Free Printable Check Register

This simple register came in handy today when my son was learning how to fill out a checkbook register for a Rod & Staff eighth grade math lesson.

South America Geography Quiz

I found this twelve question online quiz, a nice supplement to Rod & Staff's Understanding Latin America, grade six. Click here.

Homeschool Helps: Discovery School Ancient Egypt DVD

We checked out a Discovery School Egypt DVD(grades 3-5) at the library last week. My son is in sixth, but it was a great review of what he learned in fourth grade social studies. I pretty sure that was the grade which covered ancient Egypt in Rod & Staff. It's part animation and part actual footage of Egypt. If you are looking for a children's video which shows the Nile flood plains and explains irrigation, this is it.

About this Product

"Includes: Ancient Egypt: Land of Abundance: Learn about the geography of the Nile, and see the development of irrigation and agriculture in Egypt through the writings of Ahtet, a young Egyptian boy. We'll see Papyrus harvested and made into paper, and hear stories about the origin of some hieroglyphs. Beautiful Nile wildlife images will inspire Ahtet to recount the timeless story of Isis and Osiris, and Ancient Egypt: Constructing Civilization: Experience the grand pyramids at Giza through the writings of Ahtet, a young Egyptian boy. We learn about Egypt's first Pharaohs and Imhotep, the visionary architect of the Great Pyramids. Ahtet goes on to recount the many ways in which Egyptians are master builders, and shows us how huge obelisks are created, transported, and raised. " More here.

Lesson plans and classroom tools for Discovery School DVDs here.

Geography and Map Skills with Picture Flashcards

I purchased some National Geographic world picture flashcards years ago for around a dollar at a closeout sale. I'm just now using them, and they have come in handy this year for our social studies - Rod & Staff's Understanding Latin America. I've grouped all the South American cards together, and on Monday my son will read each card and locate the places on the map at left.

The cards show a picture of the location on one side, and history and statistics on the other. If you can find these, they are well worth the cost.

I haven't tried this service yet, but it's a free Geography flashcard online program. Create your own, or view existing sets.

Understanding Latin America/Zebu Cattle

 Rod & Staff student reference printables for Chapter 3 Review referencing the reason for the use of Brahmin(Zebu) cattle in the Pacific lowlands, and their origin.

Horses, cattle, sheep and swine: Origin, history, improvement, description., 1888.

Tropical agriculture, 1916
A bit less wordy.

Picture from here, Cyclopedia of farm animals, 1911.


Printing instructions: Go to link, right click on picture, save(or view), and print.  It's very small at "view"; I had to increase size to 150% at "print preview".

Free South America Children's Reader

I found this South America geography reader at Google books, and we have been reading it aloud in the evenings. It's general enough to still be relevant even though it is a vintage reader. It's also complementing our Rod & Staff Social Studies book, Understanding Latin America. We were reading about Cacao tonight which just happens to be in tomorrow's lesson about the lowlands. Nice pictures and maps throughout as well.

I especially liked the way they touched upon the differences of customs between the United States and Latin America with a wry sense of humor, pointing out that each of us could learn from each other. Subtle character lessons and the importance of learning about the world around us are transmitted which is always a nice bonus in a children's textbook.

South America: a geography reader
"Land and peoples" series
Author Isaiah Bowman
Publisher Rand, McNally & Company, 1915
Length 354 pages
Overview here.

Free and in public domain. We downloaded this book to a laptop for relaxed sofa reading, much more comfortable than sitting at the computer.

Homeschool Writing Skills e-Curricula and Freebies

Free e-curriculum offered at CurrClick, "Your one-stop shop for electronic lapbooks, affordable curriculum, and homeschooling resources. Unit study, novel study, bargin home study online downloads for home education!"

Also at CurrClick, although not free, it looked interesting. We might try this: Ignite Your Writing: "Multi-level writing curriculum offers 24 lessons covering 6 areas of writing skills needed for any kind of writing. Each lesson has 3 levels: Startup, Intermediate, and Advanced. Choose the level based on the student’s writing ability rather than age or grade." On sale for $10.00. See the preview at the link. I liked what I saw, and it seems to complement what we are covering in Rod & Staff's English(sixth grade).


Free ebook over at Google books for developing writing skills: Lessons in English 1 and    Lessons in English 2 by Fred Newton Scott and Gordon Augustus Southworth.

Homeschool Freebie: Fish Migration

My son was required to write a short essay about fish migration for his Rod & Staff reading lesson today. Here are a few resources that I found for his assignment today. All are free to print, read online, and download.

