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Thursday, April 11, 2013

This Weeks Great Finds

As many of our readers already know about our great finds, but if your just joining us, we find a lot of great deals here at our local dollar stores. This week we found 4 great books for a dollar each at Dollar Tree.

Animal World
Science
Planet Earth
World History

These have many great resources in them to cover the basics and then some. These 4 books would be great for notebooking or lapbooking. We are going to use both methods, lapbooking for my younger children and notebooking for my older children.

Honestly, I don't know what I was thinking here. When I first looked at it, I thought it would be great to with a Geography study, but after getting it home, not so good of an idea. So, I think this would be a good reference for future road trips. The bottom line is that it was only a dollar.

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Tuesday, March 12, 2013

Notebooking with Geography Giveaway

We use and love notebooking! I would like to share with you some of the sales going on with Debra Reed's Notebooking Pages this month. This month only you can get over 60 country/province outline maps FREE, until March 15th Debra is having a Giveaway of 3 prize with a lifetime membership, Geography bundles, Amazon gift certificates included, and limited (Geography pages) 50% OFF until March 31st.

Learning through Notebooking Connecticut Study-Maps

Monday, February 4, 2013

Help Us Find Our Lost Resource

We really need your help because my three younger children really miss the original notebooking pages. These pages included the two pages shown below, but it also included another page with the picture to paste them onto the page below. The cut-outs includes, state bird, state flag, state banner, state license plate, etc. So, you see why this is great for children in preschool to second grades.

We are currently using Debra’s notebooking pages, but can’t a bit much for a first grader. These have a lot of writing involved and my younger ones are unable to write a full page. Well, they can write a page, but it would take weeks to complete one state. They would just get bored after a few weeks of talking about the same state.

We had several copies, but the last copy was used without letting me know we needed to make more copies. So, that was an error on my part because I should have had a copy folder for it to run off more copies. I've tried researching and no luck. Unfortunately, there wasn't a reference link on these page to refer back to, so that’s why were in need of your help.

So, please if you've seen this resource or know the link to regain this, please leave in the comments. Thank you!

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Tuesday, January 29, 2013

Dinosaur Fact Sheet

This fact sheet is nice way to learn about the fun facts about each dinosaur as we learn them. We’re using this fact sheet for each dinosaur. This has various questions to help your child learn the fact about each dinosaur as you explore them. I hope you enjoy this as much as we have.

Dinosaur Fact Sheet by

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Wednesday, January 23, 2013

Connecticut Study-Maps

As we continue to learn about Connecticut. This week we’re working on our maps for Connecticut. This is challenging for some, but for others it comes natural.

My son is working on adding the highways in Connecticut. He’s also adding the cities and towns along each highway. So, far there’s one that goes through the entire state. He told me it would be easier to start there because it would get easier and easier to add the rest of the highways. I don’t know if this is how his brain works or if he’s taking the easy way out, but at least he has a plan.

My other son is working on the cities or towns that are an Industry, Agriculture, etc. However, this is more challenging than he thought. He’s struggling with the placement because this map is smaller than the Atlas book. Even after giving him the other options for the map, he still wants to continue. This can be good for him to not give up when things get tough.

My younger children took another day to finish up some coloring pages for their Connecticut Study. There’s a lot of detail on the State Bird Notebook Page. I’m happy that they’re taking their time with these pages and it shows in their coloring.

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Thursday, January 10, 2013

State Study-Connecticut

This week we learned about Connecticut through notebooking and lapbooking. We’ve been notebooking with a few basic notebooking pages to ease into a full study. We finished those up just before Christmas. Now we’re using Debra Reed’s notebooking pages to pull more facts about each state.

We started with Connecticut because that’s where our National Geographic Atlas book started. I highly recommend this for any state study because it has a lot of useful facts. I found ours on eBay, cheaper than Amazon. I also purchased another National Geographic Atlas book for my younger children. This was a great deal because it’s more user friendly for younger children. It’s important to get reference books that are age appropriate or you’ll lose your child’s interests.

The state study is 37 pages of which 3 pages can be used as a lapbook. This was great because we love both notebooking and lapbooking. It’s also a great fit because I didn’t have to search for notebooking pages. I like how it has different templates as well because there’s so many available, but not all will work with all topics. Click Here to get this state study.

We’re still working on this unit study because we’re covering other academic needs. I know that some just do notebooking and it’s a great way to cover multiple subjects in one, but my children need a little more.

I’ve also created a notebook page for preschoolers. This was great for my little guy because he didn’t feel left out in the fun. Click the picture below to download the Preschool State Notebooking Page.

Preschool State Notebooking Page by

Click on the picture or click here to get this deal. Use the code: EXTRABUCK to get $1 OFF.

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Wednesday, January 9, 2013

This Week’s Bible Lesson-Creation

I haven’t found the right resource to do a bible lesson with my children. We were doing verse memory for our copywork, but they need more than that. Recently, I came across weekly bible study lesson plans that fit our needs. Click here to get your free from Bible Study Planet.

