different activities to help children learn skills they need in order to perform other skills later. Good resource I think.

ABC teach. This site allows a person to download pages to help with learning how to print and write. Saves a person time in having to create these pages on their own. In the long run, this is a paid for service site, but they do have some pages listed for free.

Handwriting Worksheets. The URL in this page seems to indicate that is also comes from the ABC teach page, but the page is set up differently. Whether it is or not, free pages saves me time and energy in making them myself.

ESL Writing Wizard brings us this site on writing in Paragraphs.

Handwriting for Kids. Basic copying pages for children to learn good style in printing.

I managed to continue this theme by doing a search on my own.

Young Minds Handwriting Practice Sheets. Some of their items have been discontinued on-line and need to be purchased, but they contain more than the practice your letters pages. They have some "pre-writing" pages as well.

Tracer pages is a rather neat site. They allow you to make differently themed pages using different styles of printing. I never knew that there were different styles before. Apparently there is Zaner-Bloser, d'nealian, and cursive. Cursive I knew but the other two I did not.

Handwriting Pages is a site the is a compilation of handwriting pages on the web. I have not looked through all the sites, the ones I saw looked either useless or okay.

Alphabet Printable Materials this site looks promising.

Handwriting worksheets has this to say about itself

Print the Handwriting Worksheets to make a handwriting book for each letter of the alphabet. For each letter, there are 5 different printable handwriting worksheets for 2 styles of writing. The first five are Zaner Bloser style, the next five are D'Nealian style. Print the handwritng worksheets and bind together to make a book.

There were lots more pages that I could examine, but I figured this gave me a place to start.
We are as of yet, a couple years away from printing, and at least four from writing. :)

A Homeschool Expo

So anyways, I was just browsing around and discovered this site.

Called the Ultimate Homeschool Expo 2007.

This is what part of the intro says

Ready for a big dose of encouragement?
No time to travel?
No extra money for hotels…parking…and eating out?
Can’t break away from your family?

Well…we have the PERFECT solution!

Join us for our:
Ultimate Homeschool Expo 2007!
May 1-5, 2007 (PLUS! Preview Chats weekly leading up to the event)

Ready for a fun Virtual Seminar??? One that promises to make homeschooling easy and doable? This is your event!

Right there in the comfort of your home you can join us! We have an amazing speaker line-up! AND…if you have to miss any sessions, we are recording it for you to download by Mp3 and listen to at your convenience! Can you beat that?

No crowds!
No makeup!
No parking!
No walking for blocks and blocks!
No expensive trips or hotel stays!
No babysitters!

Just plan something fun for your family–maybe a
cozy movie day or a fun project to keep them busy–then, kick back to enjoy!

Talk about FUN! This is one that you will not want to miss!

anyways, tickets are 35$ a pop. doesn't sound too bad for what they are offering, mind I've never been to a homeschool expo so I would have no idea what to expect.

freebies always sound good to me though....... :)

Magazines, Resouces and Curriculum

Links for these things.

LiveFreeLearnFree

Live Free Learn Free is a magazine for unschoolers and other natural learners. All material is written by those who home educate – both parents and children. It is an inclusive magazine, not only for and by experienced unschoolers, but also for and by those just starting down the path. It embraces those who are radical in their unschooling methods and those who are less so.

Life Learning magazine

Life Learning, founded in 2002, is an intelligent, high quality, professionally edited and produced, 48-page magazine written by and for unschooling families who trust themselves and their children to learn freely and naturally what they need to know to live successful, happy lives.

Connections E-zine

The Link A USA based news link of all types of homeschooling information. Might be a good resource.

Home Education Magazine.

This website presents homeschooling information, support and encouragement, resources and reviews, free newsletters, networking and discussion lists, and - best of all - the online archives of Home Education Magazine, offering 10 years of articles, interviews, columns, resources, reviews and more which you can read online, anytime - FREE!

The Home Educator's Tour.

The Home Educator's Tutor magazine is a resource for parents and anyone who works with children. The goal of the H.E. Tutor is to provide a resource for the studies that go beyond a basic education to fulfill a liberal (generous) education that is affordable.

HomeSchool World. This is where you can find information on the Practical Homeschooling Magazine. You can go there and request a free copy of their magazine.

HomeSchool Enrichment.

provides encouragement, inspiration, practical teaching ideas, complete unit studies, educational craft projects, and much more in a manageable, easy-to-read format! Enrich your homeschool

HomeSchooling Parent.

