If you have young children, you’re probably familiar with the picture books by Robert McCloskey. But if you haven’t read them yet, you’re in for a treat.

Robert McCloskey was a writer/illustrator whose award-winning stories have been enjoyed by children for years. You can find them in bookstores, online, or in your local library. Use them with unit studies, the Five In a Row Curriculum, or just read-aloud time on the sofa. Some of our favorites include:

Lentil

In this story, a young boy named Lentil wishes he could sing or whistle, but he just can’t do it. Instead, he learns to play the harmonica. When Colonel Carter comes to town, grumpy Mr. Sneep tries to ruin the celebration, but Lentil and his harmonica save the day.

Make Way for Ducklings

Searching for the perfect place to raise their young, Mr. and Mrs. Mallard finally settle on a small island near Boston. One day, Mr. Mallard decides to go exploring down the river; he agrees to meet Mrs. Mallard at the city park one week later. Right on time, Mrs. Mallard leads their brood of eight through the city to the park with the help of the city’s policemen. Everyone makes way for the ducklings.

Blueberries for Sal

Little Sal goes blueberry picking with her mother, but so does Mother Bear and her cub. The two youngsters wander away from their mothers and, becoming confused, begin following the wrong parent. When the mothers realize what has happened, they search and find their little ones.

One Morning in Maine

It  is a longer story about Sal, a little older now, and the day she loses her first tooth. Unfortunately, she loses the tooth in the mud while clamming along the coast. But as the day goes on, she finds a feather, makes a wish, and gets some ice cream. It’s a sweet book about one family’s ordinary adventures.

Although the illustrations in these books aren’t in full color, they are just as enjoyable as the stories themselves. So find your child, sit back, snuggle up, and enjoy a good book by Robert McCloskey.

Guest Blogger: Samantha Bell

Picture by reynolds.james.e

Homeschooling Reading Curriculum by SmartTutor.com

Story Time – Stories for Kids

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

Spring seems to be just around the corner, as this past week has brought warmer weather and sunny days. We’ve found daffodils growing in our yard, buds on the dogwood trees, and songbirds — lots of them — in the trees, in the grass, and all around the house.

If you have elementary students, consider doing a springtime unit study on the birds found in your backyard. Make some birdfeeders to hang in the trees and keep a record of the birds that visit. Then search your library for books with more information about those species. Below are some books we’re using.

What is a Bird? by Robert Snedden – This is a good book to use as you get started. It provides an overview of all the characteristics that make a bird a bird, covering topics such as feathers, wings and flying, beaks, songs and calls, and eggs.

Peterson Field Guides for Young Naturalists – Songbirds by Jonathan Latimer and Karen Nolting is designed for children to help them identify the songbirds they see. Twenty birds are included in this book, each one with color illustrations, a color photograph, and habitat, voice, and food information.

Blue Sky Bluebird by Rick Chrustowski – We’ve seen bluebirds around our house, and this book provided us with lots of information about them. Beginning with the birds building a nest in the nesting box, the author describes the life of a bluebird as it changes from a nestling to a fledgling to a contributing member of the family.

Swallows in the Birdhouse by Stephen R. Swinburne – Every summer we see baby swallows in their nests, so this book was a good choice for us. Like Blue Sky Bluebird, it follows the birds from nest to egg to fledgling to adult. The last few pages contain additional information, including facts about tree swallows, how to build a tree swallow birdhouse, and how to attract swallows to your birdhouse.

A Nest Full of Eggs by Priscilla Belz Jenkins is a Stage 1 reading book. This one describes the activities of robins with text that is written for younger children. If you have a preschooler or kindergartener, this book would be a good choice.

As you see more birds, search for the information about them together. Bird-watching and bird study is an activity the whole family can enjoy!

Guest Blogger: Samantha Bell

Photo by Carly & Art

Homeschooling Reading Curriculum by SmartTutor.com

Story Time – Stories for Kids

For the past few years, some of my youngest child’s favorite books have been the ones where he has to search for certain images within the picture. Usborne has created some of these fun books for children ages four to eight with their 1001 Things to Spot series and Great Search series.

Open one of these books, and you’ll find a scene that spans two pages. Around the edges of the full illustration are smaller pictures of the things the child will be searching for, along with a number clue as to how many there are to find. For example, in 1001 Things to Spot in the Sea, the page featuring creatures “Deep Down” in the ocean shows a small picture of a gulper eel with the number “5.” The child knows, then, that there are 5 gulper eels to find in the picture.

