I’ve been rather lackadaisical in posting lately, huh? :) We’ve been busy with little things– company on Saturday (and the return of the kids’ computer), ice skating and shopping yesterday, library books, Netflix movies, art projects and general life.
I didn’t even post an Unplug Your Kids project this week, even though we did a thankful project (watercolor leaves with thanks on them for hanging). It seemed rather predictable anyway! Doesn’t everybody do that project several dozen times over the course of motherhood?
It has been dreadfully cold but snowless, leaving us in a sort of winter limbo. It’s too cold to want to go outside but it doesn’t look at all like winter. I am not a fan of snow, but if it has to be this chilly I wish it would just dump a few feet on us so at least the kids could play and it would […]
Original post by Alicia
Want to make something crafty and adorable with the kids? Here’s some fabulous projects I’ve stumbled upon lately….
The Storque has this darling tutorial of how to make a chipmunk from a knit glove.
The Cherry Blossom Girl has instructions to make lovely flower crowns.
Betsyann posted instructions on how to make darling leg warmers (and purses, dresses and more) on Craftster.
Even easier? Use socks! Z Recommends shows you how.
The Crafty Chica tells how to make this secret compartment book.
Lastly, Carrieme shared instructions on Craftster about how to make this lovely Waldorf style doll from a few items from the dollar store.
We have some projects to finish up here but I’m going to keep these in mind for lazy days and gifts for the kids to make. What are you crafting at your place?
Original post by Alicia
Theresa at Lapaz Home Learning has posted the cutest, most creative ideas if you’re in a homeschool rut. The Dr. Seuss tray is my favorite. You must go look. What fun!
Original post by Alicia
When you look at stuff like this and try to wrap your brain around just how many snowflakes, blades of grass and grains of sand are out there being breathtaking and unknown, it should make you realize something really profound.
I don’t know what that is, since I’m kinda sniffly still and fresh out of profound stuff.
But it really oughta.
<insert deep and philosophical homeschool observation here>
Or just go look at the pretty pictures.
Original post by Alicia
I’ve got a date with some Breyer’s Mint Chocolate Chip ice cream but I thought I’d share these great pages really quickly.
Today’s personal heroes: Candy Cook and her gang at Raising Explorers for their rocking castle from a cardboard box. It’s the details that slay me. :) Mental note: pick up more boxes.
Fun and simple fall craft for tomorrow (besides carving our jack-o-lanterns): Tree rubbings collage at Busy Bee Crafts.
Coolest science project I’ve heard in a long time: Dana at Principled Discovery has a lesson plan about the upcoming Orion meteor showers. Not only is there lots of good information about that, but she has instructions on how to collect space dust to view under a microscope. Wow. That is seriously too cool.
Original post by Alicia
No, not that way!
Here’s pages and pages of badly written signs in honor of National Punctuation Day. Victoria and I had a lot of fun looking at them and finding the errors.
Be sure to browse the rest of the site too. It’s quite a lot of fun!
Original post by Alicia
I think most people know about FreeRice by now, the cool web site that tests your vocabulary and earns rice that’s donated to the hungry. They’ve expanded and now have categories like chemistry symbols, multiplication, world capitals, foreign languages and more! What a great way to help others and help your kids (or yourself) learn.
Original post by Alicia
The folks behind FreeRice have come up with a fun online geography game that donates clean drinking water to people in need the more you play!
The name of a place is displayed above a map and the object is to click on the map as close to the location of that place as possible. You earn 10 cups of water if you’re right on the button but even if you’re off a bit you still earn some water if you’re close. If you play long enough the locations are reused at random so it does help you learn, too.
Whenever you get a correct answer, the charity donates clean, safe drinking water to people in need, and it doesn’t cost anything to play, so everyone wins.
Original post by Alicia
You girls can register and play at this site. Afterwards, please write up a review for my blog and email it to me. It should have an intro sentence where you give an idea about whether you recommend it and what it is, a paragraph about what the site is about and what you like or don’t like, and a conclusion where you summarize in one sentence.
