Music Links

Classics for Kids
Making Music Fun
Young Person's Guide to the Orchestra
San Francisco Symphony for Kids
New York Philharmonic Kid Zone
Dallas Symphony Orchestra for Kids  Listen by Composer
Berklee Shares free music courses
Susan Paradis' Piano Teacher Resources
Lesson Plans Page: Music
G Major Music Theory free music theory worksheets
Ambleside Online Composer Schedule
Composer Study 101 from Higher Up and Further In blog
Music Appreciation from Dewey's Treehouse blog

Game Sites

Fun Brain
BBC CBeebies
Kids' CBC
Sheppard Software
PBS Kids 
Kaboose Funschool
BrainPop Jr. Games
Magic School Bus Games
Games for the Brain
Learning Planet
Lil' Fingers
Gamequarium
RekenWeb Games
UpToTen 
TreehouseTV
Pauly's Playhouse
Eyewitness: Can You Speak Like a Pirate?
Fisher-Price Games
Nick Jr. Games
Disney Games

Upper Level Academics Links

Academic Earth  free video courses from universities

Charlotte Mason Links

Secular Charlotte Mason
Charlotte Mason Home Education Network
Charlotte Mason Help (formerly Higher Up and Further In)
Fresno Family: Secular Charlotte Mason
Penny Gardener Charlotte Mason Links
Simply Charlotte Mason with forums
MacBeth's Opinion 
Living Books Curriculum
Books and Schedules from Charlotte Mason Help


Blogs
A Peaceful Day

Math Links

Math Links
MEP (Mathematics Enhancement Programme)
Living Math 
Penny Gardener's list of Living Math Books and Mathematical Classics
Interactive Abacus
Timez Attack
Kitchen Table Math, The Sequel blog
Mathematical Tale Winds 
Illuminations resources for teaching math
Bridges in Mathematics 
Math Is Fun
Michele's Math
Ambleside Primary Number Bond Machines
NCES Kids' Zone Create a Graph
Math Notebooking from Squidoo
printable Singapore workbooks
Gigglepotz math games
RekenWeb math games

SCORE: California Mathematics Standards

$$$
Your Business Math Series
Singapore Math 
RightStart Mathematics
Math in Focus (free sample)

Computer Science Links

I'm trying to organize my internet bookmarks and I decided to take the opportunity to post some of the links that I have collected.  I haven't checked out all of these sites, so forgive me if anything sneaks through that shouldn't have.  This list will be updated as I find new links, so check back often!

Computer Science Links
Logo Workshop teaches the basics of computer programming

Physical Science Links

I'm trying to organize my internet bookmarks and I decided to take the opportunity to post some of the links that I have collected.  I haven't checked out all of these sites, so forgive me if anything sneaks through that shouldn't have.  This list will be updated as I find new links, so check back often!

Physical Science Links
A Little Rebellion blog 
Home Science Tools: Physical Science Projects
Crayon Physics
Physics Lapbook free from Squidoo
Physics Experiments for Children (pdf) 
Physics Central
Amusement Park Physics from learner.org
PBS: Building BIG

Earth and Space Science Links

I'm trying to organize my internet bookmarks and I decided to take the opportunity to post some of the links that I have collected.  I haven't checked out all of these sites, so forgive me if anything sneaks through that shouldn't have.  This list will be updated as I find new links, so check back often!

Earth and Space Science Links
Home Science Tools: Earth and Space Science Projects 
Kentucky Geological Survey: Key Earth Science Links 
Alphabetized Earth Science Animations
National Resource Defense Council
EPA Environmental Kids Club
Planet Pals 
Earth Day Lapbook free from Lapbooking Lessons
Meet the Greens 

Encyclopedia of the Atmospheric Environment 
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's National Weather Service
National Weather Service JetStream online school for weather
weather links from Thinkfinity

Stellarium free open source planetarium!
Lunabar Digital Almanack
At Home Astronomy from UC Berkley
NASA Mission : Science
NASA: The Space Place teacher's corner
European Space Agency: ESA Kids
Discovery Education: Understanding the Universe
Classical Astronomy
SeaSky.org Astronomy Calendar of Celestial Events

Rocks for Kids
Geologic and Paleontologic Cookbook from Kentucky Geological Survey

Mysteries of Apo Island 
ExploringNature.org Biomes of the World
Debbie's Digest blog (forest lapbook)
National Park Service: The Everglades
American Museum of Natural History: Dioramas
Bio-geography of the Earth from U of Wisconsin Stevens Point

Chemistry Science Links

I'm trying to organize my internet bookmarks and I decided to take the opportunity to post some of the links that I have collected.  I haven't checked out all of these sites, so forgive me if anything sneaks through that shouldn't have.  This list will be updated periodically (hehehehe) as I find new sites to share.

