Thank you Penny for a another great week of Lesson Plans!!

Welcome to another edition of the Lesson Theme of the Week this
week's lesson theme is on Spring. And I hope you enjoy this week's
theme and will pass it on to other homeschool families so they also
may use it to teach their children.

The Homeschool Network Internet Library News
http://homeschoolnetworklibrary.com
Please remember you can find additional materials in the member
section to go along with this week's lesson theme.

Lesson Plans
Integrating Math into a Spring Thematic Unit
http://www.eduref.org/cgi-
bin/printlessons.cgi/Virtual/Lessons/Mathematics/Measurement/MEA0004.
html
Soar Into Spring With Kites!
http://www.educationworld.com/a_lesson/lesson/lesson056.shtml
Splish, Splash, Spring Lesson Plan
http://content.scholastic.com/browse/collateral.jsp?
id=877&&DI=6244&IG=45bfe1f7c2714a7cb5359ab09b456aa0&POS=2&CM=WPU&CE=2
&CS=AWP&SR=2&sample=0
Spring Cleaning: Lesson plan based on Clifford The Big Red Dog
http://content.scholastic.com/browse/article.jsp?id=487
Spring Egg Art Lesson Plan
http://www.lessonplanspage.com/ArtMathPatternsEaster-SpringEgg15.htm
Spring Awakenings
http://www.cas.muohio.edu/scienceforohio/SprAwak/L.html
Spring/plants lesson plans for Head Start
http://www.lessonplanspage.com/MDMultidisciplinaryUnitOnSpringAndPlan
tsP.htm
Spring Time Flowers Math Lesson Plan
http://www.lessonplanspage.com/MathSciFavoriteFlowerGraph25.htm

Art
Baby-food Jar Gardens
http://crafts.kaboose.com/jgardens.html
Coffee Filter Butterflies
http://crafts.kaboose.com/butterfly1.html
Cross Stitch for Spring
http://www.dltk-holidays.com/spring/mcrossstitch.htm
Easy Spring Flowers
http://crafts.kaboose.com/flower1.html
Paper Bird House Craft
http://www.dltk-holidays.com/spring/mbirdhouse.htm
Spring Windsock
http://crafts.kaboose.com/windsock.html

Music
Spring Songs Ideas
http://www.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/curriculum/pep/teachingideas/sprin
gsongs.html

Cooking
Butterfly Cake
http://jas.familyfun.go.com/recipefinder/display?id=50107
Flower Power Cake
http://jas.familyfun.go.com/recipefinder/display?id=50138
Ladybug Cupcake
http://jas.familyfun.go.com/recipefinder/display?id=50162
N is For Nest Cupcake
http://jas.familyfun.go.com/recipefinder/display?id=50168

Online Activities
Spring Jigsaw Puzzle
http://www.primarygames.com/puzzles/jigsaw/spring/start.htm
Spring Match Game
http://www.primarygames.com/season_match/spring_match/start.htm
Spring Slide Puzzle
http://www.primarygames.com/seasons/spring/games/sliders/start.htm
Spring Word Search
http://www.primarygames.com/seasons/spring/word_search/start.htm
What is Spring?
http://www.northcanton.sparcc.org/~ptk1nc/spring2002/Cloze/whatisspri
ng5.htm

Printouts
DLTK's Custom Printable Coupons
http://www.dltk-cards.com/coupon/
Make Your Own Books - Spring
http://www.dltk-teach.com/minibooks/spring2/index.htm
Spring
http://abcteach.com/directory/seasonalseasons/spring/
Spring Anagram
http://www.dltk-holidays.com/spring/m-anagram.htm
Spring Coloring Pages
http://www.coloring.ws/spring1.htm
Spring Poem Printout
http://www.abcteach.com/spring/poem.htm
Spring Puzzle
http://www.abcteach.com/directory/fun_activities/crossword_puzzles/
Spring Themed Worksheets
http://www.kidzone.ws/thematic/spring.htm

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Lesson Theme of the Week
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/lessonthemeoftheweek/

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http://groups.yahoo.com/group/lessonthemeoftheweeknochat/

I was going through my email today and one of the gals had shared three different links to lesson plan websites.Ones I haven't ever seen before. So I thought I would share them with all of you.

The Educator's Reference Desk - This site has lesson plans for almost every subject. You can search by category or by grade. The grades you can search are K - 12.

