Archive for the ‘Curriculum Picks’ Category
Memo Monday: Scrapbooking, Notebooking, Lapbooking
Written by Jacque on March 10, 2008 – 4:26 am -

Homeschool: Scrapbooking, Lapbooking, Notebooking
Scrapbooking To Learn
A great place to learn about lapbooking or notebooking or whatever term you use is Scrapbooking To Learn™, sponsored by Heart of Wisdom Publishing. Heart of Wisdom suggests using scrapbooking methods as a creative outlet for school work. Combine scrapbooking techniques with Charlotte Mason’s copy methods for a great display or addition to your unit study portfolio! Scrapbooking is incredibly rewarding, Students show enthusiasm about almost any subject if there are able to scrapbook.
STL creates various Christian homeschool materials and unit studies dedicated to motivating parents and children to focus on the Bible as their primary learning tool. Scrapbook folders are just another way to encourage children to love to learn, and this site has so much information, surely you will find something to fit your teaching needs.
At their site, you will learn about digital scrapbooking, booklets, notebooking, timeline books, portfolios, and the difference between notebooking and Scrapbooking To Learn™ folders.
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Come visit our Notebooking Pages Store for a growing selection of affordable notebooking pages - for any subject and style of homeschooling! From copywork to nature study, notebooking is a fantastic and fun tool that captures all that we have learned about a particular topic and turns it into a concise, artful piece of work. The kids are always excited to share what they have learned in their homeschooling experiences through their notebooks. It is much like looking through an old photo album or scrapbook. The more you look back through them, the more you remember, and what a joy it is each time!
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Homeschool E-Store is now CurrClick! This week, from March 10th-March 17th get 10% account credit on every purchase you make. They have products in almost every subject for Parents and every age of student. Downloads are easy; they offer a newsletter and free products that change every week or so. If you love EBooks, check them out. If you have never really gotten into EBooks, check them out - EBooks are easy-schmeasy! Print right off of it for as many children as you need it for! You are in control with EBooks and you will love their ease of use. You can find so many unit studies to use for lapbooking here!
Good Deals For Homeschoolers

I just received this into my inbox. Are you a regular subscriber to TOS magazine? If you are, you will soon be receiving the Teacher’s Toolbox, a monthly mini-supplement to TOS that will focus on a different topic with words of encouragement, hands-on teaching ideas, book recommendations, field trip suggestions and more. There will even be some type of a bonus download item! This will be free for subscribers only, so if you have always wanted to, but never have, this is a great time. I mean, it is only $25 for a yearly subscription. That is half of what it costs us to eat out one meal!
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Don’t forget about another favorite place to find free resources for homeschoolers! Donna Young has a great site with many resources and a lot of information!

She has a Free Homeschool Planner Home that includes Homeschool Planner Guide, Lesson Plan Forms, Administrative Planner Forms and Homeschool List Forms
If you are new to homeschooling, you may want to check out her Planning for Beginners, How To Make Simple Lesson Plans, and (Surviving) The Curriculum Fair.
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Blog Carnivals
Carnival of Homeschooling
Amanda, Jocelyn and I have participated in the Carnival of Homeschooling for the past year pretty consistently. Part of having the privilege of participating and hosting is to announce the carnivals each week. The posts are always interesting and many are newsworthy. Be sure to check them out and submit your own! Last week the 114th Carnival was held at Palm Tree Pundit. The 115th COH will be held this week at At Home With Kris.
The Carnival of Homeschooling is also into Phase two of the contest for Carnival of Homeschooling icons… I am picky about names so I was sure to vote for the ones that are correctly labeled. It is the Carnival of Homeschooling or COH.
Share Your Faith Carnival:
Homeschooling Edition
SisterLisa will now be hosting the Share Your Faith Carnival each month at The HomeSpun Life.
“Each month the carnival will be a different aspect of sharing your faith. The first one is sharing your faith about homeschooling. Titus 2:3 says to be ‘teachers of good things’. As women we are instructed by God’s Word to teach the younger women and that’s what we aim to do here.”
