The Family Together

Aug. 6, 2009 - Essay Writing & Free K-12 Curriculum

THIS PAGE of the FREE WORLD U website is for language arts for 6th graders. If you scroll down to the bottom, you'll find a section covering essay writing.

The topics are:

Types of Essays

Parts of an Essay

Writing a Thesis Statement

Using a Hook

Organizational Techniques

Deciding When to Paragraph

Making an Outline

Writing a First Draft

Revising Your Draft

Writing a Final Draft

The Free World U website offers curriculum for K-12, and there's even some pre-med/med school info. It operates under an interesting concept of "flash card" learning. They don't have everything up yet, but there is quite a bit, especially for the younger grades.

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Aug. 5, 2009 - NaNoWriMo Young Writers Program

Although this doesn't officially kick off until November, I wanted to take a moment and mention it now, after bringing it up in the comments section of another blog.

If you aren't familiar with NANOWRIMO and in particular, THE YOUTH PROGRAM I *highly* encourage you to check it out.

Na(tional) No(vel) Wri(writing) Mo(nth) happens ever year, has thousands of participants world-wide, and encourages students to join the fun. There are supportive e-mails from published writers, forums (with a section just for homeschoolers!), and more.

While NaNoWriMo has a set goal of 50,000 words in one month, the youth program is more flexible. You, as teacher, can set a specific word goal before the month starts. I've been following the rule of thumb given to me ages ago: Your Child's Age X 1000 words. So, a 9yo's goal would be 9000 words.

The youth program has NOVELING WORKBOOKS for elementary, middle, and high school grades, to help with the project.

Each year, after completing NaNoWriMo, my kids then take several months to clean-up/edit their manuscripts. Then, strictly as a treat, we PUBLISH them. (Actually, we are considering switching to Amazon's CREATE SPACE this year. NaNoWriMo had a deal with them last year to get one free book published for all "winners" - those who met their word goal.) Self-publishing their books usually costs us around $20 for both kids, and they love having "real" books they wrote themselves. When the books arrive in the mail, we even have a "Book and Author Dinner" to celebrate.

The best part about this program is - aside from the optional publishing - it's free. (LOL! I'd likely not be even mentioning it otherwise, eh?) The workbooks, the program, the fun... yes, it is fun! doesn't cost you anything, though it's nice to make a donation to the cause if you can.

Also keep in mind, there are no NaNoWriMo police running around making sure you do things exactly one way. If you're just looking for a creative writing curriculum, you could download the workbook(s) today and get started on them immediately.

Another thing I like - your child earns a nice certificate, just for participating, even if he didn't quite reach his word goal. You can SEE THE 2008 CERTIFICATE HERE. Even if you don't publish the final manuscript, you can still hold a Book and Author Dinner, and present your child with a framed copy of his certificate.

So, do check it out. And be sure to click on the Dare Machine. Very funny writing prompts. :)

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Aug. 5, 2009 - SparkNotes Sources

THIS LINK will take you to the SparkNotes biology page. As SparkNotes are just small summaries, you wouldn't want to rely on them as a primary source for teaching. However, they *can* help you get a course view - an idea of what topics your student needs to know in any one subject.

SparkNotes covers a wide variety of courses, from sciences to mathematics to literature. Consider them a useful planning tool.

In addition, there's a Test Prep section, if you have a student gearing up to take the SAT or ACT.

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Aug. 4, 2009 - WHOA - Awesome source for free curriculum for high schoolers.

Don't know how I never found this one before, but there you have it. :) I just stumbled across HIPPO CAMPUS and I'm rather blown away. In fact, I would definitely alter my biology plans listed below, to make this site the primary source, and the other textbook I found the secondary source.

In addition to biology, this site has: Algebra, American Government, Calculus, Environmental Science, Physics, Psychology, Religion, Statistics, and US History - including "regular" and AP levels. There are texts, slide shows, and videos.

