tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-64249665086174954022024-03-13T03:53:48.360-04:00Activities For KidsUtterly Stimulating ~ Boredom Busting ~ Old-Fashioned ~ Retro ~ Nostalgic ~ Entertaining Activities Unknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger148125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6424966508617495402.post-14927196474548616782015-10-19T22:38:00.001-04:002015-10-19T22:38:52.256-04:00Sons of Liberty - Fabulous Book to Teach Kids about our Colonial Heroes<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjczOP1S86f1wCkjLjiKXVotACMeB63D-x098x2j1iKNJnUg0IyAnn-M2cWDNh8RyiRPS1WxsU0MD8TNXjKvDSRsEBphyphenhyphenv-XGGb8sKMB4Q1qAI5GJu_FdFkuFD4BbGyBtb7sGWPrg0i7WvP/s1600/sonsofliberty.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjczOP1S86f1wCkjLjiKXVotACMeB63D-x098x2j1iKNJnUg0IyAnn-M2cWDNh8RyiRPS1WxsU0MD8TNXjKvDSRsEBphyphenhyphenv-XGGb8sKMB4Q1qAI5GJu_FdFkuFD4BbGyBtb7sGWPrg0i7WvP/s320/sonsofliberty.png" width="240" /></a></div>
I love to use older books to teach history - the older the book the less history has been rewritten. The <em>Sons of Liberty</em>, published by Julian Messner in 1969, is one of my family's favorite books that teaches about how our great nation was born. It's one of those books that the kids will treasure forever. It was written by Felix Sutton of Virginia whose ancestors came to Virginia from England one generation before the Revolutionary War.<br />
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<em>Sons of Liberty</em> covers five of the colonial heroes that helped to form the United States - Sam Adams, John Hancock, Patrick Henry, Paul Revere and Joseph Warren. Joseph Warren? Yes, Joseph Warren. He was a doctor in Boston that spied on the British. I had never heard of him myself until I sat down and read this book with my children. Rest assured, my children know who he is.<br />
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Because this book focuses on just five of the colonial heroes, kids learn a bit more about these fine and brave men. Here are some facts that aren't usually mentioned in other books on this time period for kids:<br />
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<strong>Samuel Adams</strong> - Most adults thinks of the beer when Sam Adams is mentioned. He lead the men who comprised the Sons of Liberty. Sam Adams was never a soldier yet he brought about the Revolutionary War more than anyone with his words and thoughts. He is called "The Great Agitator" because it was he who created all the excitement and made people angry enough to fight for the cause of freedom from Britain. <br />
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<strong>John Hancock</strong> - He was the richest merchant in Boston and paid all the bills for the Sons of Liberty. John Hancock was quite the opposite of Sam Adams, but they had one thing in common - the desire for freedom from Britain. Did you know there is no inscription on his tomb stone? Even without that everyone knows who he is with his large signature on the Declaration of Independence, which is clearly his epitaph. <br />
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<strong>Patrick Henry</strong> - He was from Virginia and inspired the colonists with his famous words "Give me liberty, or give me death." He was a boy who did not like school. He played hooky all the time until his father finally let him stop going to school. His father decided to teach him at home and that is where Patrick thrived! He eventually became an attorney and became a great speech writer. <br />
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<strong>Paul Revere</strong> - A Boston silversmith, Paul Revere carried secret messages all over the colonies. He will best be knows for Henry Wadsworth Longfellow's famous poem . . . "Listen, my children, and you shall hear of the midnight ride of Paul Revere."<br />
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<strong>Joseph Warren</strong> - Warren was a spy from Boston who obtained many of the Redcoat's military plans. He was one of the first members of the Sons of Liberty and was dedicated to the cause for freedom. As he was a doctor, he cared for both the British and the colonists. He would listen in on the conversations of the British military members and pass that information on to the Sons of Liberty - hence his importance to the cause of freedom. He was the one who gave Revere the messages that Paul had to spread. <br />
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As you can see, the actions of these brave men were pertinent to the United States gaining their independence from Britain.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6424966508617495402.post-277590303934685342015-10-17T19:33:00.002-04:002015-10-17T19:33:41.644-04:00Ten Halloween Jokes for Your Kids<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgAH-_RR9M0mrj6K1jkYNT-jO9i0V6Jzg5kNo8CdCOKfE1BGq8q_66HOXiCgZjZkEq34Nww8nq1KgI4ZaFXKclKJt2f0UfkyX47fqhi_QQjR7m2Hk4kgM-MfQyYHsgCDTt5i9-PcZlJ9AP1/s1600/halloweenhumorforkids.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgAH-_RR9M0mrj6K1jkYNT-jO9i0V6Jzg5kNo8CdCOKfE1BGq8q_66HOXiCgZjZkEq34Nww8nq1KgI4ZaFXKclKJt2f0UfkyX47fqhi_QQjR7m2Hk4kgM-MfQyYHsgCDTt5i9-PcZlJ9AP1/s320/halloweenhumorforkids.jpg" width="320" /></a><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Kids love to tell jokes. They also love to be told jokes. Here are some fun Halloween jokes and riddles you can try on your kids:</span><br />
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<span style="color: orange; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">What do mummies dance to?</span><br />
<span style="color: orange; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"></span><br />
<span style="color: orange; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> Wrap Music</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">What is a witch's best subject in school?</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> Spelling</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"></span><br />
<span style="color: orange; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">What room do zombies not go into?</span><br />
<span style="color: orange; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"></span><br />
<span style="color: orange; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> The Living Room</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">What kind of dog does Dracula have?</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> A Bloodhound</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"></span><br />
<span style="color: orange; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">What did the vampire say to the invisible man?</span><br />
<span style="color: orange; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"></span><br />
