History in the Making!

     Very excited today, because the boys are learning about voting.  They cast their votes in a mock election on www.currclick.com this morning and are going with us to vote this afternoon.  We have discussed the candidates and the reasons we are voting the way we are.  We have used School House Rock to learn about the government and are going to watch election returns this evening.
     It is very important that children are taught about this great nation and its freedoms early on.  This way, they are more prone to exercise their right to vote and to voice their opinion in that format.  I believe it will make them be more conscientious about voting when they are of legal voting age.
     Take your kids with you to vote or at least make sure that they have a firm grasp on the concept before they turn 18.  Let them see you exercise your right to vote...kids learn by example.  Be that example that you want them to be.  Teach them to question and scrutinize their government when the need arises, but most of all, teach them to vote for what is right and not what is popular.  Teach them that the major parties aren't the only parties out there.  TEACH THEM TO VOTE!!!  They are learning a wealth of knowledge just by studying this one aspect of government.

Happy Learning,
Rebecca

Pinterest junkie Christmas presents

I know it's been a while since I last blogged and I greatly apologize for that.  Now that everyone is over being sick and through with doctor visits, I will do my best to be more frequent. With that said, on with the show.
     So today and for most of the week, we are working on our Christmas presents that we found on Pinterest.  Yes, I am a major Pinterest junkie.  These particular gifts are from the boys to their grandparents and aunts.  WELL.... did not work exactly as it showed...of course, we didn't do it exactly as it showed, because we were trying to cut costs.  Needless to say, we improvised(we call it redneck engineering) and got sort of the same result....and it was pretty fun too.  If you really just think about it though, we worked on art and on logically solving a problem...so there was in fact some learning going on.  Will post pics later and will give details and show all the different designs we got from doing it our way!

Happy Learning,
Rebecca

Friday = test day

Today was test day...woohooo!!!! Okay, maybe I'm the only one that feels that way...THE CHILDREN WILL GET OVER IT! Lol!  Anyway, we got pretty good test scores on everything.   If I can figure out how to do it, I will start posting some of the tests so that you all can use them as well.  I'll have to check copyrights on some of them first, but those that can be shared will be...I hope.   Tomorrow is a family trip to the pumpkin patch.  Hope everyone has a great weekend.  See ya Monday!!

Happy Learning!

Educational Websites...as promised

As promised yesterday, I am going to start listing the websites we use for "curriculum".  Please feel free to check these out, we use many of them daily and most of them several times a week.  We can't pay a couple hundred dollars for "organized curriculum" and we didn't want to.  We decided that we would use what the public schools used and then find free curriculum on the internet...and so we have.  Enough about why we use these methods of instruction and on to the web addresses.

Khan Academy
Most people know about this site, so I won't drag it out.  This site contains instructional videos on almost every subject.  There aren't any regarding English/Language Arts, but most other subjects are covered.  The guy that does the videos is pretty in depth and makes sure to explain it sufficiently.  We mostly use this for the math videos for now.  www.khanacademy.org

neok12
This site is one that we use quite frequently.  It is another video site, but it has a video for almost everything and also has some that are just neat to watch.  The videos on this site are from different sources.  We have used this for math, science, history, english...basically everything.  The site is also good for all ages, so you wouldn't have to search forever trying to find a video that is age appropriate.  www.neok12.com

WatchKnowLearn
Another great video site that pulls videos from various places.  WatchKnowLearn  is also appropriate for all ages.  Users can register and any videos watched can be accessed again under the "my profile" tab.  It will show your viewing history and other information.  Users can also post their own instructional videos, join classrooms or create their own classroom.  We use this one a lot also.  The videos cover EVERYTHING.  This site is definately worth sitting down and looking at and ultimately registering.  www.watchknowlearn.org

These are the video websites we use.  We also occasionally use Netflix and YouTube, but only if we see a specific video that goes along with what we are currently studying.  I hope that these come in handy and help your students to understand things better or to learn something new.  I know that they help our boys.  These are especially helpful if students seem to understand better by seeing rather than strictly doing.  Our boys watch videos correlating to their studies and then do the book work that goes along with it.  I will get the other sites we use (worksheets, printables, learning games) together and post them soon.

Happy Learning!

All Children Do Not Learn Equally

After a few "light workload" days due to sickness, we are back in full swing.  With that said, we have been studying and learning out loud and via You Tube and Netflix.  Yes, you read that correctly.  We have studied history and grammar with School House Rock on YouTube and history and science with NatGeo and History Channel stuff on Netflix.  Today, after our science lesson, we studied math and grammar while grocery shopping.  I told you all of that to make this point...all kids do not learn the same way.  My 6th grader was struggling with grammar until we found a grammar game online and then it clicked.  So, whether homeschool or public school, use practical, everyday things to reinforce what your kids are studying...it just may "click" with them.  I'll post some of our websites tomorrow.
Happy Learning!

This is our homeschool blog

When we decided to homeschool this year, we met lots of opposition.  Most of it was from family members. However, things are moving along just fine and as a substitute teacher, I have found that my boys are actually ahead of the public schools.  So, this will be our blog to let you in on our world and for us to share our ideas and work with other homeschoolers and public school kids too.  Happy Learning!