This week I thought we would start with something for your little ones. Lookybook.com is a website that allows you to look at picture books in their entirety, from cover to cover. This is a great way to preview books before you buy or to look through books and know which ones you want to add to your library list. My kids even enjoyed having a few of them read to them from the computer screen.
Now, I have something for mom! A friend of mine keeps raving about the website menus4moms.com. I finally checked it out and it looks great! You will find free weekly dinner menus, grocery shopping list software, organizers and planners, home organization and kitchen articles, recipes, and more.
Next, I have two free E-Books for Homeschool group leaders. Money Management for Homeschool Organizations and Tax Exempt 501c3 Status for Homeschool Organizations are both offered by homeschoolcpa.com. These free E-Books will help you organize the finances of your group and discuss the pros and cons of being a nonprofit corporation and obtaining 501c3 tax exempt status. You will find both of these free E-Books HERE.
On the Company Porch you will find a great new contest with a prize from Classical Astronomy. Someone will win a copy of the book Signs and Seasons. You can read all about it HERE.
Make sure to keep reading and check out The Old Schoolhouse® Magazine exclusive Freebie Friday offer further down in this newsletter.
I'll see you next week right here at - Freebie Fridays!
This week I have a great variety of freebies for you!
How would you like to get 280 free math worksheets to use with your kids? Math Mammoth is offering just that! All you have to do is subscribe to their newsletter. (You can unsubscribe anytime.) You will receive a file with 280 great worksheets from their blue, green and gold series of workbooks! You can read all about it here.
Knowledge Quest is offering a great new Unit Study on Brazil. The study includes reading selections, history, timelines, mapwork, recipes and crafts. You can click here to find all the information.
Cardamom Publishers has just released their latest Special Report called Ten Tips for Coping with Temperamental Teens. This is a great little pdf file filled with great tips on coping with the teen years. It is written specifically for homeschoolers. As a mom to a 13 year old, I found the information quite helpful. You can download it free here.
Did you know only 18 percent of America's children are eating three or more servings of fresh fruits and vegetables each day? The California peach, plum and nectarine growers - and Scholastic, have created the Summer C curriculum. This is a fun way to communicate how peaches, plums and nectarines are good sources of Vitamin C. You can download the curriculum free here.
I'll see you next week right here at - Freebie Fridays!
This week I have some great freebies for you from one of the vendors in the Schoolhouse Store. Googol Learning offers a variety of Audio CDs and DVDs that make learning googols of fun for the whole family!
The first freebie they are offering is a free download of two of their songs. This is a great opportunity to share these high quality toe tapping tunes with your kids! You can download both Crazy 4 Math and MATHemACTION for free at this link. You can also download the lyrics to the entire Crazy 4 Math Album at the link above. (I was thinking about using some of the lyrics as copy work for my 7 year old daughter.) Along with this freebie, they are also sponsoring a Crazy 4 Math contest. Your kids can share their creative math ideas by describing how they use math in any activity they love to do - a sport, game, craft, hobby, or anything else.
Next, check out the Take Back Your Brain! Go TV VG Free challenge. You will find another free song download, tip sheet, and a creativity contest to enter.
While you are at the Googol Learning website, make sure you scroll down and look at the right sidebar. They have a whole list of other freebies listed there that I have not mentioned above!
Are you ready for Summer? Hop on over to the Schoolhouse Store and check out the Summer Reading Splash! You will find lots of free ideas, encouragement and downloads to keep your kids reading all Summer long. If that's not enough there will also be contests each week at the Summer Splash Blog. There is a contest ending tonight at midnight, so click HERE to hop over and enter to win a free book!
I'll see you next week right here at - Freebie Fridays!
You may have already heard that The Old Schoolhouse Magazine has gone Digital. We are now offering a chance to check out a Digital Issue of the magazine for free! Our Summer 2007 issue is loaded with good articles! You can click HERE.