<span style="color: orange; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> Long Time No See</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">What do you call a witch that lives at the beach?</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> A SandWitch</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"></span><br />
<span style="color: orange; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Who's the best dancer?</span><br />
<span style="color: orange; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"></span><br />
<span style="color: orange; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> The Boogie Man</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana;">Why do witches fly on brooms?</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana;"> Because Vacuum Cleaners Are Too Scary</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana;"></span><br />
<span style="color: orange; font-family: Verdana;">Why did the vampire go to the orthodontist?</span><br />
<span style="color: orange; font-family: Verdana;"></span><br />
<span style="color: orange; font-family: Verdana;"> To Improve His Bite</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana;">What is a baby ghost's favorite game?</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana;"> Peek-a-boo</span><br />
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6424966508617495402.post-80638421346575211682015-10-15T21:18:00.002-04:002015-10-15T21:18:44.862-04:00Don't Stop the Goth Look<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjM2AhpZwRWnmzCbzFvcGUfEe9LbyBYmhRRT_UaLDPduZEYr6HPwqe7I33NLEUn3G-NsIIqAsshebN7kCQX4hsVyyf46h-n14j6L146cplN_F17QFuoMuwVPLslLXB6OVIi1VNg-hPQ0Zpt/s1600/goth2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjM2AhpZwRWnmzCbzFvcGUfEe9LbyBYmhRRT_UaLDPduZEYr6HPwqe7I33NLEUn3G-NsIIqAsshebN7kCQX4hsVyyf46h-n14j6L146cplN_F17QFuoMuwVPLslLXB6OVIi1VNg-hPQ0Zpt/s1600/goth2.jpg" /></a><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">"My son wants to dye his hair jet black, what do I do?", I asked a friend of mine. "Let him do it." was her answer. Those four words were just about the best parenting advice I have ever been given. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">As a child who had been homeschooled through 8th grade, entering high school at a big public school was a huge adjustment for my son. He made some really nice friends right away, joined some organizations and was on his way to a rewarding high school career. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Soon after school started he wanted to grow his hair out. That was fine with me. Then he went from wearing his khaki pants and plaid shirts to black jeans and black t-shirts. Then black coats. Then the black eyeliner started. Goodness! I didn't know what to say to that, but he actually looked great in the eyeliner! And I still don't know how he learned to put it on so well!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The end all beat all was when he asked to dye his hair jet black. His hair was dark brown to begin with, but he wanted it BLACK! That is when I called my friend to see what on earth I should do. This was my son wanting his hair dyed, not my daughter. She had already raised two teenagers and she is the one that said "Let him do it. There's a lot worse things he can be doing at his age. If you fuss, he'll fight you on it. Just let him do it, and let him get through this phase. It'll pass." I had another friend who told me her son went totally goth in high school and college and is now a clean, cut wall street broker. So there was hope of normalness after the "goth era".</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Sure enough two years and four months after his first day of high school my son came bounding down the stairs asking me to take him shopping. "What do you need?", I asked. "Colored clothes. I'm sick of wearing all this black." That sentence was music to my ears.</span> </div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6424966508617495402.post-2037958236626840832015-10-14T19:30:00.001-04:002015-10-14T19:30:39.709-04:00Goodness! Look What Was Happening When Last the Chicago Cubs Won the World Series.<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgHey7eAl7J6b0mR_077ue-xWBs-d1fVnpV9xfMgEMVuRgKYOC3Mc41EDwbQ1z5UihFv85tWITDFG8w0X2Igq5iEa1P2NFc5iz_u48pikWm8Pz7lTDycRRoDK0WymdV1_iabTeeMLRALiNI/s1600/1908cubs.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgHey7eAl7J6b0mR_077ue-xWBs-d1fVnpV9xfMgEMVuRgKYOC3Mc41EDwbQ1z5UihFv85tWITDFG8w0X2Igq5iEa1P2NFc5iz_u48pikWm8Pz7lTDycRRoDK0WymdV1_iabTeeMLRALiNI/s1600/1908cubs.jpg" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">1908, the year the <a href="http://chicago.cubs.mlb.com/index.jsp?c_id=chc" target="_blank"><span style="color: #cc0000;">Chicago Cubs</span></a> last won the World Series. I'm 50 and my own grandparents weren't even born yet. My great grandmother was only 20 years old in 1908. I wonder what she would have to say about that day the Cubs last won. Let's see what all was going on that fateful day. </span><br /><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"></span><br /><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Interestingly, the 1908 World Series had the least attendance with only 6,210 watching. That's a significant amount less than what we see today. 290,985 was the attendance of the 2014 World Series between the San Francisco Giants and the Kansas City Royals. There was also a ticket scalping scheme which caused many to boycott the 1908 World Series. That's Chicago for you!</span><br /><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"></span><br /><strong><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">In 1908:</span></strong><br /><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"></span><br /><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">General Baden-Powell started the Boy Scouts. </span><br /><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"></span><br /><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Postage stamps came out in rolls.</span><br /><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"></span><br /><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">First railway tunnel opened under the Hudson River.</span><br /><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"></span><br /><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Oklahoma joined the Union as the 46th state of the United States. We didn't even have all 50 states yet when last the Cubs won the World Series!</span><br /><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"></span><br /><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Mark Breith, the Mayor of Cincinnati, announced that "women are not physically fit to operate automobiles". Really?</span><br /><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"></span><br /><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The Murdock's were the first to travel by car across the United States. It took them 32 days! And 5 hours and 25 minutes to get from Los Angeles to New York City traveling in their Packard. It only takes 32 hours to drive from Chicago to Vancouver, Canada now.</span><br /><span style="font-family: Verdana;"></span><br />
