$1 & $2 School Resources for Sale

Prices do not include shipping, but I will ship media mail, which is very cheap. I can take funded paypal or check/money order.

All items are in gently used condition.



*Comprehensive Reading and Writing Assesment - grade 3 - $2

*Scholastic Write Away! by Stephen Krensky - grade 3-6 - $2(One author's favorite acitivities that help ordinary writers become extraordinary writers)

*Nonfiction Reading Comprehension - grade 3 - $2



*Science Made Simple - grade 2 -$2

*The Jumbo Book of Short-N-Simple Science - grade 2 -$2

 

*Scholastic 5 Minute Math Problem of the Day for Young Learners - grades 1-2 $2  SOLD

*Scholastic Science Write & Read Books - grades k-2 $2 SOLD




*Art Today and Everyday: Classroom Activities for the Elementary School Year - $2

*Kids' Big Book of Games - $2



*Happy Fall & Winter: Reproducible Activity Sheets for Grades K-1 -$2

*Alteratives to Worksheets: Motivational Reading and Writing Activities Across the Curriculum - grades K-4 - $2  SOLD
 


* Themes from A to Z: 26 Cross-Curricular Theme Units - Preschool & K - $2

*September Patterns, Projects & Plans to Perk Up Early Learning Programs - $2



*Spectrum Test Prep grades 1-2 $2 SOLD

*Reasons for Reading: 28 Reproducible Pages and Teacher's Guides - grades 3-4 $2



*Holiday & Seasonal Celebrations -PK-3 $2

*Families Thematic Unit - Early Childhood - $2

*Language Arts Step by Step Homework booklet - Level 2 $1 (vowels, blends, consonants, rhyming words, alphabetical order, sentences)

*Phonics Homework Helpers Book One - grade 2 $1
(consonants, blends, vowels - it seems more like grade 1 to me)

*Phonics Homework Helpers Book Two - grade 2 $1
(special vowels, consonant diagraphs)



*Activity Cards Stories to Finish - Middle grades - $1



*McGraw Hill Math K - $1

*McGraw Hill Math 1 - $1

*McGraw Hill Math Readiness ages 4-7 - $1

*McGraw Hill Phonices Readiness ages 4-7 - $1



*Scholastic Superskills K: Counting & Numbers $1

*Scholastic Superskills K: Shapes & Patterns $1



*Zoobooks set of 7 - $2 !!!SOLD

12:37 PM - Nov. 12, 2009 - comments {0} - post comment

File Folder Games

Occupying three little boys so that I can do "big school" with my oldest and entertain my baby can be difficult. File folder games are fun, simple, and inexpensive ways for little ones to learn on their own. To make the games you can buy a book with reproducible pages or check online for free.

Here are my little guys enjoying file folder games:

This is my two year old. He is matching fruit to their silhouetted shape. He loves this one, and will do it over and over again. The gameboard is made by gluing shapes onto the folder and then laminating the whole thing. The pieces are stored in a plastic baggie that is placed in the folder when its put away.

How much fun is it to match the front of an animal to the backside of an animal? Just ask my three year old.

This game is quite versatile. For the younger kids it helps with matching colors, but for my five year old it is working on word recognition. It seems like a simple game, but it really works!

Here are a few sites that offer printable file folder games:

http://www.filefolderheaven.com/

http://www.filefolderfun.com/

Have fun adding file folder games to your homeschool!

10:49 PM - Sep. 22, 2009 - comments {1} - post comment

Why We Homeschool

     I recently had the opportunity to set up a homeschool information booth at our church's Family Fun Night. It was so much fun to talk to the few ladies who came to me. I handed out packets of information and in them I included the reasons why our family homeschools. The reasons a family chooses to homeschool vary greatly, and what follows is why our family continues to homeschool, even when it is tough.

1. Greater opportunity to teach my children about God.

In Deuteronomy 6:7, God charges parents to teach their children His word as they sit at home, as they walk on the road, when they lie down and when they get up. We choose to keep our children home with us so that we have more time to teach them about God and His word.

2. Greater opportunity for family togetherness and unity.

Being together during the day provides a great opportunity for us to truly get to know each other without the outside time-stressors of school, teachers, jobs, etc. We are not all going off in our own direction with some family-time thrown in after homework. We are truly living, learning, and working together.

