Egg Cam

Did you know?
An egg shell may have as many as 17,000 tiny pores over its surface.
The average laying hen lays 257 eggs a year.
A hen needs just 24 to 26 hours to produce an egg. Thirty minutes later, she starts all over again.
Sometimes a hen will lay a double-yolked egg. It is rare, but not unusual, for a young hen to produce an egg with no yolk at all.

And did you know that you can watch baby chicks hatch right here?

Christmas Worksheets

Practice addition and subtraction problems with this puppy themed worksheet.
Practice comparing numbers with this hot chocolate themed worksheet.
Addition practice
Christmas tree multiplication
Christmas tree addition

Home Educating Family Magazine Free Sample

The Home Educating Family (HEF) magazine is a full color quarterly magazine with insightful articles for every member of a homeschooling family. Request a free sample here.

Alphabet Memory

Luke is working on recognizing the letters of the alphabet. Today we played alphabet Memory. I printed out cards with the letters of the alphabet both in uppercase and lowercase. Then we turned the cards over and tried to match them up. He had a great time! More...

Christmas Mandalas

Here are some fun Christmas mandalas.

Post-It Note Name

As Luke and I sat at the dining room table, coloring and chatting, we worked a little on his name.

I wrote each letter of his name on one Post-It Note. Then I put them at the top of a piece of construction paper.I said, “Luke, here are the letters of your name--L, U, K, E. Let's say the letters together. L-U-K-E.”Then I mixed up the letters and said, “Oh no! Now your letters are all mixed up. Let's put them back in the correct order.”

To see how he did click here. You can also use this technique to review spelling words.

Learn About Your Bones

Here is a Great way to learn the skeletal system. Students click and drag the names of major bones to the appropriate box. The game keeps score of how many times they click the mouse - the lower the score the better. Have a blast with this educational science game.

Fun Writing Prompt

Looking for a fun way to get your kid's writing? Try this fun website Photofunia. Upload an ordinary photo and turn it into something extraordinary! Your kids can plaster their face on Mt. Rushmore, become a piece of artwork, go to the moon, or???? Have them create a picture, and then write a story to go with it!

Polar Express Story On-Line

Polar Express is available on-line to read along with here.

Holiday Worksheets

Chinese New Year

The Great Wall of China reading comprehension

Write the numbers in chinese

Chinese New Year Writing prompt

add in chinese

Christmas

Christmas Tree Subtraction

snowman template

Multiplication Bingo

Christmas word sort

Halloween

How much candy

spider multiplication

emergent reader Little Black Bats

bat template

Halloween expanded form

candy algebra

ABC Song

Counting Song- counting to 10 for young children

Mission Times Table Lesson

Looking for a fun way for your kids to master their multiplication facts? Head over here to play this fun game that is similar to Who Wants To Be a Millionare, but with a fun space theme instead.

Then see how they do with this multiplication mad minute.

WatchKnow - Learning Videos

Looking for education videos? Look no further than watchknow!

Here’s how they describe themselves –

“What is WatchKnow? Imagine hundreds of thousands of great short videos, and other media, explaining every topic taught to school kids. Imagine them rated and sorted into a giant Directory, making them simple to find. WatchKnow--as in, "You watch, you know"--is a non-profit online community devoted to this goal.”

The site currently provides access to over 11,000 educational videos!

Virtual Tour of a Pumpkin Farm

Just in time for Halloween, you can take a virtual tour of a pumpkin farm here.

Your child can see how the land was prepared, seeded, maintained, and how the pumpkins grew and were harvested.

When you get to the site, you will see a picture of a field and the farm equipment that is used to prepare it for planting. There is simple text below the picture that describes what you are viewing. Just click the "next" arrows to follow the entire tour.

For a free emergent reader about how pumpkins grow, click here.

Earn Free Books For Homeschooling

Homeschooling requires books, but books can cost a lot of money! One thing that I have been doing is to buy books using Amazon gift cards I earn from Swagbucks. It is super easy, you just search through their site like you normally would, but you earn Swagbucks when you search. These Swagbucks can be redeemed for Amazon gift cards and many other great prizes.


How can I maximize my Swag Bucks earnings?

■Search! The best way to maximize your earnings while searching is to search every where you go on the internet even if you know the website address. The more searches that you do, more Swag Bucks you earn. Note: You will not earn Swag Bucks for every search.
■Download one of the Swag Bucks browser plugins to earn for the searches you normally do so you won’t forget to search through Swag Bucks!
■Follow SwagBucks on Twitter for updates on new Swag Codes.
■Stay up to date with the Swag Bucks Blog for information on Swagstakes, updates and new Swag Codes.
■Trade in your old cell phones and video games and consoles.
■Shop. Do all your online shopping through Swag Bucks.
■You can submit a poll to Swag Bucks. If they use it, you earn 10 Swag Bucks.
■If you’ve redeemed your Swag Bucks on a prize, send in a video or photo.
■Refer your friends! Don’t keep it all to yourself.

