Homeschooling on a Shoestring Blogspot

Printable Food Pyramid

2008-11-23T13:37:00.002-05:00

Printable kids food pyramid chart. Note that this is for non-vegetarian & non-vegan kids.
Vegan food pyramid that's printable.

TeachKind

2008-07-07T14:40:00.003-04:00

TeachKind's mission is to provide educators with free high-quality lesson plans (ages 5-adult) and materials that will help your students develop critical-thinking skills, empathy, compassion, and civic responsibility while empowering them to take compassionate action for animals in their own communities. They also help educators implement healthy and humane educational policies that benefit students, educators, and animals.

TeachKind is the education program of People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals.

Environmental Education

2008-07-07T14:33:00.000-04:00

Georgia-Pacific Educational in Nature is a series of environmental education curriculum supplements designed to foster understanding and environmental awareness for students in grades 4 and 5. Activities, vocabulary, lessons.

Home Safety for Kids

2008-07-07T14:18:00.001-04:00

CodeRedRover is an interactive home safety website that offers games, activities, do-it-yourself projects, home safety checklists and tips for parents and kids all in the name of saving lives.

The Home Safety Council is dedicated to unintentional home injury prevention education and developing resources for your classroom. Use these tools to teach kids how to spot dangers before an injury occurs. Visit the Home Safety Council's online area specifically dedicated to educators, and learn more about the leading causes of unintentional home injuries.

Frogs

2008-07-07T14:11:00.000-04:00

Ribbit! Ribbit! A thematic unit on frogs for kids in grades K-2. You can make adaptations for grades 3-5. Download the activities to use in your lapbooks.

Financial Educatoin

2008-07-07T13:50:00.001-04:00

There's Something About Money provides young people guides on money topics such as credit, starting a business, and more. The site also list further resources for financial education.

Literature Guides

2008-07-07T13:27:00.002-04:00

Harcourt Children's Books - Teacher guides have questions, activities and exercises designed to assist with reading comprehension, subject appreciation, and imaginative expression. Find the guides on near the bottom right of the page.

PowerPoint

2008-07-07T12:14:00.001-04:00

PowerPoint as a unit tool
http://www.teachnet.com/lesson/misc/winnergame022500.html
http://www.grand-blanc.k12.mi.us/pptgamedownload/
http://www.csun.edu/~vceed002/ref/games/
http://www.easternct.edu/depts/edu/powerpoint.html
http://www.hardin.k12.ky.us/res_techn/countyjeopardygames.htm
http://jc-schools.net/tutorials/PPT-games/

http://www.pptfaq.com/FAQ00231.htm

Make Your Own Game

2008-07-07T12:09:00.002-04:00

Make your own bible game. The templates you download are pretty much blank (blank, star, angel, footprint). You can add your own graphics to the blank spaces and cards to to design your own games for the subject you are making your game on. It also has instructions for board game assembly and play. Neat ideas whether you are actually making a bible game or just getting inspiration for your own games.

Language Cubes

2008-07-07T12:03:00.002-04:00

Make language learning fun with printable cubes. Language cubes are a fun and simple way to teach your child how to say a few basic words in Italian, Spanish, French, German, and Dutch. They are available to download in pdf.

Free Elections Lapbook Kit

2008-06-27T23:03:00.001-04:00

Notebook Learning offers its Free Presidential Elections Lap Book Folder. Lots of pages to download in this neat kit.
http://www.notebooklearning.com/2008/02/free-presidential-elections-lap-book.html

Tessellations

2008-06-27T21:50:00.003-04:00

Tessellations are designs featuring animals, birds, etc, which can fill a page, without over-lapping, to form a pattern. It's the simplest kind of jigsaw puzzle: all the pieces look alike!
Totally Tessellated - A tessellation is a repeating geometric pattern. Examples of these beautiful designs can be seen in the mosaics of Mediterranean culture and the surrealist art of M. C. Escher. Totally Tessellated takes you on an exploration into the history and construction of a variety of different types of tessellations.
Tessellations
Create tessellations using Microsoft Paint
Create a basic tessellation using MS Paint
Step by step tessellations with Paintbrush or Paint
Tessellation activity for grade 6 mathematics
Tessellation lessons using Paint
Mathematical Imagery - Explore the World of Mathematics and Art
Free art project: Tessellation - Here's a project that combines math and art together! Geometry and color theory are used to create an interesting design that explores spatial design concepts.
Software Tess 1.74 explore tessellations and other symmetric illustrations
M.C. Escher

