March 21 is often regarded as the official first day of spring, but around our house, we’ve had spring fever for quite some time. The days are finally warm, and it’s almost time to pull out the summer clothes. It’s also a great time to read stories about spring. Here are a few you might want to check out from your local library:

It’s Spring by Linda Glaser is one of a four-part series of books about the seasons. In this book, a young boy observes the signs of spring, including spotting songbirds and watching sunsets after dinner. At the end of the book, you’ll find a list of springtime activities you can do with your children.

Hurray for Spring by Patricia Hubbell also follows the springtime adventures of a young boy, including swinging, playing in puddles, and observing the smallest creatures such as worms and ants.

Splish Splash Spring by Jan Carr is another picture book featuring things to discover in the spring, as it describes the children’s activities after a rainstorm.

Spring Things by Bob Raczka also describes springtime fun. Spring ends in “ing,” and so do all the things that happen in the spring, such as “melting” and “buzzing.” This book doesn’t have a lot of text, but it does have a lot of verbs — a good supplement to that grammar lesson!

How Robin Saved Spring by Debbie Ouellet is a fictional book about spring that those still experiencing winter might enjoy. In this folktale, Lady Winter wants the world to stay covered in ice and snow, keeping Sister Spring asleep forever. It’s up to the animals to figure out a way to wake her.

If you’re experiencing sunny, warm days where you live, be sure to take advantage of the good weather. Grab a book, find a shady tree outside, and enjoy an afternoon of reading with your child!

Guest Blogger: Samantha Bell

Photo by Vimages

Homeschooling Reading Curriculum by SmartTutor.com

Story Time – Stories for Kids

This past week, my oldest daughter had the opportunity to go traveling with relatives. As we were sorting through her clothes, I thought of how quickly the trip had come up and how easy it was for her to join in. Our flexible schedule provided enough time to get her packed and send her on the trip.

While we were preparing things to take along, I had her pack a few workbooks, reading books, and flashcards. “You’ll need to do some schoolwork while you’re gone,” I said. In my haste, I had forgotten what a hands-on learning experience a trip can be.

The plans involved traveling by car from South Carolina to Wisconsin — a 14-hour drive. During that time, my daughter kept track of the states they drove through, as well as the states represented on the license plates of the cars they passed. From the road she saw deer grazing in a field, a huge mansion, and a windmill. They stopped for breaks in cities she’s never been in before.

She spent the week in Madison, Wisconsin, visiting the capitol daily and listening in on classes in American government and the legislative process. She now understands just how a bill becomes a law, and how important it is to vote for good leaders for our nation.

She spent free time ice skating and sledding and walking through waist-deep snow — something we don’t ever see at home. On the way back, they plan to visit Chicago and the Sears Tower, as well as other sites if they have time. And she’s writing all about her adventures in a small notebook she took along.

Did my daughter need those workbooks? I’m sure she didn’t. She has learned so much this week by simply experiencing it — lessons I know she won’t soon forget.

Guest Blogger: Samantha Bell

Photo by Cimexus

Homeschooling Reading and Math Curriculum by SmartTutor.com

Story Time – Stories for Kids

With the Olympics now in full swing, learning opportunities abound. There are so many possible lesson ideas and unit studies that correlate with the events in Vancouver, from sports lessons to writing to history and geography.

If you’re looking to incorporate the games into your schooling, here are some ideas to help get you started:

• Host your own Olympics. You don’t have to do the same sports you see on television. Try games like tug-of-war, relay races, and obstacle courses. You might even have a bubble gum blowing contest. Create medals using colored cardstock and ribbons, and award them as prizes for first, second, and third place.
• Investigate the history of the Olympics. Where were the first Olympics held? What were they like, and how are they similar or different from the Olympic games today?
• Create a lapbook or unit study about the host country, Canada.
• During the awards ceremony, the national anthem of the gold medal winner’s country is played. Write down the names of the anthems you hear, and find out the words to the songs. Do the songs have something in common?
• Choose a country represented in the Olympic games, and study that country. Begin with the country’s participation in the games: find out how many athletes are competing and the events they are competing in. Then find out about their homeland and what the people, government, and culture is like.
• Imagine you are an Olympic athlete, and you’ve just won (or lost) your event. Write a journal or diary entry describing what happened and how you feel.
• Watch an event on television all the way through to the medal ceremony. Write a newspaper article and report on the activities.
• Create your own Olympic vocabulary list. Find out what sports are included in the winter Olympics and describe each sport. Sports to include are: downhill skiing, cross country skiing, Super G, slalom, biathlon, freestyle aerials, freestyle moguls, nordic combined, snowboarding, ski jumping, luge, bobsleigh, skeleton, curling, ice dancing, figure skating, ice hockey, speed skating, and short track.
• Choose your favorite sport of the winter Olympics. Find out what type of training an athlete needs to make it to the Olympic Games.