It's hosted by the Monterey Institute for Technology and Education and everything is free.

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Aug. 3, 2009 - High School Biology For Free

Please See: THIS POST for an update to Biology for Free, if you haven't already read it. I found a new source I am really impressed with.

I was asked by a HOMESCHOOL LOUNGE sister (*waves to new sister!*) how I would handle high school biology. Since my previous post on using the internet for creating a homeschooling curriculum was more of a general post, I figured this would be a good way to demonstrate the steps in specific.

STEP 1 - choose the course. That was done for me. :)

STEP 2 - decide how to teach it. I expect a good deal from my high schooler. A long-time goal of mine, from the start of homeschooling, was that my children become self-directed learners. That said, I still provide an outline and list of goals, plus other requirements. For this course in particular, there will be a combination of reading from a text, internet research, online videos, and in-home experiments, plus 2 research papers, one due each semester. (I don't give "final exams" to my children. We do sometimes have quizzes, but in place of final exams, I require in-depth term papers, now that they are MS/HS aged.)

STEP 3- Google it! My googling yielded the following:

Main Source: AN ONLINE BIOLOGY BOOK - this is for an introduction to biology college-level course.

Secondary Source: BIOLOGY LESSON PLANS - includes experiments, activities, projects, worksheets, and tests.

Additional Sources: MIT OPEN COURSE MATERIALS - this includes lots of video lectures. BIOLOGY 4 KIDS - a general biology website, with easy-to-understand explanations, and quizzes. HIGH SCHOOL BIOLOGY - this is a portal site that links to other biology sources on the web.

STEP 4 - complete the Subject Planner sheet, and begin more detailed planning. My subject planner would LOOK LIKE THIS. For more detailed planning, my son would be involved. As noted in the planner, we would need to cover roughly 1 3/4 chapters of the textbook per week, to finish by the end of the year. Now, one, I'm not a huge stickler for getting absolutely everything done, so there may be a few things here and there that we miss. Two, some chapters are longer than others, and that will affect how much we get done of any single chapter or chapters per week.

We would start by looking at what topics the first 3 - 4 chapters cover. We would visit our other saved resources, to see if they can add to what's covered by the book. Maybe a video, an experiment, or a quick quiz. Then, using a weekly planner, we would map out what would be done for the first 2 weeks. I leave a lot of that up to my son, because, again, I want him to be more self-directed and I also figure this helps build his time management skills. As long as he includes enough variations, an experiment here, a video there, and looks like he's keeping pretty well on track, I leave the final planning to him.

Every other week, we would build 2 weeks more worth of lesson plans. (That's just my preference. I like to have two weeks planned out; no more, no less.) From there, my son simply follows the directions laid out for him. If he has a question he can't seem to find the answer for, or just wants more explanation for a topic that's troubling him, I will step in. If I can't answer it myself, I will find the answer online.

This planning might sound complicated, but it's really not. It only takes an hour or two to work out each 2 week's lessons for all of my son's courses.

STEP 5 - reading materials. I wouldn't really bother building a list from the beginning, simply because I don't know any titles off hand to cover this subject. Instead, I would keep a quick list of topics covered over the two week periods, and, on our visits to the library, see what could be found based on those topics.

STEP 6 - printing. Sometimes I do print the books I find online, but because of the sheer size of this one, coupled with the number of links for reference, I wouldn't. I would, however, print off the review questions, and have my son answer them as he finishes each chapter.

Notes:

We are Christians, and this curriculum is not Biblically based. This means, as we reach the lessons pertaining to evolution, we would have discussions on the flaws/holes in those theories. I think it's actually good for my children to learn from this type of text, though, because, frankly, they will need to know what the state/colleges teach as "true" in order to succeed on tests like the SAT.

We will wait until we are approximately 4 weeks into lessons before I have my son choose the topic for his first paper, so that he has time to get a better idea of what he is learning and what interests him the most.

