Three Things I Love This Thursday

I have been wanting to share some fun little things we are using in our homeschool which I LOVE, so I thought I'd pick three of them today. The awesome thing is that one is FREE and one is $.99 (the other is $9.63 - oops!).

KANOODLE!

I bought this game at a toy store last weekend. Wow! The kids have played it a lot and it's fun for adults, too... it is awesome for spatial awareness and logical thinking. It can be alone or with two people, and it has levels from very easy to VERY hard. I've left it on the coffee table and when people walk by they play. Very fun. I found it for $9.63 on Amazon (see link above) ~ I was a sucker and paid $13.99 at the toy store. In my opinion, it is worth it.

Stack the States

is one of the most valuable apps we have purchased for our iPad at a whopping $.99! It's a fun geography game for all ages - teaching state location, capitals, trivia, etc... You can get the lite version for free to see if you like it. It was voted the Best iPad Kids App. of 2010 (how did I miss it in 2010?!?)

image courtesty iTunes

The Wonder Clock
by Howard Pyle - you can read this book FREE online. It is a book of 24 (one for each hour of the day) beautifully crafted fairy tales and exquisite illustrations. Pyle wrote and illustrated this book in 1887 and it really is a gem. Both of my children are enjoying this read-aloud. We are reading it on our iPad (I cannot tell you, by the way, how beneficial the iPad is to our homeschool... much more so than a laptop, in my opinion).

image courtesy Goodreads.com

A Fantastic Find for Your Young Baseball Fan (that everyone will enjoy!)

The season for baseball is fast approaching. Our first ball practice is this week. My husband and son made a pilgrimage to the Minnesota Twins training camp in Ft. Myers, FL, yesterday. Fantasy baseball drafts are near. Baseball fever has officially HIT.

One of the ways I captured my son's attention way back in the fall when we first started homeschooling him was through his first love: BASEBALL. We did a baseball lapbook. In First Language Lessons we copied the names of all of the Atlanta Braves players as examples of proper nouns. We play Topps Attax online (a great, free online game for kids) and in person. I found lots of baseball math activities online. I ordered several first reader books about baseball players.

For Black History month my husband decided to start a read-aloud with the kids that GMan got for Christmas, Jackie and Me. Each evening before bed we all sat in the living and listened to daddy read this book. Not only was it a great biography about Jackie Robinson, but it also was such an accurate portrayal of the civil rights struggles Jackie and all other black Americans dealt with.

In the book, Joe Stoshack, a white little boy from Kentucky, travels through time to meet Jackie Robinson . After his adventure he gives a report to class for Black History Month. I love this excerpt from the book, where Jackie finds out about Joe:

"Wait a minute," Jackie said, holding up one hand and clutching his stomach with the other. "I can accept that traveling through time may be possible. I may even be able to believe a white kid could turn black. But Black History Month?" At that, Jackie let out a loud guffaw that woke the baby. "You've got to be kidding! White kids from Kentucky studying our history? Now I know you're crazy!"

My nine year old daughter very much enjoyed this book, too. She picked up on the deeper elements of the book, but the story also kept my six year old son's attention, too.

Today my husband asked me to see about getting more of Dan Gutman's baseball card adventures. It was my lucky day - Amazon offers them in their 4 for 3 promotion. Much as we have built a library of American Girl books for my daughter, these books will go into my son's baseball library.

You don't have to have a baseball fan to enjoy these books - they're just good reads for the whole family.

Literature Fair Projects

One of the best things about homeschooling is we get to read constantly! If we are immersed in a book and want to read for an hour to finish it, we CAN. Both of my children love to read. I am so blessed to be able to say this.

My children participated in a Homeschool Literature Fair last week. Miss B did this last year and it was a wonderful experience, so we decided to do it again this year, and this time GMan got to participate, too. Each child chose a book to read, completed a book report, a tri-fold display, and also a hands on project. The children are separated into age categories and then judged based on a rubric, which includes a personal interview. The event is open to the public (I LOVE this part) and the morning is spent looking at all of the wonderful book projects these children have completed. To say I was impressed was an understatement. I wish I could post pictures of each project to show you!

First, second and third prizes were awarded in age categories for children in grades 2-9 - the little ones received participation ribbons.

GMan chose The Grouchy Ladybug, by Eric Carle. He did several lapbook elements for his display board. He also made a ladybug sweep net and raised ladybugs. He kept a journal of what his larvae were up to each day for two weeks. I thought he might be a little shy when the judge came to talk with him, but he talked her ear off! I was so proud of my little guy.

I think his favorite part of the display was his ladybug clock and mini book of the story.... spending so much time on this book cemented his understanding of time.

Our pastor and his wife came to the literature fair. Grant was so proud to have visitors there.

Miss B chose the book Calico Bush, by Rachel Field. This is a lovely story that was a part of our Sonlight Core 3 curriculum. She chose to research the state of Maine and also learn to knit and quilt as her hands on project -- quite an undertaking, but she DID IT, and I'm so proud of her!

Here's a close up of her knit fingerless gloves and her doll quilt. The baby represents a baby in the story who was burned in a fire and later died. My daughter was so moved by this story not only because of it's heartbreaking events, but also because of the heroine (Marguerite's) triumph despite the circumstances.

Here is her full display:

She also did a notebooking project about the state of Maine.... which will lead to more notebooking in the future I am sure!

And GUESS WHAT? Someone won first place in their age group!

We love literature!!! What are some of your favorite books of all time? Leave me a comment... I'd love to know.

*This post is linked to the Hip Homeschool Hop!