3. Protection of children from unsupervised exposure to unbiblical ideas and thinking.

When a child is in school all day, the parent is not there to guide him as he is exposed to ideas that contradict the Bible. It is very easy for a child to become confused about what is right and wrong with this kind of exposure. Homeschooling helps us to respond to wrong thinking and unbiblical ideas that enter our child’s line of sight by guiding them in right thinking and making known the Biblical proof for that thinking. This tends to leads to children who are stronger in their faith and more able to defend their faith.

4. Protection of children from negative peer interactions and influences

Who did you learn cuss words from? What about dirty jokes? When did you start questioning how your parents lived or what they believed? Unsupervised peer interaction with children from different belief systems can weaken a child’s view of right and wrong, his appreciation for the God-given institute of family, and undermine the values we try to teach at home.

See article, “What About Socialization?”

5. Personalized education

This is a very common reason for parents to choose homeschooling. At home, we are not confined to giving our children a cookie-cutter education. We can personalize it however the Lord leads. We can use lots of hands-on activities for the younger students and even allow our wild boys to spend more time outside actually touching frogs rather than just looking at pictures of them. The pace of study is entirely up to us, and each child can receive an education that is perfectly suited for him.

6. Greatest opportunity for parental growth

When we are with our children all day and solely responsible for their upbringing and training, we sometimes bring out the worst in each other. This is okay; it’s not something to shy away from. These times expose our own and our children’s weaknesses. When these weaknesses come to light we have the greatest opportunity for growth and change. Plus, we learn right alongside our children all the history, math, and grammar that we either forgot or never knew in the first place.

7. Freedom

Homeschooling is incredibly freeing. We are not tied down to anyone else’s schedule. We don’t have an arbitrary teacher deciding how our child will spend the evening by assigning hours of homework. The Board of Education doesn’t declare when we can go on vacation. We are completely in charge of our children and our lives to live as the Lord leads.

9:20 AM - Jul. 31, 2009 - comments {3} - post comment

Homeschool Update

Teaching my oldest son (he's 10)  to read has been such a struggle. He is one of those kids who loves math and science, but not reading and writing. Couple that with the fact that I was a first-time homeschool mom and I didn't know HOW to teach a child to read, and we had several years of slow movement in the reading department.

Every year I use the online DORA reading assesment from www.letsgolearn.com. It helps me to see his progress and where he needs work. Yesterday he took the test and I'm happy to announce that his reading comprehension went from mid-third grade last year to mid-ninth grade this year. I'm simply amazed.

I don't write that to boast, but to encourage other moms that your struggling reader really can improve. I believe the improvement is due both to simple maturity and to practice, practice, practice.  Some children, especially boys, are just not ready to read at age four or five. I think consistent exposure and TIME do wonders for boys who are struggling to read. Find books that your boys will want to read and then give the chance to read to you, to their little siblings, to anyone who will listen and not criticize.

I was convicted about the criticism aspect when I took my child to a reading specialist and saw how she interacted with him. She was so laid-back and encouraging. She was not all frustrated or critical. As homeschool moms, we feel so much pressure to get our kids to 'perform' and make sure we prove ourselves to non-homeschoolers. I struggled with this and I created such a negative enviroment, its no wonder the kid hated reading!

Now, we will not talk about spelling. Oy, we have A LOT of work to do in the spelling department. Several ladies have reccomended Sequential Spelling for remedial instruction, so I ordered it last night. THe first eight lessons are free online, so we'll work on those until our order gets here. Next year, I hope to report that his spelling ability has increased by as much as his reading comprehension.

9:15 AM - May. 5, 2009 - comments {6} - post comment

John Taylor Gatto's "Underground History of American Education"

I'm pouring through virtual pages of John Taylor Gatto's most famous work "Underground History of Ameican Education". Its available HERE to read for free.

So far it is fascinating. I wouldn't suggest it if you are happy with the way you view the American education system. It might just change your mind.

3:00 PM - Mar. 31, 2009 - comments {1} - post comment

Streets with No Kids

The past few times I've been out in the middle of the day with my kids I've noticed something eerie. Someone has taken all the children! There are slow-moving elderly people, college kids in pj pants, working women in stiletto heels and business suits, and young moms with babies. But there are hardly any kids older than four.

What is happening? Who stole all the children?

Oh, yeah. The institutionalized school system did. For some reason, it really struck me how odd it is for our society to be so age-segregated. We've taken the children and locked them up all day. We've sheltered them from people of all ages, and instead stuck them in rooms filled with only children who were born in the same year. We've convinced ourselves that the best way for children to become socialized is by learning from their peers.

