I have only written one article for Associated Content so far, but I did get paid! It is super easy to submit content, and payments range from $3 to $10 per article. I do not get anything when you sign up; just thougt some folks might like to get paid for writing. My sister has submitted six or seven articles in the last three days!
If you are planning a study of Brazil or of sugar production in your homeschool, you will love this web-site. Sugar from Brazil is exported all around the world. I had no idea that Brazil is responsible for 20% of the world's sugar production. That's impressive! Most interesting to me is the fact that almost half of the sugar produced in Brazil is consumed within the country. Brazilians like their sugar! Another interesting note, a large portion of the sugar is produced for consumption as fuel! Ethanol is produced from sugar then mixed with petrol and then used in Brazilian automobiles. Ethanol is also imported all over the world from Brazil. I would never have guessed you could use sugar to produce fuel. You can find definitions and more information with pictures at the web-site linked above. Isn't it interesting what you can learn when you homeschool?
May. 4, 2008 - Barnes and Noble Summer Reading Program
Here it is! All the information you will need to complete the Barnes and Noble Summer Reading Challenge. Be sure to scroll down on my blog for information about the Focus on The Family Summer Reading Challenge too.
I was talking with my husband on the way home tonight from AWANA, explaining about the FOTF Summer Reading challenge, and how cool it was with the requirement for different genres. So, my son started asking which books would qualify in the different categories. I mentioned that the Bible would count, so when we got home, he got out his Bible and started reading in Psalms; because he thought would be really easy to get lots of pages. He read six Psalms before I reminded him that the contest didn't start until June, and then he kept right on reading until lights out -- which made me proud. I like how the FOTF challenge is set up for number of pages instead of number of books. Very good idea!
Are you thinking about starting a web-page of your very own? We are! In fact, we are hoping to announce the launch of our web-site in the very near future! We have been searching for "the perfect" web host for several weeks, and have not been able to find a clear presentation of the top choices and their benefits. I just found this web-site which reviews and compares top web hosting services for the user. I need a site with room for growth, but I do not need 1000 e-mail address domains! We have found most of the Christian web hosts to be horribly over-priced for the level of service. My husband and I thought we had found a web hosting service which did not allow anti-family web-sites and yet had a decent offering of services. For some reason, we can't find that particular web host again! Do you have a favorite web-hosting service? Which one do you use? What are the pros and cons? You can leave a comment for me and tell me where to look. In the meantime, I am going to show my husband this comparison chart and see what he thinks. Look for an announcement soon!
May. 3, 2008 - Focus on the Family Summer Reading Blast -- Check it Out!
Focus on the Family is hosting a Summer Reading Blast. Children will need to read 2500 pages during June, July, and August, choosing at least one book from each of six genres. A completed poster must be postmarked by September 1st. The "cool prize" is undefined. The required categories are: Faith Builders, Adventures, Mysteries, Christian Biographies, Classics, and Fiction.
One page of this poster has suggestions, and you can search for Summer Book Blast at family.org to find more suggestions. Or, you can just pick your own books.
I do not see a minimum age; but the poster implies that the child will do the reading himself.
Spread the Word! Focus on the Family hasn't done a summer reading challenge in seven years; and we want to see this again! Finally, a summer reading challenge that is actually challenging!!!
Make your own worksheets using WorksheetWorks.com . I have only checked out the Mathematics section which looks incredibly comprehensive for a free web-site. Other subjects covered include Handwriting, English, Geography, Thinking Puzzles, and a set of Miscellaneous including such things as graphic organizers, calendars, mazes, etc.
Apr. 10, 2008 - Interesting Foreign Language Flashcards -- ON-LINE!
Interesting Foreign Language Flashcards -- ON-LINE!
I just found these flash cards; and I find them very fun to use myself! I wish they had audio files; but in lieu of that these would be great as vocabulary builders. Edu-Fire has six languages available in flashcards. They do on-line live language tutoring; which I am not recommending, as I haven't tried it myself. But, the flashcards are pretty cool.
Here is a web-site dedicated to heart health: Cardiac Resynchronization Therapy: which turns out to have some really great educational videos of the heart. My older children were captivated by the video available on the home page at http://www.heartlibrary.com/. In addition to the cool videos, this web-site also has a glossary of terms, a section of Frequently Asked Questions, and stories of patients.
This really cool web-site has really cool instructions for many different types of paper airplanes; and even has videos to demonstrate! I can't wait to show this too my son. Enjoy...
Mar. 30, 2008 - Cool Websites -- Buying Used Curriculum
Cool Websites -- Buying Used Curriculum
A friend of mine just sent me this web-site for buying and selling used curriculum. A very large number of items are listed here! I was very pleasantly surprised by the variety available. Just in case any of you are looking, you might find some great deals!
My friend Stephanie is starting a new business venture called The Busy Homeschooler. You can go check her out and say hi, or sign up for her new mailing list! I was over at her house yesterday, and we were talking about all her ideas and plans. I can't wait to see what she has lined up as it unfolds. Good luck Stephanie!
Are you worried about how your children will pay for college when the time comes? I will admit I have started giving it some thought. My oldest child is only nine, and we are already wondering how to make college happen. In fact, when we were looking over material for the home school convention in Virginia last year, we were most interested in the course titled "College Degree For Free". Bill Gates foundation has created a huge database of available scholarship funds. Over 2.7 million scholarships are available, and Scholarships.com helps you match scholarships to your talents, interests and academic merit. In addition, Scholarships.com provides timely information such as application deadlines, and provides an e-mail service to notify you when a new scholarship matching your profile becomes available. If you have a loved one looking for scholarships, this is a great place to start!
