Free Reading Program! And Starfall!!

WOW!!!

Funnix is offering their $249. Reading program for free!
This is from the same author that wrote
"Teach your Child to read in 100 Easy Lessons"!
Since I love that book and this is free, I figured why not give it a try!

You can go here to download it onto your
computer and to read more info!

This will be perfect for my 4 yr. old!
Thanks Money Saving Mom and
My Litter

**************

BTW -- I just rediscoverd Starfall last night and
introduced it to my 4 yr. old! He wanted to play all morning!
Best of all he can do EVERYTHING by himself including
going to a new alphabet letters and different games!
Check it out here!

Anyone else use a great website that preschoolers
can play and learn things without a lot of help??

Pizza Hut's Book It Program

If you're a homeschooler you can sign up for
Pizza Hut's Book it Program for 2010-2011 School year.

Go here to sign up, it's quick and easy!

Thanks for the reminder Money Saving Mom

15 Ways to Keep Preschoolers Busy...

Reader Question--

What do you do with
toddlers/preschoolers all day?
(besides TV!!!)

Here is a few of my favorites!

1. BOOKS -- I know nothing new, but a big basket
of books goes a long way. Even if you're not there to
read them all the time, they sure do like looking at them!
2. Puzzles -- I had 2 kids that loved them and 2 that could
care less. My 4th will sit and do them for a long time!

3. Tupperware -- I know an odd one. Give a child tons
of bowls, butter tubs, lids and they'll love it. Add something
they can put in take out like matchbox cars or legos and you
have a fun and easy activity! If you're real brave and don't have
a headache, add a wooden spoon or two!

4. Paper, Cut Up Tissue Paper, and Glue-- Take
different colored tissue paper and cut it into shapes.
Set the pile beside them, give them a glue stick,
and watch them make a creation.
(they'll be so proud!)

5. Coloring -- Seems a no brainer! I loved the
Color Wonder marker sets. My son has graduated to washable
markers, although some days I wish I still had the color wonders.

6. Legos -- Again nothing new but they are something my kids
spend hours doing. When they're real young use the big blocks!
They just don't seem to out grow Legos!

7. Widgets -- This is something kids can start building with at
a very young age. They're easy to build with. It is also something
challenging for bigger kids when they try to match the cards!
(unfortunately not cheap but worth the money, IMO!!)

8. Play doh -- Some hate the clean up and I'm usually one
that cringes too (typically an outside only activity around here!).
But I've allowed my 3 yr. old to play several times inside this winter
and the clean up is actually very easy and doable.
(Just make sure it's NOT on carpet!)
If you worry about your little one eating it, try
this edible play doh recipe!

9. Pictures -- My toddlers always LOVED this. I had a basket
of misc. pictures that was theirs to look at. They were totally
extra so I didn't mind if they got a little bent or even ruined.
They love to look at themselves, mommy, daddy, aunts, uncles!
You get the idea!! Cost for 30-50 prints would be very cheap

10. Magnets on fridge -- Just make sure they don't put them in
their mouth. Magnets come in all shapes, sizes, and themes.

11. Foam shapes -- Make sure your little one is past the
stage of putting things in their mouth. Otherwise this is
very dangerous! Simply let them string the shapes.
I let them do this over and over. You can also
tie it for a wonderful necklace!!!
You can usually find a big tub of these in the craft section.

12. Games -- Some games are fun for younger children to play
by themselves. My son loves Blokus. He doesn't play the
right way, but loves putting all the shapes on the board.

13. Forts-- Build your little one an indoor fort and let them play, look
at their books, or color in it! It's easy to make this with a
table and a sheet!

14. Stickers -- Again assuming they won't put them in
their mouth. This can be costly if they go through them
like my son. It does however keep them very occupied!

15. Check out Rainbow Resource here for 3 pages
of games/activities you can buy to keep your
little one occupied in a fun educational way!
****
******

I'd love to hear your favorite
activities for toddler's/preschooler's
Leave us a comment!

Nixing the Home school Fits....

If you home school I'm sure you deal
with bad attitudes... At least I do!
Maybe even with a child who just won't do the work or even try without letting you know it's the last thing on earth they want to be doing.
***
This year my 1st grader is not a schooling kind of boy. He would rather be digging in the dirt, playing with "guys", playing legos, or practically ANYTHING else besides doing school. I don't blame him he's only 6. The pathetic side of it is right now I'm only requiring 3 subjects out of him. Reading, Writing, and Math. On good days he can sit down and do his work in less than an hour.
On bad days...... that's another story!!!!
***
Here's what I've found is working for us.
When he starts with his whining and I can tell he's not trying. I simply walk away calmly and without fighting. Then I just go about my business with the other kids or what ever I have going on.

I make it clear to him that I will gladly teach him and help him but only if he wants to learn. I let him know that it is FINE with me if he sits there ALL DAY. Just let me know when you're ready to learn and do your work. Otherwise you can just sit in the chair ALL DAY. So far within 10 minutes or so he calls me back and is ready to do the work. A couple of times I've had to leave a 2nd time. But when I do this he has a better ready to learn attitude and I don't have to battle with him at all.
***
I'm sure there are kids out there that this approach wouldn't work for but so far it's working for us. It also keeps my attitude under control. No yelling or getting mad. I just don't have time to teach a kid that doesn't want taught. Hopefully this will continue to work and maybe even start to prevent all fits. We'll see!!!
***
If your kids go to public school,
I'm sure you could use this approach for home work too, if needed.
***
So what works for you when those nasty fits surface???

