TOS 2+ sale

Starting Monday, November 15, we have a week-long subscription promotion. It is a great opportunity to earn extra commissions.

Here is how the sale works.


On Monday, November 15, the price for a one-year U.S. or Canadian print subscription to
The Old Schoolhouse Magazine® Magazine is $10.

On Tuesday, November 16, the price goes to $12.

On Wednesday, November 17, the price is $14.

Each day we add $2 until Saturday and Sunday, when the price is $20. At midnight PST on Sunday, November 21, the price goes back to its regular level.

Plus, every 12th customer to purchase a subscription gets a tote bag.
Every 14th customer to purchase a subscription gets a copy of the E-Book: The 2010-2011 Schoolhouse Planner.

Every 16th customer to purchase a subscription gets a $25 gift card to the Totally TOS category in the Schoolhouse Store. This excludes Molly Green and Download N Go™.

As an added bonus, the highest ticket of the day on Monday, November 15 through Wednesday, November 17, will win a $200 gift card to the Schoolhouse Store. This can be used for any company in the Store,except Download N Go™.

So, put 2 and 2 together and shop early! The earlier you grab your one-year new or renewing
subscription, the better the price you'll pay. Plus, you could receive one of the bonus gifts. Or, you might be the highest ticket of the day!

If you are eligible for a bonus gift, you will receive an email from a member of the Schoolhouse Store team.

Craft pages

AHC Arts and Crafts

all sorts of crafty things. rather a neat site indeed. :)

ARTS AND CRAFTS PROJECTS FOR KIDS: Crafts Ideas by Materials Used, Theme, and also Trash to Treasure Crafts Projects and Coloring Pages. These Will Entertain your Preschoolers, Teens, Toddlers, and Young Children.

A Variety of Things

Homeschooling-ideas.com sent me their newsletter which is filled with a variety of good ideas. Sign up for it yourselves and get all these ideas sent right to you. :) I have to admit, I really liked the idea of doing a photography week... and using that as a time to make photocalenders as gifts. Use a theme, teach light/shadows etc. I can see this one being a good one for hubby to work on with the lad as he's our camera man.

Medieval Japan Is is a lapbook/unit study that dynamic mom is making with her family. She also has one on the Renaissance.

Apples 4 teachers. Note this site will ask you to join a newsletter.
Elementary Creative Arts and Crafts
Interactive educational games and online activities for kids

Hoagies Gifted Education Page

(Free) Online High School Courses & Curriculum Materials

Laura Chandler has educational resources.

Doorposts

52 character building thoughts for children

Notebooking.com

Did you know they have a nice freebie section?

I got a membership for a year into the Treasury, which gives me full access to their whole site. Their yearly price I thought was quite reasonable.

As much as I'm not into a lot of copywork I find they give good outlines for doing bird studies, or people studies and what not. They also have good quotation pages.

I also just discovered today that they have a planners section. :)

Anyways, here's a link to the freebies on their site.

November holidays and special days

November Holidays and Special Days

I just might do some of these. :)

Review: Expedition Australia

Let me start off by saying that I got a copy of this unit study in return for reviewing it.
I've been interested in the expedition series ever since I first heard about them as country study I find fascinating. These unit studies are well done. They've done all the research for you, while allowing side trips if you want to take them.

Well, let me explain that my five year old has been not feeling well for the past couple of weeks and this week his head and chest have exploded into a rather nasty cold. This has caused us to go slowly with our homeschooling efforts.

So we managed to get day one done of this study. Woot woot! We will over the next 4 weeks cover the rest of this study. :) Here is day two's review. :)

We took our time with it and just had fun with it.
There is a map of the world that we're supposed to colour code, they gave suggested colours...but "mommy! can I do it differenter than that"?
"Sure buddy, just pick whatever colours you want".
And...so he did. :) We did our own version of colour coding the world.

Today we looked at how far Canberra is from us, and learned that going backwards was faster to get to Australia then going over Africa. He found that immensely funny and then proceeded to exercise that new knowledge by testing out shorter ways to get from one place to another in our house and by drawing different maps on pieces of paper. Oh.. we couldn't get the link - the one included for seeing how far it was from our town to Canberra - to work for us for some reason (possibly because we live in a small town) so we went to google maps. Google maps made us both laugh as they suggested we kayak across the ocean. :)

NOTE: we are in the middle of renovating our living room so having a five year old doing things "backwards" as he practiced finding shorter cut going backwards was at times a bit of a talking through challenge. :) White footprints (plaster dust) in places one doesn't expect always adds interest in life doesn't it? :) Humour is good.