A bi-monthly magazine that encourages readers through interest stories, curriculum and teaching tools that can be used in the home-classroom, family matters, educational travel, .... and much more.

Ambleside Online ...

Welcome to Ambleside Online, a free curriculum designed to be as close as possible to the curriculum that Charlotte Mason used in her own PNEU schools. Our goal is to be true to Charlotte Mason's high literary standards. Ambleside Online uses the highest quality books and costs no more than the cost of texts. The curriculum uses as many free online books as possible, and there is no cost to use this information or join the support group

An Old fashioned education.

Welcome to An Old-Fashioned Education. I'm Miss Maggie, owner and creator of this site. You'll find here a directory of free homeschool curricula, literature and text books organized for the use of homeschooling families.

A Beka Books. A publishing place as far as I can tell.

My Father's World. Does a curriculum.

Preschool through High School

Easy to Teach	Integrated Biblical Content	Less Preparation
Strong Academics	Multi-age Unit Studies	International Focus
Hands-on Activities	Great for Homeschool	Character Development

A Home for Homeschoolers. This is a homeschooling forum. I am sure there are other homeschooling forums out there but I have yet to find them. if anyone knows of other ones, please let me know, both so I know of them, and also so I can list them as resources for other folks.

The Homeschool Blog Awards

Go to THIS PAGE to find the nominations and to eventually vote. Voting is April 9-15, 2007.

I'm listing this not because I will vote, I don't know most of these people, but I am listing it as I think some of these people might be a good resource in the future.

Homeschool Conference for Free?

This person has posted a way to get into a Homeschool conference for free.

From her site:

Want To Go To Your Homeschool Convention for FREE?

This is a wonderful opportunity! If you have a homeschool convention coming up that you would like to attend but your budget is a little tight, TOS may be able to help. Want TOS to pay your way in?

TOS will pay for your full entry to the convention if you are willing to pick up business cards from the speakers and vendors at the convention. Once TOS gets your package and short written report, you'll be reimbursed for your full entry.

Contact Gena first and make arrangements because TOS doesn't want to pay for more than one person's entry per conference. Anyone interested can email Gena at gena@tosmag.com and put CONFERENCE in the subject line.

Help get the word out! The more conferences covered the better.

Renee's helps for me

Renee in Kingville sent me these links

Getting started in Homeschool.

Free Homeschool curriculum.

Alpha Omega Publishers.

Homeschool Curriculum Help.

This way I keep the links in case I lose the email! :)

Friday Freebies

Rather than keeping these in my in-box, I thought I'd post the last few Friday Freebies from The Old Schoolhouse here.

Superkids Math Work Sheet Creator - This is a site that allows a person to create their own math sheets.

Busy Teachers Cafe is a resource place for k-6.

Then there is Silly books. This is a "a cute educational website for the younger ones". It "has more than 60 animated read aloud story books, story songs, fine art games, puzzles and more that help kids learn to read".

a St. Patrick's day unit study by knowledge quest.

Plus Free Learning Resources over at Googol Learning.

And a Valentine's Day Craft from Lighthome Publishers. It's in PDF format.

Paper Doll Site

My thanks to Sara over at the Hemmeke blog for this link. apparently her daughter loves to make paper dolls, and she is able to go to making Friends Paper Dolls. In Sara's words

I like these because I can print everything in black and white outlines, allowing my daughter to color and decorate them as she wishes. They are big, easy to handle and cut, and not at all the trendy grown-up Barbie-ish dolls. The best part is it's all free!!

I don't think that my boyo will be into paper dolls... but I can see that this site could be useful for outlines for making characters to tell a store or two though...... :)

Socialization....

Just the other day I was talking with my sister and she mentioned how busy she thought I would be with our boyo when he grew up a bit. She knows that we are planning to homeschool him, and she said "you'll be busy driving him around, cause he'll need his socialization".

My first thought was
1. Don't all parents drive their children around to activities of one sort or the other?
2. I'm not worried about socialization.

I look back at my school days. I loved learning. I hated the playground. The socialization aspects of things... ick! I did like when they let the "big kids" play with the "little kids" I had a blast organizing the little kids and playing games with them. Gave me something to do and people to help. Fun that was. Didn't last long because "big kids can't play with little kids don'tcha know?"