Because of that, our streets are empty. Adults don't even know how to feel about children anymore, because we spend so much time away from them. We view them as burdens, messing up our personal goals and desires. We look forward to the time we can lock them back up in their age-rooms. The separation makes it easy to overlook their bad behavior and their bad behavior makes the separation easier.

We are so used to being separated that certain cities are even now making daytime curfews for teens. Before child-labor laws, which were good and necessary to an extent, children were capable producers in soceity. Now they are simply hazards who cannot function unless surrounded by their peers.

Eerie.

1:54 PM - Mar. 26, 2009 - comments {2} - post comment

Blessings in the Dumpster

My husband has been helping with the remodeling of our church's new youth building. For the demolition the church rented a huge dumpster. One evening, hubby noticed that several textbooks had been thrown into the dumpster. Our church also has a Christian school, so he figured the teachers were getting rid of old editions. Knowing his wife LOVES books, especially textbooks, Christian books, and anything homeschooley, my husband and son dumpster dived and came up with about 100 old books.

I was a happy woman! God always provides in funny ways. The best find was a worldview curriculum called "Understanding the Times". There were also two big binders of character curiculum, 50 copies of one science text and several of the state history text. So, I'll be donating the excess to the local homeschool community.

8:53 PM - Mar. 22, 2009 - comments {2} - post comment

Why I Homeschool

Here is a wonderful quote from a very wise mother of ten. Elizabeth is the author of Raising Godly Tomatoes, and runs a website and forum by the same name.

I know that a lot of people think I'm over-protective and that's why I homeschool. Or that I'm overly controlling and that's why I homeschool. They think I'm paranoid that my child will hear a dirty word, or that I'm paranoid that they might want a boy friend or girlfriend. Or they think that my biggest fear is that my kids will get into drugs or sex or some other horrible thing. But no, that's not really why I homeschool. I homeschool because I don't want my children to learn to THINK like an unbeliever. I don't want them to be persuaded toward the secular mindset. I don't want them to be led astray by the ungodly psychology-based teachings that have now captured the hearts of MOST of our country's people. We are no longer a "Christian" nation and can no longer trust our school to uphold Christian values and thus teach right thinking. It's time for us to break away and protect our children from this influence if we possibly can. I am so thankful to God for providing us with the window of opportunity called "homeschooling". I am very concerned that this window may soon begin to close as our nation as a whole turns farther and farther from God. I am concerned about this for my grandchildren's and great-grandchildren's sake!

Her site and wisdom have blessed me more than I can tell.

4:31 PM - Mar. 20, 2009 - comments {1} - post comment

School and Books

Yesterday was a good school day. We got a lot done and the boys had fun. It helped that momma tried to be patient and kind all day.

Here's what a typical moment in ou schoolroom (aka dining room) looks like. The littles are doing playdough (note to self: don't buy RoseArt playdough, it leaves color on the kids' hands and is too gooey) and the oldest is working on grammar. We often do grammar verbally, but this lesson was really more appropriate for written work. The 2yo really should have been wearing a shirt, as we are keeping the house cooler, but he likes to take his clothes off. ??

We turned the table sideways in the room, instead of longways directly under the light fixture, to have more space. It works really well, and now I have room for Miss Darlin's swing in the corner. Here she is sleeping amid the chaos of her brothers.

My father-in-law gave us a label maker that he procured for free. I love it! I labeled all of our bookshelves. The nerdy librarian in me got incredibly excited. The labels are coming off because our shelves are painted, but I think I can put a bit of packing tape over the labels and it be just fine.

I love our schoolroom. It makes me happy. I have some more reorganizing to do to get it 'just right', but we have so much fun doing school in there.

9:20 AM - Oct. 29, 2008 - comments {6} - post comment

New Schedule

We're working a new schedule today. I'm trying to get Little Miss Darlin to realize that we sleep at night and stay awake during the day. She seems a bit confued on the matter. Plus we're trying to jump back into school, which is difficult with a screaming baby who is supposed to be asleep but is so tired that she can't fall asleep on her own. I need more hands.

12:22 PM - Oct. 13, 2008 - comments {0} - post comment

School for the Morning

We're really enjoying Heart of Dakota. The littles are using Little Hands to Heaven and my 10yo is using Preparing Hearts for His Gloy. Here's some of what we did this morning.

