Tag: homeschool

The Homeschool Blog Awards

As important as voting in our regular elections may be, this post has nothing to do with those. Rather, I am referring to the annual Homeschool Blog Awards. Each year this group run website comes together to recognize homeschooling bloggers who make a difference in the bloggy community.

Whether you are a blogger or not, this contest can introduce you to some great bloggers, and can be a great source of encouragement, inspiration and ideas.

The blogs have already been nominated, and now the voting begins.  I would encourage you to take some time to check out the blogs and vote for some of your favorites!

abcteach review

Sometimes a child needs a little extra help in an area. Or, sometimes you need a fun activity to keep a few kids engaged while you work with an individual child. Or, maybe you just want something fresh that you haven’t already been through a few times.

abcteach can help with any one of those needs. You can choose from their ginormous file base, or you can make something that is uniquely you with their worksheet generator.

Aside from ordinary worksheets they also have file folder type games, reading comprehension exercises, craft projects, simple lesson plans and ideas, flash cards, units, and seasonal activities.

Product: abc teach membership (You can see their description of the benefits of membership including a video on the abcteach site)
Details:This website offers 5,000 printables free even to non-members, but another 30,000 sheets that are available only to members.
Price: $40/year or $70 for two years. Group pricing available also.

What we loved . . .

  • Lots of choices. Every subject, topic, writing style, etc. seems represented. And, they encourage you to let them know if you could use something they don’t already offer.
  • Always something new. This is not a “been there, done that” site. Every week you can find new material, and with the thousands they have available, it would take you quite a bit of time to work through it all.
  • A diversity of ages covered. We found something for everyone on this site. While those with preschool and early primary would probably find the most use for it, they have lots available for upper elementary and middle school as well.
  • Great search tool. If you can’t easily find what you are looking for in the myriad categories available, you can search and come up with lots of hits most of the time.
  • Making my own handwriting sheets. We use Handwriting Without Tears in the early years, and I LOVE the member’s only feature that enables you to print your own worksheets with whatever you want your child to practice, in the very format that they are learning in.

Challenges faced . . .

  • Finding uses for the site. We aren’t a big worksheet family, preferring lots of oral and group work, so I did not find an overwhelming amount of materials that grabbed my attention.
  • Some of the graphics are not the highest quality (after all, they are worksheets). Part of the reason I prefer real books is because I prefer real pictures. Just a little idiosyncrasy of mine, I suppose. Drawn graphics just kind of turn me off to a product. They were good, just not real.

Despite the many things we loved and the very few challenges we encountered, this is not something I would continue to subscribe to because it doesn’t fit easily within our homeschool.

However, if you constantly find yourself searching for extra activities or worksheets to teach or reteach a topic, abcteach probably has exactly what you are looking for. They have an excellent, easy to navigate site with unbelievable amounts of worksheets and activities.

For more TOS Crew reviews on this product, check out the TOS Crew blog.

Disclaimer: This website membership was provided to me free of charge from abcteach as part of my participation in The Old Schoolhouse Homeschool Crew. I received no additional compensation and the opinions expressed here come from my personal experiences and sincere thoughts.

Ozzie Reading Program

Here is information on a great reading incentive program that is open to homeschoolers as well. Students Kindergarten through eighth grade may participate and earn a free ticket to the Cougar’s game in the spring.

In summary their program works like this:
Ozzie’s Reading Club is an eight-week reading incentive program sponsored by the Kane County Cougars along with Provena Mercy Medical Center. The program is open to children in grades K-8; however, to participate, a student’s school must be a member of the Ozzie’s Reading Club program.

Ozzie’s Reading Club tracks the progress of a student’s reading around the bases of a baseball diamond with the three bases and home plate representing two weeks worth of reading. Each teacher may determine his or her own reading requirements for each base. Students completing the program’s requirements “hit a home run” and earn a free ticket to an April or May Cougars game designated by their school. Other rewards may include a bookmark, a voucher for a hot dog and soda as well as an official Ozzie Reading Club t-shirt.

