We are a family of five in the wild, wild west free state of Texas! There are no regulations (Other than general topics to cover) to homeschool in Texas. And, we choose to make sure that we are an example of how NON regulation is a positive thing! We are Christians, but we homeschool because I lump public schools right along with port-a-potties..... http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/dectaz/ en-us Homeschool Blogger Sun, 26 Aug 2007 20:37:00 -0500 Sun, 26 Aug 2007 20:37:00 -0500 I found a GOLD MINE! There is actually a place on the internet where you can download E-Books for FREE! (And they are actually GOOD!)   Ok, I know you don't believe me... that's ok.... It is true... Go to WOWIO.COM and see for yourself! When you get back, clothes your mouth and breathe... then get ready to download! Now, you register for free, but to save it for everyone, you can only download 5 items per day. That's ok, you WILL go back everyday to see what is new! The main thing that caught my eye is what is pictured, here... the Hands on History units from Nomad Press. Imagine a history book with hands on activities for you and your critters to make and do all tied into the theme of the time period! Yes, it is THAT cool!   Here is a sample of what they have: Amazing Leonardo da Vinci Inventions You Can Build Yourself From armored tanks and gliders to "plastic glass" and drawing machines, this interactive book explores the incredible mind of Leonardo da Vinci through hands-on building projects and activities. Most of Leonardo's inventions were never made in his lifetime and remained sketches in his famous notebooks; kids examine some of these original sketches and learn about the models he made of his inventions. From there they delve into detailed step-by-step instructions, diagrams, and templates for each project, which are interspersed with historical facts, biographical anecdotes, and trivia. Most of the building can be done using simple household supplies: construction paper, tape, markers, glue, cardboard tubes, aluminum foil, and cardboard boxes. Background about the Renaissance as a period of remarkable achievement in art and science appears throughout the book.   Great Colonial America Projects You Can Build Yourself Great Colonial America Projects looks at everyday life in early America. More than 30 hands-on building projects and activities ranging from dyeing and weaving to toymaking and weather forecasting help bring the American colonies to life for kids 9 and older.             Highly recommend a High Speed internet connection, as some of these books are in the 40  megabyte size range.... Have fun and go! Thank me later! WOWIO.COM http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/dectaz/380158/ Sun, 26 Aug 2007 20:37:00 -0500 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/dectaz/380158/ I had been looking for some time, for a good solid collection of "Kid Friendly" Anatomy or Human Body diagrams or posters or cards or SOMETHING! But I never found anything, until yesterday. Here is a photo of some of what I found on our wall... Me and the critters are working on a Human Body LapBook and we needed some visuals. Something that is fun, bright and happy, yet informative and not too babyish.... It seemed like a tall order, but I found this book... Science Picture Cards, The Human Body Not free, but worth it! There are like 24 "Cards"  that are really diagrams of the human body and the systems of the body as well as the five senses and so on. On the "Back" of each is like a trading card information block with info directly related to that part of the body. I found that full sheet printouts were unnecessary and chose to print them on HALF a sheet of paper at a time, this not only saves paper, but actually saves color ink, too!   HAVE FUN! http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/dectaz/380154/ Sun, 12 Aug 2007 20:35:00 -0500 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/dectaz/380154/ 7 Days of Creation LapBook Photos... Ok well when we took a break for lunch, we decided to rest a while and do other things. It is a Saturday after all! Anyway, I took a moment to upload these photos to show you what we are talking about..... (Photos below.....) See, it took me forever to find a "7 Days of Creation" Lapbook set. I mean FOREVER! Apparently there are not many to choose from and the one I did finally found was not labeled as a lapbook, but as "Games". AARRGHHH!!! Here is the book.... Creation Games It's pretty cool so far. I think the instructions are easy to understand and the activities are varied for different age groups... For example, they give you THREE folders worth of activities! Did I mention THREE folders worth? But I mean you do not have to do ALL three, of course. It is just that this gives you the opportunity to mix and match what works for your child or for various ages of kids. I LIKE THAT! It does have "Games" inside of it, and that to me, is a BONUS! They are simple, move your peg, answer the quiz question type of "On-Topic" games, but so what! They fit the theme and can actually be kept and placed into the lapbooks themselves, for later play! Again, a bonus, to me...   Ok, here are the photos... mind the mess.... When we do lapbooks, the room gets messed up! We have done through day two, so far....     First day First day opened     God Said it cover God said it, inside   Close up of work done so far...   