My Homeschooling adventures

                                                         You Can Homeschool for Free

Here are some sites I found that have full curriculums for free:

http://allinonehomeschool.com/

http://oldfashionededucation.com/

https://www.amblesideonline.org/



This one covers History, Science and some Math

http://guesthollow.com/.



You can get tons and tons of free books that are in public domain:

http://www.gutenberg.org/


You can search for free Kindle books on Amazon as well. I try to be sure to search for either "free kindle books in public domain" or "free christian books" because otherwise you can end up having to browse through a lot of junk.

And while you are there you can check out their Back to School sales for your supplies that, yes, we do still have to buy!

One tool I cannot live without for Homeschooling is a printer. I print literally hundreds of educational things off the internet. I used ink by the gallon it seemed until I finally got my hands on a lazer printer. They run much more economically. The upfront cost is a bit more, but definitely worth it in the long run. Amazon is running a great sale on printers right now. Up to 50 % off. I am hoping to snag a new lazer this fall yet.

   This is the one I have my eye on. The reviews are pretty good.. It is listed at 70% off














                                                    Teaching My Child to Read
        When I was a young single person, I was asked to teach school. I thought about it. But not for long. It just looked too big and scary. Knowing what I do now, I think I would have loved it! But I didn't take the job and God who does, I think, have a sense of humor and PURPOSE!, for our lives, gave me 8 children and put me in a situation where I had no choice. And so this Mom, who never even considered the possibility....ended up Homeschooling.

    Teaching my child to read was the one thing I dreaded the most. The big mountain that seemed impossible. But I did it! One step at a time. One lesson at a time. I methodically plowed through the book. IT WORKED! Not only did my 6 year old learn to read, but so did my 4 1/2 year old. Simply by listening in. Talk about being totally swelled up with the warmth of accomplishment. WOW! I was hooked! I can do this!

  So I have successfully taught 7 of my 8 children to read and my 8th and I are working on it even now. What method do I use, do I teach them to sight read, or do I teach them phonics, which one is best?

  I was taught phonics in school. My older siblings learned to read with Dick & Jane. We all read fluently. So which method is best?

  When I taught my older ones I used Beginning Steps to reading, but now I think that was pretty labor intensive. I think I used that for the first 3. Then for the next 2, I used the song from Sing, Spell, Read and Write.I have an affiliate link here, in case you want to take a look.

046328: Sing, Spell, Read & Write Level 1 Audio CDs Sing, Spell, Read & Write Level 1 Audio CDs
By Pearson Learning




We learned the sounds by singing them and I also used the poster that comes with the full curriculum for a great visual. Here is the link for the full program which I didn't use. But here it is in case you want to.


6363P: Sing, Spell, Read & Write, Kindergarten/Level 1 Combo Kit Sing, Spell, Read & Write, Kindergarten/Level 1 Combo Kit
By Pearson Learning



After we knew the sounds, I started them reading the Pathway readers.



First Steps (Pathway Reading Series, Grade 1)

Pathway Readers are definitely more sight reading than phonetic. I repeated this same method for number 6. For number 7. I used Reading Made Easy.  
814186: Reading Made Easy: A Guide to Teach Your Child to Read CD Reading Made Easy: A Guide to Teach Your Child to Read CD
By Valerie Bendt / Bendt Family Ministries



I liked this one pretty well. It is Christian based and takes 36 weeks to complete. This one is phonetic. I am not currently using this one because I have it loaned out to a friend. So for number 7, I don't think we quite went through the whole book. I find that too much of the phonetic approach gets tedious and boring. So when he had gotten a good sense of the sounds and reading words, I put him into reading, guess what! The old interesting world of Dick and Jane! There is value in looking back at what our parents generation did and not always think we are doing it so much better!

434008: Read with Dick and Jane: We Look, Volume 1, Updated Cover Read with Dick and Jane: We Look, Volume 1, Updated Cover
By Grosset & Dunlap



 So now I am teaching number 8...which is why I have been thinking back and remembering what I did before. I believe I have inspired myself! I hope you are encouraged and inspired that it can be done. Above all, give your child a positive experience. Help him/her to develop a love for reading by reading exciting stories that whet their appetite to read for themselves. Get them to read a little everyday, so they realize that they can do it themselves and don't just depend on you to read to them.

   As far as the sight reading vs phonetic approach goes.....which one is best? Well......I think I like a mixture of both!

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Its school time again!...... With the weather staying warm so long, my garden is still alive and we are still putting away food for our long, hard winter! Although not everything I can or freeze came from my own garden. But it provides good solid life education to be involved with food preserving.

