Kindle Fire for Homeschool/Early Learning

I finally decided to try the Kindle Fire android after our laptop broke. I liked it so much for reading, browsing the web, and keeping up with social media that I bought two. My husband uses one for audiobooks and movies. The other was for me, but I quickly discovered many educational apps that were free or very low cost for homeschool. I saw many Amazon apps for older children, but I am primarily using the first grade apps for my daughter.

I found apps for read-along books, math, science, spelling, phonics, and reading. A few of my daughter's favorites:

How to Count Coins (For Kids Ages 3-10)
Starfall Learn To Read
Monkey Word School Adventure
Monkey Math School Sunshine
Abby Sight Words Games
Flash Cards vol 1: Kids Learn to Read - Learning Reading      Adventure
Reading Rainbow (Kindle Tablet Edition)
Peter Pig's Money Counter
MathOpen Cool Math Kids Game.
Preschool to 5th Grade Kids Learning Games : Preschool,      Kindergarten and 1st Grade
Math Bugaboo
Montessori Phonics Long vowels, Blends and Digraphs for      Kindergarten Kids
Butterfly Math
Bubble Words
Phonics and Reading With McGuffey
First Grade Learning Games (Full Version)
First Grade Kids Word Play - Word Find, Sight Word Memory,      Phonics & Spelling Games
Fox In Socks - Dr. Seuss
Sight Words Sentence Builder
iStoryBooks
Let's Do the Math
Body Organs 4 Kids
My First Money Tablet
Math BINGO
Pink Pig (Miss Rhonda's Readers Set ONE)

I also got a subscription to the FreeTime Unlimited app on Kindle Fire which is wonderful! It's a children's program with video, read-along books, and learning apps protected with a password so that the child does not wander off the FreeTime page. A time limit can also be programmed. My daughter's reading has greatly improved with the read-along books. We worked on a phonics and a learning-to-read program that worked for my son many year ago, but she is learning much more easily with computer based programs. We've ordered so many wonderful read along books, easy readers, and mom- read books since having this Kindle. I never have to ask her to do school work; she does it willingly, and throughout the day and evening.

Now my teenage son wants one. I'll wait until Christmas and pick out the larger Kindle with 4G for him. Academic school books and Classic books are free or low priced via the Kindle. If it breaks, the replacement is free with the one year warranty, and an optional two year extension for $49.99.

We got this Kindle Fire(below) for $159.00 with a subscription to FreeTime via Amazon Prime for $2.99 monthly. I just noticed this sale for Father's Day: $20 off Kindle Fire HD, Kindle Fire HD 8.9", or Kindle Fire HD 8.9" 4G. Enter DADSFIRE at checkout.  Expires 6/8/13.

Preschool/ Kindergarten Counting Easter Eggs Game

This is an interactive YouTube video.

Television: Content Matters, No Kidding

It seems morally wrong and abusive to expose preschool children to violence for the sake of a study. This is nothing but common sense; however, it puts the "science" behind it, and we value and put great emphasis on the social sciences in our society :

When preschoolers watch educational programs instead of violent TV shows, they tend to be more compassionate and less aggressive, according to a study published Monday in the journal Pediatrics. 

The study

About 600 families were recruited and assigned to one of two groups. Parents in the first group were encouraged to substitute violent shows with educational and pro-social ones - shows that stressed compassion and cooperation. 

Families were given monthly TV guides listing educational programming for their area: shows such as "Dora the Explorer," "Super WHY," "Sesame Street" and "It's a Big, Big World." Parents were also encouraged to watch TV with their kids.

The children went from watching a half-hour of violent programming a day to 23 minutes. Parents then increased educational viewing from about 30 to 43 minutes a day. 

Families in the second group did not change their viewing habits. 

"This is the first study to try to modify the viewing habits of preschool kids," says Dr. Vic Strasburger, spokesperson for the American Academy of Pediatrics. "That's one of the significances of this study."

