Making Liquid Soap

If you've ever tried to make liquid soap, it's not so easy. Down to Earth successfully made some liquid soap and shares the tutorial. My experiences were like her's before she found a good recipe. It can turn into a slimy mess without the benefit of a good recipe. Check it out here if you are feeling adventurous.

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.

Free Printable Reading Comprehension Worksheets

We have use some of these for light days when we take a break from our regular curriculum. These printable reading comprehension exercises are for upper elementary through middle school. A change in pace every once in a while keeps things interesting and wakes up the brain.

Large selection from RHL school(includes contextual vocabulary)

Edhelper

Mr Nussbaum.com

ABC Teach

Pearson Education. Online, but could be printable.

Also selected short stories from these vintage leveled readers. Most have reading comprehension questions at the end, or make up your own with  Google Documents(free).

This is a helpful printable study strategy for increasing comprehension and retention. Good for middle school and up, but my eleven year old son uses this, so upper elementary can grasp it as well. Skim First, Answer Later: A Textbook Study Strategy. 

Using the SRQ3 Method: Increasing Your Information Retention(printable)

Also, check your library with a "reading comprehension" search. I found a good number of children's resources. I always have to remind myself to check with the library because I forget that they do carry textbooks and other educational resources.

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.

Thanksgiving 2009

Many good recipes for Thanksgiving dinner and leftovers here.

Many free printables here at TeacherVision

Past Thanksgiving posts:

Free Thanksgiving ebook: Mary of Plymouth by James Otis

My Thanksgiving Meal Recipes from 2006

Free Thanksgiving Coloring Pages(DLTK)

Free Thanksgiving Coloring Pages(below)  Here is a sampling:


Vintage Children's Thanksgiving Poetry for Those in Colder Climates

Free Printable Vintage Thanksgiving Postcard Place Cards

Free Thanksgiving and Pilgrim Paintings and Artwork

Free Printable Vintage Children's Thanksgiving Poems and Stories

For my International friends: Thanksgiving, A North American Holiday

Homeschool Freebie: Boy's Adventure Novel Circa 1890

We haven't read this one, but did see it recommended for the seventh grade in this old children's resource bibliography.

Book overview from Google Books:
"The narrator travels in Mexico with a party including a Franciscan monk and an Indian youth, to find a lost race of Aztecs and a hidden treasure of gold, jewels and writings."

The Aztec treasure-house: a romance of contemporaneous antiquity
Author Thomas Allibone Janvier
Publisher Harper, 1890
Length 446 pages
Overview

Download it for free, and read it on your laptop, or other device.

Sweet Potato Bread Recipe

I make some sort of sweet bread at least once a week for the kiddos. Today, I made this sweet potato bread with my own recipe.

Two 1/2 cups of flour
Two tsp baking powder
1/2 cup sugar
A dash of salt
One 28 ounce can of sweet potatoes(drained and mashed)
One egg
1/2 cup of oil
One cup milk

Mix all the dry ingredients, then add wet, mix well and pour into a greased bread pan. Bake about 40 minutes at 350 degrees. This was so easy, and came our moist and sweet. The sweet potatoes that I used were packed in corn syrup, so if you use unsweetened, you may need to add a little more sugar to this recipe.

Social Studies: China

Jimmie has many wonderful posts with pictures of her life in China, but this one of a country home outside the city was so interesting, a real slice of life, and typically(she's a homeschooling mom) didactic rather than just eye candy.

Hammock for Keys, Cell phone, Etc.

Zen Hammock at Etsy. Too clever!

Old Fashioned Gingerbread Men Recipe

These got a good taste rating from the kiddos today.

Old-Fashioned Gingerbread

* 1 3/4 cups plus 2 Tbsp flour
* 1 1/2 tsp baking soda
* 2 1/4 tsp ground ginger
* 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
* 1/4 tsp ground cloves
* Pinch of salt
* 5 Tbsp butter, softened at room temperature
* 1/3 cup sugar
* 1 large egg
* 3/4 cup Grandma’s® Molasses
* 3/4 cup cold water

Read the rest here.

Energy Savers: Install a Timer and Use Off-Peak Power for Electric Water Heaters

Energy Savers: Install a Timer and Use Off-Peak Power for Electric Water Heaters

The Frugal Fashionista- 20 Ways to Save Money on Fashion and Clothing

This is a thorough post with great ideas! Click here.