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<span id="yui_3_16_0_1_1443149489334_2246" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">London hosted the fourth modern Olympic games.</span></div>
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<span id="yui_3_16_0_1_1443149489334_2250" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The first Mother's Day was celebrated.</span></div>
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<span id="yui_3_16_0_1_1443149489334_2254" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">First passenger air flight occurred.</span></div>
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<span id="yui_3_16_0_1_1443149489334_2258" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">General Motors was incorporated in Janesville, WI.</span></div>
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<span id="yui_3_16_0_1_1443149489334_2260" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"></span><br /></div>
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<span id="yui_3_16_0_1_1443149489334_2262" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Elgar premiered his 1st Symphony in A.</span></div>
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<span id="yui_3_16_0_1_1443149489334_2266" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">First time numerals were used on football uniforms.</span></div>
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<span id="yui_3_16_0_1_1443149489334_2270" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Crazy! These last two are just mind boggling that they were occurring as the Cubs won their <strong id="yui_3_16_0_1_1443149489334_2271">last </strong>World Series: </span></div>
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<span id="yui_3_16_0_1_1443149489334_2273" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"></span><br /></div>
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<span id="yui_3_16_0_1_1443149489334_2275" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The Model T was introduced by Henry Ford! The Model T, for Pete's sake!</span></div>
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<span id="yui_3_16_0_1_1443149489334_2277" style="font-family: Verdana;"></span><br /></div>
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<span id="yui_3_16_0_1_1443149489334_2279" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Albert Einstein presented his quantum theory of light. Yes, even Albert Einstein was alive when last the Chicago Cubs won the World Series.</span></div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana;"></span><br /><span style="font-family: Verdana;"></span><br /><span style="font-family: Verdana;"></span><br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6424966508617495402.post-17490788210653978552015-10-08T20:34:00.000-04:002015-10-08T20:34:30.511-04:00Top 10 Things Teenagers Do in 2015<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgp1HzUgd_GIvZeSz60GLV6sLxdmKLAxHyaxddjKYBcpf6t1uq9A1etvNWA9eaHrvaBsAXrl5U1YDPMDsnMxcyw0OTMurU1bQ9bON_fD6Y5FlfYkOph-xyKw0Z_Vv5ARgU8uriU82bAk38D/s1600/teenageronphone.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgp1HzUgd_GIvZeSz60GLV6sLxdmKLAxHyaxddjKYBcpf6t1uq9A1etvNWA9eaHrvaBsAXrl5U1YDPMDsnMxcyw0OTMurU1bQ9bON_fD6Y5FlfYkOph-xyKw0Z_Vv5ARgU8uriU82bAk38D/s1600/teenageronphone.jpg" /></a><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">What did you do when you were a teenager? We drove around, I think that was called "cruising' " back in the day. Listened to our records. We went to movies. Out for pizza. Miniature golf. Just plain goofed off. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">What do teenagers do today in the year 2015? Here are their top 10 activities:</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">1. Scroll through Instagram on their phone</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">2. Text their friends on their phone</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">3. Listen to music on their phone</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">4. Watch videos on their phone</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">5. Snapchat on their phone</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">6. Surf on their phone</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">7. Take selfies on their phone</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">8. Share selfies from their phone</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">9. Charge their phone</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">and if we're lucky . . .</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">10. Text mom or dad on their phone</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Unfortunately this is true!</span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6424966508617495402.post-67543196853447461602015-10-07T20:03:00.002-04:002015-10-07T20:03:56.297-04:00Why It Is So Important To Take Your Kids on Living History Field Trips<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiT0CtVuzQfLnXAYCoqNX_NKIHpRP9ZTtlZbj6LT4J5zh5snci21hG6-b9Etahnu60y2UOAwHBK0SX8JA8vXFkpktntjHveuRST1blgwi8SpHDcvTpMPTiGbgTMG-kImD2fNxn06N_lMyFx/s1600/lincolnpreslib.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiT0CtVuzQfLnXAYCoqNX_NKIHpRP9ZTtlZbj6LT4J5zh5snci21hG6-b9Etahnu60y2UOAwHBK0SX8JA8vXFkpktntjHveuRST1blgwi8SpHDcvTpMPTiGbgTMG-kImD2fNxn06N_lMyFx/s320/lincolnpreslib.png" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Lincoln Presidential Library</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">History. Did you enjoy it as a kid? Most kids don't. There are ways, however, to make history come alive and make it so much more exciting rather than just reading it out of a textbook. Reading living books about history makes it come alive, and taking a field trip to the site of it makes it come even more alive!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">My kids thrived on learning history this way. In fact they had no idea they were even working on history. Oh, the joys of tricking them into learning by doing something fun. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Granted, it gets costly to go on field trip after to field trip. So plan accordingly. There are three ways to do this:</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">1 . Choose a trip based on a subject that is cherished by someone or all in your family;</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">2. Choose to study a topic based on a place you are already going to;</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">3. Choose a place you'd like to go and study that.