Terrific Tigers - Day Two

Today the lad and I worked on Day Two of the unit study from Download N Go on Terrific Tigers. We worked on Day one last week. This is a unit study that can also be done as a lap book. Should you purchase it, make sure you don't miss doing the lap book nifty stuff (I missed it from day one and went back to do it). yes... sometimes I miss the obvious stuff....

The lad had a good time learning more about tigers. Today's focus was on the Bengal Tiger. He dictates the answers to me and I write them down. Sometimes we need to read things a few times before he gets the answers and sometimes he surprises me by knowing the answers even before I read the article to him. Go figure. :)

We enjoyed looking at the cat stuff at the zoo. We didn't see the tigers on the zoo cam, but we did look at the lion cubs when they had their first check up. This elicited a lot of questions from the lad.

We made this tiger craft from DLTK. He pasted on the head and the body, the fiddliness of the rest required asking Mommy to help with the rest.

We learned about what mammals are and all sorts of other things. The unit study comes LOADED with links. Some are a bit above the level of a five year old, and other things are pretty much where he is at. Means that sometimes I rephrase things, which isn't all that hard to do. :)

I don't think this link was part of the study (but I could be wrong), but the lad had fun doing the backyard animals game found there.

It's a well made study, covers a variety of age ranges, I expect in three years or so we'd be able to do this study again. Anyways, this is a good study, well worth the dollars spent on it. :)

Cranberry Christmas Tote

Get a free limited edition, cranberry and cream, Homeschooling with Heart tote bag and a two-year subscription to The Old Schoolhouse Magazine for just $19.95. Offer good only through midnight on October 2, 2010

October 3-5, the deal changes--you'll only receive a one-year subscription. But you'll still get the beautiful tote bag, the Fall Issue, and the Cranberry Christmas E-Book.

Grab all of this for $19.95 before midnight PST on October 2 for the best value! This is a new color--so, if you collect the Homeschooling with Heart tote bags, this is a totally new version.

You can also get The 2010 Schoolhouse Planner and the 2-year subscription deal (with the free tote bag) for only $49.95.

Hurry--the $19.95 free tote bag deal is only through Tuesday, October 5.

DO NOTE: most of these physical item deals are for States-side only! Unless you want to pay for shipping.

Some websites with freebies to check out

Lesson Pathways - i'm already a member here, it's a free membership.

The Store Spotlight. doesn't always have free stuff. It's from TOS.

Easy Fun School. Easy fun School has over 1500 pages of free unit studies, science projects, and more. They have lots of resources to make homeschooling more enjoyable for parent and child.

Teachnology Here you will find your way to well over 30,000 lesson plans

Teacher Planet. 10,000 theme based resources : lessons, templates. worksheets and more.

Education Place. Pre-K–6 resources for teachers, students, and families to support instruction in the classroom and at home.

Ebibleteacher. A variety of bible based resources. here are their sunday school lessons.

Heart of Wisdom Lesson Plans. Go check it out, not sure if it's all free or paid. The blog lists free stuff. :)

Mother Goose. Mother Goose nursery rhymes introduce your child to literature.

Daily Grammar. Just as the title says, grammar, every day. :)

Cave of the Winds, children's activities. Good for caving lessons. Here's the main page.

Free Clip Art, make those lessons more fun. :) Play around with it, I haven't worked with this site much to know how easy it is to work with the images or not.

Another Clip art site, this one focused on Ancient Greece and Rome. Like the one above, play around with it, see how well it works.

The Happy Homeschool. They have a page called Fun Christian Homeschooling Unit Studies.

Inspired to Learn. A whole list of links to check out. :)

Asia for Educators. It's all about Asia, so if you studying Asia, even different time periods, go check it out. :)

Educational Videos. Mostly science, but other stuff as well.

Letter B lapbook

I started with the base unit idea from Lapbook Lessons. But then "tweaked" it.

I added a bee poem/song (he put a line through all the b's)
I added a hand poem ... you know.. the types were your hands show that actions of the poem.
Then the DLTK's mini book on B

Used Enchanted Learning's B page to generate a pile of B words.


