Contest time folks! From AOP!

This was sent to my inbox, seems to open to anyone willing to be part of their email list, they don't overburden folks with things either, so go ahead an enter if you like AOP materials.



Here's your opportunity to win this year's Ginormous Homeschool Giveaway at Alpha Omega Publications! From now until February 28, 2011, enter for your shot at $500 in free curriculum, as well as other awards like a complete Monarch™ 5-subject set, a 3-session tutoring package, and a complimentary copy of the uplifting and encouraging Daily Focus® devotional book. Plus, just for entering this year's drawing, you'll also receive a fantastic discount offer on AOP's award-winning homeschool products and resources.

Don't miss this one-of-a-kind opportunity to get outstanding curriculum and products for your homeschooling family. It's easy to participate. Simply click ENTER NOW below and fill in your information. Entrants must be at least 18, and there is a limit of one entry per household. For more details, check out AOP's contest rules when you enter and remember that no purchase is necessary. Don't delay. Get in on the fun and enter to win today!


ENTER!

Passing forward links...

I think it was homeschooling mom who gave me this sites so I'm just passing them along.

GeekMom has this neat way of helping students gain map knowledge.

families on the road.

The purpose of the roadschooling pages is not to duplicate the hundreds of thousands of homeschooling sites and resources that are already available. But to arm those who live and work with their kids on the road with educational resources, no matter what form of homeschooling your family prescribes to.

Sixty Symbols. Videos about the symbols of physics and astronomy.

The History Game Canada

I have to admit, this really intrigues me....

It's the history game Canada.

AND you can even download it for free!
from the FAQ

The History Game Canada is a mod pack for Civ3 Conquest v1.22 and Civ3 Complete that is based on the History of Canada. It is intended as a playable fun addition to the Civilization game with a wealth of custom Canadian content. It’s very much a game of ‘What if ...?”; where players can toy with outcomes, now etched in history, but once hanging in the balance. It explores the parameters of history rather than the events, and allows players to live questions like … ”What if the Huron had displaced the 5 Nations Confederacy rather than the other way around?”; or “What if the French had retained Canada, and the English colonies to the East and South had failed to prosper?”
...

You’ll need a copy of Civilzation III Conquests (patched to version 1.22) or a copy of Civilization III Complete. Then you just have to download and install the game pack, check out the videos and resources on the website, and get started.

days of Homeschooling

Sketch Tuesday Artwork - something that begins with "R"

This week's assignment. Draw something that begins with "R"


I thought hmmm.. something that begins with R... what in the world can I draw that begins with an R? Rolling pin came to me in church this morning.. and I seriously thought about it... but curves not so good at them... hmmm... okay, let's continue thinking... I ended up doing a roof. seemed simple enough. Justin's verdict "pretty good for a beginner". :) But then he had to finish the rest of the building. :)


Justin's R word.
let me explain this one. I thought he might like to do a picture of a rabbit but I wanted it to be HIS idea, so I started him giving him "R" words. Roof, rat, ribbit, etc (thinking he'd say rabbit). He got captured by the idea of how do you draw a sound? So...he drew the sound waves of a frog saying "ribbit". :)

As always, they'll be published on Tuesday at Harmony Mom Sketch Tuesday's site.

contest entry - Penny raine

Penny raine is having another contest.

$50 gift certificate to her store.

How about $50 gift certificate to my bookstore?

Giveaway ends Monday October 4 at midnight. There are several ways to get extra entries

Free Language Lessons

FSI language Courses

Welcome to fsi-language-courses.org - the home for language courses developed by the Foreign Service Institute.

These courses were developed by the United States government and are in the public domain.

This site is dedicated to making these language courses freely available in an electronic format. This site is not affiliated in any way with any government entity; it is an independent, non-profit effort to foster the learning of worldwide languages. Courses here are made available through the private efforts of individuals who are donating their time and resources to provide quality materials for language learning.

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.