Actual Size Science or Social Studies Deal

I've told you all about Educents a couple of times, right?
Of course I have!
I know I also told you that I am a proud Educents affiliate. I mean, why wouldn't I be? Have you seen their deals? They are AWESOME!
I wanted to share with you an exciting new offers they have!
Actual. Size. Chalk. Drawings.
That's right- blueprints to help you and your child draw actual size drawings and diagrams with sidewalk chalk!
You can get both the Science and Social Studies ebooks!

CLICK HERE to go to Educents, then scroll down to view.
Select "Tell Me More" for more info on these incredible ebooks!
If you order within 9 days, you can get one of these ebooks for 32% off!
Pay only $22.99, download your book, and start your exciting Actual Size adventure! 

I haven't had a chance to make it to the park yet, I look forward to taking the kids and creating a few actual size masterpieces! I know my kids are looking forward to drawing and learning about the giant squid!

Great Deals on Educational Products plus Earth Day GIVEAWAY!

Have you heard about Educents.com?

They are a great new site with some super-awesome deals on educational products! A friend of mine introduced me to them just before they launched, and I've been hooked on checking out their daily deals ever since! In fact, I am so impressed with them that I've become an affiliate!
Here's a little about Educents:

Educents, a flash-deal website, is an easy way to get huge discounts on the educational products you know and love (and maybe even some you’ve never heard of!)

In a world where education is becoming increasingly expensive, Educents is a company with a mission: to provide every family access to affordable educational materials. They focus exclusively on handpicked, unique educational materials including online curriculum, learning tools, educational toys, software, e-books, and more. With new deals added every day, Educents is quickly gaining popularity amongst parents, teachers, homeschoolers and learners of all ages.

 Come check out Educents.com to find your favorite brands at up to 90% off retail prices!

Check me out at My Merry Messy Life!

Have you checked out 

Homeschooling Made Simple  

by Sara at My Merry Messy Life yet?

This is a great series where moms share about their homeschooling experiences. 

Well, today, Sara is interviewing yours truly!
I encourage you to go take a peek and read through the other interviews in the series. 

These other homeschooling mamas are awesome!

Click here to see which super parties I link up to!

Autumn Poetry Printables for Kids

I just love autumn!
The leaves are changing colors, the weather is getting cooler (finally!) and I am inspired to cook lots of yummy, things! (I've already made a Pumpkin Roll, and some Soft Ginger Spice Cookies, among other things.)

A few days ago, as I was helping my daughter with one of her homeschool lessons, I got the idea to put together a little poetry  lesson/activity for the kids.
Given the fact that it was a math lesson... place values, more specifically, that I was helping her with, I have no idea how the thought of poetry got into my brain!

At any rate, it did, and here we are.
I put together a few poetry printables with an Autumn theme.

I loved doing Cinquain poems when I was a kid. One of the things I like about them as an adult, is that they are a good way to reinforce or introduce parts of speech.

The basic format for a Cinquain Poem is:

Noun

Adjective, Adjective

-ing Verb, -ing Verb, -ing Verb

Phrase

Noun (Synonym of original noun)

Here is the worksheet we did:

I made this one, and a couple others as printables, to share with you!

Wonder Box: Review, Discount Code, & Giveaway!

Have you ever visited Education.com?
I have.
A LOT!
It's been one of my favorite go-to educational sites since I first discovered it a few years ago. I love everything from the printable worksheets to the fun kids' activities!
You can imagine how excited I was when I got an email asking if I would like to try out and review one of their new products, the Wonder Box.  In fact, I may or may not have (mostly may) used the word "giddy" in my email response. Education.com's representative, Kat, is super cool and she sent me one right away!
Pretty Awesome, right?

It gets better!
Kat is offering all of my readers a $10 discount on any Wonder Box purchase! Just use the code: CAPE10 at checkout for the discount! (Code expires 10/01/12)
She is also providing a FREE Wonder Box to one lucky winner! Make sure you enter my Rafflecopter Giveaway for your chance to win!
Before we go any further, I want to disclose to you now, that I can sit here and tell you good things about education.com all day long. It is a wonderful resource for parents and homeschoolers, so make sure you bookmark it.
I'll wait....
I want to assure you that I will not let my love for my opinion of the site affect my honest review of the Wonder Box.

Wonder Box. 
The name says it all! From the moment we got it, my youngest kids were curious to see what was in it. As I opened it, we first noticed the cute packaging and the fun, and (I am assuming) friendly little Otter. As we explored further, we uncovered an array of neat little packages with tags and instructions. I have to admit, I was just as excited to see what all was in there as the kids were! After further investigation, I learned that we got the Once Upon a Time box!
The Once Upon a Time Wonder Box included 4 fun activities: a Story Cape, Build Your Own Puppet, Story Cards, and a Stone Soup book!

