Do you have songs that just stick in your head? Ones that you just can’t shake, no matter how hard you’ve tried to get rid of them over the years?
{It would be here that I could remind you of jingles such as the Oscar Meyer Weiner song and send you merrily humming away….but that would be mean, so I’ll just leave that out.}
This week has been a little bit crazy overall with part of our family here and some traveling for a funeral. Even though I was here with the two youngest...and the primary kiddos for Preschool Corner, guess how much we got done.
That would be a zilcho. Nada. Nothing.
Unless snuggling up together, having fun on playdates with others {to distract a little boy who wanted to take a road trip}, and eating ice cream counts as a ummm....learning experience. {grins}
We did squeeze in a few things earlier in the week, but I am going to hold off until next week to post about those things and instead ask you all for a little input. I'm in the process of putting together my website and would like to add a blogroll and link back to all of you that are a part of the Preschool Corner {Carisa was the one that suggested the idea to me}.
I've put together a list of sites that I've pulled from past MckLinky's, and would love it if you all could look over the list and let me know if I missed you! Leave a comment ~ I do have the links for the blogs below already in place, they just aren't showing up here. Please let me know if you have been participating in the Preschool Corner and your blog is not on the list {or if you do not wish for your blog to be on the list}.
Adept Serendipity Adventures in Mommydom Celebrate Every Day Cheerios Underfoot Children Grow, Children Learn Confessions of a Homeschooler Delightful Learning Diary of a Nouveau Soccer Mom Fifth Street Academy Home Grown Hearts Hope Sprouts Jedi Homeschooling Mama Jenn Monkey See, Monkey Do Monkeyin' Around Mouse Grows, Mouse Learns Never a Dull Moment One Little Room One Little, Two Little One Mom, Five Boys Our Happy Hearts Will Never Roam Our Worldwide Classroom Refined Metals Academy Run the Earth, Watch the Sky Spell Outloud Spesamor Academy Treasure Seekers The Work of Childhood
About the Preschool Corner
The Preschool Corner is a place for us to share the ideas we are using during our "preschool time" with our kids. You can join in the fun and record what you are doing in your house. Please link your exact blog post to the Mr. Linky below (if you have questions feel free to ask). Be sure to link back to this blog post so that your readers can find some other great ideas too!
The guidelines can be found here if you need them.
Share what you've been doing in your house this week!
Wanted to pass along the dates for the 2010 Homeschool Days in Colonial Williamsburg to you all in case you are interested! Dates are not up on the Williamsburg site yet, but here they are:
February 27th - March 7th
September 11th - 26th
The focus during each of the homeschool days timeframes is a little different. The spring days place more of an emphasis on domestic life, apprenticeship and typical family life. The fall days focus on government, politics, and the Revolution.
Yesterday I gave you all a little peek at something that I've been working on ~ my new website!! Carisa at 1+1+1=1 gave me the last little 'nudge' to get things going and it's coming together little by little.
My goal is to have all of my printables and resources in one place, making easier for you all to find them! So...you won't have to go digging through past posts to find everything, or sit and wait patiently for Scribd to download the files.
Over the next little bit, things might be shifting around some on this page, but this blog will still be right here - just links are changing around! Stay tuned for more!!
If you didn't catch the link, check out the Awana Bible resources that I've been pulling together!
This is my first week participating in Raising Rock Stars ~ not that we haven't been doing anything with our kids, but this would be a week that we actually took pictures and spent some time as a family {i.e. with Daddy} doing a focused activity together.
We've been talking about pumpkins with the younger two and we have never carved a pumpkin together as a family. Rick and I had different reasons up to this point for not doing it and this year...well, we decided to use it as a teaching/learning opportunity with the kids. We used the printables that Carisa put together her post last week and had fun making 'Christian' pumpkins. Kaleb had fun trying new ways to color...
We talked about how God scoops all the nastiness and yucky stuff out of our lives and how our lives shine the light of Jesus to others. We had fun coloring, reading a poem together and deciding how our pumpkin was going to look after Daddy got done carving. The end result?
During the week the kids are also attending Awana at a local church. This is our first year participating and they are loving it! All three of the oldest are using the Sparks books {Zachary is in Book 1 and the girls are using Book 2}. I am AMAZED at how much they are remembering!!
