The Schoolhouse Planner

One of my favorite products to use in my homeschool this year is The Schoolhouse Planner. I purchased it this past July and I have been very pleased with that purchase. It has helped me in so many different ways as I have organized my homeschool. It is full of so many forms and planning sheets, that I am trying to think of ways to use them all!

The planner runs $39 and is a great value for everything that is included. There are even sheets to help organize your household! There are articles by several of the great homeschooling authors that are informative and inspiring. There are even recipes included for dinner ideas each month. Yumm!

If you want a sneak peek at this planner, then you can visit The Old Schoolhouse store. BUT if you want a chance to win one of these planners for free, (actually 3 chances) then you will want to visit this post over at Homeschooling From the Trenches. The contest ends on September 12, 2008, so hurry and enter! You will love, love, love this e-book and I want you to have a chance to win a free copy. Just follow the directions in the blog post and you could very well be the proud new owner of a free copy of The Schoolhouse Planner.

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Once in awhile there comes a great software program that is a must have for my homeschool. Such is the case with the program Homeschool Tracker. I just absolutely love this program. It allows me to keep organized records and track of my son’s progress through the school year. It also allows me to keep all of the records that I am required to keep by my state in one place, including attendance records.

I think that perhaps one of my very favorite functions of the Homeschool Tracker is that I can generate a report card for my child. This makes him feel like he is accountable for his grades and it ensures that I am doing what I need to do also. I can also generate a transcript for my child when necessary.

The program takes a little bit to get used to, but there are several helps all along the way. The user manual is put together very well and their site offers step by step guides with screen shots if you really want to have your hand held. There is also a forum that you can register for and ask other homeschool parents any questions that you may have.

The basic edition of the Homeschool Tracker is free and includes any updates that you may need forever. It has many useful functions and many people find they are able to accomplish all that they need to with this version.

I upgraded this year to the Homeschool Tracker Plus version which is a paid version. I wanted to try out the other functions that are included with this version and I am now wondering why I didn’t upgrade sooner. I absolutely love all of the little extra’s that are included for what I consider to be a rather nominal and extremely reasonable price. Again, any future upgrades are included in the price forever.

I know that this school year will be organized and I will be able to generate just about any kind of report that I can possibly think of with ease. I will be able to motivate my child and account for his studies. If you are looking for a great organizational tool for your homeschool, I highly suggest this great product.

What do you use to organize your homeschool? Have you used Homeschool Tracker? What did you think and why? Leave me a comment and share.

If you are in search of Cinco de Mayo related lesson plans and curriculum ideas, you’ve come to the right place! What follows is a varied list of resources that will more than help you put together

Cinco de Mayo is observed on May 5th. It is the celebration of courage exhibited, by the Mexican people during the La Batalla de Puebla… a battle that was fought on May 5th, 1862. (It is not to be confused with Mexican Independence Day.)

On that day, in history, Mexican soldiers defeated the French army, who held the distinction of being the then strongest military force in the world.

Even though Cinco de Mayo is not an American holiday, it is observed more by the Mexican population, living in the U.S., than in Mexico. Even so, it remains a celebration of Mexican culture… featuring wonderful tradition, festive music and yummy food.

The resources I’ve included here are really just the tip of the iceberg. You can always perform your own search to generate even more ideas.

A to Z Teacher Stuff is a WONDERFUL site, for all of your lesson plan needs. They feature links to all kinds of Cinco de Mayo crafts, themed activities designed for special needs children, Cinco de Mayo bingo, tortilla wrap recipe, a mini theme unit and a whole lot more. Lesson plans available for grade levels K-12.

The Teacher’s Corner features tons of great teaching ideas, relating to Cinco de Mayo. These include, but are no limited to, a word search generator (this can actually be used to make your own word search puzzles, for ANY subject), theme units, instructions for making a piñata or paper bag poncho and a trivia hunt.

Scholastic Teaching Resources provides several interesting lesson plan ideas, for grade levels 3 through 8. Some of these include: interview transcripts with famous Latinos, a yummy enchilada recipe, a global trek through Mexico, Hispanic history makers, Mexican-related web quests and more.

What is your favorite Cinco de Mayo website? If celebrating the holiday is traditional in your family, what do you love most about it? Maybe you have a Mexican recipe you’d love to share? Please take the time to comment to these questions, below.

Comments? Questions? Please email me, TODAY!

Photo by: CORunner

One of the greatest benefits of homeschooling is the fact that the sky is the limit when it comes to what you can teach your children and how you go about doing so.

Day-to-day activities that your child probably already participates in can easily be incorporated into your curriculum. These activities can be anything from grocery shopping, to caring for a pet to helping in the garden.

This post ‘Unique Learning Adventures for Homeschoolers’, brought to you by More 4 Kids, includes several excellent ideas for unique homeschool adventures. Whether you are looking for suggestions in regard to math, science, social studies, English, physical education or the arts this is must read information.

