Free Printable Graphic Organizers
This collection of ready-to-use graphic organizers will help children classify ideas and communicate more effectively. All of our free, printable graphic organizers are designed to facilitate understanding of key concepts by allowing students to drill down to the basic points and ideas. By using graphic organizers across all subject areas, you will be empowering your students to master subject-matter faster and more efficiently. We have graphic organizers for reading, science, writing, math, and for general use. We also have put together slideshows of our favorite graphic organizers in each subject, to save you time. Read more...
Carnival of Homeschooling: Hectic Edition
Way back when, it seems like ages ago now, Henry Cate asked if I'd be willing to host the carnival this week. "Sure!" I said, perhaps too enthusiastically. I love hosting the Carnival of Homeschooling. It gives me a chance to connect with other homeschoolers, and find a few new blogs in the process. Nothing much is ever going on around here around the holidays. It's all quiet and peaceful, like Let a Woman Learn's Celebration of Winter. So stop by Lesson Pathways for some free Christmas Printables, I thought, or make some activity kits with Minds Bloom. Maybe even make a Rudolph the Red Nose Reindeer with Peanuts are Evil. You know, something to keep them occupied while I was occupied. Maybe if I was feeling particularly schoolerish, I could set them down with a Christmas Break book list like Seaside Tales. Read more...
Homeschooled and interviewed
"Homeschooling is difficult to explain, because every family does it differently, and there are so many prejudices against it," says Sam Flood, 21, who was home-schooled for elementary and high school. Sam is currently an English and theater major at Lawrence University in Appleton. His sister, 19-year-old Ariana also attends Lawrence. Their youngest sibling, Clara Margaret, 14, is currently learning at home.
"A lot of my friends at college don't believe me that I was home-schooled," says Sam. "They say 'but you're not weird!'" Read more...
Detroit News’ Bogeyman: Homeschooling Moms and Dads
The Detroit News featured a huge, above-the-fold, front page story about home education last week.
Take a guess what it was about....
The homeschool graduate who was nominated, for the third time, for a Heisman Trophy?
The former homeschooler who won a Nobel Prize?
The homeschool mom whom Time magazine recently selected as one of the best bloggers in the world?*
If only.
The first sentence of the article: “Calista Springer lay tethered to her bed by a dog collar while siblings went off to school each morning.”
You can guess where this is going. Read more...
Bob Books: Sight Words Kindergarten
I've taught three boys to read, with each one learning the skill in a different way. My youngest gravitated to easy readers, memorizing whole words while also learning phonetics. One of his favorite books to read was his set of Bob books. He read them daily, quickly committing to memory the simple sentences, which eventually led him and his brothers to develop their own Bob-Book knock-offs. Read more...
The Art of Argument: an Introduction to the Informal Fallacies
My son will be studying introductory logic this year (Sophomore) using this curriculum. I'm excited for him to learn the basics of logic, and it is my hope that when he completes this course he will understand fallacies, and thus learn how to recognize bad reasoning. I'm sure you'll agree that this is an important foundation we should give our teens as they are impressionable, and still forming their belief systems and worldviews. Read more...
Cabin on Trouble Creek
Brothers Daniel and Will are thrilled to help their pa homestead in a lush Ohio forest. At 11 and 9 the boys find all the chores exciting – chopping logs, building the cabin, making a fireplace, and gathering wood. Then comes the day their dad must leave the boys behind to finish readying the cabin while he brings back their mom and siblings. With enough food to last the six weeks before his return, the boys foresee the time will go by fast as they prepare the cabin walls. Read more...
Greek Alphabet Code Cracker
When teaching children, it's always nice to incorporate games or some type of fun into your lesson plans. In the Greek Alphabet Code Cracker, kids will have a great time as they play the role of detective, working to solve the case of the stolen Grecian Urn of Achilles. This novel approach certainly makes this sometimes intimidating subject non-threatening. My 9-year-old loves sleuthing and took a liking to this workbook immediately, and he needed only the littlest help from me. Read more...
