Category Archives: Uncategorized

Happy Birthday, William Shakespeare

April Fool’s Day – Learning Resources

April Fool’s Day isn’t the type of holiday that warrants a day off from homeschooling lessons. However, it is one of those holidays that can be a homeschooling lesson theme. Here’s some resources for teaching and learning on April Fool’s Day.

History – “As April Fools’ is celebrated in different ways throughout the world, it is unknown exactly how the tradition originated. Some cultures saw it as the first day of spring, celebrating with general merriment and feasting, and certain calendars may consider it the first day of the year. One theory for the terming of an April Fool was that some refused to follow these calendars that recognized April 1st as the first day of the year, which resulted in being called an April Fool.” And more history and information from here http://wilstar.com/holidays/aprilfool.htm

Bible – Study of “the fool” based on Proverbs 26 https://bible.org/seriespage/fool-proverbs-261-11

Language Arts – Worksheets and Word Game Printables http://www.apples4theteacher.com/holidays/april-fools-day/printables/

Science – Videos and Experiments http://www.stevespanglerscience.com/blog/informal-science-education/celebrate-april-fools-day-with-floating-paper-airplanes-three-cup-monty-and-the-dangers-of-dihydrogen-monoxide/

Math – Magic Trick instructions using numbers – http://easycalculation.com/funny/tricks/trick1.php

Yes! I have some googly eyes in the craft box. My kids look in the fridge about 100 times a day (hoping the food selection has changed?) . This will be funny!

Last year we had some fun pranking each other. Here’s the resources we pulled some ideas from. I checked, and it seems the links are still good. https://stilllearningsomethingnew.com/2013/03/31/foolish-studies/

Have a fun day of foolish studies!

betty jo

Art Day – Sistine Chapel Style

Happy 1st!

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Is it a birthday or an anniversary? Still Learning Something New officially began February 21, 2013. Birthday feels like the right word. The original idea to encourage, advise, and share ideas and resources to a web based homeschooling community was a “conceived” notion (and like each of my five children, a complete surprise)! I spent months keeping the idea hidden inside of me. After some time, I trusted my ideas with my family and some of my closest friends. I prayed, fell in love, made lists, researched, studied, compared, prepared, and finally “birthed” Still Learning Something New.

I had absolutely no idea what to expect from my own blog , and I’m both surprised and pleased with all that’s happened during this first year. 40,000 views from more than 60 countries, 200 subscribed followers, a social media audience, awards, and best of all, friendships made. And of course, lessons learned.

Instead of sharing lesson plans or advice today, I’m sharing some of the highlights from this first year.

The post most visited and shared https://stilllearningsomethingnew.com/2013/05/27/preparing-the-defense/

My attempt to explain our family’s learning method https://stilllearningsomethingnew.com/2013/05/08/why-and-how/

The one I wrote from my heart and barely received any views https://stilllearningsomethingnew.com/2013/03/11/concerned-teacher/

The Homeschooling Humor posts on Mondays have been fun for me. I so NEED to start the week off with a funny or two. You can access the complete Monday collection here https://stilllearningsomethingnew.com/?s=homeschool+humor

My favorite thing about our homeschool is our chalkboard wall and I’ve had the most comments left on the posts when I’ve shared our art. Our wall gallery can be seen here https://stilllearningsomethingnew.com/one-of-our-favorite-things-the-wall/

As I look back over the year these are the two posts that tie for what I thought were the best. https://stilllearningsomethingnew.com/2013/03/04/blogs-in-heaven/ and https://stilllearningsomethingnew.com/2013/03/05/the-pen-of-power/

The special days posts seem to be the most helpful for both myself and those of you who visit. The special days listing for March is being worked on now so be looking for it in a few days. It won’t be until April that there’s a listing for a whole year. Then, I’ll start improving them. For the past months click here https://stilllearningsomethingnew.com/page/2/?s=special+days

I thank each and everyone of you that visit here. You encourage me. I’m curious about what year two is going to be. Know that I would welcome any comments and suggestions from you.

betty jo

Shauny Award

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Early Monday morning as I was working on getting the latest “Homeschooling Humor” post ready to publish, I received a comment notification on my admin board. I had been given The Shauny Award!