For more information you need to contact their office:
Kane County Cougars  34W002 Cherry Lane § Geneva, IL 60134

Phone: 630.232.8811  FAX 630.232.8815

E-mail: ozziereadingclub@kanecountycougars.com

Esther’s Place Class information

About a year ago we took a field trip to a charming little shop called Esther’s Place in Big Rock. Many of you know how homeschooling and that entrepreneurial spirit go hand in hand and Esther’s Place provides another thriving example of this.

about images
Natasha and Donna Lehrer, Esther’s Place, happy customers in front of drying dyed yarn, resident felted gnomes

Inside this shop we discovered far more than an abundant supply of wool and felting craft materials. We found a passion for tradition and wool as well as a faith and patriotism that gives them greater purpose in their work and craft. Natasha and Donna have lots of knowledge to share.

Browse their website for more details and background, and information on retreats and classes, or arranging for them to come to you to share with your group.

Just some of their upcoming highlights:

Sat. November 14th 10-4pm
Christmas at Esther’s
Join us as we celebrate the holidays with music, refreshments and lots of great fiber gifts…including our holiday boutique. We’d love to see you and celebrate the season!

Knitting 101
Cost: $45+ materials $15
Sat. Oct. 10th 4-6 pm
Come learn with us as we teach to cast on, knit, purl, cast off, and more as you start on a beautiful scarf.

Thrummed Mittens
Cost: $45 ; materials extra
Sat. Oct. 10, 24th 2-4 pm
Skill Level: Beginning knitter
Create the coziest pair of mittens you may ever have- they are lined in tufts of the fluffy roving. Pick out your colors of yarn and roving at the class.

Drop Spindling 101
Cost: $25 + materials: $20
Tues. Oct. 20th 2-4 pm
Get introduced to the wonderful art of spinning with a drop spindle. We make it fun to learn to make your own yarns! This is a great way to start.

Jump Start- 2 Day Workshop
$95 + materials $35
5 pm Fri. Oct. 30 – 4 pm Sat. Oct. 31st
Have you been wanting to learn to spin? This intensive two day workshop will cover basics, from drop spindling to wheels, fiber differences, and technique. Class fee includes overnight accommodations& meals for2 days.

Call for more information about upcoming Friends of Esther Classes and meetings — Goats Milk Soap, bath gifts, and more.

Holiday Classes (many of these are great for kids and homeschool families):

Felted Nativity Scene
$24
Sat. Nov 28th 9-noon OR Wed. Dec. 2nd 9-noon or Dec. 19th 9-noon
Make Mary, Joseph, Baby Jesus, a star and three sheep with needle felting techniques.

Santa’s Workshop for Kids!
$22
Fri. Nov. 28th 10-3
Ages: 5-13
Kids – come enjoy the holiday season and make and wrap special gifts for your family! Moms – take advantage of this for day-after-Thanksgiving shopping!

Cookie Cutter Ornaments
$8
Sat. Nov. 14th 1 pm OR Dec. 12th 1 pm OR Wed. Dec. 23rd 10 am
Create an array of cute little wool ornaments with needle felting.

Esther’s Place offers far more if you are interested in learning about spinning, felting, wool, or other related topics. They love to share and inspire others. Even I, who have very little natural craftiness, appreciated their great talent and creativity on display throughout the store. Feel free to give them a call with any questions or inquiries: 630-556-WOOL

TOS Crew Review — A Journey Through Learning

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A couple years ago we discovered the fun of lapbooking. Having completed a couple lapbooks on our own, I was excited to get to review a few lapbooks from A Journey Through Learning.

The lapbooks are created in three seperate sections which get glued together for the final product.

They have many lapbooks available covering a variety of academic subjects and very reasonably priced. And, you don’t have to wait for them to ship in the mail as they are available for immediate download. With so many great topics to choose from we decided to use The Parables of Jesus for our Bible time for about a month.

The Parables of Jesus

What we loved . . .

