Chores and Responsibilities

Yesterday I focused on links to help teenagers who may be considering applying for a summer job. I don't want to leave out the younger set. It is important to help guide our children and to prepare them for their eventual place in the adult working world. One way is to give them chores and small responsibilities. Also, it is important to remember that they are children and often need to develop the skill sets necessary to be responsible. We can help with gentle reminders and charts.

Let's start with free printable chore charts from Chart Jungle.

I like approaching chores as fun but necessary activities and Right at Home gives several ideas on how to do that. Thanks!

Additional chore chart resources are provided at Econobusters Blog on chore charts.

Interviewing Skills

Summer vacation is approaching fast-too fast. Today my son went on an interview for an internship. We, his parents hope it will be a paying internship. If not, he will be preparing for job interviews.

Having a summer job is a valuable experience for teenagers. However, going on the first interview can be a trying experience. Of course, trying for the teens, too.

Money Instructor has a series of lessons on Interviewing skills including the types of interviews, interview questions and how to do well on an interview.

Jobsearch at About.com provides additional information on practical interviewing issues including what to wear, what to bring or know before going to an interview and follow up etiquette.

Summer Job Interview Questions covers many of the questions one would expect to be asked on an interview.

Good luck teens and parents!

Addition

First you learn your numbers and how to write them and then you learn to count and then they expect you to learn how to add. Oh the expectations!

Well let's find some help or make it fun to learn how to add.

How about flashcards from A Plus Math

Now let's test our skills with an addition game or games from Gamequarium Math.

Being a kid can be tough at times but math doesn't have to be tough. It can be fun!

OCD Special Needs Homeschool Resources and Information

Good Morning!

Well I hope it is a good morning for you. Sometimes mornings and days don't go as we planned in our homeschooling lives/schedule. We work through those days.

Today's blog is for those who face learning challenges along with just the normal challenges while homeschooling. Today the focus will be on resources for homeschooling and OCD.

Homeschool Diner differentiates and explains about Tourettes and OCD and has a nice resource section for both.


Have a great homeschooling day!

Studies of the Art Masterpieces

Artcyclopedia offers wonderful views of scans of masterpieces and an extensive list of art museums world wide.

Algebra HELP

Algebra can be challenging to learn and teach. It is different in its presentations and concepts but it can be done.

While not strictly for Algebra Illuminations takes an interesting visual approach towards Math that is worth mentioning and recommending.

Algebra.com -Great math site for algebra help!


A quick note: I will be changing this site to M-F Daily.
I don't homeschool technically on the weekends and most people don't, so M-F it is. However, I will continue to incorporate the typical Saturday and Sunday topics during the week.

Have a great weekend!
JulieDD

Earth Day

Let's explore some crafts, ideas and fun for Earth Day 2010.

First for inspiration, Nuns dig into Earth Day

How about making a Recycled Craft Plastic Cup Bug Catcher and don't forget to play some Green Games for Kids.

And wrapping this post up lets enjoy some Games, Projects, Coloring Pages, Crafts,Quizzes and Lessons from Kaboose Earth Day 2010

Happy Earth Day!

Allergies

We've got them. Do you? Allergies.

The sneezing, itchy eyes and runny noses can shorten a fun spring outing or field trip if we are not properly prepared. Right now the pollen is flying everywhere. This is a good time to have a lesson about allergies and pollen.

Discovery Education has a lesson Allergies vs Viruses which provides further information, definitions and additional activities including questions and vocabulary.

Facing the Challenges of Homeschooling

Homeschooling is not always easy. You may have jumped into homeschooling not realizing the effort and commitments necessary to educate your child. In addition, what if your child learns differently than you expect and/or needs you to teach differently. These are just a few of the challenges and things to consider when choosing to homeschool.

An article by Diane Craft on HSLDA on Homeschooling a Struggling Learner provides information on the characteristics of left and right brain learning styles and offers teaching strategies to help improve your educational efforts.

Happy homeschooling!

JulieDD

Weather and Whether

I'm feeling a little torn in two directions today so I am going with two topics. The first is the science topic of weather and the second is homophones, homonyms, and heteronyms.

Enjoy!

The recent volcanic activity has caused problems with travel and is affecting many lives so let's take a look at the effect of volcanic ash on the weather.

Do you need to brush up on your homonyms? Here are 52 self guided quizzes on homonyms. Or perhaps you would just like view a huge list of homonyms for review or fun.

Confused by homophones, homographs, homonyms and heteronyms definitions, Fiction Factor provides definitions and examples.

Hope your Monday is the start of an amazing week.

JulieDD

Music

Tonight I had the great pleasure of spending time with my daughter. We watched the movie "Fame" together and ate popcorn and pizza. It was fun and relaxing but while watching the movie I thought about how important music has been in my life and realized that I haven't posted much on that particular category. Today's links will be music related.

Looking for National Standards or just interested in teaching music to groups of children Teaching Music Magazine has a wealth of information.

