WILLIAM KAMKWAMBA - THE BOY WHO HARNESSED THE WIND

No matter how young you are or how huge the challenge - creativity, determination, and hard work can help save your world.

William Kamkwamba was 14, living in a drought-ravaged area of Malawi in Africa, when he pursued a dream that brought electricity and running water to his desperately poor village.

Click HERE to see a YouTube video by William.

SCRANIMALS ART PROJECT

After reading Jack prelutsky's SCRANIMALS, children can create their own such as the Catacumber or Appmonkey pictured above.

SHAKE OUT 2 MATH GAME

Saxon Math has the children doing drills each day.  To make it more fun, I printed them out into small pieces of paper and put them into a small container.  Each day the child can shake out 2.  When all have been done, the process if repeated.

Count by 2’s to 300.

Count by 3’s to 30.

Count by 10’s to 400.

Count by 5’s to 100.

Count backward from 50 by 5’s.

Say the even numbers to 100.

Say even numbers backward from 50.

Say odd numbers to 49.

Say odd numbers backward from 49.

Etc.

SIMPLE SORTS CONTINENTS GAME

This is an awesome game for ages 7-9.

For detailed information, click HERE.

FREE MULTIPLICATION FLASCHARDS

Free multiplication flash cards.  Click HERE.

THE PRINCESS AND THE PEA - 5 VARIATIONS

Here are 5 books which are all variations of the fairy tale "The Princess and the Pea" by Hans Christian Andersen.  The books are "The Very Smart Pea and the Princess-to-Be" by Mini Grey (which tells the story from the point of view of the pea); "Princess and the Pea" by Lauren Child; "The Princess and the Pea" by Janet Stevens; "The Princess and Peas and Carrots" by Harriet Ziefert; and "The Princess and the Pea" by Rachel Isadora.

Also at speakaboos.com there is a movie and a story guide.

FREE ONLINE PIANO LESSONS FOR KIDS!

Free online piano lessons for kids!

This teacher is awesome!

Click HERE.

PUPPET WORKSHOP Creative App

"Puppet Workshop is possibly one of the best creative apps on the market... Your child will be brought on a journey of creativity and artistic wonderment."

PAINT AROUND THE HOLE Art Project

Cut a hole in the center of a sheet of white construction paper and let your child paint around the hole.  Each time this project is done, a different creation appears!  Great creative fun!

VAN GOUGH SUNFLOWER ART PROJECT

After doing Van Gough and the Sunflowers ap, we made a sunflower from construction paper.

THE SCRAMBLED STATES OF AMERICA

A wacky cross-country adventure starring the fifty states!

"Well, it was just your basic, ordinary day in the good old U. S. of A. States all over the country were waking up, having their first cups of coffee, reading the morning paper, and enjoying the beautiful sunrise.

All the states, that is, except for Kansas."

At the first annual "states party," Virginia and Idaho hatch a plan to swap spots so each can see another part of the country. Before the party is over, all the states decide to switch places. In the beginning, every state is happy in its new location. But soon things start to go wrong. Will the states ever unscramble themselves and return to their proper places?

Packed with madcap humor and whimsical illustrations, this quirky story-starring all fifty states-is chock-full of introductory facts and silly antics that will make learning geography as much fun as taking a vacation.

Click HERE to view contents of the book.

USING LEGOS FOR SPELLING

Legos can be used to help with spelling.  I used masking tape on which to write the letters. Originally saw this idea somewhere on Pinterest, so not original with me.

MATH FACT FAMILIES

Put the fact families (one at a time) in a "house".  Kept re-arranging until the concept was grasped for each family. 

MATH WAR GAME

Play like "War" -- except each player takes 2 cards and adds them together.  Whoever has the highest number, wins.  Or a variation could be, whoever has the lowest number.

ARM SURGERY GAME

                                   Kids can perform arm surgery online.  Click HERE.

AMAZING POP-UP GRAMMAR BOOK

Games, puzzles, and pop-up parts make this an amazing and fun-filled grammar book for kids!  Packed with flaps, tabs and wheels this playful look at the parts of speech makes kids want to learn.

THE AMAZING POP-UP GRAMMAR BOOK by Jennie Maizels & Kate Petty. 

Parts of a Horse

We Googled "parts of a horse" and used the sheet as a guide to label the parts on a favorite toy horse.

Love Bug Valentine Art Project

Materials Needed:  Construction paper, glitter, moveable eyes, glue and any other add-on's the children want to use.

Changing the Schedule

One day a week the homeschooler draws slips of paper from the bag with the titles of each subject printed on them. This is the order the subjects are done for that day. Makes for a fun "Away-from-the-normal-schedule" day!

Spaghetti and Meatballs for All Mathematical Activity

We read the book Spaghetti and Meatballs for All! which is a mathematical story.  Then we re-enacted it with different people playing different parts in the story.  We used some cards to keep re-arranging the tables as they did in the story.  Great way to get kids thinking about area and perimeter!

"Hand with Flowers" Art Project

Have students view pictures of Picasso's "Hand with Flowers" and then draw their own.

Determining Area By Drawing Fun Pictures

Print graph paper from HERE.

