Monthly Archive: March 2014

China Fact Sheet - Free 14

China Fact Sheet (Free)

We started a big unit on China a number weeks ago. This is the first in a whole number of posts & printables from our unit on China.  One of the first things we did was to cover some of basic facts about China: where it is located, its population, capital, president, currency and things like that. This is the page I made for the kids.  I also included the...

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Why You Shouldn’t Reward Kids for Learning

Plato: Knowledge that is acquired under compulsion obtains no hold on the mind. One of the things my kids love about homeschooling is that they can spend long, leisurely amounts of time reading.  The first thing they do in the morning is pick up a book and start reading while eating breakfast. My goal has always been for reading to be something that you do for pleasure, not for reward. One...

In Crisis Lies Opportunity for Growth 15

In Crisis Lies Opportunity for Growth

Just over a week ago, I had my fourth ear surgery since October.  I was braced for a tough recovery.  The surgery was a bit more invasive than the one three weeks ago so it was definitely uncomfortable afterwards. As far as we know the surgery went well. Right now we’re in a long waiting game to see how things settle down.  If you have followed my story, you know...

Spring & Summer 2014 Calendar Free Printable 0

Spring & Summer 2014 Calendar Free Printable

Hey Everyone, I needed spring and summer calendars and jazzed up some plain old calendars with a bit of clipart.  If anyone else can use these, just click on the link below. Don’t worry, I didn’t include our family birthdays on the version I’m sharing with you!! I have March through August in the download below (July and August are not pictured in the collage, but are in the pdf)....

Pete the Cat - Free Addition-Subtraction Worksheets 4

Addition and Subtraction with Pete the Cat (Free Worksheets)

If you are doing a Pete the Cat Unit, your kids might enjoy these FREE Addition Subtraction Worksheets inspired by Pete the Cat! My daughter borrowed several Pete the Cat books (affiliate link) from the library last week.  She’s been reading them over and over, so I made her a couple of math practice pages with a Pete the Cat type theme! She quickly used up those pages and I...

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Making Math Fun: 15 Activities & Game to Play with Your Kids!

Now that we’re back in the swing of things, I thought I would post all these ideas again. I shared them originally in my series about “How to Start Homeschooling,” but all of these are fun for seasoned homeschoolers too!! Math can be so fun!  What can you do to make math come alive?  Go into detail about measuring cups when you bake and cook.  Incorporate math in the grocery...

Free Kindle Book for Girls Ages 7-11 (until March 24) 0

Free Kindle Book for Girls Ages 7-11 (until March 24)

FREE Kindle Edition of Mystery of the Secret Room – 5 Days Only! March 20th – 24th This morning I downloaded a free book for girls ages 7-11. Obviously, my daughter hasn’t read it yet, but I thought I’d mention it because it is free until March 24th over at Amazon. The reviews look pretty good. Here’s a bit about it: It’s raining so Brooke and Eva have nothing to do...

World War II Portfolio Project 2

WWII Portfolio Project

I received several emails and a message from people interested in the WWII Portfolio Project I made for LD. So, here it is! My son is doing some research work on WWII. Except for reading some novels last year (like Number the Stars), we have not covered this topic at all… He has been doing quite a bit of reading and has watched a video before jumping into the project ideas...

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Are Kids Reading Less Than They Used To?

There was a really interesting article over at Edutopia last month about the worry some educators have about how technology and testing are affecting the amount of reading kids are doing.  Educators have noticed that some kids are struggling to read deeply and comprehend longer texts. Are kids reading books deeply and for pleasure? Since the invention of the printing press, there has been a plethora of reading materials available.  Granted, not...

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Animals Around the World (Montessori 3 Part Cards)

World Animal Packet: This 70+ page packet helps kids learn about animals on every continent! It includes Montessori 3-Part Cards, Activity Sheets for every continent, printable continent cards, a world animal game, world animal pin map activity, and more! The last two weeks I shared some of ED’s animal-related activities. She looked closely at the vertebrate-invertebrate groups and we talked a lot about the characteristics of the animals of the...

My 4th Ear Surgery Tomorrow 9

My 4th Ear Surgery Tomorrow

Actually, this is my 11th ear surgery (plus 2 others for other things) if we’re truly counting… but tomorrow is the 4th surgery on my left ear since October.  It’s supposed to be a doozy. I have been spending a lot of time day dreaming about all the amazing things I’ll do when… I can drive again. I can talk again (without the sound reverberating around my head). I can...

Yesterday’s Beautiful Snowfall 1

Yesterday’s Beautiful Snowfall

I took the camera out to captures some snow scenes out in our yard and the woods behind our house.  It was peaceful and very pretty! Better to focus on that than tomorrow’s surgery, right?! These photos must tickle my friends who are having 80, 90 and 100 degree temperatures right now, right?!  

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Animal Portfolio Project

The kids are starting on another independent research project.  Last semester the kids did a biography research project, but this semester they are doing a portfolio project. That’s just a fancy way of saying… a bit of this and a bit of that.  They’ll do both non-fiction and fiction writing selections, art projects, geography and habitat projects. And they’ll also watch a number of videos and/or movies.  You’ll get a...

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Fun Educational St. Patrick’s Day Activities

This activity was a huge hit with ED last year.  I chose some words from ED’s phonics readers and wrote them out on some shamrocks and taped them on popcycle sticks.  I covered an empty cereal box with construction paper and wrote the words out on the box as well and used a knife to create a slit for the popcycle sticks. I sat with ED each time she did...