We learned today just how big the great barrier reef was....the lad found that fascinating. One of the videos they include has a plane flying over the barrier reef. All those little items was just a cause for curiousity.

Some of this study is over the head of a five year old, and the animal of the day being koalas...well what can I say. I can definitively say that the lad DOES NOT LIKE koala bears (which incidentally aren't bears, they are marsupials). Marsupials have pouches which is for some reason very funny. How can a mommy carry a baby in a pouch? Doesn't it fall out? How does it get out? Does it bounce when the mommy jumps? that baby must get all wiggly.... complete with a five year old doing a wiggly dance of a dizzy koala baby. (I had to keep him from hitting his head on the coffee table). :)
So...I suppose you might want to know what the rest of the study entails.

Day one: Where on Earth is Australia
Day two: Some of the special places in Australia
Day three: A bit of Australian History
Day four: Cool things to know about Australia
Day five: Fun and Games in Australia

Each day includes videos. Activity sheets. An animal of the day. Vocabulary words and so much more. It's a well done study.

And hey! DownloadNGo is doing an Australia map giveaway! Go there, enter. My philosophy...if you don't enter you can't win. And well...winning is fun! :)

If you go here, you'll learn how you can get Expedition Australia for $5.95 from now through Nov 8.

Also available at the Old Schoolhouse. :)

You'll find more reviews listed here.

Sketch Tuesday - something made in China

Sketch Tuesday - something made in China.

The lad decided that he should draw a plate and some tea....after all we all know that tea comes from China, and his favourite plates were made in China as well. ...they aren't green (one blue, one red)....but apparently they want to be green. No...I don't understand it either. :)

The tea is the small green drawing in the bottom corner opposite my writing.

Next week it will be put up at Harmony Mom. So stayed tuned. :)

Maps

Maps ETC - Historic maps for students & teachers

Resources on Ben Franklin

Benjamin Franklin work sheet.

ABC Teach

ABC Teach

This site intrigues. Not sure enough to enroll in it, but I'm going to give it some thought none the less.

it does have a freebie section that I'll be perusing.

TOS is having a sale

$10 one-year (U.S) subscription to The Old Schoolhouse Magazine-Click Here!

$10 gift subscriptions to The Old Schoolhouse Magazine--click here!

Classic Children's Books

The Best Online Classic Children's Books

All different types.

Looks intriguing.

Mammoth Math - resources

Tons of mammoth math resources.

Divided by category.

Go check it out. :)

Geometry games.

IXL

This Site is neat.

Gives all the math things that a child is to know in Kindergarten. Very neat. :)
it's also very neat that they give examples of what they mean in case you have no earthly clue. (face it...kindergarten was a fair time ago). :)

Numbers and counting up to 3

• A.1 Count to 3
• A.2 Represent numbers up to 3
• A.3 Count by typing

Numbers and counting up to 5

• B.1 Count to 5
• B.2 Represent numbers up to 5
• B.3 Count by typing
• B.4 Count up
• B.5 Count down

Numbers and counting up to 10

• C.1 Count to 10
• C.2 Represent numbers up to 10
• C.3 Count by typing
• C.4 Count up and down - with pictures
• C.5 Count up and down - with numbers
• C.6 Tally marks
• C.7 Number lines
• C.8 Before, after, and between
• C.9 Count forward and backward
• C.10 Names of numbers up to 10
• C.11 Complete a sequence

Numbers and counting up to 20

• D.1 Count to 20
• D.2 Represent numbers up to 20
• D.3 Count by typing
• D.4 Count up and down
• D.5 Tally marks
• D.6 Number lines
• D.7 Before, after, and between
• D.8 Count forward and backward
• D.9 Names of numbers
• D.10 Complete a sequence
• D.11 Count tens and ones

Numbers and counting beyond 20

• E.1 Count to 30
• E.2 Count to 100
• E.3 Count groups of ten
• E.4 Number lines
• E.5 Count tens and ones

Skip-counting

• F.1 Skip-count by twos
• F.2 Skip-count by fives
• F.3 Skip-count by tens
• F.4 Skip-count by twos, fives, and tens

