Free Map Download Samples at
Knowledge Quest
Click on the Right hand book then scroll halfway down the page. There is an add to cart button for free map downloads. The shopping cart will come up with $0.00 and then you can fill in your information to download the free maps.
I have two boys ages 9 and 14. I know some homeschooling parents out there have five or six kids but for me it's just these two. We have a special day out of the week that is set aside for "Home Economics".
On "Home Ec." days they get to choose one subject that they can omit for that day.(One of the major reasons why I think Home Ec. day is so popular at our house!)
They choose a recipe that we are going to fix and print it out or copy it from one of our recipe books. They check the pantry for ingredients, prepare a list for the grocery store and hopefully find coupons for some of the items needed.
Home Ec. day is also a day when we have to do all of our chores. Laundry is sorted, things are generaly organized and picked up and we learn something new about household management (ie. how to run the washer, dryer, dishwasher, vacuum....)
After all of our chores (household management class) are finished we set out on the grocery trip.(throw some math in here by searching for the best price)
When all is said and done we have great memories of cooking together and my boys have learned fractions, measurements, following directions and all kinds of useful information.
By the way, they both make GREAT pies!
Fall is such a wonderful time of year. And a great teaching opportunity.
Head outdoors and explore your yard. Collect leaves to make a collage. (you know I love a collage) Investigate the science behind the changing of the leaves. Study the difference between the trees in your yard. Look at the different flowers that are blooming this time of year.
Check out the migration that's going on around you. A great time to teach about hibernation and the life cycle.
How about investigating some of the wives tales associated with different animals appearing? Like the one about the color of "wooly worms" telling you what kind of winter you should expect. Ivestigate where that started.
The possibilities are endless.
If you haven't explored Eduplace.com you are missing out on a great resource for your homeschool. Pick your state and grade level and you're off and running. This site could easily be the best free resource I've found so far. I've always had trouble finding good teaching resources at our local library for social studies. Problem solved! I'll be using Eduplace for our social studies from now on.
Fun Math Games
Lots of printables, boardgames and all kinds of resources for making math fun.
My goal in our homeschooling adventure has always been to teach my children how to learn.
In my perfect world I sit (perfectly dressed and made up of course) quietly blogging and reading my email while my children sit happily reading and advancing to the next lesson in their books all with little help from me. According to popular self teaching methods all of our children should need little help with their work and will advance quite quickly on their own.
Yes, in a perfect world this would all work quite nicely. Alas, I do not live in a perfect world. My children constantly yell "Mom, help!" The response of "Read your chapter and you will find it." is met with "I've read the chapter and it's not in there!" Until finally I point out (within 5 seconds) exactly which page the answer can be found. Frustration abounds.
Amazingly if I sit next to my children while they work they usually can do most of the work themselves. Maybe they just need my presence to help them stay on track or just the thought of my being right there is reassuring.
On to other things.
Has anyone had any experience with Cosmeo.com? I am looking into this for my kids and would appreciate any feedback.
Happy Homeschooling!
I admit it, I get stressed about homeschooling. I worry if my kids are learning enough. Am I covering enough material. Are they at a level on par with other kids their age? Are they falling behind?
And actually sometimes I just get plain tired of coming up with interesting learning ideas. Maybe that's not something we homeschoolers admit very often, but it happens to me.
When I start feeling overwhelmed, stressed and just plain tired, I turn to our local library. Granted, we use our library for a lot of our curriculum anyway. But, when I start to get cranky and frustrated I just check out some textbooks and give myself a break. The kids work out of the textbooks for a week or so and I take a break from performing the homeschool supplement shuffle.
I really don't think they are losing anything and sometimes it gives us an idea of other areas we need to concentrate on.
So, when you're feeling flustered just pick up a couple of textbooks and take a break. The kids are still learning and you can take some time to recharge.
Check out the free online classes offered by the UW. Hamlet, Gullivers Travels, Html..... Lots of interesting classses to investigate, all FREE.