Cool Teaching Lessons and Units -  This site is designed for grades K - 12. This site contains web quests, lesson plans, ready made units, research modules, and project based learning. It links you to many other sites also. Very interesting website.

Economics and Geography Lessons for 32 Children's Books - This site is mainly for grades 1 - 5. You pick a book by grade and it gives you lesson plans that go with that particular book. Another interesting website.

If I had ten thumbs, all ten would be going up for the Yourteacher.com math program.  It has been a month now since we have subscribed and started learning through their wonderful math lessons, and I can tell you it has been a great success!

Once you subscribe, you have access to over 450 on-line math lessons, with courses in Pre-Algebra, Algebra 1, Geometry and Algebra 2.  (I personally hope that in the future they expand their lessons to other subjects, because I am so impressed with the teaching methods.)

The videos feature a teacher, who speaks concisely and clearly, at a chalkboard, taking you step by step through different problems.  Don't get it?, then just back up and start again until you do.  They offer additional problems, along with challenging problems if you are feeling up to it.  When you answer correctly, cheering is heard, very good for the motivation factor.

My daughter, who is a reader, more than a math person, is really enjoying this program.  I never even have to remind her about math, she instantly goes on every morning for her next lessons.

Parents, for those of you (who like me), never excelled at math in school yourselves, this program will have you interested too.  It is like having a one on one math tutor.

Yourteacher.com is offering the first week free, so try it out for yourself, it is normally $29.50 a month, and you can pay month by month for the service.  IT IS WELL WORTH THE MONEY.  So worth it in fact, that when summer rolls around, we are not going to put it on hold until September.  We are going to just keep going with it and see how far it can take us here.

It offers structure, challenges, step by step learning, what more could you want for your math curriculum? Try it for the first week, you will be hooked.  By the way, this is not part of any affiliate program, I make no money pitching this program to you. So please know that I am really excited about this program, just because we are using it and succeeding beyond our expectations with it, and for home-schoolers everywhere, it would be a wonderful asset to your classroom.

Yourteacher.com Math Program

Miscellaneous Lesson Plans - This link is sponsered by Utah Education Network. This site has dozens of lesson plans with documents to support the lessons.

Education World - This site is a great site for lesson plans and are submitted by teachers. This is a great place to spend a few hours at.

Zoom School - This site has many different lesson plans and is designed for elementary students. The lessons you can find here are biology, geography, language arts, and early child hood activities. This site looks like it's part of Enchanted Learning.

I know that I can always use premade lesson plans when I am running short on ideas. Here are a few sites that are great resources for lesson plans. Enjoy!

The Academy Curriculum Exchange - This website has a wealth of resources for grades K - 12. They have curriculum for langauge arts, mathematics, miscellaneous, science, and social studies. The lessons here are very detailed and consise but they require alot of sifting through pages.

Lesson Plans and Reproducibles - This site is made by Scholastic and this particular section is the most valuable: hundreds of lesson plans ranging from elementary to intermediate ages, in 100 different categories. This site could keep me busy for days.

Lesson Plans - This site has over 3,500 free lesson plans. There is lessons for all ages and subjects.

Marc Sheehan's Lesson Plans - This site has a small collection but includes theme units, lesson plans and links to other lesson plan sites.

Stay tuned as tomorrow I will finish posting the lesson plan sites that I have found.

A fellow home-schooling parent the other day asked me what "Bible Study" I used with my daughter.  She was having a hard time finding a good program for her 12 year old son that wasn't too elementary.

We start our day with Bible study each morning, which is not at all unusual for a home with Christian based education.  I had looked into many different curriculum and lesson plans, a lot of them well done, but we settled upon our own way of studying the bible, let me explain.

Word of Promise Audio Bible fit our need.  It is not your average audio bible, this bible has theatrical sounds and quality, and features several Hollywood "stars" as the voices:

• Jim Cavieziel
• Michael York
• Richard Dreyfuss
• Stacy Keach
• Marisa Tomei
• Lou Gossett Jr.
• Lou Diamond Philips
• John Heard
• Kimberly Williams-Paisley
• Luke Perry
• John Schneider
• Ernie Hudson
• Rebecca St. James
• Michael W. Smith
• + more........

As your student reads along with his/her bible, the chapters come alive in the ears (and the heart) as it is acted out for them on audio.  The sounds are fantastic, the music dramatic, it is extremely powerful.

