Information regarding homeschooling in Louisiana. http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/Louisiana/ en-us Homeschool Blogger Mon, 12 May 2008 14:12:00 -0500 Mon, 12 May 2008 14:12:00 -0500 What a whirlwind trip!!! We ended up staying a week instead of a month!!! We just wanted to come home so badly...loved Paris but a week was enough at a time.  Viva la France!  and God Bless America!!! I will try to get some homeschooling related posts up soon!  http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/Louisiana/531047/ Mon, 12 May 2008 14:12:00 -0500 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/Louisiana/531047/ The Proof: And isnt this a happy little boy whose staying with Grandma Suzi this week??? now to the food! What says Spring more than eggs??? Well, and asparagus?   Slow-Scrambled Eggs over Asparagus Scrambled eggs as smooth and creamy as a well-crafted custard are easy to produce if you do it the French way—using room temperature eggs cooked very slowly over low heat. Ingredients: *  2 bagels, cut * 1 lb. asparagus, tough ends trimmed and spears peeled * 4 Tbs. unsalted butter * 8 large eggs, lightly beaten * Salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste * 1 Tbs. minced red onion (optional) Directions 1. Preheat oven to broil. 2. Butter and toast bagels lightly, remove from oven and set aside. Steam or blanch asparagus, drain thoroughly and set aside. 3. Sliver 3 tablespoons butter. Beat eggs in a bowl. Melt several butter slivers in a large nonstick saucepan over very low heat. Add eggs, and stir continuously with a wooden spoon for 15 to 20 minutes, adding slivers of butter occasionally. Season with salt and pepper. 4. Meanwhile, heat a large skillet over medium heat. Add remaining 1 tablespoon butter, and when it melts, add asparagus. Cook for 5 minutes, tossing occasionally. 5. To serve, arrange asparagus spears on warm plates, top with eggs, sprinkle with red onion and serve with bagel toast. Now one more glimpse of Spring… http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/Louisiana/503852/ Mon, 24 Mar 2008 10:51:00 -0500 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/Louisiana/503852/ I almost let this week go by without checking in.  And making my post!  To say I am overwhelmed at this time is such an understatement!  Six to eight months ago I thought I had all the time in the world.  But in just three week and three days my children (19, 15 and 12) will climb aboard that big silver bird and meet  my husband in Paris.  Yes, France not Texas!  This will undoubtedly be the field trip of their lives.  And mine.  We will be gone a month and Pat has said she will keep up with things for me here.  Maybe, just maybe I will have something interesting to share when I return.  Maybe even some pictures!  And then of course we have the old "end of the year" tests to deal with when we get home.  For those of you reading this from Louisiana, how do you wind up the year?  Standardized?  Portfolio?  or do you file as a private school?  Just curious.  Thanks for your patience while I get in the swing of things here! http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/Louisiana/498808/ Sat, 15 Mar 2008 06:29:00 -0500 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/Louisiana/498808/ This came from Thea in Quebec- THANKS Thea! http://www.highland sswcd.org/ everything/ office%20info/ kid%20page. htm -- Florida http://lancaster. extension. psu.edu/Family/ BKC_Resources. html -- Lancaster, Penn -- Learn-At-Home Theme Kits http://www.epa. state.il. us/kids/teachers /materials- resources/ -- Illinois free environment resources http://betterkidcar e.psu.edu/ Units/Workbooks/ 101KidsBusy/ 101KidsBusy. pdf - 101+ Ways to Keep Kids Busy http://computersfor learning. gov/ - Not only home schools, but any school or community group that are trying to educate kids from pre-K through grade 12, can be eligible to receive used computers from the government through its surplus property program. Contact Computers for Learning, P.O. Box 4410 , Washington , DC 20026-4100 ; 888-362-7870 http://www.intel. com/education/ index.htm Educators can get everything they need to know about the inner workings of a computer including lesson plans, student materials, overheads, colorful posters of a Pentium Processor, as well as an actual silicon wafer, a microprocessor, processor chips, transistors, diodes, connecting wires and batteries for hands-on use. This free package is available to teachers for grade five through nine. Homeschoolers are also eligible for this program! Get your kid's teacher to get one. Just like a computer, free upgrades are also available. Contact The Journey Inside: The Computer, Education Programs; P.O. Box 5937 ; Denver , CO 80217 ; 800-346-3029 http://www.kidsdoma in.com/down/ pc/_subjectfreew are-index. html - Educational Freeware http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/Louisiana/492127/ Tue, 4 Mar 2008 09:28:00 -0600 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/Louisiana/492127/ Teri in Arizona!  Thanks Teri!! History Channel to test market Liberty 's Kids! Great news! If you are a fan of the revolutionary children’s show “ Liberty ’s Kids” and would like to see it back on the air, now is your chance! Beginning this Wednesday, February 27, The History Channel will air episodes of “ Liberty ’s Kids” on Monday - Friday 7:00 am to 7:30 am and Saturday 7:00 am to 8:00 am. However, this is only a test marketing of the show. IMPORTANT! The History Channel needs to know this is the kind of programming that we as parents want for our children. So tune in and watch, then contact The History Channel at http://www.history. com/global/ feedback/ index.jsp? NetwCode= THC and tell them how much you and/or your children enjoy the program. If the show does well, the producers are prepared to create more programs highlighting other historical eras in American History. Imagine how much fun it would be to watch the same type of educational animated series about other periods of our nation’s history like the Civil War or the Oregon Trail . Click here to read an informative “ Liberty ’s Kids” review: http://www.knowledg ehouse.info/ libertykid. html http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/Louisiana/488623/ Wed, 27 Feb 2008 09:23:00 -0600 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/Louisiana/488623/ There will be total lunar eclipse tonight!  