Tools for the Homeschool Handy-Mom
Built in 1889 for an exhibition to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the French Revolution, the Eiffel tower has become almost synonymous with Paris, if not the entirety of France. The Eiffel tower is a masterpiece of design. All of the needed metal pieces were fabricated in a different place according to the plans made [...]
With the same discipline and attention to detail you would apply to any other instrument, you can excel in harmonica. Part 1 of this series covers how to choose a harmonica. The harmonica is one instrument that lends itself well to self-instruction. We have found several harmonica books available that will be useful to the [...]
We have added a Recommended Resources page. We’ve homeschooled our children since the beginning (1998, if I had to put a date on it). Many books have been consumed over the years, and many were valuable in forming a homeschool philosophy that worked for us. Others challenged us, or encouraged us, or simply made life [...]
Now available from Amazon for $0.00: Gooseberry Patch cookbooks! These cookbooks contain simple and easily-made recipes that use common ingredients. You might find some new ideas for quick and easy meals and desserts! Free as a kindle download, but you don’t need a kindle to view the books. Check our their free reading apps. 25 [...]
Incorporating music into an already full homeschool schedule can be tricky. Classics for Kids makes music appreciation easy! Classics for Kids is a packed site. Let’s start with the basics – the radio show. The “On the Radio” button on the menu takes you to the current show feature. “Listen to the Show” to hear [...]
What do Ruth Harmon, Florence Booth, Emily Prentiss, and Robert Bruce have in common? They are all pen names for one of the most prolific hymnists the world has ever known — Fanny Crosby, who was born on March 24, 1820. Thousands of hymns ranging from Blessed Assurance to Safe in the Arms of Jesus [...]
The harmonica has, with good reason, been regarded as an ideal instrument for beginning musicians, especially children. It is much less expensive than most other instruments, requires very little maintenance, does not have to be tuned every time you play it, and can be easily mastered with no prior knowledge of music. But these advantages [...]
We are probably all familiar with the copybook or commonplace books that have come back into style — a place to copy down our favorite quotes and other passages of literature that speak to us. For the younger set, copywork can begin by practicing handwriting. Proverbs 22:6 Academy has made available a free 21-page .pdf [...]
Good stewardship, like all other skills, is best learned at a young age. But when the country’s economic system is so complex that many adults can’t understand it, how can children learn to invest their money wisely? The Young Investor: Projects and Activities for Making Your Money Grow by Katherine R. Bateman lays out all [...]
Looking for a way to incorporate music into your homeschool? British music publisher Boosey & Hawkes has a site that those who enjoy classical music are going to love. Boosey & Hawkes Radio allows you to stream classical music – free! You choose the classical period or composer, or choose your mood (Heroic Struggle, Tuneful, [...]
On this day, March 17, in 1958 the United States launched the first of the Vanguard series of satellites appropriately named the “Vanguard 1.” Project Vanguard was created to test the launch capabilities of a three-stage launch vehicle as well as the effects of the environment on a satellite and its systems in earth orbit. [...]
One often overlooked tool in evaluating the success of any particular homeschool year is a simple, informal interview with each child. By spending time with our children all day, we probably already have a good idea of what their thoughts will be in general…or of a particular subject specifically…. But sometimes, they just might surprise [...]
With the wide collection of eBooks now available, it is nice to have a way to keep them organized. It is also nice to have a way to easily read them if you don’t have a eBook reading device. Calibre does both! This free software download not only manages your eBooks, it also allows you [...]
Evaluating for Excellence: A Handbook for Evaluating Student Progress Too often we evaluate without knowing where we started. We evaluate using arbitrary evaluation tools that cannot tell us if we have met the goals we were working on. Teresa Moon provides us with a comprehensive and logical approach to evaluation. The process reasonably begins by [...]
If you are looking for program to help you schedule, track and generate reports for your homeschool, you might be interested in this free offer. Homeschool Tracker was created in 2003 by a homeschool family. They provide the basic edition of their software free – no expiration. If you like the software, you can upgrade [...]
The telephone as we know it is almost nothing like it was when it first appeared. To be sure, the basic principle of producing and sending sound is the same, but many improvements and solutions have been worked out since the early days. The first telephone was invented by Alexander Graham Bell in 1875. This [...]
Spring is on its way. The change in seasons won’t slow down some year-round homeschoolers, but others are getting ready to call it a year. So how did your children do? How much did they learn? And how do you know? While a box full of carefully completed workbooks may be enough to satisfy you [...]
If you are looking for a fun and easy way to introduce your student to Latin, you might enjoy this free Beginners’ Latin Tutorial. Through 12 interactive, online lessons the student works from conjugating verbs through adverb usage. Practice sentences, interactive activities and a checklist at the end of each lesson help the student evaluate [...]
All Through the Ages: History Through Literature Guide Christine Miller For those of us who pull together our own history studies, there is no better resource for finding books to tie in with the time period we are studying than All Through the Ages: History Through Literature Guide by Christine Miller. Now in its third [...]
The prince is a disagreeable lad with no motive higher than his own self-interest. He’d rather play than learn at his father’s side. He is disrespectful, insolent and shuns all authority. As the one to inherit his throne, the king is concerned that the prince’s sense of self far exceeds any sense of justice. But [...]
“Great scheme you have; hold to it,” sculptor Gutzon Borglum telegrammed Doane Robinson, director of the South Dakota Historical Society. It was a simple plan, just the faces of a few heroes of the West sculpted into the Black Hills — Lewis and Clark, maybe a Sioux chief, and other men like them. It might [...]
Wonderful literature can, and should, complement any style of home education. But for those who prefer a literature-based approach, it is particularly important to process what we read. If you wish to move items from your surface, short-term memory to long-term storage, you must process them in some way. Each person has his unique way [...]
Ad hominem? Straw man? Circular reasoning? Propaganda? Red herring? Perhaps without knowing it we are bombarded each day with faulty logic constructed to steer our thinking in a particular direction. So how can we prepare our children (and ourselves!) to see through invalid arguments? The Fallacy Detective by Nathaniel and Hans Bluedorn is a self-described [...]
Solar stills have long been used as a method of emergency water purification. A hole is dug in the earth until damp soil is reached, or damp soil is placed at the bottom of a homemade still. The … Continue reading →
