Trying 2 Walk Wisely

Preparing for Kindergarten

2010-08-24T15:17:00.002-04:00

Kindergarten is such a wonderful time in a child's schooling. I, however, was very nervous about beginning this journey!:) Give me a high school class of Seniors and I am comfortable, but Kindergarten is another story!

I was overwhelmed with the pressure to get it right: the reading, the handwriting, and the math. The reading was the most intimidating to me. What if I messed them up somehow? Could I ruin their whole school career in one year? I wish someone had been there to tell me to RELAX!

Kindergarten is a year of exploration for you and your child. Your child gets his first taste of "school" and you begin to learn things about your child that you never knew before. Is he good at scientific thinking or mathematical manipulations? Does he love books or drawing? It is truly a magical time that goes by too fast.

My advice in a nutshell is to enjoy the wonder that is in your child's eyes. Read with them and explore God's universe with them. Unit studies and lapbooks are a great tool for homeschool teachers. This time goes by so quickly and then you are faced with "curriculum" that must be completed.

Here are a few sites that might be helpful in your journey:

http://www.lapbooklessons.com/FreeLapbooks.html
http://houseofliterature.tripod.com/id7.html
http://www.squidoo.com/lapbookthemes
http://www.homeschoolshare.com/Lapbooks_at_HSS.php
http://www.angelfire.com/pa4/weslanco/
http://homeschooling.about.com/od/unitslevelk3/Unit_Studies_by_Grade_Level_Grades_K3.htm
http://www.homeschoolhelperonline.com/units.htm
http://www.lessonplanz.com/
http://www.ehow.com/how_5667705_homeschool-kindergarten-child-almost.html

There are also a number of great books that I have used in our homeschooling that I would recommend:

Phonics Pathways
The Scientist's Apprentice
A Story of the World
Apologia Beginner's Science
Bob Books
Handwriting without Tears
Explode the Code
Math U See (love the manipulatives)
Sonlight Read Alouds

This is a great time to use games to augment your learning. You can reinforce letters, numbers, etc... or focus on good sportsmanship. Here are a few that I recommend:

Boggle Letters
Boggle Numbers
Letter Soup
Hi Ho Cherry-O
Candyland
Uno
Bingo (you can make letter bingo, number bingo, shapes bingo...)

When you are looking at Kindergarten remember that life is full of learning opportunities. Look around you.

Zoology Projects

2010-08-24T15:06:00.006-04:00

For the culmination of our Zoology study (Land Animals), we decided to produce a few wildlife videos. The basics of what we did were this: each child picked an animal that we studied this year and wrote out interesting facts about the animal and their feeding and habitat. Then, we paid a visit to our local zoo and videoed each animal that they had chosen.

After we got back home and examined our footage, we realized that we need to add more information to make the video more interesting. The kids did a little more research on their animals and then we went to the park to film a bit more.

Creating the final product was a learning experience in itself! I used Microsoft Movie Maker and of course my oldest figured it out quickly. I then uploaded our finished projects on to TeacherTube.

Please check them out under the key words "Meerkat", "Giant Panda", or "Komodo Dragon". The account is under "Mrsbwrite".

http://www.teachertube.com/members/viewVideo.php?video_id=186412&title=Meerkat

Landforms Lapbook

2010-04-15T11:10:00.006-04:00

Imagine my shock and surprise when my child was working on an assignment and had no idea what a plateau was! Well, I knew that I must take action and teach this child about landforms (I thought that was done last year but maybe it did not stick). My first step is always to Google my desired lapbook first to see if anyone else has already done the heavy lifting for me. There was no published land form lapbook but instead someone who had a few great photos posted of one that they did with their child. Those pictures got my poor, old brain clicking!

First, I decided to have my kids complete a mini book with a definition of the particular land form. We discussed what the land form was and I showed them a few pictures of the land form under discussion.

Then, I had the kids draw their own picture of that land form. Now this proved to be more revealing than I thought! You can really get an idea of what they understand based on what they are able to produce.

Next, we looked at different examples of the land form as seen in the world. While doing this, we found the examples on our world map.

Finally, at the end of the lapbook we discussed latitude and longitude and found coordinates on our world map.

Of course, I cannot resist getting our hands dirty- so I decided for us to make a a salt dough map illustrating the landforms that we learned about.

Here are a few of the web sites that I found with information and videos pertaining to landforms.

http://cgullworld.blogspot.com/2008/08/top-10-glaciers-in-world.html
http://edtech.kennesaw.edu/web/habitats.html
http://videos.howstuffworks.com/hsw/10155-lakes-and-ponds-introduction-to-lakes-and-ponds-video.htm
http://videos.howstuffworks.com/hsw/11858-land-and-water-glaciers-video.htm
http://videos.howstuffworks.com/hsw/25531-learning-geographical-terms-high-landforms-video.htm
http://videos.howstuffworks.com/hsw/22706-learning-geographical-terms-low-landforms -video.htm
http://videos.howstuffworks.com/hsw/20531-natural-phenomena-spectacular-canyons-video.htm
http://videos.howstuffworks.com/hsw/11872-oceans-introduction-to-oceans-video.htm
http://videos.howstuffworks.com/geography/peninsula-videos-playlist.htm#video-18811
http://videos.howstuffworks.com/hsw/19472-shorelines-bay-video.htm
http://videos.howstuffworks.com/hsw/18848-the-southwest-the-great-plains-video.htm
http://www.worldatlas.com/webimage/countrys/nalnd.htm
http://cybersleuth-kids.com/sleuth/Science/Earth_Science/Land_Forms/
http://www.eduplace.com/kids/socsci/books/applications/imaps/maps/g2_u2/index.html
http://www.kidinfo.com/science/geology.html
http://www.webcrawler.com/webcrawler_stoolfefbar/ws/results/Web/Landform%20For%20Kids/1/302360/RightNav/Relevance/iq=true/zoom=off/_iceUrlFlag=7?_IceUrl=true
http://www.edu.pe.ca/southernkings/landforms.htm
http://itouchmap.com/latlong.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_mountain_ranges
http://www.onlinegkguide.com/2008/09/01/major-gulfs-of-the-world/
http://www.scienceclarified.com/landforms/Ocean-Basins-to-Volcanoes/Plain.htmlhttp://www.sciencenewsforkids.org/articles/20050914/Feature1.asp
http://scienceray.com/earth-sciences/physical-geography/the-worlds-most-beautiful-bays/
http://www.kidsgeo.com/geology-for-kids/0031-what-are-landforms.php
http://www.mapsofworld.com/world-maps/world-geography-map.html
http://www.mapsofworld.com/world-major-island.htm
http://www.squidoo.com/salt-dough-maps

Lapbooking and Notebooking 101

2010-03-09T12:12:00.002-05:00

Lapbooking and notebooking are great ways to tap into your child's interest and creativity. I like to sit down with my children and ask them "what are you interested in today?" Based on their answers, we look for lapbooks or if need be I create ones to suit their interests.

Here are a few great sites that offer free lapbooks:
http://www.homeschoolshare.com/Lapbooks_at_HSS.php
http://www.hslaunch.com/mypage/
http://www.lapbooklessons.com/

Here are a few sites that offer free notebooking pages:
http://www.hslaunch.com/mypage/
http://www.notebookingpages.com/
http://www.homeschoolhelperonline.com/notebooking.htm

Epcot Lapbook

2010-01-17T17:02:00.004-05:00

In my house, we are a little Mickey crazy!:) I grew up in Florida and although my parents did not have much money, I went to Disney with my summer daycare just about every summer. Of course, I think it was a lot cheaper back in those days. My last summer was the first year that Epcot was open, and I really did not like it. It was too educational for my young tastes!:) I have never been back to Epcot.

Now that I am a parent and we are looking at going to Disney, I really want to see Epcot again. I know that a lot has changed of the last twenty-five years and I want to see it all! Of course, I cannot miss and opportunity to hijack a vacation with a little education!:) I create a very basic lap book to proceed our visit to Epcot.

Since we are focusing on World Geography at our co-op. I decided to focus on that aspect of Epcot. I looked at the Disney web site and read through each country description of the World Showcase. I tried to highlight some of the aspects of each country that I could investigate with the kids before we arrive. My hope is that by familiarizing the kids with these things ahead of time, they will recognize them when we are in Epcot and the experience will be more educationally meaningful for them. If they can see past Mickey's big ears!:)

Here is the original post that I did on my Walt Disney World Lap book that we did last year. It has a lot more of the basics for Disney. I also have a number of great links for information about Disney World. Also, Crayola has a great site for coloring pages. That is where I copied off the country pages for this lapbook.

http://trying2walkwisely.blogspot.com/2009_02_01_archive.html

Aquarium Lapbook

2010-01-15T17:05:00.005-05:00

My kids love the Aquarium! They could sit and stare at those fish all day long. I really enjoy watching the fish in the Ocean Explorer exhibit the most. It seems so peaceful to watch those giants swim slowly by you. You see the beauty in their design.

We are going to the Aquarium in a few weeks and traditionally we just go and look at the fish and then go home. This year I really wanted to suck the educational life out of our trip!:) So, I create a lap book to go with the different exhibits at the Aquarium. The Aquarium website was a wealth of information as I set out to design the lap book. I settled on creating a double page spread with the exhibit habitat as the background. Then I created mini books featuring some of the animals that the Aquarium has located in this specific habitat.

As far as information for the filling in of the mini books, I have thought of several options for completing that portion. First, I created inserts that can be cut and pasted into the books for younger children. Secondly, I thought that you could use those same pieces to create a type of matching game after your Aquarium visit. Lastly, I thought that we could bring the unfinished lap book along on the trip and the kids could go on a scavenger hunt for these animals and then when they have found them, fill in the books with their observations of the animals. I believe that any of these options could be fun for them and a learning experience. Perhaps you could chose the option that best fits their ability level.

I feel that to optimize the educational opportunities that a field trip can bring you need to give your students background information that they can use as a "hanger", so to speak, for the new knowledge that they will gain during the trip. It is a thrill to see their little faces light up when they discover something during the trip that they have learned at home. They look at you as if to say "it really is true!" You could use books, movies, or Internet sites to provide this background "hanger" for them.