Everything you need to know is right there. We have lapbooked before, but I lack any strong creative genes, so I struggled to lead my kids well in putting together creative lapbooks. We always found ourselves using the same templates. They came out looking a bit dry. Still fun, still capturing the knowledge, but not the works of art I had imagined filing away. With A Journey Through Learning’s lapbooks we each created our own lapbook that packed in the information while retaining our individual flavor in the process.

The ebook is easy to work with, print out the pages you need (however many copies you need), and then read through one section (or more) each day.

Kept our Bible time very hands on and interactive.

Got the kids excited about parables. Day two, both my older girls came with passages of Scripture they wanted to read with parables they had found on their own. Gotta love that!

Incredibly easy to use. They tell you where to cut, glue, staple, etc. They include a picture of the finished product as well as a placement diagram with each section to remind you where every piece belongs.

What we tweaked . . .

Not much. I did work more closely with my younger kids to help them write in the results of our discussions, but other than that, even my five year old had a fairly easy time participating.

We often got carried away in our discussions of the parables. I love that the authors encourage you to focus on the main point, and we did. We examined our lives and our home in light of what Jesus taught in each parable. I especially treasured our talk on storing up treasure in heaven, and what that really looks like. The month flew quickly by.

You could print the whole book if you prefer to read from paper. However, I found it easy enough to print what they needed to cut out for the day and then read the lessons from the computer screen while they began cutting.

They really know their parables now.

I would definitely recommend these lapbooks to someone wanting to try out a lapbook. I have heard from some experienced lapbookers that they don’t like being “locked in” to their template and format, so if you really enjoy putting together all your own material this might not be your thing. Or, it might be a great starting point for something a bit different than you would have done without the materials.

We will likely be checking out some of their other lapbooks as well. Most of them run $13 for the download, $14 for a CD of the material, or $21 to order a printed copy. They also have minilapbooks, copywork, and other materials available on their website.

Check out more reviews at the TOS Crew’s blog.

Opportunity to meet local candidate at campaign kick-off

A Chicago area homeschool dad is running for a seat in the US House of Representatives. He currently fills a seat in the State Senate. If you would be interested in learning more or supporting Randy Hultgren in this process here is the information on a gathering this coming week:

Please come to the campaign announcement
and kickoff of

Randy Hultgren

on Monday, September 28

He is running for the U.S. House of Representatives, District 14

We are eager to show the media a good turnout and following, so, please bring your friends and family between 1:00 and 1:30pm to

Peck Farm Park 4038 Kaneville Road     Geneva IL 60134
Located west of Randall Road on the corner
of Kaneville Road and Peck Road

All of the buildings have been reserved so families can enjoy themselves.  The only request is that from 2-2:20 you stand with Randy as he gives his speech and answers questions.   There will be signs, stickers and treats.

Please RSVP (requested, not required) by 4:00 on Sunday to:

Rose at rgust@pobox.com
OR
630.406.1178


(Click here for  Peck Farm info and map)

Taking full advantage of your library

Formerly, I thought I had a pretty good handle on all my library had to offer:

Reading programs — great incentives in summer for individual reading and in the winter for family reading and we earn free stuff in the process of doing something we would spend our time doing anyway. And, the kids got even more excited about time spent reading.

Books — Obviously, books hold the main draw of the library. Thousands of books on any topic you could want to read on. I’m still not quite sure how I would homeschool if I did not have weekly access to the library and daily access to the Internet. I would spend a lot more money, I am sure.

Non-book items — we also enjoy magazines, CD’s, movies, puzzles, and other items the library makes available for home use through borrowing.

Online account access — We can easily keep tabs on all these items that constantly flow in and out of our house online with our account information readily available and renewable with the click of the mouse.

All those things are great. However, I recently found out I had just scratched the surface of information available to me through the library.

This summer I discovered the World Catalog (claims to have 1.4 billion items on record right now!) which I had access to from home with my library card. I can reserve a book from just about anywhere in the world and they will send it to my library for me to pick up. Now, living near a large city like Chicago, I rarely have a book sent from outside of my state, but I did recently get a book from Arkansas. If you have not learned to navigate the “World Cat” get in touch with your librarian and find out about the billions of items that you have access to through this data base.