Can't wait to read your ideas when I
return from vacation on Friday!
See you then!

HomeSchool Review and Great Math Site

It your kids are tired of Old Fashioned Flash cards,

Try this Free Site.

I found it last week after searching for free math practice and my kids love it. I actually find them playing it to see if they can beat their record without me telling them to go practice!

**

You can use it for any operation (+, -, x, ect) and you can set how high (or low) the numbers can go. You have 60 seconds to see how many you can do.

For example for my 8yr. old I set the low number to 2 and the high number to 7. That means that the easist problem she can get is 2x2 and the hardest is 7x7.

Check it out. So easy to use!!!! AND FREE!!!

***

Let me know if you use any really cool

free online Math sites!

There are many great Math Programs out there but

We love Horizons for math class!

It teaches and then reviews for weeks after you've learned a new concept. It takes small steps so you never feel lost! It works for us!

You can read more about it here
**

I'd love to know what you use for Middle School Math.

Horizons only goes thru 6th grade which means after

next year my oldest will need something else!

He will be doing 5th grade this year.

Homeschool Review - Spelling

For Spelling we use "A Reason for Spelling". I started using this program last year and used it again this year. We really like it!

We started with level B and used C this year. I am able to have both my 4th grader and my 2/3 grader do the same level.

**

For each child you will need a student book which costs around $14.50 from Rainbow Resource.

Then you will need 1 Teachers Book for $27.95. I'm debating on skipping the teachers book next year to cut cost. I don't think we would miss out on too much. The only thing I would miss is the dictation, I would just have to make it up. I don't think that would be a problem!

Without the Teacher's book the program would only cost me around $29. next year for 2 kids. Not Bad!!

**

You can go here to "A Reason For's" website and they have placement tests to help you know which level would be best for your child. They also have sample pages to look at or download and print them out.

**

So what do you use for Spelling? Do you use a formal program or just make up words?

Leave a comment and let me know!

Free Book from Barnes & Noble

Barnes & Noble has a cool Summer Reading program for your kids grades 1-6!

They have to read and record 8 books.

Then take their chart to Barnes & Noble and receive a free book.

They choose their free book from the list according to their grade level.

Check out the details here

begins 5/26 and ends 9/7

***

Thanks Mom Saves Money

Homeschool Review -- Grammar

For Grammar we use Easy Grammar. You can see and read all about it here.

I have used this system for 2 years now and absolutely love it!

We start using it for 3rd grade.

***

The basis of this program is to learn your prepositions/ prep. phrases and then finding other parts of speech becomes very easy! And it works!! I never learned my preps in school and was not taught this method. I always struggled with English and hated it. I think if I would have been taught like this it would have made a lot more sense and been much easier!

***

Here's an example sentence...

A mother with her child ran across the park.

to find the subject and verb, first cross out any prep. phrases (I will highlight in red)

**

A mother with her child ran across the park.

all that is left is

A mother.... ran....

You can easily see that the subject is mother and verb is ran

****

In 3rd grade they learn a list of about 28 preps

In 4th grade the list grows to 40

I can't talk about 5th until next year!!

***

They offer other items like daily grams, but I only get the childs book for $13.95 and the teachers book for $27.95

So total cost would be around $42. for first child but then only $13.95 for additional kids since I already own the teachers manual. This makes it pretty cheap for my additional kids, which is important since I have 4!

**

This program has worked really well for us and the plan is to use it next year!

So what do you use for Grammar Class?? I love to keep my options open and have an idea of what everyone else uses.... You never know if this program will stop working for us in the future!!!

Homeschool Review - Bible Class

Many of you know I home school! I have a 4th grader, 2nd/3rd grader, and a kindergartner. ( I also have an almost 3 yr old).
I thought, as school winds down and I think of curriculum for next year, it would be fun to share what we use for each of our school subjects.
***
My first subject to review is Bible Class.
I use...

Bible Study for all ages is a great program! I love that it has different student books for different aged kids. There is a book for 3yr- K, 1st-3rd, 4th-6th. I use these more like k-2nd, 3rd-4th, and 5th-6th. You can use them for whatever ages works for you! All of the books are working on the same story even tho they are made for different levels. So you can teach all the kids in your home school at the same time and they can all understand.
**
You will need a student booklet for each student unless you want them to share, which I think is very possible and I may do that next year to cut a little cost. Each student booklet costs $6.95 but only covers 26 lessons. So for Teachers Guide 1 (lessons 1-104) there are 4 student booklets.
**
You will also need to purchase a Teacher's Guide. There are 4 guides total. In each guide is 104 lessons. You can go through them at your own pace. I think each guide is $29.95. I have only bought one and it will last 2 years.
The teachers Guide has everything done for you- there is no planning you have to do. First you read a chapter or 2 from the Bible. Then there are questions in the teachers guide to answer together. Then they do their booklets to review the story again. They also learn books of the Bible and many other things along with the stories.
**
I know you can find ways to teach Bible class a lot cheaper, but I don't find the time to make up my own lessons. This program works really good for us and I feel that my kids, along with me, are really starting to learn our Bibles, and that's very important to us!
**
I'm curious, do you home school? And if so what do you use for Bible class? Do you make up your own Bible curriculum?

**
I'd love to hear from you. Just leave me a comment!

Free Home School Magazine

Money Saving Mom just posted about getting a free sample issue of Home School Digest! You can go here to get yours. Use promo code GLEAN. I just got mine and it worked perfectly!

***

You can read more about how this helps support "Gleaning the Harvest" here at Money Saving Mom.