OpenUW Free Courses
As homeschooling parents we're always looking for free worksheets and other printables. School Express offers free worksheets in every subject. This is a member site but you can freely print one activity set a week without being a member. It's worth checking out, they have some fun stuff.
I'm back from vacation, refreshed and ready to teach. While getting some things ready for my boys this week I ran across a great site for phonics. Words and Pictures A site out of the UK that uses fun games and printables to teach phonics. You can have your young ones make up fun poems and silly sentences to post in the gallery.
I'll be on vacation for the next week. So, I won't be posting. I'll return on the 24th of September hopefully recharged and ready to go.
You know I love to find sites with Algebra help. Well, this one is a dandy. It has step by step lessons. Categorized by subject. Even worksheets for practice that you can click at the end to check your answers. This is a very handy site.
Algebra Help
Did you know that we have President Martin Van Buren to thank for the expression "OK"? Lots of very interesting little known facts about US States, Presidents and other important people in history at Americas Library.
Homeschool success, those two words can have many different meanings for different people. How do you measure that success? Is it when your children are healthy, happy, well adjusted and learning? Or do your measure your homeschooling success by the academic level your children have acheived? I guess it depends on what your goals are. Of course I want my children to acheive academic success but, their morals and character are much more important to me.
Do they have to master calculus to be moral upstanding citizens? Must they solve quadratic equations with ease to be a good husband and/or father? If my boys grow to be respectful, law-abiding, God-fearing, moral men, I will classify our homeschool journey as a great success.(Even if they don't master calculus!)
Technorati Profile
Reeko's Science Lab has easy and fun science experiments to try with your kids. The site is a lot of fun. It has a monthly science puzzle that you find the answers to on other parts of the site. Also a search for hidden pots of gold that is kind of like finding a needle in a haystack. Find a hidden pot of gold and get your name added to the hall of fame. A neat site for younger kids.
Just a personal note.
Steve was my youngest son's hero. Our family spent many great hours marveling over the passion and dedication of the Irwin family.
Steve Irwin has taught us so many wonderful things over the years and he will be missed very much by this family.
Our prayers go out to the Irwin family and the entire Australia Zoo staff.
Yes, your children are learning history, literature, math and science. What are you learning from your homeschooling adventure?
Are you learning to pick your battles? Sometimes things are not wirth fighting over. So you do history today and put math off for tomorrow, big deal, if it all gets done who cares?
Are you learning who your children are? Watching your children grow and develop into individuals is a humbling gift of homeschooling.
Are you learning patience? This one I'm sure everyone can chuckle at. Patience, are you kidding? Of course I'm learning patience. Do you know anyone besides homeschoolers who can disect a snake, complete a unit study on Ancient Egypt, explain Algebra to a hormonal teenager all while doing laundry, running errands and getting dinner ready without a meltdown?
What are you learning from your homeschool journey?
The 36th Carnival of Homeschooling is up at whyhomeschool blog. Labor Day edition. Take a couple of minutes to browse some other great homeschooling blogs.
A lot of homeschoolers use Donna Young's site for planners. If you haven't taken a look around it's definitely worth your time. Donna Young has organizers, planners, assignment sheets and lots more. Everyone can find something useful.
When we first began our homeschool journey my children had been in the public school system. They both struggled with different areas.
My oldest was put in Special Education classes because it was determined that he had a learning disability. We were never told exactly what this disability was, only that he was reading below grade level.
I have come to the conclusion that my son was never challenged to read in the public school system. Granted, I think a lot of it had to do with his attitude.
When we started homeschooling I was determined to get him reading at his grade level. We started when he was in the middle of seventh grade. His literature selections at first were from the fourth grade curriculum. It was easy reading for him and helped build his confidence, but he was still reading very slowly. We decided to use a speed reading course to help him with his reading speed.
When we started using the speed reading for kids course he was amazed at how easy it was and it realy boosted his confidence. He was so excited by his speed reading ability that he started devouring all the books(at fourth grade level) that we could find. Gradually I started increasing the level of difficulty of his reading material. The keyword here is gradually. He would read at least five books at each grade level before I increased the difficulty. I'm proud to say that now my son in in eigth grade and reading at a ninth grade level.