Chemistry Science Links
PopSci Interactive Periodic Table of the Elements
The Periodic Table of Videos from The University of Nottingham
Home Science Tools: Chemistry Science Projects
Chemical & Engineering News: The Chemistry Behind Everyday Products
Journal of Chemical Education: Chemistry Comes Alive!
Chemical Jigsaw Puzzle
Food & Science: The Chemistry of Cooking
The Periodic Table of Comic Books
Royal Society of Chemistry: Visual Elements Periodic Table
Reeko's Mad Scientist Lab
ChemiCool Periodic Table

Life Science Links

I'm trying to organize my internet bookmarks and I decided to take the opportunity to post some of the links that I have collected.  I haven't checked out all of these sites, so forgive me if anything sneaks through that shouldn't have.

Life Science Links
Classic Science: Elementary Life Science from eequalsmcq.com Free life science curriculum!
Home Science Tools: Life Science Projects
The Biology Corner
Biology Junction
Ellen McHenry's Basement Workshop: Life Science free resources
WolfQuest
Zoo Matchmaker

Pest World for Kids Instructor Web: Biology 
The Storybook of Science by Jean Henri Fabre
The Burgess Bird Book for Children 
Cornell Lab of Ornithology all about birds Education  Coloring Book
Bird sounds from Animal Diversity Web
Animal Diversity Web
Project WILD
Tree of Life Web Project
Junior Pest Investigators
Bug Bios
Let's Talk About Insects
Iowa State U's Reiman Gardens Butterfly Identification Cards free printable
Backyard Nature
Handbook of Nature Study blog
Nature Study
Hearts and Trees blog (Nature Study Observation Calendar)
The Burgess Animal Book for Children
Shutterfly album of animals from The Burgess Animal Book for Children
inhabitots Nature Bag $
eNature America's Wildlife Resource
Journey North A Global Study of Wildlife Migration and Seasonal Change
Sheppard Software Animal Classification
BBC Amazing Animals
Wild Games Kid's Planet Defenders of Wildlife
Kid's Planet eSpecies Animal Fact Sheets
Blue World
Kids' Planet Teacher's Table
The Biology Project
National Geographic Coloring Book of Animals
Waterford Activity Zone educational games, activities and quizzes to download and print (must register)
The 100-Species Challenge how many plant species do you recognize?!
The Great Plant Escape
Gray's Anatomy of the Human Body
Inner Body Your Guide to Human Anatomy Online
BBC Human Mind and Body
Teachnology K-2 Health Lesson Plans
LearntobeHealthy.org
KidsHealth.org 
Nutrition Detectives
Kids' Health: Your Feelings 
My Body Lapbook free
CELLS Alive! 
The GEEE! in Genome 
Teach Genetics from the University of Utah

General Science Links

I'm trying to organize my internet bookmarks and I decided to take the opportunity to post some of the links that I have collected.  I haven't checked out all of these sites, so forgive me if anything sneaks through that shouldn't have.

General Science Links
Science Standards by State from Science a-z
K8 Science has some very neat lessons and teacher resources!
Bill Nye the Science Guy check out the "Printable One Sheets" under the "For Kids and Teachers" tab 
Exploratorium  
DragonflyTV from PBS Kids
Scholastic Internet Field Trips
Math Science Nucleus
TOPS Science
Foss Web
National Science Teacher's Association   freebies for science teachers
ProTeacher Science
Science Buddies science fair project ideas
Singing Science Records
InstructorWeb
Science Made Simple science projects
KidZone Super Simple Science
Wikipedia list of The Magic School Bus Episodes
How to Teach Science
Houghton Mifflin Science graphic organizers
Family Fun Science Projects
Science for All Americans
Newton's Apple
MSNucleus Animated Storybooks
NeoK12 videos and lessons for K-12
Paso Partners Science Lessons
Howard Hughes Medical Institute Catalog offers free videos on a variety of science topics
How to Write a Paper in Scientific Journal Style and Format

Changes to Our Science Curriculum

We're studying the sciences in the following order:
Life Science ~ 1st, 5th, 9th
Earth & Space Science ~ 2nd, 6th, 10th
Chemistry ~ 3rd, 7th, 11th
Physics ~ 4th, 8th, 12th

Because I wasn't sure at the beginning of the school year whether Nik would be at a kindergarten or first grade level I wanted to keep things easy, cheap, and flexible. It turned out that he's definitely up to first grade material, so we started using Classic Science: Elementary Life Science because it was free, except for the costs of printing.

At the time that I started using the program it had a font that I found very hard to read, so although we were very happy with the book we ended up switching to R.E.A.L. Science Odyssey: Life (Level One). Now the font has been changed on the Classic Science, but we're hooked on R.E.A.L Science Odyssey so we're going to stick with it. R.E.A.L Science Odyssey offers a try-before-you-buy option, which is what we did.  Now we're almost done with our free chapters and ready to purchase.

One of the things we are doing with our completed labs is putting them into a Great Big Book of Everything. (Does anyone remember the cartoon that comes from, titled Stanley? It was a Disney cartoon.) The song might jog your memory:

It's the great big book of everything
with everything inside.
See the world around us
this book's the perfect guide!

We're also still working through The Burgess Bird Book for Children and trying to get to some of the Outdoor Hour challenges.

All in all I do wish we were doing more science, so I'm going to try to add it in more than once or twice a week if I can.  Crossing my fingers that I can make it happen!

