Category: Homeschool

One of the best perks of homeschooling is that you get to choose what you do to teach.  Amber LOVES art, and we encourage her to draw whenever she can.  She’s very talented and is looking into a career where she can use that skill, but this mom/teacher knows that for ‘art class’ we have to broaden our horizons to include more than just drawing.

So we are quite excited to be bringing ‘TATTOO A BANANA and Other Ways to Turn Anything and Everything into Art’ by PHIL HANSEN into our homeschool art class this year. 

Amber’s back with a mid-way review of the Kaplan Test Prep SAT Course.  Keep reading to see what she has to say about the way the lessons are structured.

While Kaplan’s SAT prep has a cool rewards program, you aren’t going to earn anything until you start learning.

Most people would never realize that my family immigrated to the United States.  We don’t look different then the majority of the population, we don’t speak different, we can read and write English fluently and have no problem adapting to societal norms.

That is due to the fact that we emigrated from Canada, but people who don’t know us are always surprised when we tell them.  Of course having become naturalized citizens also meant that we had to take the Citizenship Test. 

Since many of my readers’ kids may be planning to spend at least part of the summer preparing for the SAT, Amber and I are going to review Kaplan Test Prep’s SAT course for you.

There are two ways that one can take a SAT Prep Course through Kaplan online:

As summer vacation is here for some and is coming up quickly for others, we all know that the first couple of weeks are great for relaxing and unwinding, but as parents we hate to see the learning become stagnant until September rolls around again. That’s one of the reasons we decided to homeschool year round. Together parents and their high school children can avoid the “academic summer slide” by keeping their kids’ brains active by picking up some books on rainy days or during travel, that provide brain-challenging fun!

Simon & Schuster.net is offering a FREE MICHAEL VEY eBook for teachers!

It’s the teacher’s edition with curriculum guide.

Michael Vey: The Prisoner of Cell 25 is now available for download, and the curriculum can be also be printed for classroom use.

With CHIMPANZEE opening in theatres this Friday (April 20th), I wanted to share some new amazing materials that I’m sure you can use in your homeschool.

The first is the CHIMPANZEE Family Activity Book which has really fun games, mazes and coloring sheets that also help teach kids about these amazing animals.

At the beginning of April, the second installment of Junior Wildlife Champions education program (sponsored by Dawn) was launched. The program aims to guide parents and teachers to help teach Kindergarten through 5th grade students about the issues impacting wildlife.

There are FREE downloadable lesson plans thanks to Dawn, the Marine Mammal Center and International Bird Rescue, so that parents and teachers at home and in the classroom, can discuss the importance of helping to save and protect wildlife. HCM LLC has certified that the lesson plans meet National Science Educations standards for elementary school-aged children.

War Horse is a movie that follows a horse named Joey from a farm in England across the European continent during World War I. Being directed by Steven Spielberg, you’re guaranteed an epic experience as you’re immersed in the history of the first World War and the emotions and relationships that war inevitably touches.

Part of the reason many families choose to homeschool is because they understand how their children learn. Some kids learn best by reading, while others retain information better with hands-on projects.  My daughter…she learns best with media. So we use a lot of audio, computer programs and DVDs in our homeschool.

Lionsgate released Wallace & Gromit’s World of Invention on Blu-ray and DVD (list price: $14.99) earlier this month. One can’t help but love that big grin on Wallace’s face and the crazy inventions he’s always coming up with.