We listen to a chapter a day, and we chose to go right in order, from Matthew to Revelation.  But you can certainly listen to whatever you want to fit your lesson plans.  After we listen to a specific chapter, my daughter then asks me questions that came up during her listening and reading.

You can download the whole New Testament right to your computer (our choice), or you can order the discs to be sent to your home. (I have also seen them for sale at Sam's club).  To order to your computer on-line it costs $28.95, to order the set for your home library $32.99.

Also, Word of Promise has a pay it forward program where if you sign up your church, a percentage of what is ordered is then sent to your church, a double blessing.

There are samples of the program on the website, you can also watch a trailer of the Word of Promise project, be sure to watch both before you decide to order.

Sometimes (actually a lot), I am unclear what a particular passage means.  That is when I find my way on-line to "Thru the Bible" with Dr. J. Vernon McGee.  Pastor McGee died over 30 years ago, but his teachings live on through Christian radio, and through the website that is accessed from all over the world.  From the site, you can download Dr. McGee's teachings for free, and then go right to the chapter that you are having problems with, and get an understanding of it from Dr. McGee perspective.

There are many many programs out there for bible study for your home-schooled child, but I wanted to share the two that work very well for us, perhaps they will work well for you also:

Word of Promise Website
Thru the Bible

In our home, we home-school though a private school in Ann Arbor Michigan named "Clonlara".  We choose this school because it has over 40 years of home-schooling experience and has students world-wide.  I choose it personally because they are much better at keeping records than I am, and though it provides broad lee-way on curriculum, keeps me focused on where my child should be academically. . .a.k.a. I need structure!.. :)

Clonlara also encourages volunteering in some capacity for the student in home-schooling in their communities.  And I for one think this is an awesome idea!

It is vitally important for a child to feel connected to his/her community, whether it is through their place of worship, their city, their country or their world.  My daughter for example is 12, and volunteers in the Sunday school classes through her church.  She loves doing it, and loves the children.  It wouldn't matter if there was a severe storm watch out in our area, if it is her day to volunteer, we get there (her orders, not mine)

She is ready though to spread her wings and add to her volunteering portfolio.  So we are now beginning to discuss the things that she cares deeply about...children, elderly, sick, dying, environment, politics, teaching English, or reading to the blind???  There is a lot she cares about, so she is going to keep narrowing it down until she comes up with a few that are dear to her heart.

I in the meantime am checking out volunteer sites, not only for this area, but nation-wide so I can pass on this information to you, and I have come across a site that seems very helpful in planning all this.

The site is called Volunteer Match, and all you do is type in your zip code, how far you are willing to travel and press enter.  The next page you see is all the listings of volunteer opportunities in the area you have chosen.  It supplies the following information for you:

• Opportunity (what they need you to do)
• Organization (who needs the help)
• Location
• Date (some are special events, others are on-going needs)
• Great For (whether its good for teens, elderly etc...)

The "Great For" category is perfect for finding a opportunity for your teen.  Most companies seeking help list an age preference and makes your job a whole lot easier by not having to call around asking if they take 14 year olds.

If you belong to a local home-schooling group, you can also organize a teen volunteer group, help set it up, ask for volunteers, set monthly meetings, elect a leader, and let the kids go from there. They as a group can find a need to be filled. This is a fantastic way to foster new friendships also.

Discuss with your student whether they would like to contribute time to something or someone they care about, and continue to plan such things as time available to volunteer, and how they think they can help.  Thinking outside of one's self is extremely rare these days.  Equipping your home-school child with a volunteer experience, or on-going experiences is going to add to your child's character more than you know.

Volunteer Match

I am not kidding you, my daughter (age 12) begged me to cut loose of the planned curriculum and instead watch another section of "The States" from the History Channel.  I don't mind, it is a really interesting and fun DVD series, that teaches me something new each time, actually a lot of new things.   We are in Vol. 1, pt 3, and the States in this section are: New York, Oregon, Louisiana, New Mexico and Vermont.

By the way, I love the way the DVD skips around the country, it's like getting a surprise each time!  We have come up with some great lesson plan ideas while viewing, and I will suggest some to you as we go through each State.