To earn Swagbucks for yourself, simply click the button below to join.

Bonus: As a bonus, Swag Bucks is currently offering a special code that will give new members 50 Swag Bucks when they sign up using code SWAGNATION5. The code is case sensitive and will need to be entered in the Swag Code box at the bottom of the registration page. The code will be active starting on Sunday May 2nd at Midnight PST and expire Friday May 7th at noon PST.

Planet Protector's Club

Are your kiddos looking for ways to go green? Have them join the Planet Protector's Club.

Your Planet Protectors Club kit includes:
An official membership certificate
An official Planet Protectors Club badge
Activity booklets for grades K-3 and 4-5 A board game about recycling-->
Great adventures on the Web

The offer is good for both homeschoolers and classrooms.

Free Sheet Music

If you or your child has a passion for playing music, Mutopia is a great resource for you. Their site contains over 1600 pieces ranging from contemporary and classical are available for you to download, print or perform for free!

Where the Wild Things Are

Fire Truck by Ivan Ulz

Great read for fire prevention week

Educating Esme Book Review

Have you ever wondered what really happens within the hallowed halls of public school? Do you want to know what teachers struggle with, what keeps them going, and what they learn each day as they teach? Educating Esmé takes you inside the world of public education as you have never seen it before.

We've all had teachers we've loved and teachers we've hated. My list of teachers I've loved includes 1) Mrs. Cavasano (third grade): who led us through daily calisthenics to keep our brains sharp 2) Mr. Connolly (Chemistry): Who taught us that you could make peanut brittle scientifically. And, of course, the bad apples 1) Mr. Case (Algebra): who told the girls to practice our waitressing skills whenever we missed a math problem. We can all make these lists, and I'm willing to bet that when Esme Raji Codell's students come up with teacher lists of their own, she will be one of their favorites.

Although Esme’s first year of teaching included a class of children who came from broken homes, and students who stabbed a substitute with a pencil, it was the administration that gave her the most grief as they questioned her methods (asking the children to call her by her first name and with the title of Madame rather than Mrs. – because she was nobody’s mistress). Despite all of the hardships, Esme persevered imaginatively teaching her class to Cha Cha as they learned multiplication, made a time machine to travel in while they read, and even allowed a problem student to walk a mile in her shoes as the teacher for a day.

This is a great book for parents, for teachers, and for anyone concerned about today's education system.

I was asked to do this review as part of a blog tour. Coinciding with this tour, a drawing will be held of the names of people who comment on the blog posts to receive one of the following books:

Educating Esme: Diary of a Teacher’s First Year

The Children in Room E4: American Education on Trial

Work Hard. Be Nice. How Two Inspired Teachers Created the Most Promising Schools in America

In Code: A Mathematical Journey

To enter, comment below with the name of your favorite teacher, and how they inspired you.

Learn State Capitals

Help students remember the capitals of each state with this fun interactive game. Other geography games such as Latitude & Longitude Map Game and World Map Match.

Math Tutorials

This week, I found a not-for-profit organization called Khan Academy. Khan Academy was created by American entrepreneur, Salman Khan. His mission is to use YouTube technology to provide "a high quality education to anyone, anywhere." Sal has recorded twenty 8-to-10-minute YouTube demonstrations of basic arithmetic, and also hundreds of lessons on many higher-level concepts in mathematics, physics, finance, and entrepreneurship for high school aged kids and adults. Sal is a gifted teacher, and even if you haven't found science to be your cup of tea, you'll find yourself engaged. It's a quick way to learn a LOT about physical science, math, economics, and the like--both for kids and for adults.

Meet Me at the Corner

Meet Me at the Corner provides a collection of video podcasts featuring children exploring the world and its wonders. During each episode a child host serves as a tour guide leading the viewer to sites of interest to children. Each episode comes with follow-up activities and additional resources.

Are you a Math Wizard?

Are you a math wizard with super speedy recall of all your basic facts? Visit Math Magician Games to see how fast you can do your multiplication, addition, subtraction, and division facts. Then you can print out the awards you earn!

For daily word problems, try the daily math challenges posted here:

For K-3

For 4-8

AOP LifePac Science Grade 3 Teacher Guide and Set of 10 LIFEPACs

Back to school time is coming up, and here is another great contest to get you ready! Head over here to win AOP LifePac Science Grade 3 Teacher Guide and Set of 10 LIFEPACs.The giveaway is open until Saturday, August 15th and is open to everyone, everywhere.

