Homeschool Hacks

Homeschooler Discounts

by Brea

It helps to know the best places to buy resources, and it really helps to know where you can save some money. Homeschooling doesn't have to cost a fortune (more on that coming later in the week), so here's a great link at Homeschooling on Shoestring that lists a bunch of discounts. Some of the places listed are local to Michigan, but most are nation-wide.

Home Educator Discount List

And remember, it doesn't hurt to ask any place you shop if they give discounts for homeschoolers ... provided, of course, that you're purchasing school materials. :) What's the worst that can happen? You pay the same price you'd pay even if you didn't ask? That's what I thought ...

And do you already have a particular curriculum you'd like to use? Think used books. They might not be quite as pretty, but there are terrific savings to be had if you're willing to do a little looking. Amazon.com is always a great place to check (I often get books for under $.25 before shipping), and there's also Homeschool Classifieds and Second Harvest Curriculum. So check out some of these links, and save those pennies where you can!

Beautiful 360 degree panoramic views that bring the world to you!

I found a wonderful website with amazing 360 degree panoramic views from all over the world. You must go check it out. Check these out-

Great Wall of China

The Colosseum

The Apollo Missions

Mt. St. Helens

Seven Wonders of the World

Arounder -index of panoramas

Enjoy!

Bullying in the School System

Summer at Mom is Teaching wrote a brilliant article on bullying. Go read it!

From her article-

"I don’t want to teach my sons to deal with bullies. I want to teach them that this behavior is unacceptable, that hurting others in any way does not make them “cool”, that they don’t have to fit into the crowd and that standing out does not have to be painful, and that they do not have to become the kind of adults that use words that hurt as much as fists. They can be better. If that means keeping them out of the bully-rich environment until they have a solid foundation built up and a strong enough personal base to stand up to those who use power-over, then good. They will be strong er for it in the long run."

Is anyone tired of hearing how we should put our kids in school to socialize them? Middle School and High School are artificial environments that children are expected to 'get through'. It is ridiculous to feel we need to expose our children to this simply because most children are forced to deal with it! The school experience for most children has nothing to do with real-life in adulthood. I say we start laughing when we are asked, "What about socialization?" I say the proof is in the pudding, as my grandmother used to say.

Free Online Virtual Fieldtrips

I found a wonderful site with free virtual field trips!

Here is the list of all the topics-

Art Art Gallery Basilica of the National Shrine Byzantine Art Nobel e-Museum Sistine Chapel The Louvre Visit France! Fun Fireworks! Grades 4-12 Roller Coasters Online Whale Watching Geography Great Buildings Part 1 Great Buildings Part 2 Oregon Trail Virtual Antarctica: Glacier Invitation History American Presidents Ancient Egypt British Monarchy Deep Undercover! The FBI Gold Rush The Pentagon The Pentagon 2 The White House Titanic World War II Literature American Sign Language Treasure Island William Shakespeare Math Bureau of Engraving and Printing Mathematics! Music MIDI Classical Music Symphony for Kids! Western Composers Science Aeronautics Learning Laboratory Anatomy and Physiology Benjamin Franklin Forces and Weather! How Stuff Works! - Email and The Internet National Zoo Oceans Alive Sea Lions The Inside Story Submarines! Secrets and Spies!! The Human Body!

If you need me, I'll be playing on this site for the rest of the day! The boys can play learn tomorrow!

You'll Love This- Discovery Channel's Human Body Series

I am officially in love with the Discovery Channel's new series. Discovery Channel's- Human Body premiered tonight. It was the BEST teaching tool I have found for Science in ages. You will love it. My nine year old and I watched the premiere episode tonight and loved it. I can not say enough good things about this new series. It will be known as a must have for teaching the boys in my house.

Here is a snippet about tonight's premiere episode-

"Episode 1: "STRENGTH"
Premieres Sunday March 2, at 9 p.m. ET/PT

The human body is engineered for strength, power and endurance. Bone is sturdy as concrete but flexible enough to resist breaking and light enough to allow us to be quicker off the mark than a racehorse. Our muscles, ligaments and joints have far greater strength and endurance than we know. In this episode, we feature extraordinary tales of human strength told with stunning see-through "anatomy in motion."

• A young man is sucked up into a tornado, only to be spat out a quarter of a mile away, unharmed.
• Pinned by a massive boulder, a climber finds the strength to lift it off in a seemingly impossible muscular feat.
• A college football player sustains what would normally be unbearable injury and pain, yet has the mental stamina to continue playing at full output.

Plus, how does a swimmer tap the remnants of our distant ancestors' extraordinary stamina to swim across the English Channel in 14 hours? How do marathon runners keep the pace on their grueling 26-mile run?"

Click here to watch the full episode!

My son and I also watched the second episode- Sight. It was amazing. The human body just comes to life and I learned things I never did as a kid. My son was fascinated with and understood concepts that would have taken a year to study and be forced to do the dreaded worksheets about. Can you tell my sons won't touch a worsheet unless forced?

The rating was PG-13. It was fine for my 9 year old and I am very picky about what I let him watch. It was very graphic, but not in a gratuitous manner.

When you watch, be sure to let me know what you think of the series!

Current Events are for Kids, Too!

New Flash Five is a new web site where kids can find age-appropriate updates on current events. Their mission is to "encourage young people to take an interest in news and current events." You'll hear and read timely news, framed in a way that children can relate to. Your child can even "become a correspondent" and submit his or her own stories.

For parents/teachers, the site offers a useful News & Current Events Primer as well as three lesson plans: Current Events, Get the Scoop, and Making News. I especially enjoyed the section on "Watching News with a Critical Eye."

Kids’ Book Club Book

The Kids' Book Club Book looks like a great resource for homeschoolers and anyone wanting to start a book club. With its book-specific crafts, recipes and activities, it also seems useful for spawning ideas around any book your child reads, book club or not!

World History Unit Studies

CarmoLearning.com offers nine world history units, ranging from Mesopotamia to World War I, for grades 6 through 10. Students can read, write, map, and do art activities with these fact-filled and enjoyable units.

According to the site, each unit takes about ten class periods to complete.

Homeschool Pringles Challenge

I received an email yesterday from a homeschool Mom who is starting up her own annual "Homeschool Pringles Challenge." The challenge? To engineer a mailable package to have the smallest volume and smallest mass that will protect the chip so that it arrives at its destination undamaged.

According to the Mom organizing the challenge, "This challenge has been done with public school students, at colleges of engineering, and many other science/engineering classes. So, I thought WHY NOT with homeschool students." There are no corporate sponsors or affiliations for the program and the prizes are listed as "pending." (Maybe someone reading this wants to donate a prize?)

You can register here by February 10th and your Pringles package must be postmarked by February 26th.

Art Education at GeeGuides

GeeGuides is a web-based animated art curriculum that delivers 16 lessons of art instruction that meet national curriculum standards. The program includes interactive activities, an art gallery and glossary, quizzes, challenges, rewards, assessment tools and a license for the Corel Painter Essentials program. The content is also cross curricular, linking to other subjects such as history and math.

At $69.95 for a year's subscription, it's not inexpensive. But if you're in the market for an art curriculum, this program looks engaging. The site doesn't specify the age-appropriateness of the lessons, but judging from the free sample lesson, I'd suggest it for ages 6 to 12.

Also check out the GeeKids section, where children can watch animated video, create their own e-greeting cards, or mix and match colors with the GeeGuides color wheel.