He did a couple of pages of copying out B's. This one, and then this one.

Oh, we also found what Justin thought was a VERY neat Letter B that he wanted to put on the front of his lapbook. It's all done in bricks. :) He wanted to be able to colour it, but we couldn't figure out (as in I couldn't figure out) how to do it so that he could. And I couldn't find something similar for him. So we went with what we could manage.



If I can I'll add pictures of the final product.

It took us the morning to get it done, but we had fun and he can now spell "b".

Did you know that the capital B is like a 3 with a line in front of it? Telling the lad that made it make SO much sense to him. :)

We added Duct tape to the outside of it so we could stick it into a binder. He wants to show gramma what he did! :)

TOS - homeschooler bundles

Hey! I just learned about these homeschooler bundles that TOS has put together. They sound like an excellent product to get!

New Homeschooler Bundles™ are on sale now in the Schoolhouse Store. Designed specifically for new homeschoolers, each Bundle provides a wealth of information and encouragement. Bundles are available in six different collections for Elementary, Middle School, High School, Preschool, Special Needs and Multi-level students.

The Old Schoolhouse® is committed to serving your bundles of joy who are growing up into fine boys and girls, men and women, and with that commitment in mind, we have an announcement of our own—the arrival of six New Homeschooler Bundles™, six collections of handpicked products and resources for brand-new homeschooling parents.

The team at The Old Schoolhouse® is here to reassure you, “Yes, you CAN do it!” We know you can, and God knows you can, or He wouldn’t have called you to this course of action. Your children are gifts from God, and we are firmly convinced—by the Scriptures—that God’s very best means of educating those children is at the hands of their Godly parents. That’s you.

Each of the New Homeschooler Bundles™ represents a value of at least $500,
but we are offering them to you for only $99!

Each of the New Homeschooler Bundles™ include the following items:
NEW, one-year TOS Magazine subscription plus current issue
1 Year TOS Magazine Digital Subscription
Winter 2006/07
E-Book: The 2010 Schoolhouse Planner
Homeschooling with Heart Tote Bag--publisher's choice
Each of the New Homeschooler Bundles™ also includes several age-specific, educational, and inspirational E-books to assist you in your homeschool journey.

Select the Bundle that will best meet your needs (or select two or three Bundles of joy), and get busy! Scoop up these Bundles and begin to enjoy the fruit of others’ labor, others who have “been there and done that” and want to encourage you with their insights and wisdom, individuals whose roots have grown deep and strong.

Old Schoolhouse Expo

I bought the CD's to this event, not the tickets to the live event since I don't have the best of speakers on my computers. This way I can download and go to where I do have decent speakers. I think it sounds like a good event so go check it out.

Mark your calendars! The Schoolhouse Expo is quickly approaching.

Attendees will learn from fantastic speakers like:
Jon Taylor Gatto (keynote)
Dr. Jay Wile Todd Wilson
Diana Waring Carol Barnier
Andrew Pudewa Hal and Melanie Young
Zan Tyler Molly Green
Mary Jo Tate Karen “Spunky” Braun
Lee Binz Dianne Craft
Kim Kautzer Deborah Wuehler
Jeannie Fulbright Heidi St. John
Amanda Bennett Tricia Goyer

Attendees will also receive over $240 in E-book gift. Attendees also have a chance to win over 60 door prizes!

The Schoolhouse Expo will keep your ears busy with an incredible array of more than seventeen speakers for a fantastic, online, five-day audio feast! Covering a vast amount of information, you’ll hear about ways to improve your homeschool, ask your questions directly to the experts, and meet and chat with homeschooling parents from all over the world--all from the comfort of your home.

We bring the speakers right to you! It doesn't matter if you live in the states or internationally, you will benefit from the Schoolhouse Expo as you enjoy five days of interactive Internet experience with dynamic speakers, a virtual vendor hall, fabulous physical door prizes, and a virtual goodie bag filled with over 20 downloads for every attendee!

