English
- 12-14 Year Old, 15-18 Year Old, Adult Book Club, Adult Education, Book Clubs, Book Focus, Curricula, English, Interest Led Homeschool, Life, the Give Way, Social Activities, Teaching, the Give Way, Teen Book Club
Teen and Adult Book Club
I took a homeschooling test, which said one of the areas of homeschooling that I leaned toward was Thomas Jefferson Education. I’d never heard of it, but looked into it. I liked a lot of what I read. But, like any of the homeschooling philosophies, I pick and choose what I think will work for us. There were two things that I could start immediately, without knowing much else about the philosophy — read classics to your kids and make sure you are also focusing on your own education, which they term “you, not them.” It was just the push I needed! I’ve been really wanting to start reading classics,…
- 3-5 Year Old, 6-8 Year Old, 9-11 Year Old, Book Clubs, Book Focus, English, Interest Led Homeschool, Kids' Book Club, Social Activities, Teaching, the Give Way
Kids’ Book Club: All Aboard with The Boxcar Children
This month’s kids’ book club book: The Boxcar Children The book is a 3rd/4th grade reading level and would interest kids 3-11ish. We met at a park near a train museum for most of the activities, and then headed over to the train museum. If you are in the Los Angeles area, Travel Town Museum at Griffith Park is a free museum with a boxcar the kids can look at and passenger cars they can roam in and trains they can see. (Here’s a list of train museums in North America.) Because the book is about independence, I tried to set up most of the stations to give the…
- 12-14 Year Old, 3-5 Year Old, 6-8 Year Old, 9-11 Year Old, Book Clubs, Book Focus, English, Interest Led Homeschool, Kids' Book Club, Social Activities, Teaching, the Give Way, Teen Book Club, Theme
Kids’ Book Club — Destination: Wonderland!
This month’s kids’ book club book: Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland This book is about a 7th grade reading level. I’d say it is appropriate for some 4 and 5 year old’s, but generally speaking probably 6 and up. My four year old understood most things, but, of course, the jokes and puns were beyond her. The only questionable part for us, was the “off with their head” aspect. Fortunately, the queen never actually does it, and we were able to talk about how very silly it is that she’d always say that. We did have to show her a deck of cards as we were reading, since we realized…
- 3-5 Year Old, 6-8 Year Old, 9-11 Year Old, Book Clubs, Book Focus, Curricula, English, History/Social Science, Interest Led Homeschool, Kids' Book Club, Preschool, Social Activities, Teaching, the Give Way, Teen Book Club, Theme
Kids’ Classics Book Club
I started a classics book club for myself and my kids. For those who are like me and would like to start one up, but don’t have enough friends who are interested. LOL! I joined a few meetup.com groups in my area and posted each book club meeting and started a secret private Facebook group for those who I knew to join in as well. (Ultimately, it became just a Facebook thing. After about six months on meetup, we had about 40 members on the Facebook page, so it ended up starting to just be new people being added by word of mouth or if I met people at homeschooling…
- 3-5 Year Old, 6-8 Year Old, English, Interest Led Homeschool, Letter of the Week, Preschool, Social Activities, Teaching, the Give Way
Letter of the Week – Letter W
Day 1 Find w stickers and put on W Color and assemble Letter W Book Go to library and get w books Put out W words (wall, washer, washcloth, window…I highly recommend using masking or painting tape so nothing is ruined when you pull it off) Activity Sheet 1 Video: Olive and the Rhyme Rescue Crew Day 2 Color in W Outline and w Outline with: She decided to draw windows in one and watermelons in another. (Other options: watercolors, walnut shells, white, wallpaper, watermelon seeds, wire, wood [could be wooden toothpicks], waxed paper) Now that school has started, I watch a friend’s kids after school, once a week. They…
- 12-14 Year Old, 15-18 Year Old, 3-5 Year Old, 6-8 Year Old, 9-11 Year Old, Book Focus, English, Historical Fiction Book Lists, History/Social Science, Interest Led Homeschool, Preschool, Teaching, the Give Way
Historical Fiction: The Great Depression
[Part of an ongoing series of historical fiction book lists for students and teachers. For the full list and to see more info, click here.] Lower Grades (K-3) Angels in the Dust-Raven (4.2/0.5) The Babe and I-Adler (3.2/0.5) Born and Bred in the Great Depression-Winter (no level) Don’t Forget Winona-Peterson (2.8/0.5) The Dust Bowl-Booth (3.8/0.5) Dust for Dinner-Turner (2.4/0.5) Finding Daddy-Harper (no level) The Gardener-Stewart (3.9/0.5) Hannah’s Way-Glaser (2.4/0.5) Home Run: The Story of Babe Ruth-Burleigh (2.0/0.5) Lucky Beans-Birtha (4.0/0.5) The Lucky Star-Young (4.6/0.5) The Man Who Walked the Earth-Wallace (3.4/0.5) Mimmy and Sophie All Around Town-Cohen (2.9/0.5) My Heart Will Not Sit Down-Rockliff (4.4/0.5) Nobody Owns the Sky-Lindbergh (3.8/0.5) Potato: A…
