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. :)

Teaching Made Easier

Teaching Made Easier is a site that I"m currently testing out.

So far it seems to have it's quirks, I can also see it's potential.

I had an email sent to me about it, and of course, now I can't find it. Anyways, that's just weird.

So it has a list creator and a variety of ways to make the same list in different ways. Vocab lists, bingo, games, and so forth. Haven't figured out yet if they do crosswords and such like.

Anyways, give it a boo if you are interested.

these are the types of activities that you can create.

Math Videos...

wow...this site has it all.

Khan Academy

Origami (paper airplanes)

How to Make a Paper Airplane.

10 Paper AirPlanes.

Easy to Make Paper Airplanes.

Best paper Airplane.

Basic Version of paper airplane.

Latin! Learn it!

This came across my computer via my hubby.
$25 for some introductory lessons.
Video Latin Curriculum actually hosted at The Compass Store and produced by Visual Latin.

One of the commentors mentioned Memoria Press for Latin, so I checked them out too. I'm tempted. :)

Clip art

free clip art sites are HARD to find overall.
I won't use this for resale as I think that would be theft. But for personal use... not a problem.

Here's one Edigg.clipart.

Clipart ETC

Welcome to quality educational clipart. Every item comes with a choice of image size and format as well as complete source information for proper citations in school projects. No advertisement-filled pages with pop-up windows or inappropriate links here. A friendly license allows teachers and students to use up to 50 educational clipart items in a single, non-commercial project without further permission.

Lee hansen Graphics. Looks to be all free clipart/graphics.

Lee Hansen's free clip art includes many downloadable graphics for today's most popular themes, styles and crafts. You'll find free hundreds of clip art graphics for holidays from New Year to Hanukkah.

Our collection of exclusive, original graphics includes clip art for parties and celebrations, hard to find images for popular themes like pirates, vacation in paradise and fairies, plus dozens of clip art borders, buttons and scrapbook embellishments for page layouts and making your own gift tags, labels and greeting cards.

Philip Martin Clip-art.

I'll add more as I find them. Let me know if you know of any.

Colouring Pages for Children

Coloring Pages for Kids

I'll have to add others as I find them.

Donna Young

DonnaYoung.org Printables and Resources

This web site is built by Donna Young and is an on-going project since 1998. Donnayoung.org offers free homeschool planners, homeschool planning tips, school calendars, household planners, and printables in various subjects.

Friction Experiment #1

So we joined supercharged Science for a month.

Cost us a $1 so it was no biggie to do this.

Today we did an experiment on Friction.

We took a book, we took a bunch of different shoes. and then used a ruler to see how high we could get the book cover to rise before the shoe started to slide.

We had some surprises!

1. daddy's new show and daddy's old shoe. both the same brand of shoe. The old one slid at 11 the new slid at 13.5. The only difference we could find in the shoe was the old one had more wear on the sole of the shoe.

2. Justin's crocks and flip flops. The blue ones slid at 11.5, the purple at 12 and his flip flops at 10.5. the flip flops weigh the most so we THINK that is why they slid faster, but why the purple slid later.. we could not figure that one out. the purple and blue are the same weight, the purple has little gems on it so my boy thinks that is why it slid later.

3. mommy's church sandal is fatter (wider) and flatter than her work shoe. It should have slid later, but it slid at 9, while her work shoes slid at 12. WHY??? Her work shoe weighs more but the sole is bumpier...could the weight have made the difference?

But it was very interesting for a five year old boy child.

Some sites I want to look at some more

Reading a- z

sites for teachers

School express

Grace bound books.

Egghead academics

Home school in the woods