Are you flexible? We are! The Schoolhouse Expo lets you attend the sessions you choose and continue with your day-to-day schedule, while also offering the audio downloads of each session after the conference, so you can listen to every session at your convenience—repeatedly. The MP3 downloads are included in your ticket price. Never miss an important point. Remind yourself a year from now by reviewing the experience, and still receive the benefit of years of experience shared by amazing presenters throughout the Expo—both homeschool heroes and popular vendors!

Mark your calendars:
Monday, October 4 - Friday, October 8

TOS- Schoolhouse planner

Don't know if you all recall that I talked about the school house planner I received to review? Well, here's the link if you don't recall.

Anyways, I got this blurb from the old schoolhouse:

Have you seen our new Student Planners? So far, the response has been wonderful. Student Planners are a hot item in the Schoolhouse Store, proving that organization is a skill that parents want their children to learn. Student Planners are available in four grade levels and are now available for immediate download upon purchase! Plus, through October 17, there are two free e-gifts with each Student Planner purchase. Especially popular is the Pick 2 Bundle item—there is a slight discount for purchasing two different levels of Student Planner. Your readers will want to know about this wonderful organizational resource.

LapBooking

did you know there is a host of information out there on lapbooking?

what is lapbooking you might ask?

Lapbooking can be done by any learner-- from preschoolers to adults. With this educational method, you make mini-books covering details that you've studied. After making a variety of mini-books about a larger topic, all the books are put together in a large folder. The finished product is called a lapbook because it's large and covers your lap.

The completed lapbook will serve as a review tool as your children refer to it over and over again. And if you have to keep a homeschool portfolio to document learning each year, lapbooks can be a very impressive addition.

it's utterly astounding to this new to homeschooling mom.

Wow! It's just like scrapbooking what you are learning!!! NEAT!!!

Check out this one : Lapbooking 101

if you go to yahoo groups and look for lapbooking, you'll come up with this list.

or do a google search for this.

here's a page with all sorts of templates for designing your own lap book.

Homeschool Resources has a page on Lapbooking.

anyways, I"ll add more perhaps another day. now I"m tired and must go to bed.

Dynamic Moms - Free Unit Studies

Dynamic 2 Moms

This is a website that offers free unit studies.

I"m planning on doing this fall season one.

They are geared for the 4-8 year old crowd.

Contest Entry

I'm trying to get the world history course. :)

Epikardia has just released their second grade daily lessons curriculum.

For those of you clamoring for Second Grade Daily Lesson Plans – Set I is here! As with all of our Daily Lesson Plans, our Second Grade plans organize the study of history into nine chronological units integrated with:

• language arts (reading, spelling, vocabulary, literature study, narration, copy work, poetry, simple dictation, etc.)
• science
• fine arts (picture, artist and music study)

The making of a volcano

our supplies: vinegar, baking soda, sand around a bottle, and food colouring

adding colour to the vinegar so we can see it better

adding baking soda to our bottle

Learning that baking soda does NOT taste good. :)

Let me! Let ME do it!!!!

Mommy!!!!

look!!!! it bubbles mommy!!!!

See the cars like it too! they can't get past this (can't remember what he called it)

this is just too exciting mommy!

time to just explore with vinegar, baking soda and toys

He played with everything for a good hour after we were done the experimentation part. Just too much fun.
Gasses go big! they Explode! They make bubbles!!! :)

Various things from around the blog

Rosetta Stone - language people. having a sale right now.

YoungZine -

Youngzine is a free online news website for children that presents current events in politics, science & technology, environment, and society through articles, pictures and videos without the risk of running into inappropriate or sensational content.

What to Know how tootsie rolls are made? Check this out.

Learn Sign Language!

Math and Movies.

Many of the students in today’s secondary (and college) classrooms grew up watching attention-grabbing, action-packed educational programs. These students now spend more hours in front of a video screen than they do reading books. No wonder students may find traditional mathematics education to be dull and boring.

So, what can mathematics educators do to compete in this exciting and captivating world of technology? The answer seems to be simple: embrace technology in the classroom. Rather than lament the disinterest of students, use any and all forms of technology to grab and retain their attention. Consider presenting mathematical content (not watered-down content) in a variety of educational styles.