We would also plan visits to the science museum. While I don't spend a lot on curriculum (obviously!) I do budget for field trips and the science museum is one of the "musts." We might go for a traveling exhibit, or special movie.

Our library carries a series of educational DVDs, so we would probably check out some of those, if appropriate.

As we progress through the year, our source list can grow and change, to suit our needs and include new "finds" with different internet searches.

I hope that answers the question sufficiently! Please let me know if you want any more details.

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Aug. 3, 2009 - Guide to Creating Your Homeschool Curriculum For Free Using Internet Sources

*Please note: If you've come here by way of The Homeschool Lounge Open House, or possibly a search engine, once you have finished reading this post, you can GO HERE to see a bit more detail based on single subject planning.

This guide is a simple, short overview, serving to demonstrate how it is possible to build a homeschool curriculum using free internet sources. It is "practically" free, as opposed to "totally" free, because in using this method, you will have the expense of paper and ink for printing, as well as typical school supplies such as pencils, map colors, and glue.

The nature of the internet is such that websites seem to come and go. You will want to download and save as much information as possible from any site you choose to include in your curriculum, as a precaution.

STEP 1:

Decide the courses you will teach for the year. This would include core subjects, such as English and math, as well as any electives you might want, like home economics or music.

If you need ideas on what subjects to teach for what grades, you might want to refer to the following core subject guide: WORLD BOOK CURRICULUM STANDARDS.

Choose which courses you will teach to individual students, based on grade level and ability, like math, and which courses you can combine for multiple age groups/all of your students, such as history.

Start working up a Course Description page for each subject. (Here's an example of a SUBJECT PLANNING FORM. Other forms can be found at THE DONNA YOUNG WEBSITE.)

STEP 2:

Determine how you want to teach/present the subjects. For instance, if you will be using NOTEBOOKING or journaling, traditional worksheets, etc., you will want to make note of that. If you aren't certain, skip to Step 3. As you find sources available to you, that will help you decide how you will teach them.

STEP 3:

Find your resources. Google, google, google, and then google some more. For each subject/topic you want to cover, google it. Create favorites folders, or use an online source like GOOGLE BOOKMARKS to record and store all sources you find. If you need a "jump start" for ideas, I have created a PAGE OF LINKS through delicious.com that covers multiple grades and subjects. There are currently over 110 links listed, all pointing you to free sites you can use. Try to find at least 2 websites per subject.

STEP 4:

Add your sources to your Subject Planner, and begin building a more detailed planner, such as THIS WEEKLY PLANNER. For an idea of what a yearly planner might look like, SEE THIS 6TH GRADE 40 WEEK PLANNER AT OLD FASHIONED EDUCATION. It is up to you to decide how much/detailed planning you want to do at one time.

STEP 5:

Build a general reading list of books you would like to get from your local library. If you do not know a specific title, write down the subject/topic.

STEP 6:

Print the materials you need. I like to print them by week only, in case we make changes to our curriculum, or find new sources.

EXAMPLE #1: 7th Grade History

Main Source: AMERICAN HISTORY
Secondary Source: HISTORICAL TALES, VOL. I: AMERICAN
Additional Sources: TIMELINE PRINTABLES, HISTORY NOTEBOOKING PAGES, US HISTORY STUDY GUIDES, library books.

Student will create a history notebook and timeline, covering major events in US History. THIS TIMELINE can help determine topics to cover.

Student will choose 2 events in US History and write RESEARCH PAPERS (one per semester of school year) for each event.

General Weekly Schedule:

Monday: Choose an event from the AMERICAN HISTORY WEBSITE and research it online. Add a notation to timeline.

Tuesday: Read a story from the Historical Tales book. Create notebooking page, summarizing events of story.

Wednesday: Read from a library book covering either/both events studied on Monday and Tuesday, or conduct further research online.

Thursday: Give an oral report about historical events studied. Research time period online and identify three events that happened in other parts of the world at this time. Add them to timeline.

