Nov
01

Alphabet Desk Mate

By | Homeschool, Mom Stuff

27 Comments

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Looking for a handy visual alphabet reference for your students? I’ve created this for Tinker Bell so she has something on her desk that she can look at when working on her handwriting. I’ve found that keeping something close by really helps in proper letter formation. If they can’t quite remember how a letter is formed, they can quickly glance at their desk mate alphabet strip and in the words of Tinker Bell….Voila’! Soooo….I present the Manuscript Desk Mate:   And just because I know there are a bunch of you working on Cursive…the Cursive Desk Mate:   And don’t worry, I didn’t forget all you D’Nealian fans out there either!   The download includes all 3 fonts, and 2 sizes of each Alphabet Desk Mate, one 8x11 and one 18x4 so hopefully one of the sizes and fonts will work for your student! Click here to download the Alphabet Desk Mate! I hope this helps out your kiddos with their handwriting! … [Read more...]

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Oct
20

Letter of the Week Storage

By | Homeschool, Mom Stuff

28 Comments

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I’ve had a few questions on how I organized all of my Letter of the Week and K4 Kindergarten Curriculum, so I thought I’d show you all some pictures! Since I’ve printed ALL of my printables, I had to come up with some way to store them all! I decided binders full of page protectors was my best bet. Along the top of my Ikea Expedit Shelving unit, you will find binders…lots of binders! (They are cheap 1” binders from Wal-m*rt) Each binder has a spine label on it indicating the letter, then inside are page protectors housing all of the games for that letter. (The spine labels are part of my Letter of the Week Curriculum  in the “extras” folder and K4 Curriculum as well.)   I store small game pieces in snack size Zip-loc baggies, then put them inside the page protectors for safe keeping.   I also put several pages into one page protector, for example all of the Large Floor Numbers for Letter A are in one page protector.   If you aren’t … [Read more...]

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Oct
11

Gingham Calendar Day & Month Printables

By | Mom Stuff

33 Comments

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Hi everyone! I’ve had several requests to make a Calendar Printables Set, so here it is! I’m excited to present my Gingham Calendar Days! Click below to download: Gingham Calendar Days Part 1 Gingham Calendar Days Part 2 (NOTE: If you are having troubles getting the file to download, please RIGHT click on teh above link then select "SAVE LINK AS". You will then be prompted to SAVE it to your hard drive. I also divided it into 2 downloads to make the file a little smaller. Hope that helps! )   What’s included in the download? The Gingham Calendar Days set comes with 12 Month Banners, and different themed Calendar Day cards for each month. There is also a page with Mon-Fri day titles so you can use these cards with a Pocket Chart instead of a Calendar Poster. The calendar Month Banners are 2.5” x 10.5” and the Day Cards are 2.75” x 2.75” each. The cards will fit on most standard Calendar Posters (Approx 18” x 24” in size.) Tips: I recommend … [Read more...]

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Oct
10

iPad Educational Apps

By | Homeschool

281 Comments

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It’s here! It’s finally here! Today we received an iPad2 and everyone is excited! So just to show how necessary this purchase was, I wanted to share some great educational iPad Apps with you today! Although I think it’s a fun thing to have around in general, the truth is I am really excited to use it as a tool in our homeschool!   There are so many iPad and iPhone apps out there, it’s hard to tell which one’s are worth the money! I’m excited to share a new site with you today as well called Apps For Homeschooling. The site allows you to search by grade/age, subject, cost, and device. It also gives you a thorough review of the app along with costs and devices it is available on. I also wrote a post with my favorite iPhone apps awhile back that you also check out. Math Blaster – HyperBlast  by Knowledge Adventure Since then, here are some of our favorites! We, and by we, I mean both the kids and me, love the Knowledge Adventure Math Blaster … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Homeschool Tagged With: ,
Oct
09

Educational Insights: Smens Review & Giveaway

By | Give Aways

210 Comments

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So today, I have another fun little giveaway from Educational Insights for you! Smens Scented Pens! The Smens from Educational Insights have become our latest summer school motivating tool! We’ve been using them to complete our Summer Bridge Activities from Carson Dellosa. We do a lesson each day and the Smens are our “special” pens for these activities. Somehow having something special makes the work more fun ;o) What are Smens? Smens are gourmet scented pens made from recycled newspapers. Available scents include Red Licorice, Creamsicle, Aloha, Mystery Scent, Banana Fo Fana, Mocha, Passion Fruit, Ninja Berry, Pink Lemonade, and Black Licorice. Each Smen is individually wrapped in a stay-fresh biodegradable plastic tube and is guaranteed to keep its scent for two years. What’s the Cost? $24.95 for a set of 10 scented pens The only complaint we had were that the pens are all black ink, my kids were hoping that they were colored according to their scent. We … [Read more...]

