Tuesday, May 21, 2013

Websites to Help Save on Homeschooling

 Free Online Homeschool Curriculum:

If you are looking for free curriculum online, be sure to visit the following sites to find out more of what they offer:
  •  FreeHomeschoolDeals.com, which daily shares the best homeschool freebies, deals, and resources to help families afford the homeschool life.

  • Homeschool Buyers Co-op offers curriculum at deep discounts. It’s a community that is free to join.
  • Currclick.com offers deals on digital curriculum and online classes.
  • CurriculumShare.com is a site where you can list curriculum that you’d like to give away, and you can get free homeschool curriculum there too.
  • Homeschool Creations hosts an annual Curriculum Clean-out where you could possibly get your favorite curriculum for free. This is a good way to clean off your shelves as well.
  • Homeschool Classifieds on this site you can find listings of homeschool curriculum for sale.
  • Yellow House Book Rental this site is run by a homeschooling mother who gathers curriculum and offers it for rental or inexpensive purchase. Here’s a post with more information about Homeschool book rental.
  • Educents is a new daily deal site that was created and owned by homeschool siblings and graduates. They are just getting started and grow and continue offering discount curriculum.

Websites to help you homeschool for free and frugal

Some families homeschool exclusively by piecing together curriculum resources online. There are many families who also supplement their favorite curriculum from these sites. These are just the tip of the iceberg of helpful resource sites. Please share your favorite sites in the comments!
from: http://www.homeschoolcreations.net/
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Thursday, February 9, 2012

Character Traits


Kyler has a list of nine character traits with sentences to memorize and recite with his class for his Coop Kindergarten graduation.  One more reason I love homeschooling while attending Coop once a week... teaching character traits backed up with bible verses is top priority to us.  This week we started doing activities with the traits to help them "stick" for the graduation ceremony.  (All the printables pictured below are available to print at the end of this post for you other Coop mommies looking for some ways to help your little one get the words and definitions down as well!)
Coloring and handwriting
Cutting sentence strips
Sequencing sentences
Gluing in order
Character trait book
Drawing pictures to help with meaning (plus we put actions to the words)
Cloze/Fill in the blank for extra practice
Puzzle sort

Character sentence sort
Match up
Character Bingo
Memory game
Stick sort
Close Pin sort 
Keeping it all organized in a tub!

I also keep the character list in my car and we sing the phrases together as we drive around town!  We been reading tons of character based stories, too. In the download, there's also a color coded worksheet and game cards you could use a number of ways!  I plan on adding more activities as we go.  To download the documents in Google Docs, click HERE.  If that doesn't work for you, shoot me an email at mfunky7@hotmail(dot)com and I'd be glad to attach them in an email  back to you!  Enjoy!


Have you come up with any ideas on how to help your child memorize the character traits?  


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Saturday, December 17, 2011

Eclectic

It's great how homeschooling changes and is so adaptable.  I can adapt learning to the holidays, to specific studies of interest, and to different learning needs and ages.  I've come across some wonderful resources and tools lately simply through sharing and getting ideas with others on the same homeschooling path.  Some of them have really made all the difference in learning and how our days go.
First, I had a friend tell me about an online program called Reading Eggs.  It is exactly what we needed right now.  Kyler is so "techy" and was getting frustrated and bored with some of the phonics lessons.  This interactive website is right up his alley, with goals and steps on a map as he works his way through phonetic sounds, blends, and sight words.  It's game centered, yet every lesson  meets something on my curriculum list, so has a purpose.  It's independent enough that I can work on dinner in the kitchen while he completes his lesson just a few feet way, but also perfect to sit down and do together.  I love how Dylan likes to sit by Kyler and take it all in.  I can only imagine how much he is learning just watching his big brother.  Reading Eggs has made such a difference in our homeschool day.
Another friend recommended this bible for children and I happened to find it half off!  Kyler LOVES it.  The wording is perfect for his age and has opened up so many wonderful discussions.  Kyler begs for another story after we finish one as the pages seem to just come alive, taking us both back in time and opening up our hearts to what God has in store for us each day.  This little bible has truly changed the way Kyler views bible stories.  I love incorporating it into our read aloud time.   Such a great version!
Another friend introduced me to Math Miquon labs.  Kyler loves anything that has to do with investigating and exploring.  These hands on labs are the perfect addition to our math goals, keeping math creative and fun.  After we finished a lesson this week, he asked if he could do it again and do ten more labs.  Love working enthusiasm!  (which is definitely not always the case with Ky!)
Kyler can not get enough of Bill Nye the science guy.  Every time I go to the library, I pick up a handful of DVDs and he would watch them all in one day if I'd let him.  He's so fascinated with anything science!
Bill Nye has tons of experiments through out it's shows, which leads to crazy things like this all over our house.  Here is our stalagmite and stalagtite experiment using epson salt water.

