Free Flashcards at Sudy Stack

Anyone who knows this blog, knows that I spend Summer doing Spring cleaning of my house, my homeschool supplies, and everything else. This blog is due for some Spring cleaning matter of fact. Anyways, one of the new websites I found this Summer, is Study Stack. Now, I have only tried it briefly, but my kids like to learn in a variety of ways. Usually, on Friday they get to play games and other avenues of learning. Since the computer is super important to them, they would prefer those games be online. Study Stack is not really a game, but an online flashcard generator for all subjects, even foreign language. I love flashcards, because they repeat things over and over, and that is the best way to retain information. So, my kids will definitely be giving this website a try. There is another one, I like too, but for some reason the site is down, so I can not share it yet.

Homeschool Curriculum Links

OK here are all the new links I have found, many I use. Please be sure to check all the links at the bottom of this blog as well. A lot of those are for younger ages, and I used them all the time when my kids were preschool, kindergarten ages. These are more geared towards older learners, at least most of them. You can always use the search bar at the top of this blog to find this post easily again. This is still not all of them, but I will get them all eventually. These should keep you occupied for a while

http://www.compassion.com/christian-home-school.htm
http://thebearthinstitute.memberlodge.com/wildlifeeducation
http://www.reading-with-kids.com/index.html
http://www.nps.gov/learn/curriculum.htm
http://learner.org/
http://www.earlyamerica.com/ben1.htm/
http://education.nationalgeographic.com/education/activities-and-projects/?ar_a=1&ar_r=1
http://maps4kids.com/
http://www.myaudioschool.com/
http://adventure.howstuffworks.com/outdoor-activities/hiking/compass.htm
http://www.multiplication.com/interactive_games.htm
http://dltk-bible.com/genesis/lesson-otbooks.htm
http://www.teachercreated.com/free/
http://www.50states.com/
http://21stcenturylit.org/index.php
http://www.gameclassroom.com/
http://www.braineos.com/
http://www.mrcpl.org/literacy/lessons/sight/index.html
http://archaeology.mrdonn.org/games.html
http://www.gcflearnfree.org/
http://www.creative-chemistry.org.uk/index.htm
http://www.srh.weather.gov/srh/jetstream/why.htm
http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/typing/
http://www.storylineonline.net/
http://eduscapes.com/ladders/themes/webquests.htm
http://kidcourses.com/
http://www.eschoolonline.com/
http://www.eschoolonline.com/company/examples/eye/eyedissect.html
http://www.pbs.org/teachers/socialstudies/
http://www.songsforteaching.com/index.html
http://www.booksshouldbefree.com/
http://www.science-teachers.com/
http://www.geography4kids.com/
http://nationalzoo.si.edu/Education/ConservationCentral/teacher/default.cfm
http://www.e-learninglinks.com/history.htm
http://msnucleus.org/membership/index.html
http://www.sciencewithme.com/
http://www.nga.gov/kids/kids.htm
http://www.amnh.org/ology/index.php
http://www.khanacademy.org/

My Review for Head Of The Class

Some of you may have remembered I posted about us beginning to use Head of the Class. Well we have been using it since January, and I thought I would share my thoughts so anyone else who has thought about using it, could get some feedback.

First off I am no way being paid for this, nor was I asked to do it. I found Head of the Class over Christmas break. Because it was free, I thought we would try it when we started back to school. Even though we were already halfway through our school year, and other curriculum lessons, we started it anyways. DJ stopped using it after about two months. Not because I didn't like the program, but because it was too much for him with his other lessons. So he won't be doing it at all anymore. Caitlin however, has finished 30% of the first grade lessons. Now that her regular school lessons are over, that were planned by me, she will focus on finishing first grade over the summer. She does about an hour a day, four days a week. At this pace she should have it done by the start of the second grade school year in September. That means she will have completed two full first grade curriculums this school year. Whew! She will be using Head of the Class second grade, as her main curriculum for next year. Head of the Class states that it is a six month program to complete, so she will have plenty of time.