Friday: Work on term/research paper.

Use a weekly planner form such as the one listed above in Step 4 to plan/determine events to study, by week. Also, search for websites such as THIS ONE to get free clipart and images that can be used with the timeline.

EXAMPLE #2: 10th Grade Literature

Main Sources: DAVID COPPERFIELD, MUCH ADO ABOUT NOTHING, THE COUNT OF MONTE CRISTO, THE IMPORTANCE OF BEING EARNEST

Secondary Sources: DAVID COPPERFIELD STUDY GUIDE, MUCH ADO ABOUT NOTHING STUDY GUIDE, THE COUNT OF MONTE CRISTO STUDY GUIDE, THE IMPORTANCE OF BEING EARNEST STUDY GUIDE.

Additional Sources: Online websites dedicated to each novel/author, as needed.

Student will read one novel per quarter, and complete one project per novel. Project ideas include: critical essays based on novel (ideas can be found in the study guides), biographies of the authors, display boards (similar to science fair exhibits), or oral presentations of scenes from either play. Any essays/papers written should FOLLOW HIGH SCHOOL RESEARCH PAPER STANDARDS. Upon completing each novel, student shall write a short BOOK REPORT about the novel. The study guides can help cement ideas for the report.

General Schedule:

Student should plan reading accordingly, to complete each novel/play within 5 - 6 weeks. Student may use study guides as each chapter is completed, or refer to them upon finishing the entire book. The remainder of the quarter is to be used developing project and writing book report.

EXAMPLE #3: 2nd Grade Science

Main Source: LEARNING PAGE THEMES - 1 theme each 6 weeks, Dinosaurs, Insects and Spiders, Oceans, Reptiles and Amphibians, Space, and Zoo Animals. (Website requires free registration to access all of the theme worksheets.)

Secondary Sources: library books per topic

General Weekly Schedule:

Monday: Complete 1 - 3 fact file worksheets. Start/Add to mural.

Tuesday: Read library book about topic.

Wednesday: Complete 1 - 3 fun sheets. Add to mural.

Thursday: Research topic online with teacher.

Friday: Give oral report of information learned.

Use a weekly planner form such as the one listed above in Step 4 to plan/determine topics, by week.

EXAMPLE #4: 5TH GRADE YEAR COURSES

1. Language Arts, including grammar, reading, handwriting
2. Mathematics
3. Science - earth science
4. History - Ancient World
5. Art - focusing on art of ancient civilizations
6. Bible - Old Testament history

Each course is covered on a weekly schedule, either as one short "period" per subject, per day, or you may choose to follow a schedule where certain subjects are taught for longer periods of time every other day. You may have four day weeks, five day weeks, six day weeks, depending on what suits your family.

As you begin to design your curriculum using this method, you will be able to customize it toward your children's needs and interests. For instance, you may have a high school girl who would prefer to read Jane Austen over Charles Dickens. Also, always be on the look-out for new internet sources you might use, and don't be afraid to change/alter your curriculum as needed.

Is creating your own curriculum time-consuming? Yes. Difficult? No. The internet is a vast and amazing resource. The hardest part of creating your curriculum is narrowing down your choices to what you need.

If you are the type who likes much more detailed planning lists, you definitely want to explore the Donna Young site fully. There are several homeschool planners out there for purchase, but you needn't spend money unnecessarily, when this site has hundreds of forms available for free. The COLONIAL PLANNER is particularly nice.

Again, feel free to VISIT MY FREE INTERNET SOURCES PAGE to get ideas. I've separated the links by subject as much as possible. Use the tags in the right-hand column to find what you are looking for.

One final note. If you are concerned about being on "grade level," you might want to VISIT THIS WEBSITE to access the Texas State Standards exams. I have my children take these exams each year more for the practice than any concern over their scores, but they do serve as a nice reference, if you want/need.

For LOTS! more great info on homeschooling, visit The Homeschool Lounge's 2009 Open House.