Why would I want to send my child to school to have to deal with socialization?

What if he ends up having to deal with bullying and name-calling and not having good friends at school? Why should he have to deal with all that "ick" in order to have "socialization"? I've been there, done that, don't need my boyo to go through that.

Besides...I think he'll learn a whole lot more, more quickly, at home.

He won't have to deal with schoolmates liking or not liking him.
He won't have to deal with bullying.
He won't have to deal with having to decide...do I stick up for this child being bullied or do I run away so I don't have to deal with it or get hit for sticking up for him?
He won't have to deal with teachers pushing their own agendas (just his parents doing that!)

So, how do I answer the questions of socialization?
Should I just say...it's not a concern for me?
I'd rather he learn how to function as a Christian in society, than that he spend his days with same age students learning how to social with them?
That yes, I will enter him in sports...but not because I want him to socialize, but because I want him to learn to use his body and to work co-operatively and to learn from someone other than me in something. If he makes new friends in the process... cool, if not, that's okay too. :)

I'm not too worried I guess about the whole socialization. I figure he'll make friends in time. :)

But what do you think?

Useful sites perhaps?

Here is a site that might prove beneficial down the road. It is called Homeschooling Plus.

And another site that might provide useful helps. A to Z Home's Cool.

Teaching your Child to read

Found this post on different ways to teach your child to read, from the very simple start of learning the ABC's and so forth.

• Step One: Learn the alphabet.
• Step Two: Connect beginning sounds to alphabet letters.
• Step Three: Connect ending sounds with alphabet letters.
• Step Four: Put letter sounds together to make words.
  
  

Books vs DVD's

Hmmm.. this post by Homeschool Australia caused me to once again appreciate the art of having a good book collection. :) Do books instead of DVD's. :)

Scott Foresman Online Grammar & Writing Handbook

My thanks to Sprittibee for pointing my way to this site.
As Sprittibee says

The Scott Foresman Online Grammar and Writing Handbook (a FREE curriculum) this week. We started using it yesterday and I really like it! .......The worksheets are quality PDF files and you can print them by section from a neatly organized table of contents.

Homeschool Math blog

I have to admit, I like the Homeschool Math Blog. I find lots of interesting things posted here. Some of free, others are not. I like the freebies, but mostly I like the ideas for teaching math that I find posted there.

This week she linked to this site. This site will help me not to have to make up so many of my own work sheets.. and gives me ideas for making sheets of my own that I can post up for others. :) Neat huh? :)

Children's book Lists

New blog to me: called The Thinking Mother

Found this post on Children's book lists.

It seems to me that there are two main types of book lists.

1. The first is a list of books that someone thinks are worthwhile to read. There are two general subsets of that kind of list:

A. Lists that make good read aloud’s; those books are not matched to the child’s independent reading ability, the adult reads the book to the child and the child can comprehend and enjoy books many years above the “independent reading level”.

B. The other type is used by adults to match content to a child, such as finding books that reinforce certain morals or character traits, finding books about horses, finding books on a science or history topic for the child’s personal interest OR to teach the child that topic in a school or homeschool situation (usually).

......

2. The other kind of list is a list of books with ratings by independent reading level of a child. Those lists are desired by teachers mainly, by homeschooling parents and by parents as well (if the parent is doing their own research rather than just using a book that the school recommends). Those lists are for both fiction and non-fiction. They can be used to help a child learn to read and they can also be used to find books that a child can read to themselves to teach themselves about a topic (rather than being read aloud to).

It can be a challenge to find book lists. Some are made into books, others are posted in on-line forums, and still others are made in a variety of ways.

When going through a book list, make sure you are aware of the author's bias. Make sure that you know what your child can handle.

Sounds a lot like using common sense.

I thought the article interesting and worth remembering.

F.A.M.I.L.Y

I have to admit, I saw this trick to learning how to spell family, and it made me smile.
AND I kept saying it over and over again to my 19 month old lad.

It's posted over at Homeschooling Asperger's, post called FAMILY.

Talking to Learn

I have to admit, I often think best while talking out loud.

So when I read this post Talking to Learn it made sense to me.

It reminded me of when I was in college, I would short form all my notes and then I would find an empty classroom, and I would "teach" the class what I needed to learn for my exam. I kept things in my noggin so much longer than when I silently went over and over my notes to learn them.

Mike closes his post with this line.

