Just thought I'd share a few of my favourite sites we use for our homeschooling adventure, some free and some not.
FREE
Super Teacher Worksheets, I have used this site to find free printable worksheets for Math, Grammar, Comprehension...so far. And I'm assuming I'll be using it much more.
A Plus Math, I've used this one a few times for online 'flash' cards and for some math worksheets.
Starfall, I used this one in the past but Noah has outgrown it. I'm keeping this one in my back pocket for future reference because I personally love this site.
NON-FREE
Time 4 Learning, I've been using this site for about 3 years now. I started using it to help with Noah's English reading, then I used it as a summer program and now I use it as a supplemental resource. I love it and it only costs $20 per month. When I first started using it, I found it was a little overwhelming because there was SO much information. Now that I've found the lesson plans, I can actually find what I need very easily as can I easily assign Noah certain activities. When Noah first started using it, he didn't even realize it was educational!!! He couldn't believe I would let him on the computer for as long as he wanted. NOW, he claims the grade 4 curriculum is a little less 'fun' (based on the fact that he has to read more)!!! But we still use it alot.
BrainPOP, is my newest find (thanks to my aunt who is a retired school teacher, of 31 years). This site cost $99 for the whole year and so far, we have got our complete money's worth out of it. The site is set up with 2-4 minute videos to introduce the student to each of the hundreds of subjects. Once they are finished watching the video, they can do an online quiz, experiments, do an activity about the subject, read a Q&A section and much more. Noah is LOVING this site. I often find him checking out videos or he'll say something like 'hey Mom, did you know that...'. When I ask him where he learned that, he'll tell me he watched a video on this site! So.....to me this is amazing!
Both of these sites have a free trial (Time4Learning, I think it's a 2 week free trial and Brain Pop has a 5 or 7 day free trial)....check 'em out!
Let me know if you have any favourite homeschooling sites, free or not. I'm always looking for resources. Do you use any of these above sites.
Thursday, January 27, 2011
Tuesday, January 25, 2011
Anxious...
An anxious heart weighs a man down. Proverbs 12:25
During our bible studies this morning, Noah & I came across this verse.
It spoke to me, on more levels than one.
In preparing to sell our house for our move (after all that happened the last time we sold a house - it took 9 months of having to be apart from Jacques), I am beginning to feel a little anxious.
I keep praying for God to take this anxiety from me, but this bad weed of a feeling keeps poking it's head!
Less than one hour later, a dear friend called me and asked me to pray for two families.
I shared this verse with my friend earlier today.
Later on, she called me and thanked me for sharing this. She told me that it really helped her.
It really helped me today too.
I hope you in some way, it will help you too! Hand it over to God, because with Him ALL things are possible!
Good night and God Bless.
During our bible studies this morning, Noah & I came across this verse.
It spoke to me, on more levels than one.
In preparing to sell our house for our move (after all that happened the last time we sold a house - it took 9 months of having to be apart from Jacques), I am beginning to feel a little anxious.
I keep praying for God to take this anxiety from me, but this bad weed of a feeling keeps poking it's head!
So when we read this, it really touched me!
Less than one hour later, a dear friend called me and asked me to pray for two families.
- One family has been affected by a suicide.
- The other family has been affected by a house fire. The woman lost her spouse in the fire and had to jump to save her life. She is left with a broken back and burned legs and arms.
- Plus, this past weekend a guy I went to high school with, an RCMP officer with 3 young boys had a heart attach and died. He was laid to rest today.
My heart is heavy for all these families.
I shared this verse with my friend earlier today.
Later on, she called me and thanked me for sharing this. She told me that it really helped her.
It really helped me today too.
I hope you in some way, it will help you too! Hand it over to God, because with Him ALL things are possible!
Good night and God Bless.
Saturday, January 22, 2011
We made it!
I am so excited for this weekend.
