The Little Homeschool

Pinecone Acorn Craft - Pinecone Ski Guys

2011-12-14T22:24:00.000-06:00

Last month the kids and I were wanting something to do, and we had an abundance of baby pinecones and a bunch of acorns. At first we thought about making acorn pumpkins, but we did that last year. So after a short search online, I ran across a picture of these cute acorn/pinecone winter guys. I ran with that idea and we ended up creating a pinecone skiier, snowboarder, and one cyclops. Here's

A Review of Phonics Pathways - Part One

2011-11-30T21:32:00.001-06:00

When we started our 1st grade year in August, I chose Phonics Pathways as our phonics curriculum. The main curriclum we use offers two different programs, but does offer the option to use your own phonics program. After reviewing the samples on the main website at http://www.dorbooks.com/, I thought the program looked like what I wanted. After I struggled so much to teach my son, I really

Homeschool Freebie of the Month - November Free Ebook

2011-11-16T11:01:00.000-06:00

Sorry for not posting much. I know a lot of you were looking forward to HOD recap's, and those will start up for sure after Christmas. We've put it away for now as we focus solely on math and reading for a variety of reasons. I've just been busy and haven't had much time set aside for blogging about our homeschooling. Anyway, here's the freebie for the month compliments of Old Schoolhouse

Homeschool Freebie of the Month - October

2011-10-12T14:37:00.000-05:00

This month's freebie is the book,No Longer a Slumdog by K.P. Yohannan, founder of Gospel for Asia. This is a great homeschooling resource for those of you who enjoy reading aloud as part of your homeschooling. This book discusses the situations of children in Asia and how the Lord is transforming their lives. This author also offers his book, Revolution in World Missions for free on their website

Our Introduction to Nature Study

2011-09-22T20:02:00.000-05:00

Thursday is science day, and today was our first day of doing a nature study. This is a new concept for us, so I'm not sure if I'm doing it right or not but we had a good time. We spent about 2 hours walking around the forest that borders our neighborhood. We found a ton of cool stuff and made sure to listen, look, and smell all of the things around us during our walk. Since it was an intro, I

How Our Year Is Going So Far.....

2011-09-21T22:47:00.000-05:00

We are about a month into our Heart of Dakota curriclum, and I'm almost about to set it aside for a bit. While I do like it, I'm finding that I want to focus more on reading, writing, spelling, and math for first grade and not worry too much about science and history. With the way history is woven through the Heart of Dakota curriclum, it would be hard to focus on reading and writing without also

Fort Benton Civil War Days

2011-09-11T15:23:00.000-05:00

This past weekend was the Civil War period demonstration at Fort Benton. I took Avlyn and a couple of her friends to the event. It takes place in Patterson, MO., which is about an hour from where we live. We had just finished reading Abraham Lincoln by the d'Aulaire's, so being able to see what went on during the Civil War was a great way to connect history to our reading. Below are some pictures

Homeschool Freebie of the Month - September

2011-09-08T21:57:00.000-05:00

Freebies are getting harder to find. Maybe it's the cost associated with mailing out free items, or maybe companies just aren't giving away educational products like they used to. This month's freebie is actually a website called Deep Space Sparkle. Created and maintained by a first grade art teacher, it provides a number of beautiful art lessons for free. While her step-by-step instruction

Our First Week Back and Heart of Dakota Recap

2011-08-28T15:53:00.002-05:00

This last week was our first week 'back to school.' We are using the Heart of Dakota (HOD) curriculum. I'll be honest and say that the first day was a little disappointing. Avlyn just didn't seem that interested, and she especially showed a lack of enthusiasm for both the history read aloud and the poetry. I don't know if it was just back to school blues or a lack of 100% preparation on my part (

Homeschool Freebie of the Month - August

2011-08-24T08:55:00.000-05:00

Summer is almost over, and most of us are gearing up to start school. We started this week, and I think we're really going to enjoy the Heart of Dakota curriculum. I'm going to post a weekly review on our lessons at the end of each week. This month's freebie comes from Taste of Home and Ziploc. All you need to do is input 2 UPC symbols from any ziploc products and you get a free online back to

Back to Homeschool Celebration

2011-08-21T14:09:00.000-05:00

As we prepare to start our new school year tomorrow, I've run across a common question on the message boards. Many parents want to know what to do to make the whole going back to school thing more exciting for a homeschooler. Many kids have a back to school party or get to go clothes and school supply shopping right before school starts. But what does a homeschooled child get to do that makes

Homeschool Freebie of the Month - Magazine download

2011-07-06T20:51:00.000-05:00

Have you ever seen or read about a magazine and wondered if it was any good? I know that I have, but I often skip on subscribing unless I can see a sample issue first. Some speciality mags are hard to find at the local bookstore, so I do sometimes wonder if I'm missing out on a really good publication. This month's freebie is from Owl Kids. This company publishes three youth-oriented magazines

Building a Homeschool Library

2011-06-30T23:28:00.001-05:00

As Avlyn and I work on cementing phonics concepts this summer, I started thinking about the books I have here at home. I am a self-confessed book addict, but I also like to sell or trade books for new ones. I usually sell at least 30 books in each yard sale we have, if for no other reason than to make room for new books. I hold on to the classics, but I will sell books that my kids outgrow.