In addition to the ideas shared at the above link, you can shop online via places like the bing.com(cash back) search engine, then pull together an outfit by using Polyvore's clipper from your toolbar. This clipper plucks items (price and location included) and saves it to your Polyvore site. You can then drag them into the style box to mix and match your own style. It's so much easier to window shop this way; you can see everything together, ponder, and reduce your chances of mistake buys. Some shopping sites provide helpful customer reviews for clothing items. I like to see everything I find online in one spot. It's also a good way to comparison shop.

Even if you shop thrift stores, Polyvore is a good tool for researching current fashion or style. I've gotten a few modest fashion ideas from style combinations that others have put together and shared at Polyvore. Veteran thrift store shoppers know that you have to work with what you find, so it helps to have some creative ideas filed away in memory.

Clark Howard Work at Home Help

"Clark gets tons of calls from people who would like to do database or customer service work out of their homes. The problem is that there are many ripoff work-from-home outfits that claim they will find you work for an upfront fee. They are just trying to make a quick buck off you. Below are some sites Clark has checked out and determined to be legitimate. Of course, you should check them out thoroughly yourself before getting involved." Read the rest here.

Southern Foods: Easy Hoppin John's Casserole Recipe

I was feeling uninspired about dinner today until I came upon a can of healthy Margaret Holmes  Hoppin' John at the grocery store. Even better, the can had a recipe on the side. So I picked up some sausage, and made a very easy, but tasty recipe tonight.

Hoppin' John Casserole:

2 cans of Hoppin' John
One TB vegetable shortening
Hot sauce
Ground sausage(less preservatives and junk) or thick bacon
Brown Sugar
Seasoned salt(Adobo)

Melt vegetable shortening on the bottom of casserole dish, add two cans of Hoppin' John's, spread sausage on top, lightly salt with Adobo, sprinkle with brown sugar and hot sauce, bake at 400 for about 30 minutes.

Typically this is served over rice, but I served mine over sour cream muffin tin biscuits, Paula Dean style(substituted with vegetable shortening, rather than butter). It is a very filling meal. I had mine with only half a small biscuit.. This was plenty!

The only thing I might change next time is to add a can of succotash.

I use vegetable shortening very rarely. Some dishes or baked goods just aren't the same without it though, biscuits and pie crust especially.

Homeschool Freebie: Fanciful Tales by Frank Richard Stockton

Fanciful Tales
Authors Frank Richard Stockton, Julia Elizabeth Langworthy
Editor Julia Elizabeth Langworthy
Publisher C. Scribner's Sons, 1904
Length 135 pages

As recommended by Special Method in the Reading of Complete English Classics, 1904. Recommended for fourth grade, but great for read aloud for younger and older elementary aged children.

William's Wife by Jean Plaidy

William's Wife (The Queens of England Series , Vol 9)

I'm continuing to read through Jean Plaidy's historical fictions. I've been reading Plaidy's books written about the women of the families of  Charles I and Charles II. This particular book is about King James II's(brother to Charles II) Mary who was married to William of Orange(Netherlands). She later went on to rule England as  Mary II and as co-regent with her husband William. The College of William and Mary in Williamsburg, Virginia was charted in 1693, endowed and named in their honor.

I feel like I know these families so well now. Plaidy has a very sympathetic balanced way of portraying her characters, and many of her books are written in first person.

This book has been recently republished under a new title,  The Queen's Devotion: The Story of Queen Mary II (A Queens of England Novel).

I hope to finish this soon so that I can go on to read about Mary's sister, Queen Anne: The Queen's Favourites (The Stuart Saga #7), the last regent of the House of Stuart. Neither Mary or Anne had any surviving children.

From Wikipedia: "Mary's life from her childhood to her death forms part of the BBC drama series The First Churchills (1969) " I've got this on queue at Netflix.

Polyvore Fashion Helper

Search, select, and drag clothing from across the web with Polyvore to create an outfit or collection. This was my first attempt, and it was fun. You can adjust the pricing, the backgrounds can be customized, and you can browse other people's creations. I enjoyed searching sets by clothing piece and color.

Boho Chic by Alexandraboho featuring Old Navy

and another:

Frugal Bohemian by Alexandraboho featuring Old Navy