Guest Blogger: Samantha Bell

Photo from adrian8_8

Homeschooling Reading and Math Curriculum by SmartTutor.com

Story Time – Stories for Kids

The other day, as we were moving books around from one room to the other, we came upon a couple of boxes of yearbooks — some mine, some my husband’s — from college, high school, middle school, even elementary school!  My children had a fun time looking through them, finding our old photos and looking at others who were in the same class.

Fortunately, we’ve been able to participate in a homeschool yearbook for the past five years. A group of homeschooling moms put it together each year; one of the moms is a photographer and takes all the photos; another mom collects the pre-orders; several moms lay out the pictures, and as many as will raise advertising revenue from local businesses to help off-set the cost.

After my children finished with my old yearbooks, they began thumbing through their own. Besides the class photos, their books also include a lot of extra pictures that parents send in featuring field trips, clubs, vacations, holidays, special family times, and more. I usually send in some extra photos every year, so they had fun searching for themselves in those pages as well.

If your local homeschooling community doesn’t have a yearbook yet, perhaps you can help start one. While the first one our family was part of was laid out by hand, the books can now be done digitally on the computer. Below are a few companies that feature do-it-yourself yearbooks:

Homeschool-Yearbooks.com – Started by a homeschooling father, this company offers four easy plans for creating your yearbook, either in color or black and white.

Memorybook.com – The Memory Book Company publishes yearbooks for homeschools, elementary schools, middle schools, high schools, summer camps, and military units.

Blurb.com – With this print-on-demand company, you can create all kinds of photo memory books, including yearbooks

Jostens.com – Often recognized as a company that sells class rings, Jostens also sells yearbooks that you can put together online.

For those involved in its creation, a yearbook is certainly a lot of work. But it’s a project that not only chronicles the school years, but also the memories made along the way.

Guest Blogger: Samantha Bell

Photo from Homeschool-Yearbooks.com

Homeschooling Reading and Math Curriculum by SmartTutor.com

Story Time – Stories for Kids

If you are looking for information on the Internet regarding homeschooling, A to Z Home’s Cool Homeschool website is the place to start. This community site offers help for home educators of students from preschool through high school with articles, lesson ideas, books, materials, and curriculum, as well as links to many other online homeschooling resources.

New to homeschooling? You’ll find articles about what homeschooling entails, why you might choose to homeschool, and how to get started. There’s also information about planning, record-keeping, and getting Dad involved. If you’re bringing your child home to educate him after he’s been in a traditional school, you’ll find articles to help you with that transition as well.

But that’s not all. A to Z Home’s Cool also provides information about teaching methods and philosophies, homeschooling gifted children or children with special needs, and preparing for graduation and beyond. You’ll also find curriculum reviews and suggestions. The best part is, if the article is not on the site itself, A to Z provides you with a link to another site containing that article. Not only are you looking at the resources available on this site, you’re also plugged in to resources from all over the Internet.

Another interesting feature of this site is its community focus, as it works to connect homeschooling parents with other homeschoolers. With the blogging tool, you can join in by reading the blogs of other homeschooling families on the site, or you can start your own. You’ll also find forums and a chat room in which you can discuss particular topics with other homeschoolers from around the world.

This website is a resource filled with resources — there’s so much there, it would take hours to look through it all. It’s a good place to start when you have questions or concerns, or if you just need some fresh ideas.

