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Homeschool Creations

A resource of homeschool activities for children ages preschool through elementary including free printables, crafts, product reviews, and more.

URL: http://homeschoolcreations.blogspot.com/

Updated: 9 hours 6 min ago

Preschool Corner ~ Beginning Advent

Fri, 02/12/2011 - 20:10

This week we all pulled back a little bit on some of our schoolwork, sticking more to the basics and then starting on our Advent activities. What did that look like for Kaleb?

History & Bible

During our Mystery of History time, we talked about Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and Joseph. That led to some cooking fun and we made lentil stew for everyone to try and see if they would have traded their birthright for a bowl of stew. Kaleb did really like it, because he insisted on having it several nights in place of regular dinner…probably good he isn’t the oldest and in line for the birthright!

Every day Kaleb and I followed along in his Little Hands-on Bible to read the stories that tied in with the history lessons. This has been a great way to further include him in our history each day ~ and really make him feel that he is a part of things {and understand it too!}.

Reading

We’re working on All About Reading Level 1 together. Kaleb is on the third lesson, but really excited to work on it with me. We pinned his little progress chart up above his desk and he colors in a star whenever we finish a lesson. In the lesson below, Kaleb sounded out the different words and then we also put the rhyming words together on the ice cream cones.

Advent Fun

We’re doing quite a few different things to celebrate Advent together as a family. Each night we are reading through Jotham’s Journey. During the day, the kids and I are using the Truth in the Tinsel, which is full of hands-on crafts to teach children the real meaning of Christmas. December 1st was the first day of the crafts and we made a light ornament {template was in the Truth in the Tinsel ebook} and put it in our tree to remind us of our lesson.

And every.single.day either Rick or I have been reading the book The Gingerbread Pirates ~ I’m thinking we may have to make some fun cookies soon to go along with the book! This picture was just too sweet not to share…

That’s a quick look at our week ~ what have you all been doing together?

More Preschool Links

ABC Printables
Color and Shape Printables
Early Learning Printables: Police Officers, fireman and more!
Math and Counting Printables
Phonics and Reading Printables
Preschool Planning Pages
Preschool Resources Main Page

Ready to Link Up?

Share what you are doing with your kids! Please link your exact blog post to the Mr. Linky below and link back here too! Grab a button below and be sure to take a minute to visit the person who linked up before you. You can read more in the updated guidelines for Preschool Corner.

Visit these great companies!

Red Wagon Tutorials….Science classes for junior and senior high
Truth in the Tinsel ~ 24 fun-filled activities for the Advent season

Categories: Planet Home Education

Coming Up in December 2011 {and my goals for the month}

Thu, 01/12/2011 - 20:15

A big welcome and thank you to our sponsors this month!

The Learning Fun with Felt line from Betty Luckens includes over 30 sets to inspire children's creativity and provides interactive teaching tool for parents, especially with their Learning the Bible in Felt sets. Use the coupon code Creations and save 15% on your order from Learning Fun with Felt.

Put CHRIST back into Christmas and spread a little cheer with some gorgeous Christian photo cards. The Little Card Company offers a variety of card choices for families, businesses and more. Order now for free ground shipping on Christmas cards!

Newly revises and expanded, Educating the WholeHearted Child by Clay and Sally Clarkson is about much more than homeschooling; it is about life. It's an approach that is based on sound biblical principles of nurture, discipleship, instruction, and learning.

Time 4 Learning is a convenient, online homeschool curriculum that combines education with interactive fun for grades PreK-8th. Time4Learning offers each child their own learning path, with animated lessons, unit assessments, and integrated printable worksheets for reinforcement.

Survive Before 5: Toddler Meals for Your Busy Days is an eCookbook containing over 30 pages of recipes, resources and ideas for helping your meal times be peace times. Have older kids too? The eCookbook also includes increased portion sizes and grocery lists for up to 6 children!

My Goal for the Month of December….

Around these parts, we sadly lack in the craft department ~ oh, who am I kidding? I’m a craft supply scrooge. This month I do believe that my children may wake up and wonder if they are in the right household when they see what is planned. When we took a family trip to Michaels to pick up craft supplies, the girls kept asking “Are these for US???”

Over the last few nights I’ve been furiously cutting, sorting and preparing for 24 days of Advent fun and learning more about Christmas. We’ll be using the Truth in the Tinsel: An Advent Experience for Little Hands this month and I am up to my eyeballs in glitter, sequins, beads and all sorts of crafty paraphernalia.

My children will be so giddy. I may require assistance.

