Leadership Education Academy

http://leadershipeducationacademy.com/

This is an online source of LEMI scholar project classes.  They also do other classes.  We tried a spring term class last year (2012) and enjoyed it.  Weekly 90 minute online discussions through Elluminate software: video conferencing, instant messaging, "board" for teacher notes and visuals.  He got rigorous reading assignments, discussion based on literary topics and moral decision making, writing assignment and simulation.  The live discussion was good for making friends. Not terribly cheap, but we didn't feel cheated: $70 for a six weeks.  Their fall and winter classes are longer and therefore more expensive.

Education Station Rotation

At Park Day I was mentioning our Education Stations that we have been using and my kids have really enjoyed. I got the idea from our Sunday Stations that we would use on Sundays when we were waiting for 11:30 church to start. I set up 5 stations that the boys spend 15 minutes at each station. I do set a timer as I need the regular reminder. We always have a reading station,(usually McGuffy Readers and then other reading in the time we have left over) writing station (I give them a topic to write about or we write letters to family or Missionaries) and Math (usually Khan Academy)station. Then the other 2 stations change based on what we are learning. One of them is usually a music/ art station (they are learning to read music using hand bells or Artist Trading Cards) and the other can be anything from building marble runs, to learning about Volcanos, to reviewing with Brain Quest Cards.
I am always looking at the many resources I have and wishing I could incorporate more of them in our daily learning. Our Education Stations have helped bring peace an order to our learning as there is no fighting over Who's turn it is at the computer or everyone wanting my time at lunch or dinner time to focus on their reading assignment.
I am thankful for inspiration that makes my life and my home happier!

Our Best Books

Here are a few of our favorite Audio books that we have enjoyed in the last month. They can all be found at DBRL.  


-The Lost Prince and  The Runaway King- both by Jennifer Nielson are the first 2 books in the Ascendance Trilogy. Join Sage, as he is coached with a few other orphans on pretending to be the Prince and Future King of Carthia.
-The Cay by Theodore Taylor is about Phillip who is lost at sea with a 70 year old Jamaican man named Timothy. They float to a small deserted island and learn to survive even through a hurricane.

Black Star-Bright Dawn  by Scott O'Dell about an Alaskan girl named Bright Dawn who competes in the Iditarod Dog Race and her experience as she endures to finish the race.
 The Story of Classical Music- Darren Henley. It introduces the many changes that have occured in classical music and introduces many of the famous and not so famous composers and some of their best known works.

Adventures in Odyssey. A Radio show put out by Focus on the Family. The stories teach Biblical messages and stories through modern experiences. There are about 20 different collections and my kids regularly check out 2-3 every time we visit the library.

The Magic Tree House Collection by Mary Pope Osborne- Siblings Jack and Annie  travel to meet historic figures and witness memorable moments in history. They are very short books and are great for listening to at bedtime.

Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle Books by Betty MacDonald. Mrs. Piggle Wiggle is the friendly neighborhood Grandmother who helps to cure children of their character weaknesses such as being lazy, or a cry baby or a forgetter. These stories always make us laugh and help us recognize the areas where we could use a a visit from Mrs. Piggle Wiggle.

These are some of our favorites that we enjoy and listen to again and again!    


We hope you will enjoy them too!

Park Day Thursday

We will be discussing on principle from the book Simplify by Carolyn J. Rasmus. The book can be found on line for pretty inexpensive. The reading are only a few pages and we will spend one week introducing the Principle and then report the next week on how we implemented the principle in our daily lives in our busy homes.
Join us on Thursdays at 1:00 for some fresh air and breath life back into your busy schedule.
Here are the principles for Simplify-
Stillness
Integrity
Mercy
Prune
Let go
Impossible
Fortify
You

2013 Book Club List

2013 Book Club- We have not been very consistent with our Book Club but here is the list of books  we are reading this year!
We plan to meet on the fourth Sat of each month except Nov/Dec when we meet the first Sat in Dec.
Feb- Emma Jane Austen
Mar- The Invisible Heart- Russ Roberts
April- Till we had faces- C.S. Lewis -We plan to meet May 18th to discuss
May- Farmer Boy- Laura Ingalls Wilder
Jun- To Kill a Mockingbird-Harper Lee
Aug- Real Benjamin Franklin- Andrew M. Allison
Sept- The Princess Academy- Shannon Hale
Oct- Much ado About Nothing-Shakespeare
Nov/ Dec The Life of Our Lord-  Charles Dickens

Welcome!

Welcome to our Home School Resources Sharing blog!  In our lovely homeschooling community and in this age of technology and information, there are so many ideas, resources, and experiences out there, it's hard to keep track of them all.  I hope this blog can help us, as group, share and remember these great finds.

Two boys scouts have lived the scout slogan, "Do a good turn daily!" and started this blog.  I hope to hear from them again soon as they share their own ideas.  Please see their welcome message.  Their posts will be from "Minor" and any minor in our group is welcome to post under this user/profile to share book reviews or what-have-you.  Just email me and I'll send you instructions.

If you would like to contribute to our soon-to-be wealth of information, I would be happy to invite you as an author on our blog.

I hope we can use Blogger's labeling system to organize our posts and search for what we need.  Here are some categories I've brainstormed so far: Local, Online, at Library, Member Owned, Free, Book, Curriculum, Activity, Video, Science, Math, History, Biography, Penmanship, Spelling, Composition, Art, Review, Reading, Phonics, Questions, Chores, Scouts, Organization, Routines, Food.  Please add more as you post resources and use as many as are applicable to what you are sharing. Blogger limits us to 20 labels per post.

Suzanne

KISS Grammar

http://home.pct.edu/~evavra/KISS.htm

The website won't wow you, but the explanations of everything grammar are straight forward, the exercises come from classic children's literature, and it's free!  The lessons build on one another and the author frequently reminds you that you are expected to make mistakes and we're slowly getting better as we keep practicing the old while we learn the new.

Periodic Table of Videos

http://periodicvideos.com/

Put together by the University of Nottingham, we've enjoyed this Periodic Table of Videos.  They are a combination of chemistry discussion that's over our heads by this wild-haired professor guy and experiments done by students that are very real science: sometimes they work and sometimes they don't.  Ask my kids what happens to a sodium car (a car made of sodium) in the rain!

This blog was created to let people share new ideas, new (or not) educational programs, and books people have read. I hope you use it and like it.

Courtesy of two scouts working on their communications merit badge.