Here are a few that I suggest:

http://www.gamequarium.org/dir/SqoolTube_Videos/Science/Animals/
http://www.mbgnet.net/
http://www.sciencenetlinks.com/interactives/class.html
http://kids.nationalgeographic.com/Animals/
http://www.jdp.co.uk/
http://kids.nationalgeographic.com/
http://www.scienceandthesea.org/index.php?option=com_frontpage&Itemid=1
http://www.thewildclassroom.com/
http://www.kidzone.ws/sharks/
http://kids.discovery.com/fansites/kennytheshark/kennytheshark.html
http://www.sharky-jones.com/
http://homeschooling.gomilpitas.com/explore/oceancreatures.htm
http://www.funtrivia.com/trivia-quiz/ForChildren/Marine-Biology-Fun-Facts-305633.html
http://www.suffolk.lib.ny.us/youth/jcsmarine.htm
http://www.fishid.com/facts.htm
http://www.georgiaaquarium.org/
http://www.tnaqua.org/Home.aspx
http://www.neaq.org/index.php
http://www.montereybayaquarium.org/
http://www.aqua.org/

Vocabulary Mini Office

2010-01-11T20:00:00.006-05:00

To be honest, I struggle with the concept of teaching vocabulary. Some teachers feel that teaching traditional vocabulary lessons are the way to improve a child's spoken or reading vocabulary, and others believe that simply reading good books will provide this improvement to the child's word base. I have used both approaches and see the advantages to both. I believe that traditional vocabulary lessons may not provide the crossover knowledge that we desire, but it does provide other areas of learning. These lessons help train the child in alphabetizing, dictionary skills, and discernment. I feel that all of these are important skills for children. After much back and forth, I have decided to create a Vocabulary Mini Office for my children using the Four Fold Vocabulary Method. I found this method and a wealth of others at this site: http://www.cobbk12.org/Cheathamhill/LFS%2 0Update/Vocabulary%20and%20Word%20Walls.htm .

The idea behind the Four Fold Method is that the student folds their papers into rows of four sections each. In the first section, the student writes the word. In the second section, the student writes a definition of the word in their own words. In the third section, the student draws a picture or symbol to represent the word. In the final section, the student writes a sentence with the word based on their definition.

After completing this, I have my kids place the sections into pockets in their mini office. They must review the cards daily as part of their vocabulary study. Eventually, I would like for them to cut apart the sections and play a matching game.

My children actually think this is a fun activity!:) I even let them decorate the outside of their office.

I found a few good sites while on my quest for direction in the realm of vocabulary and I hope they prove helpful:

http://www.teach-nology.com/worksheets/language_arts/vocab/five/
http://www.tampareads.com/wrksheet/index-4b.htm
http://www.vocabulary.co.il/
http://treasures.macmillanmh.com/georgia/teachers/resources/grade3/spelling-and-vocabulary-activities
http://www.proteacher.com/cgi-bin/outsidesite.cgi? id=12912&external=http://www.factmonster.com/cgi-bin/word&original=http://www.proteacher.com/070169.shtml&title=Word of the Day
http://www.perucsd.org/claundree/3rd%20grade%20spelling_words.htm
http://www.vrml.k12.la.us/cc/vp_gle/2nd/ela/trophy/2nd/speed_read/speed.htm
http://www.teach-nology.com/worksheets/language_arts/vocab/third /
http://www.vocabulary.com/

World Geography

2010-01-04T15:04:00.005-05:00

Our co-op has decided to do a World Geography class this semester. Personally, I love learning about new places and am very excited about this class. It is my hope that the kids will find it interesting and fun. Here is a sample of the lessons that we will be doing:

Central and South America
1. Welcome to Central and South America! How long do you think it would take to get to one of these countries by plane? By car? By foot?
2. What do we already know about this area of the world? Teacher should list students’ comments on the board as they offer them.
a. Language
b. Religion
c. Politics
d. Food
e. Education
f. Traditions
3. Let’s see if we can learn new things about our neighbors! Pass out the outline map of Central and South America. Have students fill in the country names and color each country a different color. Point out interesting countries and facts about them as you discuss. For example: Panama/Panama Canal, Ecuador/Galapagos Island, and Brazil/Amazon River.
-Have the students make a special color for these areas on their map.
4. Are there any interesting land forms in this area of our world that make it interesting? South America has some of the highest mountains (outside of Asia) in the world: Consult http://www.scaruffi.com/travel/tallest.html. It also has some of the longest rivers in the world: Consult http://www.socialstudiesforkids.com/articles/geography/longestriverstable.htm . They also are home to some of the rain forests of the world: Consult http://www.srl.caltech.edu/personnel/krubal/rainforest/Edit560s6/www/where.html .
Central (Mesoamerica) and South America
1. Angel Falls- highest free flowing waterfalls in the world
2. Atacama Desert- one of the driest deserts on Earth
3. Amazon River Delta- largest Aquifer in the world
4. Amazon Rain Forest- provides largest amount of timber and medicinal plants
5. Chile- largest producer of fruits and vegetables to North, South and Mesoamerica
6. Tierra del Fuego- most southern tip of South America in Argentina, closest land to Antarctica
7. Patagonia- sparsely vegetated plains in southern portion of South America in Chile and Argentina
8. Andes Mountains- highest mountain range in western hemisphere, site of the 1972 plane crash with Rugby team, longest exposed mountain range in world.
9. Panama Canal- Completed by United States and Panamanian Government in 1914, it saves over 18,000 miles by water to go from New York to California.
10. Called Latin America because all of the non-native, spoken languages are derived from Latin. Calling someone Hispanic is actually not appropriate because to be Hispanic you must come from the island of Hispaniola (Haiti and Dominican Republic). There are several different dialects of Spanish spoken in Central and South America and a Spanish speaker from Chile or Argentina would have a very difficult time communicating with a Spanish speaker from Cuba.

5. Have the students create a map key with distinctions for each of these and illustrate them on their map as well.
6. Let’s take a look at another important part of Geography- “Human Movement” (Natural Resources). Where do the products we use originate? Invite students to collect labels from foods, clothing, toys, and other products they use. Where do those products come from? What percentages of those products are made in your state? Your country? Other continents? Are we dependent on products from all around the world? Talk about how products made outside your community might get there. Now that we have an idea of what Central and South America looks like, let’s see what natural resources they have to offer.
a. Central America has natural resources of copper, gold, silver, and zinc.
b. South America has natural resources of coffee beans, cocoa beans, bananas, timber, rubber, gold, bauxite, spices, and salt.
7. Have students incorporate their maps and a list of natural resources into their travel guide for Central and South America.

After this introduction to the Continent, we will then discuss the culture of the region and focus on a holiday from this area while comparing it to the US. For example, while we are studying Central and South America we will look at the Carnival celebration in Brazil and how does that compare to the US celebration of Lent. As a follow up to the culture discussion, we will have the students create a craft from this area of the world. For Central and South America we will create maracas!

As a culmination of the area study of Central and South America, we will ask each student to bring in a dish native to this area and the class will participate in a International Food Court. I think that the kids will love this! After the kids dig in, we will have a guest speaker from this region discuss their culture and homeland with the kids. I am blessed to have great friends from the three regions that we will be learning about (Africa, Central and South America, and Asia) that will be our speakers! I am very excited to hear what they have to share.

I always want my children to have something tangible to bring home from their classes and this is no different. I have created a Travel Guide for the students to create in conjunction with what they are learning in class. I have uploaded the file to HS Launch for others to download. I am hoping that the kids will enjoy choosing pictures from the region to included in their guide and sharing them with their class.

While doing my research for this curriculum, I have come across a few great geography sites that might be helpful if you are studying this subject.

http://www.learningtreasures.com/geography.htm
http://www.cloudnet.com/~edrbsass/edgeography.htm
http://www.mandarintools.com/chinesename.html
http://www.ibike.org/library/africakids.htm
http://www.africaguide.com/cooking.htm
http://family.go.com/food/article-224973-asian-recipes-t/
http://www.wisedude.com/misc/continents.htm
http://www.homeschooling-ideas.com/geography-activities.html
http://player26.narrowstep.tv/nsp.aspx?player=globe_trekker&ref=pilot_web
http://indianchild.com/Recipes/indian_recipes_index.htm
http://www.africaourafrica.com/content/Interesting-places-in-Africa?page=1
http://www.africaourafrica.com/content/Interesting-places-in-Africa?page=1
http://www.homeschooling-ideas.com/kids-geography.html
http://www.mapmsg.com/games/statetris/usa/
http://www.postcrossing.com/
http://www.sheppardsoftware.com/South_and_Central_American_Geography.htm
http://www.ilike2learn.com/ilike2learn/Samerica.html
http://www.travelforkids.com/
http://www.eduplace.com/ss/maps/
http://www.worldatlas.com/webimage/testmaps/maps.htm
http://www.edupics.com/en-coloring-pages-pictures-photo-geography-c143.html
http://www.tlsbooks.com/geographyworksheets.htm
http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/uploads/j/jacaud/105960.pdf
http://www.gamequarium.org/dir/SqoolTube_Videos/Social_Studies/Geography/
http://teacher.scholastic.com/activities/globaltrek/
http://www.homeschoolshare.com/country_lapbook.php
http://www.nationalgeographic.com/resources/ngo/education/ideas.htmlv
http://kids.nationalgeographic.com/Places/
http://www.travellerspoint.com/pcindex.cfm
http://www.homeschoolinthewoods.com/WebLinks/weblinks-geographygeology.htm
http://www.squidoo.com/JapanUnitStudy
http://tagfoot.com/jimmie/bookmarks/geography
http://www.squidoo.com/MexicoAdventure

Okay- so it is a lot of web sites!:0) I do not know when to stop!

I hope that you enjoy your study!

Zoology Notebook

2009-12-25T16:59:00.004-05:00

It is Christmas day and I am just finishing up creating a Zoology Notebook for my kids to work on next semester. I enjoy reading the Apologia Science books and think that the note booking aspect of the books is very kid-friendly. My kids love animals and I honestly cannot wait to get started on Zoology because I know they will just love it!

We are planning a trip in January to our local Aquarium and one in May to our local Zoo. I am hoping that the trip to the Zoo will be especially meaningful after our Zoology study.

I have uploaded my Zoology Notebook to HSLaunch for anyone that could use it. Here are other good resources that could be useful:

http://www.learningtreasures.com/animal_classification.htm http://www.learningtreasures.com/make_an_animal_notebook.htm
http://www.gamequarium.org/dir/SqoolTube_Videos/Science/Animals/
http://www.jeanniefulbright.com/notebookpages.html
http://www.naturedetectives.org.uk/club/
http://www.learningtreasures.com/classification_class.htm
http://www.scribd.com/doc/6759218/African-Animal-Note-Booking
http://www.mbgnet.net/ http://www.homeschoolshare.com/animal_classification_lapbook.php
http://www.homeschoolshare.com/animal_classification_system.php
http://www.animalcorral.com/
http://www.thetoymaker.com/Toypages/49Animals/49Animals.html
http://www.sheppardsoftware.com/content/animals/kidscorner/gamesforkids.htm
http://kids.nationalgeographic.com/Animals/
http://video.nationalgeographic.com/video/player/kids/animals-pets-kids/amphibians-kids/
http://www.apples4theteacher.com/hangman.html
http://learningtreasures.com/wordpress/homeschool-helps-animal-notebooks-what-to-do-next
http://education.sdsc.edu/download/enrich/make_a_frog_book_pg_1.gif
http://www.jdp.co.uk/
http://www.sheppardsoftware.com/content/animals/kidscorner/kidscorner3.htm
http://www.albright-news.com/Lion-Lapbook.htm
http://www.zooatlanta.org/home/kids_corner
http://tagfoot.com/jimmie/bookmarks/habitats
http://www.zoobooks.com/virtualzoo.aspx?n=546584

I hope that you will enjoy these sites!