Decorations are still going up around the house and there are odds and ends to do. The dining room never did get painted…but it’s top on the list. My hubby and I are having trouble agreeing on a color, so we may have to pick another room to paint first!

On the blog front, I have some fun Christmas printables coming soon and will also begin sharing all of the fun that we’re having with Mystery of History. AND…hopefully you all will start joining in on Moments to Remember that Carisa and I are taking turns hosting on Saturdays!!

We’ll be taking the two weeks of the month off to enjoy time together at Christmas. Other than having fun with family, do you have plans for the month of December?

Visit these great companies!

Red Wagon Tutorials….Science classes for junior and senior high
Truth in the Tinsel ~ 24 fun-filled activities for the Advent season

Categories: Planet Home Education

Celebrating Advent ~ Our Favorite Advent Resources {so far!}

Wed, 30/11/2011 - 20:03

Over the last several years, we’ve been slowly adding things to do during the advent season. Although Advent started yesterday, we are still pulling together a few things to do with the kids over the next few weeks, all in anticipation of Christmas and the REAL reason for the season. Here are a few of the ways that we celebrate together as a family.

Each year we’ve had a simple Advent wreath in the center of our dining room table. I arranged {fake} greenery in a basket and added in five candles ~ 4 tapers {3 purple and 1 pink} and then a larger white candle in the center {the Jesus candle}. Each week we light a new candle at night, together as a family. This year we’re also excited to pull out our Advent log ~ it’s sitting in front of our fireplace and has a place for one candle for each night of Advent. We haven’t been able to use it for several years and I will have to share pictures of it soon!

Over the last few years we’ve been cycle through the three books in the Jotham’s Journey series by Arnold Ytreeide {the three are Jotham’s Journey, Tabitha’s Travels and Bartholomew’s Passage}. This year we are starting the series over again with Jotham’s Journey. Each night after dinner we light our Advent candles and sit down together as a family and read one of the passages for the evening. The kids have loved this series {and so have the adults!!} and it is fun because each year the stories all connect with each other.

During our Bible time for school, we are going to be using the Birth of Jesus from Grapevine. We loved our Joseph study and the fact that everyone {including Kaleb} could participate. Our Multi-Level Teacher Guide E-book retails for $7.95 and is on sale for $6.95. The Student e-book for Multi-Level retails for $5.95 and is on sale for $4.95. {Sale!! Use the code ADVENT11 for 20% off your purchase from Grapevine through 12/31/11}.

AND this year we’re going to get a little ‘crafty’ thanks to the wonderful Amanda and the Truth in the Tinsel ebook that she released a few days ago!! I’ve been going through the activities and printing things off to do with the kids. I LOVE that it has 24 activities available, but it also offers alternate schedules in case 24 seems too overwhelming for you to do.

That’s what we’ll I’m interested to know how YOU all celebrate Advent ~ or do you? Are there special traditions that you have as a family during this time? Leave a comment and share!

Visit these great companies!

Red Wagon Tutorials….Science classes for junior and senior high
Truth in the Tinsel ~ 24 fun-filled activities for the Advent season

Categories: Planet Home Education

All About Reading Deluxe Level 1 Giveaway ~ a $150 value!!

Tue, 29/11/2011 - 20:36

The new All About Reading Level 1 program has been launched and to celebrate, All About Learning Press is offering one of my readers an amazing giveaway ~ the All About Reading Level 1 Deluxe Reading package, over $150 value!!

Everything you see below is included in the giveaway ~ WOO HOO!! One of you will receive the All About Reading Level 1 Kit and the Deluxe Reading Interactive Kit ~ including three readers, manipulatives, teacher’s manual and a handy tote to store it all in!

We’ve been using the All About Reading Level 1 program over the last few weeks and you all are going to LOVE it! The step-by-step directions and hands-on components bring the reading process alive with your child, giving you the added benefit of knowing you CAN teach your child to read and have fun along the way. :) I’ll be reviewing the program soon, but wanted to share this with you all before then.

All of the new All About Reading Level 1 products will be on sale from November 29th - December 6th to celebrate the launch of the program. As an added bonus, they will add in A Taste of Outer Space for FREE if you order All About Reading Level 1 before December 6, 2011. This space ice cream is the same kind that astronauts have eaten in outer space!

Also, if you purchase the program during this giveaway, All About Reading will refund your money ~ so don’t be afraid to purchase it now!

Ready to win?

Enter away!! There a quick screen shot below if you need help knowing how to enter the ‘extra info’ for the first entry!

{Email subscribers, please click over to the blog to enter}.

