How are your workboxes or workfiles going this year? I know not everyone who reads Preschoolers and Peace is using this method of organization, but some are and I thought I'd toss out some little gems I've recently found online. Get ready to print!
♥ Ed Emberley has created some of our most favorite drawing books ever, and he has generously posted some lovely activities for children on his site. Fun seasonal projects here, and all of them fit in a workfile.
♥ Worksheet Works provides free customizable worksheets on a variety of topics, from math to language to geography to mazes.
♥ The Amazing Incredible Handwriting Worksheet Maker- just what the site claims to be!
♥ The Crayola site has some great coloring sheets to print out and some neat little cut and color projects, too.
♥ Education.com also has worksheets and coloring pages, and they're organized by grade level.
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Hey Kendra-
I wanted to email and thank you for your blogging, and all the encouragement and the practical advice you share. I've been meaning to email for quite some time, but part of July, all of August and even some of September was the nasty morning sickness. I felt better in September and did some serious catching up.
I read through your postings about Circle Time and it sounds like a great way way to add in some things we’ve not been doing (like singing hymns, reading the Bible together, and praying. . . yikes! the very basics!) and be a little more formal about a few things we’ve been enjoying (Five In A Row, Story of the World).
One very nice and unexpected thing that happened as I was sorting through materials and planning the school year was that I realized how much I truly love teaching my children! As I was ordering books that I’d read with my older children, to read with my younger child, and the materials I will be using with my older children, I found myself in tears remembering all the happy memories and anticipating making new ones! :)
I intended to email last week with our Circle Time order. . . I figure I need to keep it to about an hour. Our children are 7, nearly 5, and 2, so most of this will go well (I hope!)
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- Calendar
- Weather
- Pledges (American flag pledge, Alaska flag song, Christian flag pledge)-- one per day
- Silly Song of the Day-- one child picks each day
- Hymn of the Week (going sequentially through our church's hymnal)-- watch on youtube
- Prayer
- Bible reading from The Early Reader’s Bible-- one story per day
- Letter of the Week, following the Handwriting Without Tears Letters and Numbers For Me order, using games such as Hide and Seek with letter puppets, Letter Fishing, Memory, and Alphabet Go Fish; Steck-Vaughn Phonics Readers Alphabet Set, Alphabet Art, and I Know the Alphabet book
- Five In A Row Story of the Week
- Story of the World Story of the Week
I'm in serious love with these terrific activity/recipe/craft books from Blue Yonder Ranch. They're a perfect addition to Circle Time plans, and they are delightful to look at and explore together.
As I was walking out to get the mail last week, I noticed huge toadstools growing under the redwoods by the pond. I thought it would be so homeschooly of me to take my kids out there to see them, but I really don't know a thing about mushrooms so wasn't sure what I'd tell the kids, other than the obligatory "Don't eat them!" speech.
Lo and behold Blue Yonder Ranch's Autumn I Book of Days has a lovely spread about mushrooms and what to do with them; I couldn't believe what perfect timing this was!
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Right before we went on vacation, I bought a set of these Fisher Price Stack and Roll Cups, thinking they'd be a nice way to entertain our two little guys while in the rental house. They didn't disappoint, and in fact they even gained the attention of everyone older than the two littlest.
The cups nest into one another when inverted, click and stack together when right side up, can be rearranged, filled with little items, counted, and rolled. At such a reasonable price, they've been a winner here, and they get used every single day.
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