Explorers in the Making - Free Science Printable

Science is a favorite subject around our house.  Inventions, animals, plants, weather, we love it all.  Our new attempt at child-led learning is going well, and I am on the lookout for free resources.

Our studies started off this week with snowmobiles, since we watched the X Games.  We have looked at the first snowmobiles, the inventors, where snowmobiles are used, what people used before snowmobiles, and the weather and animals in those areas.  We pulled out our Birds, Nests and Eggs book.

My kids love this book.  We looked at the different birds and tried to pick out the ones that could live in the colder areas.  Then we went to the internet and googled bird range maps of Alaska, the arctic, northern United States, and other cold areas.  The boys wanted to see what birds are in Texas, so we looked at that map as well.

I found the San Antonio Audubon Society webpage.  It was a great reference and had a "Just For Kids" link.  In it, I found lots of free printables and a link to a kids magazine called "Wild Times" which is published in New Hampshire.  You are able to print off the different issues for your own use.  My boys loved it!  They are very age appropriate for lower elementary.  My first grader was able to read the majority of it and could complete all of the activities.  My preschooler loved the pictures, maze and matching in the first issue.  I am definitely adding this to my list of science add-ons.  Have fun exploring science!

Amanda

Learning with Legos

As I am beginning to change our schooling to unschooling, I am trying to find new ways to incorporate learning through play.  Of course, I went on Pinterest to locate some treasures, and I found some ideas using Legos, which all of my children enjoy playing with.

I found some printables for creating your own Mini-Figures at Homegrown Learners and we had some creative drawing of historical figures and then make believe figures.  We then wrote little stories about the figures.  My 1st grader wrote a few words, but I didn't push too much since he was reluctant to pick up his pencil.  But he really enjoyed dictating a story to me and reading it out loud later to daddy.

 I also found a Lego board game that I printed off.  I made up the rules.  Lego men were used as the game pieces.  We played where each person started with 6 lego pieces and we rolled a die to collect pieces along the game board.  At the end, we built anything we wanted out of the pieces we won.  For my first grader, I had him build something before we start and then we roll 2 dice (for addition or subtraction practice) and add or take away pieces depending on what spot we land on.

This was my creation.  I had to have the Lego Man leaping into the hovercraft.  It's what he really would be doing.  I mean come on, it's a hovercraft!

BG, my preschooler, working on his creation after the game.  He won many more pieces than I did.

I am definitely going to use this game again.  Not only did I get to incorporate math, writing, history and art into the day, I also had 3 happy children who asked to play the game again the next day.  That makes me happy!

Amanda

Homeschooling: Calendar Time

Here is our Calendar Time:

It is a time where I pull out our morning board and we work on learning the parts of the calendar.  I bought a Deluxe Calendar Pocket Chart on Amazon.  I really like it and it isn't very expensive.  I use a "Field Trip" card turned upside down to move through the calendar for each day.  It has a picture of a school bus on it, so upside down it looks like the wheels are bug eyes looking at us.  The boys get a kick out of that!

It came with a lot of extra holiday/special occasions/celebration cards.  And I mean a lot!  I am now super informed on when the obscure holidays come.  :)

After we work through the calendar, we move onto our morning board.  I have Jman Write the Date and BG traces it.  This includes writing the date in words and numbers.  (I will make the dots for BG to trace that morning.)  I laminated all of the sheets the kids will be writing on.  It is so nice to wipe them clean after each day and reuse them the next day.  

We keep track of what Day of School we are on.  The print off I used coincides with Math U See.  We are not using it yet, but it is what I am leaning toward for next year.  We also have a Make the Date card that uses money.  I have a picture, Bible verse, or Skip Counting cards that I cycle through.  (Pictured top of middle column.)  We examine the Weather and put the appropriate card on our board.  We also look at the temperature and fill it in on our Today's Temperature card.  Lastly, I created a couple of printouts of the books of the Bible, which are pictured on the far right.   