The whole point to this rambling post is that I don't feel the public school system was challenging my son to increase his readiing ability. They were enabling him to stay at the same reading level with all the "special" treatment he recieved. Tests were read aloud to him and more time was allowed for testing. They never expected him to read anything for himself.
Challenge your children to progress. You'll be suprised by what they can accomplish. If excellence is expected it will be pursued.
It is a miracle that curiosity survives formal education.
Albert Einstein
Remember when your children were three or four? They asked Why 5 million times daily. What happens to our children's curiosity? Do we discourage it because we're tired of explaining? Do they suddenly not care why anymore?
It is so important to foster curiosity as a homeschooling parent. When children learn why something happened they have a better grasp of a subject than if they just learned the where and when. I try to encourage my children to ask why. Truthfully, yes sometimes it gets a little frustrating. But if I will not teach them how to find out why they will be satisfied with just learning the where and when.
Thankfully, as a homeschooling parent we can take the time in our day to research the why when it comes up. I for one think my children are better for it.
tampareads.com has great printable phonics worksheets for kindergarten and 1st grade. Personally, I feel phonics is the best way to learn to read. Phonics is so important for beginning readers. Having a good foundation is the first important step towards a complete rounded education. If you can read well you can learn anything. Phonics is the first step in the journey.
A great site for Algebra tutorials. 36 Algebra lessons to get you up to speed. Printable and even includes practice tests. From West Texas A&M University.
Beginning Algebra Tutorial
abcteach.com is a membership site that has oodles of information. The membership fee of $35 is discounted $5 until September. Even if you don't decide to buy a membership this site has tons of free printables. Math worksheets, unit studies, maps, book report forms and lots more. Check it out!
I mentioned in my last post that we play a version of Trivial Pursuit that we've made up. The Homeschool Trivial Pursuit reinforces our lessons every month.
We made a gameboard based on the Trivial Pursuit game.(or just use your Trivial Pursuit Gameboard)Everyday I give my kids 5 index cards. They have to come up with 5 questions from the lessons they are studying. We put these cards in an envelope everyday. At the end of the month we pull out our cards and play Trivial Pursuit.
Again, it reinforces the lessons they have studied all month, and it's a nice break the kids look forward to.
My kids struggle with mental math. We came up with a fun card game to practice our mental math skills. *Warning - this post might ramble a bit!
Our game is played with two decks of regular playing cards. Each player starts with ten cards. The object of every round is to "go out" like Rummy. Every round is played by creating an equation with the cards in your hand. For example, in round "1" all cards layed down have to equal 1. You can use addition, subtraction, multiplication or division. We don't pay attention to the suits, just use the numbers. 9+2-Queen equals 1. I would lay down my 9,2 and Queen.(Face cards are 10 and Aces are 15.) We start by drawing one card and always discard one card. It really has helped mine with mental math skills. It really starts to get interesting when you get up to the double and triple digit rounds. I'm amazed by some of the equations my kids come up with. It's really neat when they can lay down all of their cards in a single play. I think this works so well for us because my kids are very competitive. They love to play games like Scrabble and a version of Trivial Pursuit we made up.
Just a fun game we use to take a break from "regular math class"
Oh btw, we keep score in our card game also. All the number cards on the table are worth 5 pts, the face cards are worth 10 and aces are 15. If you don't "go out" you have to subtract the cards left in your hand from your score.
This is a neat little site. Oceangram.com Send a message in a bottle. We received one that had been to Australia,Nova Scotia,Canada, the UK and Scotland! Warning, I've heard it doesn't work well with dial up.
If you have a math whiz at home you've got to check this out. Mathman Teaching seven year olds Calculus! Amazing.
If you have kids that think math is boring and don't want to do their math work give them a break for a day. Let them "play" on Funbrain.com They will be using math skills to play arcade style games. It's fun and FREE!! I had to think when I was trying out some of the games. You can go all the way up to an eighth grade level with some algebra thrown in.
