Author Archives: Betty Jo

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About Betty Jo

I'm Betty Jo, a wife to my knight in (not so) shinning armor for nearly 22 years. We have 5 kids and another one that currently lives with us. We have been Christian home educators for 18 years with 8 more (at least) to go.

Monday’s Homeschool Humor

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This week is our fall break!  And after near flooding over the weekend and very little sleep I’m thankful this morning that we are out of school for a few days. Also over the weekend, we were greatly blessed by our “life group” from our church.  Some of those sweet people came over and worked on my car!  They brought the parts and everything!  There’s still a couple of other things left to be done for it but soon we will be able to get to the library and our homeschooling activities again!

I’m wondering what kind of learning and reading is going to be happening over the next few days.  It seems that some of the best lessons learned over the years have been learned without any planning, record keeping, grading, or scheduling.

I hope you had a wonderful weekend and that this week will be a great one!

Blessings,

betty jo

Our Homeschooling Week Ending October 4

This was an easy week for our homeschool.  My husband and I were not feeling well and with our car still broken, it was a good week to stay home.   Also, this was our 9th week of the homeschooling year so we’ve been finishing up a few loose ends and testing before starting our fall break.

The highlight this week has been the chalkboard wall.  With our pirate studies being over it was time to erase.  J had been asking to do that for several days, so he was excited to get that job started.

1378364_522367817845075_538432821_nWe have decided that the next mural should be a fall scene and agreed on a big full moon with a silhouette tree.

1374856_523197167762140_1231198645_n1374841_561315363939177_1904301964_n We’re saving a couple of blank spaces in the moon for other silhouettes, perhaps a bat, an owl, and a spider.

1375887_561281867275860_693404763_nPerhaps we’ll get it finished over the weekend or early next week.  Until then we will have to deal with a dusty mess.

Our keyhole garden science project is still ongoing.  The tomato plants are about finished but the peppers are still producing like crazy.

994933_516719048410062_1036052534_n1382925_516718991743401_1131405712_nE and B have started back with SALT (homeschool creative ministries troop) and are loving being with their friends again after some time off to settle into the new school year.

1374036_565710500161279_178052405_n996856_236321089851171_1108846771_nI hope you had a good week and that you enjoy your weekend.

betty jo

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Free Educational Links of the Week

online-educational-resources imageOnce again this week, we have made great use of free educational sites from around the web.  Below are the links to some awesome sites we have been using for some of our homeschooling lessons.

Pets, Animals, and Aquariums – information and resources  http://animal-world.com/index.html

A week of groceries from around the world in photos  http://realitypod.com/2013/05/a-week-of-groceries-in-different-countries-pictures/

Current Events – Government Shut Down http://htekidsnews.com/government-shutdown/

French, Italian, German, and Spanish interactive dictionary with audio  http://www.chillola.com/index.html/

Editable handwriting practice worksheets  http://www.handwritingpractice.net/handwriting/index.html

This site has several elementary subjects (My Z loves it for math and stories)  http://www.netrover.com/~kingskid/

Several articles of interest from the Native Speakers Academy  including, 22 Alternatives to Punishment,  Moving to the Rhythm ‘Can Help Language Skills,  and Police State Alert: High Schools Now Using Palm Scanners   http://us5.campaign-archive1.com/?u=8fb495371ca5be23e1601ecc0&id=e1f6607b16&e=3bba501884

And looking ahead to the rest of the month, these resources will be great!

For Columbus Day (Oct. 14) we will be working on this – free  lapbooking and notebooking download  http://marinecorpsnomads.com/2011/08/christopher-columbus-lapbook-and-notebook-study.html

This site is going to be a fantastic resource for Halloween printables  http://www.myhusbandateallmyicecream.com/2013/09/over-450-halloween-printables/

Recently I was asked how I keep track of the links I find.  I make a draft in my e-mail account and title it “Math” or whatever is appropriate. I add the link and write a brief description about the site.   When the page fills up, I  mail it to myself and move it to a file that matches the topic.