RafflecopterSettings = { raffleID: 'OTQ4MzEzYTNkMjc5OWQ3OTRjNjM5OWIxZjA0ZDc3OjEy' };

You need javascript enabled to see this giveaway.

Visit these great companies!

Red Wagon Tutorials….Science classes for junior and senior high
Truth in the Tinsel ~ 24 fun-filled activities for the Advent season

Categories: Planet Home Education

30% Off ~ We Choose Virtues One-day Sale!!

Mon, 28/11/2011 - 08:52

In case you missed the sale this past Friday, We Choose Virtues is having a Cyber Monday sale!

Take 30% off your entire shopping cart with the code “MONDAY”.

This sale will last for 24 hours on Monday, November 28th. The Family Kit is a great deal already and includes all you will need to get started with your kids ~ so be sure to visit We Choose Virtues and order Monday for big savings!!

Visit these great companies!

Red Wagon Tutorials….Science classes for junior and senior high
Truth in the Tinsel ~ 24 fun-filled activities for the Advent season

Categories: Planet Home Education

20% Off at Bright Ideas Press through 11-28-11

Sun, 27/11/2011 - 01:51

Bright Ideas Press, home to several wonderful pieces of curriculum {including Mystery of History}, that now reside on our school shelves or on our hard drive, is having a weekend 20% off sale ~ no coupon needed!!

One of the most FABULOUS products they have is the WonderMaps. Regardless of the curriculum you are using, these maps are an amazing resource that you can use across the span of history ~ from creation to current day.

I will be sharing MUCH more in the upcoming weeks about Mystery of History with you all, but wanted to pass along this sale to you all before I forgot!!

Visit these great companies!

Red Wagon Tutorials….Science classes for junior and senior high
What’s in the Bible? ~ Save 50% with this great Christmas special!

Categories: Planet Home Education

Wrap and Roll ~ Moments to Remember

Sat, 26/11/2011 - 20:20

Moments to Remember was developed as a simple way to look back on our week as homeschoolers and find photos that encompass the memories we want to remember.

The week may have been tough, there may have been more bumps than smiles, but in the end these are the moments that keep us going, the ones we need to remember.

The giggles and the laughing this week from two simple rolls of toilet paper are going to be remembered for quite some time. We had intended to ‘mummify’ a doll {or two}, but last minute we pulled McKenna into the middle of the room and started wrapping her up. The toilet paper was rolling everywhere and we laughed and laughed when she burst out of it all at the end.

So much fun and something the kids talked about all day…one of those things that we will be remembering for quite some time. :)

On a side note, I should mention that I looked at the second picture above and wondered ‘Where in the world is Zachary??’ My mind then began to assume that he was off wandering somewhere and being typical….forgetting that SOMEONE had to take the picture since I was in it. Another thing that made me literally laugh out loud. :)

Want to join in and share a fun moment? Link up your Moments to Remember at 1+1+1=1 this week!! This linky is for homeschoolers, or families who are keeping their kiddos at home during the early years {we consider you homeschoolers too}.

Visit these great companies!

Red Wagon Tutorials….Science classes for junior and senior high
What’s in the Bible? ~ Save 50% with this great Christmas special!

Categories: Planet Home Education

Truth in the Tinsel ~ Advent ebook $2.99 Special

Sat, 26/11/2011 - 04:12

Note: corrected links in this post!! :)

Truth in the Tinsel released today and it is PACKED full of ideas for you to do with your children to celebrate {and learn!!} about the Christmas season.

To celebrate the launch, you can download it for $2.99 today only!

There are 24 days of activities that include Bible reading, ornament crafts, and so much more. One of the best things? It includes all of the templates and printables you will need to go along with the activities!!

If you are looking for a fun way to include more of Jesus in the holiday season, be sure to check out Truth in the Tinsel! I’ll be busy printing off this weekend to get things ready for our kids!

Even if you miss the sale today, the Truth in the Tinsel will only be $4.99 ~ well worth it EITHER way {and you can bless another amazing mom and all of her hard work putting it together!}.

Visit these great companies!

Red Wagon Tutorials….Science classes for junior and senior high
What’s in the Bible? ~ Save 50% with this great Christmas special!

Categories: Planet Home Education

The Week of Catch-Up ~ Preschool Corner

Fri, 25/11/2011 - 20:25

With the craziness of last week, this week ended up being a bit of a ‘catch-up’ week ~ finishing up a few things that had been put aside the week before. And while there are several things that I want to share, I will admit that I managed to get a wee bit sidetracked getting ready for Thanksgiving {we’re celebrating Friday} and pulling things together for Kaleb’s birthday, which happened to fall on Thanksgiving Day this year.