To make it a little more fun and incorporate it into our school time, I'm making printables to go along with the different verses the kids are learning. We have a large 8 1/2 x 11 sheet that hangs up for the kids to see, a 4 x 6 card that slips into a photo book so we can flip through the verses we've learned and sentence strip/word cards so they can put the verse together like a little puzzle. The word cards are great for Zachary and helping him really identify the words too!
The girls focused on Proverbs 20:11 {WingRunner Red Jewel 1:4} this week ~ "Even a child is known by his actions, by whether his conduct is pure and right." We talked about Samuel and the importance of listening to God and hearing His voice.
Zachary's verse was 1 John 4:19 {HangGlider Red Jewel 1:4}~ "We love because He first loved us."
Want to know something interesting about me? Not so many years ago I was completelyopposed to homeschooling.
{Did that grab your attention??}
My mom homeschooled my two brothers and wanted to homeschool me, but I refused. Call me the stubborn oldest child. The obstinate senior who wasn't about to be yanked from the school I'd known for years just to sit at home.
Besides. I'd seen homeschoolers. They were weird. VERY weird ~ and I wasn't about to become one of them. Homeschooling was still pretty new at that point and the examples I had of homeschooling were a far cry from the vision of how I pictured myself socially and academically.
My irritation only grew as the years progressed. I mocked. I scoffed. In debate class in college I gave wonderful tirade vehemently against homeschooling, point by crushing point. My debate teacher later approached me and thanked me for the great information, because he and his wife were considering homeschooling.
{It's here that I insert my formal apology to both my professor and his wife - please forgive me!}
When exactly did my opinion change? I don't know if I can put my finger on a specific moment in time. I think I would say it was more of a gradual change. I worked in our local school system, knew the ins and outs of it and was prepared to continue teaching once our kids were old enough to go back to school.
Then I had one little girl...and another. A little boy...and another. Life started changing faster than I knew was even possible.
The year Laurianna was ready to go to school there were a number of different reasons that pushed us in the direction to homeschool, the main one being I just KNEW that was what I {we} was supposed to do. Even though I was scared to death, I figured I really couldn't do much to mess up kindergarten, right?
Now, here I am four years later...grateful for the amazing opportunity that I have with my children, but sometimes wondering how exactly I got to this point. Especially in light of my firm opposition to homeschooling and the promise that I would never put my kids through 'that'.
Disclaimer: Before I start this review, I'm going to say upfront that I do NOT recommend this product. I will share a few reasons why in the body of this review but am truthfully just hitting on the tip of the iceberg in my concerns.
Overview of the Product
The Amazing Bible Timeline is a large {37" x 45"} poster that shows 6,000 years of world and Biblical history in a color-coded circular format. It begins with Adam and shows the breakdown of nations throughout history, color-coding the different families and nations.
Once the Flood occurs it shows how many of the different nations came through the sons of Noah {Ham, Shem, & Japeth}. You can see what was happening in different nations at specific points in history. The timeline is broken up into 100 year segments so you can quickly find a time in history when looking for events.
My Thoughts
Before I go any further, I will say this: As a homeschooling mom {or a mom in general}, my responsibility is teaching my children our beliefs and I will do all that I can to ensure the my children are given materials that support our beliefs. I do not feel that is wrongly rejecting a faith that doesn't match our beliefs ~ it's doing what God has called ME to do and fulfilling the responsibility I have to my family. I am also responsible for the materials that I put in front of them and being aware of what that product contains.
Initially I was excited about the timeline, but we received an email from the company addressing several questions that other Crew members had raised about the timeline. That response raised a few red flags for me and I began to dig a little deeper into the company itself and really examining the timeline.
I rolled out our timeline and found a few things. In two different locations on the timeline their were references to Mormon theology/beliefs. One was a direct reference to the book of Mormon {A.D. 400} and another a reference to Joseph Smith and his travels {A.D. 1800} ~ neither something that our family would consider accurate Biblical history.
To give you a little deeper history on the company, they produce both a LDS {Latter Day Saints} version of the timeline and also a non-LDS version {the one I was sent to review}. In 2000, the original 'blueprints' for the standard version were accidentally destroyed and the company had to backtrack and recreate the timeline based off the LDS version. They admit there may be mistakes or things that they 'missed' in removing because there are over a thousand references on the timeline overall.