Guest Blogger: Samantha Bell

Homeschooling Reading and Math Curriculum by SmartTutor.com

Story Time – Stories for Kids

My family is ready for spring. This winter has been a very cold and wet one in our part of the country, with quite a few “wintery mixes” coming through — not nice, soft, fluffy snow you can play in, but combinations of rain and sleet and ice. The temperatures have been too cold to enjoy playing outside — we’re on the lookout for warmer weather.

What’s a homeschooler to do when the weather is keeping you indoors all day? If your children are growing restless, here are a few ideas that might help:

1. Plan an indoor picnic.  Help your children find easy recipes for dishes they can make, or have them put together some things using just what you have. Provide them with plastic knives to cut up bananas or cheese; bake some cookies or other treat. Spread out a tablecloth in your living room, and enjoy!

2. Make something out of playdough. Get out cookie cutters, plastic utensils, and other kitchen gadgets, and see what your children can come up with. They can even create characters and take turns using them in a story.

4.  Act out a fairy tale, or create a play of your own. If you have a video camera, record the play and have everyone watch it together when it’s finished. Older students enjoy being the videographer.

5. Read a book together. Find some cozy blankets, get some hot cocoa, and snuggle up with a good book.

6. Create your own comic strip. On a sheet of plain white paper, draw several horizontal and vertical lines on the paper to form squares. Have your children fill in the squares with the adventures of their own cartoon characters.

7. Use dry beans and noodles to create an original mosaic. Glue the objects on a piece of cardstock or poster board. Use white glue to create interesting designs.

8. Make a collage of “favorite things.” Provide your students with old magazines and scissors, and have them cut out pictures of the things they like the best. Show them different ways they can arrange them on the paper, including overlapping some of the photos. Glue the pictures using a glue stick.

9. Make plans for spring! Decide the activities your family will be doing this spring. Will you be planting a garden? Taking a trip? Working on projects around the house? Write down your goals and what you all need to do to reach them.

Guest Blogger: Samantha Bell

Photo from Indy Kethdy

Homeschooling Reading Curriculum by SmartTutor.com

Story Time – Stories for Kids

The Metropolitan Museum of Art has published picture books for children, and if you haven’t seen them yet, they are worth a visit to your local library to check them out. Although these are geared towards young children, teaching concepts such as shapes and the alphabet, you can also use them with older children to teach or review art appreciation.

Museum Shapes begins with a painting by Picasso of a harlequin; the question is then posed, “What shape decorates his clothing?” Readers turn the page to find the answer — in this instance, a square — then look to find four more pieces of famous artwork that include squares. Younger children will enjoy searching for the squares in each picture. The book continues in a similar manner, featuring shapes such as a circle, a rectangle, an oval, a triangle, an arch, a crescent, a diamond, a heart, and a star.

For older children, you can choose to utilize the pages in the back of the book. Here you’ll find a description of each painting that was portrayed. Listed are the names of the paintings; the names of the artists; the artists’ nationalities, birthdates, and dates of death; the sizes of the paintings and the mediums used; and the names of those who donated it to the museum. The artwork includes pieces from the United States, Syria, India, Japan, France, and others, dating from Ancient Egypt through the twentieth century. What a challenge for older students to try to recognize not only the era but the artist as well.

Other books are also available from the museum. Museum ABC and Museum 123 follow the same format, and My First ABC is offered as a board book for even younger children.

All in all, these books have something for everyone — even the adults who read them!

Guest Blogger: Samantha Bell

Photo from Amazon.com

Homeschooling Reading Curriculum by SmartTutor.com

Story Time – Stories for Kids

Last fall, I received an email from our local homeschooling email loop about the Loud family, a family of six people that sold everything they had and purchased an RV. They went from living in a 3500-square foot home to a 300-square foot living space and began traveling the country with their three dogs and a hamster. Because they move from place to place, their children can’t attend a traditional school; instead, they “roadschool” — homeschooling as they go.

Roadschooling is a homeschooling alternative in which the family travels together to visit the sites they study and experience everything first-hand. While parents must register their children as homeschoolers with their “home” state, the family is free to go from place to place, utilizing the resources available in each state. Lessons, then, are designed with the environment in mind.