It’s a bit strange knowing that he is now FIVE!! :)

So…we tied up a few loose ends with a unit, had fun learning about Stonehenge and ancient Egypt together as a family {via Mystery of History}, worked on All About Reading together {speaking of which, you all are NOT going to want to miss a most fabulous giveaway coming next Tuesday!!}.

And a little peek at the ‘other’ stuff that we play with during school time… the Animal Train Sort and Match {Guidecraft}

We read from our Little Hands-on Bible together…

We had SO much fun building our own Stonehenge for one of our history projects.

And Kaleb was VERY excited to get his hands on the All About Spelling board and work on some reading with me…{did I mention a giveaway coming???}. :)

And in case you missed it earlier this week, I also shared some of our favorite gift ideas {we’ve had birthdays and such on overload the last few weeks and Christmas coming soon…sigh}.

And…that’s it for this week. How was your week and Thanksgiving??

Ready to Link Up?

Share what you are doing with your kids! Please link your exact blog post to the Mr. Linky below and link back here too! Take a minute to visit the person who linked up before you. You can read more in the updated guidelines for Preschool Corner.

Visit these great companies!

Red Wagon Tutorials….Science classes for junior and senior high
What’s in the Bible? ~ Save 50% with this great Christmas special!

Categories: Planet Home Education

Homeschool Giveaways Black Friday Blast!!

Fri, 25/11/2011 - 13:15

Just wanted to let you all know about a HUGE giveaway blast that is taking place over at Homeschool Giveaways starting tomorrow morning!

The best part?? One winner will walk away with one of EVERYTHING!!!

I’ll be giving away copies of my Weekly Homeschool Planner and there are some other amazing things to win as well, including a pack from We Choose Virtues and Bright Ideas Press!!

Stop by Homeschool Giveaways and enter to win from 11/24/2011 - 11//28/2011!

Visit these great companies!

Red Wagon Tutorials….Science classes for junior and senior high
What’s in the Bible? ~ Save 50% with this great Christmas special!

Categories: Planet Home Education

Christmas Gift Ideas {for everyone!}

Wed, 23/11/2011 - 20:15

I’m often asked about our favorite resources and suggestions for gifts, so I thought I’d share a few of our favorites over the years ~ for both the kids {and me too!}. Please know that this is NOT our list from this year, but rather a ones that have been birthday or Christmas gifts from us or grandparents over the years. :)

Mom’s {or Dad’s} Stocking Stuffers

Here are a few of the cd’s that get constant play at our house Michael Buble’s Christmas, Mercy Me’s Generous Mr. Lovewell, Lincoln Brewster’s Real Life, and Jesus Culture ‘Come Away’.

Books for Mom

A few of my favorite books that I’ve read lately…

~ A Stray Drop of Blood and Jewel of Persia by Roseanna White

~ Here Burns my Candle and Mine is the Night by Liz Curtis Higgs

~ 24 Family Ways, Ministry of Motherhood, Heartfelt Discipline, Mission of Motherhood, and Seasons of a Mother’s Heart by Sally and Clay Clarkson

Movies for Mom

I’m a HUGE fan of period dramas, so the bulk of my dvds all hinge around Jane Austen novels and similar eras of history. Here are a few of my favorites: BBC’s Sense & Sensibility and Persuasion, the Elizabeth Gaskell collection {includes Cranford and North and South}, and then the Lark Rise to Candleford series. I {sadly} have all of the Austen-related movies…and {ahem} multiple versions of some.

School Gadgets

The one thing that gets the biggest use? The Scotch laminator…’nuff said!

Around the House

One of my favorite things is fresh homemade bread…and reading…and taking pictures. Below are a few of the tools I love to use.

~ Bosch mixer and Nutrimill wheat grinder

~ Norpro 12” loaf pans

~ iPod Touch and iHome docking station

~ Kindle with a lighted cover

~ Canon Rebel Ti1 and 50mm lens {my ‘go-to’ lens}

Kid’s Stocking Stuffers

We love Seeds Family Worship CDs, the Pick and Draw card game {for the whole family!} and the What’s in the Bible? dvds.