My Concerns
Here's the basic sum-up of my issues/concerns:
The two errors we found on our timeline were obvious errors ~ ones that specifically mentioned LDS names or references. If they missed these two obvious references, what other errors might still remain that are not as obvious?
It has been NINE years since the original was destroyed and it seems ludicrous to me that in that length of time these obvious mistakes were missed. Personally, if I had purchased one of these and paid nearly $40 after S/H, I would be calling the company and demanding a refund.
Quick math would tell you that you could easily review the timeline THREE times in one year if you only studied/examined ten references a day. Yet somehow, they've had numerous proof readers {non-LDS} who missed the obvious references for nine years now.
I understand that mistakes are mistakes, but I personally struggle with a product that contains errors that tie into the basic integrity of the product and the fact that a profit is being made off of careless mistakes. You would be upset if a spelling program taught you how to spell inaccurately, or if a science book taught you incorrect formulas. A spelling error on the timeline would a mistake ~ referencing the book of Mormon on a product geared toward evangelical Christians/non-LDS is more than a little mistake.
There are other issues I have in my dealings with the company that have left me with even more questions. However, I'm at the point where I don't want to give the company any more 'screen time'.
Do I recommend the product? Absolutely not. Would it be a good fit for your family? ~ that depends on your beliefs and your personal convictions. Only you can make a decision for your own family.
The Amazing Bible Timeline can be purchased for $29.95 {plus $6.00 S/H} and also comes with a digital version of the timeline as well as interactive maps of the Holy Land.
Click on the Homeschool Crew banner to read other reviews about this product.
Thank the FTC...I was given this product for review purposes, and I do not have to return the product to the vendor. I was not paid for this post. All opinions expressed in this post are mine.
I'm itching to make some new printables for preschoolers. I have a few things that I'm working on, but nothing super huge like some of the ones I've done in the past.
So, I'm asking you all!!
What printables are YOU looking for? Leave a comment and let me know what you would like to see and I'll get my creative juices going!
This was my last week working with the co-op kids, so next week it'll be my own kiddos that you see here. :) Back to normal ~ as much as that actually happens around these part!
While I have been going alphabetically up to this point, next week I'm going to start mixing it up a bit and skipping around the alphabet.
Just for fun {and to most likely drive myself and others crazy}. I haven't decided if I'm going to let you all in on my rough plan of what we'll be studying...because then that means I have to stick to it and there are times that that just doesn't happen!
If you're new here or linking up for the first time, be sure to let us know!! Leave a comment and say hi ~ I'd love to stop by and visit you!
Here's how our week with the letter F worked out. If you need some more ideas, be sure to check out this post I did earlier with different ideas to use in your home along with some printables. Alphabet Book
We made a 'fire' with a marshmallow to toast for our alphabet page this week.
You'll Need:
Red, yellow and orange tissue paper cut into small squares
{Note: I cut out the pieces ahead of time since we have a short amount of time and a lot to do ~ otherwise I would recommend letting the kids cut out their own pieces as much as possible!}
1. Cut the tissue paper into 2" squares and the brown construction paper into rectangles to make 'logs'.
2. Push the pipe cleaner through the marshmallow as best you can {you might need to help out with this part, since ours were a little tough to do}.
3. Have your child glue the logs into an 'X' shape to make a wood pile to build their fire. Crumple up the tissue paper and glue it above the logs to make a fire.
4. Glue the marshmallow on the stick to the alphabet page. Art
Foxy F ~ We made this foxy letter F together too - you can read more about it on this craft post.
Game
I Spy ~ Here's the next installment in our 'I Spy' the alphabet series. There was a LOT to find in the classroom this week!
Songs and Rhymes
Two Feet Song {to the tune of 'Sally has a red shirt'....well, I think that's the tune...}
I can walk with two feet, two feet, two feet, I can walk with two feet, all day long.
Repeat filling in with:
I can jump with two feet... I can hop with two feet... I can run with two feet... I can march with two feet... I can skip with two feet... I can slide with two feet... Additional Resources
Feelings ~ Can you guess how these kiddos are feeling? Sleepy. Confused. Scared. Surprised. Angry. The kids had a blast acting out the feelings cards that I used from Carisa over at 1+1+1=1. You can download a bunch of great activities on feelings on her site.
