Homeschool Den

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Category: Must Read

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Must Read / Recipes

Perfect 4th of July Frozen Treat

With watermelons in season, we’ll have some with our 4th of July barbecue.  Sometimes when we get a big melon there’s more than we can eat in one sitting. The kids love when I freeze the watermelon and bring it out as a frozen treat.  We use cookie cutters and then put it on a meat skewer. You could also use clean Popsicle sticks. The picture above is before they...

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Freebies / History: American History / History: This is the United States-Unit Study (grade 1) / Homeschool Den / Must Read

Patriotic Songs for Kids

Earlier this week, I shared the 10-page packet of summer camp songs I’ve been singing with the kids.  With the 4th of July right around the corner, I also put together a set of patriotic songs to sing with them. If you are interested, here are some of the songs we’ve been singing (and learning):  American Patriotic Song Packet   Related Posts: You might also be interested in our free...

Homeschool Students Fight to Play on Public School Teams 0

Homeschool Den / Homeschooling in the News / Must Read

Homeschool Students Fight to Play on Public School Teams

A couple of days ago, NPR ran a story on All Things Considered about how homeschool students in some states are fighting to play on public school teams. It is an issue fraught with emotion and politics. The laws vary state to state.  Policies are changing from year to year. In fact just in the past two or three years, there has been a lot of legislation being considered by...

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Homeschool Den / Homeschool: Our Homeschool (what our day is like, curriculum choices, etc.) / Homeschool: Planning and Preparation / Must Read

Homeschool Year in Review (Grades 2 and 4)

This is such a fun post to write! This is where I get to reminisce and think about the amazing year we’ve had.  It has been a blast… tiring at times (particularly in February when LD had a lot of out-of-town gymnastics meets, I had lots of meetings and was training for a half-marathon). But looking back, we had a fulfilling, successful year. We do a lot of our activities...

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Ages 2-6: Preschool (Age 4) / Homeschool Den / Homeschool: Our Homeschool (what our day is like, curriculum choices, etc.) / Homeschool: Planning and Preparation / Math: Preschool Math / Must Read

Homeschool Preschool Year in Review

Each year at the end of the year, I put together a post that looks back at our school year.  ED has had a great year. She was 4 this year and turned 5 this spring. We homeschool together… so ED participates with my older two kids in all their activities. Some of these units (like the 5 senses) were mainly for ED, others were mainly for the older kids, but...

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Holiday: Father's Day / Homeschool Den / Must Read

Record the Kids’ Precious Thoughts for Father’s Day

How well does your child know Dad?  Their cute answers will really make Father’s Day special.  I asked the kids these questions when they were 3 and 5… and this year we are going to do it again. I’ll tuck in their answers from four years ago in as well since Hubby hasn’t seen this in years!  Here are a few sample questions: 4. How does your Dad make you...

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Arts and Crafts / Holiday: Father's Day / Must Read

Father’s Day Gift Idea: Silhouette Cameo

One year for Father’s Day, I sat the kids down, shined a bright light at them and made silhouette cameos of them for Hubby. He loved them and the kids were proud of them (even if I did most of the work).  Getting ED to sit still for that (she was 19 months at the time) was a HUGE challenge, but it’s sure nice having a memento like that! Tomorrow I’ll share another...

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Homeschool: Our Homeschool (what our day is like, curriculum choices, etc.) / Homeschool: Random Thoughts / Must Read

Standardized Testing: The Furor Over Exams

The weather feels like summer and we had a week away, but we actually haven’t quite brought our school year to a close. We have a couple of weeks left partly because we haven’t done our end-of-year testing yet.  As part of the requirements for our state, the kids have to take a national exam (there are several to choose from). The tests are graded elsewhere, we receive the results...

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Ages 2-6: Preschool (Age 4) / Ages 2-6: Preschool and Toddler Activities / Ages 2-6: Preschool for ED - Fall 2011 (age 3 1/2) / Freebies / History: Africa Unit / History: Geography Activities / Montessori (general info) / Must Read

The Kids Sing the 7 Continent Song

Yesterday someone asked me how the tune to the 7 Continents song goes that we use in geography.  We decided to try our hand making a video to help. ED sang the song by herself the first time through… then all the kids joined in the other two times. When they were first learning the seven continents they pointed (at first with my help) to each continent. When they were...

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Homeschool Den / Must Read / Trips We've Taken

The Outer Banks, NC – A Terrific Family Destination

As you probably gather from yesterday’s post 10 Reasons Why Time Off is Important, our family was on holiday last week at the beach.  There are so many things to do at the Outer Banks (Southern Shores/Kitty Hawk/Nags Head area), I thought I would share some of the things our family has done there. I know it’s a popular family destination. Here are some things your family might enjoy in...

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Homeschool Den / Must Read / Outdoor Fun / Trips We've Taken

10 Reasons Why Time Off is Important

1. It allows you to open your eyes to the beauty around you 2. It puts the focus on love, family and being together   3. It lets you try new things   The kids went kayaking for the first time last week. 4. It’s soothing, relaxing and you can switch off.   5. It allows you to experience someone else’s passions Hubby and LD played endless rounds of card games...

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Must Read / Recipes

Homemade Nutrigrain Bars

A few years ago, my kids really liked Nutrigrain bars.  I hunted for a recipe that would approximate the store-bought bars, but that I could guarantee weren’t full of preservatives.  I make these about once every 6 weeks or so and they get eaten very quickly in our household! In a mixing bowl mix well: 1 cup butter (softened for 30 seconds in microwave) 1 cup brown sugar 1 cup...

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Arts and Crafts / Must Read

“Ugly” Crafts Never See Blog Fame…

…just the cute ones win out! Do you do little crafts with your kids? I’m just as guilty as the next blogger in only sharing the cute-craft successes.  This post was originally just a shout out to ED’s little lion project. Cute stuff, but really that doesn’t demonstrate the creativity and imagination of the poor, “ugly” crafts that get made at the Homeschool Den. Most of those don’t even get...

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Arts and Crafts / Must Read

“Ugly” Crafts Never See Blog Fame…

…just the cute ones win out! Do you do little crafts with your kids? I’m just as guilty as the next blogger in only sharing the cute-craft successes.  This post was originally just a shout out to ED’s little lion project. Cute stuff, but really that doesn’t demonstrate the creativity and imagination of the poor, “ugly” crafts that get made at the Homeschool Den. Most of those don’t even get...