After a year, researchers found that children watching less violent and more child-appropriate shows scored better on tests that measured cooperation, a willingness to share or compromise. They also had fewer incidents of aggressive behavior such as yelling and hitting.

"Although television is frequently implicated as a cause of many problems in children, our research indicates that it may also be part of the solution," the study notes.

Read more here.

Free All-in-one Homeschool Curriculum for All Grades

Per Easy Peasy — All in One Homeschool:

What this is…

This is my children’s school. It covers reading, writing, grammar, spelling, vocabulary, math, history/social studies/geography, science, Bible, computer, music, art, PE/health, and logic. It uses only free materials found on the internet.

I have finished preschool (getting ready 1), kindergarten (getting ready 2), first, second, fourth, fifth, sixth, seventh and eighth. Third grade is in progress with math finished. Grade levels include all of the English, math, computer and logic. I have also finished two years of all of the other subjects. These are called “program years.” Year 4′s theme is modern history, physics and chemistry. Year 1′s theme is ancient history and biology. I am currently putting up Year 2 which has early American history and zoology for the theme. Grade levels and courses include 180 days of homeschool lessons and assignments.

When choosing a level, look at the “reading” assignments to decide. Then you only have to choose which program year to study.

Your child just goes to Day 1 on his or her level (found in the sidebar) and starts clicking through the assignments! That’s all! Take a look at the “about” and “how to” pages for more info.

And yes, it’s all free. You’ll need paper, pencil, etc. and some minor supplies if you choose to do the experiments and art projects, but all of the reading materials, etc. are all free and online.

My hope is to enable families to continue homeschooling and to help those trying to homeschool overseas.

Click here.

Toy Subscription Services

Really? Toy sets for rent! Here is a list of toy subscription rental places that sends kits that revolve around themes for children up to age seven. I wish I had known about this. This service would be great for preschool at home. Anything you like you can pay for and keep, otherwise you sent it back and get a new set delivered to your home. The subscription prices are competitive, and are similar to the cost of a Netflix subscription or basic cable service - not a bad deal for learning.

Library Finds: International Fairy Tale and Folktale Picture Books

Random fairy tale and folktale books that we enjoyed this week. All are from different countries which is great for extending learning to geography. Preschool - grade two.

Very short and a bit silly: Tikki Tikki Tembo, a Chinese tale. The boy's purposely ridiculous long name will get a giggle with younger children, especially while the parent struggles to pronounce it!

A classic Irish tale, beautifully illustrated and medium length for older "littles": The Children of Lir

Humorous retelling for young children: The Monkey and the Crocodile: A Jataka Tale India by Paul Galdone

A tale from Spain(Moorish Iberia):Miller, the Boy and the Donkey, Based on the La Fontaine fable by Brian Wildsmith

Exciting third person, lyrical retelling of the final, "and most difficult, labor of Hercules, known as Heracles in Greek mythology, in which he must go to Underworld and bring back the three-headed dog, Cerberus". Beautifully illustrated and just short enough to catch the interest of small children. Hercules


The Magic Grove: A Persian Folktale

Lusciously illustrated Persian(modern day Iran) tale, surprisingly Christian in tone, only because I'm ignorant of Persian values and morals(I'm sure). The characters of this lovely tale of love and compassion continue to choose others before themselves despite desperate hardships. They are rewarded in the end for their kindness to some fantastic birds(of grace?) whose lives are spared.

The age old classic Greek myth, King Midas and the Golden Touch











Source of world map.

Zero Cost Preschool Math

Source: montessorionabudget.blogspot.com via Sarah on Pinterest

My daughter is too old for this, but the simplicity of this idea caught my eye. I think those are toilet paper rolls holding the number places. The sticks are nice for little hands to hold, and not likely to be a choking hazard like small round counters. Fun for children to collect and break as well.

