WorkSheet Works

The Old Schoolhouse sends out weekly emails with freebies listed in them.

This week the freebie they sent out sends folks for the The Worksheet Works website.

From the email sent to me:

.... try this new educational website that I recently found.

Worksheet Works is a website with free printables in Math, English, Geography, and Puzzles of all kinds. There are also other printables such as calendars, graphic organizers to help with the writing process, graph paper for math, and many more. The best part is that it's all free for you to use!

Having gone to the site I have learned they have math, English, geography, a variety of puzzles, miscellaneous stuff, handwriting sheets, and such like. looks like a nice little site to keep track of.

I thought the secret map puzzle was just neat! hadn't thought of that idea before. :)

NOW... if you want to get the store freebies ..... go to The Old Schoolhouse website and subscribe to the emails yourself. :)

Some posts i liked and want to remember

Here are some posts that I've appreciated in the homeschooling world.

Successful homeschooling presents Why I am Still Homeschooling.

Walking Therein gives us Isaac's water experiments.

Justin liked this one: chicks hatching. :)



Homemade homeschoolers taught a lesson on Lichen.

Whereas Weird, Unsocialized Homeschoolers thought that mini-offices was interesting. I agreed. Thought it an idea worth keeping for later down the road.

Wired for noise talks about socialization and isolation.

graham family ministries

I just want to remember this site.

Graham Family Ministries.

They have downloadables of a variety of sorts. Spurred my imagination.

Math Mammoth Contest

Explain WHICH book or product interests you most (see the website). Then explain in several sentences the reasons and factors that keep you from buying it at this time. In other words, give your "excuses" for not buying. You can explain how much you perhaps love your current math curriculum, cite economics, and so on. Just let your fingers fly on the keyboard!

Math Mammoth is having a contest for books from her website.

This here be my entry. :)

What would I like to get should I have an opportunity to do so?
Math Mammoth Clock

is a worktext that covers telling time and reading the clock, telling time intervals, and understanding the calendar. It is suitable for grades 1, 2, and 3.

Why? Because telling time is important. :) And I figure this book will have some hints for helping my buggy learn to tell time that I might not think of.

Math Mammoth Canadian Money

is a worktext that covers money-related topics usually encountered during grades 1-3, using the coins and bills of Canada. The book contains both textbook explanations and exercises, and is designed to be very easy to teach from, requiring very little teacher preparation (you do need to find some practice coins before the lessons).

Why? A book that uses Canadian money! so many are just USA only. So I think this is cool.

And last but not least Math Mammoth Introduction to Fractions

contains fraction-related material suitable for approximately grades 2-4. This material does not include division or multiplication of fractions, nor adding unlike fractions. The lessons are mostly simple, introductory lessons to various fraction topics.

why? simply because the idea of teaching fractions seems a bit beyond my thinking today. I know my buggy is only 3 and fractions is not something he'll be learning yet....but it's good to be prepared. :)

Learn Greek

Dan Phillips has a greek blog. Go figure that I ever check it out as I'm not into greek...but I do think it would be good to learn...and as I'll be homeschooling our buggy I figure in time we can learn it together. Hopefully this site will still be around. If not..we have DAD! :)

So why learn greek?

because God used it to speak to us. What better reason? :)

it's all in videos as far as I can tell, so it should be interesting.

Canadian Electoral System

The US Election has the various US based homeschool boards posting all types of stuff on the US electoral process. It gets me thinking sometimes....some of these companies are able to spread their stuff world-wide...why not have a bigger offering of electoral process things...like for Canada? We just had an election too! Has no one made a Canadian Electoral Process Study?

So anyways, I figured I'd see what I could pull together from sites on-line. :)

Elections Canada On-line
- this site seems to have everything you can think of. from the basics down to the nitty-gritty.

Library of Parliament
- these folks put together a list of frequently asked questions.

Wikipedia
- they of course would have some type of entry :)

Elections
- gives us a good overview. Lists all the parties currently available as well.