We do this as a group session for our first subject of the day. This week we’re learning about God’s Creations. We learned Genesis 1:1-2:25 and did a coloring worksheet. My older children copied our bible verse into their Bible Journals from the whiteboard.

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Tuesday, January 8, 2013

Keeping Up

Apparently, I’m not planning enough for my fifth grader because he finishes so fast. He’s so determined to get caught up because he completed his work early today. When we first began homeschooling he wasn’t able to read because he didn't talk much. He’s opened a lot since then and is making so much progress. After several approaches, he’s now reading at a second grade level.

Last year, we used Reading Eggs, Progressive Phonics, and lots of books from the library. Now he’s working on level 2 of Hooked on Phonics. I’m so proud of him. He’s really has come a long way since the beginning.

He can do a full notebooking page. He shows interest in his learning, determined to learn, shows pride in his work. However, he tends to over do it sometimes. He will do more than assigned.

He’s more of a visual/hands-on kind of learner. So, we tend to do a lot of his lessons on the whiteboard or hands-on learning activities. His phonics is done with tiles three times a week. Math is done through whiteboard lessons and manipulatives.

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High School Breaking Point

This is our first year homeschooling High School. This is by far the hardest ever for me because my son doesn’t want to be homeschooled. He only wants to do 1-2 pages a day. He also gives me a hard time about what subject he’ll do. It always begins with an argument that I actually think a debate class would be great for him.

Well, I think he’s starting to accept the fact that he’s homeschooled. His attitude has changed. I’m not saying it completely turned around, but our heads aren’t bumping together and we argue less and less.

He did complete a full notebooking page without complaining. He also did his math without losing it. I also saw a total change in his writing. I can now read it and he’s writing more than asked.

The only thought that comes to my mind is faith because the power of prayer speaks for itself. He’s had a rough couple of years in middle school that he basically didn’t learn anything those years. I think he finally feels structure with his education and is coming back out of his shell. We’re both a happier camper.

I’ve been using notebooking with him since September. I think it settles with him because the layout is great for him. After three years of chaos in the public school system, Debra’s program is great for being structure back into an education for my struggling learner.

Recently, I had the opportunity to review Jimmie’s Designing your Language Arts Curriculum and Essay Tune Up. Language Arts can be difficult for all grade levels, but Jimmie’s Notebooking Success eBook taught e how to use notebooking for our homeschooling. So, I know with using living grammar will also help me with my son.

I tried her tips today with my son and it helped because he asked me about his D.O.L. (Daily Oral Language). I think he was excited because it’s now less work on his plate. I believe its better this way because he’s learning from his mistakes. As Jimmie states, “grammar books are a great resource, but why not live the language?”

As well as writing an essay because it’s been awhile for me. With these 7 formulas and the planning sheets provided in this eBook. I’m now off to a great start to refreshing my skills and as well as helping my son. He’ll take these skills with him for the years to come.

The Language Arts eBook has a lot of resources for me to teach my children well. I think with notebooking and these new suggestions, I can see some nice changes headed our way over the years to come. I strongly suggest getting these 3 eBooks while they are on sale and start your year off to a good start. Living language really is the best way for all of us. I know for me it won’t help just my children, but me as well.

Right now you can get all 3 of these eBooks for $11

Notebooking Success eBook
Designing your Language Arts Curriculum
Essay Tune Up

Click here to view more details

Use this code EXTRABUCK for a $1 off and pay only $10 today, and hurry offer expires January 13, 2013! Click here to view more details

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Tuesday, October 9, 2012

Daily Learning Notebooks

We started our Daily Learning Notebooks yesterday and it was awesome. I got the idea from a friend of mine in my Homeschool Mamma Facebook Group. My son was so excited to see that what he did yesterday was erased. Now that's a way to start the day with some excitement. We downloaded these pages from Confessions of a Homeschooler. I really love this website because I get a lot from her site and this was another great resource that I think many children will love these personal notebooks. I've already seen some alterations being done by my children.

Of course, because I homeschool five children, I did all three of the Daily Learning Notebooks, but my oldest son didn't fit into these categories; Preschool, Elementary, and the Cursive Version. However, with the foundation already laid out for through these layouts, I was able to create one for my older son through other resources. This still allows him to stay on top of things as well as teaching him time management skills.

This is my first and second grader working on their Daily Learning Notebooks!!! These worked so well for them. My daughter did her really enjoyed having all of her work in front of her because she tends to finish her work fast and sometimes I can't give the next assignment right away. As for my son, he does the dry erase section twice a day because he loves the write/erase portion.

This is my 5th grader working on his, but he did make some changes. However, for the better, he added a lot more to it!!!

This is added materials, his math, two folders, one for homework and one for any other daily assignments, stack of notebook paper for his spelling words, and Language Arts textbook. Then he stated this isn't big enough and ask for a bigger one. So, this weekend we are getting a bigger one for him.

However, this wasn't working very well with Preschooler. So, we will be eliminating this for him and continuing to work at the table. Which is not a problem because now he can have all the space he needs and not get the others upset about him taking up too much space.

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