Freebie - did you see this?

Homeschool Shop Freebie of the Month - Colonial Times

Used Books - Some Great Finds

A couple weeks ago my dh took a couple vacation days to celebrate my birthday. During that time we went to a local homeschooler's used book sale. Unfortunately it rained, but she had the sale in her living room. Below you can see the wonderful things I purchased.


7 Landmark books
Mr. Bell Invents the Telephone by Katherine B. Shippen
Dwight D. Eisenhower: The Story of the General from Abilene by Malcolm Moos
The Story of the Thirteen Colonies by Chifford Lindsey Alderman
The Story of Thomas Alva Edison: The man who turned night into day by Margaret Cousins
The Pioneers Go West by George R. Stewart
Ben Franklin of Old Philadelphia by Margaret Cousins
As Far As the Eye Can Reach: Lewis and Clark's Westward Quest by Elizabeth Cody Kimmel




Modern Rhymes About Ancient Times:
Ancient Egypt
Ancient Greece
Ancient Rome
by Susan Altman and Susan Lechner




Each of the above books is a Scholastic, Voyages of Discovery, Visual Arts book
The History of Printmaking: Prehistoric prints, calligraphy, engraving, etching, posters, and comic strips
Architecture and Construction: Building pyramids, log cabins, castles, igloos, bridges, and skyscrapers
What the Painter Sees: Portraits, still lifes, landscapes, trick painting, animals, water, and light
The History of Moviemaking: Animation and live-action, from silent to sound, black-and-white to color
Exploring Energy: Power from the sun, muscles, fuel, machines, inventions, and atoms
The Story of Flight: Early flying machines, balloons, blimps, gliders, warplanes, and jets




Middle Ages Timechart from Greenleaf Press
The Usborne Internet-Linked Complete Book of the Microscope
3 Dorling Kindersley Readers - level 4:
Days of the Knights: A Tale of Castles and Battles by Christopher Maynard
Joan of Arc Angela Bull
Welcome to the Globe!: The Story of Shakespeare's Theater by Peter Chrisp



Write Source: A book for writing, thinking and learning
a blank book for writing a story in
Winnie the Pooh's Cookie Book
The Stories of Vivaldi & Corelli in Words and Music CD
The Story of Beethoven in Words and Music CD
The Story of Mozart in Words and Music CD




I Can Become a Chemistry Wiz kit
by Penny Norman, Ph.D.
Materials Included
(looks unused)





Smithsonian MicroChemistryXM 5000 set

they don't sell that set any more but the 3000 set can be found here

Oh, I paid only $7 for this set...
My problem now... someone I know said to make sure the chemicals were still ok to use. They are all dry powder. How do I know? They don't have any dates on the bottles. I don't know anything about chemicals. Any suggestions? The manual that came with the set says it was revised in 2004. I will take the set to my friend and ask her but if you have an suggestions please leave me a comment.

I did not pay more than $3 for any item except the chemistry set that I paid $7 for. Most of the items were $1 or $2. The set of Scholastic books were all 6 for $5: they run about $10-15 each, when new.

Well those are my latest finds. We went specifically because she advertised the Landmark books. We love them!! Especially the old hardbacks! The extra finds are a bonus. I am especially excited about the Story of... Cd's. We love them too!!!

Have a Great Week,
Debbie

Lego Mindstorms Organization

If you or your boys are interested in Lego Mindstorms make sure you go over to my son Nathan's blog and see his post on How keeps his Mindstorms Organized. Hopefully soon he will also post about some of his creations. Keep an eye on his blog, become a follower, or watch my sidebar for he new posts.

Debbie

Choosing Curriculum and a Freebie for You from Me

I am so excited!! The curriculum we ordered from Rainbow Resource is here!! We were all waiting for the UPS man's knock!

How do you choose what to buy for each child for school each year?

This is what I do:

1. I decide on the topics to be covered for History and Science for the next year. I have a running list of what topics we have done since we started homeschooling and that helps me to see what we have covered so far. For History we do the next time period in chronological order and that makes things easy. For science we do not do things in any certain order but I try and make sure we hit all the major topics in a very loose rotation.

2. For other subjects I look to see what areas are weak and what needs more attention. To choose what program/curriculum to use for those needs I look at what has worked for that child before or what we have liked as a family. Also, I am sorry to say, price makes a BIG difference! I have curriculum I want but can not afford and so had to settle for something that is good but not what I ultimately wanted.