Creation on the second day cotton clouds   If I had been Adam book   One page inside Adam book     Showing off her sashae (Mage up name for lizard) C-Baby consults Z-Baby on his Adam book placement Thanks for reading. If you are into lapbooks, did you find something for creation and other bible themes that worked for you? Post a comment and tell us about it! Thanks! http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/dectaz/380153/ Wed, 15 Aug 2007 20:31:00 -0500 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/dectaz/380153/ Writing for Cash I sold an article just the other day. How silly is it that I was surprised? I completely was not thinking of the articles I had written, before my DH's accident, when out of the blue, I get an email congratulating me on my new sale. Very cool. I write for a site called Constant Content. They are like a clearing house of content for website owners, newsletter editors and magazine editors to browse through and buy articles for their publications. They also allow the buyers to request jobs, which is a big help when you are trying to figure out what will sell, you know? Anyway, I made $40 and now I want to write more. Nothing like cash to make us want to get off our dazed booties eh?  I can't think of one thing to write about. not one blessed thing! AARRGHHH! I'm gonna go eat some pot roast, take a shower and daydream... that'll do it! Hahaha! http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/dectaz/380149/ Mon, 27 Aug 2007 20:30:00 -0500 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/dectaz/380149/ We finally have visual proof of the best toy ever invented! Often spoken about in many a blog and argued about in discussion groups, the best toy ever has been caught live on video! Sit back and enjoy a whole 2 minutes of reality! Can you see the Best Toy, ever? (High-speed connection recommended)     http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/dectaz/380147/ Sun, 12 Aug 2007 20:28:00 -0500 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/dectaz/380147/ I love Thursdays . . . AKA: Dough-Day! We are waiting for all the social things that will be starting up, next week. In the downtime, we like to hang out with each other and do some creative stuff. Goodness knows that once the school year of activities is in full swing, we will never be home again! hahaha! Here is a few photos from this past Thursday of the kids working on a few things.... We will call it "Dough Day" First, out came the play-dough, or a cheap dollar store facsimile thereof..... Zack's Blue Broken Heart . . . Awe! Connors' injured Purple Heart (With a little blood {RED} Still in it) A sword is a COMPLETELY APPROPRIATE play-dough cutting utensil! Apparently this is an unwritten rule in the book of kid-dom! ------------------------------------ Then the dough of currency, in this house; ie: Education: In a deal with Mom and Dad, the twins get their Playstation 2 back, when they complete an "X" number of short book reports. Now, before you think I am an evil mother, these are simply short papers with the Title, Author Name, Two character Names and two sentences of the book. That's it! And I could have taken the whole Playstation away, to be honest. Plus they get to pick the books that they read, so they have some control. This is not a form of punishment, it is instead a program of encouragement with a reward at the end. For every one they write, they get a reward sticker. 5 stickers gets them one thing (Usually computer) 10 gets them something else and 20 gets them Chuck E Cheese...... We tape them on the wall like a "Book Worm" wrapping around the room! This sticker page and stickers were sold separately at a teacher supply store in town. Sorry, no link available. If you would like to check out the FREE collection of Book reports available from Kindergarten to 6th grade, Click HERE! The second grade level is where we are. Click HERE! --------------------------------------- Finally, the Edible Dough! While the twins worked on that project, Sasha helped mom make some fresh bread. She loves helping! Although she also likes to look "Cool", don't let her fool you.... she begged to help stir the dough.... but she has to look "Cool" in case her "Peep" see any of this.... sigh . . . She gets into beating the crap out of the bread. (AKA: Kneading) Brother realised that sister was having all the fun and he just HAD to get in on it. "Not sure what the bread did so wrong for you to beat on it, but I am in on it!" Hahaha! The bread is resting and rising, while the twins finish their reports. Yea, we are such freaks that my kids even like SALAD! AAAAHHHH the horror! http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/dectaz/380145/ Sun, 19 Aug 2007 20:27:00 -0500 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/dectaz/380145/   WHOOO HOOOO!     We finally managed to get everything into the tiny 2 bedroom apartment that we were grateful to receive access to, after J's accident that left him in a wheelchair. Everything was piled upon something else and getting access to just one thing was always a huge undertaking. Remember the old puzzle where you have to move a bunch of parts around to get one part to shoot over to the left.... UGH! I got RID of a LOT of those PARTS! BWAAA HAAA HAAA!     This is a stitched together panorama of the main living area. It may look reasonably large, but honestly, It is not. I am in one corner, which is the only thing not pictured. Again, it is a panorama, so imagine you wrap this into a near circle..... CLICK to see FULL Sized Photo!      We chose to turn the dinning room into a living room complete with a sofa, coffee table (Also used as the dining table), Television, Bookshelf, shoe caddy and room rug. The official living room area has been re-designed as a classroom/sewing/computer/play area... Goodness knows, I can't live without this area. As you can see, the sewing area is a complete jumbled mess, right now. I swear there REALLY is a sewing machine on that table . . . Somewhere! Hahaha!       The false wall, in the middle of this image, was made using two 72" high bookshelves side by side. They have behind them two smaller 36" bookshelves side by side. This helps to section of the two different rooms and adds much needed wall space. My DH had the grand idea to hang the world map on the back of the larger bookshelves to once again, add useable wall space. It works! Although, at this point, it may just end up and wallpaper over the back of that bookshelf, as I keep stacking things higher and higher on the smaller shelves! haha!   