Saturday, May 2, 2009

Do We Really Have to Finish the School Year.....

...before we start planning next year?

Good. I thought not.

I'm going through my awesome homeschool links section on my computer (and husband's laptop). I have so much there I can't even find what I want. I thought I'd share while I go through them.

Bible Stuff
The Crafty Classroom shares about a children's Bible they can be independent with. My girls would love reading this.

First heard of this from Grafted Branch (who remembers her? Sniff. Come back GB!). This scripture memory system works. Just look. Here's the link. Actually, the whole site is pretty great.

Preschool and Kindergarten Stuff
All 4 1 and 1 4 All shares a long list of preschool activities. Very worthy of bookmarking!

Brightly Beaming Resources and their free Letter of the Week curriculum. I CAN NOT say enough about this. It is so wonderful. I'm not getting rid of this because it starts at nursery age and goes up much higher. It is a just right fit for little ones. I used this with Little Bit when she was 3. It's JUST ENOUGH.

Color Mountain offers these very simple coloring sheets of letters and numbers. PERFECT for gluing buttons on the "B" and Cheerios on the "C", etc.

A Kindergarten theme round-up at Early Childhood Links. I'm a fan of the thematic units, especially at this age.

Have mercy. This site is from a private school Pre-K teacher. She has THE BEST IDEAS!!!! We used several of them this year. Prekinders.com ROCKS!

Did I mention I like thematic units?? Kinder Korner has a great list of themes and tons of activities. It's all right there.

Reading and Writing Stuff
The Dolch Sight Word Lists are a gold standard to some. THESE, at JanBrett.com are GORGEOUS!!!

I just found this blog last week and I love what I see. All things writing at The Write Start. Very worth a visit but ESPECIALLY if you have a reluctant writer.

Writing worksheet maker. Not sure I've ever used it, but I'm glad I "re-found" it.

Something from the government I bookmarked! Hmm. Beginning to Read activities for pre-school through grade 2.

Ready to go copywork over at Simply Charlotte Mason. Just print and go!

Free printable little books at Nellie Edge. Five Little Monkeys, Eency Weency Spider, Spanish titles too. (This could have gone under Preschool and Kindergarten Stuff as well.)

A page of free printable little book links over at Mrs. Jones' Room. Just follow the links and have your printer ink ready!

Notebooking/Lapbooking Stuff

Free printable resources at Notebooking Pages. Tons of categories to choose from!

I can't give you a direct link to all the lapbooks here, but go to Jamin's blog and scroll down her sidebar for "Our Lapbooks." Good stuff there!

Carissa's Tot Books are miniature versions of big kid lapbooks. She is so nice she shares all the awesome stuff she makes. Little Bit LOVED the tot books we made last year. Sometimes we just printed parts of them---check it out if you have little ones.

General Homeschooling Stuff
Ann Ziese's site Home's Cool is a gem.

For the organization-lover. Or the organization challenged. Donna Young's printables are a girl's best friend.

I go to this every year. World Book's Typical Course of Study for each grade level will alleviate your fears that you are "forgetting something."

Encouragement from Cindy Rushton. Great for new and experienced homeschooling moms!

Lesson Plan Stuff
Fun themes at Fun Lesson Plans. Makes sense, huh?

I print one of these calendars every single month. Very helpful for planning! (not just school but family activities too!)

College Stuff
Just looking ahead. I bookmarked this article by Voddie Baucham. If you have older kids, it's worth looking at.

For the Kids Stuff
Good math practice at Hungry Frog. I like this one because it doesn't go too fast and you can change the options. Also, Multiplication.com has great interactive games. Try Patty's Paints or the Penguin Ice Cream game.

Starfall. Need I say more?

Some blessed soul has gone and put all the old stories on 45's on the internet. Your child can listen to Robin Hood, Peter and the Wolf, etc. Very nice over at Kiddie Records Weekly.

Because hard work deserves a reward....let your kids have 5 minutes on this after they do actual school work. Mom might want to play too!

Learn the states at Jims Pages.

Online flash cards at Mr. Martini's. They look just like the real thing and offer great practice when no one has time to flash cards at Junior. Plus, some kids just respond better to the computer on this.

Well, I hope any of that was helpful to some of you. I cleaned out my "Homeschool" bookmarked pages in the process.

What sites can you NOT live without? Let us know in the comments. I love getting new links!

5 comments:

  1. Oh. This post is going to get in the way of my to-do list tonight. Or maybe tomorrow! Great links, Brenda! Thanks!

    (And yes, I remember GB and miss her too! And, Voddie Baucham is great!! He's speaking at my state's homeschool convention this summer! I'm so excited!!)

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  2. Ok, so I thought Voddie Baucham was a woman...never heard of him...my apologies!!

    Thanks for the links! Sorry I don't have one to share, but I lost all mine when the hard drive crashed...it was sad...but thanks to you I have some new ones! Yes, come back GB!

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  3. This was great, helpful, and timely. Thanks for taking the time to post these. My husband and son got to meet Voddie Baucham a few months ago and posted pics w/him on their blogs--they had a great time! Keep up the good work around here.

    Many blessings...

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  4. Gee B. - you must have known I had absolutely nothing to do today! ( eyes rolling ) Ha - just kidding, you know I'm gonna have to go through all of these one by one now, that's awesome!! Thanks so much for all your homeschoolie insights
    : D

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  5. Hi Brenda. Wow. Lots of info. Wanted to let you know that I just purchased The Mystery of History to do with the kiddies this summer. I think that they are going to love it. I read about it somewhere on your blog some time ago. Thanks. Laura

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I don't get to talk to a lot of actual grown-ups during the day, so your comments make me really happy! :)