- 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, 9-11 Year Old, Interest Led Homeschool, Preschool, Science, Social Activities, Teaching, the Give Way, Theme
Butterfly Life Cycle Party
At the end of our study of butterflies, we had a party with a few family friends. Initially I was going to have them do tons of butterfly activities, but as I started really delving into info about butterflies, I changed it to have them go through the life cycle of a butterfly. I was amazed at all the things I didn’t know about butterflies! I learned so much planning all this. And, the kids had fun too! (Ages 3 1/2 to 11) You can find the directions I used for each of the stations here. The only thing I told them to do was to bring an extra shirt.…
- 3-5 Year Old, 6-8 Year Old, 9-11 Year Old, Interest Led Homeschool, Science, Social Activities, Teaching, the Give Way
Butterfly Life Cycle Party: Directions
Here are the directions I had at each station. This site, Learn About Butterflies, is great for printing any images you want to show them. It’s also really interesting and will give you a greater understanding of the whole process. Station 1: Make antennae Here are your supplies. Make an antennae that will stay on your head throughout your metamorphosis. When you finish, help the younger kids finish theirs. Head over to the next station. (Put out: any kind of craft supplies and headbands if you have any, pictures of antennae) Station 2: Egg Curl up in a ball at the starting point. (if you had an egg, you’d come…
- 3-5 Year Old, 6-8 Year Old, Interest Led Homeschool, Preschool, Science, Teaching, the Give Way, Theme, Unit Study
Butterfly Study
My wonderful sister-in-law set us up with a sweet deal for a caterpillar so we could watch the transformation to a butterfly (note: this was almost a year ago!! We’re coming up on time to get a new one and do this all over again!). We got our caterpillar in its little cup. And almost immediately it attached itself to the paper towel that had been placed under the lid. So, we moved it to a laundry basket…and not one of those netted ones. This is just a regular old plastic basket. We don’t keep the butterfly, so I’m not worried about it getting out. (This is a fine example…
- 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,…