New York:  The New York segment touches on the Hudson Rivers' importance to the state.  It is also the largest producer of wine on the east coast, reveals how "Uncle Sam" came to be (surprised me!), and explained sky-scrapers and 9-11.  Future lesson plan? 9-11

Oregon:  Oregon the State of "thinkers"  Did you know that in Oregon you cannot pump your own gas?  Oregon is also the first state to okay assisted suicide (I wouldn't brag, but oh well..), and the only inland State attacked by a Japenese plane.  Future lesson plan? The Oregon Trail

Louisiana:  Terry Bradshaw was the celebrity speaker for Louisiana.  Louisiana has more bridges than any other state.  Learn where the Cajun really came from. History on Andrew Jackson and a touching view on Hurricane Katrina and other horrible natural disasters that have hit the State. Our pick for future lesson plan? Update on Katrina victims (my daughter's suggestion)

New Mexico:  Neil Patrick Harris was the celebrity spokesman for this state. New Mexico has more P.h.d.'s than anywhere else in the Country.  History of Billy the Kid and the Manhattan Project are both covered.  Also showcases New Mexico's art community, and a fascinating look at New Mexico's Zozobra, which we will study some time later (we never heard of it!)

Vermont:  The section on Vermont is so pleasant that it makes you want to move there.  Home of the very first patent and Ben and Jerry's ice cream.  Learn why their granite is rated grade A, and all about their maple syrup and snowboarding activities.  Future lesson plan?  Plan a trip to Vermont!!

That's it for this section.  I urge you to add this series to your home-school library, it is so full of history, geography, facts and fiction, and holds your interest the entire time!  Back in a few weeks with more!

Order "The States"

Many of you may already be aware of the fact that an asteroid is set to hit Mars on January 30th, 2008, or is it?  It has been called a hit and a miss so many times that it's hard to keep up with it.

If it does hit, what affect will it have here on earth? Any? One great way to find out is to visit NASA's website and visit their podcast section, and if your student is an ipod user, NASA has a special NASA room set up at itunes.

The Audio Podcasts are set up into these categories:

• This Week at NASA
• Shuttle and Station
• Solar System
• Universe
• Earth
• Student Opportunities

The Video Podcasts are set up into these categories:

• This Week at NASA
• NASA edge
• Shuttle and Station
• To the Moon
• Solar System
• Universe
• Earth
• What's Up

But it doesn't end there.  Your children have a whole library full of podcasts from additional NASA resources:

• Ask an Astronomer
• Astrobiology Magazine
• Brain Bites - Ask NASA
• Chandra X-ray Observatory
• Digital Learning Network
• Hubble Watch
• + more

My daughter who loves science, but detests boring book science was busy yesterday downloading her own selections onto her computer.  We only stumbled upon this section of NASA yesterday and we were hooked.

These podcasts can easily fit in to your current science curriculum and lesson plans, and who better to learn science from and keep on top of current events in space than the NASA scientists?

To visit: NASA podcast Room

I am so glad it's the weekend so I can finally sit down and update on some new discoveries and current events that have occurred in the last few weeks.  There is some interesting stuff here, hopefully some of it will interest you enough to inspire some new lesson plans for your children:

New Game Builds Vocabulary for Kids - and Adults:  There is a new game in town for your Nintendo DS, it is called "My Word Coach", and it is getting great reviews. It was inspired by a college professor and has six different vocabulary games that also tracks your progress, read about it here:
My Word Coach

Indoor Gardening: Growing your own Vegetables and Herbs Indoors durinig the Winter: This is a fantastic and informative article about how to grow vegetables inside your house during the winter.  It is written with clear direction and really shows you how to get started with little cost. This would make a great home-school family project! (Not to mention fresh vegetables around the house year-long)
Indoor Gardening

Scottish Water Plant Dig reveals ancient Roman Fort:  This is a cool story! When construction workers in Scotland were readying a site for a new treatment plant, they came upon an ancient Roman fort, which is dated 2000 years old. To read about the discovery:
Ancient Roman Fort

Puzzle Pouch and Free Patterns:  If you have a student who likes to sew and if looking for some easy patterns, don't miss this article. The sewing blog at About.com has found some terrific free patterns for a Puzzle Pouch, and don't worry about not having a sewing machine, these can all be done by hand:
Puzzle Pouch and Free Patterns

Fortune Cookie - Made in Japan?:  This is a fun story, it has been discovered that fortune cookies are not Chinese at all, they are Japanese!  Read the story of how one history graduate in Japan discovered this shocking fact:
Fortune Cookies: Made in Japan?