Now for the meat of the program. At first it seemed too easy, and not a challenge at all. However, now I can say that is not true. The first grade math especially is a challenge, and I could even say hard. However, Caitlin and I are working through it, and she is doing quite well. They do not do sight words, which is OK, because you can copy them to flash cards from other sights, and do them with your child. Caitlin has already mastered first grade sight words. For first grade a lot of the lessons so far have covered spelling. Not sight word spelling though. Spelling of various phonics like blends, vowels, etc. This has expanded her reading vocabulary a lot, and I am very pleased with the results. They also cover Science, Reading, Social Studies, Art, Music, and even some Spanish. I am very very please so far with Head of the Class.

Not only is Head of the Class free, but there is a forum where you can make suggestions, or ask questions. There are links to the resources they use to make their lessons. Also of importance is the fact that the website works smoothly every time we use it, and has never been down even one day. Your child learns at their own pace, and you can repeat lessons, or skip lessons if you choose to do so. It has both printable lessons as well as online interactive lessons. There are skills assessments for your child to take and I believe you can print them for your records. I have not done that yet, because we have not completed all the lessons yet.

For those of you who want religious type lessons, this may not be for you, however I do not find any lessons thus far that would be offensive to any particular religion. So far their lessons cover up to fifth grade, but they are going to be releasing sixth grade soon. If you need an elementary homeschool curriculum, or even extra work to public school lessons, check out Head of the Class.

Free Online Homeschool Lessons and Curriculum

This is a free website I want to share with my readers. If you hope to homeschool your kids right through to graduation, you need awesome resources like Hoagies. This website is cool, and has so much information you could spend hours just looking and learning about all they have to offer. I will definitely be using some of these links for next year. I have been disappointed with textbooks in the past, and though printing all the time is a kind of pain, I do like the curriculums I have found online, especially for Science so much better. I might not even use the textbooks I bought. The only hard part is if there is no test or way to eval what they learned. That makes it a bit difficult for portfolio reasons. That is one of the reasons I love having this blog. I can use to show what links and resources we have used. We are back to school Monday, yay!

Weather Fronts and Sea Turtles

Last Tuesday we went on an electronic field trip to Gulf Island Shores. I printed off the lesson about Sea Turtles, and this week we are finishing up with it. There are other lessons available as well that you can print, and other field trips you can take. View my archives for the full description. We are also still learning about Weather, and weather fronts are the topic today. The videos below will all add substance to your lessons and kids love to watch them. The pool is still not completely cleaned, and this blog needs a good link scrubbing as well. Both of these hopefully will be accomplished while we are on Spring Break next week.

Lesson Plans For 03/08/11:

DJ:
Science: Sea turtles, weather fronts, thermometers
Head of the Class: 30 minutes
Spelling: Chapter 20 write each word three times each
Art: Draw sea turtles in natural habitat
Math: Saxon 54
Language Arts: Types of sentences
Sign Language
If time permits play weather games at Weather Wiz Kids

Caitlin:
Science: Sea turtles, dinosaur coloring page
Art: Draw a sea turtle
Math: Money ID, subtraction, space shapes
Language Arts: Describing words, suffixes
Phonics: Letter g
Word Search
Reading: Happy and Max
Following Directions: Worksheet
Printing Practice
Clock work, calendar work, sight words, skip counting
Head of the Class: 30 minutes

Macmillan/ McGraw Hill Free Online Science Resourse

Here is a free homeschool resource that you can use. We currently use this website for 5th grade Science review and testing. You can use it as you see fit for Science or other lessons in other grades. It will give you the lesson and then a quiz after. I write down the chapter and lesson and then record the test score in our learning journal. This is sufficient record keeping. I have used this website all this year and will use it next year as well for Caitlin in second grade. You do not have to homeschool your children to use any of the resources I list. You can simply want to supplement their education or review with them. This is also great for summer time if you are worried about them forgetting what they have learned.