Library Finds: Picture Books

Two favorites this week for young children:

Water Hole Waiting

Ages 4-8. The Kurtzes, brother and sister, describe a dawn-to-dusk day at a water hole on an African savannah, citing the activities of the many animals that inhabit the ecosystem. At dawn, as a troop of vervet monkeys forages for food, a youngster attempting to take a drink is stopped by Mama, who notices a herd of hippopotami arriving for a swim. At midday the young monkey tries again, only to be deterred by zebras and a lumbering crocodile. Later, a lion and a giraffe come for drinks, and a family of elephants rumbles down for a splash. Only after dark, when the larger animals have gone, does Mama deem it safe for her baby to quench his thirst. Vivid artwork complements the elegant text, often extending it with additional details: the close-up views of thundering zebra hooves and snapping crocodile jaws are particularly impressive. The story will work well on several levels: young listeners will understand the frustration in having to wait for a cool drink; older children will appreciate the diversity of savannah wildlife.
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Box Turtle at Long Pond

PreSchool-Grade 2-- A day in the life of a box turtle is rendered carefully in words and lifelike illustrations with a text that respects its subject, avoids any anthropomorphism, and is simple enough for very young listeners. It records the turtle's actions as, slowly but with perseverance, he drinks, searches for food, evades danger, and sleeps. The outstanding gouache paintings in borderless, horizontal two-page spreads are so realistic that one almost reaches out to feel the turtle's textured shell. Although at times the turtle seems to be camouflaged, blending into his surroundings, he stands out clearly once located. The animals he encounters are equally well illustrated--readers will almost hold their breath so as not to frighten the raccoon and chipmunk. The book's design is excellent; even the well-chosen type, superimposed on the illustrations so that there is no visual break from the scenes, is clear and easily read. This is superior nature study for young readers and listeners.
--Louise L. Sherman, Anna C. Scott School, Leonia, NJ
Copyright 1989 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Easy Homeschool Learning for the Preschool/Kindergarten Crowd: Snails, Chicks, and Ladybugs

Lately, I've been greeted every morning with requests for snail related learning materials(with a sprinkling of lady bugs and chicks). I think someone is ready for spring!

The internet(Google image search) had a lot of good free printables. I watercolored the one with the hen and chicks; my daughter(age five) did the others, and cut them out herself(mostly). She decided they needed glitter as well.

The library had some early learning books on snails, including what happens to bugs and snails in winter. Click on picture to enlarge and see titles.






An on-hand basket of shells(collected and dollar store), and a shell identification book from my adolescence, has filled my daughter's day with many hours of fun. She has named the snail shells and made a house for them. They even had a picnic with a watercolored free printable of lettuce which I shrunk to wallet size with Picasa.

Snails mentioned in the Bible:

"As a snail which melteth, let every one of them pass away." ~ Psalm 58:8

The Snails of all species in the Holy Land are in the habit, not of hybernating in winter, as they do in our colder climate, but of shutting themselves into their shells, and remaining dormant during the dry season. Few Snails can remain long in an active state without moisture. In order to prevent the evaporation of the moisture of the body, all those molluscs which have a thin or semi-transparent shell secrete themselves in dry weather under stones, like the shell-less snails or slugs, or else among moss and under leaves... The chinks and crevices of the limestone rocks are especially favourite hiding-places for many species, while those of the deserts, for instance, where they can find no such screen from the sun's rays, are provided with solid, colourless, and lustreless shells of enormous thickness, the calcareous substance of which prevents evaporation as they hang with their mouths glued on to the desert shrubs.

But, notwithstanding the care they take to secrete themselves, the heat often does dry them up, either by a long-continued drought, or by the sun's rays penetrating to their holes. Thus we find in all parts of the Holy Land myriads of snail-shells in fissures, still adhering by the calcareous exudation round their orifice to the surface of the rock, but the animal of which is utterly shrivelled and wasted—'' melted away,' according to the expression of the Psalmist. It is very probable that this circumstance has supplied the metaphor for the passing away of the wicked in the passage quoted above. ~ The Natural History of the Bible(free and in public domain)

Easy and fun delight driven learning! And I didn't have to spend a dime.