It looks like fun. Let me know what you think.
http://www.mypopstudio.com/
Here is an example of a review:
Parsley is a healthy herb and tastes good. Parsley is a green plant that you can eat. Lots of people grow it in their gardens. It tastes pretty mild and it makes dinners look fancy when you put a sprig of it on the plate. You can even chew it to get rid of bad breath! It’s easy to grow and […]
Original post by Alicia
The Public Library of Charlotte & Mecklenburg County has great little printable theme booklets in PDF format on a variety of themes from teeth to mommies to chickens. I browsed the ones on zoos and Halloween. They were full of finger plays, action songs, activities and a few crafts. I think even my older kiddos would have fun with some of them. Also check out their Story Place for interactive stories and printouts. (Thanks Clickschooling list!)
Original post by Alicia
Daryl and Victoria have been having a blast playing Seed, a free online game where kids learn about everything from clones to genetic codes. Plant a seed and grow a flower, then choose whether to plant a clone of it or cross two flowers and splice them. Watch for mutations, see what new designs you can make and experiment with other people’s genetic codes. Not only is it really educational, but it’s pretty and fun.
Original post by Alicia
What fun! Mathbits.com has developed an online treasure hunt of math problems, geocaching style.
In the spirit of geocaching, we have created activities called “MathCaching” which use the internet to find hidden boxes to reveal clues to the continuation of the games. Your success at “MathCaching” is dependent upon your skills at solving mathematical problems.
The MathCaching games are subject area dependent. There are versions of MathCaching for Basic Math Skills (”BasicCaching”), Algebra (”AlgeCaching”), Geometry (”GeoCaching”), Algebra2 (Alge2Caching), Trig (”TrigCaching”), PreCalculus (”PreCalcuCaching”) and Calculus (”CalcuCaching”).
Even the basic one is a bit tricky so I’m suspecting I’ll need to help steer my kids in the right direction. I think they’ll love the idea though, and the challenge. I’ll let you know how it goes!
Original post by Alicia
Our friend Polly lives in Scotland and visited the Blair Drummond Safari and Adventure Park yesterday. She shared the web site with us and it has some really neat pages you can download and print out.
Some of the themes are vertebrates, food chains, animal senses and “design a wildlife park.” They’re colorful, creative, and designed for various grade levels.
Daryl helped Jack do the Adaptations activities and they had a lot of fun.
Original post by Alicia
There are a bunch of really fun creative challenges out there in cyberspace right now. I’m really hoping to get to some of these with the kids in the next week or two. A few of my favorites…
KidMade just ran a challenge “to engineer the longest marble ramp you can using only cardboard and duct tape.” I really love the 3 story marble run the kids came up with on Homeschooled Twins. My kids would love this one!
I blogged about Project Spectrum a few months ago and then forgot all about it. I still love the idea of creating something artistic in colors that correspond to the month/season. The colors and theme for August and September are water, blue, purple and black.
Next week’s theme on Unplug Your Kids is hot. Participants are invited to do any sort of project (homeschool, craft, you name it) around the theme.
I’m itching to list some […]
Original post by Alicia
I was so honored to get this award from Mary at Everyday Baby Steps. I am new to her blog but I love to visit it. Thanks so much, Mary!
This award was created by Memoirs Of A Mommy to honor the donor who saved her son Noah’s life with a heart transplant. Her hopes are that in passing this award, we are creating more awareness of the importance of organ donation.
She says: The rules of this award are: SHARE THE LOVE!!! Share this award with all those blogs out there that you love. All the people who make you smile. All those that make you laugh. All those that make your day. All those that leave uplifting comments on your blog. **All I ask, is that you include a link to this post with the award and ask […]
Original post by Alicia
Brownielocks has a fun list of Bizarre, Crazy, Silly, Unknown Holidays and Observances for each month. August has some interesting ones! A few of my favorites….
World Breastfeeding Week 1-7
Simplify Your Life Week 1-7
Weird Contest Week 10-15
Be Kind to Humankind Week 25-31
Friendship Day 3
Particularly Preposterous Packaging Day 7
International Left Hander’s Day 13
National Men’s Grooming Day 15
Bad Poetry Day 18
Kiss and Make Up Day 25
Race Your Mouse Around the Icons Day 28
The site author has links to some of the days and assures us that every observance is officially recognized/sponsored by some organization somewhere in order to be listed. Some are serious, some are ridiculous (I won’t love litigating lawyers even if there is a day for it!) and some are just fun.