How to use coupons to your advantage

2008-06-27T14:50:00.000-04:00

I don't know if you all had seen this show a while back, but this segment off Good Morning America really caught my eye. It is, of course, a free website. As a bonus, it also lists Upromise rebates. My aunt who I love dearly, sends us coupons. When I was little, I'd always clip her coupons when we visited her.
http://www.couponmom.com/

1: Instead of clipping and filing coupons immediately, she writes the date on the packet of coupons that come with her Sunday paper and sets them aside.

2: Then I look for the best deals lists that my grocery store publishes each week. If I see a great deal for a product I use, I go back to my circular, find a coupon, clip it out, and go shopping.

For people who don't want to take the time to match coupons to store sales, this lady's website does it for them. The site's virtual coupon organizer is kept current with help from volunteers, who provide information on grocery sales in states across the country.

info taken from the show and is posted: http://abcnews.go.com/GMA/AmericanFamily/story?id=127692&page=1

For example, in my state, at Kroger, the first item:
Date cpn came out - 1/2Kgr
Kroger Michigan Advertised Deals 1/5 to 1/11 - Bushs canned beans
Sale Price - $0.50
Qty. - 1
Face Value of Cpn. - $0.25
Total Cpn. Svgs. - $0.50
Final Price - Free
% Saved - 100%

Surplus Sales

2008-06-27T13:57:00.003-04:00

Government Surplus Sales are great ways to purchase items at prices lower than buying them brand new. The quality of items will vary. But you can find some deals if you're willing to look.

Public Surplus
State Agencies for Surplus Property (SASP) Contacts
Government Sales and Auctions
Find surplus property sales and auctions from state and local government near you

Michigan Dept of Management & Budget Surplus Program
University of Wisconsin Swap With a Purpose
Maine State Agency for Surplus Property

Home Depot Recycles CFLs

2008-06-26T02:16:00.004-04:00

This great piece of information was in my email today...
Home Depot will collect CFLs for recycling!

Home Depot announced Tuesday that it will collect compact fluorescent light bulbs and send them off to be recycled. The home-improvement behemoth hopes the new program will keep the bulbs, which contain a small amount of mercury, out of household trash and recycling bins. IKEA also collects CFLs for recycling but doesn't have the market saturation of Home Depot; more than three-quarters of U.S. households are estimated to be within 10 miles of a Home Depot store. The company's 1,973 U.S. stores will also switch to CFLs in light-fixture showrooms by the fall, a move expected to save it $16 million annually in energy costs.

For more information on the CFL Recycling Program or Eco Options, please visit www.homedepot.com/ecooptions

Sale at CurrClick

2008-06-25T12:40:00.000-04:00

CurrClick's Back to the Beach Sale! From now through the end of June, you'll find a huge selection of discounted summertime titles. Discounts up to 75% OFF!
From beaches to The Beatles to biomes, from novel studies to dream diaries, you'll find unbeatable savings on books and audio, certain to entertain and educate all through the summer - whether you're at the beach or in your own back yard!

Frugal Homeschool Ideas - Part 2

2008-06-25T01:28:00.002-04:00

The library is a great bargain resource! The library in the city where we lived before we do now has a book cart that has used books they want to sell -- really inexpensive. I've got some great educational books for 25-cents! We've found some of those 'New True Books' that tell about for example 'The Hopi Indians', that my kid used. One of the best buys I got at the library was book-on-tape: A Tree Grows in Brooklyn which comes in a video-tape case type of thing, has around 4 tapes, I believe it's the unabridged version, for 50-cents! The cost of it brand-new I think would be over $20! My all-time favorite bargain was from the library Up North - a big Jacques Cousteau book and a set of Jacques Cousteau encyclopedias/reference books. Both my kid and I love them!
Of course it would cost nothing but the gas if they had them for borrowing. I don't know if they did or not, but considering I've paid my share and then some of library late fees, buying them extremely cheap saved me money, we enjoy the books much longer and helps to support the library.