Let each child draw one or more animal creatures.  Then count the squares to determine the area.

Interactive Clock - Helps Kids Tell Time

Make a large clock on the floor using Post-It notes for the numbers.  Your child can walk around the clock while saying while saying "five", "ten", "fifteen", "twenty", etc.  Different times can be written in a surprise box and pulled out and the child moves the hands to that time.  You can call take off the large hand and call out a time and the child stands by the correct number.

PREPOSITIONS

Title the paper, "PREPOSITIONS; Where Is the Sticker?"

Give the child a sheet of stickers to use to illustrate each preposition, such as: under, behind, between, over, in, above, on, near, beneath, beside, out, last.

Symmetry Using Small Lego Blocks

A fun way to learn about symmetry!

Fruit Pizza - Healthy Recipe Kids Love to Make!

Kids love helping to make this healthy, delicious pizza!

Ingredients: 1 ¼ cups all-purpose flour, 1 teaspoon baking powder, ¾ cup Kellogg’s Special K Vanilla Almond cereal or any flakes cereal (crushed in blender or by hand), 2 tablespoons honey, 1 teaspoon almond extract, 2/3 cup skim milk, ¼ cup vegetable oil, 1 container low-fat cream cheese, blueberries, strawberries, grapes, Kiwi, pineapple.


Instructions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. Mix together flour, baking powder, cereal, 1 tablespoon honey and almond extract.
3. Add milk and oil.
4. Stir.
5. Spray 14-inch pizza pan with non-stick cooking spray or oil lightly.
6. With floured hands, press dough into 14-inch pizza pan.
7. Shape edge to form slight rim.
8. Bake about 10-12 minutes or until golden brown.
9. Cool.
10. Mix 1 tablespoon honey into cream cheese. Spread evenly over crust.
11. Arrange fruit in any desired pattern.
12. Cut into pieces. Eat and enjoy!

Ancient Egypt Sarcophagus Art Project

The wooden coffin which is then placed inside the sarcophagus.

Materials Needed:  White construction paper, markers, cardboard, yarn.

Geyser Art Project

After viewing Old Faithful on YouTube, we made a geyser picture using construction paper and white glitter.

Sahara Desert Project

Printed off a map of Africa found on the internet.  Put glue over the area where the Sahara Desert is and poured on sand.

Einstein Craft Project

Materials Needed:  Empty toilet paper roll, construction paper, crayons, markers, fiberfill, glue, scotch tape.

Butte & Mesa From Play Dough

After reading about a butte and mesa in a book, they were sculpted from play-dough.

Mother's Day Art Project

Materials Needed:  Large sheet construction paper, paint, brushes, coffee filter, child's photo, glue.

Weather Words Handwriting Practice

Am always looking for new ways to make handwriting practice fun.

We made a list of all words associated with the weather and then choose 8 to use for handwriting practice.

I cut out the raindrops and drew a straight line on them so the words could be printed on each drop.

20-Roll Game (Addition/Subtraction)

Roll the dice 20 times.

After each roll, say the equation and give the answer.

A fun way to practice addition and subtraction.

Write Spelling Words With Water on Blackboard

A different idea for having children practice their spelling words is to write them on a chalkboard using water and a brush.

Building 3-Dimensional Shapes With Toothpicks & Marshmallows

Give children miniature marshmallows and toothpicks and let them build 3-dimensional shapes.  Start with a square and let them continue from there.

The Great Pyramid

During the Old and Middle Kingdoms, the Egyptians built huge pyramids as tombs for their kings, or pharaohs.

At the right is the Great Pyramid, Khafre's father, Khufu, is buried here.  The 3 small pyramids are for the queen and the pharaoh's other wives.

The pyramid at the left is for the pharaoh Khafre.

A huge statue of the Sphinx guards the pyramids.  It has a human head and a lion's body.

A passageway links the valley temple to the mortuary temple.

Spelling Words With "OO"

A fun idea for spelling words with "OO" is to use Fruit Loops!  These words will never be forogtten!

Learning About Northern & Southern Hemispheres

Have your child place a rubber band around a ball.  Talk about this being the equator -- and that the area north of the rubber band is the Northern Hemisphere and the area south is the Southern Hemisphere.  Get your globe and have the child find the equator and the hemispheres.  Talk about continents which are in Northern Hemisphere and Southern Hemisphere.

Learning Perimeter and Area

Draw your child's foot on a sheet of paper.  Talk about what the perimeter is (the line outside the foot) and area (all the part inside).  Have your child glue squares in the area. 

Using Cereal to Learn 9 Fact Family - Math Fun

To help your child learn the 9 fact family -- use Fruit Loops with marshmallows.  For instance, the child places 6 Fruit Loops and 3 marshmallows, says the equation 3 times.  Breakfast follows!

Using Descriptive Words to Classify Rocks

Write out descriptive words and let the child match them to rocks in their collection. This can also be mixed up by using two words such as "dark smoothest" - "biggest rough" - etc.  Teaches classification and also how to use descriptive words.

Penny Shuffleboard Math Game

Draw a rectangular shuffle board and write in numbers from 1-9.  Play Penny Shuffleboard.  This can be used to review addition, subtraction or multiplication.