ETA: OOPS! I was supposed to include a "prize preference" list here on my post, if I'm a lucky winner in the Homeschool Lounge's Open House drawing. :) After reviewing the prizes, I would definitely choose the Currclick prize first, followed by Revive our Hearts (Lies Young Women Believe - my, golly, what an AWESOME product!), then the Homeschool Boutique. Beyond that, I would say anything would be nice, though the items more suitable for younger families, like the IttyBitty Bookworm, should of course go to a family who can use them.

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Aug. 2, 2009 - Awards Certificates for Keeper at Home/Contenders for the Faith

Several years ago, our homeschool support group started up KEEPERS AT HOME/CONTENDERS FOR THE FAITH clubs. (If you have never heard of these clubs, they are similar to scouting clubs.) While we were able to do a surprising number of the badges with minimal expense, one thing that was a concern for many of our families (especially the larger ones) was the cost of each badge once earned. We hit upon the solution of making awards certificates instead. These can be printed out, filled in, and framed with a dollar store frame.

After a discussion about the Keepers clubs came up at THE HOMESCHOOL LOUNGE, I went into my backed-up storage files and found the certificates I made the year I was one of the club leaders. I had to edit them a bit - because they included our support group's name, but now I have posted them to my FREE FORMS page for anyone to use.

I really recommend Keepers and Contenders clubs. First, they are Christian-based, so they include Bible reading and memory, and second, unlike scouting - YOU are completely in charge of your own clubs. There are no expensive uniforms, no strict rules. You work on the badges, as suggested by the handbooks and website, but you can determine the final requirements yourself. These clubs can even be done on a single family basis.

Two final notes: 1) If you join or start a club, check eBay and Amazon for the handbooks; you can find them there for about 1/2 price. 2) Be sure to visit the website for new/more badge ideas not in the printed handbooks.

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Aug. 1, 2009 - Reason #47 to Homeschool.

THIS ARTICLE speaks about shrinking school budgets and growing class sizes. What I find most interesting about it is this quote from an elementary school teacher:

“You may have a child that needs you, that needs that adult figure, to spend the extra five minutes with them. If you have five or six extra kids, that five minutes is gone.”

followed by this quote from a mother:

“If you have more people in the room — trying to get their hand up, trying to get their question answered, trying to get someone to stop kicking the back of their chair — there are going to be more problems.”

Translation: Your child in public school is lucky to get even five minutes of a teacher's individual time, and your child may be competing just to get noticed and get his question answered. It's asking a lot of any child to expect him to learn well in an environment like that.

(And *ahem*, we'll ignore the teacher's grammar error.)

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Jul. 29, 2009 - Barnes and Noble Summer Reading Program - Free Book

It's not too late to participate in THE SUMMER READING PROGRAM at Barnes and Noble, where your child can earn a free book.

This is for grades 1 - 6. Your child must read 8 books, fill out a form, and turn it in to a B&N store by September 7th. The free book comes from a list of choices, and includes such things as Curious George, and Biscuit, for lower grades, up to Ben and Me and Sounder, for older children.

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Jul. 28, 2009 - Fun Art Project

So, the weather outside is... horrid. It's either hot enough to pass out, or there's a raging thunderstorm. If you're just looking for some quick ideas to entertain your kids indoors, here's something you can do that's good for multiple ages.

Q-TIP POINTILLISM

It's an art lesson and project that requires only Q-tips, watercolors, paper and tape. Tie this in with a lesson on GEORGE SEURAT and you've got an afternoon of fun and learning. (Just to note, Seurat did have at least one painting with semi-nude women in it, so if you don't want your younger children to see it, you might want to preview any sites you might visit that discuss his works.)

HERE'S a YouTube video with Seurat's art set to Vivaldi's Four Seasons. (Does include "The Models," which is the painting with the nudes, just FYI.)

And THIS VIDEO briefly discusses how to do pointillism.

