Read Across America Day

Read Across America Day is March 1, 2013, it is a reading event to celebrate Reading and Dr. Suess' birthday(March 2nd)!!! This event is held on the first Monday of March every year. Celebrate the joy of reading by reading for the day!

Usually on this day, there are places where local authors will come for a "meet and greet" or for a "book talk" . Check out your local library or bookstore for events that might be happening that you and your kids can enjoy!

OR

If you want to just stay at home and celebrate the day together....here are some sites to visit for some ideas....

Reading Rockets

Reading Activities

List of Books by State --book titles relate to the 50 states. You also can find quizzes for these books at Book Adventure. Book Adventure is free, just sign up and get access to over 7,000 book titles, and you can do multiple choice quizzes on the books that are read!

Article with Resources

List of Dr. Suess activities

Reading Book Lists

Book Adventure --along with lists of books there is quizzes that kids can take on the books.

PPS Leveled Books Lists

1000 Good Books List

Carol Hurst' Children's Literature Site --collection of book reviews for kids and more

Children's Literature Web Guide

Teacher's and Families Reading Ideas -- reading lists by grade levels, along with a reading theme section for middle and high school students.  There is also a "lifetime reading list" link with a list of books that one should read at least once in their lifetime.

Teenreads.com Ultimate Reading List -- over 400 titles of young adult to adult books that should be enjoyed by teens. List is compiled alphabetically and in a downloadable PDF file

**updated list with additional links added!

Homeschooling FREEBIES: Children's Books, History Curriculum & More!

Despite having had a busy week, I was able to do some searching and found more homeschooling freebies!  I found so many I am not sure where to start but I know that they will add some "flavor" to my homeschooling curriculum over the next few months and as a plan things for next year.

I love the library because of being able to check out books for free but sometimes getting there on a regular basis can be difficult. I have found that my kids either get bored with the books too fast or run out of books to read, however, I found a site(thanks to Freebies 4 Mom) with some free children's books that I can use as alternatives. There are free downloads of children's books at Children's Books Forever!  They even have the children's books in different languages so if you are studying a foreign language you can try to read a children's book!

One of my favorite subjects to study is History!  I love learning the facts and all that happened in the past. I am not too bad of a "history fact junky" but I do love history. One of my history fascinations has been with the Great Depression.  I found some free lesson plans that focus totally on the Great Depression. The lesson plans focus on giving economic lessons that help understand the significance of the Great Depression era. Also to go along with the lesson plans you can do some cooking of Depression era foods with "Cooking with Clara". I remember my Grandma making many of these same foods.

The other History resource I found this week was a free lesson plan resource and supplement for K-12 teachers from the American Heritage Education Foundation.  You can download the lesson plan resource called "America's Heritage:  An Adventure in Liberty."  If you do not want to do the downloading you can order a free CD or pay for a binder of the lesson plans.  There are three different levels: elementary, middle school and high school.  Each level gets a little more in-depth just like any other History book/curriculum. I can see using this resource as a guide for a full year of history along with getting library books and other history sites to fill in the necessary items for a complete history curriculum.  They state on their site that..."All lessons emphasize one or more themes of freedom, unity, progress, and responsibility.  The resource aims not simply to present historical facts but to provide opportunities for students to explore and understand the factual and philosophical significance and meaning behind events, causes, and effects—the whys—relating to and influencing the early history of the United States."  


Now going from History to Geology...

Did you know that Answers in Creation has a FREE Geology curriculum designed specifically for high school level homeschoolers?  Well they do and it is all online free to use.   Each of the 12 chapters takes five days to complete and along with the text there are pictures, videos, animations, and many other websites for additional learning, research assignments, quizzes, and tests all for learning about geology online. This course presents geology from the old earth perspective, respecting both science and the Bible. It is designed as a 12 week course, which means it can be used as a one semester high school science requirement. You can take a look around the course, and if you like what you see the author of the course would like you to register for the course. To register, send an email to the email address on the curriculum homepage. All that is required is the name and email address of the teacher, and the name of each of your students. You will receive an email with the instructions.