States Workook Giveaway

If you are working on a states unit this year, you will LOVE this giveaway! Mommy watch this is giving away:

1) a workbook with a page for each U.S. state and Canadian province and lots of fun map activities, crosswords, mazes, codes, etc.
2) Atlas with over 100 stickers - state flowers, trees, birds, etc.
3) 352 page book of presidents, states, state history, maps, timelines, first ladies, etc. The first few pages are done in this one, but in pencil.

This giveaway is open until Saturday, August 15th, 2009 and is only open to residents in the continental US.

Enter here

Chicka Chicka Boom Boom Template

chicka chicka boom boom file folder game template -

Chicka chicka boom boom

Moutain Math Rescue Game

Mountain Rescue Mission game -

ABC phonics song/sounds of the letters - American version

Addition Worksheets

Here are some addition worksheets.

Ducky Facts Addition

Marvelous Marbles Addition

Mountain Math Facts Addition

Baseball Addition

Apple Addition

Clown addition

Clowning around addition

Spider addition

Pet math

Ghostly addition

Top Hat addition

Spelling Task Cards

Looking for a fun way to practice spelling words?


spelling task cards -

hungry caterpillar phonics

hungry caterpillar phonics -

number templates

number templates -

Make a Counting Book

Have your child make a counting book. Fold several sheets of construction paper in half. Glue foam numbers (available at Wal-Mart) to each page, and have your child put that many stickers on the page.

Word Family Sorts

Word Family Sorts -

Apple Unit Study

If you are working on an apple unit study this fall, here are a ton of resources for you to check out:

Unit Study

Apple unit study

includes activities for math, science, language arts, and a file folder game

Apple Math

Apple Addition

Practice addition facts up to 18 with this apple themed worksheet.

Apple Addition and Subtraction

One Apple number 1 tracer page

Practice writing the number one with this apple themed tracer page.

Two Apples tracer page

Practice writing the number two with this tracer page.

Color the Apples AB Pattern

Practice AB patterns with this apple worksheet.

Apple Number Match

Practice number recognition with this fun game.

Language Arts

Apple Word Families

Practice word families with this file folder game.

A is for apple phonics and handwriting

Learn about the letter A with this worksheet that incorporates phonics and handwriting.

Reading

emergent reader Apple feelings

This emergent reader talks about feelings with an apple theme.

Art

apple template colored red

A giant printable red apple for file folder games, center activities or art projects.

apple template coloring page

A giant apple template for a coloring page or other learning activity.

Kids In the Kitchen

Mini Apple Pies

Your kids will love whipping up these yummy treats

ABC Letter Templates

These printable letters are perfect for decorating for letter of the week lessons. One letter per page.


ABC templates -

Wakko's 50 State Capitols

The Calendar Song

A great way to learn the days of the week and the months of the year!

Win Get Ready For Kindergarten Book

Help your child prepare for the work of Kindergarten with this great book from Cedar Publishing.

1 Winner will receive:
1 Let's Get Ready for Kindergarten from Cedar Valley Publishing

Last Days to Enter: Aug. 31, 2009. US and Canada residents only

To enter, leave a comment below with what you are doing to help get your child ready for Kindergarten. Leave your comment by August 31, 2009.

You may earn extra entries by subscribing to my feed or blogging about this giveaway with a link back here.

Please leave a comment below to let me know what you did so I can make sure you get your entries.

Alphabet Recognition Assessment

ABC Recognition -

To print, right click on image and click print document.

ABC Fast Phonics

Here are some fun phonics lessons for your kiddos. You will need to be close on hand because some of the activities require you to read the directions. Work on the names of alphabet letters, consonants, vowels, and letter blends.

Math Bingo

I recently hit the dollar section at Target and found some great learning games for playing with the boys. We bought Math and Letter Bingo. The boys and I played the math bingo last night and it was a hit! You can view the game in action here.

Similar Posts

Math Learning Development Chart
Dinosaur Multiplication

Math Playground

Math Playground is an action-packed site for elementary and middle school students. Practice your math skills, play a logic game and have some fun! In addition to the games, here are worksheets, flashcards, and more. Everything at the site is FREE - there are no sign up or membership fees. There are even videos that explain how to solve certain math problems such as adding fractions or mutiplying decimals.

A Great Way To Study World Geography

You can't turn on the news these days without hearing about Iraq, Iran, and Afghanistan , but where exactly are they? If you are like most Americans, you really don't know.

RethinkingSchools.org offers a free, interactive web application that does amazing job of teaching the locations of countries in and around the Middle East. The site is interactive, allowing you to click on the name of a country and drag it to the location on the map.