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Jul. 27, 2009 - School Related Sales

WESTVON PUBLISHING is having a 75% off sale at Currclick. They offer notebooking and handwriting sheets, based on various themes.

STAPLES is offering some basic school supplies, like glue and erasers, for .25 cents.

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Jul. 25, 2009 - Free Teacher Guides for Classics

SIGNET CLASSICS offers free teacher guides for several Shakespeare plays, as well as a several dozen other works of literature. These include vocabulary words and discussion/quiz questions.

There's also SPARK NOTES, which includes the full text of the novels online, GRADE SAVER, and CLIFFS NOTES - which also includes math, science, foreign language and test prep sections, along with other subjects.

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Jul. 25, 2009 - Free Photo Editing & Other Web-Related Software Programs

If you don't already have a program on your computer that allows you to edit/manipulate your photos, you can get one HERE for free. You can crop, add text, and use "special effects" with your photos.

Also, the same company offers free software for DESKTOP PUBLISHING - making greeting cards, posters, and the like; WEB PAGE DESIGN - the SE version is the free one, no HTML knowledge needed; and VECTOR DRAWING.

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Jul. 24, 2009 - Adding a link using HTML.

There are two ways to add links to your blog and set the wording to be what you want. The easy way - click on the icon of the planet with a link bar in front of it. This will pop up a window asking you to enter the text, and then the URL. For example, you can enter GOOGLE for the text, then the Google address, and you will get this:

GOOGLE - a clickable link.

The "harder" method is to work directly in the HTML. (Warning! The following info is only for the extremely curious or those who like geeky things like I do.)

I'm adding an image here, to show you the actual HTML coding. If I simply type it in, your browser will interpret it and you won't see the coding you need, only the final resultant link. To edit an HTML link directly, you need to start by clicking the "Source" button, to take you to the HTML version of your blog post. From there, you can add your text and code, to make your link say whatever you like.

You can use the above method anywhere on the net, when you don't have the option of an "add text-link" button like we have here at homeschoolblogger.

ETA: If you ever want to add a link that pops open a new window, rather than navigates away from your site, you need to add the following to your code:

target="_blank"

This would go directly after the URL portion, so it would look like this:

google.com" target="_blank">GOOGLE

GOOGLE IN A NEW TAB OR WINDOW

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Jul. 24, 2009 - Embedding Videos (Tim Hawkins Homeschool Song)

When allowed, you can embed videos from YouTube, simply by copying and pasting the embed code listed directly below the URL code and video description on the right-hand side of the screen, on the YouTube video's page. This is the easiest way to add videos, because you don't need any coding knowledge. The one thing you do need to do, when making a post, is click on the "Source" button before you add the code to your blog post. When you are in source-mode, you cannot access any of the features, like the "B" for bold or changing font sizes, because you are working directly in the HTML. After you have copied in the full embed code, you can switch back to regular editing mode, if you like, by clicking on the source button again.

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Jul. 24, 2009 - Creation Science Book for Older Students (and Parents, too)

In the Beginning: Compelling Evidence for Creation and the Flood can be found HERE, free online. It is an utterly (IMHO) fascinating science book.

Here's part of the book's description:

"Part II describes the hydroplate theory, developed during more than 35 years of study by Dr. Walt Brown, a former evolutionist. This theory explains a catastrophic event in earth’s history and solves a host of recognized problems. For decades, evolutionists complained that creationists only criticized evolution and did not offer sound scientific theories of their own. The hydroplate theory ends that complaint and explains, with overwhelming evidence, earth’s defining geological event—a worldwide flood."

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Jul. 21, 2009 - Math Drills and Other Worksheets

THIS website offers hundreds of free worksheets, including many for math - with everything from simple counting, addition and subtraction, to working with fractions, to exponents, scientific notation, and geometry. They also have worksheets for language arts, geography, and various types of puzzles like word searches and sudoku.