It might seem really simple, but Jacques surprised us last night and told us that he is working from home this weekend. AND...this is the LAST weekend of this years' 'year end' season!
So that means we did it, we made it through another gruelling season of 'year end'!
And the even better news, is that we now have (officially) enough snow for Jacques to enjoy his snow mobile!! JUST in time for the closing of his busy season.
I am so happy for him and for us, that the end is near!!!
We did it! YAY!
It might seem really simple, but Jacques surprised us last night and told us that he is working from home this weekend. AND...this is the LAST weekend of this years' 'year end' season!
So that means we did it, we made it through another gruelling season of 'year end'!
And the even better news, is that we now have (officially) enough snow for Jacques to enjoy his snow mobile!! JUST in time for the closing of his busy season.
I am so happy for him and for us, that the end is near!!!
We did it! YAY!
Wednesday, January 19, 2011
Homeschooling update, month 5
Noah said to me yesterday, 'Mom, can you believe that we've been homeschooling for 5 months now?'
I said, 'No, it's not been 5 months.'...then I did the math, and sure enough he was right!!!
It's hard to believe that it's been this long now.
Since the new year began (and craft show season is over) life seems to be completely in balance, especially school.
I can't even begin to describe just HOW much I enjoy my days with Noah.
Most days, when I am teaching him there is always a moment and sometimes several moments where I get all giddy feeling and butterflies in my stomach thinking 'how did I get SO lucky'?
This IS exactly what I've always dreamed of doing and I'm the luckiest girl alive.
As for our progress in month 5, we are making leaps and bounds.
Here are some areas and some description of the improvements we have seen, as well as some of the areas we continue to work on!
Reading/Comprehension.
At the beginning of the year, I read aloud and question him orally from his work book. He struggled with his comprehension and understanding of the stories he was reading.
By late fall, I moved to only read about half and he would read the other half. Then he would only do the the workbook orally half the time, the rest of the time I would make him write out the answers. From his progress report (October) to his first report (December), I saw improvements.
Now, starting in January, he is doing all of the reading and all of the workbook on his own.
NOW...doing all of his work on his own, though we tend to argue (because he certainly doesn't like doing the work alone), I am really excited to see greater improvements than I thought possible!
Teaching & Work flow
At the beginning of the year, I used to teach one subject then sit and wait for him to complete his work. It was very time consuming (which I don't mind), but I found that I was doing a little too much helping for him to achieve an independent work.
Starting in January, now I teach him all his subjects and he does his work independently.
By doing this, I was fearful of his grades dropping considering he struggles with reading the question fully. Noah is very grade driven, so I was hoping that if he sees his grades drop (short term) than it would teach him to read the questions completely.
So far, it's looking like the plan is working! For about the first week and a bit, he was frustrated because his grades indeed fell lower than expected. NOW, he is paying closer attention to the questions and his grades are back where they were before! YAY! The odd day or lesson, he misses reading the question (as I assume many children do from time to time) but for the most part, he is doing fantastic!
Socializing
We continue to lots of play dates, but I suspect Noah is starting to struggle a little bit with the lack of friends. By this, I mean not the lack of play dates but he really only has 2 close friends that he has play dates with. So there is not much variety. As well, Noah struggles with the fact that he never gets invites to go to their houses and that the kids are always at our house.
This is something I can't change, but help him work through. I am working really hard on trying to make some contacts for when we move, in hopes to make some connections prior to our move!
For now, I am trying to keep him busy with lots of activities (especially while Jacques has been busy at work). As well, we will hopefully be making a trip or two this spring to Ontario to visit family. For Noah, visiting his cousins is always so much fun (and social)!
As for other areas of the social aspect of homeschooling, I've never been more proud of my little man.
For example, with Jacques working so much I've been working hard on teaching Noah to be extra considerate of his dad when he is home. A few times now after supper (on the weekend), with no advanced prompting, Noah has told Jacques to relax while helping me clear the table and do dishes.
