As a homeschooling family we are committed to family strengthening and God-centered character development, life preparation, and enjoyable education. http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/jennbeck/ en-us Homeschool Blogger Wed, 30 Jul 2008 07:26:00 -0500 Wed, 30 Jul 2008 07:26:00 -0500 We're gearing up for a unit study on the Olympics to kick off our year.  Here's what I have so far: A full itinerary of the Olympic Torch relay complete with pictures Google interactive torch relay map Homeschool share unit study & lapbook Official mascots of 2008 olympic - I printed each of these off on separate pages to add to our notebook Learning Adventures 2008 Summer Olympics Unit Study - lots of great links/resources http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/jennbeck/567481/ Wed, 30 Jul 2008 07:26:00 -0500 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/jennbeck/567481/ Valentine Food For Thought Cabbage always has a heart; Green beans string along. You're such a cute tomato, Will you peas to me belong? You've been the apple of my eye, You know how much I care; So lettuce get together, We'd make a perfect pear. Now, something's sure to turnip to prove you can't be beet; So, if you carrot all for me let's let our tulips meet. Don't squash my hopes and dreams now, Bee my honey, dear; Or tears will fill potato's eyes, While sweet corn lends an ear. I'll cauliflower shop and say, Your dreams are parsley mine. I'll work and share my celery, So be my valentine. by Jeanne Losey  I was looking for information on the origin of Valentine's Day today and stumbled across this poem.  I read it aloud twice to my kids before I got all the puns.  We all enjoyed it so much.  The site where I found the poem also had quite a lot of other great information about Valentine's Day.  Enjoy! http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/jennbeck/480695/ Thu, 14 Feb 2008 09:05:00 -0600 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/jennbeck/480695/ Filling up my Family’s Ipods for Free Each member of my family now has an MP3 player of some kind (4 Microsoft Zunes, 1 Ipod Shuffle, and 2 Sansa Shakers).  Here are some podcasts I want to have on them. Audio ·         Cindy Rushton – She is my favorite homeschool expert.  I consider her a friend and mentor though I’ve never met her.  Each week she offers a free homeschool podcast, and she offers eworkshop memberships full of additional mp3s as well.  I purchased memberships to her Charlotte Mason seminar and the Ultimate Homeschool Expo and have yet to listen to even half of those audios, though I’m enjoying each one. ·         The FLY Show – FlyLady and her friend Leanne Ely encourage women like me on their weekly call-in radio show.  These shows supplement FLylady’s website and reminder emails that help me take better care of my house and myself.  I could listen live and call in to the show if I didn’t have 5 kids to keep track of and teach. ·         Missus SmartyPants to the Fashion Rescue – This is Leanne Ely’s sister Leslie, who is an expert on what’s in and out of style and helps women dress for their body types.   She just had her first show a couple weeks ago. ·         Living Books for the Ears Homeschool Radio Shows – Here’s a great homeschool resource for me and my kids.  Each week Jim Erskine releases another free old-time radio show.  He also sells collections of these shows and other audio resources from time to time. ·         My new discovery of the day is God’s Ipod.  I discovered it while looking for a worship podcast; theirs is called Radiant Worship.  But there’s an extra bonus – we can now listen to the New Testament in a Year.  I’m tempted to put this on all of our ipods this year. Video ·         Stump the Chef – A chef is given 3 random ingredients and has to prepare a dish that incorporates all of them and tastes good.  This is fun to watch and very educational – I learn something new every time. ·         National Geographic’s Wild Chronicles – Our whole family loves watching these podcasts, but we have to be on the lookout for evolutionary bias on this show. ·         London Landscapes – This a great supplement to books set in London.  It added another dimension to our reading of A Little Princess last year, and we’ve all become hooked. ·         Beautiful Places – Imagine exploring a Redwood Forest, seashore, or glacier on your ipod.  Tony Farley guides us to a new place every 2 weeks. ·         Sesame Street – Here’s something to keep the youngest family members occupied while we’re waiting somewhere.  Short, portable video episodes of a favorite show. http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/jennbeck/453326/ Tue, 1 Jan 2008 08:45:00 -0600 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/jennbeck/453326/ My kids want to learn about Dinosaurs, and so far I've pulled together a few resources for a Dinosaur Lapbook to begin in January. Enchanted Learning has a lot of coloring pictures and information pages about dinosaurs that I would love to use - perhaps my husband can help me print several different ones on a page to create dinosaur information cards to include. I also plan to use at least pieces of the dinosaur unit study at Homeschool Share. Learning Page's free membership includes an entire unit on dinosaurs, including math, language arts, and science worksheets.  I may pick and choose a few appropriate worksheets from that site to accompany our study.  Perhaps a few of their preschool worksheets can keep my 3-year-old busy while I work with the older kids. Please post a comment if you know of any other great (especially free) resources I shouldn't miss as I plan our dinosaur expedition for January!   http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/jennbeck/452086/ Sat, 29 Dec 2007 16:23:00 -0600 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/jennbeck/452086/ I really enjoyed skimming through the article, A Super Easy Way to Begin Lapbooking: The Simplest Lapbook Ever.  It explains how to make your own lapbook from scratch using whatever topic of study you choose.  I'm going to have to read over it in greater detail when I have more time. http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/jennbeck/445952/ Mon, 17 Dec 2007 06:32:00 -0600 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/jennbeck/445952/ The question, "What's for dinner?" used to take a lot of thought to answer, but for the past 3 weeks, my dinners have been planned for me, and they've been delicious!  I'm not sure exactly how I came across Menus 4 Moms,  but the site provides all the instructions I need to prepare a variety of healthy dinners for my family, including a detailed shopping list which even estimates the cost for each item.  These menus include all the sides and even desserts. Some of the meals we've really enjoyed have been White Chicken Chili with Cornbread, Waffles with Bacon, eggs, and fruit cocktail, Turkey Green Bean Casserole.  