Dig out your Telescope if you have one!  But I don't think you will need one! 4th Day Alliance is an organization dedicated to giving God the glory using the things God created on the 4th day.  Their key verse is Psalm 19:1 "The heavens declare the glory of God, and the firmament sheweth his handiwork." Check out their site and you will find some wonderful things! from Diego Rodriguez @ 4th Day Alliance I just wanted to send you a quick reminder about the Total Lunar Eclipse tonight (Wednesday, February 20th). We will not have another one like this until December 2010, so you will not want to miss it. Totality will last for 52 minutes and begins at the following times: Central Standard Time - 9:00 pm For homeschooling families, you will definitely want to read our blog about the lunar eclipse so you can make it a learning experience for your family. The link is here: Lunar Eclipse Blog http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/Louisiana/484455/ Wed, 20 Feb 2008 12:11:00 -0600 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/Louisiana/484455/ Good Afternoon! And Happy Valentine's Day!  I just signed on to be the Louisiana Coordinator here at Homeschool Nations.  I am VERY excited to meet you all!  I will be posting and getting the hang of things in the next few days so check back!  Right now I would just like to tell you a little about my family.  We are a family of 8 (more now with spouses & grandson) and have been homeschooling since 1988!  WHEW, that is a LONG time! We are fairly relaxed homeschoolers and have enjoyed many different "styles" over the years.  We live in beautiful Northwest Louisiana in a little green house at the end of a dirt road.  We learn together, garden, make soap, sew, cook and just enjoy doing things together!  Forgive my brief intro (I will write more later, I promise) as I am out the door to pick up my husband who has been in Tunisia for the past 31 days!  So my mind is a bit preoccupied! However, I will be talking to you again very soon!  Have a wonderful, blessed weekend!  Happy Homeschooling! Susan http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/Louisiana/481082/ Thu, 14 Feb 2008 16:50:00 -0600 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/Louisiana/481082/ I am in search of enthusiastic people to join the Homeschool Nations Team to represent your state!    This is a volunteer position but you will receive free copies of The Old Schoolhouse each quarter - one for yourself and one copy to share with friends, family, and families who are thinking of homeschooling, or to place at local libraries and/or at homeschool group meetings.  If you are selected to become the coordinator for your state, you will be responsible for posting updates and special state information on this state blog - Information such as:  events, homeschool conventionsn, state laws, special meetings or speakers coming to the area.  The events do not have to be all inclusive, just a good overview of things that are of interest to homeschoolers.  You may also post field trip ideas/reviews and places of interest in your state. You can also blog about your personal experience with homeschooling from time to time. Writing prompts are sent out each week to help people who don't have much to post on their blog that week.   You are also allowed to gift 3 one-year TOS subscriptions each year to area libraries, area support group leaders or new homeschoolers - those people who you think could benefit from TOS! Basically, you become a contact person for people in your state and we help you get the word out about LOTS of info related to homeschooling through our magazine.   If this is something that might interest you, please email me at kprice@thehomeschoolmagazine.com.   I appreciate your interest and look forward to hearing from you soon! Kris Price Manager, Homeschool Nation The Old Schoolhouse Magazine, LLC www.TheHomeschoolMagazine.com   http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/Louisiana/463873/ Fri, 18 Jan 2008 12:58:00 -0600 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/Louisiana/463873/ Are you from Louisiana and read this blog occasionally? Sign up to be my friend! I'd love to read what's going on in your neck of the woods too! Debbie http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/Louisiana/231018/ Thu, 2 Nov 2006 09:00:00 -0600 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/Louisiana/231018/ Thanks to Terri Johnson of Knowledge Quest for researching this for us!!!   Best Online Geography Sites (and they are all free)!Okay, I am having way too much fun! The Old Schoolhouse Magazine asked me to locate the best free geography sites on the web and I think that I have done just that. I have come up with 15 great sites for helping you teach your children geography while having fun at the same time. And the best part is that they are all free. Let me tell you about these great tools for learning. By the way, the links are in no particular order of preference, so just click on what sounds interesting to you. ONLINE GAMES AND QUIZZES 1.Sheppard Software has provided many free and fun to play geography games at their website - http://www.sheppardsoftware.com/Geography.htm. There are various levels of play so that your beginners and advanced students alike can find something to hold their interest. You do need to have Flash Player 6 or higher on your computer to be able to play these games, but no other downloading is necessary. The instructions are minimal, so it takes a few minutes to get the hang of the games in some instances (or at least it did for me!). Also, they do have other games across the curriculum, so feel free to check out their science and vocabulary games as well - plus many others! 