Jesse Tree

2009-12-01T20:21:00.010-05:00

I first heard about the concept of a Jesse Tree last year before Christmas and thought that it sounded fun. I am always looking for ways to help my kids understand the meaning behind Christmas and this seemed like a good way to do that. As I understand it, the Jesse tree is a daily devotional that takes the reader through the lineage of Jesus culminating in his birth. Each devotional day has an ornament to correlate with it that the kids can color or create and hang on a Christmas tree.

Here are some devotional sites that are helpful:
http://www.eriercd.org/pdf/reflections.pdf
http://www.jesse-tree.com/jesse_tree.html
http://www.rca.org/Page.aspx?pid=1628
http://www.jesse-trees.com/parent/parent-devotions.html - parent devotions

I purchased my twleve day devotional set from Illuminated Ink. The ornaments that we used were ones that my kids took turns coloring and cutting out. They ended up being three dimensional and the kids loved them. They were so excited when I pulled them out again this year.

Here are a few sites about making the Jesse Tree:
http://www.shalfleet.net/advent/makeajessetree.htm
http://www.catholicculture.org/culture/liturgicalyear/activities/view.cfm?id=545
http://www.kingofpeace.org/resources/ - Scroll down for ornament templates
http://www.rca.org/Page.aspx?pid=1625

Free Printables:
http://www.osv.com/Portals/0/images/pdf/JesseTree.pdf
https://www.pcusa.org/advent/pdf/advent-eng1.pdf - printable ornaments with instructions
http://www.kingofpeace.org/advent/advent.htm
http://www.jesustreedecorations.com/html/descriptions.html

I hope your kids have as much fun as mine are having!

Spider-Man Lapbook

2009-10-25T15:22:00.005-04:00

My youngest is currently interested in Spider-Man and wanted mom to create a Spider-Man lap book. At first, I was concerned because what educational value could Spider-Man possibly have? But, after doing a bit of research I found a great deal of educational elements that I could look at with my son.

The first, most obvious, direction was the origin and creation of comic books. It was actually quite interesting how they got their start. I made mini books on the origin of comic books and a vocabulary book for the different parts of the comic book and one on the different jobs it takes to make a comic book. I also made a book on New York City because this was the setting for the Spider-Man story.

Of course, I had to make a few books that were specific to Spider-Man. I created mini books on Spider-Man's "villains", his "partnerships", and his "abilities and weakness". My son used one of his many Spider-Man to fill in this information. He had a great time showing me all of his "Spider-Man Knowledge"!

I found a number of great web sites with information and two that my son really enjoys because they allow him to create his own superhero and his own comic book.

http://marvel.com/create_your_own_superhero

http://marvelkids.marvel.com/

http://www.koolkidsdaycare.com/images/spiderman2.gif

http://www.readwritethink.org/lesson_images/lesson921/ComicBookPrimer.pdf

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Avengers_members

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marvel_Comics

http://www.readwritethink.org/MATERIALS/comic/

http://marvelkids.marvel.com/character/Spider-Man

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spider-Man

http://www.dltk-kids.com/Crafts/cartoons/mspiderman.html

http://www.dltk-kids.com/crafts/cartoons/mspideyposter.htm

http://www.gamescraftscoloring.com/fanclub/spiderman.htm

http://www.showkidsthefun.com/activity-theme/spider-man.php

http://www.readwritethink.org/lessons/lesson_view.asp?id=195

http://www.arts-letters.com/comic/dl/gs_comic.pdf

http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/2039755/comic_book_lesson_plans_for_children.html?cat=4

http://www.princetonol.com/groups/iad/lessons/middle/Jennie-cartoon.htm

Botany Notebook

2009-10-21T11:45:00.003-04:00

We decided to do Apologia Botany this year for our science class. I really love Apologia mainly because I can use it with all three of my children at one time. I decided to create my own Botany Notebook to go along with the note booking activities that Mrs. Fulbright details in her chapters. We have been working through the notebook so far this year and it is working beautifully.

To supplement, I added a lap book of Carnivorous Pants from Dynamic2Moms. It was really well made and interesting for the kids. I even bought a Venus flytrap from our local nursery so the kids could watch science in action!:) I actually caught a fly in my house and fed the plant so the kids could see how it traps the insect. It was really fun.

I also thought that it would be a great idea to go to our city's botanical gardens. I set up a field trip to go and it ended up being a gorgeous day. I made the kids find four of their favorite plants/flowers and I took a picture of the child with each plant/flower. I plan for them to include these pictures in their botany notebook. My favorite part of the botanical gardens was the orchid exhibit. It is amazing the diversity of these flowers! My children's favorite part of the gardens was the Venus flytraps and pitcher plants.

Here are a few of the great web sites that I found when compiling my materials for this study:

http://handbookofnaturestudy.blogspot.com/

http://www.abc.net.au/science/surfingscientist/magic.flower.htm

http://www.enature.com/home/

http://homemade.truepath.com/nature2.htm

http://pbskids.org/zoom/activities/sci/#life

http://www.jeanniefulbright.com/notebookpages.html

http://www.gamequarium.org/dir/SqoolTube_Videos/Science/Plants/

http://sciencespot.net/Pages/nclessons.html

http://www.fs.fed.us/r6/uma/urban/ -wildflower coloring book

http://3kiwihomeschoolers.blogspot.com/2008/11/botany-lapbook.html

http://www.exploringnature.org/

http://www.lapbooklessons.com/GardenLapbook.html

http://www.greatsunflower.org/

http://www.lowes.com/lowes/lkn?action=howTo&p=Down_to_Earth/garden_journal_download

http://tagfoot.com/jimmie/bookmarks/nature

http://www.geocities.com/tennis110/flowerdissection.htm

http://www.nps.gov/webrangers/

Fall Bridal Shower Decor

2009-10-19T13:52:00.005-04:00

I am including this on my blog because when I was looking for ideas to use while decorating for a bridal shower, I could not find anything online. I used just about everything I could find around my house for decorating the table scape. Lucky for me, majority of my color scheme in my house is fall-like colors: yellow, burgundy, and brown.

The table scape was easy to create with a few shoe boxes and a chocolate brown flat sheet that I had on hand. A few years ago I was on a pumpkin bent so I have a lot of fake pumpkins of various sizes and colors. I coupled these pumpkins with candles that I already had for added atmosphere around the table. I must give a lot of the credit to my Mother-in-law because she is a genius with putting things together and really has unbelieveable vision.

As you can see, I found a bag of raffia and went a little crazy with it. I found myself puttingit on everything!:)

I grabbed two pumpkins at Wal-Mart for around $4 each and two containers of mums that are HUGE for $12 at the grocery store. I plan to carve the pumpkins with the kids when it gets closer to Halloween, and the mums will give my porch nice color for a few weeks at least.

All in all, it was a nice shower decor and fairly cheap to pull off.

Organize me, please!

2009-10-13T16:31:00.006-04:00

I am definitely not an expert in the field of organizing- just ask my family! I try to be organized just to maintain a level of sanity in my house. Here are a few tips that I have come up with on my own and a few that I have shamelessly stolen from others! Enjoy.

School for multiple children
-Planning
· Try to determine what curricula that you can do together (science/Apologia, history/Story of the World, Bible, Geography)
· Keep in mind what really “must” be accomplished and focus on getting that done and don’t worry about the “extras” (For example, Latin or logic- Sure, they are great but focus on math and reading first.)
· Some subjects do not need to be grade specific during the elementary years
· You can vary the expectations depending on age/ability without making more work or planning for yourself
· Utilize a lesson plan form that incorporates subjects done together
· Here are a few great websites to help in this area: http://www.thehomeschoolmom.com/gettingorganized/planner.php hehomeschoolmom.com/gettingorganized/planner.php , http://www.thehomeschoolmom.com/gettingorganized/000049.php , http://www.thehomeschoolmom.com/gettingorganized/allplanners.php choolmom.com/gettingorganized/allplanners.php , http://homeschooling.about.com/cs/recordkeeping/ht/htrecords.htm , http://momishome2.blogspot.com/2008/07/how-to-example-of-mid-range-planning.html , http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/bbullard/646197/ , http://www.naturemoms.com/lesson-planning-for%20homeschool.html

-Scheduling
· Start your day with the subjects that you can do together as a family
· Look at the remaining subjects for each child and determine which ones need your supervision or one on one instruction
· Schedule the subjects for each child while trying to alternate between the independent and dependent subjects
· For example, if one child is doing their parent centered subjects first, then have the other children doing their child centered subjects and then alternate.
· You should only be working one on one with one child at a time and the other children should be self-teaching.
· Post each child’s schedule where they can see it during school so that they know what is next on the agenda.
· Introduce the idea of the “Mystery Folder”- Each child has a folder for them with independent “seat” work that they can complete if they are finished with their other work and are waiting on mom to finish working with a sibling. This work should be educational but fun so that the child does not dread doing it.
· Here are a few websites to help in this area: http://unafamiliaalaskena.blogspot.com/2009/02/individual-work-in-homeschool.html , http://pocketsoftime.blogspot.com/2008/06/friday-meme-how-do-you-schedule.html tsoftime.blogspot.com/2008/06/friday-meme-how-do-you-schedule.html , http://thepreciousmind.blogspot.com/2009/02/5-minute-homeschool.html ousmind.blogspot.com/2009/02/5-minute-homeschool.html , http://heartofwisdom.com/blog/homeschool-planning-how-would-Jesus-schedule/isdom.com/blog/homeschool-planning-how-would-Jesus-schedule/ , http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/kristenph/669878/w.homeschoolblogger.com/kristenph/669878/ , http://organizedhome.com/time-management-homeschool-families ement-homeschool-families

-School Work Space
· If possible, have an area for each child’s books. You can use shelving, plastic crates, boxes, or whatever works best for your school space.
· This is their area that they must keep organized. Give them the tools they need, but they are responsible for keeping up with what they have.
· Don’t be too authoritative over this area. Give them control over their work space.
· Let each child make their own clipboard so that they can make their work transportable.
· Have a designated area for materials that are used outside of school time but still need to be accessed by the kids every day. For example, have a special basket for their piano notebooks. Along with that, have a three ring notebook for their piano music so that you do not have loose papers flying around the room. If you have a family reading time, have a basket in the reading area with the books everyone is reading.
· Here are a few websites that can help in this area: http://organizedhome.com/storage-strategies-homeschool-families , http://www.homeschool-curriculum-for-life.com/organize-your-homeschool.html , http://www.educationbug.org/a/creating-a-homeschool-area.html , http://www.howtodothings.com/education/how-to-create-a-home-school-classroom , http://www.homeschool.com/articles/Calvert/default.asp , http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/101616/how_to_create_a_homeschool_room_in.html?cat=30 associatedcontent.com/article/101616/how_to_create_a_homeschool_room_in.html?cat=30