I hope you find these links both useful and fun.  We did!

betty jo

Free Educational Finds of the Week

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The following links are to the free resources that we have been exploring this week as part of our homeschooling studies.  And, this week the resources have been fabulous!

We gave this site a try this week and will be visiting again often for math games.  Everything from counting to probability.  http://jmathpage.com/

Literacy Lava PDF magazines for teachers that promote reading and writing with children of any age  http://susanstephenson.com.au/free-pdfs/

Videos, lessons, and experiments  for science class  http://www.planet-science.com/

Social Studies and current events  http://www.socialstudiesforkids.com/

Just for fun!  Free movies, videos, games and songs  http://www.cornel1801.com/index.html

Crafts, recipies, printables, and more  http://itswrittenonthewalls.blogspot.com/

Education News for parents/teachers  http://www.nsa-slovakia.com/home

I hope that these links will be helpful as you look for something to make your studies a little more interesting and a little more fun.

betty jo

Homeschool Humor

 

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Happy Monday!  And happy “Pajama Day” (for those of us participating in International Homeschool Spirit Week)!

Here’s a few funnies to  start off another homeschooling week!

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International Homeschool Spirit Week’s theme for Tuesday is “School Away From Home Day”!

8662598ffc6cd5ae9c73e761eabdc633Wednesday is “Crazy Hair Day”!

bad_hair_day_1663755Thursday is “Volunteer Outside Your Home Day”

imagesFriday’s theme from International Homeschool Spirit Week is “Super Hero Day”.

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hs spirit wkFor more about International Homeschool Spirit Week click here  https://stilllearningsomethingnew.com/2013/09/22/international-homeschool-spirit-week/

Have a wonderful week!

betty jo

International Homeschool Spirit Week

hs spirit wkInternational Homeschool Spirit Week starts Monday, September 23!  In case you’re not yet familiar with what this is, I’ll give you a brief introduction.  Homeschool Spirit Week is the last week in September.  Homeschool  families (from all over the world) join together as one big community to show their spirit. There will be opportunities for you to share your family’s photos and thoughts.  Each day has a theme and a home education sponsor that will offer prizes and freebies.  This year’s line up is this:

Pajama Day- Monday, September 23rd
Sponsored by CurrClick

Homeschool Away from Home Day – Tuesday, September 24th
Sponsored by iHomeschool Network

Crazy Hairstyle Day – Wednesday, September 25th
Sponsored by Hip Homeschool Moms

Volunteer Outside Your Home Day – Thursday, September 26th
Sponsored by Great Homeschool Conventions

Super Hero Day – Friday, September 27th
Sponsored by Free Homeschool Deals

Last year our family had a blast participating in International Homeschool Spirit Week!  We were curious about what other home educating families look like and what they do,  so we enjoyed the blogs and social media posts with photos submitted from other families.  The week was a welcome relief from lesson planning.  I made some long distance friendships with some lovely homeschooling moms.   I picked up some great freebies, too.

For more information and suggestions on how to get the most from this opportunity click here  http://homeschoolspiritweek.com/

Join in on the fun through Facebook, too!  http://homeschoolspiritweek.com/

“We’ve got spirit, yes we do!   We’ve got spirit, how ’bout you?!”

betty jo

Our Homeschooling Week Ending 9/20

Most of our homeschooling weeks are rather routine and not blog worthy.  However, this past week was not just another average week.

We started the week off with the celebration of E’s 18th birthday!

1234251_515624271852763_1382101898_n 1235030_515624241852766_952426998_n We have finally completed our pirate unit studies.  Our lapbook board is full and ready to be put in file folders.

995484_516775155071008_1467828557_nWe attempted to make a treasure chest cake, but it didn’t quite turn out like it should have.  Although it tasted great!

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And our week ended with another party.  Our homeschooling support group got together for a “If We Build It…” Lego party!