Stories & Books We Used:
I know. There's a LOT of Froggie books in this line-up. But I LOVE Froggie. Really, I do ~ and the kids do too!
About the Preschool Corner:
The Preschool Corner is a place for us to share the ideas we are using during our "preschool time" with our kids. You can join in the fun and record what you are doing in your house. Please link your exact blog post to the Mr. Linky below (if you have questions feel free to ask). Be sure to link back to this blog post so that your readers can find some other great ideas too!
The guidelines can be found here if you need them.
Share what you've been doing in your house this week!
We recently bought our own GPS and our kids have been fascinated by it. They love watching the directions on the screen and 'seeing' where we are going ~ and how far it is. Kaleb, our two year old, has even started shouting out directions of left/right now even when we don't have it in the car.
If you've heard of geocaching, you have a good idea what Educaching: GPS Based Curriculum for Teachers is all about. Educaching takes technology and brings it into the classroom, providing you with lesson plans, activities, and ideas to make learning fun and teach your kids the ins and outs of coordinates and mapping using a GPS.
What Educaching Includes
Teacher's Manual {geared for grades 4-8}
20 detailed lesson plans
reproducible field sheets and activities to go along with the lessons
Information on grant applications {to obtain your own unit to use @ school}
The manual {$32} starts out detailing how to use a GPS and what geocaching is all about, giving information to help 'train' the teacher on the process. The lesson plans cover a variety of topics for various age ranges {12 beginner, 6 intermediate, 2 advanced} and can be used in a large classroom or in a homeschool setting. A few lesson topics: Grand Slam, Dino Discovery, Which Tree is Which, and Rain Birds. You can view a sample lesson on Rain Birds here. The lessons touch on different subject areas: math, language, and science and also provide national standard levels for the various subjects.
Obviously, you will need a GPS or other handheld device capable of mapping coordinates to be able to use the curriculum. The one we have allows us to switch to pedestrian mode, so we didn't have to have a special unit for the study.
My Thoughts
We did the Dino Discovery unit and the kids used the coordinates to find the hidden bones. When they had all been located and mapped on the field sheet, we came inside to put the bones together and 'create' a skeleton.
The Educaching teacher's guide provides enough lessons to keep you busy, but it also will get ideas going in your own mind for future activities to do with your children, and you have the field sheets to continue using with other lessons. If you have a GPS receiver {or know someone who does}, this would be a great way for you and your family to have a little fun exploring and learning together!
To Learn More
Visit the Educaching site for more information or to purchase the product. There are two different options for purchasing:
Educaching Curriculum in 3-Ring Binder with a CD with customizable templates for your use. {$32.00 plus $6.95 S&H}
PDF format emailed to you within 24 hours ($32.00}
We have the pdf version but I think I would honestly spend the extra $7 to have it already printed out and in a binder to use right away! :)
Click on the Homeschool Crew banner to read other reviews about this product.
Thank the FTC! As a member of the Homeschool Crew, I was given this product to review, and I do not have to return the product to the vendor. I was not paid for this post. All opinions expressed in this post are mine.
Monday I told you all about Sarah Books and how much our girls are enjoying them. I received an email today from Jim Baumgardner {the author} with a special for my readers!! Some huge savings, so keep reading!!
These specials are available by MAIL ORDER ONLY and you need to have a special form from me ~ so you'll need to leave a comment with your email address if you would like to use the special.
Special for Friends {Not offered on Sarah Books website ~ Order by mail only}
Sarah's Wish ~ $8.50 {retail: $10.00 ~ save $2.49} Sarah's Promise ~ $10.50 {retail: $14.99 ~ save $4.49} Sarah's Escape ~ $15.50 {retail: $21.99 ~ save $6.49}
Extra special offer: Purchase all of the items above and add an extra copy of Sarah's Wish for $4.00. You can give it to a friend!!
If you're looking for some Christmas gifts, email me now and I'll pass along the flyer to you!!
{a.k.a. An excuse to throw a ball at your brother's head and pretend it's all in fun ~ ahem}
Need a quick and fun game to play with your kids that will get them thinking and learning ~ but still have a little fun?
We recently bought an inflatable globe and play a game of catch with it. Whoever catches the globe has to name where either of their thumbs have landed.