4yo loves to cut. He's cutting out pictures of women for his "Number 4" page.

2yo loves to cut too, but mommy cut his pictues out for him. He just made random slices in the paper. But he's so cute!

The 1yo didn't really grasp the scissors concept. He basically pretended to cut and then tore the paper.

Here's the 10yo working on his history project. HOD uses 3 days of each unit (or week) to work on a history project, and this week's is a clay map. Today he made labels for his map.

Yes, his handwriting needs work. Ugh.

10:38 AM - Sep. 9, 2008 - comments {0} - post comment

Homeschool Room

We turned our dining room into a 'study', ie...a homeschool room. Its not totally done. I have to put painted molding up around the maps for a faux frame. They are too big to laminate or have framed, so I just stapled them to the wall and I'll add molding to finish them off. They are the Rand McNalley Classic World Maps from Staples. I love them, but their size made it hard to figure out how to protect them.

Sorry about the blurry picture. I need curtains, and I have the material to make some...but I just have to do it!

Here's my favorite part...the bookshelves. As a library geek, I love bookshelves.

Share a pic of where you homeschool.

9:09 PM - Aug. 14, 2008 - comments {6} - post comment

School Update

We're on day three of school this morning. We've finished preschool with the littles and the 10yo is wokring on his independent histoerwqry study. He made a shield with a coat of arms for his history project. I'll edit this post at some point today and add a picture.

School is more difficult that I thought it would be, especially the morning session. The little ones need to learn to sit still and listen, as they can be very distracting to their older brother when we are all together in the schoolroom. They love doing preschool, especially the fingerplays that we are learning with Heart of Dakota.

Of course, my 1yo has been especially needy the past three days. I've never heard the word "Mama" so much. He wants to be held or picked up or played with constantly. I'm not sure what's going on there, but it has made the schooltime more difficult.

During my free time (yeah right) I'll post some pics, just to keep things interesting!

9:53 AM - Aug. 13, 2008 - comments {0} - post comment

First Day of School

We started our new schoolyear today. Other than the fact that I have three active little ones to occupy, it went really well. I enjoyed Heart of Dakota, it was easy and went quickly. Little Hands to Heaven (the program for 2-5 year olds) only took about 30 minutes, and that included painting! I don't have any pictures to post, as we were too busy actually DOING school for me to take pictures.

Preparing Hearts for His Glory, the program for 8-10 year olds, took a little less than four hours. We split it up into two sessions. My 10yo worked on his independent and semi-independent work while I was working with the littles. We did poetry during lunch, and he exclaimed "That was a beautiful poerm!" Haha. During naptime we did the more intensive stuff, like math, language arts, and Bible study, so I could give him my full attention.

I'll try to post pics tomorrow. Our new schoolroom (the dining room) is looking good. My husband worked so hard this weekend to get it painted and to put the bookshelves in. He also waxed our floors, and that made such a difference. (Check out the post about our ugly floors.)

1:55 PM - Aug. 11, 2008 - comments {4} - post comment

New School Stuff

Our new school stuff came in the mail yesterday, and we had a blast looking through it.  We are using Heart of Dakota this year, and it should be fairly simple and easy to use. I don't really have to do anything, but I hope to take a day to make copies, organize files, and write up a schedule.

Our 3yo will be turning 4 in August and he'll be doing HOD (Heart of Dakota) Little Hands to Heaven. The 2yo will tag along with him. Here's the 3yo with his stash of books. We added the Rod n' Staff preschool ABC series for busywork.

and no...we don't wear shirts around here. Just kidding. This little guy hates wearing shirts and insists that he is being Superman when he goes around shirtless.

For the 9yo (who will be 10 next week), we're using HOD Preparing Hearts for His Glory. We haven't recieved our math yet and we're still waiting on seven books that will get here in the next day or so.

I love not using textbooks. The idea of "living" books has been something we've always implemented into our school. We have never been a textbook family.

We have tried many things over the course of our homeschooling career, but we are finally getting comfortable with what works for us. Twice I've used a program because I spent money on it and didn't want to be wasteful. I knew that it wasn't working for me, but I thought..."If I can just be more organized I can make it work". Well, just know that there are programs out there for every kind of mom. We shouldn't have to change who we are and how we function to fit a homeschool curriculum.