Another example, is each time we have a play date with one of Noah's friends' and his little sister, Noah always carries her school bag to and from the van and opens the door for her. The first time I saw that, I was SO proud of my little man!
Area's of Improvement to continue on
Talking back with attitude - and.....I have a funny feeling this will be a constant challenge through out the adolescent years!! We're gonna continue to work hard
Interrupting - Oh MY...this is a challenge right now. I think, because he has me solely to himself - day and night, not even having to share me with Jacques right now, I see that he has a very hard time when I am paying attention to anyone other than him. He often does several attention seeking behaviours to try and win my attention. Unfortunately, I know it works - otherwise he would not be doing this! SO....this is an area that we are working hard at improving!
We continue to work hard and have fun with our home schooling adventure!
I said, 'No, it's not been 5 months.'...then I did the math, and sure enough he was right!!!
It's hard to believe that it's been this long now.
Since the new year began (and craft show season is over) life seems to be completely in balance, especially school.
I can't even begin to describe just HOW much I enjoy my days with Noah.
Most days, when I am teaching him there is always a moment and sometimes several moments where I get all giddy feeling and butterflies in my stomach thinking 'how did I get SO lucky'?
This IS exactly what I've always dreamed of doing and I'm the luckiest girl alive.
As for our progress in month 5, we are making leaps and bounds.
Here are some areas and some description of the improvements we have seen, as well as some of the areas we continue to work on!
Reading/Comprehension.
At the beginning of the year, I read aloud and question him orally from his work book. He struggled with his comprehension and understanding of the stories he was reading.
By late fall, I moved to only read about half and he would read the other half. Then he would only do the the workbook orally half the time, the rest of the time I would make him write out the answers. From his progress report (October) to his first report (December), I saw improvements.
Now, starting in January, he is doing all of the reading and all of the workbook on his own.
NOW...doing all of his work on his own, though we tend to argue (because he certainly doesn't like doing the work alone), I am really excited to see greater improvements than I thought possible!
Teaching & Work flow
At the beginning of the year, I used to teach one subject then sit and wait for him to complete his work. It was very time consuming (which I don't mind), but I found that I was doing a little too much helping for him to achieve an independent work.
Starting in January, now I teach him all his subjects and he does his work independently.
By doing this, I was fearful of his grades dropping considering he struggles with reading the question fully. Noah is very grade driven, so I was hoping that if he sees his grades drop (short term) than it would teach him to read the questions completely.
So far, it's looking like the plan is working! For about the first week and a bit, he was frustrated because his grades indeed fell lower than expected. NOW, he is paying closer attention to the questions and his grades are back where they were before! YAY! The odd day or lesson, he misses reading the question (as I assume many children do from time to time) but for the most part, he is doing fantastic!
Socializing
We continue to lots of play dates, but I suspect Noah is starting to struggle a little bit with the lack of friends. By this, I mean not the lack of play dates but he really only has 2 close friends that he has play dates with. So there is not much variety. As well, Noah struggles with the fact that he never gets invites to go to their houses and that the kids are always at our house.
This is something I can't change, but help him work through. I am working really hard on trying to make some contacts for when we move, in hopes to make some connections prior to our move!
For now, I am trying to keep him busy with lots of activities (especially while Jacques has been busy at work). As well, we will hopefully be making a trip or two this spring to Ontario to visit family. For Noah, visiting his cousins is always so much fun (and social)!
As for other areas of the social aspect of homeschooling, I've never been more proud of my little man.
For example, with Jacques working so much I've been working hard on teaching Noah to be extra considerate of his dad when he is home. A few times now after supper (on the weekend), with no advanced prompting, Noah has told Jacques to relax while helping me clear the table and do dishes.
Another example, is each time we have a play date with one of Noah's friends' and his little sister, Noah always carries her school bag to and from the van and opens the door for her. The first time I saw that, I was SO proud of my little man!