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">This gives kids a hands on and visual approach to learning about history. It makes it real. They can imagine the people in the time period as the event or events occurred. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">For example here are some of the living history field trips we have done with our kids:</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">1. <strong><a href="http://helenkellerbirthplace.org/" target="_blank">Helen Keller home in Tuscumbia, AL</a></strong>. My son got very interested in Helen Keller when he was in 6th grade. He read everything he could find on her. He even taught himself braille! So when he found out that you could actually visit Helen Keller's home, we made a special trip to Tuscumbia, Alabama just to see it. He was fascinated to see the house where all the work that Helen and Annie Sullivan did together. And, of course, the most poignant part of visiting her home was to see the well where Helen's huge transformation began. You can't get this sense and feeling out of a book. To really experience it and see where Helen's transformation began is just breathtaking. It gives a child a completely different viewpoint of history. And guess what. They will remember it!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">2. <strong><a href="http://www.visitspringfieldillinois.com/venue/Attractions/Lincoln-Home-National-Historic-Site" target="_blank">Lincoln Sites and Presidential Library in Springfield, IL</a></strong>. Our daughter is a huge Abraham Lincoln fan. At the age of 10 when girls had Miley Cyrus posters (back when she was with Hannah Montana) she had posters of Abe Lincoln in her room. What better place to take children to learn about good Ol' Abe than Springfield, IL. There we went to the home he and Mary Todd owned. The house is full of Lincoln relics. And the neatest part of all, is Abraham Lincoln has actually touched the handrail on his staircase. To see the look on our daughter's face when she ran her hand up that banister was priceless and the thought of it still is today. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">3. <strong><a href="http://www.mnh.si.edu/" target="_blank">Museum of Natural History in Washington DC</a>.</strong> When our son was younger he was very into dinosaurs. What better way to show him how enormous they were than to take him to the Smithsonian to actually see real dinosaur fossils. We did not tell him there were going to be dinosaurs in the room before he entered, so when he walked in and saw the bones of a ginormous T-Rex his jaw just dropped and stayed dropped for quite some time. This was a great lesson as it put all those different sizes of dinosaurs into perspective for him - much better than just comparing them on a page of a book.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">4. <strong><a href="http://civilrightsmuseum.org/" target="_blank">Civil Rights Museum in Memphis, TN</a></strong>. We were in Memphis so we hopped on over to the Civil Rights museum to see where Martin Luther King, Jr. had been shot. We had studied him in school, of course, but this was an added treat. It really gave some perspective as to where exactly he was when he was shot. The new James Earl Ray museum across the street actually shows the vantage point Earl was at when her shot King. This was a field trip we never planned ahead on going to. It just happened because we noticed it was there when we were in Memphis and thought it was something the kids should go see. It really depicts the times well with racial strife and even has a bus where you can sit with Rosa Parks on it.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">5. <strong><a href="http://www.travelchannel.com/destinations/us/sc/charleston/photos/historic-charleston" target="_blank">Revolutionary War and Civil War sites in Charleston, SC</a>.</strong> We were fortunate to live in Charleston, SC until the kids were in high school and junior high. Charleston is known for it's Civil War history, after all the war did start there at Fort Sumter. But did you know it's also rich in Revolutionary War History as well? Magnolia Plantation and The Old Exchange are two such places that bring the Revolutionary War to life. It's also quite fascinating to walk the halls and be in places where George Washington actually had been. When it comes to the Civil War, there's not much better place to live to learn living history of the war than in Charleston. One of the best places even is Magnolia Cemetery where all the men who died on both Hunley submarines are buried. And, of course, the Hunley, the first submarine to sink a ship in battle, can be seen right in North Charleston. Again, rather than just seeing a picture of that submarine, seeing it live puts it really into perspective what those men went through to accomplish what they did.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Whether you can go one field trip a week, or one a month or year, take the time to do this with your kids. If you home school of course you will have more time and reason to do this. And even if you don't home school, this a wonderful way for your kids to learn something new, and it also creates a great time for family bonding. It's something your kids will always remember and will talk about for years to come. Mine do.</span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6424966508617495402.post-12852958502057374072015-08-31T12:15:00.003-04:002015-08-31T12:16:40.542-04:00Do Your Kids Know Why We Celebrate Labor Day?<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiUQbNGl4BkZbqrBMTeakEHwslRRE9uMc1PGwtyo7BlaFf66e5yHnDnU3o6AGDOuqdVm4CiFh6HqULyMUGzbSsjQNCECQlwn9dtLPyKKrsiYjqK3wBZYrAHAcTak8k2gFdytdIx_SLcdOwl/s1600/laborday.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiUQbNGl4BkZbqrBMTeakEHwslRRE9uMc1PGwtyo7BlaFf66e5yHnDnU3o6AGDOuqdVm4CiFh6HqULyMUGzbSsjQNCECQlwn9dtLPyKKrsiYjqK3wBZYrAHAcTak8k2gFdytdIx_SLcdOwl/s1600/laborday.jpg" /></a><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Labor Day. When I was a kid I had mixed emotions about Labor Day. Labor Day meant the end of summer. It also meant that when you went to bed on Labor Day evening you'd wake up to the excitement of the first day of a new school year. Not many schools start the day after Labor Day any more. Now Labor Day is a day off after a few weeks of a new school year.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">A day off. That's what kids think Labor Day is. It is also a day off for workers - which is its original intended purpose. Here are the facts of how <strong>Labor Day</strong> came to be a holiday:</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">- Workers used to work in <strong>harsh conditions</strong> with <strong>long hours</strong> and very <strong>little pay</strong>. Children were also subject to working under the same conditions as adults.