Homeschool Freebie Sites

A feature I love finding on homeschool blogs are listings of free home school sites. I'm encouraged to find new and different ideas to incorporate into our lessons. This year I decided not to purchase a math book because I found a wonderful free site on-line with math and language arts (spelling, reading comprehension and grammar). The site, www.superteacherworksheets.com, has a wide variety of printable lessons that cover grades 1 to 5. While not all are listed in lesson plan format, the language arts lessons could be used as weekly activities. Math worksheets include addition, subtraction, multiplication and division, word problems, graphing, telling time, counting money, fractions and lots more!


Superteacherworksheets.com also has printables for geography, science, social studies and Teacher's helpers (including awards certificates). If you don't mind creating your own lesson plan, this is an excellent resource site for elementary grade worksheets.

Another site that is indispensable is www.donnayoung.org for any planning sheets. She has created so many terrific printables for homeschoolers -- planners, calendars, lists, etc. --  that this site is definitely one to bookmark. You will save so much time in the future by utilizing these forms.

My last "favorite" site for this post is the "Homeschool Freebie of the Day" site (www.homeschoolfreebieoftheday.com).  As the name implies, this changes daily and ranges from downloadable MP3 recordings of stories or old radio shows, out-of-print primers and other educational books, old comics and even current homeschool articles (offered with permission from the author). They are all treasures!  If you are unfamiliar with this site, I recommend visiting them every day for a week. You will be amazed!

There are lots of "freebie" sites to be found just by searching the internet! I also recommend the book "Homeschool Your Child For Free" by LauraMaery Gold and Joan M. Zielinski. I first checked this book out of the library to review, but quickly realized I wanted my own copy as a permanent reference guide. The authors cover topics and sites from preschool through high school graduation. The book list sites that cover educational and life skills as well as school courses and topics.

Whatever your homeschool style, enjoy a wonderful and productive week!

Susan

President's Day

Happy President's Day to all! I remember celebrating Washington's Birthday and Lincoln's Birthday as separate days when I was in elementary school. We decorated our fireplace mantle in part with a Lincoln silhouette that my husband believes he made in school. To honor both men, we read a dozen of George Washington's "Rules of Civility and Decent Behavior" and Abraham Lincoln's "Gettysburg Address" from "The Book Of Virtues" by William J. Bennett. My son read various facts from his presidential trivia book to us, and was especially fascinated to learn that the teddy bear was named after Theodore Roosevelt.

As a homeschool Mom, I enjoy creating unusual ways to bring facts to "life" for my son. One of these unexpected ways is by incorporating our Wii. Last year I decided to create presidential Wii characters to help him recognize  historical figures in a fun way (and learn more about them on his own). So far, we have played baseball with Bill Clinton and George W. Bush, bowled with Andrew Jackson and Richard Nixon (who did have a bowling alley in the White House), and shot baskets with Abraham Lincoln and Grover Cleveland. Now he not only recognizes the president's photos, but can tell me a little historical information about each president. He is also interested in learning more about additional presidents that don't grace our Wii (yet).

I have some wonderful lap books I am using this week to enhance our study. The first one is "Abraham Lincoln" from SchoolExpress.com. This site has studies on various subjects for $2.00, and free weekly lap books you can download when you subscribe to their site. This week's offer is a lap book on "Transportation."


For a unit study on George Washington, I recommend Download 'N' Go.com.  These unit studies are for K-4th grade and cover a wide variety of subjects. They are packed with information and fun topics, and I'm just starting to enjoy these units with my son.

Have a wonderful week!



Susan

Suess and Spring fever

This week started with a fun field trip with the Cat In The Hat!  Well, not really, but we did see "Seussical"! The musical is a fun romp through several Dr. Seuss classics, hosted by the Cat In The Hat.  My detail-oriented son (who I'll call "W") immediately noticed that the "Cat" on stage did not have a tail. I briefly thought of suggesting this was a Manx "Cat", but decided he wouldn't go for it. Instead, I explained that the actor didn't have one so he could move quickly across the stage -- which he was doing -- and W settled in to enjoy the show.
The play follows that lovable elephant, Horton, through adventures based on both "Horton Hears A Who" and "Horton Hatches An Egg", as well as characters and/or passages from "Oh, The Places You'll Go", "Yertle the Turtle  and Other Stories", "And To Think That I Saw It On Mulberry Street", "How The Grinch Stole Christmas", "One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish" and several other stories. The cast closed with a musical number of "Green Eggs and Ham." Great fun for me and my a 6 year old son!  I caught more book references than him (mainly because I've been reading the stories for most of the last 6 years!), but he enjoyed all the characters and songs.

Our musical morning was followed by our homeschool Valentine's Day party at the library. My son is still going through his bag of Valentine's this morning! So far, he's shown me Sponge Bob, Hamm (from Toy Story), dogs, and even skeleton Valentine's.

The best part of this week will be the early Springtime temperatures. We enjoyed our first "family walk" of the year last weekend, and I'm looking forward to getting back outside. I think we'll have a nature study in the yard this week to see how many little green shoots are poking up through the ground. I saw some jonquils on Sunday, and am betting the warm weather will make crocus and other early Springtime flowers start sprouting! Since the butterfly bush needs pruning and some of the flowerbeds could use a little clearing, we'll move the "classroom" outside during part of the day and enjoy some sunshine and fresh air! Maybe I'll even let W take my digital camera and capture his perspective on Springtime!

Hope you get a chance to play in the sun this week, too!

Susan

Boldly stepping into the world of Blogging...

I love blogs!

I love reading blogs -- homeschooling, crafts, cooking, gardening, hobbies -- hmmm, I see a trend developing here.  Seeing how other families are learning, sharing, exploring and just having a great time inspires me. I have several friends that blog (sites will be listed!), and decided it's time to join in the fun.

So, who am I? My name is Susan and I'm a work-at-home Mom, military wife, and blessed wife of a terrific husband. I home school our son, who is currently in the 1st grade. In my previous career (before marriage), I was a public relations consultant with performing arts organizations, so I love live theater and music. I'm also a history buff, am currently tracing our genealogy, and generally loving life!

The name of my blog comes from a comment I made to my son when he was a toddler. Yes, it was an Erma Bombeck/Carol Burnett moment!

My posts will cover homeschooling, crafts, cooking, gardening, field trips and other areas of interest -- probably with a touch of silliness, so check back often!

Let's get started!!

Susan