Animated Lessons
Last month, TheHomeSchoolMom DVD Rentals offered the best annual price that has ever been available on an annual membership. Many of you took advantage of this incredibly low price, and I have arranged with Mentura to extend the offer through August for TheHomeSchoolMom subscribers. This special offer is only good for current TheHomeSchoolMom DVD Rental monthly or free trial subscribers who want to upgrade to an annual membership. (If you are not currently enjoying a DVD Rental membership you are eligible for Mentura's current offer, a 30 day free trial or 4 free Cerebellum DVDs with any annual membership.) This annual membership upgrade is the best price that has ever been available to members, so don't miss the chance to upgrade at a bargain price!
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2.
TheHomeSchoolMom's Free Homeschool Resources - December, 2004
Welcome to the December issue of TheHomeSchoolMom's Free Homeschool Resources. We are quickly approaching the deadline for ordering holiday gifts in time for Christmas. If you are in search of bargains, check out the WorldStart software store for educational software at great prices, and BookCloseouts for the best deals (60-90% off) on historical fiction, animals, and children's classics. Save an additional $5 off every order of $35 or more using this coupon:
Coupon code: TheHomeSchoolMom
Coupon password: bookcloseouts
Expires: March 31, 2005
Enjoy this month's resources.
Warm regards,
Editor, TheHomeSchoolMom's Free Homeschool Resources
- Homeschooling Resources for Hannukah
- Homeschooling Resources for Christmas
- Homeschooling Resources for Kwanzaa
- November Free Homeschool Resources Newsletter
3. Give the Young Patriots Books for Christmas and Save 10%! (Our sponsor)
The Young Patriots – books about the childhood and lives of famous Americans of the past – are perfect for holiday gift-giving. These are the updated, new versions of the Childhood of Famous Americans series you may have enjoyed in your youth. Favorites in this series are Juliette Low (founder of the Girl Scouts), John Hancock (brand new) and Amelia Earhart. Free teacher’s guide included w/each book. To receive the discount, please enter this special coupon code during checkout through December 24:
HM-PATS
Begin shopping at:
http://www.homeschoolingcompanion.com/Store/storefront.html
4.Educational Sites & Freebies
With the holidays approaching it's easy to begin to feel overwhelmed. If you would like to get a handle on your life and have some help getting organized, I recommend visiting FlyLady's website. Her theory that 15 minutes a day can help you get your life in order is the basis for a wonderful system that has many moms FLYing for the first time in their lives.
http://www.flylady.net
Natural Disaster and Emergency Resources
Free resources from the Red Cross that teach students and their families about emergency preparedness. Information includes safety tips, how to prepare, what to do during the emergency, disaster plans, downloadable preparedness worksheets, and more. The resources include such topics as droughts, blackouts, earthquakes, hurricanes, fires, tornados, and more. The resources are available in HTML and PDF format.
http://www.redcross.org/services/disaster/0,1082,0_501_,00.html
UNHRC offers free educational resources about human rights on their website. Resources include posters, lesson plans, magazines, videos, and games. The Human Rights Teaching Kit "is designed to help teachers prepare lessons, which demonstrate the relationship between refugee protection, tolerance and human rights. The kit includes posters and articles to prompt class discussion as well as teaching plans for children. Virtually every country has given asylum to refugees, and they can shed light on politics, current events, environment, social services, social studies and more. Refugee studies curriculum can be taught as early as primary school. Refugee themes can help children understand fundamental issues in history, geography or education for citizenship; and they can bring an unexpectedly poignant and imaginative approach to teaching of language, literature or art." All items are free of charge, and can be ordered through the website.
http://www.unrefugees.org/educationalresources.cfm
"Christmas Music: The Christmas Guitar" features Christmas music on guitars and mandolin. The site includes fascinating histories of the carols, free sheet music (by request), a fun quiz, and mp3 sound clips. You might be surprised at what you learn.
http://www.pair.com/montrsmu
Carol Raedy, a musician and educator from Charlotte, NC, has put instructions online for making simple musical Using common household items you can guide your students to make a banjo, bass, dulcimer, drum, rainstick, and thumb piano. Thanks to Iris B. for submitting this site.
http://www.satisfied-mind.com
5. Great teacher sites
Sites for Teachers is regularly featured in TheHomeSchoolMom Newsletter because it is one stop shopping for lesson plans, activity sheets, unit studies, and more. Over 500 of the best teacher sites!