If you truly want to learn something in a way that it becomes part of you, then develop a lifelong habit of speaking out loud to aid in the process.

Pick Me Ups

I have to admit, this post from My Domestic Church got my brain spinning with ideas. :)

I liked all the neat ways she has listed for doing things differently to get oneself going again.

I am learning that doing things differently is just what a homeschool situation needs. :)

Instead of Negative, Find Positive

I have to admit, I like this turn of phrase. I found this at Information Age Education.

Making the point instead of seeing the negative, find a way to state a positive. I have to admit, I'm not so sure of some of the language used, but I did like the basic point.

Instead of asking question such as these:

* Why am I so bad at math?
* Why do I always get in trouble and my little brother doesn’t?
* Why do you always pick on me?
* Why can’t I ever find my homework?
* Why am I so broke all of the time?
* Why can’t I loose weight?

Ask questions such as these:

* Why am I so organized?
* Why is it easy for me to concentrate in class?
* Why do I love school?
* Why do I get such great grades?

Other questions that a person could ask themselves include:

Questions you may want to use to transform your class:

• Why are students so helpful?
• Why do I love my job so much?
• Why do I have such engaging lessons that require little prep?
• Why do my students listen to and follow directions the first time?

And here are some to transform the teaching profession (and a lot of other jobs too):

• Why do I get paid so well?
• Why is my work appreciated and acknowledged?
• Why am I so respected?
• Why do I love my job?

DVD: Egypt Eternal, The Quest for Lost Tombs

This post gives a review on National Geographic DVD: Egypt Eternal, The Quest for Lost Tombs.

This is what the poster has to say

Told through the eyes of three different archeologists, it's a refreshing change from many of the snoozers out there. The imagery is rich and captivating. The music is mysterious and fun (great for bellydance moves!) and the information is not so heavy that it becomes overload. The archeologists do a stellar job of bringing their finds to life and it is clear that their work is very much their passion in lif

Government takes child

I read this article and I was horrified. I found it courtesy of Semicolon.

It bothers me that children are forgotten and families are torn apart because of state-decisions that their way is the only way and who cares who gets hurt in the process.

Makes me glad I live in a country and province where home-schooling is considered just fine, and where acceptance is given.

God has shown his blessing to us in yet another way!

Rote Memorization

Homeschooling Hints posts this article on the value on rote memorization. It's something that I plan to do with Justin, so this article I found helpful.

I liked this paragraph

Another reason we have all but abandoned memorization in schools is today's overly entertained society. I'm all for making learning fun, but life is not just one big game. Children need to learn to do things that are difficult for the sense of accomplishment that it brings. This fosters a good work ethic and also teaches them to persevere in their personal relationships. Giving praise and rewards along the way will encourage them when they do not always see the bigger picture.

A Country Fair

I think this is a neat idea, to organize a country fair (not a fall fair, a country fair) with other homeschoolers in order to learn about different countries of the world.

I found this idea at A Child's Geography.

Researching

How to do good research.

A new to me blog, called the Success Files, has a well-laid out post on doing good research. The post is called Finders Keepers.

Should check out the rest of the blog. Looks like a rather informative one.

Population and other statistics

Discovered an interesting website. Population and country ranks. Done by the folks at geographic.org. A person can look up how a country ranks according to it's population, land mass, military and such like. Interesting to see where Canada ranks in it all. :)

I traced back and this seems to be home page here.

Travelling is Homeschooling

Connect your dots.

Travel.

Cover geography, history and such like, all in one trip. :)

This from homeschooling hints. Entry Take your Homeschool on the Road.

your own planetarium?

From Principled Discovery I learned that one can make your "Very own planetarium on your computer". Sounds neat to me! The place to go is called Stellarium.

From their website

Stellarium is a free open source planetarium for your computer. It shows a realistic sky in 3D, just like what you see with the naked eye, binoculars or a telescope.
It is being used in planetarium projectors. Just set your coordinates and go.

Homeschooling posts that I liked

There is this one on making connections between different things studied. It comes from the Palm Tree Pundit

How to make schooling in January (or any month for that matter) interesting. That was from Small World.

The Open Door brings us this one on the benefits of homeschooling for not just the student.

The importance of a mentor is discussed by Home Where they belong.

Then there's the top ten things about homeschooling. Might give some food for thought. It comes from Spiritbee.