If you're worried about teaching Algebra check out CoolMath.com A great "in plain words" explanation of Algebra with practice problems games and lots of other cool stuff. Progresses through PreCalculus. The step by step lessons are great and the examples are easy to understand.
Math is a sore subject at our house. Finding games to help my kids with math is a priority for me. We use Math.com for a lot of our lessons. You can start with basic math and progress through calculus.
AAAMath.com is a good site for elementary age kids. Tutorials, games, practices, and lots of other great resouces.
Just some of our favorites for math practice.
On Fridays we usually have a lot of errands to run. We tried in the begining to stick with our regular schedule for Friday's but it just didn't work. We were all pulling our hair out trying to get everything accomplished in the day. So we established "Fun Fridays".
On Friday's the kids get to do a project on any subject they choose. Today they chose Dragonball Z and Adam Sandler. They each watched a movie on the subject. Then later this evening we will look up historical information on each subject. Like, when Adam Sandler was born, what other historical events happened in that year. What state was he born in? What is the capital and major industries if that state?
My oldest son loves art so he will probably make a collage(one of his favorite things to do) about everything he looks up. It's a fun way to spend a Friday and gives the kids and me a break. They're still learning. Usually they find another topics they want to research further.
The Pledge of Allegiance
Study the history and the meaning of the Pledge of Allegiance.
Then head on over the Brainy History and see what else happened in the year 1892. This site is an amazing jumping off point for history lessons.
Because I'm Crazy? No, that's not it.
Our decision to homeschool was really a long drawn out process. I should have homeschooled my oldest son from first grade on. Looking back I wish I would have. It really would have saved me and my son alot of anguish.
When my oldest was in kindergarten I had reservations. My parent/teacher conferences were never pleasant. Apparently my son had a "learning disability". O.K., he could recognize sight words, tie his shoes, count, color, add, played well with others and was not a discipline problem. Being a young mother I believed the "experts" that pronounced my child as "learning disabled". He was tested and put into learning disability classes.
In first grade he was separated from the "regular kids" to go to "LD" classes. Now I don't care how much teachers insist that LD kids are not labeled and they take immediate action to prevent teasing, it happens, kids are cruel. I saw my bright, inquisitive child turn into a sullen, pouting boy who did not want to go to school.
This continued in second grade until the "experts" then decided that he needed to be on ritalin. Again, he was never a discipline problem, was very polite, and did not disrupt the class. Go figure! We had him on the meds for about six months, at this point I was completely discouraged by the school system.
We spent third grade through sixth grade trying to get him out of the "LD" classes. Where we're from that's like trying to navigate a minefield blindfolded.
By seventh grade I was done, I quit my job and pulled my oldest out of school. We started by just reading and reviewing math. I wanted homeschool to be relaxed and enjoyable not school-at-home. We took it easy for three months to become accustomed to eachother again. After three months my oldest was doing most of his work without my immediate supervision. I would check his work and guide him in a certain direction but he was making alot of the decisions on what he would study and when.
My youngest son was begging to be homeschooled. By that time the oldest was doing better than even I expected so I pulled out the youngest at the end of his third grade year.
My oldest is in "eighth grade" this year. He is reading at a 10th grade level and starting Algebra. This from a child who was "Learning Disabled"
My youngest is in "fourth grade". He is reading at a sixth grade level and doing long division in his head. BTW, the school system wanted to have him tested for learning disabilities in the first grade but I refused. His former teacher told me he was "way to immature" to be in third grade. (Of course he was immature, he was eight years old!)
Anyway, our decision to homeschool came from a long and painful journey through the red-tape, paper signing in triplicate public school system. I do not regret my decision,It's the best decision I've ever made, I only wish I would have made it sooner.
I just started a new forum for homeschoolers over at my hslit-collections.com site. So please join me for discussions on homeschooling.
hlsit-collections forum
The classic Elton John song was running through my head today. Not only because I'm a big Elton fan, but also because I don't know what to do about my kids bickering. Does everyone's children aggravate eachother to the point of madness. Do you sometimes want to send them on a long boat to China.(preferably with thier father at the helm so he can deal with "he's touching me" "stop" "Mooooooooommmmmm!")