I would love to pass on other homeschooling freebies!  If you find any homeschooling freebies, do not hesitate to let me know and I will feature them along with giving thanks to you for finding it.

This post is linked to: 

• Frugal Friday at Life as Mom!

Homeschooling: Poetry Resources

One of the tools that I found for helping me put together my children’s curriculum each year is the Educator’s Calendar! I love looking at the different months to see what happened on a day in history or what might be month long events or holidays that I might be able to work into my children’s curriculum. Instead of always doing whatever is in the textbooks, it makes for a fun time of research. According to the calendar, I found that April is National Poetry Month!

For the month of April we are working at reading and writing different poetry every day.  Instead of keeping all the resources to myself, I decided to share the wealth of resources with everyone!  Even though the month of April is just about over, you can use these resources at anytime during the year when studying poets and their work.

Here is a list of resources that you can use with any age level to enhance your poetry studies:

Scholastic’s Poetry Resource Page — bring poets and poetry to you to inspire your children through webcasts, printables and much more!

Scholastic’s Writing with Writers/Poets — Study poetry by taking part in step-by-step workshops with favorite authors.

Poetry 4 Kids — fun poems along with links, newsletters, rhyming dictionary and more.

30 Poets 30 Days — read fresh off the page never before published poems by your favorite poets all during the month of April.

Giggle Poetry — write poems, ask a poet, act out a poem and read and rate hundreds of poems

ReadWriteThink Poetry Resource Page — links, lesson plans and an activity

Eduplace’s Poetry Lessons — Ideas of age appropriate poetry activities to do with your child

Teach-nology Poetry Lesson Plans — tons of lessons to teach different styles of poetry

Web English Teacher–Poetry — click on the name of a poet listed and find some background facts about them along with a poem that they have written.There is also a poetry collections page with links to poetry available online.

Enjoy reading, writing, and studying poetry with your children!

All about "J"

I have been working with my 6 yo daughter learning to read that I haven't take the time to post about our weekly letter focus in a while. Now having a 3 1/2 year old son that is asking questions about letters in the words he sees because of sitting in when I am working with my daughter, I thought it would be good to start sharing again our weekly letter focus.

Before we took our spring break, we focused on the letter "J".

It was fun to have the help in the kitchen while we made some jello jigglers(follow recipe on gelatin box or   follow Amy's recipe) to enjoy for an afternoon snack. It is easy to cut these shapes out with different cookie cutters or just free hand with a plastic knife.  We also has bread and jam one day for an afternoon snack.

One rainy afternoon, my daughter and I got out the beads and worked at making jewelry to wear or have for her dress-up bin.  Jewelry Making Crafts for Kids and  Disney Family Fun Bead Jewelry are a couple of websites that have different patterns of bead jewelry to do with kids.

With Easter candy on store shelves it made it easy to find some jelly beans to use in our fun for the week! We took a virtual tour of a Jelly Belly factory. We read the book "Jelly Beans For Sale" by Bruce MacMillan We did some color sorting by doing this poem.

"Jelly Bean Prayer"

Red is for the blood He gave.

Green is for the grass He made.

Yellow is for the sun so bright.

Orange is for the edge of night.

Black is for the sins we made.

White is for the grace He gave.

Purple is for His hour of sorrow.

Pink is for our new tomorrow.

An egg full of jelly beans, Colorful and Sweet

Is a prayer, a promise, A loved one's treat!!

Charlene Dickensen, 1997

Our Bible lessons were about Jesus and all He did while on this earth, including dying for us and raising from the dead, we also talked about other people in the Bible whose name started with "J" like Jacob, Joseph, Jonah and Joshua.  

We talked about jets, made jungle animals, and colored a picture of Jupiter.

We colored a girl jumping rope and then went outside to jump rope to get the wiggles out!

I know there is a lot more we could have done for the letter "J" but I try to only focus on a certain letter for five days for about a half hour each day. This way they are learning and getting exposure to the letter while having some fun. 