We decided to start with the Story Cards.
As I laid them out on the table, the kids were already getting ideas for their story. Once we began, they took turns choosing a card and making up their story. There was a nice variety of cards with many possibilities of how they can relate together for story, after story, after story! My kids have been playing with them every day since we got them. They use them on their own as well as using them to tell stories to each other. The more practice they have with the cards, the more elaborate and creative their stories are. I am impressed!

 

Next up was the Story Cape.
I spread the cape out onto the craft table and asked my girls for design ideas. They decided that it should be a Shape Cape, and they would decorate it with colorful shapes. They also wanted to write Up, up, and away! on it. My 5 and 7 year olds worked on it, and my toddler was able to get her hand in there to add her artistic touches to it as well. When they were finished, I ironed on the design to set it, then they took turns trying it on and "flying" across the room! It seems like someone is always wearing that cape! My 5 year old even tried to wear it to bed.
My girls wanted to make the Puppet next.
They sorted the shapes and colors on the craft table, then worked together to decide how to make their puppet. Okay, it wasn't that easy. They both started with different ideas. I used that opportunity to reinforce the concept of cooperation and to work on their negotiation skills. It ended up going smoothly and they soon had the puppet the way they wanted it. The only problem was that they were too impatient to let the glue dry completely and some of the shapes ended up falling off. I solved that issue with my glue gun. A few minutes later, they were playing with their puppet, now known as Mr. Funny- the Joke Telling Dragon.
We saved the book, Stone Soup, for last.
We read it and had a nice little discussion afterward. We talked about making our own stone soup and the kids shared which foods they would donate to the pot. They even decided that Mr. Funny would bring the beef, salt, and pepper! After that, they got to color the pages of the book!
We really enjoyed all of the activities. We had fun creating the cape and Mr. Funny. We explored many skills, including storytelling, imagination, shapes and colors. The kids had a blast with everything in the Wonder Box. Aside from the obvious educational benefits the Wonder Box offers for kids, it is a great value to parents. This isn't one of those things that the kids do, then it gets put aside. After initially spending a few hours working on the projects, my kids have been playing with everything since!

Here's what my kids have to say about it:
My 5 year old- "My favorite was making Mr. Funny"
My 7 year old-"I liked the Wonder Box so much that I just want to play with everything in it all day long! My favorite thing was making Mr. Funny!"
My 12 year old- "Okay, I admit it, I used the story cards too."
My almost 2 year old enjoys wearing the cape, looking at the story cards, and listening to the Stone Soup story.

Enter to win your own Wonder Box Below!

*For shipping purposes, the giveaway is open to residents of the contiguous US states only.*
Don't forget to use the code CAPE10 to receive $10 off of any Wonder Box Purchase!
(Code expires 10/01/12)

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Click here to see which super parties I link up to!

Homeschool vs. Traditional School

There are many reasons that families choose to educate their kids at home and just as many for those who chose traditional school. I decided to highlight 10 common topics that are argued by both sides. Let's see if you can guess which side makes each of the following arguments:

OK... are you ready to see who said what?

Alphabet Flashcard Fun

I am all for using flashcards as teaching tools, but let's be honest here, flashcards can get B-O-R-I-N-G!
I like finding ways to make learning interesting and discovering fun ways to use flashcards. I like to make my own flash cards for the kids. It's cheap frugal, easy to customize, and easy to replace a card when a certain toddler gets ahold of one and decides to taste it or color on it.

I'll share with you a few fun games for little ones who are just learning the alphabet.

My Healthy Foods (plus printable)

It never fails.
Every weekend, when we go to the store, it happens.
Our 5 and 7 year olds very sweetly look up at their daddy, and ask for a dollar.
And he, of course, hands one over to them.
Ahhh... if only they saved those dollars up. But no. They are eager to spend it. (Okay, I can't really blame them. I am the same way when I want to buy yarn or something.)
Every week, we go through the aisles and they look at the items. Will they put their money together for a larger bag of cheetos or a package of cookies? Or will they buy their own individual snack at the checkout?
Whatever they decide, it always seems to be junk food.
Last week, when we got back from the store, while my 5 year old was munching on her funyuns and my 7 year old was digging into her bbq lays, I had an idea. (By the way... smart kids! They saw that I was buying  a cake, so they chose salty snacks over sweet!)

Anyway, back to my idea. They We get enough junk food as it is (note previously mentioned cake), so do they really need to be wasting their money on  more junk food?
I didn't think so either.
I had to think of a way to get them on board the idea of buying healthier snacks.
I thought for a minute, then I said to them, "You know, you could have put your money together and bought a big basket of strawberries! That would have been yummy!"
You should have seen their eyes light up! "STRAWBERRIES???!!!"
They went on about how much they love strawberries and how they wished that they had thought of that at the store. It worked! I kept it going with suggestions of grapes, blueberries, string cheese, yogurt and more of their favorite healthy snacks. They got excited about it and started planning what they would buy next weekend.
Soon it was time for bed, but I told them that we would do a project together the next day.