Original post by Alicia
Have you been to OLogy yet? This web site run by The American Museum of Natural History is so much fun! There are sections on everything from genetics to biodiversity to astronomy, with experiments, crafts and tons of online activities.
I looked around and barely scratched the surface. It looks like the type of site Victoria could lose a day in, and with all of the horse information it’s likely to suck Anna in as well. :) Other features like the games would be great fun for Jack.
A really cool feature is the collectible cards, though. Every day there is a different virtual trading card to collect. Create an account to start your collection, and then you can view and sort your collection by different means. Today’s card was Mars.
Members pick a user name out of a choice of a bunch of silly adjectives for the first name and animals/minerals for […]
Original post by Alicia
From Googol Learning…
Crazy 4 Math Contest Deadline July 30th
The Crazy 4 Math Contest is once again receiving entries from all over the world, showing that mathematics, the universal language, is enjoyed by children everywhere.
This annual contest was founded in 2005 to help students keep up their math skills over the summer. Research indicates that children lose math skills over the summer. But this does not need to be the case. Math skills can actually advance! Summer is the perfect time for children to experience the wonder of learning by exploring and developing new interests. It’s also a chance for them to discover that learning happens all the time, not just in school.
To enter the Crazy 4 Math Contest, children simply have to describe how they use math in an activity they enjoy. Entries must be submitted online by July 30th at www.Crazy4Math.com. The goal is to generate a free […]
Original post by Alicia
Wow! What a great resource. This site has a list of historical movies in chronological order, from early man to Hotel Rwanda and beyond. We always like to learn in ways that are outside the box and this sounds like a list I’ll have to keep handy. I stumbled upon it while reading Shez’s blog, which I’ve just discovered and enjoy even though she does make me feel like a total loser homeschool mom.
BTW, as I type, my thespians are on “stage” (okay, on grassy set near Plum Creek). It’s opening night! The boys and I are planning on going tomorrow and probably several other times but it was in the high 90’s and they were talking about storms so the little guys and I will be there with cameras blazing tomorrow. I can’t wait till they get home to hear all about tonight’s excitement!
Original post by Alicia
Here’s Victoria’s answers for the best list.
Best books read: Molly Moon series
Best math game or activity: Running the lemonade stand
Best reading/spelling/grammar game or activity: Blogging and emailing (with spell check)
Best field trip: Maine
Best science experiment: The mold comparison experiment
Best science activity: Collecting different kinds of seaweed at the ocean, pouring seawater on the acorn barnacles to make them open
Best read-aloud or chapter book: Hoot
Best movie: Surf’s Up
Best educational DVD: Rough Science (reality TV challenges for scientists stranded somewhere!)
Best educational web site: Scratch, Science News for Kids
Best educational computer game: Timez Attack or Pet Vet
Best art activity: altered books & artist trading cards
Best PE activity: playing wiffle ball with the kids after Japanese class, tree climbing, HS swimming, HS ice skating
Best history book, project or activity: Playing Carrie in the Wilder Pageant, The History Fest
Best social studies/geography book, project or […]
Original post by Alicia
This site has lots of nifty templates to use in lapbooks, scrapbooks, crafts, card making and more. There’s templates for everything from library pockets to icicle treat boxes to mug cards. Fun!
Original post by Alicia
Here’s a great list of places to submit children’s writing. We subscribe to “Creative Kids” magazine and it’s very nice. I’ve also seen “New Moon” and would love to add that to our list. I haven’t looked at the sites in depth yet but we’re going to submit a bunch of stuff next week when things slow down around here. Fun!
Original post by Alicia
Here’s a fun little quiz. My results are–
Your type is: enfp —The “Kids R Fun” Mother
“Whatever I enjoy—playing tag or singing in the car—I can do it with kids around. And it’s totally legitimate!”
Playful and energetic, the ENFP mother finds her children to be good […]
Original post by Alicia
This fun math site has a number of fun ways to combine poetry and math for April (national poetry month). There are also Earth Day math activities and tons more. Fun!
Original post by Alicia
What fun! I love the idea behind this creative site which has ideas for everything from math to directions to the solar system, all using paper plates. The ideas really run the gamut– from making a simple musical shaker to a sundial to “a tactile model of circumpolar stars for visually impaired persons by drilling holes for stars on a stack of plates.” Wow!
Original post by Alicia
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