12:47 PM - Jul. 10, 2008 - comments {2} - post comment

Box Day

Today is BOX day!! I'm so excited, I can hardly wait. What is box day, you ask? Box day is when a great big brown box of school goodies arrives at the front door.  I love box day. This year we will have two box days. Our first box is arriving from Rainbow Resource and will contains about 70% of our curriculum. The other box will be from Heart of Dakota and should arrive tomorrow or the next day. 

I'm a little late in ordering this year. I was trying to sell old homeschool stuff in order to buy this year's curriculum without using the credit card. I was almost successful, I had about $50 to go, but I got antsy and went ahead and ordered. We are still awaiting the sell of an entertainment center and a guitar. Those things would pay for the rest of the curriculum and hopefully some remodeling we want to do.

I'll post some pictures when our box gets here. Then, of course, I'll start writing the several posts that will outline our school plan for the next year.

9:03 AM - Jul. 9, 2008 - comments {0} - post comment

Sonlight Language Arts for Sale

Sonlight Language Arts 1 - Beginning to Read
$13 PPD

• Week 8 is wrinkled
• A few Student Activty sheets are randomly filled out in pencil. The majority are
  like new.
• This Instructor's Guide is from before the revisions of last year.

Sonlight Language Arts 2 - Reading with Easy Readers
$11 PPD

• Week 1-4 have been written on
• Week 2 notes are missing
• Week 10 has mysterious smudges?
• Student Activity Sheets 1-7 are written on, and 11/12 is missing

If you are interested, please leave a comment with an email address. Be sure to scroll down and see my set of Sonlight Science 2 for sale!

12:35 PM - May. 15, 2008 - comments {0} - post comment

Sonlight Science 2 For Sale

Sonlight Science 2 - $50 + shipping

• Usborne Book of Knowledge
• Usborne Book of Science Activities Volume 3
• Usborne Living World Encyclopedia
• Marie Curie's Search for Radium
• Magic School Bus: Lost in the Solar System
• Magic School Bus: Inside Earth
• Science 2 Instructor's Guide
• Science 2 Activity Sheets

All books all like new, except the Usborne Book of Knowledge. Four of the pages had been stapled together (because of inappropriate content). The staples have been removed carefully, but small holes remain.

The first page of student activity sheets has been written on lightly and erased.

If you are interested, please leave a comment with an email address. Thank you.

12:22 PM - May. 15, 2008 - comments {1} - post comment

Getting Back to "Normal"

The family spent last week getting back to normal after my week-long jaunt to sunny (ha-ha) California. Today, the boys did school for the first time since I left. We had a great day, and its wonderful to be back to somewhat-normal.

I just love short lessons. They make everything doable. I finally implemented them a few months ago, even though I've read about Charlotte Mason's ideas since the beginning of our homeschool.  I found a great curriculum that looks like it is exactly what our family needs. It is based on Charlotte Mason's theories, and is actually open-and-go.

www.heartofdakota.com

For my 9yo I'll be ordering the "Preparing Hearts for His Glory" package. For the littles, I'll order  "Little Hands to Heaven". I'm excited because it teaches in little chunks, without getting too bogged down in anything. The creator, Carrie Austin, will be creating guides through middle school, so I'm planning on using this curriculum from Pre-K to 8th grade. I really have been trying to streamline our homeschool, so that we stop jumping from method to method and curriculum to curriculum. This seems like a perfect fit for us.

Heart of Dakota really tries to work with the little ones and give them a good foundation, rather than working around the older children. The older children are taught to be more and more independent as they become fluent readers (mom is never out of the picture, though.) This is the reason I didn't go with Tapestry of Grace. It was so focused on the older children, that I thought my youngers would get left out. I do think I'll use Tapestry of Grace during High School, unless something better comes along in the next five years.

So, now that we're back to normal, I hope to be blogging regularly. I have a great post called "A Little Perspective for Thin People" based on several disturbing conversations that I've overheard lately. Check back, I'll try to post it on Tuesday.

7:09 PM - Mar. 24, 2008 - comments {0} - post comment

California Family

Turns out that the California family that the judge ruled against were not members of HSLDA.  When they started having trouble, they didn't contact HSLDA. Clearly, this is why homeschool families should be members of HSLDA. This family could have avoided all of this by calling HSLDA at the first sign of a problem.

We joined last year, and we don't regret it. I encourage all homeschool famillies to join. It is a small price to pay for a little extra protection from roque lawmakers.

9:02 AM - Mar. 6, 2008 - comments {0} - post comment