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><strong>- Labor unions</strong> sprung up to fight for workers. They worked to get the US worker higher wages with less working time and to protect children from working at a young age.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><strong>- Peter McGuire</strong> started the <strong>first Labor Day rally</strong> in <strong>1872</strong>. Tired of working in horrendous conditions he got 100,000 workers to go on strike and march through the streets of New York City demanding a better work environment for all.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">- In <strong>1882</strong> McGuire proposed that workers deserved their own holiday. On September 5, 1882 10,000 workers marched in the streets of New York City for the <strong>first Labor Day Parade</strong>. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">- In <strong>1884</strong> the celebration was moved to the <strong>first Monday of September</strong>.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">- In <strong>1894</strong> Congress passed a law making Labor Day a <strong>national holiday</strong>.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Kids should know that it was the work of the labor unions that ensured they would not be spending their days working in factories rather than in school. And they can thank Peter McGuire for this day off of school.</span><br />
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<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6424966508617495402.post-80611968232102083692015-08-28T18:02:00.001-04:002015-08-28T18:02:48.719-04:00Having Girls Play More Video Games is NOT the Answer to Getting Them into the STEM Fields<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi5OIPTnfyP-3Xsrd47zjNvXt75tmuogqRO62MpU9cYfjfgpnjOfA8CLSk-BstCJ9B_7kaiVSlyWeO9HD8iLnflIjzqgPrv0airMgx_YRuBdrHa4eOxCpQmKRWHpFZcUPE3GhNd3vj_WXtr/s1600/girlplayingvideogame.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi5OIPTnfyP-3Xsrd47zjNvXt75tmuogqRO62MpU9cYfjfgpnjOfA8CLSk-BstCJ9B_7kaiVSlyWeO9HD8iLnflIjzqgPrv0airMgx_YRuBdrHa4eOxCpQmKRWHpFZcUPE3GhNd3vj_WXtr/s320/girlplayingvideogame.jpg" width="212" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">"Goodness! Do we really want more kids playing more video games?" That was my first thought when I came across an </span><a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/samantha-parent/why-our-daughters-should-play-more-video-games_b_8044800.html?ncid=tweetlnkushpmg00000067" target="_blank"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">article</span></a><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> by Samantha Parent about how girls should be encouraged to play more video games. The article is pure absurdity! Parent states that because brothers and fathers play, girls should too. Video games apparently have gender disparity as does everything else on this planet these days. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">FYI! Some kids don't like playing video games - just like some kids don't like to read or play board games. My daughter is one of those kids. Her brother is a video game junkie. He tried to get her to play with him to no avail. She is the type of girl who likes to paint, cook and read. She does things that girls like to do! And these are things that girls, as well as humans, have enjoyed doing for hundreds of years. The few video games she has enjoyed playing involved dogs and cooking. Both girly topics. Which is fine, because she is a girl! </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The article also stated that girls still are not going into the fields of science, technology, engineering and math (STEM). Unfortunately these numbers have dropped dramatically in recent decades. The fix? Play more video games! This will spark a new found interest in these fields. Has anyone considered that most kids are on tech gadgets all day long? They are on them at school. They have to do their homework on them. They play on them. They communicate with all their friends on them. Watch movies on them. Some may actually choose to go into careers or spend their free time where they are not chained to a tech gadget. Quite frankly, the numbers of girls entering the STEM fields has dropped since the rise of girls playing video games. In all actuality maybe we should be trying to have them do other things rather than play video games.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Why coerce a child who loves to paint, cook and read into playing games that will just suck her in on more tech gadgets? She is enjoying life like kids SHOULD be enjoying life. She is one of the few who is not majorly technologically connected. Why do people think that all kids need to be so full of tech and games? Why can't they just be kids? And another FYI, after reading this article as well, my teenage son claims that of his friends it's pretty even (55% boys 45% girls) as to what genders play video games. There were no stats on gender disparity in the article, but according to <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Women_and_video_games" target="_blank">Wikipedia</a> "the gender ratio has become closer to equal and since the 2010s females have been found to make up about half of all gamers." As my son pointed out, there really is no gender disparity of video game use.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">My daughter has long mentioned that if they made science and math more interesting to learn she may actually like those subjects. She initially began her education in a Montessori school. In 6th grade she moved into a public school. After learning in an exciting hands-on environment and then being moved to dull textbook and computer learning, these subjects have become extremely boring to her. If the education system would utilize a teaching method that made these classes more interesting to girls they may be more apt to go into the STEM fields. Playing more video games certainly is not the answer.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Full text of the article can be found here:</span><br />
<a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/samantha-parent/why-our-daughters-should-play-more-video-games_b_8044800.html?ncid=tweetlnkushpmg00000067"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">http://www.huffingtonpost.com/samantha-parent/why-our-daughters-should-play-more-video-games_b_8044800.html?ncid=tweetlnkushpmg00000067</span></a> <br />