Got any more ideas?? What are some other "J" things I could have covered with my younger ones?  I would love to have more ideas as I am sure that we will be going through the alphabet again next year with my 3 1/2 year old.

~~there is some great resources via the links in this post!~~

Homeschooling FREEBIES: High School Science & Online Conference

Sharing some more homeschooling freebies that I have come across in the last week!

First, a high school Zoology class at The Internet Science Room....Zoology Class.
It is a full online course along with class assignments, quizzes, linked definitions, tests, resources and more.

Secondly, there is an online conference through the Smithsonian Institute, called "Problem Solving with Smithsonian Experts".  It is a four day/two part conference on April 13-14 and then on April 28-29, 2010. The conference sessions span the arts, history, science, and culture, and are organized around four key themes. The four themes are "Understanding the American Experience", "Valuing World Cultures", "Unlocking the Mysteries of the Universe", and "Understanding and Sustaining a Biodiverse Universe". All sessions take place live online — you participate and interact directly from your computer in real time with the experts, check the site for the times each day. Each session will be recorded and posted after it takes place for on-demand access. Register for free today!

I would love to highlight other homeschooling freebies!! Do you know of any freebies that are homeschool related or would be good to use in homeschooling?? Please leave me a comment or send me an email(you will find my email by view my complete profile).

Homeschooling FREEBIES

Over the weekend, I came across some homeschooling freebies and decided to share the "wealth" with everyone else. I love homeschooling freebies and use them as a major part of my homeschooling curriculum to keep my costs down. If you are new to homeschooling and have a preschooler or early elementary age children, you can use homeschooling freebies as your main curriculum instead of a pre-packaged curriculum.

Sorry I am little late sharing this information from CurrClick, but....

Right now through April 5th, there is an Easter Egg Hunt going on over at CurrClick! They have 18 different eggs hidden on their site and for each egg you find, you get a free educational download for free!  I have already gotten them all, thanks to Laura and her hints!

Just in time for a Spring Unit Study, there is another FREE download is available from EggHead Academics!! It is an e-book of a mini lapbooking unit on an overview of Spring.  This is geared towards elementary age children. I think this would be something great to do with my first grader and have my preschooler sit in and listen and even do some coloring of the flower templates that are included in the ebook. Thanks to Laura! Just a note: I was able to download without signing up for anything on their site.

One last FREE item for today!!  You sign up for HomeschoolFreebie of the Day newsletter and you get this FREE Worksheets Directory! Sign up this week!  This directory will have thousands of links to downloadable activity pages, educational worksheets, coloring pages and more! :) Thanks MoneySavingMom and Mom for Him!


Let me know if you know of any more homeschooling freebies??

Homeschooling: Writing Prompts A Jar of Possibilities

I am getting ready to do a writing unit with my three older boys.  They have completed their grammar books so its time to put the grammar skills to work and concentrate on writing using my "writing jar".


My oldest boy is a very creative writer and writing comes easy to him.  I am not met with a blank stare when I ask him to write a story.  However, he is old enough where I need to work at channeling his writing abilities into different genres of writing rather than just creative or free writing.


As for the other two boys well they are different story from my oldest!  I think they would rather get a tooth pulled than write even a paragraph!  They do not have any problem telling me stories verbally but to ask them to write what they just said is almost impossible.  I usually end up in the following conversation with either of them:

MOM: You need to write a story today.

CHILD: (with a blank stare) A story!?!

MOM: Yes, a story!

CHILD: But I don’t know what to write about!

MOM: Well use your imagination! I am sure that you can figure out something!

[Mom leaves the child to their thoughts. An hour later Mom goes to check the child’s paper, only to find there is nothing on the paper!]

MOM: Why don’t you have your story written like I said for you to do.

CHILD: I told you that I didn’t know what to write about!

MOM: Well you need to write a story!

[Mom leaves the child alone and a bit frustrated!]

Do you have this happen with your child?  Do you want to put an end to this scene happening in your home school adventure?  If so, I have a solution to this problem that has worked for me…a “journal jar” or “story bucket” or “story basket”.  