That's all I've managed to find for now. I'm thinking it would be fun to pull some of this stuff together and see if I can make an actual study unit of it all. Wouldn't that be fun? :)

Should I ever get around to doing so...this site might prove useful for ideas (not copying, just things to think about). Found out about it here. And here's another site for ideas.

I would probably need to think about doing something also on all the different prime ministers we've had as well.

Homeschool blogger award nominations

from what I understand, you go here. follow the links and then nominate the homeschool blogger that you really like for whatever category.

should be interesting to see who wins.

Types of Poems - Acrostic

An acrostic poem is very easy to write. It can be about any subject. This kind of poem can be written in different ways, but the simplest form is to put the letters that spell your subject down the side of your page. When you have done this then you go back to each letter and think of a word , phrase or sentence that starts with that letter and describes your subject.

For samples go here.

for instance here's one I did

Rabbits:

Rascally
apple and grass eaters
binky about when happy
born in 31 days
into trouble they hop
totally enjoying their foods
smile makers

Types of Poems - Diamante

Do you want to try some poetry with your kids? In Our Write Minds has a great post on writing a diamante poem!

Diamante: A seven-line poem that takes the shape of a diamond.

Lion

Majestic, proud

Roaring, snarling, prowling

Mane, muscle . . . Fleece, fluff

Bleating, leaping, grazing

Meek, gentle

Lamb

A Poem of Opposites

Remember that the first and last words of a cinquain are synonyms—the last word of the poem renames the first. Diamantes, however, are poems about opposites: the first and last words have opposite meanings (or convey opposite ideas).

A diamante has seven lines that follow this sequence:

Line A: Topic A (must be a noun)

Line B: Two vivid adjectives that describe Topic A

Line C: Three interesting “-ing” action verbs that describe Topic A

Line D: Two concrete nouns about Topic A and two about Topic G

Line E: Three interesting “-ing” action verbs that describe Topic G

Line F: Two vivid adjectives that describe Topic G

Line G: Topic G (must be a noun)

So hop on over to Writing a Diamante Poem for another sample poem as well as detailed instructions for teaching your kids to write one of their own!

Copyright 2008 Kim Kautzer. All rights reserved. Used by permission.

Here’s another example:

Light
Clear, brilliant
Glowing, shining, revealing
Mirror, candle . . . Whisper, shadow
Deepening, sleeping, shrouding
Black, quiet
Darkness

all this comes from In Our Write Minds.

My boy is Three

Boy are the questions starting to come.

When I am going to put him in preschool?
Why I am not teaching him right now?
How am I going to give him social time with other children?
What's wrong with the public system...it's working for our children.
Do you realize how much time it's going to take you to do this?

Yes..... I knew there would be questions....

But some questions come so laden with "attitude" I have to be careful not to give attitude back.
Inform, educate, explain...don't be attitudinal.

ARGH!!!!!!!!! :)

Money and Children

Fun Money Lessons for Children

Watching money in action is a great way for kids to learn about how it works and what it means. There are many opportunities to turn everyday activities into money management lessons. You probably have your own, but here a few ideas to get you started.

At the grocery store. Children love making grown-up choices, so give them a budget and let them be in charge of selecting one or more items on your list. Before you go shopping, clip coupons together and reward them with the money you save.As they get older, hone their bargain-hunting skills by showing them how to comparison-shop, how to spot deals, and the differences (and cost savings) between generic and brand names.

At the restaurant. Whether you're eating take-out or dining out, give children a set amount of money and instructions to order a healthy meal. They'll practice budgeting and learn to check for what's included with their meal. As they get older, introduce them to the concepts of tax and tipping.

Playtime for the very young set. Set up play stores or restaurants with toy cash registers, coins, and groceries/food items.

At the ATM machine. Talk to your children about where money comes from, that you've earned it by working, and that you can only withdraw as much as you have in your account. When they're older, have them press the buttons and enter transactions at the bank machine.

Paying bills. When you're paying bills online, show kids that things like watching TV, using the phone, and turning on the lights all have to be paid for. While you're at it, talk about the difference between wants and needs, and the value of planning for long-term goals.