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6424966508617495402.post-91487442785682231892015-08-26T15:44:00.000-04:002015-08-26T15:44:03.827-04:00Do Your Kids Know Who Christopher Columbus is and Why He Sailed the Ocean Blue?<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">In 1492 Christopher Columbus sailed the ocean blue. We all know the exact year Christopher Columbus set sail and found the Americas because we all have learned this saying. But have your kids learned it? Do they know why Christopher Columbus set sail? Do they even know who Christopher Columbus was? Here are some quick and fun facts to teach your kids so they can learn a bit more about this great explorer.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><strong>Christopher Columbus was born</strong>, Christoforo Colombo, in 1450 or 1451 in Genoa, Italy. They didn't have birth certificates back then so we are not sure which exact year it was. He lived during the Age of Discovery when Europeans explored for lands and wealth.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">When Christopher Columbus was 14 <strong>he became an apprentice</strong> on a trading ship. An apprentice works for no pay to learn a trade. Back then this is how many learned a trade instead of going to high school or college.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">When he was 19, and then again when he was 24, he went on a long voyage to an island called <strong>Chios</strong>. This island is in the Aegean Sea. On these trips he learned how to navigate long voyages on an open sea.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">During the time of Columbus people thought there was one landmass on a flat surface surrounded by one ocean called the <strong>Ocean Sea</strong>. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana;">Columbus' first expedition was funded by King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella of Spain. He set sail in <strong>1492</strong>.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Of Columbus' three ships, <strong>The Nina, The Pinta and the Santa Maria</strong>, he favored The Nina for its swiftness.</span><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhAcnwVLaSThwegL4iHQsDJLx0-Lg3WhowgiIGLBWDiw3wjxZ6S7leJjhLuZhQiLIZBJDd2az8gVI2KvyNxl3CM4zwWmIbz9Ja1b7cbGxnlHLPdRcWxQ5pPzb4uRTWqV4cn60213SgvRWV9/s1600/christophercolumbusship.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhAcnwVLaSThwegL4iHQsDJLx0-Lg3WhowgiIGLBWDiw3wjxZ6S7leJjhLuZhQiLIZBJDd2az8gVI2KvyNxl3CM4zwWmIbz9Ja1b7cbGxnlHLPdRcWxQ5pPzb4uRTWqV4cn60213SgvRWV9/s1600/christophercolumbusship.jpg" /></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">His first voyage took <strong>43 days</strong>. The ship was full of fleas and rats. The sailors were full of lice. They wore the same outfit the entire voyage and went barefoot.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">When Columbus landed in the Americas he thought he was near China, Japan and the Indies. He actually landed on <strong>Watling Island</strong> in the Bahamas.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">As Columbus thought he had landed in the Indies, he called the native people of the Americas <em><strong>Indians</strong></em>. More than 500 years later we still call the native inhabitants of the Americas <em>Indians</em>.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">In Europe and in the Americas, October 12 (the date he landed on his first island in the Caribbean) is celebrated as <strong>Columbus Day</strong> to honor the great explorer and circumnavigator. Since 1970 the United States celebrates it on the second Monday of October with lots of sales rather than sails. (Sales / Sails is a great way to introduce or reiterate homonyms - words that sound the same, but have a different spelling and meaning - to your kids.)</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Although Christopher Columbus was credited as the person who discovered the Americas or New World as many called it, <strong>he was not the first one to arrive</strong> there. Human beings had lived in the Americas for over 20,000 years. Norse Viking, Leif Erickson, beat Christopher Columbus to the Americas 500 years earlier. Many before Erickson may have been there as well. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">His goal was to find a <strong>direct route</strong> from Europe to Asia. He never found Asia, but he did find the Caribbean Islands, Central America and South America. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Christopher Columbus was the first European to see the coast of <strong>South America</strong>.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana;">Columbus never set foot on <strong>North America</strong>.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Columbus brought <strong>horses</strong> to the New World. They were one of the first European exports to this area of the world.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Natives traded <strong>tabaco</strong> for horses with the Europeans.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">May 20, 1506, <strong>Columbus died</strong> in Spain not realizing he had found a<strong> New World</strong>. He still thought he had found a different path to the Indies. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">For more fun learning about Christopher Columbus:</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> <a href="http://www.babble.com/home/10-best-columbus-day-crafts-for-kids/" target="_blank">Columbus Day Crafts</a> <a href="http://homeschooljourneys.com/columbus-day-printables/" target="_blank">Columbus Day Printables</a></span> </div>
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<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6424966508617495402.post-38022289663360113542015-08-22T14:16:00.003-04:002015-08-22T14:16:49.717-04:0012 Home Schooling Tips from a Seasoned Home School Mom<span style="clear: left; float: left; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img class="s19imgimage" data-reactid=".2.0.0.0" height="132" id="innercomp_txtMedia6eeimgimage" src="http://static.wixstatic.com/media/4dd3a24f28247b71b2d2bc4fc45851e9.jpg_srb_p_675_449_75_22_0.50_1.20_0.00_jpg_srb" style="display: block;" width="200" /></span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">As our last year of home schooling our eldest son begins, I thought I'd write out this list to help others through their home schooling years. Having home schooled preschool through high school, with a few private and public school years intermingled, I've seen and dealt with it all. Here is my advice to others who have the blessing of home schooling their children.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">1. <span style="font-weight: bold;">Treat each kid individually</span>. Just as not all kids thrive in a public school setting, not all kids thrive in a home school setting. We have one child we home schooled 2nd - 8th grade and 11th and now 12th grade. He is the poster child for home schooling as a traditional classroom is too noisy and too disruptive for him. It was also too slow-paced. He was bored out of his mind! Our other child went to an arts-based Montessori preschool through kindergarten. We then home schooled her until 6th grade. Being such a social butterfly, the school setting and being among her peers all day suits her well. She loves doing homework (used to beg for it as a home schooler!), loves her classes and her teachers. For her she thrives better in a classroom setting. School your kids where and how they will thrive best.