Frugal Homeschool Ideas

2008-06-25T01:05:00.000-04:00

I'd like to share one of my favorite frugal homeschool ideas. The Salvation Army. They can carry good books and games useful for education but because of the nature of the store, selections can vary greatly. Some days it's like a jackpot of choices, some I just turn around and leave. I have yet to find out what day the store nearest me stocks their shelves.
Find a Salvation Army thrift store near you.

Medieval Ideas

2008-06-25T00:40:00.004-04:00

Build A Paper Trebuchet paper model throws grape 30 feet. Use card stock to print out the patterns.
Build a Medieval Castle Build your own medieval castle, complete with towers, gatehouse and keep.
The Legend of King Arthur Literature/World History lesson plan
Castle Shapebook in unlined and lined. Trace and cut out this castle pattern for a simple shapebook. You could also use it as writing paper.
Papermodels for Middle Earth Besides the downloads for the papermodels, the site includes a gallery and tips.
Sample of Celtic Monastery Papermodel Print out on heaviest grade paper your printer can handle and use quick drying paper glue. The result is a scale model of one of the churches from
a typical Irish monastic settlement of the 9-12th centuries.
The Internet Medieval Sourcebook Economic Life
Medieval Merchant's House - information for educators.

Scrapbooking

2008-06-24T13:46:00.000-04:00

While I'm on the subject of scrapbooking, here are some more ideas.

Scrapbook Planner Pages - A good start to plan and organize your scrapbooking. D*I*Y Planner also has some templates and neat info.

Lots of Free print projects offered by HP and Canon.
See if your local scrapbook store has crop parties. You more than likely will have to pay a minimal fee, but you will be able to use the store's equipment such as a Sizzix, Wishblade, etc. You might even see if your local homeschool group could get together to do a scrapbook party at the store. Scrapbooks do not just have to be of photos. Scrapbook your unit studies, lapbooks, literature units, and of course - field trips!

Digital Scrapping 101

2008-06-24T13:45:00.002-04:00

I ran across this while searching for Xyron ideas. It's a free online guide to learn digital scrapbooking!

Digital Scrapping 101 - Would you like to get into digital scrapping but don’t know how or where to start? Here is an easy, step by step guide to help you learn the basics of digital scrapping without feeling overwhelmed.

Kids Gardening

2008-05-23T00:34:00.000-04:00

View a sample unit on KidsGardening of Bees, Flowers, and Pollination – This is a sample unit from the Roots and Shoots intergenerational garden curriculum, where "roots" are seniors and "shoots" are children.

Share the World: Free Video and Activity packet

2008-05-16T01:04:00.001-04:00

The Share the World Organization is offering a free video and acivity packet. Here is a blurb from their site:
"Share the World is a free educational program designed to help your students better understand and appreciate the animals with whom we share our world. In the reproducible activities that form the heart of this program, your students will use their thinking and writing skills to imagine the feelings and consider the incredible abilities of other animals, examine how our relationships with them have changed through history, discover alternatives to their use, and respond to situations in which their well-being is threatened."

To order, click on "order a pack" on the left-hand side of the page.

Alternatives to Nature Journals

2008-05-16T00:54:00.000-04:00

Here's an idea for an alternative to a nature journal (just a thought anyway): Do you have a digital camera? Or even non-digital? Your child could use the camera to take pictures and then make their own book. Once they see the pictures they made, maybe they'll want to give you a narrative of what each picture was about.

Homeschooling on a Shoestring

2008-05-12T14:03:00.000-04:00

Homeschooling on a Shoestring - Making available ways of homeschooling for little or no money while maintaining a high quality of education.

Homeschooling on a Shoestring

2004-07-12T23:25:00.003-04:00

The purpose of Homeschooling on a Shoestring is to make available ways of cutting costs while homeschooling. We hope this will enable you to save money while maintaining a high quality of education. Some homeschoolers love bargains. Others try to cut costs out of necessity. Regardless of why you want to cut costs, our goal is to help you do the best you can to save money.
7-12-2004