Monday morning rolled around and they were excited for their project. I started by telling them that we are going to start eating healthier and when they choose snacks at the store, they have to start choosing healthy ones. We talked about the food groups. They wrote down the foods that they like and categorized them into the right groups. It was relaxed and fun. We talked about what foods are healthy and which ones aren't as healthy. They enjoyed learning about how many of the foods they love are so good for them.

The fun we had with this little project prompted me to create a printable project out of it, and of course, share it with all of you!

Click Here for the Printable

There are seven pages including the cover page. Your child can draw and list his/her favorite healthy foods from each group. Or, if you prefer, you can find some food ads and use those to cut and paste onto the pages. On the last page, your child can make his/her own healthy plate. You can print extra if you want him/her to create a plate for each meal.

Fun, right? I hope you all enjoy this activity as much as we did!

Summer Project: Plan a Trip (Or a virtual one!)

Summer is creeping up on us, and for many people this means that school is out and the kids are home all day.
For homeschoolers, it means that it is time for a break and a more laid back learning environment.
Despite the relaxed schedules, I think that we can all agree that we don't want our kids' brains tuning to mush over the summer!

I have the perfect project to avoid mushy brains! It is a lot of fun and it has some exciting learning opportunities for all ages.
Are you ready?
Let's go!

Make Your Own Pom Poms

We were watching a kids' sing along video a couple weekends ago, when the song Take Me Out to the Ball Game came on. They showed kids playing baseball... and ....
CHEERLEADERS!!!
My five year old jumped up and started jumping around like the little cheerleaders she saw on tv. She loved it!
Every time my kids see something like that that they like, they immediately start planning their Halloween costume. I think they've each decided on at least 25 different costumes, so far!

Well, my five year old decided that a cheerleader would be a great thing to dress up as. She got all excited and told me that she can even make her own pom poms! I asked her how she would make them and she says, "Just get a paper towel tube and cut it and get some ribbons and cut them and put them in the paper towel tubes and you have pom poms!!!!" Yeah... she said it all in one breath, just like that. Impressive. I was even more impressed with her idea! We had to make it happen!

I'll show you how you can make your own.

As seen Online...

My kids love music!
They can turn just about anything into a musical instrument... a bucket, a couple of sticks, various bumpy objects that they can run something across to make sound... you get the idea.

When I saw a tutorial for a Drinking Straw Flute from Relentlessly Fun, Deceptively Educational (you should totally check her site out!), I knew my kids would love it!
We just had to make a few of our own!

I like the fact that this project incorporated measuring and size relations, as well as the musical aspect of it. Learning has never been so fun!

Thank you Relentlessly Fun, Deceptively Educational! We had a lot of fun!

Counting By Fives and Tens

Sometimes the concept of counting by fives and tens can be a little bit difficult to grasp at first.
I like to teach counting by tens first. I find that it is easier to teach after exploring the tens and ones column and explaining how, when counting by tens, the number in  the tens column changes as though you are counting.
It all makes perfect sense to me.
My daughter just looked at me like I was from another planet.
Um... ok... on to plan B.
After all, when homeschooling, we always have to have a plan B right? What works for one kid doesn't necessarily work for another. I was surprised this time though. My daughter is really good at math. I can give her a page of addition or subtraction, and she is back five or ten minutes later with all of them done correctly. Those same pages would take a couple of my other, more reluctant children (read: kids who thought math was the most boring, torturous thing on the planet) , half the day to do when they were younger. I guess my 7 year old just likes math.  You won't hear me complaining!

So, why is counting by fives and tens so difficult, then?
I don't know, but plan B better work.
Only thing is... um... I didn't have a plan B this time.
I didn't think I'd need it.
Then it hit me! A visual!

Quick Paper Hand Puppets

Psssst... I have a secret!

It's a way to keep the kids involved in a fun activity so that you can cook dinner, fold the laundry, or play on the computer for a little while.
It only takes about five minutes of your time, yet the kids will stay involved for a good hour, at least!

Wanna know what it is?

Reading: Some Rules Are Just Meant To Be Broken!

Have you ever taught a kid to read?
I have.
Four of them.
Soon to be five... and then six.

We go through the same thing every time!
First we learn the sounds the letters make. Then we learn the other, not-so-common sound some of the letters make. Then we work on vowel teams and consonant blends and such....  you get the idea.
As we continue the reading lessons, we learn the rules...