What’s the *Shauny Award*?

This is a newly created award.

This award is given to blogs/bloggers who:

Show humanity,
show love,
be yourself,
don’t be others,
don’t gossip,
share the award with other bloggers

This award is also a humbling surprise! In fact, it’s a humbling surprise that anyone at all reads my blog! Thank you, Crazy Awesome Love for sharing the Shauny Award with me! http://crazyawesomelove.com/

Now for the really fun part! Passing the award on to some of my favorite blogs/bloggers!

Faithful Mom of 9 – Living and Homeschooling With Our New Normal http://www.faithfulmomof9.com/

Lake Norman Prep – Simple Days Making for an Exciting Adventure http://lakenormanprep.wordpress.com/

Especially Made http://especiallymade.wordpress.com/

God Led Learning – http://godledlearning.wordpress.com/

Dear reader, I hope you can make the time to visit Crazy Awesome Love and these few of my favorite blogs.

betty jo

Our Homeschooling Week Ending October 4

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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.

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

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

Perhaps 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.

E 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.

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

betty jo

Back to School Shopping

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Today I have blessed. Currclick has gone out of their way to encourage homeschooling families by offering an awesome sale.

I subscribe to Currclicks e-mail listing and use many of their free offers and sometimes even spend a dollar or two. But, this sale is more than that. This sale is more like them saying, “We support homeschooling, we care about you and want to help you out.”

I am having fun looking for notebooking, copywork, and lapbooking materials for our US History unit studies we’ll be starting in the fall. I’m not spending much more than time and stocking up my files.

For those of us who pull our resources from different media, and are on limited budgets, this sale is perfect.

The great deals end July 29. Here’s the link!

http://www.currclick.com/cclick_pwyw.php#selectpub

Happy Back to School Shopping!

betty jo

Unit Study Theory 101 – Class 2

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Welcome back to Unit Study Theory 101. Today’s class will be covering the answer to the question, “How do you keep records for the subjects covered in a unit study?”

First, I want to make it clear that the way I keep records is partly because the state of Kentucky mandates that I keep attendance records and scholarship reports. Some state laws do not require such records and some laws require more. If you are unsure about what is required of you, then you can find help here http://www.hslda.org/ or here http://www.nhen.org/home.html.

Author, Dave Ramsey uses an acronym often when giving financial advice, “KISS” it stands for “Keep It Simple, Stupid”. I don’t like it put that way, however it is a pretty good system for most everything. Let’s change it to “Keep It Simple, Sweetie” for our purposes. OK?

My record keeping system is as KISS as one could be. The subjects (in an abbreviated code) run across the top and dates run down the left side.

The chart ends up looking a bit like graft paper and continues for 15 days. So, it takes 3 copies per 9 week grading period.

With this form I check off the subjects covered each day. If my child did an extra good job they get a check with a “+”, or if they could have done better, they get a check with a “-“. If I have a % grade (spelling or math test) or a letter grade (notebooking, essay, report) to record, I just put it in the correct box instead of a check. After nine weeks. 45 days, I average the grades in the bottom columns. I count a check+ as an “A”, a check as a “B” and a check – as a “C”. I also include a note about field trips, activities, or other comments.

You are welcome to use my daily subject checklist form if you’d like.

DAILY SUBJECT CHECKLIST with Titles

DAILY SUBJECT CHECKLIST BLANK

If you missed the first post Unit Study Theory 101, you can catch up here. https://stilllearningsomethingnew.com/2013/07/22/unit-study-theory-101/

Class 3 of Unit Study Theorey 101 , Planning the Unit Study Week,

Unit Study Theory 101 – Class 3

If something was not clear, or if you have questions or suggestions, just leave me a comment.

betty jo

Best Moment Award, For Me?

