Two Free Lapbooks

I just found two great lapbooks that are free. Handle on the Arts provides fine arts curriculum for homeschoolers.

They are offering a lapbook on Ancient Egyptian Architecture for free download.

Also, there is one about Leonardo da Vinci. October if National Fine Arts and Humanities Month, so this would be a perfect lapbook to celebrate that!

To get yours, click here. Though it doesn't specify, these are probably offered free for a limited time, so get yours right away!

English Course Workbooks (Elementary)

EnglishBanana.com offers a free download of several of their printable English course books. In particular, is their Big Grammar Book, a 124-page workbook of basic English language skills. To download Big Grammar Book, or the other titles offered, simply click here.

Planning a Lapbook

Click here to download a great resource from homeschooling "queen" Cindy Rushton! Her ebook "Let's Make a Lapbook" will give you to the basics of lapbooking and help you get started. Cindy in an expert in the field and you will want to get this resource if you are interested in trying lapbooking in you homeschool.

Googling Lesson Plans

Tired of turning up billions of results that don't really apply to your search?

Try Google For Educators, a specialized search engine for educators. The site also offers a quarterly newsletter, discussions boards and webinars.

Free Lapbook

Sign up for A Journey Through Learning's free newsletter here and receive their lapbook "An Overview of the 17th Century" ($13.00 value) via instant download for free.

Free Science Curriculum

Earlier this week I told you about Guesthollow.com and their free American History curriculum. By now, you may have browsed their site and all of their great other freebies. But if you haven't, let me direct your attention to Otter's Elementary Science. A free 95-page download of Otter's Elementary Science is available here.

This curriculum is a literature based, 33-week study that focuses on the human body. Although it uses secular materials, notations are contained for those who are concerned about subjects such as evolution so that you can choose to skip these parts if you wish.

Free Christian Children's Book Downloads

Ed Dunlop Ministries, author of The Terrestria Chronicles, is offering a free download of nine of their adventure books for children. Six books from the Jed Cartwright series offer your child a dose of adventure, while weaving in themes such as forgiveness and salvation, God's protection, materialism, maintaining a good name, obedience and restoration.

In addition to the Cartwright series, there's also Phantom Pilot for Jr. high and high school students, as well as two Sherlock Jones adventures.

Visit the ministry's download page here to get these exciting freebies!

Exclusive Freebie

If you don't get the Erskine Family's Homeschool Freebie of the Day, you are missing lots of great freebies! As I have mentioned before, Jim sends out a great downloadable freebie each week day that is good for that day only.

But wait....there's more!

As a subscriber, you also receive an EXCLUSIVE freebie each week, that you won't see just by visiting the site. This week's freebie is a whopping 992-page download that is great for anyone interested in doing a character/virtue study with their children. There is something in this amazong resource to appeal to every style: worksheets, notebooking, lapbooking, etc.

Sign up for your free "Heads Up" email here and receive this great freebie, along with daily freebies.

Free American History Curriculum

Guesthollow.com (formerly OurLosBanos.com) has a free 82 page American History curriculum on their site for grades 2-6.

Memorable Places American History is a 34-week curriculum that starts with Native Americans and goes through Slavery and the Civil War. Download your free copy here.

Don't forget to check out the rest of Guesthollow's great freebies while you are there!

Sylvan Algebra Challenge

Sylvan is making math rewarding for teens and parents! Check out www.sylvanchallenge.com and take Sylvan’s math pop quiz to win great prizes!

Teens:
Challenge your algebra skills by answering one algebra question a day! Correct answers earn you extra chances for the grand prize. Forward to friends for even more entries into the grand prize drawing.

Parents:
Revive some long-lost math skills by taking the Forgotten Math for Parents Quiz! You can become a better resource for your children during homework time in the new school year and have a chance to win great prizes!

Contest runs from August 17th to September 30th. Enter every day for more chances to win great prizes! There are instant win prizes like an Apple® - MacBook® with 13.3” Display, Ti-83 Graphing Calculators, gift cards to Amazon.com, Target, Starbucks and subscriptions to SylvanMathPrep.com, the ultimate online resource for middle and high school math students.

Text SYLVAN to 47201 for additional chances to win!

Free Financial Literacy Curriculum

Kids need to learn about money. In these days of economic unrest, it seems more important than ever. The Actuarial Foundation is offering their Building Your Future financial curriculum via PDF download for free through October 31st. Click here for your download. The curriculum covers banking, financing and investing.

They are also offering a free hard copy of the curriculum to the first 1,000 teachers who request it. See the download page for details.

How to Draw Animals

Click here for free animal drawing lessons with very basic instructions from http://www.howtodrawit.com/.

Free History Scribe - Colonial Times

The Homeschool Shop is offering for the month of July, a free download of History Scribe's Colonial Times. If you use unit studies or notebooking, you don't want to miss this great freebie!!

