Back-to-School Shopping | Homeschool Haul

It's that time of year again! Back-to-School shopping is one of my favorite things about getting ready to start the new school year.  Who says homeschoolers can't join in the fun?  This video shares my Back-to-School haul from Target and Walmart.  

I share some of what each of my kids are going to be getting for their first day of school surprises!  I hope you enjoy it and it gives you some great ideas to add to your Back-to-School shopping list.

Happy Homeschooling!

Homeschool Science Curriculum Overview: Elemental Science - Earth Science And Astronomy for the Grammar Stage

We used Elemental Science - Biology for the Grammar Stage last year and we really enjoyed it!  This year we will be continuing on with Elemental Science - Earth Science and Astromony for the Grammar Stage. 

 My daughter will be doing the narrations, coloring pages and quizzes.  My son will be doing the coloring pages.  I am excited to have both of them doing the science curriculum together.  In this video, I share all of the extra books, projects, activities and posters we will be using to enrich our science studies this year.  

I hope this gives you some fun ideas to help enrich your homeschool science curriculum!

Happy Homeschool Planning!

A Look At Our Homeschool Kindergarten Curriculum Choices For 2017-2018

I love TK/Kindergarten! It is such a fun time.  I am excited about all the resources I have gathered for my son this year.  In this video, I share what we are going to be using.  I hope it gives you some ideas for fun new things to add to your homeschool.  Happy Homeschooling!!!

Homeschool History Curriculum Overview - The Story of the World Volume Two: The Middle Ages

This is our second year using The Story of the World.  We used The Story of the World Volume 1 last year and for the 2017-2018 school year we will be moving on with Volume 2 - The Middle Ages.  This video talks about the curriculum and all the extra books, crafts, projects and posters we will be using to enrich the curriculum.  I hope it gives you some ideas that you can add to enrich your homeschool!

August Themed Reading List

It is already August, this summer flown by so fast.  We will be starting back to school this month and our first day of homeschool is right around the corner.  This video shows our August themed reading list.  It includes read alouds, Five In A Row books and themed picture books.  I hope it inspires you to add some themed books to your book lists!  Happy homeschool planning!

Our Read Aloud List for the 2017-2018 School Year

It's that time of year again!  Back-to-homeschool and I am in full swing getting prepped for the next school year.  I have all of our read alouds for both my TK/Kindergartener and 2nd/3rd grader selected.  This video shows all the larger chapter books we will be reading this year.  Happy Homeschooling!

It's National Spaghetti Day!

It's National Spaghetti Day! Tonight we are having Crock Pot Chicken Cacciatore over spaghetti noodles! We will be reading Strega Nona too!

Here are some fun activities and resources to help celebrate National Spaghetti Day in your home:

YouTube playlist of all the videos listed below:
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL69fvqIBYl_-8uPiHHtxmEMmSRC2h4F48

Strega Nona by Tomie dePaola (Book Read Aloud)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PGVXwMX0e5w

Wednesday Is Spaghetti Day (Book Read Aloud)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=teLb0HvXJiI

Spaghetti With The Yeti (Book Read Aloud)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JjT_nDlIJpM

On Top Of Spaghetti (Book Sang Aloud)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oe_UTNKrZy0

On Top Of Spaghetti song:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IbeGbrkyPkg

How To Make Pasta - National Geographic Kids:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kbEYOg3p9pQ

Here are some fun free activities that I found that incorporate spaghetti:

Cloudy With A Chance Of Meatballs Lapbook by HomeschoolShare:
http://www.homeschoolshare.com/cloudy_with_a_chance_of_meat…

Grades 3-6:
https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/…/Spaghetti-and-Angles-…

Grades K-5:
https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/…/STEM-Buddy-Challenge-…

Grades K-2 :
ttps://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Spaghetti-Spelling-245280
https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/…/Spaghetti-and-Meatbal…

Grades PreK-K:
https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/…/On-Top-of-Spaghetti-A…

Hope you enjoy!!!

Tips For Enriching Your Homeschool Curriculum On A Budget

Easy and practical tips for adding some excitement to your homeschool without increasing your workload or breaking the bank 

Homeschooling on a budget can be very hard.  I wanted to provide my kids with the absolute best curriculum, but couldn’t afford to pay thousands of dollars.  I have a small homeschooling budget and have learned several tricks to get the most out of the money I have had available.  

One thing I started doing fairly early on in my homeschooling career (it definitely is a career), was to search for free online resources.  There are tons of free homeschooling resources out there.  In fact, there are whole websites devoted to free homeschooling materials.

Websites with Free Homeschooling Printable Resources:

www.homeschoolshare.com (This is entire website of free lapbooks and unit studies.)

www.teacherspayteachers.com (When searching for a topic, select the filter on the left side panel for “free”.  This will have the site only show resources that are free.)

https://www.zaner-bloser.com/products/fontsdemo/index.html (Free customizable handwriting paper)

http://www.educents.com/search/?q=free (This search will bring up all the free printables and unit studies that are available.)