3. Then I look at the resources I already have on that subject. I want to make sure to utilize the things we have and like. I also do not want to order things I already have.

4. Next, I look at my favorite websites and catalogs. (Next week I am going to do some posts with lists of my favorite sites). I want to see what new things are out on the market since the last time I did this topic. What looks good?? Have my friends recommended any resources?

5. During the school year I am looking for new resources that look good and putting them in a folder in my online bookmarks (I use Startaid so I can access my bookmarks no matter what computer I am on, even at the library, and they are saved online in case my computer crashes). That means of course that I check that folder for things I have been looking at over the past year(s) and see what still looks good, what things are on the topics/areas of need for the coming year. If things are not needed for the coming year I move them to a different folder with next years date. If things do not still look like something we need I delete them. The online list is helpful also because I can take my hubby to my online list and just click on the items one at a time so he can see and read about them and help me make the decisions on what to buy, what does not seem needed, what is not a good fit for our family, and what is overkill. Since I already have books.... LOL lots of them.... LOL about 3,ooo of them... my hubby has to reign me in and say... "We already have resources for that, you don't really need it!"

6. Then I make a list. I do the list on my Curriculum Planner sheet pages that I made on my spreadsheet program. I write each subject on separate pages so I can see the amount of things I want/need for each subject. That helps me keep things in control and not go overboard on wants for any one area, mostly a problem for History. I transfer the things from my online bookmark list and if there are any new things I have recently found I add them to both lists, online bookmarks and Curriculum Planner sheets.

7. This list is also for comparing prices between companies. The companies I use the most are Rainbow Resource and Amazon. I do use other companies and you will see the lists of my favorites when I do that future post so be watching for it. Click on the picture below to see more detail of one of the sheets I used this year. I gave you ONE of my History pages. There were two total I think... and the second page was almost full too!!! LOL I told you I have trouble limiting myself on History!

The book that is crossed off is one we (translated "my husband") decided not to get. Then my husband wanted to see the books listed a different way so I transferred everything to new pages (the check marks on the right were to let me know which ones I had copied so I did not miss any).

I use Rainbow Resource because they have such a great selection, great reviews and a wonderful HUGE catalog!!! I look forward to it coming each spring and this year my dd saw the mailman walking toward our house with a large book and said, "Woohoo, I think our Rainbow Resources Catalog is here!" and she met him at the door. She was jumping with excitement!!! LOL

I use Amazon to search for and buy used, cheaper copies of the curriculum/books I want. I have to factor in the shipping because with shipping for used stuff it comes from different providers and costs $3.99 per book. With Rainbow Resource orders over $150 get free shipping. So the prices for the Amazon listings includes the 3.99 shipping for better comparison of prices. I can usually find some great deals however and those books we sometimes order a few at a time so it does not tax our budget as much.


8. Below you will find one of the final pages we used for looking at, reviewing, and deciding on what resources to buy for this year. The way my husband wanted them re-organized, that I mentioned above, was by company. Especially the Rainbow Resource/Amazon comparison. Once I combined the resources instead of having them by subject I only had 3 pages... but all three were FULL!!

If you click on the picture you will see it larger.

The stars were for things I definitely knew I wanted/needed. The pink lines are for maybe's and the blue lines are for things that will have to wait or hubby decided we did not need at all. I highlighted in yellow, in the price column, the things we decided to buy from Rainbow Resource to clarify that. After the order was put in and received; I checked them off with big check marks using a marker (not shown).

Hopefully, you can see that these pages are very helpful in my planning for each year. I made them a long time ago and use them every year.

I would like to share with my readers the spreadsheet you see in the pictures above.
Here is the link to my Curriculum Planner Sheet on HSLaunch
You can download the pdf at the link above and then use it in your homeschool planning.

Let me know what you think, especially if you download it and use it. You can also rate it at HSLaunch.

And please leave a comment about how you choose curriculum or leave a link if you have a similar post on your blog.

Besides the posts on favorite sites for choosing curriculum I want to do a post with what we already ordered for this year sooo be on the lookout for that.

I have been working on this post all week and now it is done. Time to spend time with my family and celebrate the birthdays and the 4th of July!!!

Thanks to all our present and past service men and women,
Daddy I love you and miss you,
Debbie