Thursday, July 3, 2008 - Message from Hobby Lobby
Does anyone get the Hobby Lobby Weekly Specials and Coupons delivered to their e-mail? Well this week they had a great extra that I wanted to share. They have a very nice 4th of July message to download for free. I think you will like it and may find it useful throughout the school year. I don't know how long they will keep it up so you may want to get it soon.
Hobby Lobby Independence Day Message
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Wednesday, June 11, 2008 - Blog Tools
Cable was out all morning, so I'm late posting. Oh well.
Back in February I told you about Blogarithm and how I used that service to keep track of updated blogs. Well, wouldn’t you know, they switched owners or some other such venture and I no longer get e-mail updates. I found another place that seems to be working even better though. Not only do I get separate e-mails when someone’s blog is updated, but the post comes directly to my mailbox. This seems to be working well especially when I’m stressed for time. I love to keep up with my favorite bloggers and this seems to fill that need. It took me a bit of time to figure out how to work it, but now that I have the hang of it, it is very convenient.
Also, I stumbled upon Feedburner. This tool allows someone to subscribe to your blog and receive e-mails when the blog is updated. I put it on my sidebar, so if you are interested, sign up.
Neat little tools to have around when time is an issue.
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Thursday, May 15, 2008 - Free School Book Resources
I thought I’d share a few website finds especially helpful for older children.
On the McGraw-Hill company website, you can find a lot of supplements for many subjects. Of special interest may be the free PDF English workbooks for grades 6-12. I’ve checked all of these out and they appear to be a great supplement to any curriculum.
You can also find grammar and writing workbooks for grades 1-6 at Scott Foresman.
If you haven’t already checked out the Hoagies Gifted Education page, you may want to. It offers free online high school courses and curriculum material.
At XP math you can download complete math books and some study charts.
For all kinds of e-books and MP3 audio books, visit Free Books.org.
With the bustle of ending the school year and planning for the next, perhaps these resources could come in handy to someone else.
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Thursday, May 1, 2008 - Coloring Pages Links
I have always loved to color. Those great black and white pictures that come to life through the imagination inspired by a box of crayons or palette of colored pencils. My children occasionally share my passion if the picture is just right. During my frequent travels around the web, I have found that there are a whole lot of sites providing a seemingly endless supply of coloring pages.
AokTeacher Stuff has links abound for all kinds of pages.
Author Jan Brett shares the cutest pages from her books.
First School has a wonderful set of coloring pages for little ones. While your there, if you have a preschooler or kindergartner, be sure to check out the other printables they have.
CDK Kids has a nice collection of theme-based pages.
The Plant Conservation Alliance is a fantastic resource for wildflower pictures to color featuring both the common name and the botanical names of flowers
Family Crafts at About.com has a nice list of pages including alphabet, animals, educational, and holidays among others.
Family Crafts also has a long list of character pages including Disney characters, cartoon characters, and other childhood favorites.
Coloring Pages is another resource for lots of coloring links.
Another site that offers Disney character pictures is ABC Home Preschool.
Papa Jan offers a large variety of pages sorted by theme including Bible pages.
One of my favorite resources is Ivy Joy. There is a great source of PDF formatted coloring books that have been put out by various agencies and companies. This is a great resource for educational material.
You’ll love stopping by Mary Engelbreit’s site. I love her whimsical and sweet art.
An awesome site for quilt makers and those that love to color geometrical designs is the WWQP Quilt Coloring site.
For the fisherman in your life, check out Team Tacklebox for some great pictures of fish.
Children’s Garden has a small selection of butterfly, bird, dinosaurs, vegetable, and flower pictures.
Coloring Book Fun has a huge list of pages for just about anything you can think of.
Mom’s Family and Kids Directory has an interesting assortment of pictures to offer.
Looking for realistic animal pictures, National Geographic is the place to check out.
Coloring-Pics has a wonderful choices to chose from.
The National Institute of Environmental Health Services offers all kinds of interesting educational coloring books along with links to other resources.
I know there are a zillion more coloring book sites out there but these are the ones that I have bookmarked and that I come back to the most often. They are great for lapbooking, notebooks, and just plain fun. I hope that you find something that fits your needs.