But anyway, I thought I would share some of the curriculum I am using this year. I will be sharing affiliate links. If you click on them and buy anything through the links I will get a small commission. If you don't want to buy through the links you certainly don't have to:)

337013: Land Animals of the Sixth Day: Exploring Creation with Zoology 3 Land Animals of the Sixth Day: Exploring Creation with Zoology 3
By Jeannie K. Fulbright / Apologia Educational Ministries



   My boys love this Science curriculum. They always ask to do these books year after year. She also does zoology 1 & 2, Astronomy, Botany and The Human Body. We do a cross between lapbooking/notebooking with this. She does include activities and notebooking and you can also buy a notebooking journal. Another plus with this is that it is multi level and you can use one science program for all. To make it all alot easier, I assign them a portion to read every day and also which lapbooks to complete.


My favorite Grammar

981468: Easy Grammar Grade 6 Workbook Easy Grammar Grade 6 Workbook
By Isha Enterprises, Inc.

  This is a Grammar program that is really easy to comprehend. You do have to make a good solid effort to memorize around 40 prepositions. I still remember my favorite homeschooling day when my son was grappling with that long list of prepositions and I suggested that maybe if we sang them, we could remember them. So that is what we did and it made it super easy. He is 20 years old now and he still remembers that day! And most likely his prepositions too! After you learn the prepositions the whole process becomes super easy. She has you diagraming sentences by simply crossing out prepositional phrases and then all you have left is the subject and the verb. The process of elimination makes it so easy. It is truly Easy Grammar.


981314: Daily Grams Grade 6 Daily Grams Grade 6
By Isha Enterprises, Inc.

Help ensure mastery of grammar concepts with the review series Daily Grams. Recommended to accompany the Easy Grammar Texts, they may still be used with any other course. 180 "grams" are included with one review per teaching day; each will take approximately 10 minutes to complete. Concepts are reviewed within 25-30 days, helping students to retain and consistently remember 'older' concepts. Daily Grams format follows the same pattern of capitalization, punctuation, general concepts and sentence combining along with a dictionary review. Grade 6 covers capitalization of geographic places & names, commas, exclamation points, underlining, adjectives, adverbs, prepositions, verbs and more. Answers are included in the back; softcover; pages are reproducible for student use only.

I find Daily Grams helpful, but a little too repetitive. I don't require them to be done daily, more like every three or four days. My schedule for Language Arts this year is:
  • Day 1, Easy Grammar
  • Day 2, Daily Grams
  • Day 3, Pathway Vocabulary
  • Day 4, A Writing assignment
  • Day 5, Easy Grammar
On some days I intersperse some grammar and spelling games on the internet.I use the Write Stuff for writing assignments and ideas.




 


44044: The Write Stuff Adventure The Write Stuff Adventure
By Dean Rea / Great Expectations Co

Young writers need encouragement and training, and this resource delivers plenty of both! Combining editorial knowledge with a nurturing approach, Rea leads students through the basics of the writing process. From penning letters and essays to creating ad copy and news articles, this guide helps kids develop the confidence and skills writers need to succeed. 208 pages, softcover from Great Expectations.



We do all our Science in the first half of the year, rather than a couple days of Science and History each week. Then we finish out the year with History. I believe my students retain more when we use a concentrated approach rather than mixing it all together.This is what we will be using once we get there.

427060: The Mystery Of History, Volume 2: The Early Church and  the Middle Ages The Mystery Of History, Volume 2: The Early Church and the Middle Ages
By Linda Lacour Hobar / Bright Ideas Press

Your students will discover how God continually reveals himself in this big-picture look at world events from Pentecost to the printing press. User-friendly format features lively text, quizzes and tests, reviews, projects and activities, timeline and mapping assignments, answer keys, reproducible student pages, and more. It's classical, chronological---and complete! Grades 4 to 8. 704 pages, softcover.

   Oh yes, your going to wonder about MATH! I am doing the unusual again. We are using Life of Fred. A very humorous math story teaching math concepts. It is actually very deep. The only thing my children complain about is the huge numbers they have to work with. There are books from Grade 1 all the way to college level.
This one is Apples,Book 1




Fractions

Couple going on vacation waving

EASY PEASY CHORE SYSTEM
We all need a little help with organization....Well at least some of us do!Here is a system for getting those little feet and hands to do some constructive activities, instead of destroying your house they can help you keep it in shape. Really sometimes all we need is a little help.

>Easy Peasy Chores @ GoodOldDaysFarm.com You can also get a Home school addition








It's time for vacation! Now we have fun! Working in the garden, going to Culvers for 1.00 Rootbeer Shakes, Trips to the library to find books just for fun when it is to hot to be outside.Having a water fight on a hot afternoon.

We never really stop learning, everything we do can teach us something!
I found a website I want to share with you, that will help your child if he/she struggles with learning the multiplication table
http://www.multiplication.com/learn/fact-navigator
This page will bring you to a multiplication table. Click on the fact to learn and then at the top of the page, click on Learn with Pictures. There will be pictures and a story with each multiplication fact that will make remembering so much easier.