Education tip: Paying with cash rather than credit or debit cards will help your children understand how money is exchanged for goods and services. Let them figure out how much to give the cashier and verify the change. Ask for your change in small bills or coins to gives children an opportunity to recognize money and count it.

The entrepreneurial spirit. Support your child's interest in starting a business. From traditional lemonade stands, paper routes, lawn mowing, or selling crafts, children feel empowered by earning their own income. Use this fun opportunity to help them understand input costs (for the lemons, sugar, and cups), revenue and profits.

Saving. Consider giving your young children three piggy-banks — for saving, spending, and charity. Let them decorate the containers and have them help decide what proportion of their income (including allowance, gifts, or tooth-fairy money) goes into each. Swap piggy-banks for a real savings account around age 10.

Some folks I've heard do four piggy-banks just to make the math easier for their children. Saving, spending, charity and rainy day planning.

Money and the use of it can be taught most anywhere.

Much of this information was presented by "the Vault" from Scotiabank.

Mother's Day - 2008, freebies

TOS has sent out another Friday freebie newsletter. This one focuses on Mother's day. So here are some Mom's Day activities for children to do.

A homemade card - this one actually looks kinda neat, meant for older children though I think as it's more along the idea of a scrapbooked card. As TOS says :

This card will be a lovely keepsake. There are pull out cards where the kids can write a list of the things Mom does for them. Then, there are three other pull outs (That spell out M-O-M) for your kids to write things they appreciate about you.

Some Mother's Day coupons. These are strips of paper that children fill out with things they will do if requested.

Homeschoolzone has a whole whack of mother's day crafts that children can make. From magnets to paperweights to plants. Check it out. :)

Other on-line resources (I just plugged mother's day crafts into the search engine and this is some of what it came up with).

Enchanted Learning is much like homeschoolzone in that it provides a variety of activities for children to do. and then there's Danielle's place and Dltk's spot. For some other ideas you can go here or over to amazing mom's.

If none of those ideas work for you do your own search and see what fun stuff you can come up with. :)

Happy crafting!

Oh......while I was at it I thought hmm...why not research how Mother's Day came about. This is what I discovered:

The majority of countries that celebrate Mother's Day do so on the second Sunday of May. On this day, it is common for Mothers to be lavished with presents and special attention from their families, friends and loved ones. But it hasn’t always been this way.

Only recently dubbed “Mother's Day,” the highly traditional practice of honoring of Motherhood is rooted in antiquity, and past rites typically had strong symbolic and spiritual overtones; societies tended to celebrate Goddesses and symbols rather than actual Mothers. In fact, the personal, human touch to Mother’s Day is a relatively new phenomenon. The maternal objects of adoration ranged from mythological female deities to the Christian Church itself. Only in the past few centuries did celebrations of Motherhood develop a decidedly human focus.

That makes me wonder....where is all the hullabaloo about Mother's day that there is about Hallowe'en? Both started from pagan roots. :)

Wikipedia says much the same thing:

Different countries celebrate Mother's Day on various days of the year because the day has a number of different origins.

One school of thought claims this day emerged from a custom of mother worship in ancient Greece, which kept a festival to Cybele, a great mother of Greek gods. This festival was held around the Vernal Equinox around Asia Minor and eventually in Rome itself from the Ides of March (15 March) to 18 March.

The ancient Romans also had another holiday, Matronalia, that was dedicated to Juno, though mothers were usually given gifts on this day.

In some countries Mother's Day began not as a celebration for individual mothers but rather for Christians.

Regardless of the history, Mother's Day today is just a day where we can say to the important women in our lives....hey thanks! what you do means much.

So happy crafting for Mother's day!

Free Rice

Not sure if I've ever commented on this site before.
It's called Free Rice. What is it is a vocabulary site that through advertising gives away rice to developing countries. The fact page is here.

If FreeRice has the rice to give, why not give it all away right now?

FreeRice is not sitting on a pile of rice―you are earning it 20 grains at a time. Here is how it works. When you play the game, advertisements appear on the bottom of your screen. The money generated by these advertisements is then used to buy the rice. So by playing, you generate the money that pays for the rice donated to hungry people.