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Monday, April 21, 2008 - Stewards of the Earth
April 22 is the Earth Day. There may be the argument that this is a secular day, but Genesis 1:26 tells that that we were put in charge of the Earth. I think this means that God wants us to be good stewards of the land. Growing up in the ‘70’s around the influence of the ‘hippie tree huggers’ (no, my parents weren't hippie tree huggers), I have tried to live an eco-friendly way of life. That’s not to say that I am totally green, because I’m not, though we try to make conscientious choices. There are some simple things that we have been doing for ages that I hope have made a difference.
1. We use cloth napkins all the time. Over the years I have made them from discount fabric (from 1 yard of 44” fabric you can usually get 12 napkins), bought them at tag sales, and, when the kids were younger, we used inexpensive facecloths. You not only save trees, but they are much sturdier than their paper counterparts and last for ages.
2. Speaking of facecloths, we never invested in those diaper wipes. We kept an old cool whip tub, filled it with warm water and a facecloth for all our diaper changes. We also applied a thin layer of Vaseline before putting the diaper on and none of the kids ever had a diaper rash.
3. We have been using cloth shopping bags for years. You can find these now at various grocery stores for about $1 and some stores offer a 5-cent credit at the check out for each one you use.
4. Weather permitting; we hang our clothes out on the line. This saves on energy use and the electric bill. (Blogger Friend School Assignment 8)
5. We used reusable sandwich containers, snack containers and water bottles packed into mini coolers whenever we need a sack lunch. We also use reusable storage containers for leftovers and the pantry.
6. We try to recycle what we can whether it be by bringing it to a recycling facility (in SC they have it at the convenience centers where we take our trash making it easy) or using reusing it around the house or for school.
7. As most homeschoolers can attest to, we use a lot of paper, but the rule in our house is you must use both sides. We keep little baskets to store our scrap paper in. Below is an example of what I pulled from cleaning out my files at the end of last year. I was amazed at how many companies only print on one side. I recycled anything that was printed on only one side into scrap paper and this is what I came up with.
I used my paper cutter to cut some of this into 3" squares
Look how much came from that stack.
And this is what was left from cleaning out the files of 1 years worth of bills and reciepts that I couldn't recyle.
These are only a few things that can be done to help take care of our planet. There are so many more and most are not as expensive as buying a Hybrid. Recycling, conservation and just plain conscientious thinking can do wonders.
Here are some links I found if you were planning on doing some Earth Day activities with your kids.
Education World-Happy Earthday Lessons Plans
The Teachers Guide- Earth Day Lesson Plans
Teachervision-Earth Day Teacher Resources
The Science Spot- Earth Day Lesson Plan Links
South Dakota Department of Education- Earth Day math
A to Z Teacher Stuff-Earth Day Theme
The Teacher's Corner-Earth Day Themetic Unit
Note: Tomorrow is the last day to help my daughter reach her goal at her Virtual Home and Garden Party. See the top of this blog for details. We haven't had much luck, but we do appreciate those that have ordered. Thanks again.
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Monday, March 17, 2008 - Free Financial Devotional
With the tax deadline fast approaching and people begining to rethink finances, I thought I’d share this link that came in my e-mail yesterday. Crown Financial Ministries has a free 31-day Financial Devotional that you can download. I’ve looked it over and plan on using it for the next month. While you're there, you may want to check out some of the other articles you can read on line. You may find them inspiring and informative.
Crown Financial Ministries Strike Your Balance Devotional.
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Friday, February 1, 2008 - Blogarithm
No Sew Crafty Friday for me this week. Been working on the room switching. We’re almost done. Hubby is putting in the lights and we’re putting stuff away the best we can. With the days being so filled I did want to share something that you may or may not already know about to help streamline your blog reading. I really enjoy reading what others have written on their blogs. I used to spend a large amount of time stopping by each of my blogger friends’ blogs only to find that nothing new had been posted. I don’t have any problem with random posting and completely understand days, weeks, even months going by without anything new. My problem was the time issue. I spent too much time checking blogs. I tried using the feeds tab on my browser but too much of a bother. Then I found Blogarithm on someone’s blog and fell in love with this service. Now once a day I receive an e-mail with all the blogs that have been updated. They are directly linked to their posts within the e-mail and I am free to read them without missing any of my favorites. All you do is get a free account, add the blogs that you want and then check your e-mail once a day. Only the blogs that have new postings are included in the e-mail. You can even categorize your blog readings. It’s very simple and the site makes it easy to add your favorites. I find this a great time saver and can visit blogs when they have new postings. If you haven’t already checked it out you may want to. I’m glad I did.