U.S. Scientists Create beating Hearts in Lab:  This was a huge story in the science and medicine world.  A group of scientists created beating hearts in aging rats, they feel that this could lead to some mighty new changes in health-care in the future. Read about the discovery and story:
Beating Hearts in Lab

Sir Edmund Hillary, who first climbed atop Mt. Everest, has died:  Yes, Sir Edmund Hillary died at the age of 88 on January 11, 2008.  This story made me put a note to myself about future lesson plans on Sir Hillary and Mt. Everest in general.  Children will find his story exciting, and his life even more so:
Sir Edmund Hillary dies

On-Line Tangram Puzzle Games:  If your student is into puzzles of any kind, then your student is going to love Tangrams.  Dave at About.com has put together a few sites for you involving Tangrams. Tangrams may look simple enough, but believe me it is not, some of these are wonderfully challenging:
On-Line Tangram Puzzle Games

Tornado Handbook, an Interactive Guide:  You have to love the people over at the Discovery Channel, they are always coming up with some unique learning tools! This is a interactive Tornado handbook, that allows your student to participate in making a tornado, while learning step by step along the way how tornadoes form, you are going to love this!:
Tornado Handbook

New Solar System could Breed Life:  Astronomers are very excited about this one.  The beginning stages of a new solar system have been discovered, and scientists believe that this new solar system could breed life. To read more on this discovery:
New Solar System

Time-Line Greenland:  This is just a great time-line for Greenland that will enhance any study or lesson plan you may be doing on Greenland. Done in chronological order and stacked full of information:
Time-Line Greenland

Civil War Detective Solves Grave Mix-Up:  Imagine that you really really really don't like the neighbors down the street "The Smiths", you are feuding constantly. But then you die and for some strange reason, end up buried in the Smith family plot! Read the story of the Civil War soldier, who really wound up buried in the wrong place, and the person who solved it:
Civil War Grave Mix-Up

Make your own Sock Puppets:  Finally, some hands-on fun for the little ones.  Very good article on making your own sock puppets and a list of materials that you will need to get the project done:
Sock Puppets

Going High-Tech: Geo-caching in the Classroom:  This is one gold-mine of a find for classroom fun with GPS.  This site will help inspire hours of learning and fun using a GPS for your older or advanced students. The blog has several ideas to get you started:
Geo-caching in the Classroom

Volunteers needed to join International Bird-Feeding Study!:  Be part of an international study on bird-feeding.  There are two different programs to choose from. This would be an ideal on-going lesson plan for the entire family, and a chance to be part of something very special and important:
Volunteer for Bird-Feeding Study

That is it for this week, hope you found something new for your home-school curriculum planning!

The Electronic Zoo - This site has huge selection of animal resources. This site is organized by animal. To look at the animal categories just click on animals. There are also other sections such as organizations, publications, and more.

Elementary Science Curriculum - This site is organized by grades 1 - 5. The science units are from Saskatchewan Education. There is also a section on how to use this curriculum, unit planning, and a few more things.

Exploratorium - This site is an excellent site for science resources. There are many science explorer activities here at this site. New activities are updated often.

Space.com -  This site has earth and space news as well as weather science. If you click the space view tab you will see gorgeous pictures of space related things.

Music is important and children need to learn music to be well-rounded. You can teach your child music appreciation and music history or how to play an actual instrument or how to sing. Kids love to learn about music and teaching your child will foster a life long love of music. If you homeschool your child, then you need to take a look at some of the following music curriculum.

Stories of the Great Composers: This book and compact disc is appropriate for children in kindergarten through sixth grade. This series takes a look at 12 famous composers, their life, a story about the composer, a list of three important compositions and a question and answer page about each composer. This set can be used with all ages and is easy to read and follow.

Meet the Great Composers: There are two books in this series, which takes a look at famous composers throughout history. This set is appropriate for children in 3^rd through 9^th grade. The series shows students important facts about the composer, a story about the composer’s life, interesting facts and activity sheets. In addition, each set comes with a CD with music samples. All activity sheets are reproducible so you can use the set over and over again.

Silver Burdett - Making Music: This series has a book for each grade level. Each book has a complete list of activities and learning activities that will teach children about the history of music, music awareness and music literacy. Each set comes complete with several books, music CDs and other extras, such as hand puppets for the pre-k series. This curriculum series is a bit more expensive than other programs, but it offers a complete music learning experience for homeschoolers.