Area's of Improvement to continue on
Talking back with attitude - and.....I have a funny feeling this will be a constant challenge through out the adolescent years!! We're gonna continue to work hard
Interrupting - Oh MY...this is a challenge right now. I think, because he has me solely to himself - day and night, not even having to share me with Jacques right now, I see that he has a very hard time when I am paying attention to anyone other than him. He often does several attention seeking behaviours to try and win my attention. Unfortunately, I know it works - otherwise he would not be doing this! SO....this is an area that we are working hard at improving!
We continue to work hard and have fun with our home schooling adventure!
Monday, January 17, 2011
Oh my!!!
You know when you get asked a question from your child and you just don't know what to say....well it happened several times this week during our bible studies at school!!
Each day (along with our devotions), we began reading the Proverbs, chapter by chapter then discussing it after. As we read, we underline words or phrases that we discuss after we finish reading.
The proverbs are basically rules for life.
Things like:
Warnings against the Sinful Man
Moral Benefits of Wisdom
Warnings against Adultery
Warnings about being Lazy
and so on.
So, earlier this week the word 'prostitute' came up and my darling child asked me what this word meant. We discussed what it meant (in kid friendly terms) and it was TOUGH - especially considering Noah is a VERY inquisitive boy!!!
He was very confused and didn't understand why people decided to do THAT when they weren't trying to make a baby. He thought the ONLY time people did that was when a baby was being made.
NOW....fast forward - as we begin to read Proverbs 7
The title of this chapter is: Warning Against the Adulterous Woman
Like 'daaahhh', wasn't this a clue to read ahead???
Here goes:
So I came out to meet you; I looked for you and have found you! I have covered my bed with colored linens from Egypt. I have perfumed my bed with myrrh, aloes and cinnamon. Come, let's drink deeply of love till morning; let's enjoy ourselves with love! Proverbs 7:15-18
Now, here's a little expert of how the conversation went.
Noah - Mom, what does 'let's drink deeply of love till morning, let's enjoy ourselves with love!', mean?
Mom - Ummm, well, it means that they enjoyed each others company all night long.
Noah -You mean like S-E-X?
Mom - Oh dear, yes. That's what I mean.
Noah - So, Mom, how long does the whole like, ummm "process" take? Like "you know what I mean", right?
Mom - Ummmm....yeaaaaaah, I do.
Noah - You know, like how long DID the whole process take for you and Dad, when you made me (referring to the ONE and only time we did 'the process' was to make him).
Mom -Well bud, when you are married and do 'the process', it's only to be shared between a husband and a wife and it's not meant to be shared with other people. So I'm not really going to talk about when Daddy and I "DID" the process.
Noah - but how long could the process take.
Mom - Well, sometimes you could enjoy each other for a few minutes and other times you could enjoy each other all night long.
Noah - Oh, eewwwww, grosssss....that's disgusting Mom. I can't believe ANYONE would do the process all night long. I don't want it to take all day. Like, I'll have to turn TSN (the Sports Network) on and go 'doo, do, doo, do' waiting for the process to be over'
Okay...not only did I almost pee my pants (in nervousness) but I also think I may have just permanently damaged my child from this conversation. I couldn't stop giggling, like as if I had just learned what this meant!
Oh my....what a long book from the bible this one is going to be if it continues like this!!!
Has anyone else had sticky conversations like this with their children?
PLEASE do share.
Help me out here!!!
Each day (along with our devotions), we began reading the Proverbs, chapter by chapter then discussing it after. As we read, we underline words or phrases that we discuss after we finish reading.
The proverbs are basically rules for life.
Things like:
Warnings against the Sinful Man
Moral Benefits of Wisdom
Warnings against Adultery
Warnings about being Lazy
and so on.
So, earlier this week the word 'prostitute' came up and my darling child asked me what this word meant. We discussed what it meant (in kid friendly terms) and it was TOUGH - especially considering Noah is a VERY inquisitive boy!!!