Feb. 22, 2008 - Free Quality Christian Children's Television On-Line
Quality Christian Children's Television On-Line
Here is another web-site, with viewable television on-line. They have 24 hour Christian on-line viewing, with such favorites as Bibleman and Fit Kids. I was able to find quite a few things to expand our video selection. My children only watch one video per day; but when we run out of new library videos to watch they get very tired of our personal collection. This will be perfect!
Feb. 22, 2008 - Free Quality Christian Children's Movies On-Line
Free Quality Christian Children's Movies On-Line
I was going through old e-mails which I have saved to explore later; and found a reference to Kids4Truth, and the film The Watchmaker. If you have ever wanted an easy and accurate way to show your children how God's creation could not have happened by chance -- this film is for you. It is free to watch on-line and well made. Please leave a comment and tell me what you think...
You can find so much fascinating information here; it is fun just to browse on your own or with your older elementary/jr. high children. Not a Christian site; and I wouldn't turn my kids loose on it, but we are definitely learning as we explore.
I discovered last week that Trader Joe's has a list on their web-site of all the gluten free products they carry. I really like this list; as it helped me to think outside the box. I thought perhaps others would find it useful. You still have to read the label for dairy if that is an issue; but every little bit helps. They have some terrific Dairy Free (and gluten free) chocolate covered mints like Jr. Mints with no dairy. We loved them here :).
As a military family, we are always anticipating our next move. Where will we go, what will it be like, what are our options. My sister told me about this site where you can compare where you live, or want to live to the top 100 places to live in the US. You can find statistics about crime, schools, median income, average commute, home prices, -- everything you need to know to find the perfect place! I love browsing around this site checking out our future possible stations! Let me know what you think... I love comments!
My older children love to build things with paper. Paper space ships, houses for paper dolls, cars, airplanes....
While the children are still in on vacation, I have just found these free printables -- buildable paper toys. All you need is scissors, double stick tape, and matte paper; plus a color printer and supposedly 15 minutes of build time! Can't wait to try these out.
They look really cool! I have never seen homemade paper toys like this before. Some are on the spooky side, but I still found a pirate, a doll, robot or two, and an octopus that we can use.
Jul. 10, 2007 - Calculating the Height of your children
Calculate the Future Height of Your Child!
Did you know that your child's current height and weight can be used to semi-accurately predict their full grown height? Aren't you even the slightest bit curious? If you have more then one child, have them guess for each other; and then see how close you are! Take a picture of your child, create a notebook page or journal page, write down the guess of each family member, the prediction of the web-site, and perhaps even journal about the meaning of height. Save it for posterity and a few years from now you can see who was closest to correct! For the most accurate predictions, children need to be over seven years old. Enter your child's information at Parent Zone.
SpellingTime.com (Update, this site now charges a fee, and we no longer use their services. I am hoping to add it to the budget for next year though.)
Here's how it works.
1. You have to register (it's free). You can register as a teacher/classroom or an individual; however for each individual registration you can only have one student. I started out with a separate registration for each child, but I ended up re-registering as a classroom, it will just be easier to manage.
2. You can use their words, or your own words. They have a stock list to choose from; or you can add words they are missing. I have already changed my first twelve lessons to the first twelve lessons suggested in Spelling Power. This is why I changed to classroom format -- I didn't want to have to input those words in two different accounts. It is really simple though a tiny bit cumbersome to input your own lists. I only say cumbersome because the form couldn't quite keep up with my typing.
3. The virtual teachers give instructions out loud. They are short, clear and to the point.
4. Day One: Listen to each word in a sentence and type it once. Write Your words. Day Two, Unscramble Letters, Day three: Hang Smiley, Day Four, Pop Quiz Day Five: Test. Every day, the word is used in a sentence read aloud by the virtual teacher. After each day's activity, students have earned the right to play one game. They have about 16 games to choose from; and these are nothing to do with spelling. They include a knockoff of battleship; and other types of games. A few of the games say they are for older students. My kids love the games. Also, they can do the same activity over and over, but it really is a Monday = Day one setup; so you can't do the second day's work until Tuesday. You can however do both Monday and Tuesday on Tuesday and so on.
The Parent( and teacher )receives e-mails detailing words missed and percentage scores. The parent must do the registration, and the students e-mail is not input.
My plan is to put in all the lessons from Spelling Power in order. Then, at the beginning of the week I will introduce the words and from then on the kids will be on their own to do the spelling lesson each day. I will check the progress reports and work with them extra only as needed.
Everything You Ever Wanted to Know About Tying Your Shoes
This is a really cool site; with different variations on tying your shoes -- including some really easy ties. Apparently, for this guy, tying shoes is a hobby!
I have been using SpellingTime for a while now; and we love it. They are shut down for the summer though.
I just recently found out about IKnowThat.com. It looks really great! And, they were very quick to respond to a friend of mine when she asked them to remove an offensive game title -- they removed it almost immediately. I haven't seen anything else offensive on the site.
Here is a link to some free on-line Creation videos. They seemed a bit dry for children, but great for adults. I found them fascinating, but I never expected my 8 year old to find them fascinating as well! She was glued to the screen...
The bottom line is; We try not to insist on parent-led learning or gravitate toward child-led learning. We try instead to focus on God-led learning and ask for His input and perspective on every aspect of our home school. That way, when others fuss about what Dan and I are doing and make me second guess our decisions -- I can go back to our decision process and find God's fingerprints, reminding me that this is His way.