Pheiffer House Music: This is specially designed with homeschoolers in mind and for parents looking for a Christian approach to teaching music. Sets are available for kindergarten, first, second, third and fourth through sixth. You can even order the entire set for a discount price. The goal of this music curriculum is to enable anyone, even those without musical experience to teach children about music. Each set comes with a detailed booklet and a CD as well as worksheets and flashcards. The CD contains lessons to teach pitch, rhythm and fun songs appropriate for each age level.

Sing N Learn: This company has many books and instruction sets that can be used with homeschooled children of all ages and skill levels. One of the most popular choices if the Classical Kid’s Collection Pack that includes educational information on famous composers such as Bach, Vivaldi, Beethoven, and Mozart. Each unit features detailed information about each composer along with questions about each one and has integrated curriculum to combine music with social studies, creative writing and other subjects.

Essentials of Music Theory: This is a complete set where you can pick and choose the books and CDs you are interested in using. This set is perfect for children that want to not only learn about music appreciation, but also has a keen interest in learning musical theory as well. Choose from books, compact discs and even software that all work together to teach your child all about music. Even if you have very little music experience, you can use this series at home.

ChaCha.com has started their new text service (it's free try it!), and I have been busy training for the upcoming Sundance Film Festival, where Chacha.com is the official text service for the event.  It has been really fun, but has taken me away from blogging for a bit.  But I am back...

Today, I want to tell you about a few free good services out there for Home-schoolers and their teachers:

The first one is for free placement tests.  This is a Christian Home-school site which allow you to download their placements test onto your computer, and you can test your student to see what level they are currently at. This will be really helpful for you at the beginning of your school year:
Switched On School House 2007 Edition

This second one is also for Christian Home-schoolers.  It offers a daily bible quiz, which will aid your child in remembering important details about the bible, the answers may seem simple, but it is not as simple as it looks, so it is good for all ages:
Home-school Bible Curriculum

This next site is for any student (or for that matter, parent), who needs to learn how to type.  It is a free on-line typing course, you just need to register:
Goodtyping.com

I know in this day and age of computer, some teachers in public schools are dropping cursive as a subject.  I think it is a big mistake, but to help aid your student with his or her cursive skills, this site has print-outs on everything you need to teach cursive handwriting, it is not a fancy site, but click on the links provided and see how valuable it actually is:
Handwriting for Children

I am now going back to my Home-schooling, and of course my Cha-Chaing! Come join us!

I was doing a search on Valentine's Day as I am starting to plan out our lesson plans for February. I came across this a site for Valentine's Day Lesson Plans.  The lesson plans can be used across a wide variety of curriculum. One can use candy hearts with one or two words to make sentences. You can use the candy hearts for math and counting. This site is definately worth checking out.

Martin Luther King Day Resources

 

Martin Luther King Day is on January 21, 2008.  Here are some resources that will help ensure that you have all of the tools needed to teach your children about this great man.  First, you will want to introduce the story of Martin Luther King to your children.  Here are some resources that you can use for reading about Martin Luther King.

 

The Story of Martin Luther King (grades 5-12)

Lesson Plan to Critique the Speech (grades 9-12)

 

Martin Luther King on Time for Kids

 

All About MLK

History of the Holiday

Biography of Martin Luther King

Here is a list of downloadable and printable Martin Luther King Lesson Plans and Teacher Guides

Dr. King's Life and Words Associated with Him [245 Kb PDF - Grades Pre-K-1]

Names, Names, Names [453 Kb PDF - Grades Pre-K - 1]

Dr. King's Leadership and Character [485 Kb PDF - Grades 2-3]

Picturing Nonviolence or Nonexistence [436 Kb PDF - Grades 4 -5]

People of Peace [398 Kb PDF - Grades 4-5]

If It Is To Be, It Is Up To Me [495 Kb PDF - Grades 4-5]

The March on Washington [188 Kb PDF - Grades 6-8]

Portraying the Dream [172 Kb PDF - Grades 6-8]

Peace Studies: Where in the World is Peace [288 Kb PDF - Grades 6-8]

A Time to Break the Silence [358 Kb PDF - Grades 6-8]

The Next Generation [363 Kb PDF - Grades 6-8]

Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and Me [1,038 Kb PDF - Grade 8]

A Problem-Solving Project [723 Kb PDF - Grades 4-8]

Resources for the Classroom [139 Kb PDF - Grades Pre-K - 8]

 

There is also a five part curriculum that is complete with a teacher’s guide and lesson plans.  You can download them here:

The format of this curriculum is divided into 5 major sections:

Guidelines for Teachers (PDF 1,411 KB)

 Lessons Plans ( K-grade 8)

 Visitor Center Exhibits

 A Problem-Solution Project

 References

You can also bring your kids online and let them view some of the amazing photographs and slideshow presentations of Martin Luther King.  Here is a slideshow presentation that depicts photos of Martin Luther King during the last year of his life.