2.If you or your children like puzzles, then you will love this website! At this website - http://www.yourchildlearns.com/geography.htm - you can either play with the on-line puzzle maps, or you can download them to your own computer. If you would rather not download them, here is the direct link to the online map puzzles - http://www.yourchildlearns.com/map-puzzles.htm. These are a lot of fun and a great learning tool for kids of all ages (yes, even adults!). 3. Take National Geographic's Geography Bee quiz! These questions can be fairly tough, but you get a second and even third chance to get them right (there are only 3 choices per question) thereby allowing you to KNOW the answer, which you are unlikely to forget. Also, the questions are new every day, so you can play every day and get new questions to answer. Very fun! Here's the website - http://www.nationalgeographic.com/geobee 4. Test your knowledge of world or regional geography with this fun quiz at http://www.lizardpoint.com/fun/geoquiz/. A great aspect of this game is that children can see improvement quickly, even by their second round at the same quiz. Builds confidence and knowledge! 5.This quiz site - http://www.ilike2learn.com/ilike2learn/geography.asp - allows you to not only learn about the countries and capitals of the world, but also the mountains and bodies of water. If you need a hint, or the answer, it comes in the form of a pop-up, so you may need to disable your pop-up blocker. This site seems to add new games frequently. Great learning tool! 6.Another great quiz site - http://www.actionquiz.com/quiz.php?trivia=geography. Here you can play against other kids and teachers and see if you can win. You do not have to use your real name (no reason to, so don't!) and the game uses a pop-up window. So, if your computer blocks pop-ups, you either have to disable that feature to play, or if you get a message that allows you to open the pop-up, you can go about it that way. Warning: this is a fun game to play and rather addicting. After playing five times against some strong opponents, I finally won! 7.This website - http://www.geosense.net - also allows you to play alone of against another player. You are asked to not only identify countries of the world but cities as well. It is quite challenging and also very addicting. I played six rounds against my opponent and only won twice (and I thought I knew my geography like the back of my hand - reality check!). If you do not mind that your scores are not recorded in their log, you can play as a guest. Or create a login ID to keep track of your scores and establish an identity at this site. 8.This quiz site - http://www.garyradley.com/games - has both "find" games and "quiz" games giving your students a well-rounded familiarity with the countries of the world. My only trouble with these particular games was that it was sometimes difficult to click on the correct country because the hand spread over more than one country area. But overall, this is a great site to round out your online geography games. GREAT REPORT SITES Atlapedia and CountryReports are two great sites for general information. If your child or student needs to find some facts on a given country or view/print some maps for a particular region of the world, Atlapedia is a great all purpose website for gathering information for research papers, etc. - The website is http://www.atlapedia.com/index.html. Full color physical and political maps are available. Also, CountryReports lets you drill down on a world map to the country you are interested in and gives you some great facts and information and maps of that area. The website is http://www.countryreports.org/. JUST MAPS - BUT REALLY COOL MAPS! Do your kids like all kinds of maps - satellite, physical, political, even weather? Then they will enjoy creating their own maps at this site - http://plasma.nationalgeographic.com/mapmachine/index.html. Would you like to see what the earth looks like a night as seen from space. This view of the world was taken from photos of the earth at night from a satellite. The earth is lit only from the city lights of civilization. Spectacular! - http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap001127.html Okay, everyone knows about Google Earth, right? This is an incredible piece of software that is taken from actual photographs of the earth. In fact you can zoom right down into your own backyard. Mind-boggling! The software needs to be downloaded onto your computer. It is located here - http://earth.google.com/ FUN VIDEO SITES Yes, this is one of my favorites! At this website - http://www.animatedatlas.com - you can watch a five or ten minute video about the growth of our nation. Superb and educational! TEACHER RESOURCES Are you in need of some worksheets to print out that will reinforce the geography you are teaching to your students. Here is a great site with lots of printables (my computer tells me that is not a word, but I think you know what I mean) - http://www.tlsbooks.com/geographyworksheets.htm. This site gives you contact information of places where you can receive free geography materials - http://www.ed.gov/pubs/parents/Geography/free.htmlThis has been so exciting researching these free sites for you. If these games are played often and these resources tapped into and used, your students will gain tremendous knowledge and retention in the realm of geography (SO WILL YOU!). And it will be painless! That is the part I love! Have fun!   Terri Johnson Knowledge Quest, Inc. www.knowledgequestmaps.com 877.697.8611 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/Louisiana/231013/ Thu, 2 Nov 2006 08:55:00 -0600 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/Louisiana/231013/