Dear Blog Friends,

A member of our local home school support network recommended the Star Fall website for awesome on-line learning activities as well as free printables. I tried it with my children today, and they love it. It's one of the best web sites I've found. The focus is phonics and early reading, but there are also holiday and calendar activities to enjoy. I plan to use this website weekly in my planned curriculum.

The link just below looks a little funny, but if you click on it, you can go directly to the Star Fall site.



alt="Starfall Learn to Read"
src="http://www.starfall.com/ni/imglinks/seasonal185x40a.gif">


Happy Home Schooling,
Mrs. Sherry

Dear Blog Friends,

We are celebrating 100 Days of Home School in our house this week, and I'll bet your hundredth day is coming up, too! If you haven't been tracking your days, go back and count. Young children, especially, love "big" numbers, and will enjoy a special day dedicated to the big 1-0-0!

Here are some ideas to try:

1. Create a "100 Days Journal." Allow students to decorate journal covers with 100 stickers. I've typed the following headings on paper, and my kids are illustrating and writing on each page:
A. "If I had $100, I would buy..." (They also glued a picture of a $100 bill on their page; see www.moneyinstructor.com for money templates; it's free to register for limited user rights.)
B. "I wish I had 100..."
C. "I'm glad I do NOT have 100..."
D. If you want more suggestions for writing prompts, visit www.abcteach.com.

2. Include math pages about the number 100 in their journals.
A. You can find great grids to help kids practice counting (and skip counting) to 100 at www.enchantedlearning.com (paid membership required) or at Donna Young's Home School (link to the right). Color the grids to show patterns used for skip counting.
B. Your kids would also LOVE to count 100 pieces of candy! Find fun sorting and graphing pages for the 100th day of school at www.abcteach.com.
C. Cut a piece of yarn that is 100 inches long to glue onto a journal page.
D. Count out 100 pennies and trade them in for a $1.00 bill at the bank.

3. Set up ten bowls, each with a snacking item (pretzels, nuts, cereals, M&M's, etc.). Give each child a baggie, and let him count out ten snacks from each of the ten bowls to make a 100th Day snack. This is a great way to show that ten sets of ten equal 100!

4. Call a local nursing home, and ask if you can visit a resident who is 100 years old. Honor him or her with a balloon bouquet and homemade cards. Pray with the resident, thanking God for the blessing of life. Offer to read the Bible aloud to the resident or do another act of service to bless his day!

5. Do 100 exercises! Do 10 sets of 10 different exercises for a great work out! You'll need to burn the calories you consumed from all those fun snacks!

There are tons of ideas you can find if you search the web, but these are my favorites. Have a great 100th Day!

Happy Home Schooling,
Mrs. Sherry

Dear Blog Friends,

Here are some fun ideas you might enjoy using. Many of these are easily adaptable for younger or older students. Have fun!

1. Go to www.aimsedu.org. Click on, in this order, "free resources," "puzzle corner," then "dissection puzzles." In the dissection puzzles, you will find a puzzle called "The Heart Breaking Puzzle." It's a challenging geometric activity that's great for developing logic and creative thinking skills in math.

2. For a printable Valentine's Day version of the classic "Battleship" game, buy some candy hearts, and visit www.freebehaviorcharts.com. Scroll down until you find the Valentine Battleship section. Click there for the printable game board and directions. This game helps students learn to use graphing coordinates.

3. Practice sorting, counting, graphing and making tally marks using candy hearts. Find a bar graph to use at www.tooter4kids.com. Click on the letter "V" and look for the Valentine's Day options. You can find a tally mark worksheet by clicking on the link for "Donna Young's Home School" to the right and clicking on "math" on the menu on the left side of that screen.

4. For a variety of Valentine's Day themed worksheets and other activity ideas, your best bet is to click on the DLTK or School Bell links to the right of the screen.

If you would like to add your own ideas or favorite sites, I'd love for you to leave a comment on this post.

Happy Home Schooling!
Mrs. Sherry

Dear Blog Friends,

Don't you think everyday should be a holiday?

For the "official" Punxsutawnie Phil Groundhog forecast, go to www.groundhog.org. You'll find fun photos and a cute poem that forecasts an early spring. Hurray! You'll also find out everything you wanted know, and more, about this under-the-radar holiday.

Click on the Schoolbell or DLTK links to the right for more Groundhog's Day activities.

Happy Home Schooling!
Mrs. Sherry

Dear Blog Friends,

Here's a simplified version of great idea I found last year at www.thefamilycorner.com. The idea was originally in a book called The Kids' Party Cookbook.

These cookie pops are so easy and fun to do with your kids. They also make cute, inexpensive gifts for neighbors, pastors or anyone with whom you want to share your love this year. You could easily adapt this idea for any holiday.

Valentine Cookie Pops

Ingredients:
20 vanilla wafers
1/2 cup peanut butter or frosting
1 6-oz. bag white chocolate chips or white almond bark
colored sprinkles
red food coloring

You will also need:
craft sticks or lollipop sticks
wax paper

Instructions:
Spread peanut butter or icing on the flat side of the cookies. Place a craft or lollipop stick in between 2 cookies to make a "sandwich."

Melt candy chips or almond bark in a fondue pot or in the microwave for 1 minute, then in 20 second increments until smooth. If desired, use red food coloring to make the white chocolate pink or red. Dip cookie pops into the melted chocolate, covering completely. Place on wax paper. Roll in sprinkles, or decorate with sprinkles. Allow to cool on counter top or in the refrigerator.

If you want a more involved project, you could also use decorator gel or frosting to draw on hearts or write messages. The familycorner site also suggested using gummy bears to decorate.

To give as gifts, I'd wrap cellophane around the pops and tie them off with festive red and pink curling ribbons.

Have fun!

Happy Home Schooling,
Mrs. Sherry