A few resources we used:

Google: snail coloring pages, mazes, and worksheets; and look here.

Snail identification and external anatomy page here.

Vintage images to color here.

Snails(symbol of the Immaculate Conception)in Christian art. It was thought that snails reproduced asexually.

Saints and Snails: Saint Lydia
A certain woman named Lydia, a seller of purple, of the city of Thyatira, one who worshiped God, heard us; whose heart the Lord opened to listen to the things which were spoken by Paul. When she and her household were baptized, she begged us, saying, "If you have judged me to be faithful to the Lord, come into my house, and stay." So she persuaded us.
—Acts 16:14-15 World English Bible

and Saint Jerome

Printable Vintage Preschool Cut and Paste

I got weary of looking for free printable young children's cut and paste activities for my daughter(the cut and paste queen), so I used ClipartEtc for free images to cut into pieces. Today we did E is for Elephant, and she reassembled and pasted together a few elephants. One of them has got his back legs pasted in the front(giggle). She seemed to enjoy this, so I'll probably pick another animal tomorrow. The elephant on the left was the easiest to cut apart.

Where possible, I cut away the tail, legs, ears, and head for re-assembly onto the torso. Afterwards, we had a chat about elephants and practiced writing the letter "E". ClipartEtc has an Asian working elephant pushing a log - great for social studies and a geography lesson. Free printable maps here.

Printing tip: Of the three download sizes offered, the largest one seems to do best for this activity. It comes out nice and sharp on a full page printout.

Printable Early Math Cut and Paste Shapes/Tangrams

We worked on a few of these this morning: circles, triangles, rectangles, pentagons, hexagons, and octagons. These are fairly easy tangrams, suitable for preschool-early K.

Preschool: Treat Your Cat Gently - Cut-out and Poem

I Love Little Kitty
I love little Kitty,
Her coat is so warm,
And if I don't hurt her,
She'll do me no harm.

So I'll not pull her tail,
Nor drive her away,
But Kitty and I
Very gently will play.

She shall sit by my side,
And I'll give her some food;
And she'll love me because
I am gentle and good.

I'll pat pretty Kitty,
And then she will purr;
And thus show her thanks
For my kindness to her;
But I'll not pinch her ears,
Nor tread on her paw,
Lest I should provoke her
To use her sharp claw.
I never will vex her,
Nor make her displeased -
For Kitty *doesn't like
To be worried or teased.
- Anon

See here for printable version.

*There's a grammatical error at the end of the printable version at the above link. It should read, "For Kitty doesn't like to be teased.",  or maybe, " For kitties don't like to be teased.". 

Update: I found the original which is actually by Jane Taylor(not Anon)  in public domain, and it has the proper grammar at the end. See Poems by grades(1-4), 1907. To print this page, simply right click on the image of the page at the link, and print or save. If you don't right click on the image of the page, the entire screen will print.

You could also just copy and paste the one here on my post. It's in public domain.

Check here for cute vintage cat clip art. We've used this resource to cut and paste pictures on worksheets, stories, poems, etc. It's free for non-commercial purposes.

DIY Young Children's Pallet Bookshelf

 See picture: I used two of the pieces at left, and five of the pieces on the right( two for each shelf, and one on top to stabilize).

I've been collecting pallet pieces from Home Depot. These pieces were found free in the lumber area, discarded in the trash cans at the end of the aisle. With permission I've been taking these home for DIY projects. Yesterday I made a thin rustic bookcase for my young daughter's books. The thin shelves, which rested between the pallet pieces on the blocks, were the only things that needed attaching. The shelves were screwed down at both ends with a power drill and long dry wall screws. No sawing was needed; these came as they were.