Free Thematic Units

After a very LONG hiatus, The Eclectic Homeschooler is back! I am hoping to share lots of great freebies with you very soon! To get you started, check out these great unit studies from Home School Learning Network, including a new one on Basketball.

Free Grammar

If you use a Classical/Charlotte Mason approach, then you'll love these great grammar freebies that Kysha over at Love's School found!

Home Organization Plan

What mom doesn’t struggle with home organization and cleaning? I think maybe homeschooling moms struggle with this even more for two reasons:

· We accumulate a lot of STUFF!

· The kids are ALWAYS here!

I found Just Mommies quite by accident, but this site has a lot to offer. Their Home Organization Plan looks very doable (especially if you recruit help from the kiddos!). It includes a convenient PDF calendar you can print each month that has the day’s cleaning tasks on it (perfect for posting on the refrigerator!). Also included each month are a monthly task and a decluttering/cleaning challenge that focuses on one area of your home.

Just Mommies is a parenting website that contains a small assortment of educational helps, including worksheets, unit studies, homeschooling articles, and resources for parents of special needs students.

I have only scratched the surface of what’s available at this site. Be sure to check this one out!

Review: Generations of Virtue "Beautifully Made" Books

As a member of the TOS Crew, I was recently given the opportunity to review the “Beautifully Made” book series from Generations of Virtue . This three book set includes “Approaching Womanhood”, “Celebrating Womanhood” and “Wisdom from a Woman—Mother’s Guide”. This set of paperback books comes beautifully wrapped in pink ribbon and makes a wonderful gift for that special girl in your life age 8-12. This time in a girl’s life can be very difficult and confusing, and there is a lot of misinformation to be heard. Generations of Virtue helps guide girls and their mothers through this time with factual information and biblical wisdom.

Book 1—“Approaching Womanhood” is designed for moms to read with their daughters as they discuss this important time and bond as she helps prepare her daughter for her anticipated first period. The books combine practical information with showing girls how valuable they are in God’s eyes.

Book 2—“Celebrating Womanhood” is a gift for your daughter at the start of her first period. It discusses feminine hygiene products available and even includes a modest diagram explaining tampon insertion. A menstrual record chart is also included. The book explains the symbolism of blood and tells girls how women are specially connected to Jesus with blood. On the practical side, it explains PMS and its symptoms, as well as giving natural remedies for dealing with its effects.

Book 3—“Wisdom from a Woman” is a guide for mothers. This book takes mom by the hand and guides her through this important time in her daughter’s life.

If you are preparing for that important talk with your preteen daughter, consider investing in these books. The books retail for $18.99

The following elements are rated on a scale of 1-5 (5 being the best, NA meaning that this element does not apply to this service):

Value for price:	5
Ease of use:	5
Visual Appeal:	5
Durability:	NA
Customer Service/Support:	NA
Amount of materials required:	NA
Use for multiple children:	5
Appeal to students:	5

Review: Beyond Five In A Row

As a member of the TOS Crew, I was recently given the opportunity to review Beyond Five In A Row, Volume 2. Most homeschoolers are familiar with Five In A Row, but Beyond FIAR is a literature based unit study aimed to the 8-12 year age group, using chapter books rather than picture books.

Volume 2 covers the following books:

· Sarah, Plain and Tall by Patricia MacLachlan

· The Story of George Washington Carver by Eva Moore

· Skylark by Patricia MacLachlan

· Helen Keller by Margaret Davidson

Each volume of Beyond FIAR is designed to be completed in a semester. The study covers a variety of areas each week rather than a specific set of academic subjects each day. This could be viewed as a negative if you like the predictability of covering the same subjects each day. Emphasis on subjects varies from day to day and some subjects may be covered heavier one week than others. Subjects covered include History/Geography, Language Arts, Science, Fine Arts, and Human Relationships. The study must be supplemented with Math, and the Language Arts areas of grammar, spelling and penmanship.

Each chapter of the study contains a parent summary, allowing you assign chapter reading to the student while having knowledge of what the chapter is about (though the author encourages reading the assigned chapters aloud with your child). Other components of the chapter are a list of subjects to be covered in that chapter, lesson activities, and a writing and discussion question which encourages development of writing skills. A unique feature that occurs occasionally is “Career Paths”. These may be studied to varied degrees to learn more about various professions.

A sample chapter looks something like this:

(From Chapter 6 of Sarah, Plain and Tall)

· Science: Water Sources

· Language Arts: The Newbery Medal

· Language Arts: Patricia MacLachlan—Writing about what you know

· Language Arts: Hyperbole—Meaning to exaggerate

· Fine Arts: The Killdeer—a fine subject for drawing

The FIAR website also contains links relating to the lessons. At the end of each chapter is a reminder to check the site for these links. The appendix contains a handy scope that lists topics covered in each subject within each literature selection at a glance. A certificate of completion of the volume is also included.

The chapters are not designed to be covered in a day. As with most unit studies, a child’s interest in the subject should guide you in how long to cover it. On average, each chapter can be covered in 2-3 days. Moderate to heavy parental preparation is required, including gathering library books on covered subjects.

