Archive for May, 2014
FREE Bee Worksheets from Itsy Bitsy Fun
Many of you may well be taking a break for the summer months. Our choice, as a family, is to homeschool all year around so that we can take off whenever we want PLUS we have found that our children do much better with a daily routine when we are home and don’t have “other” stuff going on. Even if you are taking a break, you may still have some days where the kids want to do some learning activities. Don’t refuse them! Willingness to want to learn is precious and should be encouraged. This will also keep their minds active so that you do not have to reteach everything once school starts up again!
With that in mind, why not take a look at these FREE Bee Worksheets from Itsy Bitsy Fun. They are suitable for preschool through first grade. Just so you know, I did spot the spelling error (scrambeled instead of scrambled) but have checked the rest of the documents and they appear OK. Use it as a good opportunity to see if your child can see the misspelled word.
Another adVENTURE of FREE, fun learning 
Liz
Strawberry Worksheets and Cutting Practice for K-1st from Mama’s Learning Corner
I recently downloaded these FREE Strawberry Worksheets from Mama’s Learning Corner for Hannah and thought I would share them for you. They are bright and colorful, professionally done and with strawberry season just around the corner, a fun project for kids to complete.
- Strawberry Cutting Practice
- Strawberry Worksheets (Math, English etc)
Lauren (owner of Mama’s Learning Corner) reminded me of one of Caleb’s favorite books – Big Hungry Bear by Don and Audrey Wood. If you have never read this book of a mouse who is trying to keep a strawberry from a big hungry bear, you have missed out! Your library could well have a copy, if not I recommend purchasing one for your home library. As you can see, ours has been well loved!
Another adVENTURE of FREE, fun learning
Liz
FREE Activity Sheets and Coloring Pages for Circle C Beginnings (Chapter Books)
I promised you yesterday I would share the Circle C Beginnings Andi books with you by Susan K. Marlow. I discovered these books earlier this week and although we are only two thirds of the way through the first one, I am liking what I am reading and the kids are enjoying them as well. Although this set of books is primarily for Hannah, all the kids are listening to the story whilst only Hannah is completing the worksheets. They are set in the 1870’s.
For this set of 6 books there are:
Although suggested for children 6-9 and Hannah could read these by herself, we are reading them aloud so the whole family can benefit. The first book starts off with Andi wanting a horse of her own and not her pony, Coco. She is soon going to be 6 and thinks she is now big enough. Of course her mother knows Andi is not ready for a big horse because she does not care for Coco very well nor is she tall enough.
We then find Andi heading out to collect the eggs with strict instructions not to break them. What happens? Henry the Eighth, the big mean rooster, chases her! Uh Oh! Our kids were in hysterics!
Susan Marlow has written an older Andi series about Andi when she is 12 years old suggested for 9-14 year olds. These books have FREE Unit Studies to accompany them.
This find is an absolute gem – a true blessing. I have downloaded all the studies so that we have them when we are ready to use them.
Hope you can get to enjoy them also with your family,
Liz
FREE Study Guides for the Goldtown Adventure Series
I recently came across the Goldtown Adventure Series by Susan K. Marlow. They are set in 1864, just before the end of the Civil War and after the Pony Express came to an end. Although fictional there is a lot of real facts in them. Although written for boys, girls could also enjoy them. Suggested reading age is 8-12. The four books in the series are:
- Badge of Honor
- Tunnel of Gold
- Canyon of Danger
- River of Peril
All four books are available in paperback with the last two in the series out on Kindle.
Jem is a 12 year old boy whose father is the sheriff of Goldtown in California. Times are hard as Jem’s mother has died and so Aunt Rose and her son, Nathan, have come to live with the family. Jem has a younger sister, Ellianna.
Here’s the exciting part though! It was not until we had finished the first book that we learned that there were FREE Study Guides available for each book! They are EXTREMELY well done and very educational.
The truth is, that some FREE study guides are not worth the paper they are printed on but these are exceptional. You can also purchase Lapbooks for each book on Susan’s website but I decided against these as I think Daniel will learn just as much from the Study Guides.
Susan K. Marlow has written two series for girls, the younger one of which I plan on sharing with you tomorrow.
I am SO glad we do not follow a set curriculum as when such great gems as this unexpectedly come along we can take another track and set off on an unplanned learning curve which everyone is excited about! We are going to be studying the Pony Express after doing this but I will share that with you MUCH later 🙂
Happy learning,
Liz
Frogs!
‘Tis the season for frogs. The air is alive with their singing both day and night. The kids have been out catching tadpoles and watching them grow, always putting them back in the pond when finished with their playing though. SO when I decided yesterday that today we were going to do something different and do a lapbook, the subject of frogs seemed to be an obvious one.
As I looked in my newly cleaned up and freshly organized PDF files I discovered we had everything we needed. I pulled projects from several different ones to create the lapbooks you see on this page. Daniel and Hannah both did the same ones but although Caleb could do some of the same, being only a preschooler he wasn’t going to do all the writing etc so I printed him off easier worksheets.
All three of the kids work used two file folders each. I did not have time to plan them out last night so this morning when we just made three separate piles of their work as they finished each piece and then when they were out playing I put them together. That way, I had all the pieces and could place them efficiently in the folders.
Daniel’s is the first four pics:
Daniel is a much neater worker than Hannah, hence showing his lapbook!
They all loved the frog catching the fly!
There were actually three insects to choose from but they all chose the fly for some reason and not the butterfly or dragonfly.
This is Caleb’s cover:
We all learned something so definitely a worthwhile study.
There are several pages under that first page on the left for Caleb. I figured this was the best way to store them.
Resources used:
- Frogs – Speedy Lapbook by Homeschool Bits
- Frog Copywork and Fun by Homeschool Bits
- Frogs Express Lapbook by A Journey Through Learning You can also purchase direct through their website – check which is cheapest at time of ordering!
- Frog Frolic Kindergarten Kit – FREE from Homeschool Share
- Frog Unit and Lapbook Printables – FREE from Homeschool Share
We did not read any books with this study as for one thing, we have read many books on frogs before not to mention that the kids already knew the life cycle etc PLUS the info provided with the above units is pretty detailed. HOWEVER if your child is not that familiar with frogs or you are not close to where you can see ones developing etc I would recommend making use of your library for some great reading resources.
Here are the children playing with some bullfrog tadpoles of which there seems to be more this year than ever before.
Take care and trust you enjoy studying frogs as much as we did!
Liz
FREE Printables for Brown Bear by Eric Carle
At our house we actually prefer the book Polar Bear, Polar Bear What Do You Hear? by Eric Carle BUT I know many of you like the book Brown Bear, Brown Bear What Do You See? so when I saw this free set of printables from Royal Baloo I thought I would share 🙂
Royal Baloo recommends these for 2-4 year olds.
If you do not own the book you should be able to find it at your local library. If not, then you can purchase a copy very reasonably on Amazon.
Another adVENTURE of FREE, fun learning
Liz
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