When I was a kid I can remember playing hours and hours of hangman on the chalk board at school. Wordduck.com is a new site I just learned about with a less gruesome version of hangman. As you guess the letters there is a duck standing on boards over a river. Each time you get a wrong letter a board falls out from under the duck. If you lose too many boards your duck falls in the river. All along the duck talks to you, although you can turn him off if he becomes annoying. The great thing about this site is you can upload your own word lists. I played this for awhile with my kids, and we all had a great time with it! You can check it out HERE. to read more about the issue and find the link to the freebie.
The Schoolhouse Store is also offering a free Summer Reading Program for your kids! There will be great freebies and prizes. You can learn all about it HERE. This is going to be a lot of FUN!
I frequently get requests for more freebies for teens, so here is a great one! ChristianTeenBibleStudies.com is offering a great free Bible Study for teens. It is suitable for personal studies, youth group and for your homeschool. You can learn all about it HERE
Lastly, Mari over in the sales department is looking for a telephone sales representative to work from home 20 daytime hours a week. If you are interested, you can learn more about the job HERE.
I'll see you next week right here at - Freebie Fridays!
Mother's Day is a week from Sunday. Since most of us are Teacher and Mom, here are some freebie's for your students to make YOU for Mother's Day!
Here is a great card your kids can make. This card will be a lovely keepsake. There are pull out cards where the kids can write a list of the things Mom does for them. Then, there are three other pull outs (That spell out M-O-M) for your kids to write things they appreciate about you. (If you happen to have 3 kids like I do, then each child can write you a special message.)
Here are some free Mother's Day Coupons for you to print and your kids to fill in. These not only make a great gift for Mom, but they get some handwriting practice in, too!
This website has a lot of great Mother's Day crafts. There are a bunch of fun ideas like Oatmeal Soap on a Rope, Candy Roses or Handprint Magnets. Spend some time looking at this site, and you are sure to find something great to make with your kids! (These would make great gifts for Grandma, too!)
Lastly, check out the side bar to get a free book from Gospel for Asia. This book will bring you a radical life changing message! Don't miss out on this exciting free offer!
I hope you have a wonderful Mother's Day!
I'll see you next week right here at - Freebie Fridays!
The Old Schoolhouse Magazine® desires to help parents homeschool their children. We want to help you keep things fresh. So, we are working on creating many resources for you this year in the form of eBooks! Currently, there are eBooks being written on six topics, which include: special needs homeschooling, various "turning points" in homeschooling, one-income homeschool families, and the work-at-home homeschool parent. These eBooks will be available beginning in late May (tentatively). There are five more topics for which we want to start gathering contributors. If we use your ideas(s), your name will be included in the eBook, and you will receive a $5 gift certificate to the Schoolhouse Store, plus, up to three ebooks when finished. PLUS, an audio book, once they come off the press!
So, without further ado, please read through these topics and send in your responses to gena@tosmag.com - ONE email per topic please. DO NOT combine topics into the same email.
NATURE STUDY
Do you love nature study? TOS is compiling a new eBook that will be bursting full of ideas regarding nature study.
Have you implemented some really creative ideas to spark nature study time?
Share your ideas for creative nature walks
What are some fun activities to do during nature study?
Where are some interesting places to go?
Please send in your ideas for focused walks, activities, art, writing, places to go and anything else you have used during nature study that was creative.
CHARLOTTE MASON INSPIRED HOMESCHOOLING
How did you first learn of the Charlotte Mason philosophy of educating, and why did you decide it was right for your family?
How did you get started homeschooling this way? Did you follow the ideas ofanother source, (website, book or other) or did you implement Charlotte Mason's ideas yourself. Did you jump right in or implement it a little at a time?
How do you incorporate Charlotte Mason's ideas into your homeschool?
What is your favorite part of schooling the Charlotte Mason way and why? (For instance if you love the Shakespeare study, how do you make it fun.)
What is your favorite memory of homeschooling the Charlotte Mason way?
