Author: Liesl - Homeschool Den
When we start back into our school year LD and DD are going to learn some basic facts about the world in which we live — the largest continent-Asia the largest country-Russia the largest ocean-Pacific the largest desert-Sahara the tallest mountain-Mt. Everest the longest river-the Nile has been long thought to be the longest river, but an expedition in 2000 found the Amazon River to be 64 miles longer. world...
American Landmarks, Symbols, Basic Facts We are going to study some basic facts and symbols of the United States with this unit study. Things like US geography (rivers, mountains, time zones) famous landmarks American patriotic songs the US flag the Liberty Bell the Statue of Liberty, the Great Seal etc. etc. Here are the topics we’ll be covering over a two or three week period (or so) in this introduction...
I have been doing lots and lots of planning and preparation for this next year. One thing I fell short on this past year was utilizing the amazingly wonderful art resources at Art Projects for Kids and Deep Space Sparkle. I went through Kathy Barbro’s website, Art Projects for Kids and printed out a lot of her lessons on how to draw…a lighthouse a bunnya cator another cathens and chicksa...
Are you looking for German materials for kids? I found a goldmine!!!! I am SO excited about the German language flashcards and resources I came across. If anyone is teaching their young ones a foreign language, you might want to check them out. The drawings are cute cartoon style. They offer flashcards/word sheets in German, French, Spanish, Italian and Japanese (a few of these sheets are even in Portuguese and...
Her are a few of the printouts I’ve made for when we start back up with German after our summer holiday. The kids know very, very little — just the numbers 1 through 12, some animals and some of the colors. Basically, we need to start over. Our German-learning is pretty much all conversational. That said, it’s been useful having DD’s poems hung up in near the dining room table....
We set up two slip-and-slides on the “not so steep” section of our yard. The kids had a blast! LD went so fast he’d shoot past the the end of the second slide and continue onto the grass another 7-10 feet! And by the way, LD is blurry because of speed!
DD has been devoted to harvesting the garden. She goes down almost daily to gather lettuce, carrots and snap peas. She washes everything, cuts it up and makes us a salad. It’s so sweet — and wonderful to get them so excited about eating veggies! She makes ED wash her hands to come eat a salad. “It’s like I’m the Mom,” DD told me proudly. Look how tall the sunflowers...
Last year my sister’s three homeschooled kids each wrote a novel. I hope to get a chance to read their work when we visit them. Her kids are 8, 11 and 13. Amazing! It’s not yet our season for writing things like that, but someone in one of the groups I visit shared this link for kids who plan to write their first novel. Here is the elementary “Young Novelist”...
This activity was made by a teacher named Debbie. It’s called Feed the Dog and has problems such as 10-7, 12-8, 2+5 and 3+2. I saw it at Oceans of First Grade Fun. You’ll find the link to print out the game there. You might be interested in this related post: Kindergarten Math (addition games/place value activities) You might also be interested in: Free Montessori Style Addition Sheets (No Regrouping):...
The past few weeks, we’ve been reading through many of Patricia Polacco’s books. I know as an adult, I get fixated on one or two authors (Paullina Simons–The Bronze Horsemen series, Jodi Picoult, Philippa Gregory, Rick Riordan). And LD has his favorite series too reading through all the Magic Tree House books, Beast Quest series (he’s on number 36), Andrew Lost and the A-to-Z Mysteries. We have all really enjoyed...
There’s a giveaway over at Living Montessori Now. She is giving away a complete Montessori (3-6) training course by Karen Tyler! I’ve heard about Karen’s courses for years now and everyone absolutely raves about them. Check out the details by clicking here.
I saw these ten-dot cards over at Oceans of First Grade Fun and thought I’d give them a try for DD. The object is to flash the card quickly, put it away and have them mentally figure out how many dots there were (2+2 or 4+4). It’s just another way of helping kids to become automatic with their number sense and basic addition facts. DD actually likes these and we...
What inspired me to train again: My kids are such an inspiration. They have boundless energy. I have been amazed and proud at how much they have grown this year as individuals. LD has such amazing strength — I find it astonishing for a seven year old. (That’s LD at the top of the rope. He went zipping up really fast! He has more arm strength than I have ever...
We loved this book! It was about a farmer who winds up running a long race from Melbourne to Sydney. Wonderful pictures. Below are two other Australian books we really love. Both books below highlight a lot of the native Australian animals.