Great Migrations by National Geographic, this site just looks fascinating. :)

National Geographic Channel’s Great Migrations is a seven-part global programming event that takes viewers around the world on the arduous journeys millions of animals undertake to ensure the survival of their species.

Check out the History Channel. I watched the ice trucks one today, and found it quite interesting.

Charlotte Mason grammer information. Have to admit, it makes sense to me. A gentle grammer and a week of gentle grammer.

Busy HomeSchool Day

I have to admit, ALL I wanted to do today was veg, just totally veg.
but I couldn't allow that so... I kept myself busy with my lad. Still felt like I was dragging through the day. I totally spread this out over the course of the entire day.

1. did a craft/poem thing with the lad. I had to cut things out, he helped me glue them on. He read the poem several times.

2. did some math in a kindergarten math book. Just five pages. He enjoyed it.

3. did some experiments.
a. one didn't work. We'll try it again, using a different pop bottle and a bigger base bowl.
b. Seal with air

He had fun with this one.
We started with a small glass with a piece of cardboard, and upgraded to a piece of note paper. Once he exhausted the various ways to do this (full glass, half glass, turn fast, turn slow etc) He started to experiment with paper and water. Everything from adding food colouring to test out what happens when you mix what, to can you block a drain with cardboard and a glass, and including what happens if you add dish detergent to water (it goes colourless in case you didn't know).

c. Make a volcano
If he had fun with the previous one....this was way over the top. Just plain fun. Mommy forgot to read the instructions the first time so we had to correct my error (and the lad had a chance to laugh at mommy's forgetfulness). Had to call gramma to see if she had everything he need to do this all over again at her house. :)

We organized his stuff today. One binder for experiments, one for unit studies, and one for art work. Helps to keep things neater.

Sketch Tuesday - something that floats

I was going to do a feather.
What are you going to draw mommy?
I think I'll do a feather.
no, a boat.
I think I'll do a feather
NO, a boat mommy, you should draw a boat.

So.. you think I should do a boat huh?
YES!
So.. well...I drew a boat.



There's a story to this boat. It is a bunnytown boat. and the bunnies are fishing for cats. Can you see all the cats in the water? they are being fished for. This is a ladder going up to what.. I'm sorry.. I can't remember. But there is a guard rail so the bunnies can't fall off the boat.

Catching up....

Justin and I submitted sketches for this weeks Sketch Tuesday. We were to draw something with whiskers. I initially did a picture of "daddy with whiskers", but on query from my lad, did a face of Milo the cat instead. yes, I am a horrid artist, but hey... at least I submitted something :) Next week...something that floats. Justin was very excited about this one and immediately drew something. :) I am still thinking about what I want to draw for this assignment.



Today we did the first day of the Terrific Tigers Unit study/lapbook from Download N Go. I have a cat crazy lad so spending the $8.00 for this item was a no brainer. He had fun doing the first section. We didn't do it ALL (as in what day one called for), he's five and this is a multi-age study. So you have a child who can do some, do what he can, dictate what he can, and leave the rest.

As to the study itself I found that it's well done. I have to say, I would have no problem getting some of their other products. :) I enjoyed doing the day one of this five day study with him.

I have a fairly electic approach to homeschooling, I see value in doing a variety of things, and having a five year old lad gives me some sway in how I do things. I am hoping to start doing some latin with him at some point....But I think I might leave that in his dad's purview, his dad is more the language person in this household, though I'll probably get roped into it.....

What else...today we went to the library to get tiger books...they had ONE (a bit of a bummer that), we had plans to stop in and see one of the seniors in the old folks home, but forgot after playing with trains to do that... went to the dollar store to get a drink instead. but you know what? ...tomorrow is another day, always lots to do in the course of a single day.

Mr. Rogers Videos

How do they do that type videos.

Door's Open London

As a family we took in four of the sites to doors open London.

We went to the agricultural center, the train club, the HMCS Provost and the Secrets of Radar Museum.

It was good. We ALL learned lots. Justin had fun.

He had to answer three questions at each site.
1. What you remember,
2. what you learned,
3. what was the best.

In order
Agriculture center
- plants they were telling us about.
- plants can get diseases
- best thing was making smoke (dry ice, detergent and hot water).

