Thank You's...

Do your children write thank you notes for gifts?  It has always been tradition in my family, even if you gave thank you's in person to the gift giver.  Just wondering what your thoughts are on the topic...  Last year my son was brilliant about thank you notes, and the day after Christmas said, "Mom, I think I should write my thank you notes today."

If you need notecards for your thank you notes, check out these great options on Etsy:

Owl Thank You note cards from mosieposies

Red Polka Dot Mini Thank You note cards by Gencards

Thanks with Love/Tweet Tweet note cards by studio3ten

Letterpress greeting cards by pistachiopress

More FREE Homeschool Resources!

Prek-3 Activity Books from St. Aiden's Homeschool - please note, this website is based in South Africa.  So far the activity books that I've printed are more than 30 pages long. 

 

St. Aiden's Homeschool

St. Aiden's Homepage

Foreign language resources - we use the free downloadable version.  However, you can also choose the deluxe version for access to more lists and resources.  There are over 70 languages to choose from.

 Byki for language learning

This is meant as an adult education resource, but I have found it to be useful with several of my middle school and high school students in need of reading comprehension assistance.  I have only used the reading and vocabulary sections but would imagine the other parts are decent as well. 

TV411

Happy Holidays!

Whatever holiday you celebrate at this time of year, we hope you are having a wonderful time with family and friends.  Same goes for those of you who choose not to celebrate any holidays.

With that said, what are some of the ways you make your holidays special?  This year, JP and I are away from family for the first time ever on Christmas.  It has been rough and things haven't worked out quite the way I had hoped.  I thought we would create all sorts of new traditions but we haven't...we haven't really done anything festive or holiday related.  Nada.  We would love some suggestions from you on how to make next year more festive and special.  How do you celebrate?

Free Homeschool Fun!

The boy and I are both sick.  Not fun.  But, we thought we would share some FREE and FUN ideas for homeschool lessons!  

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Journey North Mystery Class 

From the website:  "In this global game of hide-and-seek, students search to uncover the secret locations of ten "mystery" sites hiding around the Earth. To guide the investigation, they track changes in day length at the mystery sites and at their hometown, and use other "clues" along the way. As they take this inspiring journey, students unlock the essential questions behind the reasons for seasons and the dramatic changes in day length that result."  

We have done this class in the past and it is a fantastic way to learn about geography, science, use math skills, and much, much more!  This would be fantastic for a homeschool co-op class, assigning one or two locations to each child or to groups of kids.  If you do it with just your family, I would recommend dividing the locations among your children if you have more than one.  We are just a mom and one child and doing all 10 locations was really hard!  This year, we will do half of the locations.


Be sure to check out the rest of the website and other projects throughout the year.

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Dance Mat Typing from BBC Schools 

This is a great way to introduce typing to younger kids.  My son learned to type using this program and I am now using it with one of my tutoring students.  The only drawback is that each level or stage really needs to be done multiple times before the typing skills become natural.  Be sure to turn on the speakers for lots of fun sounds and some instructions.

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Primary Games

There are loads of educational games at this website!  Some are academic, others are just plain fun!

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Explore and Learn at The Met

Have an art lover in your family?  The Met's Explore and Learn section has many fun activities online!  In addition to the online activities, there are several printable guides - some assume that you will visit the museum, others are stand alone.