So it's a site where you can improve your vocabulary and help folks out at the same time.

So far my highest score is 43, with 2580 grains of rice donated. And I must say, I really don't even notice the advertising.

Rather cool eh?

TOS contest

The HSB Front Porch is having a contest and you can win a $50 gift certificate just for blogging about The Old Schoolhouse Magazine Spring Promo before midnight April 30, 2008. Subscribe now to The Old Schoolhouse Magazine and receive 25 BONUS gifts valued at over $550! The Winter Promo sold out, don't miss out on the free gifts this time!

They are also giving away a $150 gift certificate to the Schoolhouse Store. All print subscribers (new or renewing) between April 3 - 30, 2008 will be automatically entered into a drawing. No purchase neccessary to win. To enter without subscribing, please send a postcard with your name, address, telephone number, and email address to:
The Old Schoolhouse Magazine Spring Promo Contest
PO BOX 8426
Gray, TN 37615

Field Trippers Guide

So want to go on a field trip in US or Canada?

Check out this place. Homeschool Buyers Co-op. It even has Ontario listed!

California Homeschooling

What can I say, I'm glad I live in Ontario and not California. But I do find this somewhat alarming.

On one hand you have a family with numerous complaints against them regarding abuse and a mother who is poorly educating her children.

On the other hand, you have parents who are wanting to homeschool their children and being told that they don't have the constitutional right to do so.

Dan Phillips over at Biblical Christianity has provided a whole whack of links. Go over there to check them out.

It is a bit alarming for both sides.

Easter is coming

This time of year is hard in a pastor's family, especially in a church that celebrates the day's of Easter.... Good Friday service, Sonrise service and so forth. Means extra work for pastor, and less of having daddy around to help and play. :) But I was thinking about it, and as God would have it, so was This Old Schoolhouse, they sent out their Friday Freebie, and it's all about Easter. So here are some links on Easter to help with the teaching and crafting of it.

Perhaps first I'll give you an email that was sent to me though on the facts of Easter for this year.

Easter this year is: Sunday March 23, 2008
As you may know, Easter is always the 1st Sunday after the 1st full moon after the Spring Equinox (which this year is March 20). This dating of Easter is based on the lunar calendar that Hebrew people used to identify Passover, which is why it moves around on our Roman calendar.
A couple more things you might be interested in! Based on the above Easter can actually be one day earlier (march 22) but that is pretty rare.
This year is the earliest easter any of us will ever see the rest of our lives. And only most elderly of our population (aged 95 or more) have ever seen it this early. And none of us have or will ever see it a day a day earlier.
Here are the facts:
The next time Easter will be this early (March 23) will be the year 2228 (220 years from now). The last time it was this early was 1913 (so if you're 95 or older, you are the only ones that were around for that!) The next time it will be a day earlier (March 22), will be in the year 2285 (277 years from now). The last time it was on March 22 was 1818. So, no one alive today has or will ever see it any earlier than this year!
ENJOY THE UNIQUENESS OF THIS SPECIAL DAY AND THIS LITTLE PIECE OF HISTORY!

Now for other Easter stuff :)

• Bible in Living Sound is offering The Passion of Jesus Christ as a free MP3 download. This is a enthralling re-enactment with music and "live" sound effects putting your kids in the middle of the action. You will find the free downloads HERE.
• Activities
• bookmarks
• resurrection eggs
• seeing the art work of easter. The Passion of Christ in Art.
  
• 
  
• For generic stuff on Easter check out
• Easter Bunny.net - this site has a variety of songs, recipes, traditions, etc.
  
• Easter Christian Resources by King's Kids - stories, activities, etc.
• A Glorious Easter - teacher resources
• 
  
• Cooking for Easter
• Easter Cookie Recipe
• Easter Bunny Cookies
• Easter Egg nests
• 
  
• stories on Easter
• Easter bunny, are you real?
• Evan
• Suddenly One Morning
• The Easter Story
• Religious Easter Stories
• 
  

Make a Lesson Plan

One of the things I discovered about Donna Young's site is that she linked to various pages on how to put together a Lesson plan.