The books shelf holds quite a few books. I was able to empty two very large baskets full of preschool/K books into this bookshelf. We've gained back a good chunk of living space, and it's easier to vacuum now. My daughter loves the ease of finding books and putting them back without the struggle of squeezing them into baskets.

Free Curriculum-based Instruction Online

Myrnie of I Wonder Woman directed me to Head of the Class, a curriculum-based instruction with videos, multimedia, applications, and worksheets for free. I tried the Kindergarten level samples and liked it. The programs are described as supplements to education, so it won't be an all inclusive learning resource. Currently they offer content for preschool - fourth grade with grades five through eight coming soon. There are no downloads, but there is a required free sign-up for a password.

"Head of the class Mission

To create and provide curriculum-based instruction on the Web which enhances and improves the way PreK-8 students learn.

To provide parents and teachers with the Web-based interactive tools and resources they need to accelerate learning and improve educational performance in the 21st century.

Curriculum-Based Instruction

Head of the Class provides curriculum-based instruction by grade level. We have aligned our instruction to the various state curriculums.

Within Head of the Class you will find thousands of pages of instruction, hundreds of videos, hundreds of multimedia presentations, thousands of worksheets, as well as application programs which target learner success.

Individualized Instruction

Head of the Class provides a curriculum which parents and teachers can customize to individual learner needs. If you want your learner to have more math or reading, you simply select the levels you desire.

Head of the Class provides built-in assessment tests, the results of which customize the learner's curriculum. In other words, Head of the Class will automatically adjust a learner's curriculum to maximize learning. "

Free Preschool Printables: Veggies and Fruit Traceables

The bunny was from a Google image search, and the veggies(fruit also) from this site. They were colored, cut, and pasted. The original printables were/are traceable with dotted lines.

Homeschool Freebie: Vintage Preschool Picture Book/Cut and Paste

Cut and paste, or just for reading, The Children's Object Picture Book, Published/Created: London; New York: F. Warne & Co., [188-?]. Free and in public domain from the U.S. Library of Congress. Fully downloadable or readable online as HTML pages.

Features a home in 19th century London, England.

Preschool Counting Freebies: One, Two, Buckle My Shoe, Read and Color

Click to enlarge and print. From Journeys through Bookland, 1922.

Larger print, One to Ten. From Merrill Readers, 1915.

Teaching arithmetic with Mother Goose, teaching ideas from Primary Education, 1918.

Preschool/Kindergarten Fun: Vintage Cut and Fold Bear

From Primary plans, Volume 6, 1908 Click to enlarge and print.

Free Preschool/Kindergarten Alphabet and Number Reference Sheet

I made this reference sheet for my daughter today, and I thought I'd share it at Google Documents here. After you click through to the printable page, just go to your print preview and set at 100% portrait, and it will print out correctly(full sized, centered, and large print). I have this one taped to the wall next to the computer for when she works at her educational cd-roms.

Recipe: Homemade No Yeast Donuts

I made some bean burgers for dinner, and decided to use up the leftover pan oil to make some donuts. From my favorite Amish cookbook:

3 - 3 1/2 cups flour
1 cup sugar
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
2 eggs
1/2 cup butter or oil
1/2 cup cream(I used whole milk)

I ended up adding more flour because I used some leftover beet juice to color them pink. This is so easy, just mix everything together and shape into circles. I roll mine into a ball, flatten and poke a floured finger through the middle. I made a few letters for my preschool daughter as well. Make sure your pan oil comes up to at least the half way mark on your donuts. I heat my oil to medium, but every stove is different. You don't want it to get too hot, or it burns the outside, too cool and the middle doesn't get done. Don't make them too thick or they don't cook evenly.

Watch them carefully as they fry in the oil, flipping them with some tongs when they look brown. Place cooked donuts on plate with paper towel, and sift some powdered sugar over the top.

These donuts taste a bit like funnel cakes.