Comparing

• G.1 Fewer, equal, and more
• G.2 Fewer and more - comparing groups
• G.3 Fewer and more - with charts
• G.4 Fewer and more - mixed

Patterns

• H.1 Similar patterns
• H.2 Complete missing parts of patterns
• H.3 Growing patterns

Adding

• I.1 Addition with pictures - sums up to 5
• I.2 Add two numbers - sums up to 5
• I.3 Addition sentences - sums up to 5
• I.4 Addition with pictures - sums up to 10
• I.5 Add two numbers - sums up to 10
• I.6 Addition sentences - sums up to 10

Subtracting

• J.1 Subtract with pictures - numbers up to 5
• J.2 Subtraction - numbers up to 5
• J.3 Subtraction sentences - numbers up to 5
• J.4 Subtract with pictures - numbers up to 10
• J.5 Subtraction - numbers up to 9
• J.6 Subtraction sentences - numbers up to 10

Positions

• K.1 Inside and outside
• K.2 Left, middle, and right
• K.3 Top, middle, and bottom
• K.4 Above and below
• K.5 Location in a three-by-three grid

Fractions

• L.1 Identify halves, thirds, fourths
• L.2 Equal parts

Time

• M.1 Match clocks and times
• M.2 Read clocks and write times
• M.3 Times of everyday events
• M.4 Match analog and digital clocks
• M.5 Seasons
• M.6 A.M. and P.M.

Sorting, ordering, and classifying

• N.1 Same
• N.2 Different
• N.3 Same and different
• N.4 Classify by color
• N.5 Venn diagrams
• N.6 Put numbers up to 10 in order
• N.7 Put numbers up to 30 in order

Data and graphs

• O.1 Making graphs

Probability

• P.1 More or less likely

Measurement

• Q.1 Long and short
• Q.2 Tall and short
• Q.3 Light and heavy
• Q.4 Holds more or less
• Q.5 Compare size, weight, and capacity

Money

• R.1 Coin names - penny through quarter
• R.2 Coin values - penny through quarter
• R.3 Count money - pennies only
• R.4 Count money - pennies and nickels
• R.5 Count money - pennies, nickels, and dimes
• R.6 Equivalent coins I
• R.7 Equivalent coins II
• R.8 Equivalent coins III
• R.9 Compare two groups of coins

Geometry

• S.1 Identify shapes I
• S.2 Identify shapes II
• S.3 Identify solid figures
• S.4 Relate planar and solid figures
• S.5 Count sides and corners
• S.6 Compare sides and corners
• S.7 Geometry of everyday objects
• S.8 Symmetry I
• S.9 Symmetry II

Vocabulary

• T.1 Sum and difference

The Gallon man

I thought this was a good idea. Thought I'd share it with you too. :) The Gallon Man.

Do you need a way to remember unit conversion effortlessly and forever? Or just a way to calculate how many cups there are in a gallon?

Here’s how to figure it out. Draw a gallon man!

First, draw a really big capital G. (This is the gallon.)

Inside the G, draw four big Qs. (These are the quarts.)

Inside each Q, draw two Ps. (These are the pints.)

Inside each P, draw two cs. (These are the cups.)

For the final flourish, draw an arrow to one of the cs and write “8 ounces.” (There are eight ounces in every cup.)

........

Gallon Man is totally visual and works for many learning styles. You can SEE how many quarts are INSIDE a gallon. Gallon Man is intuitive for all grade levels (unlike dimensional analysis, you don’t have to worry about the numerators or denominators). Gallon Man is practical. You can use it in your kitchen or in the grocery store. Gallon Man is easy to remember. And Gallon Man is fun to draw!

Terrific Tigers - Day Four

Today we did day four of the terrific tigers unit study. You can buy it from download N go right here. :) OR from the Old Schoolhouse.



Did you know that there are only 12-90 Amoy (South Chinese) Tigers left in the world? At the most there are 30 in the wild, the rest are in zoos or on reserves. The lad learned that this means that the amoy tiger is endangered.

Our bathroom is as long as a male south chinese tiger is long.

We had fun roaring through the house today. The lad went upstairs to each room and roared. I sat at the computer and listened. Then it was my turn. He stayed at the top of the stairs listening for my roar. He couldn't hear me from the back bathroom. In the wild a tiger roar can be heard for 2 miles!

