Wow!! We are in the last week of 2007! I know this is a busy time of year, but if you find time, make these Memos in your schedule this week:

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HOMESCHOOL CURRICULUM

Brrr…. it’s cold outside here in Indiana! After 50′ weather on Saturday, the chilling wind has now blown in a bunch of snow. If it’s cold where you are, you may want to take advantage of the natural lessons of winter while studying the Antarctica Project Pack by Hands of a Child. For another fun winter-y unit study, you might look into Sled Dogs Project Pack - Hands of a Child

If winter study is not what you want to focus on right now, may I suggest the Christian Liberty Press Nature Readers. There are 6 readers, each at a different reading level.

I have been working with Amanda, ready to graduate, and then Jocelyn to follow next year, trying to get all of their records together. While there are different ways to keep records, and each state has its own laws, I am happy I found a couple of resources to aid me with a checklist I can print off and stick in their files. One that I will be using is What Your Child Needs To Know… according to the Bible, According to the State by Robin Sampson.

Another set we use sometimes, just as readers is The Core Knowledge Series by E.D. Hirsch, Jr. We read out loud from the books from the series which includes What Every 1st Grader Needs To Know. These books give me a standard of what knowledge to know when. This series goes from Kindergarten to Grade 6. It covers a lot of different information, and as with all books, I make sure I know what they are learning out of it!

If you’re like me, you would rather stay inside where it’s warm and work on all of your unfinished projects… or snuggle up with a good book. If you have been wanting your children to write more, winter is a great time to sit by the window and journal all the stories you can remember of all the winters past. 

If you are looking for a good list of some great places to get good reads, Amanda did a great post … Saturday Poetry and Literature: Reading Literature

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PLACES TO FIND CURRICULUM, Books and Other Items:

When I am looking for homeschool materials, the first place I look is the TOS Store where shipping is free. If I am looking for Heart of Wisdom resources, I go directly to their store. Christianbook.com is another place I might look. They have their own Homeschool category with all kinds of homeschool products.

Besides your usual online homeschool stores, I read blogs and find other moms who have found a rare homeschool find at thrift stores like Goodwill, and I think to myself, “Why didn’t I remember that?”. Have you heard of http://www.FreeCycle.com? This is another place I have found free books and/or homeschool items offered. It is a free community service to recycle good items, large and small, instead of throwing them away. You have to sign up for the yahoo group closest in proximity to your town to get alerts.

Blogs are a great resource for homeschool curriculum. Many of the blogs you probably already read have their recommended Homeschool Resources in their sidebar. Sprittibee has a great list of links on hers.

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OTHER HOMESCHOOL RESOURCES

I really have begun using Dictionary.com quite a bit. It’s easy to use. You will find a search bar where you can also search the Thesaurus and Encyclopedia or all sources together.

Something I just found: The Homeschool Buyers Co-op has a fully searchable database of Free Curriculum and other educational Resources. I clicked through to a link to National Geographic: My Wonderful World geography games and information.

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SPECIALS for HOMESCHOOLERS

If you use Unit Studies in your homeschool, remember to check in weekly at Homeschool EStore for a free homeschool E-book product.

50% Off every Heart Of Wisdom Ebook!

Scholarships: Visions in Education has a page full of different scholarships available.

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HOMESCHOOL CONTESTS & GIVEAWAYS

*Barb at Harmony Fine Arts is having A Contest with Comments. Every person who comments on her blog in the month of December will be entered into a drawing for a free year of her art and music appreciation program, Harmony Fine Arts plan, year of their choice. Grades 1-8 are available. $19.95 value.

*The Company Front Porch has a great contest going on right now: “Visits to Terrestria” is a study guide covering all seven books in the Terrestria Chronicles allegory series. There will be 7 winners for this contest! 6 winners will each win “Book one AND the new study guide. and 1 winner will win a complete series including the new study guide! Now that is a dandy of a prize! All you need to do is leave a comment. You must be at least 18 years of age to enter and live in the U.S. Full contest rules can be read here. Contest ends December 28!

*The Heart of Wisdom is having a Giveaway! The Heart of Wisdom Blog Contest: Free Weekly Book Giveaway will be held every Monday through the months of December and January at the Heart of Wisdom Blog. Each week one Heart of Wisdom subscriber will be randomly selected o receive one FREE Homeschool Book or Heart of Wisdom Ebook from Homeschool-Books.com. A new title will be given away each week. Click here to enter.

*Calling all homeschoolers who think they can “Write Like Mike.” for the “Write Like Mike” Homeschool Writing Contest. Know any sports-crazy children between the ages of 8-12? Get them to write a sports column about a local or national event (250 words or less) and have them enter Walden Media/The Old Schoolhouse Magazine’s “Write Like Mike” Contest for an opportunity to have their sports column published in an upcoming issue of The Old Schoolhouse Magazine! SUBMISSION DEADLINE: February 14, 2008

*HomeschoolBuyers Co-op has announced an All-Ink.com: Scholarship Contest. All-Ink.com is committed to helping students pursue their goal of a higher education by offering $5,000 in scholarships to qualified students. If you are enrolled or planning to enroll in an accredited college or university program during Spring 2008 / Fall 2008 or Full-year 2008-2009 school year, you may want to look at this contest, but hurry! Deadline is December 31, 2007.

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Other Contests of Interest

*5MinutesForMoms has a great contest going on right now: “Orville popcorn for a year” coupon book, along with a 12 month, 2 at-a-time subscription to Netflix! You can enter by leaving a comment here at this post and linking back to this contest and to www.orville.com. They will announce the winner on January, 1st 2008.

*Enter to win a lounge set to keep your child cozy warm this winter. Stop by Amanda and let her know what your favorite item is from Creations by Lisa McGrath. Deadline is January 1st.

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CARNIVALS

The 30th Homesteading Carnival:The Heart Edition is up at A Pondering Heart.

Carnival of Homeschooling goes up this week on December 26th, hosted by Po Moyemu — In My Opinion.

Seventh Edition of The Charlotte Mason Carnival: Making Charlotte Proud (Freedom Academy)

Carnival of Education 151 will be at History is Elementary this week.

The 33rd Carnival of Space is up at Spaceflight, a blog from Germany.

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Now, that’s enough to keep everyone’s calendars full until next Memo Monday!!