Bibles and Books for Kids

~ Little Hands-on Bible, Hands-on Bible for Kids, and the NIrV Discoverer’s Bible for Young Readers

~ Audiobooks ~ We LOVE Adventures in Odyssey and a few of these other great compilations: Chronicles of Narnia, The Secret Garden, Anne of Green Gables, and Little Women, the Bible Eyewitness Collector’s set of 36 CDs

~ For the Girls ~ American Girl series, Sisters in Time series, Nancy Drew series, and the Imagination Station series

~ For the Boys ~ the Imagination Station series and Kaleb LOVES the Usborne books that we have by Anna Milbourne

Games for All

Younger Kids ~ Hi Ho Cherry O!, Chutes & Ladders, Uno, & Candyland

Older Kids ~ States Sequence, Parcheesi, regular Sequence, and Yahtzee

Everyone ~ The Wii is a favorite along with a few of these games: Outdoor Challenge, Wii Sports Resort and the Wii Fit.

Favorite Toys

The Girls

Only Hearts Club dolls, horses, stable….we love these bendable and poseable soft dolls! {Can also be found at Target}
To go along with the 18” Our Generation Dolls ~ the girls have a Guidecraft Doll Table and Bunk Beds that we love {super solid!!}.

The Boys

Trio blocks ~ King’s Castle and the Batcave are the two favorites and we have various other small sets
Schleich Castle {we don’t have any of the action figures}
Legos ~ need I say more?

That’s a quick sum-up of the things that are used daily/weekly around our house by our family…well, minus Rick. His toys tend to be more electrically focused…namely his guitar and accessories and a fun game or two for the PS3…or the same music that seems to be on my iTouch. :)

Most all of the links that I’ve included are to Amazon, which is where I typically do a lot of our shopping. Some of the items are linked to other sites if I know of a better deal. Most links are affiliate links, but they are all from products that we use AND love. Please know that if you purchase anything through an affiliate link, you give back a small percentage to our family…thanks!

Categories: Planet Home Education

Easy-View Microscope ~ Lakeshore Learning Review & Giveaway

Tue, 22/11/2011 - 20:30

In my years teaching preschool in the public school system, Lakeshore Learning was one of my favorite catalogs to browse through and find fun things to add to my classroom. Recently, Lakeshore Learning contacted me and asked if I would be interested in sharing one of the items from Lakeshore Holiday Brochure with you all ~ and I was so happy to find the Easy-View Microscope.

The Easy-View Microscope {$49.99} has a magnification of 640X and comes with a 10X and 16X eyepiece that can be interchanged. The main lens includes 4X, 10X and 40X objectives which rotate to the viewing position. The lamp and mirror are underneath the slide area and the slides are held in place with two metal clips. The microscope comes with 19 additional accessories including:

~ prepared & blank slides
~ a Petri dish & stirring rod
~ tweezers, scalpel, spatula and dropper
~ collecting vials and more

The microscope requires 2 AA batteries {not included} to run the lamp. The intended age range is for 8-11 year olds, but adult supervision is still recommended.

Our Thoughts

Truth be told, I was a little scared to pull things out of the box. I may not have mentioned it before, but biology…not some of my most well-loved subject in school. My husband on the other hand is a biology nut {he majored in it} and has a very long history with microscopes from his work in the lab.

The microscope itself is really nothing to be afraid of {don’t ask me why I was scared}. It is very easy to figure out how to use, comes with a short instructional guide and a variety of prepared slides with samples of cola, coffee, tea, and foam. My husband pulled everything out for us to use the first time and get the microscope set up so we could use it together.

We have been catching fruit flies around our house in anticipation of seeing them up close and personal. We were able to see the wing pattern on the flies and so many other fun things {I tried so hard to get an up-close picture…but it just wouldn’t work!}.

When using slides that have transparent or translucent liquids/items on them, the light is able to shine through the objects and you can see them clearly. Because the light comes from below the object, it is more difficult when attempting to look at opaque objects {like our fruit flies}, although not impossible. We could see through the wings, but the head was a little harder because of the opacity.

My husband was really happy with the microscope overall and said that it will be a wonderful help for the kids and I to use in our science studies. Based on the intended age/grade range {ages 8-11 or grades 3-6} it is a great quality microscope, especially for the $49.99 price.

Find Out More

You can purchase the Easy-View Microscope {$49.99}, as well as many other great items, online from Lakeshore Learning or find a store near you. Be sure to check out the Lakeshore Holiday Brochure as well as their fun new educational apps {currently free until 12/30/11}.

The Giveaway

Lakeshore Learning offered to giveaway an Easy-View Microscope to one of my readers!! This would be such a FUN Christmas gift for your children or a wonderful addition to your classroom! To enter, simply follow the directions in the widget below. You can earn multiple entries, so start clicking to enter!