The 1001 Things to Spot series is geared more toward younger children; the illustrations are friendly and colorful. There are quite a few titles in this series, some titles even including Spanish editions. Some of the other titles are:

• 1001 Things to Spot on the Farm
• 1001 Things to Spot in Fairyland
• 1001 Things to Spot in the Town
• 1001 Things to Spot Long Ago
• 1001 Pirate Things to Spot
• 1001 Animals to Spot
• 1001 Things to Spot at Christmas
• 1001 Knights and Castle Things to Spot
• 1001 Bugs to Spot

The Great Search series is ideal for older children, as the illustrations are more realistic and the items harder to find. Beside each picture you’ll find information about the object or animal, and instead of the actual number written beside each picture, the number word is given. Titles in this series include:

• The Big Bug Search
• The Great Dinosaur Search
• The Great Planet Earth Search
• The Great Animal Search
• The Great Castle Search
• The Great Undersea Search
• The Great Wildlife Search
• The Great World Search
• The Great History Search

If your child likes puzzle books or finding items in a story, give these books a try. They’re great for car rides, long trips, quiet time, together time – or anytime!

Guest Blogger: Samantha Bell

Homeschooling Reading Curriculum by SmartTutor.com

Story Time – Stories for Kids

If your children like spending time on the computer, you may find yourself searching the Internet for sites that are not only enjoyable for them to visit but educational as well. Storyline Online (www.storylineonline.net) is just such a site.

Created by the Screen Actors Guild Foundation, this site features videos of well-known actors reading favorite picture books out loud. For example, the first story on the list is To Be a Drum by Evelyn Coleman, read by James Earl Jones. Just click on the image of the book, and then choose your Internet connection speed.  The story will load, and you’ll see the actor introduce the story. As he begins to read, the illustrations are displayed on the screen in a way that’s sure to capture a child’s attention.

There are a number of other books currently available on the site, including:

• Guji Guji by Chih Yuan Chen, read by Robert Guillaume
• Sebastian’s Roller Skates by Joan De Due Prats, read by Caitlin Wachs
• Sophie’s Masterpiece by Eileen Spinelli, read by CCH Pounder
• Stallaluna by Janell Cannon, read by Pamela Reed
• Wilfird Gordon McDonald Partridge by Mem Fox, read by Bradley Whitford
• No Mirrors in My Nana’s House by Ysaye M. Barnwell, read by Tia and Tamera Mowry
• The Night I Followed the Dog by Nina Laden, read by Amanda Bynes
• Thank you, Mr. Falker by Patricia Polacco, read by Jane Kaczmarek
• My Rotten Redheaded Older Brother by Patricia Polacco, read by Melissa Gilbert
• Knots on a Counting Rope by Bill Martin Jr. and John Archambault, read by Bonnie Bartlett and William Daniels
• Brave Irene by William Steig, read by Al Gore
• A Bad Case of Stripes by David Shannon, read by Sean Astin
• Private I. Guana by Nina Laden, read by Esai Morales
• Somebody Loves You, Mr. Hatch by Eileen Spinelli, read by Hector Elizondo
• The Polar Express by Chris Van Allsburg, read by Lou Diamond Phillips
• Me and My Cat by Satoshi Kitamura, read by Elijah Wood
• Dad, Are You the Tooth Fairy? by Jason Alexander, read by Jason Alexander
• When Pigasso Met Mootisse by Nina Laden, read by Eric Close
• Romeow and Drooliet by Nina Laden, red by Haylie Duff
• Enemy Pie by Derek Munson, read by Camryn Manheim

But that’s not all. You’ll find links for related activities you can do with your students after they hear the story. The Activity Guide is a downloadable PDF file that not only includes the activities, but also features lists of related Internet sites and books, as well as information about the author and the actor — helpful resources for homeschoolers who like to supplement their curriculum or create their own unit studies.

So if your little one is looking for something new to do on the computer, visit Storyline Online. Listen to the story and try some of the activities. You can also find the same book in your library and then read it aloud together. Either way, the reading adventure continues!

Guest Blogger: Samantha Bell

Homeschooling Reading 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

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