  I got my FREE printables from Homeschool Creations and 1+1+1=1.  I love, love, love these sights!  They have awesome resources for homeschoolers with preschoolers and kindergartners.  I keep adding more of my own touches to it, but I used most of their suggestions to get started.

Again, we do NOT get through every thing on the board each day.  We just do what we can!

Have fun getting your calendar time going!!

Blessings,

Chores Galore!

I have been tripping over toys, shoes, books, papers, you name it, I've seen it on my floor.  If we clean up the house, it takes about 20 minutes before it is a disaster again.  I finally had had enough and decided to get some sort of order.  I'm not saying my kids don't clean up, they do a great job when they stay focused, but if there are other things on their minds, picking up does not get done.  It was time to get our chores organized. (YIPPIE!! Organization!!!!)

I first saw this chore chart on Homeschool Creations blog.  I looked at it and looked at it, and finally decided to print it off.  I am glad I did.  My boys want to do chores now.  They love being able to take off their picture tags when they've completed a chore. 

I attached the tags with Velcro Sticky-Back Hook and Loop Fasteners, 0.625 Inches Diameter Coins, Clear, 75 per Pack (91302) .  They are super easy to use and I don't have to cut them this time!!  :)

  

I taped the boys' charts onto the side of their bed.  I also taped an envelope below it for their completed chore cards.

  

I knew my 5 year old could water the plants if I helped him a little.  I took a plastic cup and marked a fill line with a Sharpie inside of the cup.  I labeled the outside as well and drew a picture of a spider plant.  (Each child has one that was started from my parent's spider plant.)  Jman gets really excited when this tag comes up!  

One of BG's chores was to pick up books.  The majority of the books were under his bed. 

I needed a few extra tags, so I made my own in the above table.  I added a picture for putting books away, wiping off the kitchen chairs, and 2 pictures of a boy reading devotions.  If you want to print these off, right click the image and choose 'Save Image As'.  Then print away!

It eases my stress (and foot pain) to have these chores in place.  I am thrilled that my kids enjoy doing their chores.  This is instilling values of good work ethics, responsibility, and helping them stay out of trouble!  It's a win-win for mom and kids.  :)

Blessings,

Easter School Week

   

This week was a fun week, short but fun!  Here's the breakdown of our week: 

Monday - We read the story of Palm Sunday and The Last Supper out of our Children's Bible.  We also read "Ollie's Easter Eggs".  We practiced writing the letter "E", which I printed off of Confessions of a Homeschooler blog.  BG worked on matching colors and shapes, while Jman practiced his phonics and letters on his learning computer.  I got the idea for the penguins off of the Everything Preschool website (there are 6 of them in total), while I thought of the ladybugs myself.  I don't remember where I got the shape cutouts from, though I know it found it on the internet about 3 years ago!

Tuesday - We read "The Story of Easter" and out of our children's Bible, the story "Jesus Dies" and "I am the Way".  Jman practiced his letter "E" and "B", while BG did some matching and computer games.  Then, Jman worked on matching the Easter eggs shown below taken from Confessions of a Homeschooler blog.  Then we made Easter bunny heads.  I had left over styrofoam balls from our outer space week, so we painted them, added googly eyes and pipe cleaner ears.  

Wednesday - We didn't have school because I had my 34 week midwife checkup. 

Thursday - We read our stories again.  Jman and BG practiced writing the letters "E" and "B".  Then we read and colored our Easter lap books.  I printed them from www.biblestoryprintables.com.  Jman did some more matching, sorting and counting with the Easter Egg cards.  The boys also did some cutting with scissors!  It's a fun break for them.  They made thank you cards for Dad, just for being Dad!  They're extra special because it was Jman's idea.   

That was our week in an "egg shell".  It is a lot of fun and just thought I'd share a little with you.  God's blessings be with you this Easter weekend as we remember the sacrifice Jesus made for us!