This book retails for $24.95 and can be purchased from the FIAR website.

The following elements are rated on a scale of 1-5 (5 being the best, NA meaning that this element does not apply to this service):

Value for price:	5
Ease of use:	3
Visual Appeal:	4
Durability:	NA
Customer Service/Support:	NA
Amount of materials required:	2
Use for multiple children:	5
Appeal to students:	4

Review: SpellQuizzer

As a member of the TOS Crew, I was recently given the opportunity to review SpellQuizzer spelling software. SpellQuizzer was developed by a father of two elementary school children. It is designed to help children practice and learn their spelling words. SpellQuizzer works with any spelling program.

About SpellQuizzer

I have to be honest—I expected something much different. I thought SpellQuizzer would include games and such to help students practice and be shown on a full screen. It is not that type of software. It is very simple, straightforward software that allows parents to record spelling words with an inexpensive microphone. If you do not have a microphone readily available, you can simply enter a reminder phrase (eg. “this is what we call the building we live in”, house). Students then take a quiz of the list and are given immediate feedback. If they misspell a word, the correct spelling is shown giving instant reinforcement. The software is simple enough to use—in fact, students can easily build their own lists. If they enter an incorrect spelling that is not recognized in the dictionary, they will be alerted, guaranteeing that they will not make their own lists of misspelled words.

As far as support, the SpellQuizzer website offers tutorial videos on how to use each aspect of the software. I downloaded it and was up and running in minutes. I did not have a microphone and therefore cannot say how that aspect would work, but the sample lists produce a clear quality sound. The developers are also in the process of adding free downloadable spelling lists.

My concern with the SpellQuizzer spelling program is the cost. The program retails for $29.95. I have to say that I expected something more for that amount of money. It’s not that the program is not good, it is simply too expensive. From what I can see it simply calls words out to your children—something I would not be so inclined to pay $29.95 for, especially in tough economic times. With many homeschooling families living on one income and trying to spend their homeschooling dollars wisely, I don’t see this software as something I would personally purchase. But try it out for yourself—you can get a free thirty day trial of the software here.

The following elements are rated on a scale of 1-5 (5 being the best, NA meaning that this element does not apply to this service):

Value for price:	1
Ease of use:	4.5
Visual Appeal:	2
Durability:	NA
Customer Service/Support:	4
Amount of materials required:	--
Use for multiple children:	5
Appeal to students:	2

Review: Math Tutor

As a member of the TOS Crew, I was recently given the opportunity to review two of Math Tutor’s DVD tutorials.  Our family received The Basic Math Word Problem Tutor and The Algebra 2 Tutor.

 

The Basic Math Word Problem Tutor is an 8 hour video course that covers the following concepts on two DVDs:

 

Section 1: Adding Whole Numbers
Section 2: Subtracting Whole Numbers
Section 3: Multiplying Whole Numbers
Section 4: Dividing Whole Numbers
Section 5: Adding Decimals
Section 6: Subtracting Decimals
Section 7: Multiplying Decimals
Section 8: Dividing Decimals
Section 9: Adding Fractions
Section 10: Subtracting Fractions
Section 11: Multiplying Fractions
Section 12: Dividing Fractions
Section 13: Percents, Part 1
Section 14: Percents, Part 2
Section 15: Ratio and Proportion

 

The Algebra 2 Tutor is a 6 hour video course that claims to help the student “conquer Algebra 2 immediately”.  It covers the following concepts on two DVDs:

Section 1: Graphing Equations
Section 2: The Slope Of A Line
Section 3: Writing Equations Of Lines
Section 4: Graphing Inequalities
Section 5: Solving Systems Of Equations By Graphing
Section 6: Solving Systems Of Equations By Substitution
Section 7: Solving Systems Of Equations By Addition                                                                                   Section 8: Solving Systems Of Equations In Three Variables
Section 9: Simplifying Radical Expressions.
Section 10: Add/Subtract Radical Expressions.
Section 11: Multiply/Divide Radical Expressions.
Section 12: Solving Equations With Radicals.
Section 13: Fractional Exponents.
Section 14: Solving Polynomial Equations.
Section 15: The Quadratic Formula. 

My children watched several segments of The Basic Math DVD and seemed to understand what was being presented.  It is in no way ‘entertaining’ or catchy, just simply a teacher teaching, which is perfect for visual learners when parents are unsure of how to present a difficult topic.

 

Math Tutor touts improved grades or your money back, which is always nice to hear.  They offer help for many upper level courses including Physics and Statistics.  Each of these DVDs retail for $26.99 and can be purchased at the Math Tutor website.

 

The following elements are rated on a scale of 1-5 (5 being the best, NA meaning that this element does not apply to this service):

 

Value for price:	4
Ease of use:	5
Visual Appeal:	2
Durability:	NA
Customer Service/Support:	--
Amount of materials required:	5
Use for multiple children:	5
Appeal to students:	3