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Still Learning Something New got an award! Wow and thanks, http://homeschoolcrafts.wordpress.com/!

“Awarding the people who live in the moment,
The noble who write and capture the best in life,
The bold who reminded us what really mattered –
Savoring the experience of quality time.”

In order to accept this flattering award, I am supposed to tell seven things about myself.

I am thrilled when I get to advise a new homeschool mom!
My house is never really clean.
If given a music choice, I pick Christian Rock nearly every time.
I stay behind my computer screen for hours and hours most days.
I’m totally amazed that people read my posts.
If researching was a talent, it would be mine.
I think babies are the most wonderful of all people.

The best part of getting the Best Moment Award is getting to give it to bloggers that I think deserve to have one. Here’s my list of nominations.

i Christian blogs hope, encouragement, music, and poetry @ http://steverebus.com/

I love the beautiful printables that are willingly shared @ http://practicalpages.wordpress.com/

A perfect mix of Scripture and astronomy lessons @ http://godmadeknown.wordpress.com/

Wonderful stories with a wonderful message @ http://especiallymade.wordpress.com/

Thank you again, Homeschool Crafts!

betty jo

Unit Study Theory 101

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Welcome to Unit Study Theory 101!

This blog post is in response to the frequently asked questions I get from homeschooling parents regarding unit studies.

What exactly is a unit study? A unit study is simply using a topic across the curriculum (covering as many subjects as possible). Note that some subjects such as spelling and math may need to be supplemented. Unit Studies use a variety of resources, text books, library books (both fiction and non fiction) web links, movies, games, etc.

How long does a unit study take? A unit study can take a day, or even months. Part of the beauty of studying this way is that you do not have to limit the time. Take as long as you want.

How does one select a topic for a unit study? If your teaching style is relaxed enough, allow your children to pick a topic that they would like to learn about. If that does not suit, pick your own. Your choices are limitless! Once you choose a topic, then you will brainstorm a list of learning possibilities, and start collecting resources.

Recently I was discussing a Viking unit study with a friend. Since we studied Vikings in our Middle Ages lessons last fall, I’ll use Vikings as an example for planning a unit study. Possible lessons would include but would certainly not be limited to the following.

Social Studies: Who were some famous Vikings? Where did the Viking live? Who are some famous Vikings? Answering these questions will cover the subjects of history, geography, vocabulary, and reading. If your child notebooks or journals, then composition is covered also.
Science: Since the Vikings were strong and healthy, research their daily lives and diet habits, (agriculture and hunting) . Take a look at Viking ships, architecture and weaponry, how they were made and their contributions to technology. And don’t forget to add dragons (dinosaurs?). These science lessons will count as history, reading, and vocabulary. If your child notebooks or journals, then composition is covered also.
Vikings and the Bible: Vikings are famous for their raids. What do the Scriptures tell us about stealing? Who and what influenced the Vikings not to be barbaric. Compare the Norse religion to Christianity. Once again, vocabulary, composition, and history can be covered in this lesson.
Arts: Draw dragons, make paper dolls, construct miniature ships, coloring pages, and make a costume are only a few suggestions.
Math: Miles traveled by Viking explorers. Years passed since the Viking era. Calorie counts of the Viking diet. Measuring ingredients for a Viking meal.
Language Arts: This is the easiest subject to cover in any unit study. Literature, spelling, writing, vocabulary, grammar will naturally flow if your child journals or notebooks.

Class 2 of Unit Study Therory 101, How to keep records of subjects covered when using a unit study method. https://stilllearningsomethingnew.com/2013/07/25/unit-study-theory-101-class-2/

Class 3 of Unit Study Therory 101, Making Weekly Plans https://stilllearningsomethingnew.com/2013/08/04/unit-study-theory-101-class-3/

In case you are considering Vikings for a unit study. I’ve put the links we used here for you. https://stilllearningsomethingnew.com/2013/07/22/vikings/

betty jo