We love audiobooks and devour a few of them each month during our errand running. Well, they come in a new format we can check out from the library as well. Playaways are preloaded auidobooks in an MP3 type device that you check out and take with you.

But, there’s more. My librarian also showed me the depths of internet options and subscriptions available through my library website. This will vary widely from library to library, but here is just some of what I can access with my library card, from the comfort of my own home (Clicking to these sites through my library site automatically enters me as a subscriber. On some I need to set up a free account to use them):

  • Online language course through Byki.
  • Book review sites
  • Online picture books, through Tumblebooks.
  • Local newspaper websites
  • Premium research databases
  • NetLibrary‘s 16,000 electronic version of printed books.
  • Naxos music library’s recordings of 85,000 pieces. (We love this one for our composer studies, no more scouring the internet for a suitable recording or trying to remember to get a recording while at the library. Immediate access from home!)

And the list goes on and on, figured I would just share a few favorites we have already used. When she started showing us this I could not believe the information that I had in front of me. All these memberships and subscriptions that I have a part of through my library card. Now, of course, as I said this will vary widely by library, but if you want your library to offer something that they do not already offer, just ask. If they can find a way to fit it in the budget, they might just do it.

Photograph of Homeschool Resource Center

Tiny, but powerful! The Homeschool Resource Center. Four walls packed with resources.

I could not talk about libraries and homeschooling without mentioning the Johnsburg Public Library. Tucked away in this small, unassuming town library is a Homeschool Resource Center that has helped homeschoolers across the country. If you live in Illinois you can drive to the library and check out items with your valid Illinois library card. They have microscopes, models, a vacuum pump, and lots of other larger items to help teach some of those tougher topics. Those items you must physically pick up and drop off at their library.

However, they have also used this $55,000 grant to stock its shelves with books, curriculum samples, and other resources that homeschoolers will benefit from. And, they are open to suggestions for new purchases as well. It would most likely be worth your time to peruse the 2000 plus items they have specifically for the homeschooler.

One last library advantage . . . If you live in the Chicago, Detroit or Minneapolis area (click city names for various local program sites), you have the opportunity to “check out” museum passes each week. These can provide for some great, inexpensive field trips for your family or homeschool group. They are first come, first served, but make sure to look into this great program if you live in any of those areas.

Enjoy more Works for Me Wednesday and Thirsty Thursday

Some encouragement

Although not directly concerning homeschooling, and not even speaking of true motherhood really, I found this quote from Amy Carmichael’s biography (A Chance to Die by Elizabeth Elliot), quite thought provoking. These words, printed on a card, encouraged her from the inside cover of her Bible:

These children are dear to Me. Be a mother to them, and more than a mother. Watch over them tenderly, be just and kind. If thy heart is not large enough to embrace them, I will enlarge it after a pattern of My own. If these young children are docile and obedient, bless Me for it; if they are froward, call upon Me for help; if they weary thee, I will be thy consolation; if thou sink under thy burden, I will be thy Reward.” The words are followed by a picture of the Shepherd, reaching for a lamb while a vulture hovers overhead.

How fitting for the homeschool mother! Our children most likely did not experience the dreadful situations these temple children had faced, but we can still grow weary and feel stretched. When the days go well, praise Him! When we struggle, cry out to Him. Even when we sink, He remains our reward. Those vultures circle, but God protects.

We have a critical role as parents, as more than parents.

Winner time!

Well, the time has come. I want to thank you all for sharing this great opportunity and making plans to attend LEGOLAND’s special homeschool days.

I sincerely wish that I had more of these to give away as there were so many of you working hard to get the word out, but the winner, thanks to help from Random.org is commenter number 10, Lois!

Lois, I will be sending you an email shortly with the information that I need from you to submit to LEGOLAND staff.

Thank you, again, to everyone that entered and spread the word.