Visual Latin Giveaway!!!

Ms. Amy over at the Raising Arrows blog is giveing away Visual Latin. Visit her blog to find out how you can win. If you are not familiar with the program, that's OK, Ms. Amy has included links to watch Mr. Dwane Thomas in action as he teaches your children Latin. She has also included a link for samples of the PDF worksheets as well.

So, if you are looking for a Latin program you don't have to teach, this may be for you and you could get it for free. Also if you are looking and do not win note that there are 6 free lessons located on the site.

Summer Bucket List

I was not going to blog today, but life has a way of getting me to do things I did not plan to do. A lot of times it happens because of something I have read in one of the newsletters I recieve. Well that is exactly how this came to be, plus it ties in with the series of blogs I recently did geared towards education through summer activities.

OK here it goes a Summer Bucket List, I have started created one, but it is not all fun or all educational. I thought it was a good idea to create one to help me make sure I do all I want to before summer break is over. Click on the image above to go to the Little Wonder Days blog, this is where it all stemmed from. Plus you can do a link up for your bucket list along with get some ideas of what others are doing. Sounds like fun to me, here is what I currently have on my list.

1.) Visit a museum (I have not be to one in 6 years since I left Chicago.)

2.) Tour New Orleans (Been here a year and still have not done this.)

3.) Safari Quest (Local laser tag, the boys have been wanting to go for a year.)

4.) Host a mystery party

5.) Have all the boys school supplies purchased.

Updated list as of May 31, 2011

6.Create a life size game

7. Paint Brett's room

8. Water Park

9. See a movie

10. Buy Twister

11. Have a Twister pary!!!!

12. Make homemade ice cream added June 2, 2011

Gotta Get Them Educational Newsletters

In my newsletter section you will find the Homeschool Freebie of the Day along with others. Now the Homeschool Freebie of the Day is on Facebook for more freebies for homeschoolers.

Today in my newsletter there were two items one for Homeschool RadioShows. You and your children can listen to books online all family friendly and some educational. What a great way to spend an afternoon, I can just see it sitting around the crafting area listening to a story. Or how about playing them during a time when children need to relax. Imagine the memories this will build.

They always have these bundles they put together for homeschoolers to download at great prices. Until Monday May 30, 2011 you can get 20 Brain Builders for $4.95. Here you go some more summer learning. Just think of having resources like this delivered straight to your email every month.

Linked up at theimperfecthousewife.com.

Five Question Friday

1. Do you apologize to your kids?
If I am wrong or yelled at them because I was stressed, yes, I apologize. I believe it helps them to see that not only am I human, but also it serves as an example that we should apologize if we are wrong, hurt someone on purpose or on accident.

2. What color are your nails right now?
Ummm nail color, it has been forever since I have painted and feel like it is time.

3. When you were growing up, how difficult was it for you to stay home from school sick? (As in, did you have to vomit or just say "I don't feel good".)

For the most part it was easy and due to that when my kids were in school there were guidelines for staying home. You better have a fever, be vomiting or have diarrhea other wise take two ibuprofen and I'll see you when you get home.

4. When is the last time you bought a new comforter for your bed?

Actually I bought one last year after waiting five years for the style and price I wanted. It was worth it paid $18.00 for a queen and love, love the style.

5. Favorite website(s)?
There are not to many at this time in my life that are geared towards just me. However I do love Lee Benz's site at the moment.

Education Through Summer Activities Part 4

There is more we can do for educating through the summer without leaving the house or spending any money.

VIRTUAL FIELD TRIPS!!!!! Yeah I love the fact that I can get onto the computer to view a variety of things. You can find just about anything you want on there. "Mom can we go to the zoo?" The baby is sick, money is tight and you are beat from schooling and household chores. Besides we did baseball, art, park day and karate already this week.

"No, we can not go to the zoo today, but you can see some animals and learn about them on the computer. We can also get some activity pages you can do."



There are a number of web sites which are geared towards virtual fields. However, I personally feel if it says virtual I get to interact somehow or watch a video, this is not the case with all of them. But, they are educational.

Virtual Field Trip has tons of links on a variety of topics including zoo cams, frog disection and castles from the middle ages just to name a few.

Virtual Field Trips I visited the White House, The Museum of Science and Industry and Africam.

Read Write Think this site offers a selection of virtual field for grades 3-5 and includes educational resources. There are also acitvities with 6-8.

Teachnology has various generators to help you create your own crosswords, word search and more.

Tools for Educators also has various generators to create bingo cards, dice, games and more. Totally cool site.

By conducting a word/topic specific search using the word coloring pages you should be able to easily find some. I Googled coloring pages White House and a slew of sites came up.

Life Size Games???

I must have blogged and thought so much about games that I woke up this morning and the first thought that came to my mind was life sized games. What a totally cool idea, but how would you create one?

You could us a painter tarp for board for a permanent game board or chalk on a driveway or sidewalk. I then thought that the game would be played by the player being the game piece. I did some research on the topic and did not come up with anything, but if anyone has any ideas please share them.

There was one store that sells them, you can take a look here. Love the chess set.

Education Through Summer Activities Part 3

OK I am going to try to make this short and sweet, yeah right this from someone who likes to talk. I'm behind schedule due to my new endeavor Homeschooling High School, there are very few resources for this topic so I decided to share my adventure.


Anyway I have some great ideas to educate the boys through summer, these are all low cost. We will not be going on vacation and due to only one car, which I get twice during the week, we are limited.

First, we love games and while all the games we like to play are not educational I will be sure to pull the ones we do have out. My boys went through the 39 Clues phase and that Christmas I found the game. It deals with geography and is actually very challenging. This is a series of books if you are not familiar with them, the boys read all of them through the library. Scholastic has resources for educators if your child is currently reading this series you could add to it for summer learning.



Another game we enjoy is Scrabble however, no two or three letter words are allowed. I mean come on they are 14 and 12 and I am.... mature enough to think of words with more than two or three letters.


Younger children can benefit from games like Candy Land, you could easily make your own board and cards for a similar game if you do not have it and money is tight. Donna Young's site has some game templates you can use and print them out on card stock. Jimmie, one of my favorite bloggers, wrote a how to article on Heart of the Matter for creating your own board games with extensive links. This is great too because children can help to create their own games, perfect for a rainy day.



File Folder games are also a great way to get younger children excited about learning. Conducting an online search for free file folder games will give you more options however, there are a great deal here.






Stay tuned for more ideas for educating through the summer with fun activities!