-Chores/Cleanliness
· Use a week calendar to designate the chores each child is to do for each week day. I make two different weeks and then alternate them each week so that they children are doing different chores every other week.
· Set a specific time for chores to be done; for example, after school work is completed.
· Do not allow play time until chores are completed to your satisfaction.
· Make sure that your child understands what “clean” is. An interesting way to do this is to clean the area yourself and have the child watch you do it and let them help organize their stuff. Then take pictures from various angles around the room. Develop the pictures and mount them on a piece of paper and place them on the back of the room door. When the child is asked to clean the bathroom, refer them to the picture so that they understand that the bathroom is not clean until it looks like the pictures on the door.
· Designate an area of your house where each child has a “box” for their stray items that you inevitably will pick up during the day. At the end of each day, have each child empty their box and put all of the items in their place. I have a box for each child on the stairs and when I am walking around the house during the day and see an item I pick it up and drop it in their box. Then it becomes their responsibility to put it up, not mine.
· Give each child a small laundry basket for their closet. They must keep their dirty clothes in the basket. Choose a Laundry day for the chore calendar and have each child bring their basket downstairs to be washed. Depending on the age of the child, you can teach them how to wash their own clothes. If they are not old enough, you can wash, dry, and fold their clothes and place them in their basket. After you are done, they must take their basket to their room and put up their own clothes. Even young children can do this with a little guidance.
· Here are a few websites that offer help in this area: http://www.homeschool-curriculum-for-life.com/free-printable-child-chore-charts.html , http://www.homeschool-curriculum-for-life.com/free-printable-child-chore-charts.html , http://www.homeschool-curriculum-for-life.com/free-printable-child-chore-charts.html , http://www.homeschool-curriculum-for-life.com/free-printable-child-chore-charts.html

-Allowance
· If your family chooses to do an allowance for your children, designate a payment day every week.
· Have the oldest child keep a payment log book (notebook) where he/she can record the date of payment and amount paid to each child. Sometimes it could be helpful to count what is in the container before hand to make sure that the correct amount is in Give and Save. Sometimes my kids have snuck out a little to supplement some purchase!
· Provide three small containers for each child for Give, Save, and Spend written on them.
· After payment is given, have each child deposit the agreed upon amount of their allowance in each container.
· Here are a few websites that can help in this area: http://www.kidsmoney.org/allart.htm , http://www.prosperity4kids.com/allowance.shtml , http://primary-school-lesson-plans.suite101.com/article.cfm/an_elementary_classroom_allowance_program , http://life.familyeducation.com/allowance/jobs-and-chores/34438.html , http://www.activeallowance.com/

Household Duties
-Meal planning
· Create a menu for each week of the month and number them 1-4.
· Based on the weekly menu, make a grocery list with any items need for the recipes that you have chosen for the menu. You can also add to your list any items that you need to purchase weekly (milk and bread).
· Think about your weekly schedule when you are creating your menus. Will you be tired from practice on Tuesday night? If so, then plan a meal that you can cook ahead in a slow cooker so that it can be ready when you are. Don’t put yourself in a position where you are exhausted and have to come home to cook over a hot stove and fighting kids!
· On Sunday, place the weekly menu on the refrigerator so that everyone can see what is for dinner so they can stop asking every five minutes!
· Try to find a day of the week that your family can do something fun for dinner; maybe you can have a Friday night pizza night or a Tuesday night breakfast for dinner night. IT will give the kids something to look forward to.
· Here are a few great websites to help in this area: http://www.menus4moms.com/ , http://www.thehomeschoolmom.com/pdf/menuchoretodothsm.pdf , http://www.homeschool-curriculum-for-life.com/menu-planning.html , http://www.heartofwisdom.com/heartathome/homeschool/homemaking/menu-plan-monday/ , http://organizedhome.com/printable/household-notebook/weekly-menu-planner , http://organizedhome.com/kitchen-tips/menu-planning-save-time-kitchen , http://www.vertex42.com/ExcelTemplates/meal-planner.html , http://www.hillbillyhousewife.com/menuplanning.htm , http://orgjunkie.com/

-Calendar organizing
· Every Sunday night create a “To do” list for the week. Make different categories for yourself- “To Call”, “To Email”, “To Pay”.
· Keep one central calendar that everyone can see and update it once a week.
· Whenever you get an invitation, email or make an appointment, write it down on your calendar right away so that it is not forgotten.
· Leave yourself margin in your day. Don’t think just because you have an hour that is unaccounted for that you must squeeze something into it!
· Give yourself a head start when going somewhere. If you need to leave at 12:00 start telling the kids to get ready to go at 11:30. This gives them time to get all of the necessary things ready and on their bodies without causing you unnecessary stress. Kids do not have the foresight of adults. They cannot plan ahead as well as we can.
· Here are a few websites to help in this area: http://momishome2.blogspot.com/search/label/calendars , http://www.homeorganizeit.com/organizedhomeschooler.html , http://www.donnayoung.org/calendars/index.htm , http://712educators.about.com/od/lessonplans/ht/lesson_calendar.htm

-Email/Phone Calls
· Designate a time during your day to do email and phone calls.
· Do not answer the phone during school time unless it is an emergency. Our answering machine message tells each caller that school is in session and calls will not be returned until 2:00 every day.
· Remember not to get stuck in front of the computer for long periods of time. We do not want our kids with their noses in the computer for hours at a time, so remember that they learn more from what they see you doing than from what you are telling them.
· Do not feel like you have to respond to every email. Hit the important ones first and if you can get around to the others, great.
· REMEMBER- email and telephone are for YOUR convenience not to be a shackle around your neck.
· Here are a few great web sites to help with this area: http://www.thehomeschoolmom.com/gettingorganized/timemanagement.php , http://education.more4kids.info/66/homeschool-time-management/ , http://www.homeschoolviews.com/askamom/askamom-sept05.html , http://eclectichomeschool.org/articles/article.asp?articleid=319 , http://www.articlesbase.com/homeschooling-articles/time-management-homeschooling-some-useful-tips-939960.html

-Housework
· If you can do it in less than two minutes, do it right way. Do not stack it up on the counter- put it away.
· Make your bed first thing; it makes you feel like the house is cleaner!
· Remember that you do not have to be able to eat off of the floor for your house to be clean. Good enough is just that- Good Enough!
· Your kids will never remember how clean your house is, only how much you love them!
· Great websites for ideas on this area: http://www.flylady.net/ , http://www.achristianhome.com/Homemaking/Where%20do%20I%20start.htm , http://www.suite101.com/article.cfm/early_learning_at_home/62377 , http://www.home-school.com/Articles/phs12-kathyvonduyke.html , http://organizedhome.com/home-management-homeschool-families , http://www.homeschool-curriculum-for-life.com/house-cleaning-tips.html , http://www.homeschool-curriculum-for-life.com/organize-your-laundry.html

Art Exploration Co-op Curriculum and Lapbook

2009-09-14T20:21:00.008-04:00

This is phase two of my curriculum creations for our co-op this semester. The ladies in our leadership group decided for our co-op to do an art class this semester. We did not want just any kind of art class. We wanted an art class that touched on art history as well as hands-on art activities. The curriculum and corresponding lapbook are my attempts to touch on all of the areas that these ladies wanted to explore in our art curriculum this year.

I decided to hit a few of the major artists- there are so many! I chose Monet, Van Gogh, Picasso, Warhol, and Pollock because of their vast differences from each other.

The lapbook and curriculum begin with mini books on the elements of art and mediums of art. The kids did a great edible color wheel project that I found on http://www.princetonol.com/groups/iad/lessons/elem/elemlessons.html. This is a great art lesson plan site. I found many of the hands-on activities that we will be doing on this site.

After this lesson, we get into the nuts and bolts, so to speak, of the art history. Every two weeks or so the kids learn about a new artist, their movement, and their famous works. I created mini books to go along with each of these aspects. One week they learn about the artist, etc and then the next week the create a masterpiece of their own based upon one of the artist's own masterpieces.

Here is an example of the kids' rendition of Monet's "Waterlilies".

We are culminating our co-op study with a visit to the local art museum for a Da Vinci exhibit.

Here are some of the web sites that I found during my research that are just awesome! I hope you have fun exploring!:)