Let's say you have a book that you are using for a curriculum.
1. you chosen the book.

2. decide how long you will be using it. use these steps to planning.

Steps-to-Planning checklist:

1. How many weeks of study?_____
2. How many weeks for special projects?______
3. Subtract step 2 from step 1. ____ weeks
4. How many pages are in the book(s)?______
5. How many lessons are in the book(s?______
6. How many pages are tests/review?______
7. Subtract the number of test/review pages from the number of pages in the book.______
8. Divide step 7 by step 3- _____ pages per week.

3.Now break it down a bit more...
a. how many pages will you do?
b. where will you call it a day?
c. does the book have it's own laid out plans?

Lots more but I don't have time right now to go through it all.
Follow her links, read through her examples and have fun! :)

Planning out your Homeschool day

I was sent an email from The Homeschool Store (part of TOS). Anyways, it included some freebies.

One of the freebies listed was to Donna Young's Home School Lesson Planners. I looked at them and thought...So??? And then I said, hold on, why reinvent the wheel? Should I ever need to plan out lessons, this page just might be helpful. I'd have to figure out how to use them and all that, but this would save me the steps and energy in having to come up with something myself. You might find that it serves the same purpose for you. There are also links for a variety of other types of planning you might need to do, from daily plannersm calendars, art and more. Check it out.

They also included a link to family corner.com about how to organize your homeschool day, how to think out the process of doing so. Plan, Prioritize, Respond. Have a routine, but stay flexible. :)

Learning Numbers

I liked this idea...seems so simple, and yet so very doable. :)

From the Homeschool math Blog, teaching preschoolers numbers.

In a nutshell:

I used foam numbers and plastic numbers, and just made a heap of them between us. I would pick one, hold it up high and call out loud its name, such as "Number five!" and put it to my personal pile.

She would then find the same number (I made sure there were at least two of each) and did the same, called out loud its name and gathered the number to herself.

Then it was her turn to pick any number from the pile, call out its name, and put it to her pile, and I had to find the same number.

After all the numbers in the middle pile were gone, her task was to arrange her numbers in order. That's it.

Should you use a math dictionary? This is the blog post at Homeschool Math Blog that suggested making a dictionary (or a lap book) of math terms.

I liked the idea. Having a little book that Justin, when he is old enough, can write in different math terms that he learns.

Let your child/student make their own math dictionary! Just make a new page in it every time there is a new concept or term to study. The student can write the term, write an explanation, an example calculation, or draw a picture of it − or all of those.

Making such a math vocabulary book shouldn't take lots of time, because you don't usually encounter new words every single lesson in a typical math curriculum. The rest of the time the book can act as a reference or as a review medium.

There is one exception though, and that is GEOMETRY. In geometry, just about all the time you have new terms to learn. In fact, a big part of the geometry in elementary grades is simply learning the meaning of words such as parallel, perpendicular, trapezoid, vertical angles, symmetry, diameter, radius, circumference, and so on.

Anyways, go there to read the rest of the post. Thought it interesting, and worth remembering. :)

Discernment in Churches

I have to admit, I really like this idea that Connie has at Practicing Theology.

I hope that I can use something like this to help Justin learn to think seriously about the church that he may or may not get involved with in the future.

Her Premise.
The initial research.
The "I am there" participating.

Not sure if Connie will add more, but if she does, I'll link to them as well.

Homeschool on Video

Thank you to Mrs. Wilt for this. :)

Homeschool Rant

Okay...you have to go check this out. Make you laugh, make you snort, make you go ...uh huh. :) :) As Kim says "It's a homeschool rant, and it's good stuff!"

Making a 3-D snowflake

Got this idea from Holy Experience, who referred me here.

Think it's something I can do sometime with Justin (not yet though, he's not quite old enough to handle it). :)

Written directions
Take 6 squares of any kind of paper.
Fold in half on the diagonal.
Cut 4 slits on both sides, don't let the slits connect.
Lay it flat, and then using tape, take two sides and loop them together. Alternate sides.