- 3-5 Year Old, 6-8 Year Old, English, Interest Led Homeschool, Letter of the Week, Preschool, Science, Teaching, the Give Way
Letter of the Week – Letter V
Day 1 Find v stickers and put on V Color and assemble Letter V Book Go to library and get v books Put out V words (vacuum, vase…I highly recommend using masking or painting tape so nothing is ruined when you pull it off) Video: How It’s Made: Violins Video: 3 Year Old Violinist Video: Shake It Off – Chargaux Violin Cover Video: Mark Ronson Uptown Funk Viola Cover Day 2 Fill in V Outline and v Outline with: velvet, vines, vowels, violet, vegetables (cut out pictures from grocery coupon mailers) or use vegetable prints Starfall Computer activity Video: Olive and the Rhyme Rescue Crew Activity Sheet 1 Day 3…
- 3-5 Year Old, 6-8 Year Old, English, Interest Led Homeschool, Letter of the Week, Preschool, Teaching, the Give Way
Letter of the Week – Letter U
Day 1 Find u stickers and put on U (She’s basically over this activity. So, I have discontinued it. I think maybe it was too easy, but if I made it harder, it was too hard. 🙂 ) Color and assemble Letter U Book Go to library and get u books Put out U words (umbrella…I highly recommend using masking or painting tape so nothing is ruined when you pull it off) Starfall Computer Activity Video: Olive and the Rhyme Rescue Crew Day 2 Fill in U Outline and u Outline with: she chose to draw ukuleles and umbrellas (other ideas: utensils (plastic), uniorns, u’s, u-boats, underwater scene) Upside down…
- 12-14 Year Old, 15-18 Year Old, 3-5 Year Old, 6-8 Year Old, 9-11 Year Old, Book Focus, English, Historical Fiction Book Lists, History/Social Science, Interest Led Homeschool, Teaching, the Give Way
Historical Fiction: War of 1812
[Part of an ongoing series of historical fiction book lists for students and teachers. For the full list and to see more info, click here.] Lower Grades (K-2) An American Army of Two-Greeson (2.9/0.5) The Battle for St. Michaels-McCully (3.1/0.5) The Battle of New Orleans: The Drummer’s Story-Evans (3.4/0.5) Chet Chestnut-Sargent (4.2/0.5) Snow (White)-Sargent (4.5/0.5) (Description: A beautiful, proud white horse carries General Andrew Jackson in the Battle of New Orleans during the War of 1812.) The Star-Spangled Banner-Winstead (4.1/0.5) The Town that Fooled the British: A War of 1812 Story-Papp (4.2/0.5) Washington Is Burning-Figley (3.5/0.5) Middle Grades (4-8) Abigail’s Drum-Minahan (4.6/1) A Call to Battle: The War of 1812-Chan (6.1/7) Cornstalks…
- 3-5 Year Old, 6-8 Year Old, 9-11 Year Old, English, Interest Led Homeschool, Letter of the Week, Math, Preschool, Science, Social Activities, Teaching, the Give Way
“T” Party
During our Letter T week, we had a “T” party…get it, T like tea. 🙂 We initially were going for Tuesday the twenty-first at ten. But, then decided to have it while we had some Chinese foreign exchange students over. So, it turned into a party for the kids followed with dinner for the adults on Tuesday the twenty-eighth at three thirty. So, we ended up with 8 children ages 2 1/2 to 12 and 10 adults. It was awesome! The day before, we set up the tables in T formations, of course. And, I used a highlighter to write all the labels for things, and my daughter traced over…
- 3-5 Year Old, 6-8 Year Old, English, Interest Led Homeschool, Letter of the Week, Preschool, Science, Social Activities, Teaching, the Give Way
Letter of the Week – Letter T
This week we started day 1 on a Wednesday, skipped the weekend and ended with day 5 on a Tuesday. Because, really, you can’t have a T Party on any other day. 🙂 Day 1 Find t stickers and put on T Color and assemble Letter T Book Go to library and get t books Put out T words (TV, toilet, table, towel, toys, tile…I highly recommend using masking or painting tape so nothing is ruined when you pull it off) Starfall Computer Activity Video: Olive and the Rhyme Rescue Crew Day 2 Fill in T Outline and t Outline with: tape and tissue paper (other options: toothpicks, toilet paper,…
- 3-5 Year Old, 6-8 Year Old, English, Interest Led Homeschool, Letter of the Week, Preschool, Teaching, the Give Way
Letter of the Week – Letter S
Day 1 Find s stickers and put on S Color and assemble Letter S Book Go to library and get S books Put out S words (stove, shelf, soap, sink, stool, stairs…I highly recommend using masking or painting tape so nothing is ruined when you pull it off) Streamer dancing: Tie streamers to wrists and put on a fan — I didn’t even put on music. She had so much fun dancing in front of the fan. Video: Olive and the Rhyme Rescue Crew Day 2 Fill in S Outline and s Outline with: sprinkles and drew suns (Other options: salt, sand, string, straws, sticks, seeds, stamps, staples, stickers, squares,…