Train Club
- (couldn't remember anything) :) ---it was ALL trains so it's not like you could pick anything out to really recall
- It was SO BIG!!!!
- "I wanted to see the whole thing"

HMCS Provost
- me and daddy were running around
- I could ring a bell REALLY loud
- Running around upstairs

Secrets of Radar
- Matching planes
- names of all the equipment
- Mommy telling me the names of all the equipment.

For those wanting a fuller picture of our day, go here.

Mommy!!!! Did you know?!??!!

that if you look at your hand through a magnifying glass it looks differenter?

Look at your hand mommy!!!

Whoa!!!

Mommy, look at this car? It looks differenter too!

What we Learned today : Paper Airplanes

Today we experimented with different paper airplane designs.
We talked about wind currents and lift, but mostly had fun trying out four different designs of paper airplanes.

1. was easy and fun to do. It kept wanting to hit Milo. It did like to crash land though...particularly after we added stickers to it. :)

2. we didn't like. It was too wobbly and didn't fly straight. "it's not a good plane mommy."

3. was HARD to make. It's supposed fly outside and it went far inside, but it was VERY difficult to make and I'm not convinced we made it properly.

4. was easy to make and fun to do with a boy child. It flew like the first one... long and far and kept wanting to scare Milo (the lad's cat).

will add pics later. :)

The lad also did
on some book work. Copying letters and doing some early math. :)

BLue Spruce

I asked our town librarian the other day if she could recommend books for our lad to read.

She said she couldn't recommend a particular book as there are so many good ones out there, but that we should read some of the Blue Spruce books. Here are some titles to some Blue Spruce books.

From what I understand, Blue Spruce books are some of the best of Canadian authors in Children's literature.
I do know that of the few we brought home today from the library our lad has enjoyed them immensely. They are a good read

Progressive Phonics

Thanks to whomever did this spreadsheet. I found Progressive Phonics.

I know what the lad and I will be doing tomorrow. :)

Should prove interesting.....

What We Learned Today - Magnets

Today I set the lad up with Magnets, iron filings, nails and what not. He took it from there.

Things the lad learned or that we talked about, not necessarily in the order learned/taught

1. water doesn't change how a magnet acts
2. water doesn't wash off iron filings
3. iron filings are fun to watch on paper - you can make them dance
4. iron filings will cling to a magnet and they are very sticky.
5. magnets can break easily if they are the stick type
6. magnets sometimes stick end to end and sometimes they don't...sometimes they stick in the middle and sometimes to the side. (when I ask Justin if that is because of polarity he says yes)
7. nails sometimes jump up the side of a magnet while others just cling loosely and others stick very hard to the bottom of it and we don't know why that is.
8. iron filings will rust.
9. magnets have a north and a south (but Justin doesn't really get this at this point)
10. iron filings are very small...but they stick in long lines when they dance...it's fun to make them move around in clumps. :)

Review: The Middle School Student Schoolhouse Planner

Middle School Student Schoolhouse Planner.

I was sent this e-book to review and I have to admit, they managed to impress me. They did. And quite frankly...most planners don't really thrill me. It's like I have this mental thing of "what can they give me that I can't figure out on my own"? But this planner, indeed, it amazed me. Wow...they packed a WHOLE whack of things into this planner. Loads of calendar pages, planning pages, goal pages, conversion charts, and more. Basically...you name it...it will have it. It is packed with tidbits of information that every middle schooler needs to know. Very well done. I was quite pleased with this planner by the time I finished looking through it.

I have to admit that as a Canadian I was displeased with the amount of focus there was in the United States (as much as I expected it), but also as a Canadian I was very pleased that an American company had some focus on Canadians (three pages of info indeed!). :)

I would happily recommend this planner to anyone who wants to help their middle school scholar get their year organized.

Gymnastics

Today was the lad's first day at Gymnastics. He was VERY uncertain about going. He was alarmed that I wouldn't be in the same room as he was in, but he had fun! Hubby dear and I had fun watching him.