HOW TO MAKE A JOURNAL JAR/STORY BASKET

To make one of these you need a canning jar or dollar store basket and paper that you can use to write different story starters or writing prompts.  When your child needs to write about something or a story they can choose something out of the jar or basket to help get them started.

As for what to write on those pieces of paper for your jar or basket, check out the following sites:

•  Story Starters –printable worksheets with pictures that you can print in color or black and white (so the child can color the pictures). You can type a list of words in the word bank for the child to use in their story.   This is great to use with spelling or vocabulary words!  Also works well for the younger children.  To use these in the jar, I just write the name of the picture on a slip and put in the jar and if the child pulls it out I have this site bookmarked to go and print the page.
•  Harcourt School's Picture Writing Prompts—printable pictures of titles, settings, characters, problems and actions to help get a story started.
• CanTeach Writing Prompts/Journal Topics –there is what seems to be an endless list of prompts at this site!  I feel that a lot of the prompts are geared towards the upper elementary children (3^rd or 4^th grade and up). 
• The Write Source – another site of endless writing prompts that they have taken the time to divide into grade levels.
• Organized Christmas Child Journal Jar –printable sheets that have the writing prompts on them.  You just need to print and cut and put in the jar or basket.
•  Tooter4Kids' Daily Writing Ideas –a calendar from September to June with daily writing ideas or monthly themes. 
•  Teacher's Corner Calendar –this is interactive educator’s calendar.  It has themes listed for each month.  You click on the month and find that there are “this day in history” or “special holidays” listed on the different days of the month. They also have a page of daily writing prompts to choose from as well.

·        

With these resources, you will have plenty of prompts to fill a jar or basket to help spur your child’s imagination in writing a story.

A writing jar works for me!

This post is linked to: 

• Works for Me Wednesday at Rocks in My Dryer!

**this post was originally published as one of my contributing articles at Happy to be at Home!

Homeschooling: Flexible Scheduling

I love having a flexible schedule in my home school endeavors. There hasn't been too much in the way of school going on at my house for the last couple of weeks due to us taking a mid-winter break and then sickness set in with all of my kids. I have decided to just take an easy this week and allow the kids to heal and just relax, hopefully we will be able to get back into the full swing of things next week with a renewed excitement for school! Having this time off has reminded me of a post that I wrote as a contributing article at Happy to be Home, enjoy the following post of how I work my homeschool with flexible scheduling.

As parents, we should be raising and training our children every day, and for my family that also includes making sure that they are learning the 3 R’s. So when I am asked about my yearly school schedule, my reply is that homeschooling occurs every day of the year, whether we are using curriculum books or not.

When I first started homeschooling, I tried to follow the local public schools’ schedule because my hubby wanted me to emulate at home what the area schools were doing every day. However, following that schedule didn’t leave any room for days to run errands or to just have a break from the daily grind. I even found that it was a bit awkward to follow with our way of life. So after the first year, I decided that I would do my own schedule and include some of the same days off as the public schools so that my kids were able to play with their friends in the neighborhood as well as provide plenty of days of actual school-based learning.

My schedule became very different from the public schools! We went to a four-day week of actual school work. We did our school work Monday through Thursday and that left Friday as “life skills day” or “home ec day” or take daddy to work so that we could have the car; in other words housecleaning, errands, and appointments got done in one day with the kids’ help whether they wanted to or not. We started at the beginning of August and went until Memorial Day with several breaks along the way.Our start was a slow one! I started with a couple of subjects and worked up to the full load by the end of August. This way they could still play outside with friends in the nice weather.

After that second year, I learned that flexibility was the key in schedule making. Now before we start a new year I take the time to tweak our schedule. Each year’s schedule gets tweaked just a bit differently based on what that year might hold for us! For instance, the years that a baby was born into the family look very different from when there was a toddler running around! During those “baby school years” there is an earlier start date to make up for the six weeks (at least) around delivery dates where there is no school work done. Six weeks is about what it takes for me to get back into the “groove” with a new baby in the house!