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">2. <span style="font-weight: bold;">Follow your state's educational standards.</span> Even though you want to dictate what your kids learn and when they learn it, be sure they are on par with your state's educational standards. One never knows what life may bring, so you want them to be prepared properly if they end up having to go to a traditional school. If you follow your state's standards, your child will test at least at grade level when they enter the system.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">3. <span style="font-weight: bold;">Teach your kids cursive writing</span>. Kids need to know how to read and write in cursive. Schools that have pulled away from it are reintroducing it. They must be able to sign their college and mortgage applications some day. It's also helpful for them to be able to read Aunt Martha's note in their birthday card.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">4 <span style="font-weight: bold;">Have your kids take tests</span>. Get your kids taking tests, and more tests. I'm not an advocate of tests showing a person's knowledge on a subject, but if kids are not used to taking tests they will not perform well on them if they have to enter the public school system. They certainly won't test well on the ACT or SAT either if they are not accustomed to taking tests. When they go off to college they will definitely be taking tests. Prepare them well. After all for most of us, aren't we preparing our kids for college?</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">5. <span style="font-weight: bold;">Get your kids involved in other groups besides just home school groups</span>. Get out of your comfort zone. Have the kids mingle, play and associate with other kids outside your home school group(s). Put them on a non-home school sports team. Get them involved in scouts and organizations not associated with your home school group. This gives them more diverse interaction with others and doesn't limit them to one certain group or type of kids. This was something my own son taught me. There are more kids out there within your community that your kids may really enjoy being friends with. Don't limit them. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">6. <span style="font-weight: bold;">Foster each child's individual interests.</span> Whatever they are interested in, run with it! My son couldn't soak up enough science. He loved it, and was good at it, so we fostered it. His home schooling years focused on science topics with English, math and reading added in as unit studies. History was done separate as well as other fun subjects such as art. When he went to high school his science teacher told me he had the most knowledge of science concepts out of any of her advanced students. He is now planning on a career in the medical field. Our daughter spends much of her time on art and loves to draw and paint. We fostered her curriculum with art. She now is in the fine arts track at our local high school. What ever it is that makes your child "tick", foster it. Run with it. Use it to make learning fun for them.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">7. <span style="font-weight: bold;">Take advantage of the co-op classes offered by home school groups in your area.</span> Most areas have home school co-op classes available. This is where groups of parents get together to teach each others' kids. A former English teacher or writer may offer to teach English classes. An artist teaches art classes. This is a great way for kids to learn from some experts. It also gets the kids together with other kids. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">8. <span style="font-weight: bold;">Go on field trips!</span> The more field trips the better. There is no better way for kids to learn than to see and experience what they are learning about first hand. Take advantage of all the places you can go to in your area - historical places, museums, farms, aquariums, nature centers. If you are able to travel, travel for field trips. One of my kids' favorite field trips we ever went on was when were were studying Helen Keller. My son actually taught himself braille. And then he asked to go see the <span style="text-decoration: underline;"><a href="http://helenkellerbirthplace.org/" target="_blank">Helen Keller house</a></span>. Her house is in Alabama! Over 1,000 miles away. But we drove to Tuscumbia, Alabama just to see her house. I was bound and determined to foster that interest! Those kids were so excited to see where that well was where Helen had her big break through. They were able to see first hand how Helen had lived and where she learned. Our greatest memories of home schooling and being together as a family are from all those field trips we went on. These could be yours too.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">9. <span style="font-weight: bold;">Read to your kids!</span> It makes them strong readers and better thinkers. You can introduce the real versions of the classics as soon as your kids are born. Read to them. Read them living books. Read them every book they want read. And once they learn to read, don't stop reading to them. You can always read more advanced books to them than they can read. This is a fantastic way to build their vocabulary. Kids also still love to be read to even after they learn to read themselves. Reading together builds a huge bond among families.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">10. <span style="font-weight: bold;">Follow through.</span> For that child who thrives in your home school environment, don't send them to the wolves just because you may think he/she will miss out on the fun middle school or high school years. Follow through and finish what you set out to do. There is nothing worse than seeing your bright child squashed by the public school system and a 16 year old boy literally crying days on end because he cannot bear another day at school. Spare yourself and your child this. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">11. <span style="font-weight: bold;">Let them know the option to come home is always open</span>. If you put your child in public or private school, keep the option open that they can come back home. Just because you put them in public school does not mean they have to stay there. If it becomes clear that putting them in school was the wrong choice for them, pull them out. Don't make a whirlwind decision right away at the first inkling. See how things progress and you will know if it is right to pull them back home.