the rabbit trail continued

After reading my last post, a friend of mine sent me an email about another fun resource...

The Kid Who Named Pluto

(It is currently a free download at CurrClick)

I downloaded it today and looked over the stories included in it. She had specifically mentioned a chapter titled "The High Schooler Who Created an Incredible Secret Code". I printed this today and Alex and I read it aloud with Clara listening. It was definitely an inspiring story, I can't wait to read others in the book. I think it is really cool for kids to read about other kids who have done amazing things... especially in the world of academics.

Anyway... just wanted to share this free resource!

HURRY!!!!

I missed this last year since we were in Missouri but I was so excited that we were going to be back in time this year to take advantage of some of the freebies...

The CurrClick Black Friday Giveaway!

Here are the two that I downloaded that I am the most excited about...

Homeschooling P.E. for the P.E. Challenged Mom

I had been eyeing this ebook for a while now. I had first read about it on the author's site this summer. It really seems like a well laid out plan with a good mix of skill training and learning the rules of the games.

Kit's Surprise - Lapbook Pack

I know I've mentioned before that we're not huge fans of lapbooks here, but I think this one will be an exception to that. I downloaded this one special for Clara since it's about her favorite American Girl Doll, Kit. I think she'll really enjoy this one.

I downloaded some other stuff, but these were my favorites of the bunch. Next I have to go through their sale stuff to see what I might "need". :-)

Anyway... hurry and check out the freebies before they end Saturday morning!!!

It truly is amazing....

... how many homeschooling resources are out there for free on the web.

I'm sure most of you who homeschool know all of this already... but I'm a little slow :-)

I mentioned in a previous post my love of Librivox.org and kiddierecords.com. But I'm discovering new things almost daily.

Today I decided that although I had dropped Sequential Spelling for Clara, it wouldn't hurt to be working on a low key, basic spelling program with her. Hmmm... basic....
McGuffey's Eclectic Spelling Book
That's pretty basic, right? So, I went to Amazon and looked at it and even put it in my cart (for later)... but the instant gratification part of me took over and I decided to look for it on the Project Gutenberg website. Sure enough... there it was! I looked it over online and then downloaded the pdf file (which includes scans of the original book). I printed out the first lesson and hope to start using it next week. If you know me.... you know I LOVE books... so if this goes well, I will probably end up buying the book (I've requested it from the library too just because I can).

I also downloaded the McGuffey's First Eclectic Reader as well. I thought I might use that for daily reading aloud for Clara. She reads so much better than Alex did in first grade that I tend to let her read as much as she wants on her own. This reader includes short little passages that she can read aloud, that would help me keep an eye on her actual reading ability without slowing her down by having her read too much to me.

My next favorite free thing is the Dover Publications weekly free samples. Once you're signed up for their email list, you'll get an email each Friday with new sample pages to print. When I first signed up for the samples we were following the Galloping the Globe book. I knew what countries we were going to be covering and as samples came up that pertained to those countries, I would print two copies and add them the folders I had set up. I then discovered that my children are not really big fans of coloring books and coloring pages. They'll do them if there's nothing else really to do, but they rarely, if ever, want to do them at home. So, I stopped even opening the samples for a while.

Lately, I've started again. I'm much pickier about what I print now though. I print samples from their famous artists books on art paper so they can paint or color them as part of an artist study. I've been printing samples from their famous ballets books for Clara. The one I printed today was a HUGE hit. They had samples from their Mandala Stained Glass Pattern Book. I printed them on cardstock and handed them to them with all of our colored pencils to use while I read from The Secret Garden. Usually Alex does fine, but Clara gets antsy when we do read alouds. Today they both happily worked on their Mandalas while I read FOUR chapters aloud. And, much to my surprise, they were retaining so much more of the story this time. They laughed when things were funny, they looked wide-eyed and shocked at the appropriate times.... they discussed the book in great detail on our bus ride to Alex's rehearsal tonight. It's very intriguing to me how that all works.

They both took their mandala coloring sheets to their rooms with them tonight to work on in bed. I'll have to take photos of them when they're finished.... they're looking fabulous so far.

A site that I've added to my bloglines subscriptions is Homeschool Freebie of the Day. So far I've done much more downloading than actual using of anything from there.... but maybe some day I will! :-)

Okay... there's more, I'm sure of it.... but I've rambled enough for tonight and I'm heading to the couch!

my new favorite school supply

Seriously... we use it a lot this year.

I've always loved the idea of the Ambleside Online curriculum but I was never sure how to pull it off with both kids. This year I decided that I was just going to give it serious consideration. The first step was deciding that it would be Alex's curriculum, not a shared curriculum between the two of them. The next concern was the amount of reading. There is a lot of reading. I didn't want to burn him out, nor, with it being just his curriculum, could I spend much time reading aloud to him.

Enter Librivox.org. Most of the Ambleside Online books for year one are on Librivox as free audio downloads. I downloaded Our Island Story, Burgess Bird Book for Children, Just So Stories (there are two versions on Librivox, the one I linked to is my favorite reader) and Fifty Famous Stories Retold and then loaded them onto my iPod. Other year one books are there too... Aesop's Fables and the Blue Fairy Book... but I didn't want to overdo the iPod thing and he should do some actual reading :-)

The many of the books are found free online, so I read them on my computer when I have time so we can discuss what Alex has listened to. So far the whole thing is working quite well. It's also very portable. I can throw my iPod into my purse as we head out the door and he can listen to his stories while waiting for Clara while she's in class.

Another free audio download resourse is Kiddie Records. There are a lot of fun stories but I also downloaded a bunch of educational files as well. I haven't listened to them all yet, but here are some that I have for us to listen to...

From the 2006 list:
Peter and the Wolf - for a music appreciation study
Pan the Piper - possible music appreciation study (not sure, haven't listened to it yet)
Rudyard Kipling's Jungle Book - a good story to listen to
The Twelve Dancing Princesses - because Clara loves that story
By Rocket to the Moon - astronomy
What are Stars - astronomy
The House at Pooh Corner - because Alex still loves Winnie the Pooh stories (shhh... don't tell)
The Nutcracker Suite for Children - to go with Clara's ballet study I haven't talked about yet

From the 2007 list:
Leoncavallo's Pagliacci - music appreciation, opera study
Walt Disney's Adventures in Music: Melody - music appreciation
Capitol Music Appreciation Singles:
Peer Gynt's Adventures in the Hall of the Mountain King - music appreciation
The Three Cornered Hat - music appreciation
Swan Lake - Clara's ballet study
Waltz of the Flowers from the Nutcracker Suite - Clara's ballet study
Lincoln Records Singles - just realized I missed these, should probably download the following
Gilbert and Sullivan's HMS Pinafore
Gilbert and Sullivan's The Mikado
Adventures Beyond the Sky - astronomy

From the Bonus list:
Fun with Instruments - music appreciation
The Barber of Seville - music apprecation - opera
Stories of the Ballets: Tyl and his Merry Pranks - Clara's ballet study
The Little Fiddle - music apprecation

I'm not sure how much we will use these as actual "school" stuff and how much will just be nice audio stories to have on hand to pass the time while waiting for a doctor's appointment or the like.

Between Alex's Ambleside books and the Kiddie Records... my iPod is my surprise favorite school supply so far this year!