Depending on who is playing, they have to tell me capitals, a famous landmark in the area, important features of that country, etc. This is great for learning map features such as mountain ranges, rivers, and borders as well as identifying the continents and oceans for younger children.
It's quick, easy, gets a little energy out, and the globe is soft enough to not cause any major head trauma.
Need some more geography games and ideas? Be sure to check out this post at Heart of the Matter Online.
Home School Blog Awards has a brand-spankin' new nomination form this year for you to nominate your favorite blogs. Twenty-five categories and an entire web full of possibilities.
{Click on the button to start nominating}
A few new guidelines for this year:
~ Nominate only one blog per category – once. That means once you have logged in and nominated, you can’t come back and do it again… unless you didn’t nominate all 25 categories. Once you have all 25 nominated, you are finished.
~ Do not nominate one blog for MORE than one category. Sorry, but no more nominating your mom’s blog for all 25 categories.
~ If a blog does not get nominated in the same category at least three times, it will not be in the final voting stage for that category. You will find out who made the finals in November.
What are you waiting around here for? Go nominate some of your favorite ladies {and guys too!}. The fun part is visiting all the blogs once the nomination process is done and meeting new people!
During the peak of the Underground Railroad, Sarah's mother, Rachel, helped by opening her home to slaves as a stop along the 'railroad'. When Rachel is killed in a buggy accident, Sarah promises to continue helping the 'packages' arrive safely at their destinations and do all that she can to continue the care of the slaves.
Sarah is an orphan though, and she still needs to find a family. She is taken in by Granny Evans until a more permanent family can be found, but she still has the responsibility of guarding her mother's secret.
About the Author
Jim Baumgardner is a grandfather of nine who wrote the books for his homeschooled grandchildren. This excerpt from a letter that he sent along with the book sums up so much {and says it much better than I could!}:
"The Sarah Books are authored by me for my grandchildren. I say that so that you will know these books do not have any sex, profanity, or anything that would be offensive to young readers. I would never subject my grandchildren to such writing.
The books have been referred to as Christian fiction. I prefer to describe them as Young Adult fiction written by a Christian author. Sarah's faith is important to her and she lives by it, but the books do not try to convert the reader to anything. The stories do teach Christian principles of living a good life and treating others as you would have them treat you. I do not ignore the evil in the world and Sarah must confront it at times just as we all do."
Our Thoughts
Our girls have been reading and listening to Sarah's Wish by Jim Baumgardner over the last few weeks....and really enjoying it! At the back of the book is a code that unlocks a digital download of the files so you can listen to a reading of the story.
Laurianna has been reading the story as part of her independent reading time {3rd grade}, but the book was a little over McKenna's reading level {2nd grade}, so she is happy to have the audio version and be a part of the 'review'. As we've run errands and travel we have the audio version {about 4 hours long}, playing in the van for the kids and me to listen too. The audio version is read by one person who uses different voices for characters, which the kids think is hilarious.
The girls love period/historical books, so this book has been a lot of fun for them to read and listen too. Both thought the book was a little sad at first because Sarah's mother died, but quickly were wrapped up in the storyline.They have really enjoyed it and I'm glad to add another audio book to our listening library that will also teach the kids historical facts.
Learn More
If you'd like to learn more about Sarah's Wish and other books in the series, you can visit Sarah Books online. Sarah's Wish is available directly from the company {$9.99 w/ free s/h} or through Amazon. If you order directly from the company, you'll receive an autographed copy. Be sure to check out the other books in the Sarah series ~ Sarah's Promise and Sarah's Escape.
Click on the Crew banner to read other reviews about this product.
Thank the FTC...As a member of the Homeschool Crew, I was given this product to review, and I do not have to return the product to the vendor. I was not paid for this post. All opinions expressed in this post are mine.
It's been awhile since I've posted what we're doing with Kaleb, partially because Mommy is falling into the slacker department and not doing as much intentional stuff as I originally planned. Because sometimes life happens and then Kaleb gets the short end of the 'teaching' stick.
On the bright side, he has his letter sounds down pat and is signing the days of the week thanks to a few Leap Frog dvds...But when I DO actually plan, remember to take pictures and when my camera decides to work, there can some actual Tot School results.
Exhibit A: Found these great simple puzzles from Leap Frog that have shape matching and also numbers and letters. We just worked with the shape matching this week.