Top Teacher Sites
Teach-nology.com has put together a list with the top 200 teacher sites that they have found on the web. Great resources! I love the fact that these resources always have new sites on them.
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6. Times Tales-Learn Upper Times Tables in 1 Hour! (Our Sponsor)
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7. Article - Making Christmas Memories
By Barbara Frank
For me, December brings memories of Christmas crafts, stories, plays and songs at school. I don’t know how or even if schools celebrate Christmas anymore, but when you homeschool, you can celebrate it any way you want.
When my kids were small, we spent a lot of time making Christmas decorations, cards, and gift tags. But as they grew older, they outgrew those activities. Besides, being the sentimental person I am, I had kept most of what they’d made in the past. How many paper chains does one family need, anyway? It was time to replace our crafting tradition with something new.
If you’re feeling that way, consider finding ways to volunteer with your children during the Christmas season. We homeschoolers have the benefit of flexible schedules, so we can do plenty of fun yet necessary volunteer work during the day.
Here are a few ideas of where you and your children can volunteer this season:
1) Homeless shelters need help all the time, but they are busiest during the winter months. Since some homeless people have substance abuse or mental health problems, you may not want your children in direct contact with the shelters’ clients. Indeed, many shelters don’t allow it. But kids can help behind the scenes. They can help prepare meals or bag lunches to be distributed by adult volunteers. They can also participate in clothing drives or fundraising efforts. Contact your local homeless shelter, or church PADS program, for more information.
2) Meals-with-Wheels is a program that provides seniors with a hot lunch. The Meals volunteer delivery person may be the only person some seniors see each day. My children have helped deliver Meals-with-Wheels for years, and when we are assigned to drive during the Christmas season, they make Christmas drawings or decorations to deliver along with the meals. One year we gave each client a plastic snow globe depicting the Nativity. (One caution: if you decide to hand out a small gift, do not give goodies such as cookies or candy. Many seniors are on restricted diets, and can’t have them.)
3) Crisis pregnancy centers are always looking for donations, but at Christmas time they especially appreciate donations of new baby clothes to hand out to their clients. It’s fun to buy something special for a little one whose mother chose life. There are so many cute baby clothes in the stores; pick out a bunch and let your children vote for their favorites.
4) Your local food pantry will greatly appreciate donations. Why not take the kids caroling, and ask each house’s residents for a canned-good donation for the food pantry? The kids can have fun while working for a worthy cause. You can also ask the pantry for the name of an especially needy family, and shop with your children for food specifically for that family.
5) The Postal Service offers a Letters to Santa program in many cities that matches up volunteers with children who have written Santa asking for food or clothing. Check with your local post office for details. Here in Chicago, the Postal Service will email you one of the children’s letters, or you can pick one up in person.
All of these activities will help your children by taking their minds off of what they want for Christmas, and guiding them to think instead about how they can help others. Invite some like-minded families from your homeschool support group or church along, and make volunteering a social event, if you like. However you do it, enjoy knowing that you and your children have helped to make someone else’s season bright, and that your children have learned through experience that it truly is more blessed to give than to receive.
Barbara Frank is the mother of four homeschooled-from-birth children ages 11-20, a freelance writer/editor, and the author of “Life Prep for Homeschooled Teenagers”. To visit her Web site, “The Imperfect Homeschooler”, go to www.cardamompublishers.com.
© 2004 Barbara Frank
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Hope you found something useful for your homeschool in this issue of TheHomeSchoolMom newsletter! More great stuff next time...
Editor, TheHomeSchoolMom Newsletter
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