Dawn K Homeschool

These are some online and print resources for studying animal classification: Online Resources: http://www.teachersdomain.org/resource/lsps07.sci.life.oate.animalclass/ http://www.sciencenetlinks.com/interactives/class.html http://www.science-teachers.com/taxonomy_flashcards.htm http://www.softschools.com/science/living_things/animals/animals.jsp http://www.everythingesl.net/lessons/animalstwo.php http://www.nclark.net/Classification http://www.glencoe.com/sec/science/activities/bdol/dragdrop/BDOL17.html?iRef=17&iChapter=17&book=bio2000 http://www.teachnet.ie/farmnet/Puzzles/classificationmatch.htm http://www.pbs.org/kcet/shapeoflife/resources/activity4.pdf http://www.quia.com/cm/1130.html?AP_rand=917773692 http://www.quia.com/rr/11806.html http://www.personal.psu.edu/faculty/w/x/wxm15/Online/Taxonomy/taxonomy_lec01.htm http://www.kidport.com/RefLib/Science/Animals/Animals.htm http://www.cstone.net/~bcp/3/3SSci.htm Print Resources: Introduction to Biology: A Study by John Holz...

I just adore lapbooks ! I attended a lapbooking workshop hosted by Tammy of Tobin's Lab ( http://www.tobinslab.com/ ) at a HEAV conference a few years ago. It was a blast! The concept is a natural extension of scrapbooking , so perhaps that's why I am so drawn to it. If you ever have an opportunity to take a class led by her, do it! I still have the lapbook we made in her class. They offer many resources for lapbooking including Tammy's own creations and also the ever-so-popular Dinah Zike's resources. I confess, I have not made lapbooks with the boys yet, but I plan to do a couple this year. I think it will work perfectly with the invertebrate study we are doing. I may, alternatively, buy one of those large cardboard project displays that the craft store sells and we can each contribute to that. It's the same concept, though it will look more like a science fair display. We could create a separate lapbook for each group of invertebrates we study and affix th...

Well, we finally visited the Mariner's Museum http://www.mariner.org/ ! Aaron and I were supposed to visit a few years ago when he was studying the Age of Exploration, but it just didn't happen. We spent most of our time at the "Ironclad Evidence" exhibit, the "Nelson Touch" exhibit and the USS Monitor Center. The boys loved the interactive video games -- especially designing a seaworthy ship and sea combat simulation. We also watched a fascinating video reenactment of the Battle of Hampton Roads in the "Battle Theater." You can learn more the Monitor in this interactive tour: http://www.monitorcenter.org/ . Aaron was able to learn more about Lord Horatio Nelson -- he is currently writing a history research paper about a national hero of Great Britain, and he chose Nelson. While touring the living quarters of the sailors, Nathan determined his favorite room was the apothecary. A docent was quite impressed that he knew what an apothecary was! When ...

These are sample pictures from my Story of the World Timeline Book. The first is the cover; the other two are sample pages: Let me first give so much credit to a gracious lady from the Well Trained Mind forum who created these wonderful timeline and memory card resources. You can obtain these from the following link: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Hannah_hs_helps/ Now, here are the details for the timeline book: I bought a Watercolor pad, 15x11, Strathmore brand from A C Moore with a 40% coupon for less than $6.00. I chose Watercolor paper because the paper was so much thicker than any of the drawing or sketch book paper (140 lbs). I figured with all of the turning and touching, I wanted it to hold up well. This pad comes with 12 pages, so really 24 sections. Here is a picture of it: http://www.strathmoreartist.com/fineArt_watercolor.php Since far more is known about time periods as they get closer to the present, I spaced my older time periods out differently than the closer. My book o...

I wanted to share the lesson plans I typed up for this school year. We are studying invertebrates this year and vertebrates next year. This MS Word file includes: loose schedule, indicating which group will be studied in which month objectives and projects/field trips/activities for each group of animals spines and reproducible resource books we are using read alouds (most coming from the library) I hope this resource can benefit someone! http://savefile.com/projects/808528349

August is nearing its end, which means another homeschool year begins soon. I have spent the summer purging our belongings and organizing what is left. There's still work to be done, and sure, we still have a bunch crammed in our cozy little home, but junk drawers have actually been eliminated! I am still aiming to simplify. Most of the summer has been spent planning our school year. Look for updates on curriculum we're using! Links to resources and downloads will be provided as well. I have also made progress in meal planning. I wrote out dinner ideas on individual index cards which I then placed in an index card file box with dividers separating, for example, soups, casseroles, Mexican, etc. This should help with the mental block I get every time I try to figure out what to have for dinner each week. Feel free to pass along any suggestions or recipes. Beginning near the end of June, I finally committed to walking on my treadmill six days a week. It is amazing how much better ...