Where have you received support and encouragement to facilitate your use of the Charlotte Mason philosophy in your homeschool and how have these resources helped you? (For instance, message boards, coops, support groups, conventions.)
How have you seen your children, or even your whole family, change since you began homeschooling using Charlotte Mason's philosophy?
How have you utilized the Internet to support your schooling?
SELECTING CURRICULUM FOR YOUR CHILDREN
How do you determine goals for the year for your kids? What do you take into consideration?
What are your personal goals for your home school?
How have you customized a curriculum to meet your/your child's goals? Give aspecific example of how you customized it. Provide the age(s) of your child.
What are your tips and techniques for savvy curriculum shopping?
Have you ever changed curriculum during the year? What were your lessons learned?
For those of you who have homeschooling grads, what were your greatest successes? What are you so very glad you did curriculum-wise?
THE "S" WORD - SOCIALIZATION
What are the reasons/benefits of allowing your family to be the main tool of socialization?
How do you answer others when asked about socialization?
What ways to do use to provide extra opportunities (other than your family) for your children to interact with people, e.g. family ministries, co-op groups, organized sports?
What are some of the needs that your children have regarding socialization and what do you feel is the most important need?
How much socialization is enough for your children and how do you evaluate that?
What is your personal philosophy about "socialization" and why do you think the world's view of homeschoolers is nothing more than a myth?
TEACHING PRESCHOOLERS
What types of structured learning activities do you do with your preschoolers?(if any)?
How do you create a rich learning environment for your preschooler?
For the ones who have older children with harder academics, how do you find time to do separate things with the preschoolers? Do you include them with your current curriculum?
For the ones who have children who don't seem to be interested in school at all (especially boys), do you require schoolwork of them if they are preschool age?
How do you occupy them when you need to work with an older child, especially if you don't have older children that can do that for you?
Are there certain skills you feel preschoolers should know before starting kindergarten curriculum? What age do you start "doing school" with your preschooler? What types of jobs (or chores) do your preschoolers do to help out around the house?
How can we enjoy our preschoolers and appreciate what they bring to our lives without letting them overwhelm us in our school day?
One thing I love about homeschooling is how willing homeschoolers are to share resources with each other. Home School Launch is a website that gets homeschool parents to do just that. This website allows homeschoolers to upload the things they have created for their children to share with other parents. I found a bunch of great items at this site!
A few of my favorites are:
Headline of the Day - Write out a headline for your child on the top of the page and this worksheet will help them research the article.
How To Write A Check - This free printable has one check that shows you what goes where. Then the 2nd page has blank checks you can practice with.
Learn The Books Of the Bible - This is really neat! It breaks the Old and New Testaments up into Law, Historical Books, Poetry, Gospels, etc. There is also a brief description of each book. Kids have to find the correct book to fill in the blanks.
This website is a treasure trove of freebies! Not all members have uploaded files yet. I recommend you start at the Member List where it will show you who has files uploaded and you can start searching from there. You can also join for free and start uploading your own files to share!
Here is another great freebie for your family! veg4health.com is offering a free E-Book, Wisdom From the Kitchen just for Freebie Friday subscribers. Here is some information about the E-Book.
"Tired of trying to eat healthy but it's just too hard and too expensive? Then this book is just what you, your family and your checkbook need. Written by a homeschool mom with years of experience counseling and helping families change their lifestyles and improve their quality of life, this book will help you too. Best of all, the techniques, suggestions and organizational tools will enable you to easily prepare tasty, healthy meals and snacks that will please every palate - without spending more time in the kitchen, or money in your food budget."
All you have to do is sign up for the free newsletter and you will get a free copy of the E-Book. You will find all the information HERE.
Do you have a list of goodies you'd like from the Schoolhouse Store? I know I do! I'd much prefer resources that I'll use all year to flowers that will die or candy that I don't need! This is your chance to let your hubby know exactly what you need by sending him a Schoolhouse Store wishlist for Mother's Day. Not only that,but you have a chance to win a $150 gift certificate while you're at it! See details HERE or go right to the form HERE.