From Lioden Landing I read about how schooling doesn't start at Kindergarten, it starts when the decision is made.

i liked this post on what to do with a child who wants to learn. That post was written by New Classical Family.

Different Math Sites

Here are some different sites on doing Math.

Living Math. This site has articles, games and all sorts of helps.

Math Baseball. Fun way for children to practice different math skills.

Math Playground

Math Playground is an action-packed educational site for elementary and middle school students. Practice your math skills, play a logic game, and have some fun!

Math Fact Cafe. different worksheets and games.

Cool Math 4 Kids.

Reading Readiness

Here's a post from More4Kids

Reading readiness is defined as the time when a child transforms from being a non-reader to a reader. This can be a tough transition but is very rewarding. Not only are your children very proud of themselves as they learn to read, but children who learn to read well are better learners throughout their school years. Here are some tips to help your young elementary student become a better reader.

New readers
Children who are in kindergarten and first grade are just beginning to learn to read. You can help children this age by

• Playing with rhymes. Read books with rhymes and teach your child rhymes, poems, and songs. You can also play rhyming games, such as taking turns rhyming words.
• Creating stories. Ask your child to make up stories for a picture book.
• Practicing the alphabet. Play the alphabet game in the car, where you try to find all the letters of the alphabet on passing signs. A variation we made up is to spell out words or names from signs. You can also read alphabet books, make letter cookies or pretzels, make play-dough letters, look for letters in newspapers and magazines, etc.
• Listening to your child read. Be patient and listen as your child practices. Help sound out words as necessary, and let your child know you are proud.
• Reading together every day. Show your child that reading is important by making it a habit. Make it exciting by being expressive and using different voices for the characters.

As you read, pause before words in a familiar story and let your child fill in the blank. Also point to the words on the page as you read so your child learns that sentences consist of separate words and can begin to identify sight words.

Also, don’t limit yourself to reading stories. Read information books, magazine articles, newspapers, comic books, cereal boxes, etc.

• Talking together regularly. Children learn words when they hear them used, so introduce new and interesting words at every opportunity.

Improving readers
Children in second or third grade have hopefully learned the basics of reading but still need lots of practice and encouragement. To help children this age, you can

• Reread familiar books. You may get bored, but rereading familiar books gives children needed practice with books they enjoy and are comfortable with.
• Build reading accuracy. As your child reads, gently point out missed words and give the correct pronunciation.
• Build reading comprehension. Talk with your child about what is happening in a story or book.
• Encourage your child to read individually, but also continue to read to your child. Spend time talking about stories, pictures, and words.

Children acquire reading skills through a long series of “little steps,” so when your child reads, even a few words, show your pride!

No part of this article may be copied or reproduced in any form without the express permission of More4Kids Inc © 2007

SCripture Memory

I will need to write more on this another time, but here's a site on helping children memorize scripture. I have to admit, a bit part of me would be reticent to purchase a scripture memory program, but part of me thinks, might be handy...at least more convenient...saves me from having to make something. But I could make something I'm sure, quite easily myself.

Reading and writing

Though this website, Family Friendly Sites, I found this site, Mrs Plum. It has some games for helping children learn their letters, words and such like.

Homeschool.Estore

Discovered a new store, courtesy of a blogger that I can't find anymore. EEK.

Ah well, she was new to me.

Anyways, the store is called HomeschooleStore. ALl of their products are available only in E-format. They offer free books every week from what I remember from the bloggers' site. This weeks was on Menu plans and provided a whole whack of recipes.

Anyways, check it out if you are interested.

New Zealand Study Unit

This page comes from this site. I"m copying the information here in case this page gets lost over time. I got it free from the Homeschooling Minute which comes from The Old Schoolhouse magazine.

Unit Study:

1. READING SELECTIONS - Let's start with some extra reading. Listed below are some great books about New Zealand, or set in New Zealand, that will provide many hours of enjoyable reading. The links below will take you to Amazon.com for more information, but you can find these at your local library. Read for pleasure alone, or have your kids write a book report on one of these selections.

Use these books:
New Zealand Shake-Up (Ruby Slippers School Series , No 6)
Australia and New Zealand (True Books-Geography: Countries)
The Maori of New Zealand (First Peoples)
New Zealand ABC (Country ABCs)

2. HISTORY & TIMELINES - Learn more about New Zealand by compiling historical facts and events from New Zealand's exciting history and adding them to your timeline. If you do not have a timeline on the go, you can construct one by following these directions - How to Make a Timeline Easily. Here is a link to a wonderful resource for timeline entries about New Zealand - http://www.history-nz.org/timeline.html.

