Archives for free category
I don’t know if you’re familiar with Connect the Thoughts or 1st Step not, but they are a curriculum company that really works on developing critical thinking skills for children and adults alike. I’ve purchased a few of their courses (see the list below) over the past two years and have been quite pleased with them.
15 Nov
The American Heritage Education Foundation was created to help educate American citizens about their heritage. This is accomplished not by dry facts but also explains the philosophy of the Founding Fathers as well as character development for citizens. The American Heritage Education Foundation does an excellent job of creating resources for schools and individuals to help remind us of where our country started and what the intentions and aspirations were by this diverse group of men.
The book, Lies My Teacher Taught Me, by James Loewen was what I consider my first real introduction to American History. Now don’t get me wrong, they taught social studies and history in my schools, but they never taught it correctly. By that I mean, we spent a disproportionate amount of time learning about the kings and queens of Europe rather than what really lead up to the formation of the United States. Mr. Loewen’s book opened up my eyes (and interest) into history; I consider it an appetizer. The American Heritage Education Foundation, however, is the main course and desert.
The educational course they have laid out consists of 18 units of study ranging from the introduction which lays the foundation for the information to come all the way to personal character development. Since my children are in the elementary grades we dealt more with basic citizenship ideals as well as some biographical information on some of the founding fathers (my oldest daughter has a thirst for all things about George Washington). American Heritage has curriculum that covers elementary, intermediate and high school levels. At first I was a little intimidated by the breadth of material that should be covered. I was, however, very appreciative about learning all of the information that I never knew before.
Each lesson plan that they have is actually quite manageable to get through on a daily basis. Although there is a lot of information, much of it is instructional for the teachers and can easily be broken down into smaller pieces if you find that necessary. But to be honest, I’m enjoying learning all the things that I should have learned long ago. For example, I although I can recite the preamble to the Constitution (thank you Schoolhouse Rock) I never actually read the constitution for myself. And I may be wrong, but I don’t ever recall having to read the whole thing in school either. This lack of basic knowledge about my own country can’t be good, and sadly I’m sure that I’m more the rule than the exception.
These wonderful materials are available free of charge, although donations are accepted to help them continue their mission to educate American citizens to their heritage and encourage a return to the value system that made the experiment in self-government such a success. If you would like to have the material preprinted and put into binders, it costs $19.50 per level or a complete set for about $350. So if you really want to understand why the United States has been held in high esteem in the past, the answers are all contained in one CD.
Khalid Family rating: 5 out of 5 stars
2 Nov
abcTeach is an easy way for parents to begin the homeschooling journey without breaking the bank. The focus of this website is to help children to grasp the fundamentals and run with them. There are thousands of worksheets to choose from which allows parents to customize their children’s educational experience.
One of the traps that most homeschoolers fall into during the elementary years is spending a mint trying to buy the “perfect curriculum” for their little ones. But, as experienced home educators know, their needs can be met by resources such as abcTeach for as little as $40/year (or $70 for two years) for individual families. This is an exceptional value, especially when you have multiple children since you can have access to multiple grade levels.
So what do you get for your money? There are over 35,000 worksheets to choose from ranging from the basics (math, time, spelling, and handwriting) to the cool (suduko, shapebooks, and art work). They also offer unit study themes, research tools, clip art, language studies and more!
The site owners are very creative, and since some of their offerings might be new to parents, they provide tutorial videos to help you make the most of each resource they offer. I found that to be exceptional since I have belonged to other elementary level programs that pretty much just make you it out on your own.
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So, how did abcTeach work out for me and my crew? Well, I enjoyed creating the different worksheets. It was quick and easy. There are also ways to customize the worksheets beyond the original offerings which worked really well to make sure that girls weren’t peeking at each other’s work. So, I had a lot of fun. The downside for my family is that they don’t really enjoy doing worksheets very much. My kids are on the kinesthetic side of town, so we do a lot of physical activities while studying, so being made to sit down and fill out papers didn’t really thrill them.
I, however, think that abcTeach is a wonderful tool to add to whatever your homeschooling style happens to be. It’s perfect for those days when the parents are involved in other things, but they still want their children to do some unsupervised schoolwork. I plan on using the suduko and crossword pages for our many driving excursions as a way to keep their minds active without the use of their handheld games. I am glad that abcTeach was kind enough to give me a test drive to really discover the hidden treasures they’ve created.
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They also generous enough to giveaway thousands of free worksheets so that parents can try them out on their kids before they purchase the full subscription. You can also sign up for the newsletter which fills you in on the new worksheets available and other teaching tips. These resources were created for teachers, parents and homeschoolers so be sure to tell your friends that if they have a child who needs more practice in a particular subject that abcTeach should be their first stop.
14 Oct
As a member of the TOS Crew I get lots of great products to review. And now it’s your turn! This week TOS has given non-TOS Crew members a great autumn gift. Autumn Treasures is now available for free download. This is a lapbooking project that highlights the beauty, science and cooking that occurs during the autumnal season.
A few weeks ago I told you about my new love of lapbooking. If you haven’t tried lapbooking yet or are looking for a new one to start, be sure to click on the Autumn Treasures picture on the right side of this page (or click here). That will take you directly to your download.
Have fun!
CurrclickI'm a homeschooling mom with seven children: 3 human, 2 feline and 2 canine. I'm also the wife of one very patient husband who seems to like the role of ringmaster to our circus. I am a virtual assistant who enjoys writing, crafts, music and laughter. I hope you'll visit often. Please be aware that this blog is supported by affiliate links, although every link isn't necessarily an affiliate program.