At Songs for Teaching you can listen to clips of educational songs. Generally, I try to find free resources but since this site had free clips and the lyrics were posted I decided to go ahead and list this site anyway.

Don't forget to teach the basics with Music Theory

Enjoy your evening.

JulieDD

Higher Education Videos: Science, Math, History and Languages

Yesterday, while browsing the internet I came across an amazing educational video site called LearnersTV. They offer links to free lectures on upper level class material including lectures in Physics, Chemistry, Math, Biology, Accounting and more.

They claim to have 9487 video lectures, 408 animations and 359 powerpoint presentations. It is a treasure trove of lectures and supporting information.

I know we will be visiting this site quite often.

Have a great weekend.

JulieDD

Wind in the Willows Classic Literature

Through my window I can see large willow trees. I love these trees especially when the wind blows. I am always amazed at how far they can bend without breaking.

The Wind in the Willows is also a classic children's book

which can be read online at Project Gutenburg or viewed in other formats including a scan of the original text or in downloadable versions at the Internet Archive.

At the University of Oxford Bodleian Library you can research information on sketches, the author and the original manuscript.

An interesting and fun study guide based on The Wind in the Willows play is available as a PDF file from Stage One KET.

One final link from the Literature Network where you will find a short summary of the book.

Nouns

Nouns. What a funny word. Two n's with an "Ou" in the middle and yet it is an important word. It would be difficult to compose a sentence or write a poem or an article or a letter without nouns. In fact, communicating in general would be difficult without nouns. This little grammar entity is our topic of the day.

Schoolhouse Rock YouTube video can't be beat for describing nouns in an entertaining fashion.

Need to know more about nouns-check out this page sponsored by Capital Community College Foundation Guide to Grammar and Writing and then take the quiz.

Reminder

Just a reminder or information about this blog:

Even though this is titled "Daily" please understand that I can only try to post a link to helpful or educationally related activities/lessons/pages each day-some days it doesn't happen and it is unlikely that I will bore you with the reasons or excuses but I will be back posting as soon as possible. So please check back or bookmark or follow the blog.

In addition, to the blog posts you can find previous links listed on the individual link pages. Currently the links to those pages are directly under the title bar. Also, on the right column there are labels that are topical and a blog archive.

Thanks for visiting!

Knights

I challenged my daughter to pick a history topic, any topic related to history and she shouted without hesitation, "Knights, medieval knights." Today's topic to explore is therefore, knights, medieval knights.

Cybersleuth kids has eight links to different aspects of being a knight.

For a more in depth look at medieval times presentations for kids, Mr. Donn's World History offers information, lessons, games and more.

Happy homeschooling!

New Start-Mushrooms

Spring is a time of starting anew. It is also a time to explore our world and to seek out hidden treasures. Sorry for the Star Trek like introduction-sometimes we are influenced by what we read and see and recently I did watch a version of Star Trek I had never seen before. Regardless, the point is that spring brings out a sense of exploration and discovery unlike any other season. The outdoors beckons and is revealing treasures that have been hidden over the winter. While the flowers and trees take the lead with their obvious bursts of colors and leaves another species takes a subtler approach. They are the mushrooms. Let's explore mushrooms today.

The American Mushroom Institute has a wonderful and informative lesson plan to start our investigation of mushrooms.

Another lesson plan from the North American Mycological Association takes more of a hands on approach.

Fish and Fish Science Projects

"Everybody is a genius. But, if you judge a fish by it's ability to climb a tree, it will spend it's whole life believing that it is stupid." -Albert Einstein

I love that quote. It is certainly something to consider.

One of my favorite spring activities growing up was going smelting. Now I didn't care much for cleaning and eating them but catching them-that was fun. Smelt are fish and fish is today's science/nature topic.

To learn more about smelting and smelt

Fish of the Great Lakes: Smelt

Amazing pictures and information about fish from National Geographic online

Science Fair Projects and Experiments with fish

Flowers

Taking a walk around the farm, I see flowers and trees blooming. Spring has arrived. This is a great time to explore natural science with hands on activities outside. Before getting outside and observing nature it might help to review some basic concepts.

How Plants and Flowers Grow

Science Lesson Plans

National Gardening Month

April is National Gardening Month and in honor of that today's links will be related to gardening.

Gardening for Kids This site has links to several gardening resources

Physical Education

I hope everyone had a wonderful weekend. With the beautiful weather but unpredictable weather it is a great time to try to get outside and stretch and walk and learn as you go. In other words it is a great time to get outside and exercise if the weather permits. Today we will look at sites dedicated to Physical Education.

Teacher's Net Physical Education Lesson Plans

PE Central for K-2

Happy Easter Links

Just a reminder I won't be posting over the weekend but I want to note the celebration of Easter with some links for the little ones-coloring pages and activities.

Have Fun Teaching-Easter worksheets

Kiddyhouse Easter worksheets and coloring

Happy Easter!