Homeschool Freebie of the Month - Urban Bird Watching Kit

2011-06-18T17:20:00.000-05:00

The freebie for June is an Urban Bird Watching Kit sponsored by Cornell Universities Lab of Ornithology. Basically you will need to register with the lab on the website and then request your kit by mail or download the kit from the website. It says you get a couple posters, the data kit for bird watching, a sticker, and a free packet of seeds. The purpose is to provide the data to the lab so they

How to Save Money on Homeschooling Curriculum

2011-06-04T17:44:00.000-05:00

With this being the first year that we've bought a prepackaged curriculum, I just realized the investment we would be making would require some budgeting. During my research, I saw packages for over $1,000 or for as little as $300. My goal was to see what I could get for $200, the amount I'd probably spend on school clothes for the year. I knew that I needed reading, math, language arts,

How to Choose a Homeschool Curriculum

2011-06-04T16:36:00.000-05:00

Summer is a busy time for homeschoolers. While most kids are enjoying their summer break from school, homeschool families are busy planning for next year. I have always created my own curriculum for kindergarten homeschooling. The only purchases I made that would probably be considered curriculum were Bob Books and Scholastic Sight Word readers. Other than that, I mainly used free printables and

Homeschool Freebie of the Month - Bible Bookmarks

2011-05-30T22:39:00.000-05:00

I'm going to start adding one freebie a month. It may be something useful or fun for your homeschool or family. For the month of May the free homeschool item is three bible bookmarks from Bible Bookmarks. These are just a sampling of what the company offers. These bookmarks discuss a certain aspect of the bible and include verses for each day of the week, including questions. The order form

May Is Planting Month

2011-05-16T20:12:00.000-05:00

Sorry for the neglect of the blog. April was a trying month for us, and I just didn't feel like blogging. But all is not lost. We did a lot of planting experiments in April, and I made sure to take pictures of the processes so I could share them with you. To finish up our kindergarten science, I focused on different types of experimental plantings. While they may not be the first time something's

How to Make a Leprechaun Trap

2011-03-23T15:34:00.000-05:00

This post is a little late because I've been having some health issues that just haven't left me feeling up to blogging very much. But better late than never, right? This year, Avlyn and I made a leprechaun trap. There was a photo of something similar in Family Fun magazine, so I just winged it for our project. The idea is to create a trap that will entice a leprechaun on St. Patrick's Day eve.

Kindergarten Dinosaur Activities

2011-03-04T15:13:00.000-06:00

There are a ton of dinosaur activities available for homeschooling but too much can be a little bit of overkill on the theme, so we just stuck with doing a couple of dinosaur activities. We started by reading lots and lots of books. Most libraries will have a large selection of dinosaur books, and that's where we found all sorts of stories. Some were fun stories like "Dinosaur Vs. Bedtime," while

Flat Stanley Project for Kindergartners

2011-02-08T09:32:00.000-06:00

Last month Avlyn and I embarked on a geography project using an idea from the book Flat Stanley. If you're not familiar with the book, it's a story of boy named Stanley who ends up getting flattened by a bulletin board while he's sleeping. He's able to do all sorts of fun things like become a kite and fly and go down into a sewer to help his mom locate her lost ring. One thing he's also able to

One Mitten by Kristine George - Book, Activities, and Ideas.

2011-01-25T14:11:00.001-06:00

This week we are working with the book One Mitten by Kristine George. This is a really cute story for preschoolers and kindergartners. The main character has one mitten when the story starts, and she does all kinds of different things with one mitten. Then she finds the other and does things with two mittens. I will be posting our activities daily, but wanted to give you a jumping off point

The Greater Than Less Than Gator

2011-01-17T13:30:00.000-06:00

One of our current math strategies is learning greater than, less than, and equal to. When I was younger, I always thought the little sign looked like an alligator. So to teach this concept, we are using the greater than, less than gator. To start I wrote two numbers on the white board along with a matching number of X's. I then drew the sign showing greater than or less than and added eyes and

Animals that Hibernate - Ladybugs, Turtles and Bears Oh, My!

2011-01-12T14:47:00.001-06:00

This month we are learning about hibernation and other winter topics like the Arctic. We've been working on animals that hibernate and learned that most bears aren't true hibernators. They just go into a dormant stage and are very hard to rouse. Other animals and bugs, like the ladybug and the Peeper frog, are true hibernators who don't wake during the winter. When searching for hibernation

Happy New Year

2010-12-31T16:21:00.001-06:00

Just a quick post to say Happy New Year! Hope everyone had a great holiday. The blog will resume in 2011!