Learn About Davy Crockett

My son wanted to learn more about Davy Crockett.

This, my friends, is where the fun begins in homeschooling.

We introduce a subject or character to our children and they desire to learn MORE. Eventually, everyone is digging for information and more knowledge and you have a beautiful interest led study on your hands.

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Top Ten Sites for Homeschooling

Each week for the next 10 weeks, many bloggers in the iHomeschool Network will be linking their top 10 lists.   Inspired by Angie's weekly meme at Many Little Blessings, this fun event is going to provide me with TONS of great resources, ideas, and inspiration!  

  

This week's topic is:

Top 10 Favorite Websites to Use for Homeschooling

There are so many sites I visit... many of them personal blogs, where I get ideas for read-alouds, crafts, and so much more.  For the purpose of this post, I have not included any personal blogs, but rather general sites {most of them full of free resources} I hope will benefit you.

Of course -- the biggies:  Netflix, Amazon, Pinterest -- those just go without saying... I think our homeschool might be dead in the water without those {well, not really, but you know what I mean }.

Here they are.... in no particular order:

10.  The Well Trained Mind ~ When planning our school year (and frequently throughout the year, too) I always consult The Well Trained Mind.   From this site you can find out about all of the curriculum pieces and also join the Well Trained Mind forums. I also find the curriculum map to be invaluable!  

9.  Squidoo ~ Do you Squidoo?   Basically, anyone is free on this site to create a "lens" - similar to a blog post - of a topic they know much about.   I've linked you to the homeschool lenses... so much great information!   

8.  Ambleside Online ~  This is an online Charlotte Mason curriculum for FREE.  There are booklists, reading schedules, and links to free e-texts.  It is a treasure trove of information.  I always consult Ambleside for reading selections and to locate free resources.  I was just looking through the Grade 6 plan in planning for next year - I love their science recommendations.  

7.  Dance Mat Typing ~ Both of my children have made their way through these free typing lessons (several times!).  They are short, funny, and just well done.   Do your teach keyboarding to your children?  This is just the resource you need. 

6.  Spotify ~  This is like the Netflix of music!  For a small fee each month ($9.99) you can have access to ALL music.  All you do is search by composer (artist), song, or genre. The music can be played through the Spotify app on your iPhone or iPad - and also through your computer.   If we are studying a particular composer, I can pull up many selections of music to match.  It makes our SQUILT time a snap!! 

5.  Homeschool Share ~ I think we use Homeschool Share EVERY.SINGLE.DAY.   It is an excellent site for all things lapbook, notebooking, and printables.   It is a site where many moms have collaborated to share the resources they have created.  I first discovered this site two years ago, when I was searching for Five in a Row resources.  They have everything FIAR, and much, much more!!  At the Homeschool Share blog you can learn even more, and their Show and Tell section is great.   My son's dinosaur lapbook was featured one week.   I also love their monthly calendars. 


4.  Project Gutenberg ~ Since I'm all about FREE, I love this site. You can download so many books here (in the public domain) for free.   Recently we discovered some great composer biographies to download.  If I find something I want to read with the kids, I always head to Project Gutenberg to see if we can get it free of charge!

3.  NotebookingPages.com ~ A membership to Notebooking Pages is a wonderful investment in your homeschool!  (There is currently a very good sale going on until this Friday, and there is also a Facebook party TONIGHT to unveil a very exciting new feature for members!)

What I love about Notebooking Pages is that whatever subject we are studying, I can go to this site and find printable notebooking pages to go along with the topic.   This week we are delving further into Joan of Arc... guess what?   I found a lovely set of notebooking pages... for both my seven and ten year olds.   These pages are all so well done.  I am excited that my children are creating beautiful notebooks that are keepsakes of their learning journeys!  

2.  Dogo News: Fodder For Young Minds ~ This site makes it very easy to incorporate current events into your homeschool.  There are articles, videos, and much more.   We usually watch these at lunch time each day. Our most recent favorite is about a girl who invented a cure for the hiccups! 

1.  HSLaunch.com ~ Again, a free site that is a file sharing MECCA!   Sometimes I search for specific things on this site... I use these state notebooking pages quite frequently.  Other times I just browse the files and always find something I can use.  The site requires a registration (free), and then you can start sharing files, too.  

What is YOUR favorite site for homeschooling?   

 

Music Notebooking & Lesson - Band vs. Orchestra

A recent trip to a high school band concert sparked a discussion about the difference between a band and an orchestra.

I wanted to teach a little more about this to my children, so I developed a short lesson.  {Be sure not to miss any of the music lesson I will be adding by subscribing to Homegrown Learners.}  

Have your children listen to this BAND PERFORMANCE:  The Stars and Stripes Forever by John Philip Sousa (The March King).  I like this video because they can SEE the band and watch the instruments being played. 

Maybe they could fill out a SQUILT listening sheets as a part of this lesson, too?  

After watching the band performance have your children then listen to this ORCHESTRA PERFORMANCE:  Pomp and Circumstance by  Edward Elgar.   This recording (by The National Children's Orchestra of Great Britain) should be very interesting for children.  

Encourage your children to listen for the differences between a band and an orchestra, and then do some research, too.  The short story is this:




1.  Orchestras have been around much longer than bands. 


2. A band does not have a strings section.


3.  Most music written for orchestra is longer than pieces for band.


Here is your Band vs. Orchestra Notebooking Set.  


(I've included a seating chart for the orchestra so your children can easily see the presence of a lot of STRINGS in the orchestra.) 

We have also been using the Compare and Contrast Notebooking Pages from The Notebooking Fairy, which are PERFECT for this lesson!   

If you have any questions, just let me know.   I hope you can incorporate a little music into your homeschool this week!




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