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May
24

iPhone Educational Tools

By | Homeschool

23 Comments

When I first got my iPhone the thought of letting one of my kids even touch it was like “NOT HAPPENING!” Then slowly, I allowed them to play games here and there as a way to keep them occupied. It was such a hit, my kids asked if they could use the tickets they earned from doing chores to play on my iPhone! Now, as a homeschooler, I’m always trying to think of new ways to make learning fun. I’ll admit, I’m an iPhone newbie, and honestly I didn’t realize was that there were literally TONS of educational games out there! This epiphany lead to what’s now affectionately referred to as “There’s an iPhone in my Workbox!”. I think it would be even more fun with an iPad, but for now everyone’s happy with the iPhone idea. I purposely leave a workbox empty when I’m filling them, and instead put a sticky note with the game I want them to play on it. (I’m not foolish enough to leave my phone unattended in a workbox overnight, plus my fish would die if I didn’t tend to … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Homeschool Tagged With: ,
May
17

Bamboo Craft Review

By | Digital Scrapbooking, Homeschool

5 Comments

I have the privilege of reviewing the totally awesome Bamboo Craft Pen Tablet today courtesy of the super cool gals at Pen Scrappers! I was so excited about this as I’m already a huge fan of Wacom Tablets and all of the awesome digital scrapbookers at Pen Scrappers! I use my Bamboo Craft tablet when doing any kind of graphic design work including creating printables for you all! One thing I haven’t done much is let my kids use my tablet. They’re constantly begging to use my “special pen”, so when I got this one I thought I’d give them a chance. I really wanted to see how I could incorporate the Bamboo Craft into our homeschooling. So I opened up some of my trusty A-Z Handwriting and 1-20 Handwriting worksheets and let them have at it! I was really excited to see that they loved to practice handwriting using the Bamboo Craft. My son said he liked this WAY better than his regular handwriting! I explained we’d probably switch it up so he could do this every now and then … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Digital Scrapbooking, Homeschool Tagged With: , , ,
Mar
16

Alphabet Tree Letters

By | Alphabet

9 Comments

I’ve had several people asking for a set of lowercase letters to go up on their alphabet tree, so here they are! At the end of the week, once our letter is learned, we put it up on our tree signifying we’re now a master of that letter! My daughter loves adding the letters to the tree. We’ll usually review all the letters and their sounds we’ve learned at that time as well. Palm Treecan be found here! Here are the links to download both sets: Alphabet Tree Letters – Uppercase Alphabet Tree Letters – Lowercase Alternate Uses: You can punch holes in the letters and use them as lacing cards Use letters to practice blends or spell CVC words on the floor Put magnets on the backs and use as magnetic word builders Visit our Sponsors! Time 4 Learning, & Pick and Draw … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Alphabet Tagged With: ,
Nov
22

2010 Christmas Gift List for Kids

By | Mom Stuff

18 Comments

I’ve had a few people ask for me to share some Kids Christmas gift ideas for this year. This is a compilation of fun stuff and educational stuff. WARNING: Beware, this post is full of eye-candy, so try to contain yourself, and just to help out, you should be able to click on any of the images below and get to them online… ;o) Tot School: Alphabet Lacing Beads / How to build an A Color Sorting Bears / Magnetic Fishing Game Stacking Cups / VTech Touch & Teach Turtle VTech Write & Learn Letter Book Preschool: Magnetic Color Cubes / Chicka Chicka Boom Boom Lakeshore Color Sorting Baskets / Do A Dot Markers Wikki Stix Alphabet Cards / Color Cube Activity Cards & Color Blocks Magnetic Pattern Blocks / VTech V.Reader Monkeying Around / My First Sticky Mosaics Letter of the Week Curriculum 1st & 2nd Grade: Magnetic Mosaics / Qwirkle / Pick and Draw Intermed. Pattern … [Read more...]

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Sep
01

Supply List for Letter of the Week

By | Uncategorized

22 Comments

If you have purchased my Letter of the Week Curriculum, or are considering it, here are some additional supplies you’ll probably want to use with the curriculum. Things we use OFTEN: For Memory Verses and accompanying games/stories we use the following books:ABC Memory Verses & My ABC Bible VersesSong time:Hide 'Em in Your Heart Vol 1Hide 'Em In Your Heart Songs - Vol 2Leapfrog Letter Factory DVDChicka Chicka Boom BoomExpo Dry Erase Markers Pencils, Pip-Squeaks Markers Scissors (kids rounded ends) Magnets (I use Power Magnets, or pom-pom magnets - I made them using medium sized pom-poms and self-sticky circle magnets from the craft isle in Wal-mart. You can also use a glue gun and circle magnets, they’d probably holdup better!) Wooden Clothes pins (I got little ones from Wal-mart craft section) 1 ½ “ wooden disks from Michaels, hobby lobby, or JoAnn’s for the letter match games. (Note: you can also use left over milk caps) It’s also helpful to have a Xyron … [Read more...]

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