I love being an eclectic homeschooler... changing things up as we go when needed, pulling from all kinds of resources and keeping learning fun and relevant to life!


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Christmas Activities

I love so many things about December, even though I'm a warm weather kind of gal, there are just so many memories to make and so much fun to be had this month!


We are doing this awesome Advent countdown called "Truth in the Tinsel."
It was specifically written for little ones.  Each night we gather together for family devotional time and read specific verses from the bible and then complete a corresponding ornament craft together.  I love keeping the focus on the reason for the season!
We start off by moving our countdown tree marker!
Who ever is over gets to join in on the fun!  Grandma and Aunt Allie helped the boys make their candle ornaments on the first night.
Remembering that Jesus is the light of the world!
Originally, I thought this would be something I'd do with the boys during the day, but when I told Brandon about it, he wanted to be a part.  Exactly why I adore this man.
Crowns for King Jesus!
Angel Gabriel!

 I love how Kyler drew a circle on Mary's tummy since since she's pregnant!

Our little advent tree at home is out of control and still has many more ornaments to be added to it!  I LOVE doing Truth in the Tinsel with the boys and hope to make it an annual thing for us!
Here are just a few of the ornaments we've made lately.  There's the cd for Mary's song, Joseph, Joseph's pillow, the sun, and the name "Jesus."  We have fallen alittle behind on the daily schedule, but keep pluggin along.  We try to make it a priority, but there are some nights, especially on busy weekends, when we run out of time in the evening.

The boys really look forward to our family devotional time!
Here's reason number 794 that Brandon is an amazing father and husband! He stays up late with me doing my crazy projects like putting glitter puff paint on angel wings for Kyler's class party skit props.  Love him!
Here's Kyler's precious co-op friend, Gracie, whom he absolutely adores and I just adore her sweet mom.  Love making connections with other moms on the same homeschooling journey.
I had a blast at Kyler's class Christmas party at co-op, organizing the crafts and some of the activities.  Such cute kiddos!
Here's part of the skit where Kyler got to be Joseph.  They reenacted the nativity story as I read it aloud.  So cute!
Pin the nose on the snowman!
Ornament centers!
I practiced the ornaments I made with Kyler's class before hand with the boys at home, so we have all kinds of homemade ornaments this year!  Here are the sequenced candy canes!
Which turned into the perfect math manipulative for addition!
Pom-pom Christmas trees!
Paint shake (inside a clear ball) with a handprint outside!
Dylan's Christmas art!
I usually only make one or two sweet treats this time of the year because if it's here, I'll eat it!  My peanut butter white chocolate covered pretzels are a hit this year.  Using organic ingredients makes them even more amazing! 



Kyler looked through the Compassion Christmas catalog and picked out a chicken to donate to another family across the world in need.  It cost $16, so we decided to bake sugar cookies and sell them to raise the money.
We set up a sign in the mom's room/teacher's lounge at homeschool co-op and sold all the cookies we brought!
Kyler also sold cookies at grandma's house.
We made enough money to buy a chicken and a bible to donate to Compassion!  It was a great math lesson as well.  Ky worked on sorting, counting, and adding money.


I love snowy days at home.  We have been busy, BUSY and it was great just to spend the day at home with our first flurries of the season coming down outside.
 We made snowmen!
 
 
 The boys were dying to go ourside.  It took forever to get them all bundled up...
and ten minutes later, there was a huge pile of wet clothes on a muddied rug with red nosed children smiling ear to ear.  Totally worth it!
 I staying in and surprised the boys with warm cuddlies when they came in.  They had their favorite blankies, snuggly puppies, slippers, warmed rice bags, and hot chocolate.  
 We snuggled on the couch and read snowman themed stories.  I could not imagine being anywhere else and love being able to share these special moments with my children!  So very blessed.

We are just having so much fun with crafts and activities this year!
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