Free Bible Curriculum for all ages

We've always done family worship, but I didn't always focus on a specific bible curriculum or study for our homeschool subjects. I figured, hey we are doing family worship and most of the curriculum I use is Christ-centered, so do we really need a separate curriculum? I became convicted that, it was just not enough. It's more important than ever to be immersed fully in the word!

I love the word of God! I have heard so many people refer to the Bible as a good reference, but very outdated for these current times. ARE THEY CRAZY? The word of God is and always will be a timeless guide for those of us seeking to live our lives to it's full potential and purpose. Life is tough and can be full of disappointments and challenges along the way, but for every challenge, there is an answer in the word.

Here is a list of various links that include Bible Study, games, videos,etc that can assist in your daily walk. I hope you love these links. If you have any additional resources, please feel free to post them in the comment section.


http://www.missionarlington.org/resources/curriculum/

http://www.3bible.com/index.php

http://www.sabbathschoolpersonalministries.org/article.php?id=17

http://www.sermons4kids.com/

http://www.fishersofkids.com/

http://www.blueletterbible.org/

http://www.biblestudytools.com/

http://www.biblegateway.com/

http://www.dltk-bible.com/

http://children.calvarychapel.com/site/curriculum.htm (free English and Spanish lessons)

Free Lego Smart Activity Kit

As you all know, our family absolutely LOVES Legos, so imagine my delight when we stumbled across this:

From now through August 2009, LEGO Education is sponsoring a hands-on activity challenge for educators, including homeschoolers, to design and submit an activity using only the parts in a free kit supplied by LEGO. The activity could range from a simple construction to an advanced math application. Your imagination is the limit! The Grand Prize Winner will get LEGO Education products and gift certificates valued up to $250; eight monthly winners will receive prizes worth up to $100. Entries will appear on the LEGO Smart Blog as they are posted to the website.

See the website for all the rules and to request your kit.

http://www.legoeducation.com/forms/activitycontest.asp

Legos are wonderful tools to use for teaching. To get some ideas, please check out my blog post on teaching with Legos. Click here to see the post (please don't use the ideas in the post for the contest).

If you have any other great ideas to add, please feel free to leave a comment, and please pass this blog on to your friends, thanks!

Book Clubs, Summer Reading and Fun!

As we all know, fostering the love of reading is so important in our child's educational growth. Books open a window to the world of exploration, intrigue, intellectual stimulation and more. It never ceases to amaze me about the things I hear my children discussing. They have wonderful vocabulary, creative imaginations and always seek to challenge themselves through reading. We have been hosting a book club on our home for the last two years. I originally started it for my young tween who wanted to meet other girls who liked to read things other than the articles typical mainstream books (like Harry Potter). We actually ended up have 1 boy in our club the first year, now we have a mixed group of between 12 and 15 kids and the children choose from books we find on the Hoagies gifted website. They have some really great book lists for children of all ages as well as terrific resources such as games and articles on teaching your gifted children. Click here to visit their site.

Many people are working on wrapping up their school year, but still want to keep their children stimulated during the summer. How about a summer reading program? They can be done at a leisurely pace and usually involve the child winning something at the completion of the program. I know my kiddos always like incentives, so hey, why not? Here are some links to a few summer reading programs I found, enjoy (there's even one the adults). If you know of any other programs or just want to leave a comment, please do so :-)

http://www.barnesandnoble.com/summerreading/index.asp?r=1

http://theparentsite.com/reading/readingplanet.asp

http://www.rif.org

www.summerreadingclub.com/

http://www.lasalle.edu/~garver/library/contest.htm

Reading Contest for the adults Click Here

Any Pennsylvania Homeschoolers out there?

I came across this opportunity and thought I would share it with any of you who homeschool or teach in the great state of Pennsylvania. This opportunity looks like you would have to be a coop to participate (they have a min. 20 student enrollment), but hey, you could win $200 worth of school supplies. If you are interested, contact this organization using the link contained in the email. I welcome any comments you may have :-)



Evaluation Opportunity for Pennsylvania Teachers and Community Organizations

The Susan P. Byrnes Health Education Center has designed all activities on LearntobeHealthy.org with national and state education standards in mind. The goal is for students to retain knowledge and begin to make behavioral changes with respect to healthy choices. Over the summer and during the 09/10 school year, we will be partnering with classroom teachers and non-profit organizations to evaluate the effectiveness of the new mental health activities on the site. Educators will be asked to measure students’ knowledge gained and changes in behavioral intent through online pretests and post-tests. Teachers and childcare providers will be instructed on the use of these online survey tools and asked to make observational reports of their students’ choices and behaviors periodically.

Those who are selected to participate will receive a $200 gift card for the purchase of classroom supplies and other educational tools.

Following are the eligibility criteria:

* Students must reside in the State of Pennsylvania
* Minimum number of children per adult is 20
* You must be able to complete at least one entire kit
* All activities must be done in sequential order
* Lesson plans and activity guides must be followed as closely as possible
* Pretests and posttests must be correctly administered through online tools
* A final survey must be completed by the adult administering the activities

If you meet the criteria above, and are interested in being part of the study, please contact us at info@learntobehealthy.org and put "evaluation" in the subject line.

Elementary Apologia Science - Jeannie Fulbright

Hi all,

Well, this has been a busy week and I've found some more great free resources that I will share in a different post.

Well, if you are a regular reader, you've read about my post of the Young Explorers Series (Exploring Creation through...) by Jeannie Fulbright. This series is published though Apologia Educational Ministries.

I personally own all of he books in this series and I can't say enough about these books. They are terrific and my children love them. In my honest opinion, it combines the best of all aspects of learning. It is designed to go along with the notebooking/journaling concept (great for all of you Charlotte Mason fans), is a wonderful read for those of you who like using living books, and has that textbook feel for those of you who love textbooks. These books are designed to be used over a one year time frame, but can be done in a shorter amount of time if desired.

Well, just when you thought it couldn't get better, read this:

Apologia is now producing notebooking journals that accompany each of the elementary science books. Both Botany and Astronomy are now available.

These journals are beautiful spiral bound notebooks that will save you time and money. You won't have to print and keep up with your child's notebook pages, buy and maintain page protectors, or purchase and compile binders...everything that makes notebooking time-consuming and labor intensive for mom. Also, your child will adore having their own notebooking journal.

Each of the notebooking journals include:
A daily schedule for those who like to have a plan or would like their children to complete the book on their own
Templates for written narrations, the notebooking activities and experiments
Review Questions
Scripture Copywork, with both print and cursive practice
Reading lists and additional activities, projects, experiments for each lesson
An appendix with beautiful, full-color, lapbook-style Miniature Books
Field Trip Sheets to keep a record field trips
A Final Review with fifty questions the students can answer either orally or in writing to show off all they remember and know at the end of the course.
See the sample pages here:

Botany: https://apologia.securesites.net/store/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=1&products_id=128

and

Astronomy: https://apologia.securesites.net/store/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=1&products_id=127

Jeannie is giving away four Astronomy Notebooking Journals and four Botany Notebooking Journals to bloggers who post about this on their site. Visit her blog to learn more about this contest: www.jeanniesjournal.com