Homeschool buy and sell website

If you are in need of some new textbooks, or need to sell a few, you might want to head over to the Storehouse Depot. The goal of the website is "to provide a safe place for homeschool families to easily buy and sell resources and materials directly to and from other homeschool families."

Math Learning Development Chart

Wondering where your child stands mathematically? What math skills should they have, and by what age? DreamBox Learning's math educators developed this chart to answer those very questions. In addition, the chart gives teaching tips, games and activities that will assist your child's math development.

Virtual Dissection

Looking for a way to teach your child anatomy without all the messiness of real dissection? Why not try virtual dissection? Similar to the old-fashioned way, your student will learn all about the parts, but there will be no mess to clean up.

Here is a link to a virtual eye dissection.

Alibris Coupon Codes

Looking for some more books for your summer reading list? Wanting to get a jumpstart on ordering textbooks for the fall?

Well head over to Alibris for one of the widest selections of books, movies, and music!

Use the coupon code below for even more savings!

Save $4 off $30 or more of books, music, & movies when you use coupon code JARMUSCH on checkout at www.alibris.com. This coupon expires June 30, 2009.

Teaching Left and Right

If your child is having a hard time telling the difference between left and right, have them make the shapes above with their hand. The one that looks like an L is supposed to look is their left hand, and the other is their right!

Dinosaur Multiplication

My boys have been begging me to teach them more about multiplication. Since we are reading a book about dinosaurs, I figured it might be fun to incorporate that into the lesson.

The supplies

I wrote a multiplication problem on the whiteboard. The first number was the number of "nests" and the second number was the number of "dinosaur eggs".

The boys placed the M&Ms onto the felt nests, and then wrote the problem in their notebooks.

Although Luke isn't old enough to multiply, he had fun counting the "dinosaur eggs".

Make a Printable Custom Emergent Reader For Your Child

Your child will love reading this story all about him or her! The site allows you to fill in your child's name, age and quite a few other things , then plugs what you put in right into the story.

Boy's Version

Girl's Version

Parent Child Journals

Looking for a pleasant and painless way to get in some extra reading and writing practice? Look no further than a notebook. Write any entry in the notebook such as a few sentences telling your child about your day, asking about theirs, or maybe even asking some profound question like, "What is your favorite color and why do you like it?"

Then have your child answer back, and leave questions for you. Learning and bonding all in one!

Handwriting Without Tears

I can not say enough about how wonderful the Handwriting Without Tears program is! We absolutely love it.

The boys are able to practice writing with the wet ,dry, try method on their chalkboards, and then reinforce what they have learned on their workbooks.

Love it!

Learn To Draw Portraits

Budding artists will love this video series that explains how to draw portraits. The 27 video series details:

*Value and Contrast

*Graphite and Eraser

*Sketching

*Value Shapes

*Measuring

Splatter Art

My kiddos love to paint, and while I love nurturing their artistic spirits, the idea of cleaning up all that paint? Uh... not so much. So, you can imagine my delight when I found this cool place for them to unleash their inner Jackson Pollock!

Try a little virtual paint splattering!

*Just move the mouse around the screen to splatter the paint. The slower you move the more paint gets applied. If you move quickly, you'll get a thin line of paint. Be aware, it's a continuous line of paint.

* To change colors, just left click with the mouse.

*To clear your creation, just hit the spacebar.

Above are just a couple of my creations. It's actually quite addicting!

One Minute Wonders

Did you know that the average human blinks 15 times per minute? Or that a Gecko can lick its eyeball? Well, you would know if you watched one of these videos produced by the BBC. They have put together a collection of videos depicting things that happen in nature in one minute. The videos are educational and fun with a Bill Nye the Science Guy feel to them. If your kids are into science and nature, they will love this fun educational resource.

Create Your Own Story

Kids love reading, and they will love reading even more if the book is about them! The makers of those yummy goldfish cookies has created a site where you can create your own on-line books. ( and posibly win $10,000!). I created this book for my youngest son, Luke. But... the possibilities are endless - you can use this site to make books to practice sight words, math facts, etc. Happy reading!

OBAMA: The Historic Journey Young Readers Edition

When Barack Obama became the 44th president, history was made, and I was so excited to find a book for my kiddos to learn all about it!

The story tell all about Barack Obama from childhood up through his inauguration. The photos are absolutely breathtaking. The book is written for ages 8-12, but my 7 year old was able to read it. My littlest one (age 3) also loved the pics! There are 200 full color photos, so there was a lot to look at!

My boys especially enjoyed reading about President Obama when he was a young boy. (They never believe that adults were ever kids!)

You can read more about the book here.

You can order your own copy here.