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Thursday, December 6, 2007 - Advent
I meant to post these earlier, but got side tracked. These are some really cool sites I found when I was working on my Christmas sidebar. (If you haven’t checked it out yet, there are new sites to visit every day of December)
The Christmas Songbook- Christmas sheet music PDF file
Audrey’s Christmas Page- an unbelievable list of links
We have always celebrated advent in our home. When my oldest was young, he and I made an advent wreath of our own but time took it’s toll and the wreath is just a memory. Years ago my mother gave me this and we have used it ever since.
(tried to get a close up off the figures, but this is as close as my camera gets without totally blurring the picture)
It’s really cool because the heat from the candles move the propellers and the scene below spins. Each night at dinner the kids take turns lighting the candle(s), reading a Scripture and then we discuss a related topic.
We also have various other ways to count down the days. We have always had the traditional open the doors advent calendars but we also have used other ways in addition to the calendar. In the past we have made paper chains with verses on them, hung tiny candy canes on a line with tiny clothes pins, put 25 kisses in a jar, and used a chalk board to keep track. This year we are doing something a bit different. We are doing a different project each day to tick the days off. Some have been successful projects, some not so great. I’ll share more about that tomorrow.
Here are some Advent calendar sites for you check out. It’s never too late to count down the days.
Spirit Home Advent- all about advent with Scripture readings
Make your own calendar sites:
About.com Advent Calendar-countdowns to Christmas projects
How to make an Advent Calendar- printable Christmas tree advent calendar with instructions on how to make it.
Online Countdowns:
Teaching Mom’s Advent Calendar- This one is a must see unit study calendar with everything you need for a complete study.
Advent 2007-An interactive advent calendar.
About.com Homeschooling-online advent calendar with recipes, crafts, games and more for each day .
The Woodlands Junior Advent Calendar
and
Advent Countdown Christmas Around the World-Each day there is a new geographical question and answer about how Christmas is celebrated around the world.
And we mustn’t forget getting organized for the holidays.
Don't forget to vote for your favorite Blogs. Only 9 days left.
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Tuesday, November 20, 2007 - Germ Sites
Here are a few websites with lesson plans and printables dealing with Germs. Most are for the younger grades but can be adapted for older kids.
What are Germs? Coloring Sheet
Hand washing decoder worksheet
Core Knowledge Lesson Plan for Grade 1
Infection Detection Protection from the American Museum of Natural History
How Germs are Spread Coloring Sheet
Hygiene Potatoes Graph Lesson with worksheets
I want to thank everyone for their thoughtful comments and well wishes. I didn't mean to sound like I was griping yesterday. I was just commenting on how we, as homeschoolers, can use everyday events as opportunities for learning. But I guess that goes without saying. BTW we are doing so much better.
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Friday, October 5, 2007 - Columbus Day Links
I found these sites in my travels the other day and thought they may be of some interest to someone who may be doing a short study of Columbus Day. I decided to omit the ones that argue against Columbus and went with the more basic, traditional views.
edhelper -unit for grades 4-7
edhelper -unit for grades 2-4
Columbus Day -info with crossword puzzles and word searches
Enchanted Learning -worksheets and activities
Kaboose -some activities and recipes
Teachervision -some free activities and worksheets
About.com -some printables
United States Embassy in Stockholm –interesting read
A to Z Teacher Stuff -lesson plans, activities, and printables
The Holiday Zone -lessons, information, activities and printables
Brownielocks and the 3 Bears- just for fun, interesting read with some humor thrown in
Apples 4 the Teacher -lesson plan ideas, coloring pages, reading lists
I'm sure there are a ton more out there but these should get you started.
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