Continuing Ed Anyone?

Apparently there are some free online courses in nanotech. Who says I need to put my kids in school to have them taught by some of the best and the brightest? With today's internet there are more and more free courses being made available. So I can teach my kids all I know and then go to those bigger and brighter to teach them more. Stanford and MIT also have all kinds of courses for free. That more is more than they can get in any public school! Heck, when I can find the time I want to take the many courses offered. Maybe even a paid college degree will soon be outdated? What do you all think?

A Great Homeschooling Benefit: A More Creative Halloween!

I made a discovery about a month ago. I realized that my kids were already making cool projects for history that could be used to go with Halloween costumes. I gently suggested that we not buy costumes this year but make ones from our history readings. The boys have decided to become Roman Soldiers and NerdPie is going to be a Celtic Queen with NerdPud as one of her daughters. The kids got all excited but then I started feeling guilty. These costumes will look so hand made, because they are. You are looking at some of the pieces to one of my kids' Roman Standard project for history so obviously this won't be professional craftmenship. But since my kids are in this exclusive school no on else will have their costume at the church event. Not only that but I get to save major money and I get to have my kids involved in creating something and isn't that more value than just walking around and getting candy. I think so.

Now a disclaimer, these are going to look so made by kids and that really includes all the parts I am doing and came up with. I sewed a dress for my oldest daughter to wear under her cloak she is helping make and it is obvious that it is my first dress I have ever made. But oh well, it is one night and the kids won't know any better as long as all of you don't tell them;).

Homeschool Myth: Manipulatives

An argument I have heard against homeschooling is lack of materials/manipulatives. I was told that it would cost an arm and a leg to get all the hands on teaching tools I would need to teach preschool and the first few years of elementary school and that is why they needed to go to a school enviroment. I say, "Bologna!". Yes, you might need a few things but many of the big things will be just cheap things you have around the house. For counters you can use beans or M&M's(great reward system too;). For those nifty little fraction models...An apple or orange and a knife. You can even get a kid safe knife (or a pumpkin knife) and have the kiddo cut it themselves. Be creative and cheap!

Now there will be times when, depending on the kid, you might need a real mainpulative. Take for example those lovely unit blocks in my picture. All kids may not need those but the NerdBug's math progress came to a screeching halt when we got to borrowing and carrying so we went and got a little help. Something you need to keep in mind is the local teacher store isn't your only option, and sometime that is a costly option. I went into our local teacher store (GW Supply) and found some unit blocks but not all that I wanted. They had the tens and the ones but not the hundreds and they were about $9 a bag. So I went on line and found these interlocking ones at a fraction of the price and they lock together (the ones at GW didn't). All I did was go to the website on the bag. After shipping and handling I still paid less (less than $18 for all 3 sets plus a couple of clearance items;). So remember to look around. The Internet is your oyster!

One last thing, if you are going to invest in something try to make it do double duty. It can teach basic addition and subtraction, carrying, borrowing and fractions.

This is the first manipulative I needed to buy so that myth is officially debunked!

Frugal Homeschooler: Music

For those who are looking for my free music resource list, don't panic. I have now started a new blog and I moved it there. That is where all new Frugal Homeschooler posts will now be (I am slowly moving over the old ones). So run over to NerdFamily Things and check it out!

Frugal Homeschooler:Pumpkins (and JackoLanterns)

I will preface this Frugal Homeschooler with the statement that I am not a real Halloween person. Everything here is more pumpkin aimed but a little Halloween may sneak in through carving;).

First, here is a bunch of Pumpkin worksheets that I found on another blogger site. It is owned by Newsword. It even includes optional answer keys. There are everything from matting, crosswords, word searches, etc. I will be using a couple of these for my first grader this year but there are plenty to choose from for older kids.

The there is a great Hands on Activity page that was produced by Chicago Academy of Sciences. They have some great little activities but the one I like the best is their main activity on the life cycle of a pumpkin. It even includes the worksheet with the images to cut out.

Southwest Educational development Lab has a great observational project that will help with kids understanding the scientific process, not to mention pumpkins. It has a page you can print out for recording data(and to go in their science binders) along with explanations of the steps.

Diane Flynn Keith over at Universal Preschool (and who also does the Clickschooling Yahoo group where I get so many of my free finds) has a great article, Pumpkin Fun!, that links to many good educational resources also. So if you didn't find what you are looking for over here go check her out.

So that wraps up this week's Frugal Homeschooler. Go have a great Halloween. Stay safe and don't eat to much candy. Look, explore, use and if you have any great resources please share with me. As always remember homeschooling doesn't have to be hard or expensive!

Frugal Homeschooler: History

For those who are looking for my free History resource list, don't panic. I have now started a new blog and I moved it there. That is where all new Frugal Homeschooler posts will now be (I am slowly moving over the old ones). So run over to NerdFamily Things and check it out!

Frugal Homeschooler: Math

For those who are looking for my free math resource list, don't panic. I have now started a new blog and I moved it there. That is where all new Frugal Homeschooler posts will now be (I am slowly moving over the old ones). So run over to NerdFamily Things and check it out!

Frugal Homeschooler: Free Science

For those who are looking for my free science resource list, don't panic. I have now started a new blog and I moved it there. That is where all new Frugal Homeschooler posts will now be (I am slowly moving over the old ones). So run over to NerdFamily Things and check it out!

Frugal Homeschooler: Record Keeping

Once again I am looking at homeschooling on the cheap. This time I am looking at the record keeping side. It surprises me how intimidated people are by the idea that the need to keep records. It just isn't that hard. Now granted, I am in California where we don't have a lot of rules but still. I think this is something anyone can do with out any fancy, expensive stuff.

Personally I take the calendar approach. Since this is first grade I am just getting an idea of my oldest's output. I have an overall minimum plan but not a daily plan (doesn't allow for much flexibility). I bought a calendar with a page a day. Then I just write each kid's name and what they did for the day. It is that simple. When this calendar is done I will just use the undated teacher's planner I got at the Dollar Tree. It has plenty of room and the price is great;). I prefer the paper version right now and then I will convert it to a computer file at a later date for prosperity.

There are also a couple of free sites. You can download a free version of HomeSchool Tracker. It is a software program that you can put everything in to plan and track. I haven't tried it but have heard good things, especially for multiple kids. The other tool out there is Donna Young's site. It has all the printable paper work you can imagine. She has planning pages, notebooking pages, calendars, etc. I have already used them many times.

Well, hopefully that helps someone with the bookkeeping and tracking that goes with homeschooling. If you have any other free or cheap resources for record keeping please leave them in the comments. Also, if you haven't checked out my post on reproducible books please do and add your finds too!

As always remember homeschooling doesn't have to be hard or expensive!

It a Peep's World!

I have moved this over to my new blog, Nerd Family Things. Go check it out!