I know it's normal for kids to argue and pick at eachother. But can't we all just get along for one solitary hour. No fighting over who lets the dogs in. No arguing over who unloaded the dishwasher last. No touching eachother just to see who gets mad first. No taking eachother's food(why do they do that?)
I did my fare share of irritating my brothers when I was growing up and I for one would like to formally apologize to my Mother. Mom, I'm sorry I picked on Brian till he cried(for you of course). I'm sorry I dropped the picture on Craig's head. I'm really sorry for every picky little thing I did when I was little to make you "so mad you can't even see straight". Thinking back now I realize, my kids are normal. My brothers and I used to do the exact same thing.
Guess I'll just have to wait them out. Gotta go...I hear and argument starting again.
"Do not tie your brother to the chair!"
I have been crowned (trumpet please) The Greatest Mom in the World! I think the crown is in the mail. Sadly, there will be no parade for me. I have been given this wonderous title by my nine year old son. What, you might ask, do you have to do to be nominated for such a title? Apperently you only need to pick up a dead snake from the middle of the road and allow your child to keep it in his room. (For Science, MOM!insert eyeroll here)
The snake is double bagged in Ziploc, (clear so he can observe it) and has an expiration date of two weeks or upon point of stench.
Well, if you have a nine year old boy in your house you too can be nominated for (another trumpet if you will) The Greatest Mom in the World! Just find yourself something equally as gross as a dead snake and bring it home. You'll be in the running in no time at all.
If you want to see if your kids are retaining what they've been learning all week try these sights out.
nationalgeographic geospy
A fun quizz type game where your kids get to be a spy and take on assignments "if they choose to accept" *site will not self-destruct in 3 secconds. :)
Geography Game
This one is addicting. Especially because it gives you instant feedback. A very cute idea. My youngest one will probably really like it.
Yeahhhhhh!!!!! It's Friday!
To reinforce those lessons you've been teaching all week try out some Geography Drills
Edu4kids.com has a page that tests your states and capital knowlege. A little advanced for my young one but may be helpful for some older kiddos.
Lizardpoint.com has a really nice online quiz to help your kids locate the states on the map. I think I'll try this one with my youngest.
That's all for today. Check in tomorrow for more Geography fun sites.
Lots of teaching tools and interactive fun at www.school.discovery.com If you like to stick to the plan you will
like this site. It gives objectives, disscussion topics, and vocab words for
each lesson.
Geography Games Site that has what looks to be hundreds and hundreds of games to play related to Geography.
Maps and Other Fun Sites
Maps and Games for kids helping to learn Geography. Atlapedia's site is quite interesting, allowing you to view politcal and physical maps of countries listed A-Z. When you choose a country you are taken to a page that gives all kinds of interesting information including a brief history of the country. Printable maps.
www.atlapedia.com
Lonelyplanet is an interactive site. Fun for kids to explore. Gives "Fast Facts" , capital city, area, population, official lanquages, religion, and currency. An interesting site. One I will definately use for my kids.
www.lonelyplanet.com
I will be focusing on Geography this week. Mostly because my youngest is learning the states and capitals. Geography was not something I excelled at in school so I'm re-learning right along with him. Maybe it will stick a little better the second time around.
Geography Goodies
www.50states.com: A site listing all the vital statistics of the fifty states. Flags, songs, birds, capitals....
www.netstate.com: Nicely organized with interesting facts about the 50 states. Also has printable maps and quizzes.
Learning the states and capitals can be fun.
I found a great research site today. www.42explore.com A great site to start research or a project. They have an extensive list of subjects which when you click on you are taken to pages given definitions, and external links to explore. Get ready to spend some time here. This site is easily navigated and could be used by elementary age children easily to further explore a topic.
My favorite part is the "Be an Explorer" box that gives activities to complete including webquests, games and more. A great site for Mom's trying to come up with interesting ways to teach.
www.42explore.com