Nature Study: Gentle Giants, Mountain Gorillas of Uganda

I showed this to my children this morning. So amazing! I hope these beautiful creatures, a marvel of God's creation, are protected.

Also see National Geographic for Kids - games, and other online educational freebies.

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.

DIY Repair a Damaged Garden Hose

I had no idea you could do this! And there is even a way to fix a leaky hose at the attachment point to the faucet. See here:

Frugal Summer Creative Writing Course

I'm thinking about using this course($12.00 download), CTT Creative Writing I – Start Writing from CurrClick for my son(rising 10th grader). He has an interest in creative writing and wants to polish his skills over the summer. He'll probably be able to zip through the first course, but I want him to begin with the first course to make sure he doesn't miss anything - to make sure a good foundation of understanding is laid before he moves into the more advanced sections.There are five courses in this series:

"What is Creative Writing? How does one write?  How does one write creatively? How do you teach writing to a nine year old, or even an adult?

 Our Creative Writing I course has been successfully completed by many hundreds of students, and has been proven for well over a decade to jump-start students in the direction of being able to fully express their creativity in words.

Learn the basics directly from a lifelong educator with 40 years experience, as well as an Emmy and Dramalogue award-winning, often produced and published author.

Complete with test and answer guide, and a very useful teacher's guide with thorough advice and exercises to help the teacher assist the student through any difficulties…no matter where in the course they are encountered!

Our Creative Writing I course is called "START WRITING", and that's what it accomplishes! There are no additional purchases needed to do this course as the course materials are self-contained: the Study Guide, Teacher's Guide, test and answer guide. This course has proven to be remarkably effective with students of all ages nine and above who are reticent to write, and is a tremendous success with students already interested in writing!

Once the student has written a work he or she is proud of, we provide a free service here on our site where they can “publish” the work for the world to see, surrounded in appropriate art work and ready to share with family, friends, and admirers around the world!

Generally, students take between 25-40 hours to complete this course.  One of our most popular and best-selling courses!

_____

Creative Writing is the "crown jewel" of our curriculum. Starting with the most basic basics which explain what "writing" is, the student rapidly develops a complete understanding of the elements of great story telling, including plotting, characterization, dialogue and action. These are thoroughly detailed, and the student is always given many exercises in order to truly improve their understanding and skills, and to demonstrate expertise."

DIY Modern Minimalist Handbag

I love this minimalist ultra modern bag. I could make this very easily. See here for tutorial. 

Significant Savings on Pet Vaccinations

I found a wonderful blog for learning to live on a shoestring(frugal minimalism). In fact, I just finished her book,The Shoestring Girl: How I Live on Practically Nothing and YOU Can Too before finding her blog, Annienygma. While reading through her blog, which is a book in and of itself, I read something that I had never thought of - vaccinating your own pets to save money! The rabies shots need to be done by the vet for recording purposes, but others can be done at home for less than $10.00 each.

I already purchase dog Frontline Plus flea and tick control and portion it out to the cats at .5 ml for a significantly reduced cost.* So this is just one familiar step closer to reducing my costs by doing it myself.

* Talk to your vet first. This particular brand has contents safe for grown cats at a lower specific dose. Not all products for dogs are safe for cats(and vice versa) and can cause them harm. I have used a carefully measured dose of canine Frontline Plus with a syringe on both my cats for years without problems. Animal shelters have been known to use this as well. There are websites that warn against this, and others that mention that it is okay. Educate yourself, talk to your vet, and choose wisely for pet in this matter. 

DIY Inexpensive Adirondack Chair Tutorial

See here.

A Super Tutorial on How to Wash Pillows and Get Them Extra Clean

See here

Blog Update

I know I'm not posting here much, but I have been posting items to my Pinterest pages. Be sure to check out the Homeschool Helps and Children's Art sections. I've been posting pictures with links fairly often. My Gardening pins are here.

 We continue to use the same money saving ideas that I've listed throughout this blog. The only new items are an ongoing DIY powder room remodel which I'll update when we finish. 

Both children are still being homeschooled, and loving it.

The only thing that I wish for is money to travel. Otherwise, we have a roof over our heads, food, and love. It's all good. :)

Video Recipe Tutorial: Teriyaki Chicken and Pineapple Stir Fry

Concrete and Wood Deck Resurfacer

What a great concept for saving money! I may try this on my concrete floors, if I can apply it over the paint.

Art and Math Coin Counting Fun

Cute idea for learning coins, counting, addition, and even subtraction . Give child a specific number of coins, have them design shapes or things while counting the total. Art and math!  For subtraction, maybe this caterpillar could eat shapes that you've made with coins. Make it fun and imaginative.
Source.

Spring Bird Songs and Hatching Eggs

Alternatives to a Grass Lawn

Our backyard has a good number of oak trees, which is wonderful during our hot summers, but means growing and maintaining a grass lawn is quite labor intensive. We gave up watering the lawn years ago, and now there are bald sections due to droughts. I decided to grow something green that would be helpful to the wildlife and be low maintenance. I chose white clover . I put down about a pound of the seed two weeks ago and already, with all the spring rain, it is coming up.

 There is also an "estate lawn" mix - grass and clover that looked interesting: Ecology Lawn Seed- 10# Low Grow- No Mowing

Free Vintage Notebooking Paper: Spring Children

Source: lilac-n-lavender.blogspot.com viaAlexandra on Pinterest

See here.

Preschool/ Kindergarten Counting Easter Eggs Game

This is an interactive YouTube video.

Young Children's Easter Read-along Song