Let go of my LEGO--Using LEGOs for fun and education

We're fairly new to the LEGO world. LEGO Friends like Heartlake Pet Salon  was mija's introduction to the LEGO world. 


Now, you can't watch television without seeing a commercial for The Lego Movie. We probably won't see it until it's on Netflix much to mija's chagrin.

Did you know that there is a whole educational page for LEGO? Of course there is the whole robotics and simple machine aspects, but there is also a language arts element as well. 

But you can still be educational with LEGOs even if you do not have LEGOs. Here are some posts from Homeschool Encouragement with links to all kind of printables and activities.
















And don't forget notebooking!

Just in case you haven't had enough LEGOs in you home, how about making a LEGO afghan?
embedPin

" href="http://www.pinterest.com/pin/105834659967459123/">



This post is not affiliated or sponsored by LEGO brand.
In the spirit of full disclosure, this post has an affiliate link, which means I may get a commission if you purchase anything from Amazon. I only recommend things that I love & use myself, so I know you'll be in good hands.

School Room for 2013

If you have been around, you know we do not have an official school room. 

• We do not have a place for one.
• Mija is enough of a kinesthetic learner that sitting still in a desk would be detrimental at the most and not helpful at the best.
• I home educate. I do not think an area that looks like a school is necessary for learning.

So, without further ado, here are pictures of our school room.

We do a lot of work around the kitchen table:

Dog optional!

Mija is very proud of how she organized her new room. Sometimes she like to sit on her bed to read or do an assignment.

I don't know if there is enough pink.

School can happen on this dirty sofa, too. This is especially true if I am reading something to her.

Here are our books. I do have another shelf for notebooks and some supplies. Yes, I definitely have more books and supplies, but I only keep out what we need regularly.

Usually, if we take pictures or videos, it is at the kitchen table.

The Psalm 23 booklet printable HERE.

We've moved up school, so we start next Monday, August 19th!

Free Printable!! My Country Report

Are you ready for another free printable?!?

Here is a fill-in the blank report for a country. I made it because I thought it would be a great introduction to writing reports about countries.

It's definitely a step above just fill in the blank sheets, because the answers are plugged into an existing report format. It becomes an introduction in the proper format to write a report. The last sentence is an open format allowing the student to include one interesting fact of their own.

It was also a first experience in research. Usually, mija and I look things up together. For this report, I found a couple of website with information about Australia and let her research from those. Previewed sites allowed me to have assurance that she wasn't going to come across unwanted content.

I've also included a key, so you know exactly what each blank needs.

This will regularly be available on my My Printables page.

Let me know what you think!

  

Top 12 Posts this Year 2012

Here you go. My top 12 posts of 2012.  
Obviously, Friday Funny is a hit. Printables were also well received. I'll take the hint that I need to make more! Do you have a favorite post that didn't make it on the top 12 list?  Please tell me; I'd love to know!

12. Friday Funny with Ryan Gosling

11. National Homeschool Book Award Club by Currclick.com

10. Price Chopper this Week--60% savings 

 9. Price Chopper Groceries Run this Week--63% Savings 

 8. Summer Reading Programs and Book Report Printable

 7. Psalm 23 Booklet--free printable
TIE
 7. Friday Funny--Olympics 

 6. Make a Joyful Noise--Singing Scripture and other Subjects


 5. Friday Funny--Homeschool Suspension 

 4. Well-Planned Day Software--School and Home planner---GIVEAWAY!!

 3. Friday Funny--Homeschool/Unschool Cartoon

 2. Friday Funny--Grammar Style 

 1. Friday Funny--Homeschool

Sharing More Educational Websites including 2 Catechism sources

Here are some more sites I recently added to Helpful Homeschool Websites.

New York Philharmonic Kidzone.

Lufthansa-Virtual Pilot -- European Geography

Visual Fractions

The Fabulous Songbook

A-Z Worksheets -- free printable worksheets

Hamfests and Conventions Calendar

Project Wild

Education.com

New City Catechism

A Catechism for Girls and Boys

Have Fun with History

English for Everyone--printable language worksheets

Psalm 23 Booklet--Free Printable

Mija is learning Psalm 23 in AWANA. I thought of a cute way to review the book! I made a booklet she could illustrate herself.

First go get my free printable HERE. (I've also posted in My Printables.) I've made it four different pages, so you can choose to do one at a time if you want!