Exhibit B: Blurry, but proof that we also played with blocks this week {from Discovery Toys}. We had fun naming colors and stacking them together to make a rainbow.
Exhibit C: Sink time and 'washing dishes'. Why I haven't let him do this sooner is beyond me! Kept Kaleb occupied for quite some time...even though I had lots of water to sop up later.
Exhibit D: The dry-erase board was pulled out along with the markers {he is fascinated by markers lately} and he had fun scribbling and writing along with all of us.
Exhibit E: Wii Time with Outdoor Adventure! Kaleb loves the pipe slider game on this as well as the jumprope game - but needs a little help with the mat patting, so the other kids help him out.
Exhibit F: Scrunchies on a stick. Great activity for fine motor skills and we also use it to name colors and count how many are on the stick.
Exhibit G: Silent reading time. Kaleb crawled up in bed next to me the other day and grabbed a book from Rick's nightstand. Just cracked me up because he was so intently 'reading'. Especially because of the book title.
Don't forget to visit Carissa at 1+1+1=1 for some more Tot School posts.
Eggs and elephants were the topics we covered this week for class. Once I started with the elephants it was a little hard to stop, especially once the handprint came into play. :) Too cute and too fun.
Be sure to check out my Letter E post from last year too for some additional ideas to use for the letter E, including a printable collage sheet, a different alphabet page and games.
Before I forget, if you are looking for the links to past alphabet posts, they are all at the bottom of the blog in the footer. Alphabet Book
You'll Need:
Gray paint {we had fun mixing black and white together}
Paintbrushes
Green markers
Pink 'ears' for your elephants
Googley eyes
Wet wipes {for quick clean-up}
To Make:
{Note: I cut out the pieces ahead of time since we have a short amount of time and a lot to do ~ otherwise I would recommend letting the kids cut out their own pieces as much as possible!}
1. Mix up the paint {if needed} and have kids color grass along the bottom of their alphabet sheet.
2. Paint your child's hand with the gray paint, completely covering the fingers and palms.
3. Have your child place their hand on the paper {fingers pointing down toward the grass on the bottom} and gently press hand onto the paper so that the paint transfers.
4. Add an ear and an eye to your elephant and paint a thin tail.
Art
Elephant E ~ This week our letter craft for that looks like the letter we're learning about was a fun little elephant. You can see it up close and get directions in my E is for Elephant post.
Games
Egg Matching ~ I put numbers on one end of a plastic Easter egg and the same number of dots on the other end. The kids had fun counting the dots and finding the number match {works great if you either mix up the egg colors or use all the same color egg}. They also counted out pieces of elbow macaroni to put inside, depending on what number was on the egg.
Uppercase/Lowercase Matching Game ~ Found a great letter E matching game over at Homegrown Hearts where the kids sort upper/lowercase letters. Be sure to check out her other E printables.
I Spy ~ These are things that we found either in our classroom or brought from home to share for show and tell. Can you find the things we spied? {this will print great as a 4x6 print}.
Science
During our group time, we took a raw egg and put it into a jar filled with warm water {it sank}. I made some observation sheets for the kids to predict and record what would happen when we added salt to the water.
We added a LOT of salt.
And it finally floated up to the top {thank goodness}.
Songs and Rhymes
During our group time we sang the song "Do Your Ears Hang Low" and then later replaced the word 'ears' with other body parts: elbows, eyes, knees, hands, etc... and the kids had fun trying to see if they could throw those things over their shoulders.
One of the boys is VERY flexible and can put his foot over his shoulder!
Additional Resources
Be sure to check out another one of my posts for some more ideas for teaching the letter E. There are some different activities and printables in that post too!
Stories & Books We Used
About the Preschool Corner
The Preschool Corner is a place for us to share the ideas we are using during our "preschool time" with our kids. You can join in the fun and record what you are doing in your house. Please link your exact blog post to the Mr. Linky below (if you have questions feel free to ask). Be sure to link back to this blog post so that your readers can find some other great ideas too!
The guidelines can be found here if you need them.
Share what you've been doing in your house this week!
During the peak of the Underground Railroad, Sarah's mother, Rachel, helped by opening her home to slaves as a stop along the 'railroad'. When Rachel is killed in a buggy accident, Sarah promises to continue helping the 'packages' arrive safely at their destinations and do all that she can to continue the care of the slaves.