Day one:     The twins got up early, because mom woke them up!  I fed them then we got busy. We talked about what we planned to do this season (We school year round, so we speak in seasons, not in school years...) We discussed what I expected of them, and what they could expect of me. We got busy with working together on making sentences with funny random words, discussing subjects and predicates, editing paragraphs for grammar errors and reviewing double digit addition and subtraction (No barrowing).      They found out that we would begin our science studies with the Human Body. They nearly fought over who would get to red which book first! Yea! Thank goodness they are excited! Makes life much easier, yes? S-Baby woke up a bit later, ate breakfast a the coffee table, then played her Hooked on Phonics CD game on the laptop at the coffee table, while brothers and I continued in the class area, finishing our work....       Once we finished our main work, which I consider to be the three "R"s, then we moved into reading time and general mayhem and lapbooking and so on... S-Baby grabbed her Hooked on Phonics books and began to re-read them. She loves them. Thank goodness, because when I got them, the twins hated them, back when they were new. At least they weren't wasted! hahahaha! More later!   http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/dectaz/380144/ Mon, 23 Jul 2007 20:26:00 -0500 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/dectaz/380144/ We finally finished our Creation LapBooks and I wanted to get them up for you to see. I will also post links so that you can choose to get your supplies where we got ours. We hope this helps you to discover new and fun ways to learn right along with your children! Creation LapBooks! (We are a family of 5 living in a small 2 bedroom apartment, due to an auto accident that left DH temp in a wheelchair... so what you see is the living room turned into a classroom and in the background, the dining room is used as a living room....) S-Baby works on a Creation Maze. (Found HERE) Z-Man works on his Creation Crossword (Found HERE) C-Man and Z-Man work on their Creation Match Page. (Found Here) A completed Creation LapBook! (The coloring page for the cover Found HERE) Opened LapBook with extension (I created the extension by cannibalizing another folder and cutting it to size. This helps to created more space. I simply stapled it to the top of the existing LapBook) The basic files for this LapBook can be found in THIS LapBook eBook. Click HERE                               This is my FAV-O-RITE Children's Bible! It is the The Golden Children's Bible. It is a NEW bible, but it is a RE-PRINT of the classic one that we grew up with. You may have seen a sampler in your pediatricians waiting room. This bible is absolutely the BEST for reading to your child, the basic pertinent facts to INTRODUCE bible stories! The words are NOT babyish and the illustrations are GRAND! (You can get yours HERE!!) The illustrations are just fabulous! Check out the 10 Commandments page! Gorgeous! Ok, well thank you for reading all of this. We tried really hard to show you all we did and to minimize the photos and file sizes so that you could view them even with a dial-up internet connection. I hope this information helps you in your journey! http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/dectaz/380143/ Wed, 22 Aug 2007 20:25:00 -0500 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/dectaz/380143/ Hooked on Phonics Well, the EXPENSIVE set that I bought off eBay a number of years ago, never worked for the twins. I nearly sold it, then realized that I had not tried it on the baby, so I held on to it, till she was old enough. Suddenly, she's old enough! Hahahahaha! She wanted to "Do School, too" so I tried it on her and she has EXCELLED! Apparently it works for her! YEA! She has the full Hooked on Phonics program and is working through level one, right now. She also has the progress CD of games that came with it. She loves it! (Thank God!) A few weeks ago, we were crawling through Boarders Books store when I found a Hooked on Phonics workbook. She was DE-LIGHT-ED! In the back of the FIVE subject book, are corresponding FIVE "Progress Posters and FIVE sheets of Star Stickers!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! We found Pre-k, which was for fun and Kindergarten which is for "Real Work". Although she is only four, we consider her a kindergartener because she can read and write and she can perform the basic mathematic algorithm of "Five Plus two is Seven". So, with two books, that makes TEN progress posters! Here is she in front of her posters in the ONLY spare wall space of our tiny apartment: The Hall wall . . . .   I have some photos of the actual books that the posters came from. Let me charge my camera's batteries and i will get those up for you real quick... http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/dectaz/380142/ Thu, 23 Aug 2007 20:24:00 -0500 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/dectaz/380142/ HUMAN BODY LAPBOOK! Ok, it has been forever, but I think We are nearly done! You can get the lapbook HERE. You can get the Evan-Moor stuff, HERE. This is how much we have done so far.....   Now, once the kids were through playing with there floppy people and skeletons (The "Outside" and "Inside" of their little people bodies)... we were able to finally glue them inside.... So, we are not done yet, but I just wanted to get you up to date with what we are working on. . . . . . http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/dectaz/380140/ Fri, 24 Aug 2007 20:23:00 -0500 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/dectaz/380140/