We had fun though a lad with a cold had a hard time staying on task today. :) He'll spend most of the rest of the day relaxing and rebuilding his energies. Lots of fluid and couch rest. :)

Teaching Finances

These pages seemed geared to older students, and I couldn't get all the links in some to work, but might be my browser (firefox).

Kids Money

As parents, you have a unique opportunity to give your kids a financial education. You can not only teach them skills but you can also let them learn from their own experience and develop sound habits that will last them a lifetime.

Financial on-line games.

The internet is filled with fun games that teach kids about money.

Financial Literacy Resources.

The Mint.

Some people call it financial literacy, personal finance or money management – but at the end of the day, it’s all about making the most of your money.

Sense and Dollars.

What We Learned this week - Oct 25-29.

Well this week has been a good week thus far. Having a general outline/schedule is very helpful. :)

We did day three of of the unit study from Download N Go on Terrific Tigers.
We learned that Sumatran tigers have webbed feet, watched good videos, and just had fun learning about tigers. Justin made a mural of tigers on a mountain.

We started to work on Expedition Australia, we just got to the first part of day one. This is a harder study for a five year old lad. He's currently working on colouring in the world map. There is a whole whack of information in it, he was fascinated by the giant clam in one of the first videos that we watched. This is also a DownloadnGo product.

We volunteered at the Rummage Sale for the local hospital. We were there for two hours and the lad helped with putting price tags on items and helping me sort out the cutlery.

He did gymnastics on Monday.

He did gym on Tuesday with the homeschool group. This was held at the Startford YMCA and costs $6 for 8 weeks. He had a hoot learning some kickboxing moves and playing hockey with the big boys.

On Wednesday he was part of Story Club while I was at bible study at the local Christian Reformed Church. We are studying the Psalms, they are working through creation (as far as I can tell). He made a great craft and learned more about Adam and Eve, how God made each one of us in his own image.

Today we'll be making hallowe'en cupcakes and doing a study on Hallowe'en. The study called Happy halloween that we are doing is good for a variety of ages, and comes from the Simple Homeschool. It has a maze, copy work, listen and remember exercises and so forth. I like it, and the lad is looking forward to doing it.

I have to interject this.
My boyo sometimes makes me laugh. The maze had two friends looking for a path to the candy corn. So he drew two paths. One friend kept on going the wrong way (complete with "uh, wrong way" being muttered under his breath) and had to retrace his steps and then mommy had to help the other friend show the first friend which way to go (with comments of --- yea!, see, this is how you go, see he's helping my friend find the candy! YEA!! you helped me!!! (this last being the lost friend talking)). He just makes me chuckle. :)

we will also be doing this unit from Ingles on Hallowe'en. Oops...not this exact one, but one similar that has a game in it. Spooktacular letters that's the one we are doing. :)

Pics of what we did today.
First you start with some muffins :)
then you make the icing, you start with a basic white icing and add food colouring... it looks like a lollipop as you mix it in. Much to the delight and interest of a five year old. we were aiming for black, but he thought grey was good too. :)

You add some smarties (sorry trick or treaters, you won't be getting them).

the finished product, they all ended up with three "friend" smarties sitting with each other on top.
We brought two to our very nice neighbours who live next door to us. They are so kind to us that this was just a small thing for us to do for them, and they were simply delighted. :)

AND tomorrow he'll be doing the last HOPE day with dad for the fall season.

HOPE meeting

Tonight Hubby and I went to our first HOPE meeting. (group that we're involved in)

Here's the blurb I got

The topic for the evening is "Choosing the Better Thing". John Gould will be speaking on how to keep Christ the centre of our homeschooling journey. Come out for a positive and encouraging evening designed to help us keep our focus on the priority of Christ in the middle of the busyness of life.

I thought it was a good message.

It was a good reminder of one of the biggest advantages we have as Christian homeschoolers....we have the whole day to point out God to our children. To show our children how we can bring glory to God in all that we do in our lives. :)

Schedule - October 24, 2010

Trying to get more organized in the course of our days. We'll see how it goes.
We sit down together and see what we can figure out.
Some things are set...gymnastics, bible study, gym time and HOPE, the rest is subject to the whimsies of life.

New will be a set getting up time, and a set going to bed time.

Plus we'll be trying to have one full stay at home day.