Websites with Free Online Educational Lessons or Games:

https://www.khanacademy.org/ (Free online classes and lessons.)

http://more.starfall.com/m/welcome/index/load.htm (Online educational games, videos and lessons for K-2^nd Grade.)

Websites with Free Online Educational Videos:

https://www.youtube.com/

Tips for Adding Enriching Activities to Your Homeschool:

• Create educational YouTube playlists for whatever topic you are studying. (Phonics, Math Facts, Literature, Science, History, etc.)

• Add an easy unit study when your child is interested in a topic or book (or to get them more interested in a topic you want to cover)

• Unit studies can include whatever best fits your family and your child (a lapbook, an interactive notebook, a project board, field trips, a report, a hands on projects or model

• Add a simple craftivity for the book or topic your child is studying. (A craftivity is a craft that includes a writing activity.)

• Search for free printables and lesson plans on teacher blogs for your child’s grade. (Teacher blogs often give free printables, craftivities and lesson plans.)

• http://firstgradewow.blogspot.com/ (This is one of my favorite first grade blogs.)

There are so many ways to give your children the education you have envisioned without breaking the bank or having to write your own curriculum.  I hope this gives you a starting place to find some great resources to enhance your homeschool.

Fire Prevention Week

This week is Fire Prevention Week.  We do a fun unit every year on fire prevention that includes printables, songs, and videos.  The kids love it and it is a great way to help them understand fire safety.  I bring out the pretend firefighter hats for the kids too!

You can visit the NFPA or the National Fire Prevention Associaton for lots of information:

http://www.nfpa.org/public-education/campaigns/fire-prevention-week

A great site for kids to visit is the site for Sparky the Dog.  It has games, videos, activities, printables and more for free:

http://www.sparky.org/

For our homeschool, I have a YouTube video playlist that I put together.  I have shared it on my channel and you can check it out by clicking here:

Fire Prevention Week Video Playlist


We also use printable lessons, here are a few free printables to check out:

• Free Fire Safety Week: Emergent Readers by Sweet Kinderland
• Free Fire Safety Week Writing Papers by Promoting Success
• Free Fire Safety Test by Amanda Peavy 
• Free Fire Safety Week - Word Building - No Prep Literacy Center by Learning With A Smile
• Free Fire Safety Bookmarks by Kennedy's Corner 
• Free Fire Safety Two-Page Activity Set by Reading Club Fun

This year I did pay for this one, I liked the craftivity and all the extras:

• Fire Safety (Activities, Craftivities, and More!) by Megan Astor

I hope you have a great Fire Prevention Week!!!

Unit Studies: How To Make An Apple Pie And See The World

How to Make an Apple Pie and See the World by Marjorie Priceman is a great book to build a unit study around for the month of September.  We recently completed a unit on Johnny Appleseed and apples.  For a field trip we went apple picking.  So what do you do with all those apples?  Make an apple pie of course!

How to Make an Apple Pie and See the World is the story of a little girl who wants to make an apple pie using only the best ingredients. She travels the world stopping at several different places to gather what she needs.  There is a recipe at the end of the book for an apple pie.

You can tie in several different themes with this book: apples, geography, travel and baking.  I like to start the unit with a video to get the kids excited.  Here is a link to a video of a great reading of the book:

How To Make An Apple Pie and See the World by Marjorie Priceman

We then read the book each day we work on the unit.  You can do a lapbook or mini books.  Here are some great resources to check out:

How to Make an Apple Pie and see the world Literacy and Geography Extensions by Scissors and Crayons

How to Make an Apple Pie and See the World Activity Bundle by A Learning Affair  (This one has really fun passport activity and sequencing book

Apples and Johnny Appleseed Research by 1st Grade WienerFUL  (You could get two units out of this one with one on Johnny Appleseed and one on Apples.)

I like to enrich the unit with books and videos about the countries being visited in the book.  Also, I add in great books about apples well.

How To Make An Apple Pie And See The World Video Playlist

Finish of the week either making an apple pie or buying one! 

Unit Studies: Dr. Seuss

Every year we celebrate Dr. Seuss on his birthday.  We do a full week, with each day centering around a different book.  For instance, on Wednesday, we read Wacky Wednesday.  I decorate with shoes on the wall and an umbrella in a pot.  The kids dress "wacky" and they love it.  On Friday, we read green eggs and ham and I make green eggs and ham for breakfast.  

This is a super easy unit and there are lots of videos, lapbooks and printables available for free that you can add it to enrich the unit.

There are a lot of really fun videos available too!  Click below for my Dr. Seuss video playlist:

Dr. Seuss Video Playlist

Wacky Wednesday

Green Eggs and Ham