Do this for each of the four slits.
This makes one side of the snowflake.

Then make the other 5.

Take three of the sides and staple the ends together.
then do the same for the other three.

Put the stapled ends together and staple them as well.
Then staple some of the edges together to make cohesive unit.

Then hang up! :)

The video does a better job of explaining it. :)

Ah here..found one on Youtube. :)

Surprise find

When I was looking up Spelling stuff, I found this page. I didn't find it very helpful as this colour coding stuff didn't make much sense to me. I hit the home button though....and it led me to pages I found more useful.

They have Curriculum outlines.
They have a humanities link. To a Mr. S.

And Various Homework pages, with activities to do to learn stuff. :) Things like Life in the Artic, and explorers and so forth. Might be a good resource. :)

Spelling

Spelling, spelling, spelling...what child doesn't need to know how to spell, and how to spell well.
It's one of the things that drives me nuts with many of the youth I meet now-a-days...they can't spell even simple words.

Anyways, spelling helps for if and when I should need them.

Inspired by a email newsletter from TOS.

SpellingCity. I went there using my firefox browser, and was told I should use IE instead as there is a known bug using firefox with their system. So... IF you go to Spelling City...use IE.

All About Spelling has free spelling tests. They have them for each grade level.

Here's a page called Spelling It right. Run by a teacher.

Busy Teachers Cafe has this language arts page.

Everyday Spelling is a useful site as well. Comes up with common words misspelled and helps for dealing with spelling as well.

I found the Mount Diablo School District Spelling List to be the most comprehensive that I have found so far.

TLS Books.com has some worksheets. I didn't find them very extensive, but it's a resource none-the-less.

Lots of sites on-line to look at. These seem to be a good start.

Reasons to Homeschool

I have to admit, I liked these. :)

Top Reasons To Home School Your Children

1. Studies show that home-schooled children average between the 80th and 90th percentile, regardless of the socio-economic background, or educational level of the parents.
Great student teacher ratio.
Very good communication between the student, teacher and parents.
The student can’t lie about their homework.
With a class size of one, they can’t copy anybody else's work.
The curriculum is in perfect agreement with the values of the parents.
The children will not bring bad habits home from school.
The pace of learning will be geared to the ability of each child, not the lowest common denominator.
You don’t have to fix lunch in the morning.
Children will be better adjusted socially if they don’t learn social skills from the street gangs.
Without peer pressure, they learn to think for themselves, not just parrot what the “group wants to hear”.
Every educator agrees that parental involvement is the key to success in a child’s education. How could one be more involved?
Your child will never be “just a number” in the classroom.

AND THESE ONES TOO!

The Top 20 Reasons to Home-school

20. Your kids never tell you that you're a lot dumber than their teacher.

19. If you can't find matching socks for your child first thing in the morning, who cares?

18. Cleaning out the refrigerator can double as chemistry lab.

17. Your kids never have a reason to think they'll get beat up by a gang at school.

16. If the principal gives the teacher a bad evaluation, she can stick her icy feet against his legs at night.

15. You can post the Ten Commandments on your school room wall, and you won't get sued.

14. You never have to drive your child's forgotten lunch to school.

13. Your child will never go to their 20th high school reunion, meet an old flame, and recklessly abandon their marriage.

12. You get to change more than diapers, you get to change their minds.

11. If you get caught talking to yourself, you can claim you're having a PTA meeting.

10. It's better to be slightly concerned about socialisation than very concerned about socialism.

9. Your child will never suffer the embarrassment of group showers after PE.

8. The only debate about the school lunch program is whose turn it is to cook.

7. You never have to face the dilemma of whether to take your child's side or the teacher's side in a dispute at school.

6. If your child gets drugs at school it's probably Tylenol.

5. The teacher gets to kiss the principal in the faculty lounge and no one gossips.

4. Your kids recognize that this list is numerically in reverse order.

3. Your honour student can actually read the bumper sticker that you have put on your car.

2. If your child claims that the dog ate his homework you can ask the dog.

1. Some day your children will consider you to be a miracle working expert and will turn to you for advice.

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.