New Year's Resolutions & People Colors Pencils

I received a message today that was just in time to influence my New Year's Resolution.  Many thanks to C for letting me know that my blog is receiving some traffic and is of some use to someone out there!  So I've made it my New Year's Resolution to post to my blog at least 3 times per week or more.  I would love to make it a resolution to post every day, but I don't want to fail at keeping it.  ;-)

I want to mention some awesome colored pencils that I came across on Pioneer Woman's Homeschooling blog.  They are called People Colors Jumbo Pencils and they are exactly what I need for my 6-year-old!  He draws pictures and creates books for hours every single day.  In his Batman phase we went through black crayons and black colored pencils like you wouldn't believe.  Now that he's moved on to a wider variety of topics he's constantly trying to find the "right skin color".  I just wish I had seen these before Christmas!  Oh well, it's about time to stock up on supplies for next year, so I'll be adding these to our shopping list, along with the crayons and maybe the paint and paper that they also offer!  My little guy is going to be sooooo excited!

Science Spot

A recent post on the WTM message board has me inspired to set up a science spot in our house now that Little Man (age 4 1/2)  is old enough to leave it alone. 

Now I just have to convince someone to make this awesome folding workbench for me so I can get started!

Ancient Greece

I apologize for my long absence; the holidays are always very busy.

We're finally into our studies of Ancient Greece and the boys are so excited!  We've only been at it for a week and already I've finished the first three books in Mary Pope Osborne's Tales from the Odyssey series.  Once I start reading the boys just won't let me stop!  :-)  I wish our library carried all six of the series, but unfortunately they only have these three.

Books We Read:
 Pegasus by Jane Yolen
The Librarian Who Measured the Earth by Kathryn Lasky  
The Children's Homer  by Padraic Colum
Tales from the Odyssey #1: The One-Eyed Giant by Mary Pope Osborne
Tales from the Odyssey #2:  The Land of the Dead by Mary Pope Osborne
Tales from the Odyssey #3: Sirens and Sea Monsters by Mary Pope Osborne

Links:
PASS World History Part 1 - Unit 5: Ancient Greece Part A  Part B

KidsPast.com - Ancient Greece

On the Shores of the Great Sea by M.B. Synge, we are beginning with the chapter "The Story of Carthage"

Digging Up Greece printable game by Ellen McHenry (we're saving this for the logic stage)

MythWeb - Greek mythology
History for Kids - Greek History

"Discovering Great Artists"

Have you seen this book yet?  No?!  Go find a copy!  Having finished up the Art Book that we've been working on since the beginning of the year, we're now moving on to lessons from Discovering Great Artists by MaryAnn Kohl and Kim Solga.  When we first bought the book we pulled it out and did one of the activities, Botticelli "Art in the Round".  Then I decided that we should probably cover some basics like primary and secondary colors, warm and cool colors, texture, etc, before we moved on to creating actual works of art.  I'm so glad we did, but we are ready to get back to Discovering Great Artists!

We concentrate on visual arts on Fridays, and this week we will be completing the Giotto "Egg Paint" activity.  I'll be back with photos once I have them!

Butterflies

My mother just returned from a trip to Florida and came bearing gifts for my boys.  One of those things was a little booklet of butterfly tattoos.  The boys love them!  We looked up their butterflies online and during my search I came across these beautiful printable Butterfly Identification Cards from Iowa State University's Reiman Gardens.  I'm going to print the ones found in our area out on cardstock and maybe laminate them.  I'll stick them in a basket by the window or near the door and I'm sure we'll spend a lot of time reading them, and in the future (when fair weather returns again) searching for them on our summertime nature walks.

Bird Notebooking

After coming across Cornell Lab of Ornithology's Feeder Birds Coloring Book (pdf file) I was inspired to have Nik create a bird notebook highlighting the birds we read about in The Burgess Bird Book for Children.  I'm so pleased with it and how much interest Nik has shown in the birds we've read about.  He continues to ask me to play bird sounds in the background while he completes his notebooking pages.  The Cornell Lab of Ornithology All About Birds page is my favorite guide and includes sound clips of the typical voice of each bird.  I wish I could carry it with me when we go on nature walks!

ETA ~ Angela posted a wonderful companion guide to The Burgess Bird Book on her blog, Satori Smiles.  She calls it A Burgess Bird Book Companion and it is awesome!!! 

Although we have read the first five chapters of The Burgess Bird Book For Children he has not completed notebooking pages for all of the birds highlighted.  I will continue to update this post as he completes new pages.  And yes, he picked the background papers himself.  :-)

Pages 2 & 3

Carolina Wren

 

American Robin

Eastern Bluebird

Reading Skills Assessment

Earlier this week I decided to give Nik a reading skills assessment out of curiosity.  He seems to be reading really well, and I wanted to see if I was imagining things.  :-)

I used the first assessment in this article.  It doesn't assess reading comprehension, but it was free and quick, and I was only looking for a general idea anyway. 

So for the 3rd month of his kindergarten/1st grade combined year, Nik is reading at approximately a 2nd grade, 4th month level. 

I plan to use the assessment a couple of times throughout the year to see how he progresses.

Halloween Costumes

Nik

 Nate 

 (who wouldn't stand still long enough for a good picture)