Art Exploration

http://www.princetonol.com/groups/iad/lessons/elem/elemlessons.html - great lessons (we incorporated some of them)
http://homeschool.withpurpose.com/category/fine-arts/art/- plans
http://www.moma.org/wifi- Museum of Modern Art audio tours
http://pixilatedschoolnotes.blogspot.com/2007/09/learning-about-art-van-gogh.html- Van Gogh
http://ebeth.typepad.com/serendipity/2008/07/a-is-for-art.html- blog with a lot of great links on Da Vinci
http://www.alifetimeofcolor.com/play/leonardo/index.html- Da Vinci
http://www.princetonol.com/groups/iad/links/artgames.html- activities and games
http://www.artcyclopedia.com/- encyclopedia of artists and movements
http://www.donnayoung.org/art/draw1.htm- drawing class
http://www.kinderart.com/arthistory/- links to other art sites
http://www.artprojectsforkids.org/search/label/2nd%20grade - blog with great art projects
http://www.homeschoolinthewoods.com/WebLinks/weblinks-artmusicpoetry.htm - art links
http://gardenofpraise.com/art.htm- lessons on famous paintings
http://www.notebookingpages.com/index.php?page=Free-Art-Music-Notebooking-Pages- notebooking pages
http://lifeisnotacereal.blogspot.com/2008/12/primary-level-artist-appreciation.html- 36 week art curriculum
http://picturingamerica.neh.gov/- famous American artists
http://www.lessonplanspage.com/Art45.htm- lessons
http://locicero.net/teachrembrandt/ - Rembrandt Teaching Project
http://school.discoveryeducation.com/lessonplans/programs/da_rembrandt/- Rembrandt lesson plans
http://tagfoot.com/jimmie/bookmarks/artiststudy - bookmarks to more sites
http://tagfoot.com/jimmie/bookmarks/art- bookmark to more sites
http://www.geocities.com/preciousdays/artstudy.html
http://members.aol.com/TWard64340/Index.htm Art Takes Time
http://arthistory.about.com/
http://www.coreknowledge.org/CKproto2/resrcs/lessons/01_PreK_Picasso.pdf Picasso
http://www.redshift.com/~bonajo/art_american.htm
http://falcon.jmu.edu/~ramseyil/arteducation.htm
http://intranet.cps.k12.il.us/Lessons/StructuredCurriculumTOC/SCArt/scart.html Complete Courses K-12
http://www.amblesideonline.org/ArtSch.shtml Complete Course adaptable K-12
http://www.ckcolorado.org/lessons/art.asp List of units based on the What my “nth” grader needs to know book series.
http://www.libsci.sc.edu/miller/folkart.htm
http://homeschooling.about.com/library/blmufine.htm
http://www.edhelper.com/DailyThemes_March_6.html
http://www.edhelper.com/DailyThemes_July_22_2.html
· Collections of Lesson Plans
1. http://www.lessonplanspage.com/Art.htm K-12
2. http://www.princetonol.com/groups/iad/lessons/lessons.html
3. http://members.aol.com/powers8696/artindex.html
4. http://www.montessorimaterials.org/mus.htm
5. http://rollyo.com/dorioakes/lesson_plan_search/ Key term art returned 16000+ activities lessons and units
6. http://www.teachers.net/cgi-bin/lessons/sort.cgi?searchterm=art 213 lessons
7. http://www.mcrel.org/lesson-plans/arts/index.asp Activities designed to meet specific Standards!
8. http://www.primaryresources.co.uk/art/art.htm
9. http://www.ilovethatteachingidea.com/ideas/subj_art.htm
10. http://www.successlink.org/gti/search/results.asp
11. http://www.eduref.org/cgi-bin/lessons.cgi/Arts
12. http://www.eduplace.com/monthlytheme/january/art_activities.html with http://www.eduplace.com/monthlytheme/january/art_additional.html
13. http://www.teachersfirst.com/tchr-subj-date.cfm?subject=art&lower=1&upper=5
14. http://www.teachersfirst.com/tchr-subj-date.cfm?subject=art&lower=6&upper=8
15. http://www.teachersfirst.com/tchr-subj-date.cfm?subject=art&lower=9&upper=12
16. http://www.lessonplansearch.com/Visual_Arts/index.html
17. http://www.verybestkids.com/Categories/CraftsActivities/default.aspx
18. http://artsedge.kennedy-center.org/
19. http://www.easyfunschool.com/IndexArt.html
20. http://www.janbrett.com/activities_pages.htm
21. http://www.sraonline.com/index.php/home/curriculumsolutions/finearts/artconnections/historyculture/623
22. http://www.sraonline.com/index.php/home/curriculumsolutions/finearts/artconnections/artgallery/625
23. http://www.atozteacherstuff.com/Lesson_Plans/The_Arts/index.shtml
24. http://www.dltk-kids.com/
25. http://www.buyteachercreated.com/estore/search Search for Art got 61 results mot with usable sample pages.
26. http://www.enchantedlearning.com/artists Some activities require membership.
27. http://depts.washington.edu/chinaciv/tg/tgraph.pdf
28. http://www.menc.org/guides/guideindex.html
29. http://www.canteach.ca/elementary/finearts.html
· Individual lessons
1. http://www.teachingideas.co.uk/art/starry.htm Starry Night
2. http://www.reacheverychild.com/lessonplans/plan1.html

Co-op Classes- Dissection

2009-09-01T20:34:00.007-04:00

This semester at our co-op we are doing dissecting and art with our elementary age kids. It is an awesome opportunity for our kids to get inside a few animals and learn about art masters while painting a few masterpieces of their own! Well, to be honest, the dissecting idea received an all around "yuck" in my house- even from the boys, which surprised me. What boy doesn't want to touch something slimy and gross? Mine, obviously!

After searching the Internet for hours and coming up empty, I put together a few things to use for our curriculum and I thought it would be nice to share in case anyone else out there could benefit. For the younger elementary kids I thought that a lapbook would be more fun than traditional "worksheets". I found a treasure trove of mini books that I could incorporate at Homeschoolshare.com. (http://www.homeschoolshare.com/) Since the specimens that we are doing are an earthworm, frog, perch, and sheep's brain, I used related mini books for each of the animals for the lapbook. For example:

Earthworm: Tunnel Travels @ http://www.homeschoolshare.com/worms.php

Frog: Frog Life cycle @ http://www.homeschoolshare.com/Frog_Lapbook.php

Perch: Fish Life Cycle @ http://www.homeschoolshare.com/fish_and_fishing_lapbook.php

Sheep: Sheep Classification @ http://www.homeschoolshare.com/resources_pumpkin_runner.php

You get the idea! I just searched for mini books that would go along with the animal we were studying and/or classification. Our co-op moms wanted to include a comparison of human body systems to those of the specified animals, so I included mini books and the body systems and brain.

For the older kids, I created "worksheets" to go along with the curriculum. For each specimen we begin by discussing classification, then the specific ecosystem of the specimen, and finally the body system that we will focus on for the specimen. The worksheets reflect those aspects. I also included a KWL sheet for each specimen and a T-chart that focuses on the similarities and differences between the animal body system and the human body system. I would like to post these in a file somewhere in Internet land so that others can use them but I haven't quite figured out how to do that yet!:)

While gathering all of my information, I found these web sites that could be used as supplemental material for a dissection curriculum. I hope they are helpful for you.

http://www.learningtreasures.com/animal_classification.htm - classification notebooking pages
http://www.learningtreasures.com/classification_class.htm - classification class (ongoing- join anytime)
http://www.learningtreasures.com/make_an_animal_notebook.htm - animal notebook
http://www.gamequarium.org/dir/SqoolTube_Videos/Science/Animals/ - animal videos
http://www.superkidz.com/humanbody.html - human body systems
http://www.instructorweb.com/lesson/humanbody.asp- human body lesson plans
http://tnmomwith3kids.wordpress.com/2006/10/17/human-body-lapbook/- blog with free human body lapbook
http://www.squidoo.com/humanbodylapbook - squidoo lens on human body
http://www.mbgnet.net/- biomes and ecosystems
http://www.lapbooklessons.com/EarthwormLapbook.html - we used some of this book in ours
http://www.homeschoolshare.com/animal_classification_lapbook.php- classification lapbook
http://www.accessexcellence.org/RC/virtual.php - virtual dissections, labs, and field trips
http://www.homeschoolshare.com/animal_classification_system.php- Literature based unit studies provide a memorable reference point from which to teach your students the basics of the Animal Kingdom's Classification System.
http://www.sheppardsoftware.com/content/animals/kidscorner/gamesforkids.htm- animal games
http://video.nationalgeographic.com/video/player/kids/animals-pets-kids/amphibians-kids/ - animal videos
http://www.edupics.com/en-coloring-pictures-pages-photo-frog-life-cycle-i9449.html- frog life cycle
http://www.homeschoolinthewoods.com/UnitStudies/desert-rainforest.htm- Ecosystem compatision- Desert and Rainforest
http://www.ebioinfogen.com/virtual.htm- every kids of virtual dissection
http://www.homeschoolshare.com/desert_animals.php- desert animals lapbook
http://www.apples4theteacher.com/hangman.html- animal classification hangman game
http://www.sheppardsoftware.com/content/animals/kidscorner/kidscorner3.htm- classification games
http://www.exploratorium.edu/memory/braindissection/index.html - sheep brain virtual dissection
http://academic.scranton.edu/department/psych/sheep/ieframerow.html- sheep brain virtual dissection
http://www.amnh.org/nationalcenter/online_field_journal/dr/dr_menu.html- ecosystem diorama plans
http://www.saczoo.com/Page.aspx?pid=442- frog life cylce
http://www.zoobooks.com/virtualzoo.aspx?n=546584 - virtual zoo
http://biog-101-104.bio.cornell.edu/BIOG101_104/tutorials/animals/earthworm.html - This is a virtual earthworm dissection.

www.wonderhowto.com - The website below has over 80 videos on dissection. Be aware that most of the videos are on dissecting a human body. However, they do have dissection videos on the eye of a cow, frogs, a sheep brain, chicken wing, the heart and lungs of a lamb, a cat, a shark, and a salamander.

http://www.eclectichomeschool.org/articles/article.asp?articleid=130 -Gross things unit study including dissections

http://www.eclectichomeschool.org/articles/article.asp?articleid=589 -Amphibian Unit study with dissection ideas
http://staff.tuhsd.k12.az.us/gfoster/standard/perchdissection.htm -Dissection lab for a perch

http://www.exploratorium.edu/learning_studio/cow_eye/index.html -Cow's Eye Dissection

http://kids.yahoo.com/animals/amphibians

http://animals.nationalgeographic.com/animals/amphibians.html

http://video.nationalgeographic.com/video/player/kids/animals-pets-kids/amphibians-kids/-videos

http://www.blogger.com/- crafts

http://nationalzoo.si.edu/Animals/ReptilesAmphibians/ForKids/default.cfm-printable games

http://www.blogger.com/http://www.blogger.com/- songs, poems

http://www.nbii.gov/portal/community/Communities/Plants,_Animals_&_Other_Organisms/Amphibians/Teacher_Resources/-lessonplans http://www.worldalmanacforkids.com/WAKI-ViewArticle.aspx?pin=x-am091200a&article_id=1&chapter_id=1&chapter_title=Animals&article_title=Amphibian

http://cybersleuth-kids.com/sleuth/Science/Animals/Amphibians/index.htm

DSi compared to the PSP

2009-08-25T10:33:00.005-04:00

Video games are very popular today, especially the hand held systems. When it comes to hand held gaming there are two very popular systems, the DSi and the PSP. They’re both very good systems. The DSi and the PSP are very similar gaming systems but they have some differences.

The things that you can do with the DSi and the PSP are very similar. The DSi and the PSP both have very good video games. You can also game share, which means you can share games with your friends, with both of the systems. Also you can listen to music if you have a SD card for the DSi or a memory stick for the PSP. They both can go online and go to their shops where you can by more video games at the DSi shop or the PSP shop. Also, these systems can go online with Wi-Fi connection and surf the web. They both work great. Last, but not least, you can also update the systems every few months.

On the other hand, the DSi and the PSP also have some differences. The DSi can take pictures with its built in camera, but with the PSP you can only view pictures. The DSi games are mostly E for everyone but the PSP games are mostly T for teen and M for mature adults. With the DSi you can record your voice for up to ten seconds but with the PSP you can not. Also, the PSP can watch movies but the DSi does not allow this feature. The DSi has more action games, but the PSP has more shooter games.

It is hard to decide between a DSi and a PSP because they have a lot of similar things, but some things are different. If you are more interested in E games and characters like Mario and Nintendo characters then the DSi is right for you; but, if you don’t like E games and like movies the PSP is right for you. The decision between the two systems should be based on what you feel is most important.

written by Kid #1

United States Travel Guide

2009-08-19T20:35:00.007-04:00

Boy! The summer was too short!:) Of course, I have been playing and planning.:) We are off to travel the United States of America!

I found this great Yahoo group called Postcardkids. Once you join you can swap postcards with other home school families from around the US or the world. It is a lot of fun! We have almost all of the states in the US and for our geography lesson in school the kids are making a United States Travel Guide.

