An Online Math Resource Goldmine

I've been looking for online math resources for over a year. Some of them were OK, but this one deserves many accolades!

eNLVM is an OUTSTANDING and FREE online resource put on by Utah State University. Really, this will blow your mind. You can create your own classes and lesson plans, using virtual manipulatives and games. No ads. No pop ups. And excellent quality lessons. Give this one a shot, and you will not be disappointed. Kudos to eNLVM for making this available for FREE!

Other math resources we have found valuable and entertaining include:

APlusMath.com We've been using their worksheets for counting money, and it has worked really well.

Homeschoolmath.net Another excellent site for online worksheets.

The kids have been doing online math games during our school time using PlayKidsGames.com

Another site is Mathsisfun.com. We've used this for printing out worksheets on 3-D shapes we can cut, fold and glue.

Spooky Sticky Science

Last Friday, the children and I toured The Science of Gardening on the excellent Exploratorium.com. If you've never poked around the site, you are in for a treat. While we continue to scratch the surface of germination, we've had a few detours along the way (what would homeschooling be without myriads of detours). Jack has become very interested in the Venus Flytrap. Exploratorium had a very educational set of mini videos on the Venus Flytrap that would peek any boy's interest. If you are looking for spooky science...check out Peter's Savage Garden.

Food Pyramid Fun

Beginning this term, I made the decision to incorporate Health related unit studies into our weekly schedule. We need it. The habits of hygiene are constantly being worked and reworked into our days. I'm sure that is not unusual for a household with a six and four year old. Truth be known, we have room for improvement since I would be elated if the children brushed their teeth, changed their underwear and brushed their hair all on the same day.

Ironically, I didn't start in the much needed area of hygiene, but instead was inspired to tackle the Food Pyramid. This has actually been a wild success and is one of Jack's favorite subjects. Every week we have been focusing on a different food group, sorting our play food out into food groups and reading a food group related book. The books put out by Pebble Plus have been terrific, and prompted me to investigate the USDA's web site dovoted solely to the Food Pyramid - www.mypyramid.gov.

After a few weeks of getting our feet wet, today, the children got to head over to the My Pyramid web site loaded with information and print outs. On the site is a challenging game called MyPyramid Blast Off. This game is superbly done, requiring the child to make wise food choices, and add activities to their day in order to properly fuel their spaceship for Planet Power. Even if you are not doing a unit study on food groups, this game is a wonderful addition to the school day.

Chalk One Up For Starfall.com

I hate to keep plugging a web site, but I really have to say again just how much Starfall has done to turn Jack on to Phonics, and give Grace the confidence and incentive she needed to feel completely comfortable reading aloud.

We are now completing our third week of using Starfall daily in our school routine. And I am very impressed with the results. This week was review or "Test Week" for Jack to get a feel for just how well he is memorizing the sounds of letters. Today we took a step away from Starfall, and I used letter flashcards to test him on the sounds (curious if he could separate the task of computer stimulation from what he recalled). He could. With the exception of three letters, he has the sounds down pat. That is saying something, for a little boy who three weeks ago, couldn't tell you what sounds ANY letter made.

For the first time, today, I heard Grace ask Jack if he wanted her to read to him. He obliged and she proceeded to read a simple "Old Hat, New Hat" Berenstain Bears book to him. She was so happy she could read it, she read it twice to him and then once more to myself and Jack.

So kudos to Starfall. What a difference. Don't you love it when something works...and it's free?!

Keeping It Fresh & Interesting

I've been trying very hard to keep things fresh for the kids. While we have our standard Copywork, Math, and Reading everyday, I like to break each subject up throughout the week with various activities. For example, Grace has Math everyday, but we tackle a different type of Math each day so by the end of the week we have tackled: Addition/Subtraction (Single & Double Digit), Money, Time, Measurements (Weights & Lengths), Fractions, Story Problems, & Graphing. I also try to make sure that they haven't done 5 worksheets in one subject for the week, trying to keep half of it hands on.

Today the kids enjoyed adding some computer work to our Phonics & Reading. Jack is just getting ready for Phonics and I was looking for a way to introduce him to Phonetical concepts. I took a look at a website called Starfall.com, and was pleased to see that they have updated it with some outstanding Phonics and Reading activities. The plan was to have Jack only address "A" for phonics today, but I had to convince him to stop after "D". I am really happy with their Phonics introduction.

Grace was itching to finish her copywork, just so she could have a stab at the reading portion of the site --- which is just as nicely done.

Cream Of the Crop Web Sites for Kids

It takes a lot for me to bookmark a site for future use. The site has got to be very well done, pleasing graphically, easy to use, useful, and oozing with information. Most of my bookmarks revolve around how I can better supplement my homeschooling either through products or online activities. Here are some I have recently added to my small collection. All of these are worth your time:

Molecular Expressions: Exploring the World of Optics and Microscopy
Don't own a microscope? Who needs one with this site! You won't believe the amount of information you and your kids will glean. Hundreds of online slides and video are freely available.

National Geographic XPeditions
Geography lesson plans, activities, and atlas maps from the best of the best.

iKnowthat.com
You won't know where to begin with iKnowthat. I'm still looking through all of the interactive online activities serving to further educate children on everything from the arts to engineering. A first class site.

Steve Spangler Science Experiments
Looking for neat science experiment ideas? You can spend a day here.

Thinking Outside Of The Box

The puzzle box - that is. In preparation for this term, I was trying to think of another activity we could do besides our Memory and I Spy games that we create. It just happens, that there are a number of challenging Renoir puzzles out there. What better way to study color, brush strokes, and get down and dirty with a painting then to work on a 500 piece puzzle??

So that is what we are doing. It will take a while, but since I'm a puzzle lover myself, it is something we can all do and relax. And it doesn't "feel" like learning.

500 Small pieces is a big jump from our 100 piece puzzles, so I'm trying to take it one step at a time with the kids (mostly Grace is the participant). We purchased one of those large plastic craft sorting boxes, and spent this morning over breakfast, sorting out the obvious colors into compartments, as well as sorting out the edge pieces. This has made things much more manageable - and it is also nicely contained.

Below are links to the two puzzles we purchased for $6.95 each this term:

On The Terrace
Young Girls at The Piano

The Ivory Gull Video Addiction

Jack has become addicted to an online video of a special white bird. He has been asking over and over again to watch it. We have gone over Cornell Lab's Orthinology site at least a few times now, and their favorite part are the videos of birds. Not sure what it is but the Ivory Gull has caught Jack's heart and fancy. View Video