He tumbled and balanced and listened, and very occasionally acted like a complete goofball.
He does NOT know how to somersault yet. :) We just grinned watching him try and how much absolute fun he had while doing so. :)

Gymnastics was held at the Forest City Gymnastics Club. He takes part in their kindergym program. It's for 3-5 year olds. Most of his classmates were 3 years old, with a couple four year olds and then the lad at 5. :) It was a good morning of learning and fun.

University of Kentucky College of Agriculture

now THIS is a cool site. University of Kentucky College of Agriculture.

Unit studies, teacher outlines, all types of project for 4H children to work on...and they provide it seems like everything except the physical stuff (aka...if doing a study on insects.. YOU have to catch the insects). :)

they made a little bike!!!

that you don't have to pedal on

What We Learned Today: fanhawe pioneer village

On Thursday, Sept 9, we went to the pioneer village in London. One of the ladies from Kids Learning Connection booked a group visit to Fanshawe Pioneer Village. There were about 50 of us all told.

They split us into two groups for a tour. We saw different buildings.
The group that the lad and I were in saw an artists birth home, the brewery, the print shop and oh...some other building that I can't remember. What can I say...short term memory problems. I do have pics so that will help with the memory. :)

At the artists birth home the lad enjoyed seeing of the old toys that children played with (an old wooden noahs ark), at the brewery going up and down those narrow stairs evoked comments of "I'm a bit scared here mommy", and the print shop was fun because he could print off something by himself. He enjoyed that.

Anyways, afterward the tour they had a time to play 19th century games: bean bag toss, 'laces', lawn bowling and tug of war. I helped win the tug of war for the small kids team. :) Justin had a hoot playing bean bag toss. And then we did the pillory. The children had lots of fun pretending they were being punished for various things like stealing a loaf of bread, or breaking something.

When the main game time was over, the lad and I wandered around seeing the rest of the buildings. It was a fun day out for us.

An unexpected lesson for us: don't carry loose batteries in your purse. IF they connect your purse will get very hot and you can melt a corner of one's camera. NOT a fun experience.

What we Learned today : Density

It was actually two days ago, but life got busy that night.

We took
Corn syrup
Vegetable oil
and coloured water.

Put them in a wide mouth mason jar.
about an inch of each.

We discovered.. corn syrup sits on the bottom, oil goes to the top, and water is sandwiched in-between

Then we had the fun of finding things to put the jar.

Thumbtacks, lego, unpopped popcorn, raisins, chocolate chips (that led to an impromptu snack), grape, screw, bolt, nut, white thing that acts as a foot to something or other, millet seed, tomato, plastic from a bag, and such like.

We learned that lego and millet seed and plastic floats on top of everything!
Screws and metal things sink all the way to the bottom!
and most everything else sits between water and corn syrup. but the fish food sits JUST ABOVE where the oil and water line meet. We found that rather intriguing.

We learned that a pencil put pointy end in sinks farther than a pencil put on it's side (it was a small pencil).

it was lots of fun learning about the weight of things and how fluids are different thicknesses.

Cornstarch Experiments

This video is just odd....



this just fun


mythbusters (even explains it)

Science on the brain

They put together a variety of science based videos on you-tube.

rather interesting to watch them.

Measuring Yourself.


How strong a strand of hair?


How to keep an egg from breaking


go check them out. If you go straight to you-tube it will connect you with more of them. Science is fun and interesting. :)

What We Learned Today - Jet Engine

This come from the book "101 great science experiments by Neil Ardley".

Justin saw this one in the book and just wanted to do it. In fact he insisted for the next two hours that we go home right now so that he can do it. We of course insisted that we had our things to do first, so we ran our errands and eventually headed home.

One blue balloon attached to a straw on a string. He's ready to let go.

and so he did...the end result.. and boy...did it ever zip fast. Just like a jet engine!

Once we ran through that a couple of times it was time for the boy to just experiment with a balloon and tape and other such stuff. And Experiment he did....First he asked for a tied up balloon... and then he whacked it back and forth a couple of times. The he changed the tape. We went from packing tape to masking tape. and instead of two pieces, he used three. That held the way he wanted it too.