FamiliesOnTheRoad.com is one website that features roadschooling families. For those interested in a life on the road, this site is a good place to start. Here you’ll find articles about the logistics of roadschooling: how to obtain books, how to receive mail and use the Internet, how to travel in an RV with children and babies, how teens find jobs when on the road, how to maintain old and new friendships, and much more. You can also find pages featuring families that are currently on the road. A forum is available to help you connect with others who are traveling.

I can’t imagine that we would ever sell everything to travel full time; our home has a lot of family history. We are settled into the community and my husband into his work. But who knows? Roadschooling seems like the adventure of a lifetime — one that you can share with all of your children, no matter what age they are!

Guest Blogger: Samantha Bell

Homeschooling Reading Curriculum by SmartTutor.com

Story Time – Stories for Kids

One of my daughters loves to make crafts, and in her free time she creates all kinds of interesting things. We have a large box of craft items that she chooses from, but sometimes she prefers to use recycle-able items she finds around the house, such as empty jars, paper towel tubes, and plastic bottles. To help her with ideas, we checked out the book Recycled Craft Box by Laura C. Martin from the library.

If your family doesn’t recycle, this book will help get you started. The introduction contains information about garbage, where it goes, and what happens to it after it’s buried. Each chapter also begins with information about recycling a particular product, such as paper, plastic, metal, or fabric. The author then provides ideas for crafts you can make using these same products. For example, the section about paper includes milk carton cottages, cardboard castles, a shoebox treasure chest, and paper bead bracelets, while the section about plastic features yogurt cup dolls, soap lid maracas, and plastic jar drums. The final section of the book contains a glossary of recycling terms as well as websites you can visit with your child.

If your child enjoys reading Recycled Craft Box, search your local library for other craft books that also use recycled items. Some of these include:

Earth-Friendly Crafts: Clever Ways to Reuse Everyday Items by Kathy Ross and Celine Malepart

Look What You Can Make With Dozens of Household Items!: Over 500 Pictured Crafts and Dozens of More Ideas! by Kathy Ross and Hank Schneider

Awesome Things to Make with Recycled Stuff by Joe Rhatigan and Heather Smith

Gorgeous Gifts: Use Recycled Materials to Make Cool Crafts by Rebecca Craig

Dream Bedroom: Use Recycled Materials to Make Cool Crafts by Rebecca Craig

With so many resources, all you need to do is get your children to start recycling — and creating!

Guest Blogger: Samantha Bell

Photo from Sarabbit

Homeschooling Reading Curriculum by SmartTutor.com

Story Time – Stories for Kids

If you have a young “rock hound” in your family, chances are you’ve checked out a number of rock-related books from the library or purchased them from the bookstore. One of my favorite rock books for elementary-aged children is Extreme Rocks and Minerals! by the Smithsonian, published by HarperCollins Publishers.

Extreme Rocks and Minerals! is a nonfiction picture book with an attractive and easy-to-follow layout of photos and text. It includes information about minerals, igneous rocks, sedimentary rocks, metamorphic rocks, ore, and gemstones, all presented in a similar manner: What is an igneous rock? Where are igneous rocks found? How do people use igneous rocks? What is a sedimentary rock? Where are sedimentary rocks found? How do people use sedimentary rocks? and so on. The book also includes an interview with a geologist, as well as a glossary of geological terms and Internet links for further study.

Extreme Rocks and Minerals! is a book you could read together with your children or an older elementary student could read on her own.

Other books your family might also enjoy include:

Eyewitness Rocks and Minerals by DK Publishing, Inc. – I find DK books sometimes confusing, as they usually include a small amount of primary text on the page along with many individual photos with descriptions. However, once your student has a basic understanding of the subject, they are good books to use as a supplement as they are filled with so much extra information.

Rocks Stars: Rocks by Chris and Helen Pellant – This is a good book for elementary students, though it doesn’t contain as much information as Extreme Rocks and Minerals! It does, however, have a “Rock Collector” section in the back with photos and names of rocks to help young collectors identify their finds.

Peterson First Guide to Rocks and Minerals by Frederick H. Pough – For students who are even more enthusiastic about collecting, this small book is invaluable. Containing dozens of color photographs, this guide was designed for the beginning collector to help identify rocks.

Guest Blogger: Samantha Bell

Photo from Melissa-stewart.com

Homeschooling Reading Curriculum by SmartTutor.com

Story Time – Stories for Kids