RafflecopterSettings = { raffleID: 'OTQ4MzEzYTNkMjc5OWQ3OTRjNjM5OWIxZjA0ZDc3OjEx' }; &amp;lt;a href="http://rafl.es/enable-js"&amp;gt;You need javascript enabled to see this giveaway&amp;lt;/a&amp;gt;.

Visit these great companies!

Red Wagon Tutorials….Science classes for junior and senior high
What’s in the Bible? ~ Save 50% with this great Christmas special!

I received an Easy-View Microscope from Lakeshore Learning to review in exchange for my honest opinion. I was not paid for this post and do not need to return the microscope. All opinions in this post are solely mine or those of my family.

Categories: Planet Home Education

Ask Mr. Bear Printables ~ Free Learning Printables

Mon, 21/11/2011 - 20:15

These printables were created to use with Ask Mr. Bear by Marjorie Flack.

The Ask Mr. Bear printables include fun activities to tie in with the story ~ vocabulary words, word tracer cards, word family sorting, beginning sounds sorting, story sequencing, counting wheels and more!

Download the free Ask Mr. Bear printables pack!!

Don’t Miss These Either!

~ Ask Mr. Bear word cards for the Read! Build! Write! vocabulary mats.

~ More Literature Based Printables

~ Other Early Learning Printables

Check out more fun {and free} printables at Printable Power.

Visit these great companies!

Red Wagon Tutorials….Science classes for junior and senior high
Little Passports ~ This holiday give your child a glimpse of the world!

Categories: Planet Home Education

Moments to Remember ~ Coming Soon!

Sun, 20/11/2011 - 03:33

What do you want to remember about homeschooling?

Arguing, whining, complaining, attitude problems?

Of course not…so let’s focus on the moments we DO want to remember!

Carisa from 1+1+1=1 and I are excited to share a new weekly linky with you that we will be hosting together. Based on the response to a post Carisa wrote last week ~ “10 Reasons Homeschooling IS Worth It” we thought it would be fun to spend time regularly focusing on these types of homeschooling moments ~ the ones we want to remember!

On Saturdays, Carisa and I will rotate hosting a linky for you to have the opportunity to look back on YOUR homeschooling week and choose the moments you want to remember. These most likely will have little to do with actual school most of the time ~ and more to do with relationships. They may be funny, may be sentimental, but overall they are the things that keep us going.

We regularly take pictures in our house ~ from the serious to the silly and this will be a fun way to share a snapshot in time from your week ~ whether it be one simple picture that speaks volumes to you or a fun collage of pictures. It’s meant to be something quick and fun to capture the many memories we make together as a family.

Starting next Saturday, you’ll see a little something like this on my blog and Carisa’s…

Moments to Remember was developed as a simple way to look back on our week as homeschoolers and find photos that encompass the memories we want to remember.

The week may have been tough, there may have been more bumps than smiles, but in the end these are the moments that keep us going, the ones we need to remember.

We’ll share a picture from our week and then provide a linky for you all to join in! This week as you spend time with family and friends for the holidays, take pictures of those special moments and get ready to link up beginning next Saturday, November 26th!

This linky is for homeschoolers, or families who are keeping their kiddos at home during the early years {we consider you homeschoolers too}.

See you next week! Enjoy the moments!

Visit these great companies!

Red Wagon Tutorials….Science classes for junior and senior high
What’s in the Bible? ~ Save 50% with this great Christmas special!

Categories: Planet Home Education

CAT Scans and the ER ~ Preschool Corner

Fri, 18/11/2011 - 20:15

I did have things to share this week, but the last few days have been a wee bit out of control and all my intentions of having time blocked off Thursday afternoon and/or evening went out the window when Kaleb fell off a stool {5 minutes before our family pictures, mind you} and we ended up in the ER needing a CAT scan. So, we did get an ‘inside’ look at the big ol’ machine {Kaleb asked me to videotape it for Zachary…which we did for about 15 seconds to show how well he did}. After the scan, he saw some of the images on the computer ~ pretty fun {especially since it was all good!}.

He now has a lovely shiner and cut that needs some healing, but fortunately nothing is broken. He also has 12 lovely stickers to show for his pain…and a mini dinosaur and rabbit. I’m sure we’ll be billed for those too {grins}.

Other than that, I’ve had a yucky cold, little sleep and am having trouble holding a coherent conversation {just ask my husband}…so it might be best if I held off until another week with our week of Jesse Bear!

BUT…

I’d still love to hear what you all have been up to! Please link up your PRESCHOOL related posts below.