So then he went to the kitchen where he retrieved a straw and a q-tip. I wondered "HUH? what is he up to now?"He proceeded to stick the straw in his mouth and blow the Q-tip at the balloon. He did this about 5 times with an unhappy "AW" being the result. I finally asked him what he was doing. He demonstrated with spinning the balloon all the way around the string. So I asked "why don't you think it's working". His response "It's not heavy enough."

So he decided next time to blow the q-tip into dad's ear and just chortled. :)

Next change in plan.

He built a bumper

and then he built a glider.

and now all the bunnies in bunny town are happy because they can safely hang on and zip down the string. The bumper will give them a nice soft landing so they don't get bumped off. :) All is well. :)

His final chortle of this experiment time was to jam the q-tip into the straw and then say "mommy, blow in this". When I couldn't get it out, he laughed. :) He's a fun, silly lad.

Stick Bombs

have to admit...I think stick bomb videos are very cool.

check out this one: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jiWxU3jXOFc&feature=feedrecmore

and then to learn more of what they are here at wiki is really neat. :)

Makes me inspired to try it out.

the audio is horrid on this one, but you can see how to make them.

Sketch Tuesday - something that grows on trees

This is our boy's first sketch that we've submitted to Sketch Tuesdays. :)

We were to sketch something that grew on trees.
The Buggy chose to do crabapples. The top one is very mouldy.

We have a crabapple tree out front that my hubby grew from a wee seed. It gets nice crabapples, it also gets a lot of not nice (as the buggy would say, mouldy) crabapples. :)

In case you wonder what the black circles are... those are the branches that the Crabapples grow on.

Review: Math in the Right Direction

Math in the Right Direction: Forms of Sequential Memory That Affect Learning By Anne-Marie Laliberté-Denis is a WeeBook published by The Old Schoolhouse.

I have to admit, the second part of this e-book titled I found a bit intimidating... what exactly is Sequential Memory
and just how will it affect learning and will I be able to remember it? That of course didn't stop me from reading the book. :)

The author points out that as home-schoolers we "have the opportunity to tap into the different forms of sequential
memorization (really learning math), thereby avoiding re-teaching or frustration when faced with skills that just don’t seem to "stick." " We are not limited to working with 25-30 students and having to primarily work with short-term memory (knowing enough to pass a test). We can use different methods to help our student(s) retain the information that they need to.

I appreciated the fact that the author listed some different things we can do to help students get their facts into their long term memory.

This book is worth reading. :)

Review: Getting to the Root of Writers' Block

Getting to the Root of Writer’s Block By Kim Kautzer is a WeeBook published by The Old Schoolhouse.

Writing is a process, not an event. Children trained in the process of writing learn to view the final draft as merely one of several steps in an evolving work. And when the steps seem doable, even the most intimidated writer stands a chance at accomplishment.

That paragraph sums up this whole book for me. Writing is a process, it has steps in it, and one needs to learn those steps in order to write decently.

The author goes on to speak about different things we can do to encourage or help the struggling writer. From brainstorming, to provide concrete ideas to start with, and so forth. But the biggest thing we can teach our children when they are learning to write is... one step at a time leads to a finished product.

Review: Career Explorations for HS Students

Career Explorations for High School Students: Pursuing their Dreams ByCarol Topp is a WeeBook published by The Old Schoolhouse.

I was sent this to review by The Old Schoolhouse. And I have to admit, right up front... we're not there yet. My lad is only five so I'm reading this only to see what it has to say and if it's something that I think I'll like to read again in the future.

The author emphasized that choosing a career is a process. Things in life change, and therefore, so does one career. She went on to explain that there are four steps to career exploration and gave us a list of resources one might wish to look at when going through this process.

Overall, well written piece and one worth looking at again in 10 years or so. :) For those of you further along in the process, it worth looking at now.

Review: Integrating Concrete Math into Everyday Life

Integrating Concrete Math into Everyday Life By Jason Gibson and Dr. Ruth Beechick is a WeeBook published by The Old Schoolhouse.

This book is divided into two sections, the first being written by Gibson and the second by Beechink.