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I hope you had a great week and that you’re enjoying the weekend.

betty jo

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Free Educational Finds of the Week

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Once again this week I am overwhelmed with both the quantity and quality of free educational web sites available.  I enjoying finding and exploring these sites with my kids.  I’m thankful for the homeschooling blog and social media communities for their time and efforts to share resources that add much to our homeschooling studies.

Below are a few of the links to free learning sites that I saved to my teaching resource files this week.

Brain teasers, language arts, and math printables  http://www.wuzzlesandpuzzles.com/

126 interactive history games  http://playinghistory.org/items

Bible map and timeline printables  http://www.biblestudy.org/maps/main.html

Human anatomy interactive (This was bit difficult to catch on to, as they do not have written instructions, but once I got the hang of it, I thought the technology was amazing and will be a great teaching resource)  http://www.zygotebody.com/

Music games from the Dallas Symphony Orchestra  http://www.dsokids.com/games.aspx

It’s my hope that these links will be a little something extra that you can add to your homeschooling studies, and that you and your kids will not just learn from them, but have some fun as well.

betty jo

 

Arrrrgh! Pirates!

1328026975arvadacenter-pirate-tattoos-big-pngAccording to the special days in September calendar, the 19th is Talk Like a Pirate Day!  And on our planner, it’s the last day of our pirate unit study that we have been working on a couple of days a week for the past several weeks.  It’s been a fun and interesting study.  Below are some of the resources we have been using.

For pirate biographies, dictionary, lore, sea sickness, and more  http://the-pirate-ship.com/

For learning about how much work it was to sail a full-rigged ship  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v6DZIvMZWzQ

Since pirates needed sewing skills for sail repairs we have added some sewing instruction to our lessons.

https://sewing.com/hand-sewing-stitching-basics/

How to tie knots was also a valuable pirate expertise, so we gave that a try as well.  This site has step by step knot tying instructions   http://www.netknots.com/rope_knots/

Navigation by stars  was another important sailor skill  https://seahistory.org/sea-history-for-kids/navigating-by-the-stars/

Instructions for making a cork and needle compass  https://www.nps.gov/articles/compass.htm

Our lapbook board  (we glued these to file folders once the unit study was finished).

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Free unit studies and lapbook printables along with book lists and other links to follow  http://www.homeschoolshare.com/connections__pirates.php

“Why are pirates called pirates?”   –   “They just arrrrrr!”  and, lots of other pirate jokes for kids   http://www.enchantedlearning.com/jokes/topics/pirate.shtml

Blackbeard, pirate, and treasure chest printable notebooking pages  http://www.teacherfiles.com/resources_bp_ss.htm

More pirate themed notebooking pages  http://edgalaxy.com/printable-paper-for-teachers/2012/9/22/pirate-themed-writing-pack.html

Pirate Adventure Writing Prompts                                                                         https://writeshop.com/pirate-printable/

These are a few of our library finds.

994563_499037283511462_2074833300_nMovies and music!

12693220px-Pirates_who_dont_do_anything_posterPirates_of_the_Caribbean_movie

Interactive sunken treasure game  http://nationalgeographic.org/education/multimedia/interactive/maps-tools-find-sunken-treasure/

Interactive “Walk the Plank” and Pirate themed Math Games https://www.math4childrenplus.com/?s=pirate

And “Talk Like a Pirate Day” Math Lesson                                                                https://www.yummymath.com/2018/talk-like-a-pirate-day-viral-growth/

Our chalkboard wall mural.  The instructions for how to draw a pirate ship from here were  quite helpful.  http://lifestyle.howstuffworks.com/crafts/drawing/how-to-draw-pirate-ships.htm

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In conclusion to our pirate unit studies we attempted to make this treasure chest cake! https://www.coolest-birthday-cakes.com/category/other/pirate/treasure-chest/

treasure-chest-cake-recipe-photo-420-0497-FF0403CAKEA19Haha!  Another “Pinterest Fail”, but still tasted good!

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For more resources for special days in September click here

Wishing you smooth sailing!

betty jo

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