Monthly Archive: March 2016

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Ocean Activities: The Moon and Tides (Spring and Neap Tides and more!)

Last week we talked about the moon and ocean tides.  We talked about the phases of the moon and went into detail, not only about daily tides, but what causes spring tides and neap tides. First, we talked about the effect gravity has on Earth’s waters.  The moon pulls the Earth’s waters creating a bulge on one side. But, the moon also pulls on the Earth itself creating a bulge...

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Homeschool Science in Early Elementary (K-2): Video Post

How do I start teaching science to my kids?  This is a very different answer if your kids are K-2 than if they are a bit older.  Here are some of the science topics you might want to consider if your kids are in early elementary. I put together a video of some of the activities we did when the kids were in early elementary. Some of these activities my...

Navajo of the Southwest - Notebook Pages 2

Navajo – History Notebook Pages

We are spending some time studying the Native Americans of the West; we started with a study of the Navajo and Navajo history. I’ll share the resources we used and the free history notebook pages I made about the Navajo. About a year and a half ago, we did a unit on Native Americans. We covered the Algonquian Indians and Iroquois of the Northeast, the Cherokee and Seminole Indians of...

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Surface Currents vs. Deep Sea Currents: Ocean Unit

Cold Water Currents Experiments: We’ve been continuing on with our ocean unit. Ocean currents are affected by water density — salinity and temperature. We talked about salinity a week or so ago. Last week, we talked how temperature affects water density and movement.  Let me share a couple of our activities: For our first activity, you need a paper cup or water bottle, duct tape, dye, and a clear plastic...

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Renwick Gallery – Smithsonian

This time of year when the weather is a bit warmer, we love taking trips and visiting museums.  Last week we went to see the beautiful debut exhibition, “Wonder.”  The Renwick Gallery building had been closed for two years for renovations, but recently opened.  This was the first building in the United States designed expressly as an art museum. The Renwick Gallery is part of the Smithsonian; it is free to...

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Homeschool Science Units – Video Post

This is a video post about Homeschool Science in the Elementary and Middle School Years.  It highlights some of the activities and experiments we’ve incorporated in our science units over the years. How do we know what science units to cover?  I created a homeschool science checklist that I think about as we move from unit to unit.  I have a general goal of what I’d like for the kids...

Comma rules and practice pages 0

Comma Rules and Practice Pages (Free Grammar Worksheets)

Today I’m sharing some free comma rules grammar worksheets.  The first page has the 11 common comma rules we’ve covered.  There are various practice sentences on the next two pages. The kids have to place the missing commas in each sentence and must write down the rule that goes along with it.  Some sentences have more than one missing comma (and so might have more than one comma rule that...

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Reformation – Martin Luther Notebook Page and Lapbook Pieces

During the past couple of weeks, our family studied the Reformation. We’ve been working through the worksheets and notebook pages on Martin Luther and the Reformation in general. We had already spent a lot of time talking about the Popes (who were patrons of many of the famous Renaissance artists like Michelangelo and Raphael. (See more at this Renaissance post).  And, we had already talked a little bit about the...

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Free Easter Math Worksheets

I made a new set of mixed math worksheets for ED. These include multiplication, division, addition, and subtraction problems. She is just starting double-digit multiplication so there are a few of those on each page as well (but only with a few problems at the bottom of each page as she catches on to the idea of carrying). There are 7 pages. These are free to download. Hope someone else...

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Ocean Unit: 5 Salinity Activities & Why the Ocean is Salty

Ocean Unit: Today, we have five hands-on activities about salinity to share with you. What is salinity?  It is the measure of salts in the ocean. Why is the ocean salty? • Salts found in rocks and minerals that are washed to the sea. • Underwater volcanoes. With these experiments we explored what salinity is and why salinity is important to our understanding of the ocean and ocean currents. Why do...

er Sound Spelling sort and games 0

er Sound Word Sort and Game: ur, ir, er, or, ear, our Spelling Words

ED is working on the /er/ sound.  She really enjoys the spelling word sort activities and enjoys playing these board games, so I made a new spelling activity for her with a desert scene!  These cover words spelled with ur such as burn, turn, nurse, church words spelled with ir such as girl, bird, shirt, dirt, circle words spelled with er such as summer, mother, desert words spelled with or...

Addition Subtraction Pet-Themed Worksheets 0

Addition and Subtraction Pet Pack!

My daughter really loves having cute, fun math worksheets to work through. This is a packet I made for her at the beginning of the year (she is in 2nd grade this year).  She has finished it up and it was about time to share it on the blog! This packet is well over 50 pages! The Pet Pack  has about 35 pages of addition and subtraction worksheets. The first...

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Hands-On Homeschooling – Video Post (with DD and ED!)

Last week we did some pretty fun science experiments for our ocean unit.  We always get so pumped up doing hands-on activities & the salinity experiment was especially impressive. I thought I’d talk a little bit what a big impact these kinds of experiments add to our day… the kids get excited and engaged they ask a lot of good questions the activities and projects are memorable so they often...

Ronald Reagan Worksheets Notebook Pages Free 0

Ronald Reagan – Notebook Pages

Sometimes we take the opportunity to focus on current events. Today, March 6, 2016, former First Lady Nancy Reagan died.   So, tomorrow (Monday), we are going to spend some time talking about Ronald Reagan’s presidency and the former First Lady Nancy Reagan. As many of you probably know, starting on Presidents’ Day a couple of weeks ago, we started reviewing the U.S. presidents again. The kids have been singing the U.S.A....