You know the rules, right?

Ones like:
 When a vowel team goes a walkin', the first one does the talkin'.
Or...
When there is a silent "e" at the end of the word, it makes the other vowel long.
Or...
If the letter "c" is followed by an "e" or an "i", then it makes the /s/ sound. Just like the letter "g"... only it makes the /j/ sound.
And so on...

Every. Single. Time. I teach one of the kids to read, we go through the same thing! You know... the thing that makes you want to pull your hair out and give up...
It goes something like this...

Symmetry Monsters and Aliens

My five year old has been asking me non-stop for the past few days to break out the paints so that she can make some pictures.

I haven't let her, and I am running out of excuses.

Why make excuses instead of letting her explore her artistic side through paint?

Well... If you have kids and paints, you know that mess.

If I am going to be cleaning up paint for the next few days, then the painting fun is going to be educational! So... Monsters and Aliens, it is!

When I was a kid, I loved learning about symmetry through art projects. My favorite creations were the monsters and aliens. Here are some that we made.

Spelling Lessons For Beginning Spellers (and Readers)

I love including Spelling in my lesson plans for the kids. Not just for the Spelling itself, but because it is a wonderful "multi-tasking" tool. I use spelling lessons to reinforce phonic lessons and handwriting lessons. It can be used for grammar and usage, composition, and vocabulary, too.

I compile my own spelling lists based on other things my kids are doing at the time. I mostly use their Reading and Phonics as a guide.
I base their lessons on their level of education.

For beginning readers and spellers, I keep it relatively simple.

• Monday- Pre-Test. Any words that are misspelled are re-written correctly 5 times each.
• Tuesday- Word Examination. Each word is written, then key letters are underlined. For example, if we are studying words with the long A sound, the letters that make the sound (ai, ay, a_e, etc.) will be underlined. This lesson can double as a phonics lesson.
• Wednesday-  Word Practice. (Admittedly, this one is kinda boring. Shhhh... don't tell the kids I said that!) This is especially helpful with words the the kids are having trouble with. For each word, your child should: Say the Word, Spell the Word, Write the Word, Say the Word Again. Do this three times for each word. It is helpful if your child says and spells the words aloud. This lesson can double as handwriting practice.
• Thursday- Fun Day. I like to use Thursdays to do different things. You can opt to work on ABC order, where your child simply puts the words in alphabetical order. You can generate a word search to print out for your child. You can create a word shape worksheet. You can work with vocabulary and make a crossword puzzle. You can work on sentence structure and have your child write a sentence with each word; or work on composition and have your child write a story that includes each word. Sentences and composition double up as writing, grammar, handwriting, and vocabulary lessons.
• Friday- Exam Day. Give your child a few minutes to look over their word list one more time, then give him/her a spelling test. If my children misspell any words, I make them write each misspelled word an additional 5 times each.

As your child gets older and more advanced, the lessons can get harder and more complex. You can also tailor the lessons to whatever your child needs more help with. There are so many possibilities.

I will share my beginning spelling lists with you. They are 10 lessons, 5 based on short vowel sounds and 5 based on long vowel sounds. (List is printable)

Handprint Flowers

A few days ago, I went over and visited a really cool "Pinteresting Party", hosted by Tutus & Tea Parties and Here's to Handy Andy (which are both really awesome blogs, and you should totally check them out).

While there, I saw a really super-cute craft by Two Sasters. They shared a Handprint Flower Bouquet.  I loved it so much, that I wanted to make it with my kids!

We altered ours a bit. We decided to make pictures. We used colored paper, crayons, curling ribbon, and butterflies cut out of some leftover streamers.
Check it out!

My 5 year old made this one.

I helped my 1 1/2 year old with this.

My 7 year old was feeling too sick to finish hers, so I saved her handprints. She will finish when she is feeling better. (The older kids were off playing video games. lol)

Making little crafts like these is a perfect opportunity for a "teaching moment".
Some things you can talk about:

• Flowers, and how they grow from seeds (or bulbs), and how bees pollinate them. 
• Butterflies and how they change from caterpillars to butterflies. 
• Size- the size of their hand compared to your hand or their sister's or brother's hand. Compare bigger and smaller.
• Measuring- measure the flower stems and the flowers, etc.
• Preschoolers can explore colors and you can reinforce the color names.

Really, anything you can think of at the time can be a learning experience or just a fun way to have conversation with your little ones. 

Learning: Fun With Blocks

My kids love playing with MegaBlocks. They come up with some pretty awesome things to build.
I like using the blocks for learning exercises. The kids just think it's FUN!

Here are a few things we do:

Sorting Fun

Patterns

Copying

And FUN!

This is what my 5 year old built after playing the games above. 

What educational fun do you and your kids have with blocks?