Lesson Plans For 02/16/2011:

DJ:
Head of the Class: 30 minutes
Social Studies: Chapter 19 Ancient Times
Map Skills
Math: Saxon 54
Language Arts: Declarative Sentences
Sign Language
Spelling: Chapter 17

Caitlin:
Head of the Class: 30 minutes
Social Studies: Community Helpers art lesson
Valentines Day: Word Search
Printing Practice
Math: Subtraction, before and after numbers
Language Arts: Endings, words that go together, asking sentences
Calendar work, clock work, skip counting, sight words

Mellow Monday Homeschool

Well it is Monday, again, and the last day of January already. Can you believe it. We had a very active and social weekend. Yesterday was warm, and a lot of yard work and garage cleaning got done. Today is a new theme for me Mellow Monday Homeschool. Instead of books and hard core lessons, we will be more mellow. Today we are going for a walk, Candy Land board game after lunch, Google Doodle art contest, and DJ's today was his best yet. Caitlin's best was her zoo animals on Friday. We are almost ready to send in our entries, in the middle of Feb. If you want to enter see my archives for all the details, or Google, Google Doodle. I got the coolest interactive reading website year membership for FREE, called mightybooksjr.com Today is Caitlin's first day using it, and she seems to be enjoying it. If you go to the Facebook page Homeschooling for Free, you might still be able to use the code. I am unsure how long it was for. I did not have to mention this in my post to get the code, so don't worry about that. DJ also has a writing assignment due today, and if time permits he can play online math games. I don't know if anyone else is watching all the rioting in Egypt, but it is getting kind of nerve racking now.

Free, Free, Free

If you are like me, then you love free stuff. Matter of fact so many people like free stuff, that the word FREE was one of the top keywords of 2010. Keywords are words that people type into a search engine when looking for information. One of the many reasons I started this blog, was to share all the free education resources I find on the internet. There really are a lot of them, it just takes some time to find them. I then add them to the bottom of this blog, or feature them in a post if I especially like them. That way I don't have to search all the time over and over, and my readers get the benefit of not having to search for them either. I actually enjoy searching for free things. It is kind of a challenge getting the right keywords to get the best results. I actually have many more free educational and resource sites to add, but I just haven't had time yet. There are a ton there already.

One really cool free website that I love is the HGTV Dream Home giveaway. This year the home is being built in Stowe, VT. While I would love to live in such a beautiful place, I really dislike snow. If you love the snow and you want a chance to win this home for FREE go to the HGTV Dream Home 2011 website for all the rules.

Super Teacher Worksheets

Another great website I found to share with all of you, is Super Teacher Worksheets. I just discovered this site, so I have not actually used it yet, but I will be using it when we start back to school. I have a Health book, but these worksheets will go great for DJ along with reading assignment. They offer worksheets for almost anything you can think of. I think if they expanded the Social Studies section it would be great. Check it out. As you know I use free online resources plus the books I purchase to make our lessons more complete.

Swim Playdate, Manatee Springs State Park

Well we did get some sunshine yesterday. Got the grass mowed, the pool vacuumed, and we even got to get in it, and swim. I was getting nervous, because tomorrow we are having a swim play date, with our small homeschool group. The water is chillier than I like it, due to little to no sun, but kids do not usually care. It is us wimpy parents, that complain. Today for Science class we are again studying habitats. I am sharing this lovely video from Manatee Springs State Park, which is about 30 minutes from us in Chiefland, FL. I hope you enjoy the natural beauty of it.




Lesson Plans for 5/27/09:

Swim playdate
Math: Estimate products, graphs
Writing: Concepts of a paragraph
Language Arts: Skills review, questions and exclamations
Spelling: Lesson 33- Write each spelling word and circle the vowels
Vocabulary: Lesson 33- Use each vocabulary word in a sentence
Social Studies: Way out West

Homeschool Freebie Of The Day

This is a great site, and each week they send you a homeschool freebie, for everyday of the week, except sat and sun. You can view their website here www.homeschoolfreebieOfTheDay.com and check out the freebies for this week. Sign up for their newsletter, and you will get extra special freebies each week, only for members. I have been a member, only a few weeks, and have found at least three of the freebies, each week, are something I will use.