The Natural History of Animals: Of Migration of Fishes Pages 124-125

The Origin of the Seasons Considered from a Geological Point of View: Migration of Fish in European Waters. pages 274-275.

St. Nicholas Magazine, Nature and Science for Young Folks, The Winner.pages 650-651.

The World Book: Salmon pages 5173-5174

How Salmon Live and Die, short paragraph.

Classics Old and New: Salmon by Rudyard Kipling
pages 53-56.

The New Century Third Reader (easy and quick summary): SalmonPages 47-50.

Story Hour Readings, Book 8 (advanced reading): The Story of Salmon by David Starr Jordon pages 13-21. Fifth grade version, fourth grade version.

Photo and blurb about a flying salmon.

Photo of flying salmon.

Homeschool Freebie: Everyday Birds, Elementary Studies

 I thought I'd share this free online children's book about birds:

Everyday Birds: Elementary Studies by Bradford Torrey, Houghton, Mifflin and Co., 1901

We used a section in this book for a short informational about Hummingbirds for Rod & Staff (6) . We needed a little background information before writing a short essay. It's free and in public domain. You can download the entire book, or just save individual pages(left click on image of page) for viewing or printing.

You must view book in HTML(bottom of main page) in order to save and print individual pages. I've linked to the book in HTML, so you shouldn't have to change it.

History and Geography Freebies: Mexico

We are studying contemporary Latin America this year for social studies using Rod & Staff's Understanding Latin America(sixth grade). The first unit covers Mexico. Here are a few free printables referencing Mexico. These resources are very old, vintage textbooks from public domain; however, they are still relevant for the study of the history, cultural influences, and geography of Mexico. All are in public domain, and are free to print or download.

Our American Neighbors by Fanny E. Coe: Mexico

An Easy Introduction to the Study of Geography: Texas and Mexico

The Fifth Reader: Mexico as First Seen by the Spaniards

The World and Its People: A Bird's-Eye View of Mexico

Old World Background to American History: Spanish Conquests in America

Story Hour Readings: Storming the Temple of Mexico

School Reading by Grades: Sixth Year, How Cortez Entered the City of Mexico.

The Guyot Geographical Reader and Primer: The Warm Countries of the South.

I didn't add this one to our reading because it was a little much for my eleven year old, but I couldn't help chuckling at this portrayal from A Child's History of Spain(1894):

"In these temples, which were called Teocallis, prisoners of war were sacrificed to the Mexican gods, and their flesh eaten by the chiefs and priests. The victim was led to the top of the Teocalli, where he could be seen from afar, was laid on a convex slab of stone, and held there by five priests, while a sixth cut open his breast with a sharp knife of itxli, and tore out his quivering heart. There were hundreds of such Teocallis in the cities of Mexico, and thousands of such victims sacrificed in them every year.

Apart from this savage custom, the Aztecs were a civilized people..." Never mind the dramatic heart pounding description in the previous paragraph, they were okay chaps because they had proper towns and such. lol

Manuel in Mexico

Roy and Ray in Mexico

New Geographies: Countries South of the United States

Map Studies of Mexico

Map 


Heroism of Boyhood: Heroic Devotion of Two Mexican Youth


Viva La Mexico!

Elementary School Beginning Book Report Helps Using Free Online Resources

My ten year old son is developing writing skills. Today his lesson in Climbing to Good English by Schoolaid(an inexpensive Amish/Conservative Mennonite publisher) required him to choose a topic, find information, and follow the steps to writing notes. We use Rod & Staff for our primary English lessons, but Climbing to Good English rounds out his English curriculum with added writing practice and review.

We don't have encyclopedias at home because they clutter up the place, and it is just as easy to find information online. Today we used our online homeschooling library and found two short stories about our topic which were perfect! I used the search engine at my Google Books library link, and browsed the science topic area at my online library blog, Happy Hearts Homeschooling Library. Ds chose polar bears for his topic with two simple questions on which to take notes: what do they look like and what do they eat. We only used one text, but I'll pass on the other in case anyone needs it.

Here are the two vintage texts:

Appleton's The Third Grade Reader, 1910: The White Bear(used for today's lesson). Not on grade level, but concise enough to learn the point of the lesson.

Primary Education, 1914, The Silver King of the New York Zoo.

How to print pages: right click on image of the page, view image, print preview, adjust to desired size and print. Links have been defaulted by me to HTML for printing and saving. Pages will not save or print in standard mode. The page mode change is to the right on the sidebar at links.