Note: If you haven’t read the updated guidelines for Preschool Corner, please take a moment to do so BEFORE linking up today. Thanks! :)

More Links for You

ABC Printables
Color and Shape Printables
Early Learning Printables: Police Officers, fireman and more!
Math and Counting Printables
Phonics and Reading Printables
Preschool Planning Pages
Preschool Resources Main Page

Ready to Link Up?

Share what you are doing with your kids! Please link your exact blog post to the Mr. Linky below and link back here too! Take a minute to visit the person who linked up before you. You can read more in the updated guidelines for Preschool Corner. {p.s. Linky Tools wasn’t working last night, so if you are seeing this note, please leave a comment with your link and I’ll add it when it’s up and running!}

Categories: Planet Home Education

Preparing the Soil of Our Children’s Hearts

Thu, 17/11/2011 - 20:15

Image from Microsoft

Over the last few weeks, I’ve been reading little chunks of the book, Heartfelt Discipline by Clay Clarkson {Sally Clarkson’s husband}. This is a book that is currently out of print, but I purchased used from Amazon and am so thankful that I did.

So often I know that we are looking for that perfect ‘thing’ that will work in shaping the character of our children. Something that will be the key to all of the behavior issues ~ a universal truth that we can apply to every single one of our children and have things magically be just right.

Or maybe that’s just me. :)

This quote from Clay Clarkson really struck me:

“Parenting is not only the process of sowing plenty of good seeds in hopes that some will take root. It is also, and perhaps mostly, about preparing the soil. The task is not to plant enough good seeds to crowd out the world's weedy influences; it’s about faithfully preparing the soil of our children’s hearts – making it soft and receptive, cultivating it, enriching it with nutrients, watering it, and weeding it. I can throw a zillion seeds of character into my child’s heart, but unless his or her heart has been prepared, and until it is changed by Christ, those seeds will be wasted. There must be hoeing if the seed is to result in growing.”

~ Heartfelt Discipline, p. 11

Am I preparing the seeds for my children’s hearts or just throwing seeds at random, hoping something will ‘stick’?

Visit these great companies!

Red Wagon Tutorials….Science classes for junior and senior high
What’s in the Bible? ~ Save 50% with this great Christmas special!

Categories: Planet Home Education

What’s in the Bible ~ 6 DVD Giveaway!!

Tue, 15/11/2011 - 20:30

It’s no small secret that our family absolutely loves What’s in the Bible? at our house. When I found out about the pre-Christmas 6 DVD special at BuckDenver.com {$37.95}, I was even more excited.

We love them SO much that I want to share the learning and laughter with all of you ~ you can win a set of SIX DVDs that includes What’s in the Bible? #1-5 and Why Do We Call it Christmas? It’s super simple to enter the giveaway ~ just click on the widget below, leave your name and email and you are done. If you decide that you can’t wait and want to order the special ~ go ahead and still enter. I’ll refund your money if you do win, so really it’s a win-win situation for you. ;)

Ready? Go ahead and enter!

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Visit these great companies!

Red Wagon Tutorials….Science classes for junior and senior high
What’s in the Bible? ~ Save 50% with this great Christmas special!

Categories: Planet Home Education

Jesse Bear Printables ~ Free Learning Printables

Mon, 14/11/2011 - 20:24

These printables were created to use with Jesse Bear, What Will You Wear? by Nancy Carlstrom.

The Jesse Bear, What Will You Wear? printables include fun activities to tie in with the story ~ vocabulary words, word tracer cards, a flag coloring page, food measuring and sorting, a sentence tracer sheet and more!

Download the free Jesse Bear, What Will You Wear printables!

Don’t Miss These Either!

~ Jesse Bear, What Will You Wear? word cards for the Read! Build! Write! vocabulary mats

~ More Literature Based Printables

~ Other Early Learning Printables

Check out more fun {and free} printables at Printable Power.

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Red Wagon Tutorials….Science classes for junior and senior high
Little Passports ~ This holiday give your child a glimpse of the world!

Categories: Planet Home Education

Fireman Unit ~ Preschool Corner {& 5K too!}

Fri, 11/11/2011 - 20:15

Note: If you haven’t read the updated guidelines for Preschool Corner, please take a moment to do so BEFORE linking up today. Thanks! :)

Kaleb’s theme choice this week was to do Firemen. Needless to say, there were many ‘sirens’ echoing in our house throughout the day {and I think I may be ready to move onto a quieter theme next week}.

Some of the go-along books…

Firemen unit book list

Workboxes…

Here’s a look inside our workbox setup for this week. This week and last we started using Mystery of History 1 and Kaleb’s first ‘box’ includes the things he needs to participate along with us ~ coloring pages that go along with the weekly lessons as well as the Bible stories that we read in My First Hands-on Bible {so very much loving this Bible!!}. Although he might not be able to fully comprehend all that is going on with our history, we all try to sit together and tie-in things for him as much as we can.