I made a sheet for each state listing what I thought was important information: statehood, famous people, fun things to do, etc... . On the upper right hand side of the page is a block for the child to glue a map of the state. On the bottom of the page are three blocks for the child to glue pictures of the state bird, flower and flag. I found a great US state flag poster at the local School Box store for $1.50 and the kids are just cutting out those flags and gluing them on to the page. For the bird and flower pictures, I used the web site 50states : http://www.50states.com/us.htm

http://www.50states.com/flower.htm

My plan is to have the kids glue the postcards that we have received from Postcardkids onto the facing page. While I was trying to figure out what to do with the states that we have not received postcards from, I decided to order free travel guides from the various states' tourism departments. I became addicted and ended up getting one from every state! Kids love mail, right? Besides getting the travel guide, we also are getting a free state road map. To find the travel guides, I just Googled "State Name Tourism". Here are a few of the sites I found:http://www.wyomingtourism.org/overview/Free-Wyoming-Vacation-Packet/61846

http://www.travel-vermont.com/common/request.asp?vwg09

http://www.exploreminnesota.com/travel/brochures/index.aspx

I figure that the kids can look through the guides and cut out the pictures that they like and glue them on the page with the postcard.

I also thought that it would be fun to include recipes from the different states. On the Yahoo Group, there is a file of different recipes from each state.

While looking for things to do related to US Geography, I stumbled on quite a few interesting sites. Maybe this can help anyone else narrow their search.

http://www.travelforecast.com/htdocs/cams.asp

http://www.squidoo.com/UnitedStatesUnit

http://www.sheppardsoftware.com/kids_usa.htm

http://www.classbrain.com/artstate/publish/

http://www.eduplace.com/ss/maps/usa.html

http://www.50states.com/bird/

http://www.prosserschools.org/walker/spelling/spelling.htm

http://www.kidzone.ws/geography/usa/index.htm

http://www.homeschoolinthewoods.com/WebLinks/weblinks-geographygeology.htm

http://www.travellerspoint.com/pcindex.cfm

http://www.notebookingpages.com/index.php?page=Free-Outline-Maps-Geography-Notebooking-Pages

http://www.squidoo.com/50statesnotebook

Hopefully, this will prove to be a fun and interesting way for the kids to learn geography. Who knows- maybe will will conquer the world next year!

Apologia Botany and Astronomy Noetbooking Journals

2009-05-21T15:04:00.000-04:00

Apologia is now producing notebooking journals that accompany each of the elementary science books. Both Botany and Astronomy are now available.

These journals are beautiful spiral bound notebooks that will save you time and money. You won't have to print and keep up with your child's notebook pages, buy and maintain page protectors, or purchase and compile binders...everything that makes notebooking time-consuming and labor intensive for mom. Also, your child will adore having their own notebooking journal.

Each of the notebooking journals include:
A daily schedule for those who like to have a plan or would like their children to complete the book on their own
Templates for written narrations, the notebooking activities and experiments
Review Questions
Scripture Copywork, with both print and cursive practice
Reading lists and additional activities, projects, experiments for each lesson
An appendix with beautiful, full-color, lapbook-style Miniature Books
Field Trip Sheets to keep a record field trips
A Final Review with fifty questions the students can answer either orally or in writing to show off all they remember and know at the end of the course.

See the sample pages here:
Botany: https://apologia.securesites.net/store/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=1&products_id=128

and
Astronomy: https://apologia.securesites.net/store/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=1&products_id=127

Jeannie is giving away four Astronomy Notebooking Journals and four Botany Notebooking Journals to bloggers who post about this on their site. Visit her blog to learn more about this contest: www.jeanniesjournal.com

First Language Lessons Lapbook- Year One

2009-05-18T12:48:00.005-04:00

I created this lapbook to be a companion to First Language Lessons- Year One by Jessie Wise.

Resurrection Eggs Lapbook

2009-04-09T16:37:00.003-04:00

This is a cute little lap book for Easter. It centers around Resurrection Eggs. I downloaded it off of this site:http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/jaminacema/500883/ . This lady has great lap books!

Happy Easter!

Astronomy Lapbook

2009-04-09T16:23:00.005-04:00

Well, we just finished Exploring Creation with Astronomy by Jeannie Fulbright and this is the culmination of our work. I downloaded this lapbook from the Yahoo Group Notebooking2Learn. It is a wonderful lapbook created by Jessica (the moderator of the group). After each chapter in the book, we completed the corresponding mini books. It was a great review of the chapter for the kids.

In case you are interested, here are some great science web sites:

http://www.earthsunmoon.co.uk/

http://www.gamequarium.org/dir/Science_Interactives_for_MO_GLEs/

http://www.jeanniefulbright.com/notebookpages.html

http://www.nasa.gov/audience/forkids/kidsclub/flash/games/levelfive/KC_Solar_System.html

http://www.gamequarium.org/dir/SqoolTube_Videos/Science/Space/Moon/Phases_of_the_Moon/moon_phases_4656.html

http://www.gamequarium.org/dir/SqoolTube_Videos/Science/Space/Solar_System/planets_3775.html

http://www.gamequarium.org/dir/SqoolTube_Videos/Science/Space/Solar_System/

http://www.gamequarium.org/dir/SqoolTube_Videos/Science/Space/Space_Exploration/

I hope you enjoy!

Art/Famous Artists Lapbook

2009-04-06T21:15:00.011-04:00

Well, this is another idea that I had in the middle of the night when I could not sleep! I hope it is a good one.

There are always so many things that I want to do with the kids but cannot find time for- art is one of them. Theoretically, I was going to do this with the kids over the summer, but the list of things to do over the summer seems to be growing fast! We will see how it works out. Anyway, I used these books that I picked up from the used book store titled Getting to Know the World's Greatest Artists. Our library has corresponding DVDs to go with them.

The first section I made a color wheel, light, major artistic movements, and little matchbooks that each focus on a different mode of art. I used an Usborne art book- Children's Book of Art- for this information and Homeschoolshare for the templates.

In the following sections, I highlight a few of the famous artists that I want to focus on (Monet, Da Vinci, Rembrandt, Picasso, and Van Gogh). I made little books on the artist, their home country, and famous artwork. I also wanted a place were the kids could try to mimic the artwork itself and where they could do a bit of narration about the art.

Here are a few of the sites that were helpful:

http://www.first-school.ws/activities/artapp/collage.htm -Picasso

http://www.princetonol.com/groups/iad/lessons/elem/elemlessons.html- so many great ideas

http://pixilatedschoolnotes.blogspot.com/2007/09/learning-about-art-van-gogh.html - Van Gogh

http://www.first-school.ws/activities/occasions/vangogh.htm- Sunflower/Van Gogh

http://www.first-school.ws/activities/artapp/impressionism.htm - Monet

http://ebeth.typepad.com/serendipity/2008/07/a-is-for-art.html - Da Vinci

I think we may add to this once we get started because there is so much out there that we can use, but this is a good skeleton to start with.

Explorers Lapbook

2009-03-30T11:47:00.008-04:00

I decided to create this lapbook for my kids to do over the summer. I found this great book at the library called Look it up Explorers, and I used it as the basis for my lapbook. I decided to divide the section into the Americas, Africa/Asia/Australia, and Artic/Antarctic.

For each section I made small matchbooks with different explorers on each one. I made my list of explorers using the book above. My intention is for my kids to read the section on each explorer and write important facts about them in the matchbook. Also, for each section I mad a fold up book with a map of their region inside. My plan is to have the kids track the voyages of each explorer in a different color.

As a second thought (and because I had extra room), I decided to include small books on different related topics. For example, with the Americas section I included books on the Incas and Aztecs, Sacajawea, and Scurvy. For Africa, Asia, and Australia I made small books on The Crusades, The Nile River, Confucianism, Buddhism, Easter Island, and The Great Wall of China. For the Artic/Antarctic I included books on Icebergs, Inuit People, Penguins, and Dog Sleds.

The lapbook is not tremendously in depth but for summer work it will do just fine for us. I hope you enjoy.

To help me make this book I used the homeschoolshare site because they have a wide variety of lapbook templates and Google Images. Sorry all of my pictures are sideways!:)

Getting ready for Spring/Botany ideas

2009-03-17T17:31:00.002-04:00

This is a great site that will send you sunflower seeds so that you can plant them and hopefully attract bees.
http://www.greatsunflower.org/en

This site has ideas on lessons for Biomes and Ecosystems.
http://www.mbgnet.net/

Wildlflower Coloring Book
http://www.fs.fed.us/r6/uma/urban/

Nature Center Lesson Plans
http://sciencespot.net/Pages/nclessons.html

Botany videos
http://www.gamequarium.org/dir/SqoolTube_Videos/Science/Plants/

Nature Detectives
http://www.naturedetectives.org.uk/club/

For Kids Naturely
http://www.naturely.com/

Great Freebies for St. Patrick's Day

2009-03-16T20:22:00.001-04:00

1. Shamrocks and Shillelaghs includes background information on St. Patrick, shamrocks, shillelaghs, the Blarney Stone, familiar Irish songs, as well as pages of materials that can be used in your studies.
http://www.currclick.com/product_info.php?products_id=28616&it=1&filters=0_0&free=1&affiliate_id=40128%20&affiliate_id=49363

2. There is a biography of Patrick that is rich and engaging, rare illustrations for study and learning, a recipe for real Irish soda bread and an essay you and your children won't want to miss, entitled, "The Real St. Patrick".
What's inside:
The Real St. Patrick: An essay by Charles Mack
St. Patrick, A biography from Our Island Saints
Picture Study: Three In One
Picture Study: St. Patrick Expels the Snakes
Mapwork: Map of Ireland
Recipe: Irish Soda Bread
Copywork: St. Patrick's Breastplate
http://www.currclick.com/product_info.php?products_id=28526&it=1&filters=0_0&free=1&affiliate_id=40128%20&affiliate_id=49363

Walt Disney World Lapbook

2009-02-10T16:52:00.007-05:00

Our family is going on vacation to the "happiest place on earth": so me, being me, wanted to squeeze every bit of possible learning out of the trip. I decided to do a lapbook that focused on Walt Disney the person and Disney World the place. I used my old favorite: homeschoolhelper for the templates and I just surfed the web to see what information was out there.

I found this great little site with all kids of printable coloring pages and other gems:http://disney-stationary.com/coloring-book/Disneyland-DisneyWorld.php. I used things from this site to make our cover and the books (on the different parks) on the last page of the lapbook.