3. MAPWORK - A unit study would not be complete without taking a good look at the lay of the land. Click here for both a labeled and unlabeled map of New Zealand. Have your students mark some of the major cities, the southern mountain range and the seas, at the least. For older students, have them use your teacher's map and fill in the rest!

4. RECIPES - This is my favorite part - the food from the land! If you do the above activities on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday, then take some time on either Thursday or Friday to whip up some authentic New Zealand cuisine in the kitchen.

New Zealand cuisine is characterized by its freshness and diversity and has been described as Pacific Rim, drawing inspiration from Europe, Asia, Polynesia and its indigenous people, the Maori. Freshness is owed to its surrounding ocean and fertile lands. Its distinctiveness is more in the way New Zealanders eat - generally preferring to be as relaxed and unaffected as possible.

A Maori specialty is the hangi (pronounced hung-ee), a pit in which meats or fish are cooked with vegetables. A deep hole is dug in the ground, lined with red-hot stones and covered with vegetation. The food is then placed on top. The whole oven is sprinkled with water and sealed with more vegetation. The hole is then filled with earth and left to steam for several hours. Traditionally, men dig and prepare the hole, and women prepare the food to go in it. All members of an extended family (whanau) help out for such a feast. The occasion is relaxed, friendly and fun, with people often eating the meal under a marquee.

It may be difficult to pull off the above, but here are three more recipes of local New Zealand food that can be attempted in your own kitchen. Enjoy!

ANZAC BISCUITS are a snack food most commonly made primarily from rolled oats, coconut, and golden syrup.

Many myths have grown around the Anzac biscuit. It has been reported that they were made by Australian and New Zealand women for the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps (ANZAC) soldiers of World War I and were reputedly first called "Soldiers' Biscuits" and then "Anzac Biscuits" after the Gallipoli landing. The recipe was reportedly created to ensure the biscuits would keep well during naval transportation to loved ones who were fighting abroad.
1 cup desiccated coconut
1 cup flour
1/2 cup butter
1 level teaspoon baking soda
2 cups rolled oats
1 cup sugar
2 tablespoons golden syrup
2 tablespoons boiling water

Mix dry ingredients, melt butter & syrup together in small saucepan. Dissolve soda in boiling water, add to dry ingredients. Cook until golden brown at 350 degrees.

PAVLOVA - New Zealand's national dessert

Pavlova is a light and fluffy meringue dessert named after the ballet dancer, Anna Pavlova. Both Wellington, New Zealand and Perth, Australia claim to be the home of the dish. The earliest record of the recipe is a cook book published in New Zealand in 1933, two years before claims made in Perth.

Pavlova is traditionally decorated with fresh fruit and whipped cream, and is especially popular in Australia and New Zealand. Factory-made pavlovas can be purchased at supermarkets in those countries and decorated as desired but rarely achieve home-baked quality.

Leftover pavlova can be stored in the fridge overnight, but will absorb moisture from the air and lose its crispness. Undecorated pavlova can safely be left overnight in the oven in which it was baked, to be decorated in the morning.

* 3 Egg whites
* 250g (9 oz.) superfine sugar
* pinch of Salt
* 5 ml or 1 tsp Vinegar
* 5 ml or 1 tsp. Vanilla extract

1. Beat the egg whites and salt to a very stiff consistency before folding in sugar, vanilla and vinegar. Beat until the mixture holds its shape and stands in sharp peaks.
2. Slow-bake the mixture at 150 degrees Celsius (300 degrees Fahrenheit) to dry all the moisture and create the meringue, approximately 45 minutes. This leaves the outside of the pavlova a crisp crunchy shell, while the interior remains soft and moist.
3. A top tip (but not traditional) is to turn the pavlova upside down before decorating with cream and fruit because the bottom is less crispy than the top after cooking and unless you serve it immediately after decorating the "top" absorbs moisture from the cream. Another tip is to leave the pavlova in the oven after turning off the heat - this helps to prevent the middle of the pavlova from collapsing (although if it does collapse, generous application of cream can hide any mistakes!)