Most printables for our week came from the Firemen Printables Pack. A few additional links are shared below.

These are just a few picture glimpses into our week…

Language & Letters

Our Do-A-Dot markers made their appearance several times this week. We used them as ‘water droplets’ to find each of the upper and lowercase Ff’s and mark them.

Having fun with mazes….

Since the Do-A-Dot markers helped out so much during our last ‘find the word in the story’, we doubled up the colors again and had fun stamping out all of the words in the story that we could find.

Math

This week we worked on a new concept ~ greater than and less than. The printable was from the Fireman Printable Pack and one that Kaleb asked if we could keep doing…which was a little hard since we glued them in place the first time. :)

Measuring ~ Kaleb loves measuring with his own ruler, so measuring the different fireman’s tools was much fun. {On a side note: I realized when printing this off in pdf format that it needs to be done without ‘shrink to fit’ or it does not measure correctly}.

Crafts

One of the fun crafts we worked on this week was a handprint fireman team {which went along nicely with our Five Little Fireman poem}. I found this idea on TippyToe Crafts and Kaleb loved it! :) Kaleb also made a firetruck out of foam shapes {super simple}, but again…much fun.

All About Reading

This week we worked on the lowercase letter f. Kaleb worked on his ‘f’ for fish craft page from All About Reading Pre1 and then Ziggy helped us sound out some words. I slowly sounded out the words on the picture cards and Kaleb had to piece them together and identify what word was being sounded out.

Additional Firemen Links

Houses ~ Colors, Numbers & Address activities from
Cindy @ Along the Way
Fireman Tot Pack from Our Little Monkeys
Five Little Firemen handprint craft
Fireman finger puppet
Fireman do-a-dot pages
Paperplate fireman hat

Other Preschool Links

ABC Printables
Color and Shape Printables
Early Learning Printables: Police Officers, fireman and more!
Math and Counting Printables
Phonics and Reading Printables
Preschool Planning Pages
Preschool Resources Main Page

Ready to Link Up?

Share what you are doing with your kids! Please link your exact blog post to the Mr. Linky below and link back here too! Take a minute to visit the person who linked up before you as well. Check out the updated guidelines for Preschool Corner if you need them.

Visit these great companies!

Red Wagon Tutorials….Science classes for junior and senior high
What’s in the Bible? ~ Save 50% with this great Christmas special!

Categories: Planet Home Education

Updated Guidelines for Preschool Corner

Wed, 09/11/2011 - 19:28

I’ve been completely amazed at how the Preschool Corner {& 5K too!} has grown over the last few years. What started as something to document the weekly happenings in our house has been a fun way for others to connect and share their experiences.

To help other moms quickly and easily find things, can I ask you all to help out a bit? Here are a few things that would be SO very helpful in better connecting and sharing with each other.

1. Please be sure to link to your exact blog post when sharing a link {not just directly to your blog}. We don’t want to miss what you are sharing! If you need help on how to do this, you can read more about permalinks here.

2. Be specific in your ‘title’. Leave either your blog name or theme and provide an age range for your activities. Something a little like this:

Police Officer Theme {ages 4-5}

3. Please link up posts that are ONLY preschool related. I know that there are so many things we can share with each other, but this linky is specifically to share preschool fun ~ not recipes, giveaways, etc… Even after the linky closes, other moms can go back through the links and visit posts, but are looking for teaching/learning ideas for their kiddos. :)

4. In your post, please link back to the Preschool Corner. You can use a text link or even grab the button coding from my sidebar to place the button in your post. Having the button in your post will also help other moms find even more great ideas to use with their children when they are able to browse around.

5. Visit others!! As much as I would love to, I don’t always have time to visit every single one of you each week. I try to visit as many as I can, but I don’t always get to leave comments either. When you link up each week, can you take a few minutes and visit the person who linked up just before you and say ‘hi’ and leave a note of encouragement. It’s a fun way to meet a few more moms and also encourage them at the same time. This isn’t a requirement, but we all know what a short note means when we’ve worked hard on sharing with others. :)

You can find the full guidelines for Preschool Corner here and if you have any questions, please feel free to ask.

I hope that these requests don’t offend others ~ I’ve just had a lot of spam posts linking up lately and want to have Preschool Corner be something that is helpful and easy to navigate for others. I appreciate all of you that participate each week and the ideas that you share with all of us!

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