In the words of More 4 Kids:

“While your child’s peers are tucked away in the “traditional” classroom setting, you and your children can be out engaging in activities in different areas of your community learning all sorts of new and exciting things.”

Talk with your kids. Ask them to think of three or for things that they would REALLY like to learn. Then have them tell you how they think they might be able to learn these things either at home or in the community.

You will probably be pleasantly surprised by the answers they give you. Chances are, you’ll end up learning something new in the process, as well.

Please take the time to read the above mentioned post. It is filled with wonderful learning ideas and projects to jazz up your curriculum.

That being said, what is the most unique learning adventure you have shared with your child? Was this adventure planned or was it spontaneous? We are always on the lookout for interesting project ideas. Please feel free to share yours.

Comments? Questions? Please email me, TODAY!

(This is a guest post. Thanks go out to Brenda Emmett.)

One of the most difficult things to do when you are homeschooling is to keep everything new and exciting. We love the time we spend educating our children and helping them to learn, but sometimes it is just plain hard to make it not seem dull. Things become routine and boring, no matter how great the material that we are learning happens to be. So how do you create excitement and fun in your homeschool? Here are a few ideas that have worked well in our family:

Jammie Day
One of our favorite things is when I have declared it jammie day. This is a day when we get to stay in our pajamas all day long. There is something distinctly sweet about staying in your pj’s all day. Perhaps it is because the children know that their friends who attend public school can’t do the same. Days like this are often filled with giggles as the schoolwork is completed. I often hear pleadings of “let’s have a jammie day!”, but I only do it on occasion. This keeps it special.

Reading Day
On this occasion, we just put aside the rest of the school work and cuddle up with a soft blanket, a pillow and a favorite book or books. Then we just read all day long. We share our favorite parts of the book we are reading with each other and discuss why we like or dislike a particular book or passage. Sometimes we even combine this with jammie day.

Read, Then Watch
Something that has worked well for our family is to read the book or story and then watch the movie. This really gives the children something to look forward to and I know that they have read the story first. It will often foster a conversation on how the movie differed from the book. Then we discuss which way we liked it the best. The book usually wins every time, but the movie is fun to watch. And the children love that it is part of their school.

Draw it!
I realize this sounds like art class, but really this is when I simply write down all of the subjects that we must complete that day on slips of paper. Then we fold the papers and mix them up in a bowl. We take turns drawing out a slip of paper to see what we will be doing next. This creates excitement for everyone. We are more excited to work on research papers or spelling lists when we draw them out of the bowl. It creates an element of surprise and unexpectedness. It is also just a little more fun.

In what ways do you keep your homeschool fun and exciting? C’mon, we really want to know!

Comments? Questions? Please email me, TODAY!

Photo by: Mike Davis

Private school is so expensive and homeschool costs a lot of many too right? Wrong. Homeschooling your child can cost you $0 if you take advantage of the resources all around you.

One of the biggest things that turn people away from homeschool is the curriculum, they think it is too expensive, complicated, or to time consuming. Homeschooling can be easy and money saving, plus your child will receive an education you know you can trust and it can all start at your local library. The library is full of textbooks and people don’t even know about it. I am not just talking about the history type books we all have had to bring home for reports, I am talking about actual step by step guides to many subjects your child needs to learn, including: Math, science, writing, and much more. All you have to do is go online to your library’s online catalog and type the subject into the search box. One book that I found that was really helpful was Painless Algebra, this teaches Algebra in a more simple way so that it can be understood with out making your brain hurt.

The greatest advantage to this type of homeschooling is that you can make the lesson plan fit into the way your child learns. For example, I am a writer, I enjoy writing and I learn better when I write things down. So when I was homeschooled my parents had me turn in my work as essays. Since I was writing reports I was learning the information. For my brother he likes art so he does a lot of art classes and art type work submissions. We all process information differently and with homeschooling you can adapt it to the way your child learns. If you think your child will learn less this way you are wrong. Just like public school students, homeschool students are required to take a benchmark test. They score the homeschoolers based on the performance of the average public student. When I took the test in the 8th grade, after 3 years of this style homeschooling, I outscored the public students greatly. Plus both my sister and I were able to graduate at 16 with this program. The truth is in the number, you can homeschool your child for free and it works.

by Jessica Kidd

Comments? Questions? Please email me, TODAY!

When you are home-schooling a young child it can be hard to keep there attention. Unlike older children who can self study, younger children need something that grabs their attention, something like their favorite Disney characters. That’s right the studio that has brought us all of our families movie classics now has worksheets that can teach your child at home.

These printable worksheets have characters such as Disney Princesses, the characters from Cars, TinkerBell, a Bugs Life, and much more. They can learn Math with Ariel or Time telling with Simba. Kids will actually get excited about learning. Plus it is something that Mom and Dad can feel good about.

These are free worksheets that can be downloaded off of the site Disney Printing Magic. It is a big file so it will take a while to upload. It is suggested to use a computer with a faster connection.

Comments? Questions? Please email me, TODAY!