Homeschooling Priorities - Reminders

This was a great post from Simple Homeschool.  Good reminders for the new year.
-Julie

American Revolution Lapbook and more

Wow! It's hard to get back into the swing of things again, isn't it? I have to admit that I'm ready for a routine again, though. I'm excited about our upcoming history - the American Revolution! I didn't learn this well when I was younger so it's almost brand new to me. Even though Baker is only in 2nd grade, we are going to read Johnny Tremain and he is going to independently ready The Magic Tree House, Revolutionary War on Wednesday.

There is an abundance of FREE (love that) resources on the internet to make this section so hands on and interesting. (Don't you just love the wonders of the internet? What a blessing to our generation when used wisely.) I'm probably going to make a lapbook / 3-d notebooking pages right alongside Baker. He loves it when I do that and it's F-U-N for me but then I'm a geek and it's only the two of us for school.

The most resource rich site I found that is easy to use is the Dynamic 2 Moms blog. Downloads and pix and links - oh, my! Have fun! Remember that you don't have to do it all since we'll come back to it again and can go deeper. (I just love this aspect of the classical method.)

Thanksgiving Prep

If you haven't already, this week would be the perfect time to measure out the Mayflower in your street - like we did in August.

Bible memory review

Click here for a review crossword of Acts 17:24-28. You can also click the image below for a fill-in-the-blank on Matthew 6:19-27.

Boston Massacre for kids

Here are a few options this week:

• Watch the History Channel's video portraying the Boston Massacre from their series America: The Story of Us. More video links can be found scrolling down here.
• Watch the Liberty's Kids episode (#1) on Netflix that speaks of the Boston Massacre, and check out a site by the same name here with a good summary of the Massacre for easy research.
• Older kids may be able to watch the version on HBO's John Adams miniseries.
• Visit the Boston Massacre website, this site of lesson plans, or any of the links for kids on this page. Here's some more links to maps, Paul Revere's engraving of the massacre, and more.
• Check out the Discovery Channel's photo gallery on the Massacre.
• Ivivia has a sample of a computer game developed to teach high school kids about the Massacre.
• I also found plenty of links with a simple Google search on Boston Massacre activities, including a play, a "CSI"-type primary sources activity, and more.

Declaration fill-in-the-blank, week 14

Click on the image to enlarge and print.

Weeks 11-14 Review Crossword

Click here.

James Cook for kids

To help you this week:

• A 3 minute video to learn about Captain Cook
• A cartoonish video made specifically for kids
• pages of links for kids and teachers from cybersleuth-kids!
• lesson plans

Replicas of Nina and Pinta in Little Rock

Only until early Tuesday morning (Nov 8.) the Nina and Pinta will be in Little Rock.  See more details here.
-Julie

Thanksgiving Resources

I know we have covered Thanksgiving in our history already but it's such a great holiday that we are going to spending some time on it again over the next few weeks here at Loften Academy. Scholastic has a content rich site that includes virtual field trips. Enjoy!