Many of the leftovers have turned into lunches for me, but last week we served up all our leftovers Sunday after church for my sister-in-law and her boyfriend - they really enjoyed the food! The only problem I have with these menus is that my twin 2-year-olds are very picky and won't touch much of it - some things even my 3-year-old doesn't prefer.  I anticipate that over time this will cease being an issue.  My family is now eating a much greater variety of foods, and I feel healthier. These menus are available for free, but I can sign up to receive a better, ad-free version for a small fee.  There are a ton of other great resources at the website, and if I have any question about the menus, I can always post my concern on their yahoo group and receive a quick answer.  http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/jennbeck/444532/ Fri, 14 Dec 2007 05:58:00 -0600 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/jennbeck/444532/ One thing my kids need to learn more about is the national parks.  Today I discovered the National Park Service has a Webrangers site where kids can sign up, complete activities and become a Webranger.  I think this will be right up my kids' alley to begin in January.  I know some of the activities carry an evolutionary tone, so I will need to use them as an opportunity to teach what we know from the Bible, as opposed to what scientists are guessing based on what they believe. In addition, several national parks have online Junior Ranger programs.  To do these, you just need to print online articles and worksheets, then send in the completed worksheets to receive a Junior Ranger badge.  http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/jennbeck/444527/ Fri, 14 Dec 2007 05:43:00 -0600 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/jennbeck/444527/ Today I happened upon Homeschool Share, a site with many free unit studies and free lapbooks, something I have recently begun to use with my children.  I am very excited, especially since I searched for and found a free dinosaur lapbook which comes at the topic from a creationist perspective.  I plan to use that one after Christmas.  Thanks to Ami Brainerd for adding 8 free Christmas lapbooks to her blog and helping me to find this wonderful new resource. http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/jennbeck/439740/ Thu, 6 Dec 2007 07:18:00 -0600 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/jennbeck/439740/ Today was the first day I made a serious attempt to do school with my oldest 2 kids without the aid of a nanny to watch the younger 3.  I think it went well.  This morning after breakfast I let the kids play while I got things cleaned up.  When the babies (13 months old) started fussing for their bottles, I allowed them to feed themselves while reclined in their swings.  My toddler (almost 3) borrowed her older brother's headphones and entertained herself with her LeapPad while I worked with the older 2.  My son took his Language quiz while his older sister played with the Leapster, and then she joined us for our math lesson.  When math was over it was my oldest daughter's turn for the Language quiz.  Everyone had a break to play outside for awhile, then we all came in for lunch, which was only halfway chaotic for a change. While the babies were drinking their milk after lunch, I pulled out the magnadoodles for our spelling lesson.  We finished our lesson as the babies were ready to get out of their high chairs.  It was playtime until time to put the babies down for naps, then time to read to my toddler until her naptime.  Then I headed to the basement intending to finish reading a library book with my son, but he opted to work on his Top Secret geography kit instead.  He's solving puzzles and learning about Thailand along the way.  My oldest daughter has kept herself buried in books for the most part, though I think she's now playing with her Lego Knights of the Kingdom instead.  I was able to quickly put together next week's lesson plan, update my blog, and assist my son on the more difficult pages of his puzzle book. Soon it will be time for them to have their snacks and work on their Awana verses and Bible Study lessons. http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/jennbeck/275504/ Fri, 26 Jan 2007 13:55:00 -0600 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/jennbeck/275504/ Switched-on-Schoolhouse (SOS) again, that is.  I keep changing things up here, but change can be good, especially at this time of year when it's easy to be discouraged, and especially when I've gone from having a wonderful assistant with my 5 children to going solo with them once more.  We are, however, not using SOS exactly how it was designed to be used.  The first time around with it (about 17 months ago) when my oldest daughter has just turned 7, I allowed her to begin using it for Language Arts, then for math, then for just about everything, and she did it independently...for awhile.  Then it was like pulling teeth to get her to do it.  This time I'm starting my son (who just turned 7), but I'm not asking him to do it independently.  We are doing it together and including my daughter.  We are using it for Language Arts and Math, while continuing to use Story of the World and Considering God's Creation for history and science.  We're also dropping out the spelling part of SOS in favor of Sequential Spelling, in which we're on day 7.  So far so good.  We're also using Ambleside Online curriculum for some additional read-alouds. Switched-on-schoolhouse was designed to be used independently.  As I said, we're not doing that.  We are completing the lessons together (logging in as "class"), reading through the lesson screens and then the kids alternate answering the questions or problems.  It is working out really well since the number of problems was overwhelming for my daughter when she tried it the first time.  In addition, the kids can check answers out with each other before submitting it for a grade.  When quiz time comes, my children use separate logins to take the quizzes independently.  We've already had a couple language arts quizzes, and that has worked well...I'm not sure if I'll use the same strategy for the math quizzes and tests or not, though I better decide soon since the first one is coming up next week! I wasn't sure about teaching math and language arts to my oldest 2 kids together, as they are a bit over a year apart, but it seems to be working out well.  My daughter is breezing through the Language Arts so far but is demonstrating a need to practice math more.  My son, on the other hand, is finding the math to be quite easy, but is challenged by the Language Arts.  I'm pleased to be able to teach them all subjects together for the time being.  It makes my life so much simpler. http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/jennbeck/275497/ Fri, 26 Jan 2007 13:32:00 -0600 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/jennbeck/275497/