I'll see you next week right here at - Freebie Fridays!
The first great freebie I have for you this week is brought to us from Terri at Knowledge Quest Maps. She has put together a great Unit Study on South Africa, and it is all free! The unit study includes reading selections, history and timelines, mapwork, recipes, and crafts. This one looks like a lot of fun!
How about something to build your language skills? Freerice.com is a great and addictive website that gives 20 grains of rice through the UN World Hunger Program for every right answer you get. I played this one night for 2 hours with my teen son and his best friend, and it was a blast! We ended up earning 10,060 grains of rice, 20 grains at a time! LOL! This is a great website for teens and adults.
On a completely different note, this weekend Passover begins. HERE is a free Messianic Haggadah. If you are curious about seeing how Jesus fulfills the promises of the coming Messiah, celebrating Passover is a beautiful way to learn. My family has celebrated Passover for several years, and we look forward to it each year now. This Passover Haggadah is designed specifically for those who have been raised in the Christian tradition.
If you are interested in making a Passover Lapbook, my children made one last year. I have pictures and the links to all the printables on my blog. You will find it HERE.
I'll see you next week right here at - Freebie Fridays!
We have a new free E-Book for you over at the Schoolhouse Store! This month we are offering the 20 Learning Games from Trigger Memory Systems. This is a fun E-Book which can help bring more creativity to your homeschool. It is sure to give you ideas and instructions for making fun, inexpensive educational games to use in teaching different concepts. What's more exciting or effective than learning with games? Download this month's free E-Book and let your friends know how they can get a copy too!
While we are on the topic of putting some fun into learning, I found a free preview of the E-Book Music and Circle Time. While some pages are omitted from the preview, there are still a LOT of good ideas in this freebie! If you have little ones and would like to incorporate music, rhythm, rhyme and song into your homeschool, go check this out!
Hubbard's Cupboard is offering a free Joyful Heart Character Curriculum for children ages 4 to 6. This curriculum includes Bible and character lessons, as well as lessons on literacy, math, science, and excercise. There are lots of fun printables too!
The Company Porch is having a blog contest! You could win a $50.00 gift certificate to the Schoolhouse Store. You can click HERE for all the details!
I'll see you next week right here at - Freebie Fridays!
Below is a story idea for your publication, program or website. For reprint permission, please contact ncarter@thehomeschoolmagazine.com
Digital Magazines Deliver for Subscribers and Publishers
The popularity of an electronic format for books, magazines and newspapers is growing. According to statistics gathered by The International Digital Publishing Forum, sales of digital books in the wholesale market more than tripled from 2005 to 2007. In late 2007, Amazon's new electronic reader for books and newspapers sold out in a matter of hours. People are expecting information to be readily available via their computer, cell phone, PDA and other electronic devices. Magazines are no exception.
The Old Schoolhouse Magazine recently launched a digital version of their popular print magazine. "The digital magazine is very new technology for our audience," says publisher Gena Suarez, "but, we were amazed by the record number of subscriptions during the first week of our digital launch. Our customers absolutely love it!"
Current digital versions are now browser based, offering readers greater flexibility and ease of use than earlier PDF based versions. The 2007 Digital Magazine Reader Survey, conducted by Texterity, a leader in the digital magazine industry, found that 89% of respondents read the digital edition the same week and 42% read it immediately or the same day. In addition, 88% of those surveyed were either satisfied or extremely satisfied with their digital magazine experience.
Digital magazines subscribers present a varied demographic. In the Texterity survey, the average reader was 45 years old with over 17 years of work experience in their industry of interest. Yet, many magazines with a readership of 18-30 year olds are turning to digital editions to boost their subscriber numbers in this age group - a group that is harder to capture as print subscribers.
This high satisfaction rate can be attributed to the many benefits that digital editions offer readers:
Digital delivery means instant delivery. This is especially key for the international market, where delivery time of a print magazine can take up to a month or more. Digital subscribers can now read a publisher's information in a more timely manner.