He was very confused and didn't understand why people decided to do THAT when they weren't trying to make a baby. He thought the ONLY time people did that was when a baby was being made.
NOW....fast forward - as we begin to read Proverbs 7
The title of this chapter is: Warning Against the Adulterous Woman
Like 'daaahhh', wasn't this a clue to read ahead???
Here goes:
So I came out to meet you; I looked for you and have found you! I have covered my bed with colored linens from Egypt. I have perfumed my bed with myrrh, aloes and cinnamon. Come, let's drink deeply of love till morning; let's enjoy ourselves with love! Proverbs 7:15-18
Now, here's a little expert of how the conversation went.
Noah - Mom, what does 'let's drink deeply of love till morning, let's enjoy ourselves with love!', mean?
Mom - Ummm, well, it means that they enjoyed each others company all night long.
Noah -You mean like S-E-X?
Mom - Oh dear, yes. That's what I mean.
Noah - So, Mom, how long does the whole like, ummm "process" take? Like "you know what I mean", right?
Mom - Ummmm....yeaaaaaah, I do.
Noah - You know, like how long DID the whole process take for you and Dad, when you made me (referring to the ONE and only time we did 'the process' was to make him).
Mom -Well bud, when you are married and do 'the process', it's only to be shared between a husband and a wife and it's not meant to be shared with other people. So I'm not really going to talk about when Daddy and I "DID" the process.
Noah - but how long could the process take.
Mom - Well, sometimes you could enjoy each other for a few minutes and other times you could enjoy each other all night long.
Noah - Oh, eewwwww, grosssss....that's disgusting Mom. I can't believe ANYONE would do the process all night long. I don't want it to take all day. Like, I'll have to turn TSN (the Sports Network) on and go 'doo, do, doo, do' waiting for the process to be over'
Okay...not only did I almost pee my pants (in nervousness) but I also think I may have just permanently damaged my child from this conversation. I couldn't stop giggling, like as if I had just learned what this meant!
Oh my....what a long book from the bible this one is going to be if it continues like this!!!
Has anyone else had sticky conversations like this with their children?
PLEASE do share.
Help me out here!!!
Friday, January 14, 2011
More school stuff....
With Jacques working so much, Noah has not got to share too much time with his Dad.
Before Jacques left for work this morning, they got to share a great father/son moment. We've been working so hard on Science Experiments this week, he wanted to share some with his Dad.
I loved what I saw here for 2 reasons. First, because Noah was SO proud of his work, and second, because the tender moment they had together!
This hard work happens every year, but it never seems to get any easier!
My Aunt (who has 31 years of teaching experience) gave us an idea for a science experiment that would also help teach the 'changes of state' and it is EATABLE!
It's making Snow Cream (if you want the recipe, email me)! We experienced 2 different changes of state, one from liquid to solid and the other from solid to liquid. It's a fun project that Noah had to write in his journal about afterwards.
AND...
He loved it so much, he wants to do it again tonight with his Dad (for dessert)!!!
Here's our finished project - that somehow he managed to eat for BREAKFAST!
School, Work, School, Work, and some Fun
It seems these days, it's strictly all work, school and some play.
Or at least that's all I seem to be capturing on camera. I only ever have my phone handy, even though my good camera is downstairs collecting dust (sheesh!). It seems to do this every winter :(
Thankfully, I have my phone camera now and at least we're capturing life over the long winter months.
Man, have we been having some fun school days lately!
Yesterday, we were learning about polygons. Noah came up with a great idea that he did in public school, so we tried it!
So we played with some marshmallows and learned about polygons!
Then we played some more, and made (and ate some of) a building!
The cuter side of life:
While Noah & I are working on school and play time,
the cat is lounging around being a, ummm, a bit of a lazy kitty!
Monday, January 10, 2011
You know your fussy, when...
