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.