Increased interactivity with advertisers. In a recent poll conducted by the Harrison Group for Zinio, a publisher of digital magazines, eighty- five percent of the survey participants felt the interactive advertising format was beneficial. In the Texterity survey, 90% took some type of action with a product or service. The majority of respondents, 65%, visited the advertiser's web site.
Ability to store the magazine on their computer and reduce paper usage. Many readers prefer the more earth-friendly electronic edition that can easily be retrieved at any time in the future.
Faster ability to find specific content of interest. The browser based platform of digital magazines provides readers with the ability to search on keywords. For example, a digital subscriber to The Old Schoolhouse Magazine interested in math resources for their child can simply search on the term "math" and instantly find all of the articles and advertisements related to math.
Instantly bookmark articles and advertisements of interest. Once a reader locates an article or advertisement of interest, they can instantly bookmark the page for future reference. Plus, by using the clickable table of contents, readers can readily access their favorite regular columns in the magazine.
Quickly share articles or advertisement information with friends. With digital editions, readers can instantly share an article or product information with friends via email. It's simpler and faster than making paper copies or remembering to take the print magazine along to share at a later time.
Digital editions provide benefits to publishers, as well:
Digital is a creative way to turn website visitors into subscribers. The availability of a sample digital issue on a publisher's site allows visitors to browse the magazine - an instant "try before you buy". Gena Suarez, publisher of The Old Schoolhouse Magazine says, "We love that visitors to our website can instantly see the high quality content of the magazine and the variety and caliber of advertisers. Keeping up with the latest educational resources is important to parents and teachers, and the sample digital magazine gives potential subscribers a peek into the high level of quality TOS provides."
Saving on print and distribution costs. Increasing fuel costs are reflected in higher costs for printing and mailing traditional paper magazines. The fuel and raw materials savings has become increasingly important to publishers.
Increased options for advertisers. The digital format provides more creative ways for advertisers to present their products. Links to specific pages, video or audio files provide a more enhanced interaction with the consumer that cannot be achieved with a traditional print ad.
Instant delivery upon subscribing. Instantly deliver a first issue to subscribers and increase customer satisfaction. This is especially attractive for publishers who print quarterly. Rather than the customer waiting until the next quarter's issue, the last issue published can be immediately delivered.
Subscribers can easily spread the word about the magazine. When reading a digital edition, readers can instantly share an article or advertisement with a friend. Readers can instantly put a copy of your magazine "in the hands" of potential subscribers.
Ability to sell back issues indefinitely. Suarez says, "In the past, many of our most popular issues have quickly moved to sold-out back issue status, but now with the digital version, we will be able to keep that content available indefinitely!"
With all of these benefits to both subscribers and publishers, it's no surprise that digital magazine subscriptions are on the rise and gaining popularity with today's readers.
About The Old Schoolhouse Magazine
The Old Schoolhouse® Magazine is the leading Christian homeschool publication
worldwide. Our mission is to produce a high-quality, Biblically-based magazine that
stands alone as a practical resource and introduces relevant products and services
to the home educator. It is our goal to strengthen and support families spiritually
and academically and challenge them to impact their world for Christ.
To request a copy of The Old Schoolhouse Magazine contact Nancy Carter at ncarter@thehomeschoolmagazine.com Please include your name, publication/website and mailing address with your request.Visit The Old Schoolhouse Magazine at www.thehomeschoolmagazine.com
This week I have decided to do something a little different. Instead of searching the Internet for freebies, I turned my focus to the freebies at The Old Schoolhouse Magazine.
Did you know that The Old Schoolhouse offers a Homeschool Freebie Directory? You will find over 40 great freebies for your homeschool, and no purchase is necessary to receive the freebies.
The next great resource is The Old Schoolhouse Reviews website. Here you will find over 2,500 products listed in 51 easy-to-use categories. There are so many curriculum choices available today, that it is not easy to know what to choose. These reviews will tell you what other homeschool families think about each item and how it works for them.