She will receive submissions for this carnival until April 2nd, and the carnival will begin on April 5th. Please go to her blog for further details!
The Homesteading Carnival
Erica Burgan presents The Homesteading Carnival - Definitions Edition at The Sojourner. “Broadly defined, homesteading is a lifestyle of simple, agrarian self-sufficiency. Currently the term homesteading[1] applies to anyone who is a part of the back-to-the-land movement and who chooses to live a sustainable, self-sufficient lifestyle. While land is no longer freely available in most areas of the world, homesteading remains as a way of life. A new movement, called “urban homesteading,” can be viewed as a simple living lifestyle, incorporating small-scale agriculture,sustainable and permaculture gardening, and home food production and storage into suburban or city living.”
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Blog Memes, Fun and Contests
A meme is a blog post that is in conjunction with a theme set forth by its author. Participating in memes is a fun way to meet other bloggers and also a great way to have interesting ideas for blog posts. Many times you sign a Mr. Linky and can even put one on your own post for your friends to sign and join you on. There are certain requirements for each meme, and you usually are asked to link to the original post and put the meme icon on your blog.
Tuesday In Other Words is a meme based on a posted quote each week by Amy at In Pursuit of Proverbs 31.
Sunday Seven: Share your joys, your blessings and your burdens. List seven things going on in your life this week. Go back to the hub and comment on the current week’s thread so that other Sunday Seven’ers can visit you.
The Super Simple Spiritual Sunday Meme is simply a list of favorite finds for the week (also called link love or Speedlinking).
Meal Plan Monday. Plan your menu each week with others by joining Laura, the passionate organizer at http://orgjunkie.blogspot.com.
Saturday Psalm & Praise is held each Saturday at Seeking Rest in the Ancient Paths. To participate, you can post a Psalm/song or you can tell what impact is has had on you and your thoughts. Sometimes just the Psalm is enough. Sometimes we have to let out our own words of praise!
To see a more complete list of memes, you an look at Robin’s Meme List.
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Homeschool Lounge for Mom-Teachers
A new fun place for homeschool moms I found is The Homeschool Lounge. Ok, it isn’t that new anymore, with 1900 members, but it is kinda’ new!
SisterLisa sent me an invite in January to test it, but it wouldn’t let me sign on, so I just signed up last month. It was created so there is a place join all homeschool moms from all over the internet and all blog servers in one “Lounge”.
Stop by my “Nook’ and say hi.
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Photo Contest
Also, be sure to enter Growing in Grace Magazine’s Photo Contest.
“We are looking for photos that could appear in any of our upcoming devotions or columns. We like to add photos that help give you a visual of the scripture being shared.”
Here are some ideas of photos that can be submitted:
Any water ways, such as rivers, streams, waterfalls, oceans, etc., Flowers in bloom and/or in bud form that shows life, Any kind of pathway or road that portrays a scenic expression, Trees that show God’s majesty.
We are planning to use these photos in upcoming articles and each photo chosen will receive an ‘Editor’s Choice’ award tag from Growing in Grace and be entered into a contest to win a Premium BetterPholio at BetterPhoto.com , the world’s largest online photography school.”
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Homeschool Freedom
Have you heard about the ruling in CA that is tantamount to outlawing homeschooling in their state??
“A California Court of Appeal recently decided that homeschooling is illegal in California unless a parent is a certified teacher. The Court could have restricted its decision to the facts before it, but instead, it issued a broad ruling that effectively outlaws home education in California. The Court also certified its decision for publication, which means that the decision can now be cited as legal authority by all other courts in California.”
While there is reason for concern, it is best to keep up on the news and keep in contact with your local CA Homeschool Reps. HSLDA has a petition for all homeschoolers to sign in support of California homeschoolers. If you are interested, go to CA Homeschooling Freedoms. I have stated that I am concerned about CA public school and homeschool laws, because, sooner or later, however CA goes, so goes the country…. sadly enough.