Charles and Emma : The Darwins' Leap of Faith
Whether or not you agree with his theories or publications, you'll find out through this book that Charles Darwin was a family man who was committed to his 10 children and devoted to his Christian wife Emma. Ironically, his original life plan was to be a preacher, but then as he collected animal specimens and devoured natural history, he wrestled with the belief of creationism. Despite their conflicting religious views, Emma and Charles married. Read more...
Women of the Old Testament: 14 In-Depth Bible Studies for Teens
Barbara Frank put a lot of work into this bible study for your teen girls, and the result is a dynamic, engaging, and comprehensive look at 14 wonderful woman of the Old Testament. This is not a book you will just hand to your daughter and correct later, rather it requires your input too in the section called "discussion starters for mothers and daughters. Read more...
Med Head: My Knock-down, Drag-out, Drugged-up Battle with My Brain
I sailed through this book, practically reading the entire 200+ pages in one sitting. The story of Cory, a boy who has a severe form of Tourette's syndrome, OCD, and anxiety is both heartbreaking and uplifting. Though written by both Cory's dad and James Patterson, the voice is Cory's and it grabs you from the start and keeps you glued till the final page. Diagnosed at age 5, Cory was compelled to move his body in awkward and often painful ways. Read more...
We hear the Dead
Maggie and Kate Fox were mischievous children, known to play tricks on each other as well as their parents. Then one day their trickster nature goes extreme. Wanting to scare away their disliked niece, the girls pull the ultimate prank. They produce nighttime rapping noises and lead the niece and the rest of the family to believe the house is haunted and "spirits" are the source of the noise. Not only do they scare their family, but their neighbors too. Read more...
Kindergarten Stories and Morning Talks
Kindergarten Stories and Morning Talks is a quaint collection of stories arranged in a school year format geared toward your younger children. Originally compiled in 1894, Cardamom Publishers has reprinted it with a larger font and inserted numerous old-fashioned illustrations. These gentle stores will capture the attention of eager learners and the "talks" suggest ideas for hands on activities. Read more...
Picture the Dead
Jenny, orphaned and living with her unloving Aunt and Uncle first suffers the loss of her twin brother Tobias, and then her fiancé Will, both fallen soldiers of the civil war. Her relatives have little sympathy for her. As Will was their eldest son, they view their grief deeper and greater. Desperate to "glimpse" his son again, the uncle suggests they meet a man who claims to be one who can conjure images of the dead through photography. Read more...
Goddess Girls: Athena The Brain
12-year-old Athena gets a big surprise – a summons to report to Mount Olympus Academy. She learns she's a goddess and Zeus is her father. Previously she was living a normal pre-teen life at Triton Junior High. She is whisked off to her new school via Hermes Chariot and gets to see first hand what being a goddess is all about. With classes such as hero-ology, spellology and beautyology, she has a lot to learn. Read more...
The Chosen One
I cannot imagine growing up with several mothers, twenty siblings, and a prophet who pronounces who I must marry. Kyra, a chosen one of a polygamist sect, lives this life. At a mere 13-years-old she is ready to be married and start having her own babies. She wouldn't object to being married so young, if it could be Joshua, a boy of similar age whom she has grown fond of. But the prophet decrees Kyra must marry her Uncle, who at sixty is plenty old enough to be her grandfather. Read more...
Sherlock McBiskit Shares His Secrets to Good Character and Respect
Sherlock McBiskit is an adorable West Highland Terrier and in his book he renders some wise advice to children on what it means to have good character and respect. Kids love dogs, and McBiskit radiates adorability as he shares his secrets to getting the most out of life. In rhyming verse, the text is catchy and accompanied by cute pictures of the loveable canine. Here's an excerpt: Here is the first secret that most people don't know. Life gives us lots of tests. I will tell you it's so. Read more...
Little Black Ant on Park Street
It's easy to dismiss the role of a black ant. These small creatures are considered pests by most of us, but if you take an in depth look you'll find these little guys are really fascinating and have their own complex communities. Little Black Ant on Park Street, a Smithsonian Backyard title, is a nicely illustrated picture book that gives young readers a close-up look at the black ant's world. Read more...