I will soon be doing lesson plans for our 2013-2014 school year.



Summer nature decoration





Summer Break
Ahhh   School....... The time I get to lay aside some of the demands of life and focus more time with my children! I don't have to feel guilty about sitting and helping them snip and glue and oh so many fun things.
I intend to fill this spot with things that we learn and do, and maybe sometimes just ideas I haven't tried yet. Feel free to comment and give me your input too. If I can figure out how to do it, I may upload some free printables like the Timeline I designed today and then you can use them to if you like.


BIRDS.....BIRDS......BIRDS
The birds are coming back. Even though spring is late and it has still been really cool and rainy. I have seen a Robin finally and yesterday there was a Bluebird on a branch in a tree just outside my living room window.YES! Warm weather will come again. Meanwhile you can get into the spirit of things by doing a bird study and listening to http://www.archive.org/details/burgess_bird_book_0710_librivox

I just found a website with lots of interesting links and coloring pages.http://satorismiles.com/2010/03/08/burgess-bird-book-companion/




I have found an online free full curriculum site,http://allinonehomeschool.com/  I normally would not have done this, But with my Dad in the hospital I needed to do something different so they could study more independently. Plus I could always help them over the phone because I had computer access at the hospital. It turned out to be a major blessing. If you find that you need some help with school, this may be what you are looking for.





11/1/2012
Today I planned to help clean my Mom's house after school. My boys were so looking forward to it, but I ended up not going because of a headache and I really wanted a nap. So after my sweet little girl brought me some Iboprofen, and I smeared the back of my neck with Unkers I closed my eyes and hoped for some relief, But I felt sorry for my disappointed children so before I could think twice I threw caution to the wind and suggested they make Gingerbread cookies, I'll deal with the mess later..........So with a little input from their big sister and some help from me on the couch, they mixed the dough and by the time they were ready for the pan I felt good enough to help. This is the result.


10/31//2012
Today I bought Plastic file folders at Wal Mart on clearance for 1.00 each. There are 7 pockets and I labeled them: Work Schedule on the first one and then Monday through Friday. Now I will should always know where their work schedules are and I can file all their notebooking pages and lapbook papers on the day they are to use them ahead of time. That way I won't have to do all my printing on the day of....Nothing more time consuming and frustrating for all of us when Mom is trying to get her brain together on the spot. Love this idea, some people do work boxes or use gallon ziplock bags, but I think this will work good for us. This is what they look like........



 C-Line Biodegradable 7-Pocket Poly Expanding File - Letter Size










27930: God"s Little Instruction Book God's Little Instruction Book
By David C. Cook

Inspiration for the soul with motivational quotations accompanied by relevant scripture. Mass Market Edition.

God's Little Instruction Book Original




 





Here is a sweet little book that I am using now as part of a morning devotional I am writing for my children. I stumbled on it when I was helping my husband on his Choice Book route, and it is a jewel. Every page has a common sense proverb for daily living and a corresponding Bible verse. My children love it and so do I.




   But my God shall supply all your needs according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus. Phil 4:19
If I can do anything for you today I would like to encourage you to believe God's word for every area of your life. He really means what he says!
   This year because of our economic crunch I couldn't spend a lot of money on curriculum. I went to God about it and asked for wisdom. Which brings us to another promise from God's word. If any of you lack wisdom let him ask God for it, He promises to give it to us and not even give us a hard time for not having it in the first place. James 1:5
   So I went online and searched for free homeschooling curriculum and it was amazing how much I found. I am so thankful for everyone who is posting free resources and sharing their talents. From time to time I want to share with you some of the links I found.
The first one I found was A Bible Curriculum written by Anne Elliot, She has written a 3 year course,The ebook format was free when I first posted this, is now $14.95

                                      Foundations 1      I would be extremely blessed if this would help you also.




I found the sweetest Grammer lessons online. The first one is  Primary Language Lessons by Emma Serl it is similar to one I used last year but paid 20.00 for. It follows a relaxed Charlotte Mason style with picture study, poetry, observation and Dictation. When you click on the link and your page opens place your curcer over the little red button that says Read ebook, then click on download pdf file

I also downloaded and am using Grammarland, A cute story about the parts of speech. I think it builds a better understanding about what each of the parts of speech do. This one does not have as many lessons and so I am using correlating lessons from Easy Grammar to make it a full years course

                                                                    Front Cover

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EASY PEASY CHORE SYSTEM
We all need a little help with organization....Well at least some of us do!Here is a system for getting those little feet and hands to do some constructive activities, instead of destroying your house they can help you keep it in shape. Really sometimes all we need is a little help.

>Easy Peasy Chores @ GoodOldDaysFarm.com You can also get a Home school addition







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