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Prayer Requests
Please keep a couple of prayer requests in mind, if you will. A homeschool mom of three got pneumonia this past week and died in the hospital. She leaves behind her husband and children.
Also, four-week-old Baby Grace is in the hospital with RSV. She is on oxygen and needs our prayers. After taking Caleb to the hospital twice last week, I am hurting for her. Rachel had RSV when she was about 6weeks old, but fortunately, she wasn’t hospitalized. Even in our faith, it is still a scary place to be in as Mom.
There is a lot of the flu going around all over the country. It is not just the flu, but varied forms of it. Please keep yourself healthy and pray for those you know or even blog with. It is so easily spread and takes so long to recover from. If you use home remedies, you may want to look at my Honey For What Ails You post or the GOOT Recipe. It has become a popular link this season and was of incredible help to our family.
Our two-year-old, Caleb, is doing much better, I am still worried about him. Having viral influenza can lead to other things at his age(like RSV), and I am obviously concerned. I know God can heal him, and I am thankful He has kept him and is strengthening his immune system. Now, if I could get some sleep!
Please continue to pray for Robin Sampson. She has come through heart surgery and is recovering.
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Lastly, don’t forget to sign up for the next Saturday Swap. Heather has extended it to two months to accommodate us busy homeschool moms, because many of us (myself included) were getting them out quite late. I do think it is really fun tho!! I am participating this time, but I will need to just work as though it’s a month just to get it out in time!!
I hope you have a wonderful week this week! If you have any ideas or links you would like to share with fellow homeschool moms, please feel free to let us know!
Posted in Carnival of Homeschooling, Curriculum Picks, Homeschool Favorites, Memo Monday | 2 Comments »
Memo Monday
Written by Jacque on December 10, 2007 – 4:53 am -Welcome to Memo Monday. The start of another week of homeschooling! Or have you taken a break for the holidays? Maybe some time off to get out and play in the snow or take a nature hike in the cooling weather. Unless you are in Australia. Then you are in the midst of a heat wave, right?
CONTESTS
Well, no matter the weather, Amy at Simple Folk has a contest for you from the homeschool Estore:The 12 Blogs of Christmas. The Homeschool Estore has changed their name to CurrClick. They have an offer a free EBook download. Free is good in any weather, don’t you think? And don’t forget to vote in the Homeschool Blog Awards. There are 23 categories and only 5 days left. Have you had any time at all to peruse the nominees? There are a bunch!
CARNIVALS
blog
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(blŏg) Pronunciation Key
n. A weblog.
intr.v. blogged, blog·ging, blogs
To write entries in, add material to, or maintain a weblog.
[(we)blog.] blog·ger n.
+
car·ni·val
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[kahr-nuh-vuh
l] Pronunciation Key –noun
1. a traveling amusement show, having sideshows, rides, etc.
2. any merrymaking, revelry, or festival, as a program of sports or entertainment: a winter carnival.
3. the season immediately preceding Lent, often observed with merrymaking; Shrovetide.
1540–50; < It carnevale, OIt taking meat away, equiv. to carne flesh (< L carnem, acc. of caro) + levare< L levāre to lift
Related forms
car·ni·val·esque, car·ni·val·like, adjective
= BLOG CARNIVAL
A blog carnival is a type of blog event. It is similar to a magazine, in that it is dedicated to a particular topic, and is published on a regular schedule, often weekly or monthly. Each edition of a blog carnival is in the form of a blog article that contains permalinks links to other blog articles on the particular topic.
There are many variations, but typically, someone who wants to organize a carnival posts details of the theme or topic to their blog, and asks readers to submit relevant articles for inclusion in an upcoming edition. The host then collects links to these submissions, edits and annotates them (often in very creative ways), and publishes the resulting round-up to his or her blog.