This paragraph sums up the first part of the book really well

The trick is to integrate basic math into everyday life before your child even realizes he or she is “learning” something. Look for ways to creatively bring math into the child’s activities—ways that are actually fun so that from the beginning he or she associates math with positive thoughts.

I have to admit that I found the second part of this book repetitious after reading Building Strong Arithmetic Thinking by Dr. Ruth Beechick. Very similar thoughts in these two books. But this paragraph does a basic summation of the second half of the book

After plenty of visualizing and concrete understanding, children will have little trouble learning what we call the “math facts.” They will already know most of them in their heads; others they can figure out because they are close to the facts they know; and only a few are left to memorize by rote.
But even with those larger numbers, children understand what is happening because of the concrete understanding they have acquired.

A good book overall. :)

Review: Building Strong Arithmetic Thinking

Building Strong Arithmetic Thinking by Dr. Ruth Beechick is a is WeeBook published by The Old Schoolhouse.

I liked this weebook right from the start.
It helped it make sense to me about how to teach math to by boy. :) Yeah! :)

Beechink says this "First, get rid of any textbooks or workbooks you have for kindergarten and first grade. And
second grade, too, if you’re brave." and then says "Everyday activities are far better than workbook activities." She follows this with examples of what she means.

I thoroughly enjoyed the practical applications of this book, and plan to put them into practice. :)

Review: Writing Essays

Writing Essays by Dr. Ruth Beechick is a is WeeBook published by The Old Schoolhouse.

I have to admit, I was somewhat startled by the opening pages. Some statements were made that surprised me as they went against the way I was taught about essays. I have to admit though, Dr. Beechick's statements do kinda make sense. :) Why force a methodology, if by letting a person struggle through a process, they learn it better?

I think I shall find this e-book helpful as my son gets older, to consider how to teach him about writing essays, what they are and how to write them.

Review: Getting Childred Excited about Writing

Getting Children Excited about Writing is WeeBook published by The Old Schoolhouse. Written by Maggie Hogan this e-book talks about getting children involved with Writer's Workshops.

She speaks to what works, and what to aim for and who each workshop will be different because of the people involved with it.

For people who want to lead a writer's workshop of their own, and get their group of children excited about writing, or at the very least, have a fun way of introducing different forms of writing, this e-book would be a very helpful aid.

What we Learned today : vaseline, balloons, paper and skewers

1. Vaseline is slippery.
2. Balloons are fun to pop! :)

Did you know that
1. you can write on paper even if you have vaseline sticking between two pieces of paper
2. vaseline helps you put a skewer through a balloon.
3. if you put vaseline on the outside of a balloon AND put the balloon into water that the vaseline gets "more" (as in it gets soft and spreads out over everything).

Skewers plus vaseline put up through the bottom of the balloon works 5 times out of seven.
Skewers plus vaseline put through the top of a balloon works 0 times out of five.
Skewers with NO vaseline NEVER works pushed through a balloon
Skewers plus vaseline put through the side of a balloon works 0 times out of five.

That a piece of paper coated with vaseline sticks to other paper. BUT a skewer coated with vaseline will NOT stick to a piece of paper.

Vaseline will help a piece of paper stick to a balloon and it sticks better than using tape.

Justin LIKES homeschooling :)

Review: Why Does My Child Hate to Write

I was sent this product to review for The Old Schoolhouse.

It is called Why does my child hate to write.

Why Does my Child Hate to Write was an excellent article to read. I thoroughly enjoyed how the author encouraged us to think outside the box with helping children learn how to write. Carol Barnier has an easy to read and follow style of writing, it engages the reader in the article and causes them to want to read more (at least it did for this reader). :) Although she does exactly tell us why some children struggle with putting their thoughts on paper, she does give a brief thought as to why this happens. Her focus in on HOW do we help these children learn to write down their thoughts.

Our children are all so unique and this article encourages us to help those unique children know that they can excel even if their writing skills might not be up to their level of capabilities in other areas. Don't write, use other methods of writing, talk more, and so many other ideas. All good ideas to help our children to do what they need to... to just LEARN.

National Geographic map giveaway.

DownloadN'Go is having a contest where they are giving away maps from national geographic.

Go check it out. :)