I used some of the information that I found on the sites listed below as a basis for my books. I made a book for each of the following topics: the life of Walt Disney, Disney Timeline, Quotes from Walt Disney, The World's Fair and Walt Disney, Animation, the History of Walt Disney World, the different parks in Disney World, and Disney Facts.

http://ezinearticles.com/?History-of-Disney-World---How-Walt-Disney-World-Came-About&id=1126162

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Walt_Disney

http://www.norsknettskole.no/fag/ressurser/itstud/fuv/gunnargrodal/bio.htm
http://www.justdisney.com/walt_disney/quotes/quotes01.html

http://www.justdisney.com/walt_disney/timeline/index.html
http://www.socialstudiesforkids.com/articles/ushistory/mickeymouse.htm
http://www.mickey-mouse.com/themouse.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Animation
http://www.hiddenmickeys.org/Secrets.html

I also had the kids make a flip book from this these sites so that they could see how animation works ( at least before computers!).

http://familycrafts.about.com/library/projects/blflipface.htm

http://pbskids.org/sagwa/color/flipbook/index.html

On the next section of the lapbook I have a book on Disney Technology and one on Disney Movie making.

technology- http://www.wired.com/science/discoveries/news/2005/10/69297

movie making-http://fromscripttodvd.com/disney_animated_features.htm

http://movies.lovetoknow.com/wiki/Disney_Movie_Scripts

Also in this section I have a Disney Cast Member ID badge that I found and printed and then cut and pasted my child's name onto it:http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://i97.photobucket.com/albums/l206/Liljeepz/dexter/banner2a1.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php%3Ft%3D1889468%26referrerid%3D93883&usg=__JDBy7JFX3j7znxpqscbJVK0kYr0=&h=197&w=800&sz=135&hl=en&start=7&sig2=ytkts4XmQYcdpTnI1JFuGg&tbnid=R-hVUPeIUp62rM:&tbnh=35&tbnw=143&ei=u1iLSfadF5XlmQfR76Q0&prev=/images%3Fq%3Ddisney%2Bworld%2Bcast%2Bmember%2Bname%2Btag%26gbv%3D2%26hl%3Den%26sa%3DX

Finally, the last section is where we have books on each of the four parks at Disney World: Animal Kingdom, Epcot, Hollywood Studios, and Magic Kingdom. My idea is that after we get all of our pictures developed, the kids will put their favorite memories in the corresponding books.

It was a lot of fun putting it together and I hope that it will be helpful for others. I also found some great printable coloring pages with Mickey and the gang that would be fun to color in the car on the way there:http://coloringpages.nick-magic.com/mickeymouse.html.

Grammar Lapbook

2009-01-08T20:56:00.005-05:00

I am an English teacher by training and I am always curious about different ways to teach grammar. Primarily, I taught high school students ( mostly 12th graders) and it always puzzled me that majority of the average to below average students did not know their grammar AT ALL. I would say quietly to myself- "How did you ever get this far?". After having my three kids and watching Kid #1 go to 1st grade in public school, I began to wonder about this even more. My son would have mounds of GRAMMAR homework in the 1st grade - the same basic concepts that those 12th graders had not mastered!

Anyway, I will step off the soapbox. Now that I am schooling my own children I can teach the way I think works best. Now for middle and high schoolers, I believe that integrating grammar instruction into their actual writing is the way to go, but I believe that in the younger grades you can provide a basic foundation of concepts. The way that I am going to do this is with a variation of manipulatives. This is where my lapbook idea comes in to play. I had these pocket word cards that I bought from the Schoolbox store and I thought it would be great to teach the parts of speech using these cards.

For the lapbook, I used large matchbook templates from Homeschoolshare and made one for each major part of speech. I then tried to divide up the word cards into the pockets.

I used the idea of a mini office type lapbook that I saw on Lapbook Lessons to make a large pocket in the middle of the lapbook to put various sheets that I created that mimic a sentence diagram. I made a lot of variations that could be used with different types of sentences ( simple, compound nouns, or compound verbs).

What I am going to do with my kids is have them create their own sentences and then pick out the different parts of speech and figure out where they go on the sentence diagram. I feel that this will help my hands on learners and make grammar a little more than book work.

Again this is my theory on grammar instruction and I will have to wait a few years to see if it works!:)

Safari Lapbook

2009-01-08T20:11:00.005-05:00

My youngest child is wild about animals. His primary interest is in the animals from Africa. While I was trying to create the different lapbooks for my other kids, he wanted one for himself. After some thought, he decided that he wanted a "Safari Lapbook". Well, I wasn't sure what that exactly was but I tried to put together a little something that could pass as a safari lapbook.

Since most of the animals that he is interested in reside in Africa, I first started with a map of Africa with each country defined. I got this map from a Google images search of "map of Africa". My original concept was to have the map of Africa in the middle and have a pocket for various countries that held some of the animals found in those countries. I thought for a while about how to arrange the file folders to accommodate such a large space and then decided to make use of that extra poster board in the closet!:)

When you open the lapbook I wanted to have something where we could talk about how you get to Africa. I wanted to make sure he understood that it is not down the street!:) I used a lapbook template from Homeschoolshare http://www.homeschoolshare.com/lapbooking_resources.php#Templates_Listed_by_Divisions_)

and Google images for the clip art safari guide.

After further opening the book, you will find a T book where we highlighted the "big five" animals found in Africa. Again I used a template for the book from Homeschoolshare and Google images for the pictures of the animals. Son #3 cut and pasted these in place. I had fun making the little road for this section. Silly, I know, because I am not sure there is actually black top roads in the safari but it is cute in the book! I used actual street signs from Africa for the street signs along the road. Again, Google images helped me out there.

Now for the main part- when the lapbook is fully opened you can see the map of Africa and the large matchbooks for the various countries. No rhyme or reason for my selection of the countries. Many I chose them so that I could spread them out around the map. I used a couple of great sites for the animal images. Majority of them were from the country I was focusing on for that matchbook.

http://www.africaguide.com/wildlife/index.htm

http://www.animalinfo.org/country/chad.htm

http://www.animalinfo.org/country/nigeria.htm

http://www.sa-venues.com/wildlife/wildlife_crocodile.htm

http://www.kenyatravelideas.com/kenya-animals.html

http://www.sa-venues.com/wildlife/

http://www.wildmadagascar.org/wildlife/animals.html

http://www.wildegypt.com/

http://www.selamta.net/wildlife.htm

Ultimately, my goal is for Son #3 to write about each animal on the back of their card. Hopefully, as we continue in our geography studies, we can add more animals and maybe more countries.

Football Lapbook

2008-12-15T16:10:00.005-05:00

I know it seems odd to create a football lapbook but frankly I have to do whatever I can to interest Kid #1. Right now he is very interested in college and professional football. Whenever we are riding in the car he asks me a thousand questions about rules, positions and players- of course, I have no idea what he is talking about half of the time. So, I have finally completed a football lapbook in hopes that he can teach himself all about football and its rules.

I used mini matchbooks to help him understand the offensive and defensive positions.I used the "Who?Where?" book for him to write about the history of football. The Shutter book has a few football terms that seem to be used a lot that he can define.

In the middle of this section I have placed this great folder game called Eduball that I got for this site:http://www.teachertools.org/games_dynam.asp. The top of the folder is like a pocket and in it I have multiplication fact cards for him to use with the game.

In this section I have a place for him to keep pictures of his favorite players. This was very easy to find using Google Images.

On this page I focused on the referees of the game. There always seem to be so many officials in a football game and I thought it would be good for him to learn who they are and their jobs. The wheel book lists the different positions and the graduated book lists the duties of each position. At the top of this page you can find a book with the rules of football.

For the book templates I used :http://www.homeschoolshare.com/lapbooking_resources.php#Templates_Listed_by_Divisions_

For the football information I used: http://football.about.com/od/footballpositions/Football_Positions.htm

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/2/25/American_Football_Positions.svg/604px-American_Football_Positions.svg.png

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Official_(American_football)

http://football.about.com/od/football101/l/bl_glossary.htm

For the flashcards: http://www.multiplication.com/flashcards.htm

Kid #1 was so excited about this and he cannot wait to finish his guitar lapbook (below) so that he can get started on this one!:) Yeah Mom!!!

Guitar Lapbook

2008-12-15T12:27:00.003-05:00

After a friend introduced Kid#1 to Guitar Hero (much to my disappointment:)), he has been very interested in all types of guitars. Since this is all I hear about daily, I decided why not let him learn about guitars instead of just talking about them all of the time!

First, I made a list of all of the different aspects of guitars and tried to find information about them on the Internet. I found some great sites with lots of information: http://www.guitaralliance.com/ andhttp://www.gutairsland.com/. Secondly, as you can see, I made sections on the history of guitars (who?what?), the guitar family (wheel), guitar vocabulary (shutterfold), Electric vs. Acoustic (Venn diagram), How to play guitar chords and Famous guitarists (graduated book), diagram of guitar parts, and descriptions of the different categories of guitars (large matchbooks). To indulge my brillant engineer hubby, I included the physics of the guitar!:) All of the templates I got off of http://www.homeschoolshare.com/lap booking_resources.php#Templates_Listed_by_Divisions_.

The blackened guitar images I copied from http://www.onyxforgeguitars.com/guitar%20shapes.html.

Needless to say, Kid #1 was thrilled beyond words and I don't even have to push him to look up all of the information to fill in the books. He wants to do it!:) Praise the Lord!

Sarah Palin

2008-12-09T19:01:00.004-05:00

I am a little late in posting this, but on December 1st the kids and I went to see Sarah Palin campaigning for our local Congressman Saxby Chambliss. Frankly, I could not believe I was there, but my husband urged me to take the kids so that they could take advantage of seeing Sarah Palin speak. We were VERY early and were about the 50th person in line to get in and then it started to snow! IN GEORGIA! So, after about an hour of snow, it finally stopped and just became down right cold! By the time I was good and frozen, they let the line form inside the arena waiting area. Being warm really made the time go by faster!

When they opened the doors so that we could begin seating, it was like a rock concert from my youth!:) All of these old people:) started pushing forward with no consideration of a line at all! Finally, I had to start yelling because I thought that I might become separated from my kids, not to mention that if they, by chance, fell they could be trampled! It was very alarming. When we got into the arena, I insisted that we sit in the stands and not stand on the floor in front of the stage because I was afraid of what these crazy, old, Republicans would do!:) I guess everyone was just very excited to see Sarah Palin, as were we I must admit.

After waiting 3 + hours, the show began with John Linder, Johnny Isackson, and Saxby Chambliss. Then came the main attraction- Sarah Palin! I must admit it was great to see her in person. I hate to say things like this but it seemed like I was watching someone who was destined to make a change in our world. It was pretty cool.

Well, having learned from the earlier stampede, I decided to get out of there as quickly as possible so we left before the speeches were over. It was a little hairy but I am glad that the kids got to see Sarah Palin in the flesh and even more glad that we made it out alive!:)

WebKinz Lapbook

2008-11-29T17:38:00.006-05:00

Okay- I finally gave in to the tsunami that is WebKinz! Kid #2 loves WebKinz and has way too many of them, so I decided to try to create a WebKinz lapbook for her. I found a website that had coloring pages for the cover (http://www.wacky-packages.org/how-to-draw-webkinz/webkinz-coloring-pages.htm. First, I had her choose her favorite ten WebKinz. I used the index card lapbook templates from Homeschoolhelper (http://www.homeschoolhelperonline.com/lapbooks.htm) and then I copied the pictures of her favorites from the Ganz website. For the different pages of the index cards I choose to have her write the WebKinz facts (W Facts) for the animal and then on the next card the "real" animal facts (Animal Facts).