Here's what you'll end up with after printing.

It's four sheets with four pages on each sheet.

The next job is cutting them apart and punching the hole in each corner.

Sneaky mommy got in some extra review by having mija put the cut cards in order!

Then came the fun part of coloring a picture for each phrase. I left them blank for personal illustrations because she loves to draw more than color and personal illustrations are much likely to become keepsakes!

I think some of my favorite illustrations were a picture of vegetable oil for "He anoints my head with oil," and the dripping blood and dead person for "the valley of the shadow of death."
We then put it together with a paper fastener and viola! 

So, just go HERE to get your own Psalm 23 Booklet and please let me know what you think!

  

Sunday Worship Notes for kids in church

We attend a family integrated church, so mija has been sitting in the service since she turned four years old. Many families start before then.

I won't go in depth for the reasoning of family integration, but here's some basics. It just means that the family is recognized as the main source of evangelism and discipleship for our children. We know what our children are learning because they are right there with us. Having families together in the service has worked for millennia, why wouldn't it work now? Our church isn't as dogmatic as some since we do have separate Sunday school classes and offer AWANA, but the philosophy is that of being a support to the parents not the source for the children. We have really come to appreciate it. Mija thinks Pastor Tim is the best pastor in the whole world!

I'm always looking for ways to encourage her active participation during the service. She was very excited when I presented her with this worship note for kiddos I found!

Here is what her paper looked like from Sunday. 

The Tigger sticker was her addition! The only thing she didn't like was the squares for song numbers. Since we don't use hymnals, she thought they were wasted space! All in all, I don't think she did a bad job. Can you tell the message was about praying? ;-)

If your children are in the service, what do you do to help them focus and learn? Is there anything you would change or add to this worship note if you were to make it?
I'd love to hear idea!

Summer Reading Programs & Book Report printable

I really enjoy summer reading programs and so does mija. 
She especially like the extra activities and prizes. In fact, the only time we go to see the Kansas City Royals play is when we get free tickets through a local library's summer reading program! 
I like it because it's a great to get rewarded for something you'd do anyway. Also, in a state that counts hours for homeschooling, it's a fun way to catch up on hours for this school year or get ahead on hours for next school year!
And yes, usually you can count the books you read for more than one program which makes it convenient. Read each program to find out any specific details.


First of all, check you local libraries for their programs. Here are links for the summer reading programs of some of the libraries in the Kansas City Metro area. (The rest of you can skip ahead!)
Mid-Continent Public Library
Kansas City Public
Johnson County Library
(If you know the links to any of the others, feel free to leave them in the comments or on my FB page.


Don't limit summer reading to only libraries, however.  Here are some other ones to consider. (Thanks, Kansas City Mamas)

Book Adventure – Sylvan offers this FREE online reading incentive program. After your child reads a book, they take a simple comprehension quiz to make sure they understood what they read. (Similar to AR tests.)

There are hundreds of books to choose from in all reading levels. These are common books that can be found at your local library. Once they have earned enough points they can trade them in for some really neat prizes.

Half Price Books – They are offering kids ages 14 and under a chance to earn a $5 Gift Card for reading just 15 each day throughout the summer.

PBS Kids Summer Reading Challenge – This challenge kicks off on June 6th and includes a FREE six week reading program and the chance for your kids to win daily prizes for their participation.

Barnes & Noble Imagination Destination – This summer reading program through Barnes & Noble gives your child the ability to earn a FREE book after reading 8 books and keeping track of them in a reading log. (Find your local Kick Off Parties.)

Chuck E. Cheese – Earn 10 FREE tokens every time your child reads for 2 weeks in a row. Just fill out the form and bring it in to claim your free token.

Scholastic Summer Challenge - Log in your reading minutes to the Scholastic site and your child will be able to participate in a World Record challenge as well as earn digital prizes.

To make it easier for me to keep track of what books mija will be reading, I developed a small book report form that you are more than welcome to use as well. Here's what it looks like:

Even before the summer starts, it's time to sign up for the Pizza Hut Book It Program for next school year. Locally, we have a group of homeschoolers who meet at Pizza Hut once a month to use their certificates and fulfill the much touted socialization quotient!




Linked to:
  

Free St. Patrick's Day Printables for a Party

Found these cool printables for a St. Patrick's Day party and just KNEW that homeschooler's could find many uses for them in addition to having a party!  Just go to Love the Day to get them!