Thinking about College? The Old Schoolhouse College Directory is a list of homeschool friendly colleges in the U.S. Whether you are looking for a college in Alaska or Wisconsin, you will find information in this directory.
HomeschoolBlogger.com is another great free resource brought to us by The Old Schoolhouse. Whether you are looking for a free place to set up your families' homeschool blog or you just want to look around and see what other homeschool families are doing HomeschoolBlogger.com is an awesome free resource!
The Old Schoolhouse Magazine is also offering 2 free gifts just for voting on your favorite homeschool product! Click HERE to vote.
And finally, want to hear some exciting news? TOS has a brand new E-Book featuring four months of my freebies all compiled into one handy E-Book. It's called Fiesta of Freebies: 1st Edition and you can read more about how you can get a copy further down in this newsletter.
I'll see you next week right here at - Freebie Fridays!
Receive Free: E-Book: Fiesta of Freebies - 1st Edition
This brand new E-Book brings together all off the freebies from Freebie Friday, The Homeschool Minute and Home Where They Belong from Nov. 2007 through February 2008.
A $3.00 value - free!
These specials are only good
through April 10, 2008!
A few weeks ago I had an email with a request for more freebies for teens. So this week, we are going to start off with a couple of freebies for teenagers.
Cardamom Publishing is offering a free lesson from their book Life Prep for Teens. This free lesson plan will lead your teen through the car buying process. You will find it HERE. Whether your teen has the money to buy a car or not this is great information for when they are ready.
Also for teens, HERE is a free online copy of the book Only Yesterday: An Informal History of the 1920's. This book was written in 1931 and continues to be a vivid and precise account of the volatile stock market and the boom years of the 1920's. This looks like a fun way to learn about this interesting period of History.
Next, I have something for the whole family. (Including teenagers)! Homeschoolbuyersco-op.org has a wonderful free resource for finding field trips in the United States and Canada. You will find museums, zoos, aquariums, historic houses, nature centers, cultural centers and other educational opportunities in your area. You can check it out HERE.
Little Dozen Press is holding a writing contest for homeschooled kids to share their family stories. Kids from 8 to 18 can submit their funny, dramatic or touching stories. Four winners will receive an autographed copy of Tales of the Heartily Homeschooled. The deadline is May 1st. You can learn all about it HERE.
Make sure to check out the unbelievable contest on the Company Porch. Salem Ridge Press is giving away prizes for 50 winners! You can learn all about it HERE.
Lastly, make sure to vote for your favorite homeschool products. You will get 2 free gifts just for voting! Click HERE to vote.
I'll see you next week right here at - Freebie Fridays!
Studentawards.com – Visit Canada’s largest free scholarship search site – we match Canadian students directly with thousands of scholarships, awards and bursaries.
Boursetudes.com.com – Visitez boursetudes.com, le principal service de recherche de bourses gratuit au Canada – nous trouvons des milliers de bourses d’études, subventions et prix s’adressant aux étudiants canadiens.
Bienvenue
Welcome to Homeschool Nations - Quebec, Canada! Your page for information and links to help you navigate the world of homeschooling! Serving both the French and English Homeschooling Communities in the Region of Quebec!
Bienvenue aux Nations de Homeschool - Québec, Canada! Votre page pour information et les liens pour vous aider à diriger le monde de l'ecole a la maison! En service pour Familles Francophones de Homeschooling et Anglophones dans la région de Québec!
This section will hold upcoming events in our Province! If you have an event, let me know! Email Me
Cette section tiendra des événements suivants dans notre Province ! Si vous avez un événement, me permets de savez! Signalez Moi
• Educational Outings and Events
Our e-Newsletters give you wonderful, informative information about homeschooling, news bits, contests and PRIZES for homeschoolers, articles to encourage you, calls for writers, free unit studies and lesson plans, and just a lot of FUN. Bring the community to your inbox – and no worries, we never sell, trade or give your email or any other information out to anyone.
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