Martin Luther King slideshow

Martin Luther King Videos


Interactive Timeline

If you are looking for Martin Luther King Jr. printables you’ll like these resources. 

Martin Luther King Jr. Notebooking Papers and Printouts

One Inch Writing Lines - Martin Luther King, Jr. (1)

One Inch Writing Lines - Martin Luther King, Jr. (2)

One Inch Writing Lines - Martin Luther King, Jr. (3)

 Martin Luther King Worksheets

Martin Luther King Printables (including bookmarks)

Bookmarks

Color a Picture and Write a Poem

Matching Worksheet

Martin Luther King Printable Word Search

Martin Luther King Form for Report

Martin Luther King Book to Print for Young Children

 

Martin Luther King Crossword Puzzle

Timeline and Worksheets

Various Worksheets

Journal and Coloring Pages

When you are through with your lessons and studies, you can present several quizzes to your children.  Here are several online and interactive Martin Luther King Jr. quizzes.

Scholastic News: Martin Luther King Jr. Quiz

 
Martin Luther King Jr. will always be remembered for his infamous speeches.  He won the Nobel Peace prize and his speeches still inspire people to change and pursue equality and freedom today.  You can view the, “I Have a Dream” speech online.

 

Here is the video:

 

 

If you would like to download and print the text, or read it online, you can view the complete text of Martin Luther King’s “I Have a Dream” speech here:

Martin Luther King: I Have a Dream Complete Text

 

I live in Michigan, I love the winter.  I love the snow, ice, ice-fishing, skating, skiing and sledding.  I have no patience for people who live in cold states, complaining about the cold and snow.....get up and have some fun!

My theory is, you do not enjoy winter because you don't participate in any winter sports, or fun.  But even us snow lovers tend to get a little to cozy inside once Winter has been around for awhile, so time to try something new.

Build an ice-rink as a family.  If you don't know how to skate, perfect!  What better way is there to learn something than in the privacy of your own backyard?  This is a big project, don't leave it to dad, all will have fun participating in the building and maintaining of your ice rink:

Directions for Ice Rink #1
Directions for Ice Rink #2

Take some time off of your daily home-schooling schedule to get the hands on experiences of these projects, your children will learn to love the winter (you will too).

As you are waiting for that ice to form, on to your next project, which is also family geared, build yourself an igloo.  It really is not as complicated as it sounds, and it doesn't need to be perfect, just steady!  Not to mention a cozy little retreat to hide in for awhile:

Igloo Making #1
Igloo Making #2

Now isn't this beginning to sound a lot more fun than pre-algebra?  The next project is making an ice lantern.  If you have never seen one, then you are in for a treat.  You may even want to keep in mind this project come next Christmas and have some waiting for your visitors during the Christmas holidays.  Expect a lot of "ooohs" and "ahhhs" not only from your guests, but from your children who will build these along with you.

Snow Lantern #1
Snow Lantern #2

Preschoolers learn best by hands-on activities and this is especially true for learning reading, writing and the alphabet. While the ABCs are generally not a hard concept for your child to memorize, your preschooler needs to learn how each letter looks and sounds. Why not engage your preschooler in making a mini-book to help him or her learn the alphabet? 

There are many educational websites that have wonderful ideas for making mini-books with your preschooler. You will want to pick a project that is not too difficult. In addition, you can also find websites that have print outs of mini-books. All you need to do is print the page, and the follow the instructions to put the book together. One handy website is DLTK Teach. This website has a book for each letter of the alphabet. Another useful website that offers printable mini-books is Star Fall. They help with beginning reading and have fun pictures that your child can color.

Here are some ideas for making your own ABC Mini Books from scratch!