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Jul. 18, 2009 - Reading Competency Test

HERE'S the NRRF's (National Right to Read Foundation) reading competency test. It's very quick and easy to administer and can give you a general idea of your child's reading level. It's especially helpful if you are trying to determine a reading/language arts program to follow, and aren't sure exactly where to begin.

Just make note of the following info, explained in their "How to Give the Test" section:

"Part 2 consists of six paragraphs taken from the middle part of school readers, grades 1-6, that were in wide use 100 years ago—a time when children were taught to read with intensive, systematic instruction in phonics. Each paragraph represents material that anyone who has been properly taught should be able to read and comprehend within their grade level. Keep in mind that grade-level 6 is equivalent to high-school level reading today."

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Jul. 13, 2009 - Study Geography and Make Your Own "Passports" - for free, of course!

THIS WEBSITE offers free printable stickers for states and countries, including a set that looks somewhat like passport stamps. We printed ours on regular paper (not expensive sticker paper) and cut them out. We made the passports themselves by folding a piece of dark blue construction paper over several folded white sheet of paper and stapling them down the sides. Finally, we printed two copies of an image of a US passport and glued them to the front. It's probably pretty hokey, and maybe my kids are really too old for this sort of thing now, but they haven't rolled their eyes or complained about it. On each country's page they write a few facts about the country and add the "stamp" once we are done studying. We'll have to make a few stamps of our own before we're through the geography course, but this will make a nice addition to their geography notebooks.

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Jul. 13, 2009 - Staples and Wal-Mart Sales

We did make it to Staples to buy paper yesterday, but it turned out, even with the teacher ID, only 2 reams were up for the rebate price. (And, as it turns out an "easy rebate" is really fairly similar to a mail-in-rebate. You just get to speed the process up a bit by entering the info online. The rebate is supposed to arrive within "4 - 6 weeks.") We bought the 2 packs of paper, plus 5 packs of 1 cent pencils, 8 pencils per pack.

My husband stopped at Wal-Mart on the way home from work today and checked their back-to-school prices. They have brad/pocket folders and spiral notebooks for 15 cents a piece right now. For the past several years, the price was 10 cents each, so there's the rising costs of goods for you. He bought ten spiral notebooks, because the kids use them for math work and some journaling.

It's so much easier to shop for school supplies when you are a homeschooler. We've been using the same box of map pencils for years, the same scissors, the same protractor, compass, and calculator. The one year my kids attended a public school, they were both required to bring a long list of supplies. These were collected and put into bins for each item - scissors, glue, and so forth. Whenever they were needed, the teachers handed them out from the bins. This meant the kids didn't necessarily use the items they themselves brought in. It also meant it didn't matter if you had taught your children how to properly care for their supplies, such as wiping the glue cap after closing it, because all the items were tossed back in to the bins at the end of class - those that were kept well mixed in with those used carelessly. The worst part was, because of this system, the supplies needed constant replacement - letters were always coming home asking for more of this or that - and *none* of the non-consumable things came home at the end of the year. To this day, I do not know what the school does with all the supplies. Where do the scissors, the rulers, the leftover crayons go? Out with the trash?

In any case, we are now equipped for the year, with the exception that we will eventually need more paper and ink. When I'm in a store watching parents shop with their kids, consulting their lists and filling their carts, I'm always glad I'm not one of them!

Side note: Another thing we *had* to send to school with our then kindergarten-aged daughter was this jar of "math manipulatives" that could be bought online or through the "store" set up in the school gym for back-to-school night. These turned out to be nothing more than silly little colored plastic cubes. Not only were they ridiculously priced, we didn't get those back, either. And talk about a waste of money. There's nothing wrong with using items to teach counting and addition and subtraction, but for a fraction of the cost we had to spend, you can gather/make your own - paper clips, dried beans, elbow macaroni dyed different colors. It's a sad commentary on our society in general that we now think we can't even properly teach our kids to count without a forking over $10 for a jar of plastic cubes.

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