Many carnivals have a home page or principal organizer, who lines up guest bloggers to host each edition. This means that the carnival travels, appearing on a different blog each time. (courtesy of Wikipedia)
The Homesteading Carnival is going strong in its 28th week. This week Jasmine is graciously hosting it at Ponder the Path. I wonder what goodies and crafts she has to display this week.
Yours Truly has the honor of hosting the Carnival of Homeschooling this week. I’ll have that up tomorrow. Today you will still find the current edition, #101, The Snowed-In Edition at Dewey’s Treehouse.
Dana’s Carnival of Principled Government is up at Life Nurturing Education. Don’t know what the Carnival of Principled Government is? It was started in honor of Liberty Day and consists of posts honoring the founding principles of the United States.
The current issue of the Charlotte Mason blog carnival is at Dominion Family . The next issue is this week at The Family Zoo
A great place to find carnivals that might interest you is Blog Carnival.
Here are some I found interesting:
Educational Technology Carnival
HOMESCHOOL CURRICULUM & RESOURCE REVIEWS
I have had several people ask me to review books for them. While I am still reading on a couple, I did get to review Sonya Haskins’ The Homeschooler’s Book of Lists. It is a wonderful resource for parents and children alike.
Having two in high school, I have been on the alert for high school resources. At the moment my favorite is Senior High: A Home-Designed Form+U+La.
Another great homeschool resource is, oddly enough, no longer being printed. It is the Elijah Company 2004-2005 Resource Catalog. It is still available at Homeschool Marketplace for only $5.95. Now, “Why,” you ask, “would I ever recommend a resource catalog?”. I personally would recommend it because of two reasons. First of all, it has so much information in it about why to homeschool, creating a learning environment, determining your child’s needs, and information about teaching all ofthe base subjects. Another reason is because it is a faith-based resource. I really have gotten a lot out of the high school information. A lot. The information and explanations about credits were a big help. This book is not just a resource catalog. It is more of a homeschool guide/devotional/answer book.
From the site:
“The Resource Guide is 282 pages, book-bound and…
I have come back to this book over and over again. It is not just for new homeschoolers or homeschoolers of young children or older children. It is not just for Charlotte Mason homeschoolers or eclectic. It really is a great resource for homeschoolers. As a matter of fact, I own 3 of them. I had four, but I sent one to a friend in Canada and have two in the plastic wrap. I intend to buy at least two more to pass down to my children. They can’t have my copy!While we are talking about all-around good homeschool resources, I will also recommend an old favorite of mine… one of the gifts for the winners of the Homeschool blog Awards: The Old Schoolhouse Magazine. They are having a really great deal right now. When you order a new subscription or add a renewal to your current subscription, you can get a second subscription of TOS for $5. What a great way to bless a friend! For the price of a Mocha you can encourage a friend with the gift of The Old Schoolhouse® Magazine for an entire year! Bless a homeschooling friend with the gift of encouragement the entire year through!Not only does your recipient receive the gift of The Old Schoolhouse Magazine, but they will also receive the TOS 25 Homeschooling Gifts. Your recipient will receive a pack of postcards to send in and redeem all their goodies! And right on top, will be a postcard letting them know that this is a special gift just from you!
ONLINE HOMESCHOOL SITES
Looking for a place to find a good deal on homeschool books and curriculum? Maybe you have some of your own you want to sell online. Take a look at Homeschool Buy.
Apples For the Teacher is a site for teachers and children. Their site includes interactive learning games, quizzes, and worksheet generator tools by subject (creative arts, foreign languages, language arts, math, science, social studies), articles, literacy coloring pages and more. They have online Games and Resources for Toddlers, Preschoolers, Kindergarten, and Elementary Students. It is a “Kid Safe Teacher Created Educational Website with Homeschooling Activities for First Grade, Second Grade, Third Grade, Fourth Grade, Fifth Grade and Sixth Grade.” Thanks to MamaArcher for the link. I hope this has given you plenty to look for and do over the next week.
Blessings!
Jacque
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