FAIRY BREAD

Fairy bread is white bread lightly spread with margarine or butter, and then sprinkled with either sugar or more commonly Hundreds and Thousands (also known as sprinkles or nonpareils, a Masterfoods product consisting of small balls of coloured sugar intended to decorate cakes).

Fairy bread is served almost exclusively at children's parties in Australia and New Zealand. Slices of the bread are typically cut into triangles and stacked tastefully on the host's paper plate.

It was originally made using finely chopped rose petals for colour and scent instead of the sugary lollies that are used today.

5. CRAFTS - Finally, it's craft time!

This craft was chosen as a quick and simple one that represents New Zealand, its people and environment. The felt kiwi can be used as brooches or even fridge magnets.
Felt Kiwi

craft pics Materials:

* brown fur fabric (body - fig 1)
* dark brown felt (wings - fig 2)
* yellow vinyl (beak, feet - fig 3 & 4)
* pair wobbly eyes per kiwi
* stuffing
* needle and thread
* glue

Print off your kiwi pattern pieces here

Method:

1. Cut 2 body pieces out of fur fabric, 2 wings from brown felt, 1 feet piece and one beak from yellow vinyl.
2. Body and wings - with right sides together and wings tucked to the inside sew from base around top to base - leaving a space for turning the right way out. (fig 1)
3. Turn right side out and stuff the body, gathering in the base slightly to make it round before sewing it up.
4. Feet - position rounded base of body onto round area of feet piece and glue carefully.
5. Beak - glue only the top of the beak into fur, not the whole length of beak.
6. Eyes - add wobbly eyes just above top of beak. (White plastic with black pupils can be used as a good alternative to bought eyes).

Information:
The kiwi is a nocturnal flightless bird native to New Zealand. The kiwifruit (all one word) is a fuzzy fruit, also called the chinese gooseberry. To call the fruit a kiwi is offensive to a growing number of New Zealanders as the kiwi is our national bird and a strong symbol of our country. New Zealanders are also affectionately known as Kiwis.

Math Sheet Generator

Here is a site that gives math sheets for free.

Here are the types of sheets it will give you

Addition
Single Digit, Horizontal
Single Digit, Vertical
Multiple Digit
5 Minute Drill
Subtraction
Single Digit, Horizontal
Single Digit, Vertical
Multiple Digit
5 Minute Drill
Multiplication
Single Digit, Horizontal
Single Digit, Vertical
Multiple Digit
5 Minute Drill
Division
Single Digit, Horizontal
Long Division
5 Minute Drill
Mixed Problems
Mixed Problems
Fractions
Least Common Multiple
Reduce to Lowest Terms
Measurement
Reading a Tape Measure
Graphing
Number Lines
Coordinate Plane
Telling Time
Telling Time
One Hundred Chart

This will definitely save time!

Christmas Traditions

I like these Traditions of Steve and Sara.

I wonder sometimes about making Jesse Tree ornaments. I like the idea of having a magnetic board with felt pieces to attach them.

I want to make some "special to us" Christmas traditions that will not only teach our boy good Christian meanings to holidays, but will make different holidays fun and important and so forth. Need to think on this some more of course, and talk with my hubbie.

Mutliflyer

thanks to denise for pointing my way here. This might be something that our son will enjoy as he gets a bit older. Probably, i'm guessing, not until he's 7 or 8 though.

articles I like to look at further

Making your own Rock Tumbler.

Christmas, wisemen, DVD.

Working on financial freedom. My idea is to teach Justin what I do. 10 percent right off the top. 1-2 percent just for saving for NEVER touching unless really need to. 10 percent for just saving for whatever. and the rest for spending as desired.

Record keeping for homeschooling.

Might want to think on this a wee bit.

rhymes for doing math.

Things to consider when homeschooling. and knowing it's okay to have to process it all.

questions to consider if you are doing okay homeschooling.

Evaluating your homeschool program.

English type stuff.. reading and comprehension. What to consider.

For archives of the Carnival of homeschooling, go here.

an article to read

Make your own Playdough!
3 C. cold water
1 1/2 C. salt
1/4 C. oil
3 C. flour
2 T. cream of tartar
1 T. vanilla
food coloring and (if you really want it to smell yummy) a couple of packets of Kool-Aid

Place liquid ingredients in a large pan. Quickly add dry ingredients. Heat on low. Stir constantly until dough pulls away from sides of pan. Cool. Add food coloring.

You're good to go! Store in a tightly sealed container or baggie.