This year’s schedule is different from last year’s in that there is no baby being born. On the other hand, I do have a toddler in the house and I have my oldest doing junior high level work which he can, for the most part, do independently. I have made our schedule such where we have 6 weeks of school and then a week break from the school books. This schedule has allowed us to do other fun activities like crafts that we would normally not get a chance to do otherwise. At Thanksgiving time through January 5^th, we had a 6 week break which was considered half of our summer break. We will take the other half of our summer break starting in the middle of June.

I also adopted a five day school week with 4 hours per day of actual school work for this school year. I have found that this method has helped me to get household chores done with the kids’ help. Having this schedule has also helped in being able to choose which day to have appointments and do my grocery shopping—I don’t have to feel pressured to have it all done in one day! I can choose to spread out the appointments over the week or have them all on one day. I really have enjoyed this schedule so much that I might try it again for next year.

I found that my approach to developing my schedule is that schooling my children is much more than getting through curriculum books. It is also growing our relationships, training them God’s way, learning life skills, and even having some fun. So if we get behind in the school work there is always another day to pick up the book and do the work.

And I always remember that flexibility is the key to success!

This post is linked to:

• Works for Me Wednesday at We are THAT Family!

Love of Homeschooling!

Can you feel it? Can you feel the love that is in the air? This is the week of the year where everyone is thinking about love! The love they have for their sweetheart, the love they have for God, the love they have for their family, the love they have for their children (if they have any) and the love they have for homeschooling! Well okay, maybe not everyone loves homeschooling, but you can love it!

I have taken the words “Love Homeschooling” to create an acrostic of the positives of homeschooling and why you can love homeschooling.

Less peer pressure — more strengthening of self-worth and character without the negative impact of peer groups. Even though your child might feel that their social life is limited, they will value and appreciate the time with their friends more.

Organization — nothing more frustrating than the inability to put your fingers on what you need when you need it! Organize your schoolroom or school space so that you are not wasting time searching for items. Okay maybe this isn’t a strong quality of yours so you don’t see it as a positive, but I have found that homeschooling has helped me to become more organized in how I keep my home.

Values — building your child’s character and helping them to see what matter most in this world.

Education Freedom — you control what your child learns! You can design a curriculum for your child’s unique needs, strengths and weaknesses.

Helping each other — Your child can help you around the house with chores. Or the older children can listen to the younger ones read.

Opportunities unlimited — take enrichment classes, piano lessons, gymnastics, participate in community sports, work to make a difference in your community. Just remember that just because the opportunities are unlimited doesn’t mean you have to participate in every one that is available!

Many relationships — your child is able to interact with wide range of ages and personalities.

Expectations — don’t fall into the trap of unrealistic expectations. Don’t set your standard too high! Have goals and direction, but be realistic based on your child’s strengths and weaknesses.

Support — having a support system of your family and friends is important.

Comforts of home — there is no better place to learn than in the security of your own home. You also don’t have to worry about walking in the rain to the bus stop and you can stay in your pajamas and still go to school!

Hugs abound! — there are never too many hugs! Building a relationship with your child is so vital to their development.

One-on-one tutoring — personal attention to your child, hence you will be able to know when they are struggling and need the extra effort to master a concept.

Own pace — no child is left behind! They can work at their own pace to master a concept before moving on.

Lifestyle simplified — realizing and remembering what in life really matters! Appreciate and enjoy life’s simple pleasures, like taking a walk together or watching ants work tirelessly.

Interests explored — Learn what your child is interested in and study it! It is okay to tailor-fit your curriculum to your child’s interests. For example, when my oldest son was six, he loved animals so we studied animals for a whole year!

No “SuperMom” — you have to realize that you will not be able to get everything done in one day! You are not going to have a perfect house or perfect children.

God allowed! — He can be talked about —and to— freely! He will be your friend in this homeschooling journey.

**this post was originally published as one of my contributing articles at Happy to be at Home!