Secondly, I created a Quizzy' Question Corner out of the matchbook template from Homeschoolhelper.com, and for the questions I used the fan book template. I just wrote questions that pertained to what we are learning right now. Then I created a Wheel of Wow using the wheel template from Homeschoolhelper.com. I just choose the prizes based on what I have heard the kids talking about when they play WebKinz.

Finally, I had some room left on the lapbook and I asked Kid#2 what else I could put in the book that would interest her. She really wanted a Gem Hunt, which of course I had to create from scratch. To do this I used Word and created this picture. Under the "rocks" I placed different colored shapes with two digit numbers written on them. The instructions for the game are for her to find two gems and then add the numbers together. We are working on addition of two digit number right now and this gives her a little added practice.

After we got it all together, she was anxious to show Dad, her brothers, and even in the neighbor!

Tree of Thanksgiving

2008-11-29T17:29:00.003-05:00

Just thought that I would share what we do to celebrate Thanksgiving with our kids. Every year I have the kids write down things that they are thankful for on cut out leaves (see picture). After that, I attach them to a large stick that I get from the backyard and place the stick in a pot. Then we have our "Tree of Thanksgiving". Another aspect of this that I like is that after Thanksgiving I can use the leaves for my scrapbooking page on Thanksgiving.

Stone Fox Book Review by Kid #1

2008-11-26T18:13:00.003-05:00

I just finished a book called Stone Fox by John Reynolds Gardiner. I would recommend it because it is an interesting book about dog racing.

Stone Fox is fun to read because it is exciting. It is exciting because you never know what will happen next. The main character is winning the race. He takes a short cut and gets ahead of everyone. The short cut is dangerous because it goes over ice and it could break. You have to read the book to find out what happens next.

Another reason to read Stone Fox is because it is suspenseful. At the beginning, Willy's grandfather is sick but Willy thinks he is pretending. After the doctor comes, Willy knows that Grandfather is really sick. Willy starts running the farm and enters the race to win the prize money so that he can pay the taxes. But you have to read the book to find out if Grandfather gets better. The race is for adults but Willy still enters it anyway. Everyone thinks he will lose because Stone Fox was undefeated for the last 10 years. When reading the book, you are surprised by who wins.

I recommend this book because it is exciting and suspenseful. It is a good book for boys and girls.

Children's Book Reviews

2008-11-23T18:58:00.003-05:00

I received this information from a Yahoo group that I belong to and I checked it out and it looked really neat. The site has book reviews written by parents and educators. It details possible offensive content and gives a thumbnail summary of the book. Their objective is not to promote censorship, per say, but to give the parent the opportunity to judge for themselves whether or not the book is right for their child.

It also has an option to submit book reviews yourself.

www.factsonfiction.org

Correction- Roman Numeral Lapbook

2008-11-23T18:51:00.001-05:00

Sorry- wrong credit for the Roman Numeral Lapbook. I copied the form from http://www.homeschoolhelperonline.com/lapbooks/roman_numerals.htm. Sorry for the error.

Roman Numeral Lapbook

2008-11-21T17:33:00.003-05:00

This is the last lapbook that has been waiting for me to upload. Kid #1 was learning about Roman Numerals in math and I saw this great lapbook from Homeschoolshare.com. It was great and very easy to put together. I think it really reinforced the concept and helped him to see how Roman Numerals are used all around us and we barely notice them!

Birdwatching

2008-11-20T20:30:00.004-05:00

In September I decided to get out the birdfeeder and hang it outside of our school room window. What a show we had from all of the different birds!

My kids really enjoyed seeing all of the different birds that would come to visit. There were so many, I could barely keep up with replacing the feed. One day my kids were excitedly trying to identify the different birds and I decided to jump on this "teachable moment" and have them create a bird lapbook. I had them use our Usborne Bird book to identify as many birds as they could (10) and then I found a great site that had different bird coloring pages- http://www.coloring.ws/birds.htm

My kids spent HOURS coloring those pages. After they were done we compiled this book- one for each of them. Whenever they saw a bird outside the window they would grab their book and try to see which one it was. It was great fun! This book belongs to kid #1.

Christmas Party Ideas

2008-11-19T09:14:00.003-05:00

I met with the Christmas Party committee for our co-op yesterday and went online to find some ideas for it. Here are some of the craft and game ideas that I found:

Crafts
http://www.ss42.com/pt/christmas-tree/christmas-tree.html
http://www.design-spiel-kunst.de/bastelboegen/weihnachten.htm- manger scene idea
http://www.wikihow.com/Make-a-3D-Paper-Snowflake
http://crafts.kaboose.com/holidays/christmas/christmas-crafts.html
http://www.enchantedlearning.com/crafts/christmas/
http://www.allfreecrafts.com/christmas/index.shtml#kids
http://familycrafts.about.com/library/projects/blchtraditionorn.htm
Games:
http://holidays.kaboose.com/xmas-party.html
http://www.partygamecentral.com/christmas/christmaspartygames.htm
http://childparenting.about.com/od/christmasparties/a/christmasgame.htm
http://www.amazingmoms.com/htm/christmas_party.htm
http://www.littlekidsgamesonline.com/christmas-party-games.html

Have a great Christmas!

Ipod versus Zune

2008-11-17T17:52:00.003-05:00

Many kids my age are looking for a music player. There are a lot to choose from . The ones I chose from were the Zune and Ipod. The Ipod and Zune have some things that are similar and they have a lot of differences.

The Ipod and Zune have some features that are the same. The first thing that is similar is that they both have video. The Ipod and Zune both will let you download movies, music videos, and TV shows. Also, they both can play music. The Ipod plays audio books in the same way the Zune does. They both play music, movies, and audio books. The Ipod and Zune have all the basics of a music player.

The Ipod and Zune have a lot of differences. The first difference is the Ipod has games but the Zune does not. The Zune is a rectangle shape but the Ipod is square. The Ipod has Itunes, however the Zune does not. The Zune is available in 4GB, 8GB, 30GB, and 80GB, but the Ipod is available in 1GB, 2GB, 4GB, 8GB, 80Gb and 120GB. The Zune has wi-fi, however the Ipod does not. The Ipod has a glass back, but the Zune has a plastic back. The Ipod has a circle click wheel. In contrast, the Zune has a square click wheel. When it comes to features, the Ipod has more.

I like both the Ipod and Zune. It is hard to choose between the two. I bought the Ipod 3rd generation 4GB Nano and I am happy with it.

Review by #1

Lapbooks, lapbooks- Oh My!

2008-11-17T17:21:00.004-05:00

Yes, another one! That kind of sounds like what my kids say to me when I start getting lapbook materials out!:)

This is a fun one that we did when we went to Chicago this year. I was trying to find something "educational " to do with the kids while we went to a family reunion. I posted a question on a lapbooking Yahoo group that I belong to and someone had the idea of giving the kids disposable cameras to record the trip from their perspective. I thought that it was a great idea. I bought three disposable cameras and the kids were thrilled with the idea.

Overall the kids did a great job taking pictures, but #3 (the youngest) took a lot of pictures of the rental car! Not scrapbook material for sure. When we got home, I took the cameras to Walgreens for developing, and that was an education in itself. It was funny that my kids had not ever had pictures developed from a camera with roll film. Boy, I felt old!

When we got the pictures back, we spent an entire morning putting it all together. We saved all of the ticket stubs, etc... from every where we went during the trip. The kids laid all of their pictures and souveniers out and put them into piles based on which day we did them. Then we did the layout for Day One then Day Two, etc... They were very proud of the finished product. Here is an example from #2's lapbook.

Math Lapbooks

2008-11-17T17:09:00.003-05:00

I have been wanting to post some of our lapbooks for a while now and I am finally going to give it a shot.

My youngest did an addition lapbook that is basically flash cards made from index cards. On one side of the index card I wrote the addition problem and on the other side he wrote the answer. My eldest had the fun job of checking the answers! I like this lapbook idea because it makes flashcards an activity he can do himself. When I am busy with child #1 or #2, #3 can just sit on the couch and drill his addition facts with himself. My only stipulation is that I have to be able to hear him reading the facts aloud.

He decorated it himself!

Mirror,mirror on the ...

2008-11-16T21:26:00.000-05:00

Isn't it funny how God works? I know that there are plenty of personality issues that I need to work on but when God holds up the old mirror and let's me have a good long look at myself, it is convicting! Yesterday son #1 was rushing us to leave for a swim meet and he was frantic because we were late leaving. His mania made me stop in my tracks and think back to the week before when I was trying to rush the kids out of the house to go to basketball practice. I had reacted the same way. Guess I know where he got all that hysteria from!

I pray that God can help me be a better example for son #1 as to how to handle stress.

Why vote in GA's Run-off

2008-11-14T17:52:00.000-05:00

If you live in GA, the most important vote of your life was not last week. In fact, you have the opportunity to make that vote your least important of the last half of 2008.

First, a word about pres-elect Obama. I did not vote for him but I am not a fear monger. I hope and pray that he will be a good president. There is good that can come from his presidency. Just one example.... we have a black man married to the mother of his children in the highest office. Surely, this will have a positive effect on young black men in America who today look to rappers who, overall, live a lifestyle terribly destructive to the family.

So, I can see the oportunity for good. Maybe you think he will be awsome; but do you have the confidence to give him the greatest political power in our life time? That is what Jim Martin's election would do. The Dems will have the presidency, a significant majority in the house and a significant majority in the Senate. That has been decided. But there is a huge difference in what they can accomplished with a 60 seat majority vs. a 59 seat majority in the senate.

Usually states vote for their open seats all on the same day, so no citizen knows if their particular vote will be this important. No one could have know for sure on November 2nd who would be elected President or how many seats each party would have. But in this once in a lifetime situation, we in GA will decide for the rest of the country if there will be one party rule where some of the truely bad guys like Harry Reid and Nancy P will have an unstoppable super majority.

Look, I do like Saxby but even if I did not and if Jim Martin was a great guy who I went to church with, I would still vote for Saxby in this particular election. The 60 seat majority issue is just too important.

So that is why, for the 1st time in my life, I signed up to be a volunteer in an election. As of about 3 hrs ago, I am part of the Saxby re-election team.

I would appreciate your thoughts and would encourage everyone, please vote early or either fill up your car with as many legal voters as possible on December 2nd and go vote for Saxby. If you live in GA, this is the most important political vote you have ever had the opportunity to cast.

Yeah! We did it!

2008-11-14T17:26:00.000-05:00

Well, thanks to my ten year old son our family now has a blog. I am hoping to post items that we are doing in school and co-op and anything else helpful I can find. Also, I am counting on my son to do some of the blogging himself!:)