When your child is asked to write the instructions to make a bed, they include a step to make sure the sides (of the comforter) are equal!!!
OK...so I am fussy with my bed making!!!
His wife will thank me one day!
OK...so I am fussy with my bed making!!!
His wife will thank me one day!
Some science fun!
From last week to this week (in school) - WOW, what a change in behaviour!
I'm liking this!
I wonder 'what is the magic antidote'?
Was it one thing we said?
Was it a reaction?
Was it Jacques stepping in?
or
Was it a combination of things we've done?
Either way, I'm lovin' this.
I mean, don't get me wrong - he's STILL a boy and is 9 years old but it's a complete turn around!
Then again, it helps that we have 2 science experiments and 1 science craft!
And my boy sure loves his science.
Today, we were experimenting learning about the 3 matters of water:
SOLID (ice)
LIQUID (water)
GAS (water vapour)
And here, we are learning about what happens with the molecules for each matter.
Here we are learning about how the SOLID form of water (ice) is lighter than the LIQUID form of water (water)!
After we got all the experiment cleaned up, the stove was still hot and Noah noticed that the ice melted on the burner fast (causing lots of vapour).
Here he is explaining how this happens:
Sunday, January 9, 2011
From boredom to PURE fun!
And so the life without Jacques begins! Well...it's not as bad as it sounds.
January is Jacques' "year end" time and this means A LOT of hours, which translates to not seeing him in the evenings and not seeing him on the weekends.
AND... If you know our family, you probably have heard me complain EVERY January!!! Thanks for listening to me and not judging!!!
The great news is that each year, it seems to get easier. Not that we don't like it one stickin' bit, but we know it's a part of his job that allows us to live the life we have!
THANK YOU honey for working SO hard for our family!
Yesterday, boredom set in :( Considering we are trying so hard to save money for our adoption, and we live in a town where there is not much to do, what do you DO when you're really bored.
Well...we did it. We changed our boredom into something fun, and it was quite simple!
We got up and went to a petting zoo (that is closed now for the season, but the animals are still there) and fed them some old bread we had been collecting for the past few months!
January is Jacques' "year end" time and this means A LOT of hours, which translates to not seeing him in the evenings and not seeing him on the weekends.
AND... If you know our family, you probably have heard me complain EVERY January!!! Thanks for listening to me and not judging!!!
The great news is that each year, it seems to get easier. Not that we don't like it one stickin' bit, but we know it's a part of his job that allows us to live the life we have!
THANK YOU honey for working SO hard for our family!
Yesterday, boredom set in :( Considering we are trying so hard to save money for our adoption, and we live in a town where there is not much to do, what do you DO when you're really bored.
We got up and went to a petting zoo (that is closed now for the season, but the animals are still there) and fed them some old bread we had been collecting for the past few months!
This guy here was my favourite!
It's not hard to tell why...
...just look at THAT attitude!
Then a simple car wash, somehow turned into some more fun! Noah was SO excited considering he had never washed a car himself in one of these 'self serve' car washes! And...to BOOT, he did a pretty good job!
After church this morning, Noah had a great idea! We went to Edmundston to visit Jacques. We snuck in an hour for a lunch date. Then, Noah & I went to do some rock climbing and swimming!
So a weekend that started off in pure boredom, ended up to be quite the adventure after all!
As Noah was going to bed, he said 'Mom, I can't believe the weekend is almost over. It's been the best weekend ever.'
Saturday, January 1, 2011
Happy New Year
Christmas is all over for another year.
We had a lovely Christmas. It was quiet and low key.
It has been a simple and relaxing vacation,
probably in a subconscious kinda way in preparation for a busy year ahead.
So what do I say about a new year??
Lets just say we have one busy year with lots of
"new" on the horizon for 2011.
I admit, I've kinda been hiding out this past week to catch up on some MUCH needed R&R.
So with that, just wanted to wish you all a very Happy 2011!
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