2008 November « Unionvale HomeSchool

BFS #110: Computer help People Help People (IBM)

November 19, 2008 at 2:15 am (homeschool)
Tags: BFS

Assignment:

Share some of your favorite homeschooling sites. The only “rule” for this assignment is that you have to list at least one “free” site. Many homeschooling families have made the choice to live on very little income to do what they believe is best for their children and I want everyone to be able to benefit from this assignment. If you have other sites that are “paid” sites, feel free to include these also as it might be something someone would really appreciate. If you feel led, share your curriculum choices with us. I always love to learn what is out there that I don’t already know about. Please make sure to include links to the sites you share.

My favorite Sites:

http://www.homeschoolviews.com/

http://www.makingfriends.com

http://www.childcareland.com/free.html

http://www.homeschoolbuyersco-op.org/homeschool/

http://homeschoolshare.com

http://www.makinglearningfun.com

Of course I could list more… I was just scanning my saved links and have several hundred (I need to purge them) but the above are my all time favorites for free homeschool stuff.. I have a list of fav’s for blogs, mom stuff, ect but that is another post.

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Field Trip: Willamette River Queen and RiverFront Park

November 19, 2008 at 1:54 am (homeschool)
Tags: field trips

We joined SASH for a fun afternoon on the Willamette River Queen today. Although the sky was cloudy and the wind was lightly blowing we still had fun. Cameron even decided to “drive” the boat and was put in an sailor’s hat to take the wheel. Perfect as our mascot is a sailor.

Cameron tried out some new toys at the park and found out you can fly!

Cameron can fly

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Veteran’s Day Lapbook finishes off Community Helpers Unit

November 18, 2008 at 12:17 am (homeschool)
Tags: lapbooks, Veteran's Day

I still need to reload the camera and take pictures of the finished lapbook but Cameron and I worked on a great Veteran’s Day lapbook on Tuesday. It was a free download that another homeschooler forwarded to us and it was great. We talked about each branch of the service, what is a veteran, how to treat the American Flag and then finished with Veteran’s we know. Cameron wrote the motto for 3 of the 5 branches of military as well as the names of 5 people we know that are Veteran’s (Papa, Uncle Matt, Eric G., Pastor Jim, and Will W. ) those were the names he was the most familar with and could relate to, not that the others were not important but getting a 6 year old young writer to focus on writing a list… We picked just a few. He decorated the cover with some patriotic stickers I found in my stash and titled it. Overall the lesson was good and the time together was great.

Next week we will be changing gears and studying the stars. Day 4 of Creation… The boys have been looking forward to this unit for the last month… I’m glad it gets dark earlier and I can take them outside to see the stars (praying for a clear night at least once…)

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BFS: #108 Quality is Job #1

November 14, 2008 at 4:23 am (homeschool, life)
Tags: BFS

My family and I rarely do anything apart from each other. We don’t really have quality time together because all our time is together. We feel like the more special moments are when we have dinner together or when we worship God together. For this assignment, tell how you and your family spend QUALITY time together.

This assignment is timely… Following Cameron’s birthday I let him pick out a couple of gifts with his Gift Card from Walmart (Thank you Auntie Karla and Uncle Matt!!!). He picked out art supplies including an art pad, paint brushes, and a set of Crayola kid paints (washable and in easy to close containers)… so for the last 2 evenings we have been doing art after dinner with Daddy. Tonight Nathan joined in and the 3 boys painted pictures (works of art!!! I’m not biased or anything.), while they painted I sat at the table and created a couple scrapbook pages of my nephew… We are enjoying this creative time together that is not “school” or eating time… Of course I will be saving the boys’ works of art in their school notebooks and scrapbooks.

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BFS #109: We Bring Good Things to Life

November 14, 2008 at 4:11 am (homeschool)
Tags: BFS

Share a field trip/lifestyle learning experience where you really felt you were bringing good things to life for your children, where something came alive for them, or ignited a passion.

I can think of several field trips that have given the boys something to really grab hold of… OMSI teacher night back in September was a great trip for them to see things in action as well as reinforce several mini units we were working on… The dinosaur exhibit as well as the forest life area struck a cord with Cameron. Nathan loved playing in the children’s museum water works and sand box. The other field trip was our trip to AC Gilbert House/ Discovery Village, the boys love going there and seeing what is new and exciting. I know even a trip out to Daddy’s shop can be a enlightening “field trip” for them as we strive to make learning engaging and fun.

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Election Unit Complete

November 5, 2008 at 4:09 am (homeschool, life)
Tags: election, lapbook

We started off the day by dropping off our ballots at the Elections Office.

Reaching for the ballot box

Then we stopped to show off the Vote Here sign.

Vote Here

Then home to work on our lapbook.

Cameron colored tons of election themed bits and pieces for his book. As the news started coming in about different states we colored the map red and blue. Cameron even included his own ballots.