Index Card Book

For this mini-book project, you will need a stack of old magazines, glue, scissors, hole punch, ring clip and an index card for each letter of the alphabet. Start this project by writing the uppercase and lowercase letter on each index card. Work with your preschooler to find a picture of something that represents each letter. For example for “c” your child may find a picture of a cat, candy or a computer. Have your preschooler cut the picture out and glue it on the matching card. When all the cards are finished, punch a hole in the upper left hand corner of each card and attach the cards together with the ring clip.

Simple Book

For this book, you will make one for each letter of the alphabet. You may consider working on two or three letters a week until your preschooler has mastered each one. For each book you will need 3 sheets of regular 8-1/2 by 11 white paper. Simply fold each sheet in half and cut on the line. Fold again and stack sheets together. Staple the pages together in the crease. Have your child decorate the cover for the letter. On the next page, have your child practice writing uppercase and lowercase letters. On the next page, have your child try to write a sentence using the letter in a word. For the next few pages, have your child draw pictures of words that coincide with the letter and cut and paste pictures.

 

Many homeschoolers enjoy the benefits of using Microsoft Office.  Between Power Point, Excel, and Microsoft Word there are numerous activities, lessons, charts, graphs, and displays that can easily be created and used with your curriculum.  However, not everyone has Microsoft Office, or the featured word processor, Microsoft Word.

For those who feel that they have been missing out on numerous resources because they don’t have Microsoft Office, help is on the way.  There is a free word processor that is compatible with Microsoft Word documents and will even save your documents in PDF format if you choose.  The program is called, “Open Office.” You can download and install Open Office online and choose it as your main word processor.

 

When you want to open a Microsoft Word document, simply click on the file and Open Office will open it for you.  If you create a document in Open Office, you can choose to save it as a Word document, or even export it to a pdf file.  There are numerous formats available for saving your documents as well.

 

Open Office is “open source” software.  This enables it to be free of charge and also allows different programmers to create their own programs to enhance the software.  These programs are called “extensions” and can be downloaded free of charge as well.  A great place to find Open Office extensions can be found here: Open Office Extensions

You’ll find that once you download Open Office that it is very simple to use. 

I belong to three different home-schooling groups, some of them seasoned veterans in home-schooling and curriculum with creative and  fantastic ideas.  If you don't belong to a home-schooling group as of yet, I would Cha-Cha search for one in your area.

The great dog-sled race, the Iditarod is set to start March 1, 2008.  This is a perfect time not only to teach about this historical race, but to pick your own dog team and map along.

There are lesson plans galore available for this event.  I am using suggestions from Walter McKenzie's One and Only Surfaquarium.  His suggestion for lesson plan follows in this order:

• January 7th - February 3:  Create a wall map of the trail
• February 4th - February 16:  Select a Musher to follow in the race
• February 19th - February 29th:  Prepare for the big race
• March 1st - end of race:  Follow the race, and map you musher as he/her advances

Now Walter's site has a list of sites to set up your lesson plans, the sites to really make note of are as followed:

• 2008 Official Iditarod Site
• Fascinating Facts
• Iditarod Podcasts
• Iditarod Virtual Field Trip

Those are just a few of the over 100 sites listed on his site.

During February 19-29, take time to find projects and lessons to learn about the dogs, the owners, the history and the race, the history of how it all began is extremely interesting.

My student is excited about this project, she will be keeping a journal on the team that she has chosen.  All children love to feel a part of an event, this lesson idea allows them to follow along with "their" team, and they then become anxious to learn all they can about "The Last Great Race", the Iditarod.  Have Fun!

I wanted to bring this site to your attention before they decide to pull the $5 offer down.  I am signing up for this math program, and from what I can tell it is an amazing teaching tool.

"Your Teacher" is a math program using real teachers through videos.  You can view a sample lesson right from their site.  It teaches the math, offers problems, quizzes, and if you want more practice it offers that option also.

The videos are first rate, clear, and easy to understand.  "Your Teacher" offers math lessons in pre-algebra, algebra 1, geometry, and algebra 2, available on demand.

You can test drive the program for one month at a price of $5.00.  Normally it is $29.50 a month.  I am going to test the program out this month and report back next month some time after we have used it in our curriculum.

But....and this is a big BUT....I would invest the $5.00 and test drive it yourself, I don't know if the offer is good for a short while or not.  No matter where you are currently at in your math program so far this year, I have to think that this will help you greatly in helping your child understand and interact with math.

Visit here:
Your Teacher Math Program