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">12. <span style="font-weight: bold;">Teach your kids how to take care of themselves.</span> We all want to raise independent adults who can take good care of themselves. Be sure they know how to do their laundry, cook, clean the house properly, manage their money and all other basics of taking care of themselves. Have them make their beds and straighten their rooms each morning. Have them help with making breakfast and lunch - even dinner. They can set the table. Set up a bank account and teach them how to manage it. I made sure that if anything happened to me the kids would be able to take good care of themselves. This will carry them into adulthood. Of course, these learning activities need to be age appropriate. You know your kids and what they are capable of doing. By the age of eight my daughter could whip up an awesome lemon cake! Now by almost the age of 18 I am confident my son will be able to live on his own and survive just fine. After all, isn't raising them into adulthood another of our purposes?</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I certainly hope these tips save you some heart ache and also provide some guidance as you advance through your home school years. Bless you for what you are doing for your children. Enjoy these years with them. They will be the best of your life. And always remember, you know what is best for your kids.</span></div>
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6424966508617495402.post-49192101427283426812015-08-21T10:17:00.000-04:002015-08-21T10:17:13.659-04:00When Did Kids Stop Playing Kick the Can?<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEizDRz7qRFOXryUHspUC9FIV1rGp-P-oOKCqmKNyOJgptsZlW5kwm14bd13t81arWg7Wyzd2-MOrnuito2qVnG9lE2acnwaS0YseJD9watNwtlS2uTMbYwYyrUwObhppNSOs9ALynd6wVsh/s1600/coffee-tin-can-776376.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEizDRz7qRFOXryUHspUC9FIV1rGp-P-oOKCqmKNyOJgptsZlW5kwm14bd13t81arWg7Wyzd2-MOrnuito2qVnG9lE2acnwaS0YseJD9watNwtlS2uTMbYwYyrUwObhppNSOs9ALynd6wVsh/s1600/coffee-tin-can-776376.jpg" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Do you remember playing Kick the Can? Do your kids play kick the can? For some reason, I think my generation may have been the last to have enjoyed this evening past time that kept us busy on hot, summer nights. After dinner, as the sun started to set, every kid on our block, about 20 or so of us, would meet down the block to play. All you needed was one coffee can, which someone stole out of their basement. Moms kept coffee cans for no apparent reason back then, so I'm sure it wasn't missed. This blast of a game didn't cost any of us one penny! The best part of the game was all the noise that can made when someone got to it and kicked it really hard! It's truly amazing what small things amused kids back then!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">How do you play Kick the Can? It's simple.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">~ Gather a group of friends</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">~ Someone needs to bring along an empty coffee can (no lid is needed)</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">~ Select your play area (a large space with lots of bushes, trees, and things to hide behind)</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">~ Put your coffee can in the middle of your play area (this should be an open space)</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">~ Pick someone to be "It" for the first round (volunteers are always nice)</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">~ Whomever is "It" stands by the coffee can, closes his eyes, and counts to 50 or 100 while all the other players hide. When "It" gets to the end of counting he or she shouts really loud so everyone can hear "Ready, or not, here I come!" Then "It" proceeds to look for other players.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">~ When "Its" finds a player, he or she must shout there name and that person must run to the can and kick it really hard. If "It" catches them and tags them then they are out. If the player makes it to the can and kicks it, he or she may hide again while "It" resets the can.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">~ This play continues until there is only one person left to kick the can. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">~ Then the group selects another "It" and you replay for hours and hours of great fun!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana;"><em>*What's even more amazing is we played this not only in the dark, but in the street and the entire neighborhood. We hid in people's bushes, back yards, you name it. And not once did anyone get hurt, hit by a car and most of all yelled by an adult for us being in their yards! People let kids play back then. This was the '70's. If kids were playing Kick the Can on my block tonight, I may just join them!</em></span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6424966508617495402.post-84468541460405681272015-06-21T15:31:00.000-04:002015-10-24T15:33:56.517-04:00Pokémon: Symphonic Evolutions Shows How This Game Has Evolved<div class="font_8">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj1c3ouLwgCBczrHHGGiVNGyIk52Ja9D9_ZU6e9tf9KTdLLsmxkNnDV31FFJDQnOndBrbzNzn1VlSti28mQvw8VYKaie6NwcInZqP9CYpIm1xHnr9dk9wTuJD5sUmdxJWbq7aILVOyvsJnS/s1600/pokemonsymphonic%252C1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj1c3ouLwgCBczrHHGGiVNGyIk52Ja9D9_ZU6e9tf9KTdLLsmxkNnDV31FFJDQnOndBrbzNzn1VlSti28mQvw8VYKaie6NwcInZqP9CYpIm1xHnr9dk9wTuJD5sUmdxJWbq7aILVOyvsJnS/s320/pokemonsymphonic%252C1.jpg" width="240" /></a><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Last night my 17 year old son took me to the symphony at the historic <span style="text-decoration: underline;"><a href="http://www.thechicagotheatre.com/" target="_blank">Chicago Theatre</a></span>. Of course it was <span style="text-decoration: underline;"><a href="http://www.pokemon.com/us/pokemon-symphony/" target="_blank">Pokemon Symphonic Evolutions</a></span>, but it was still the symphony as the Chicago Philharmonic played the music. It was fantastic! </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The entire night was set to music from all the Pokemon games from the past 19 years. Interestingly it appeared that the audience reveered the first set of Pokemon games the most. This was proven by my son's statement "I liked when they played the music from the first games, because those were the first games I played that made me fall in love with Pokemon."</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The audience cheered, yelled and threw out loud comments throughout the performance. Everyone was so excited about the production it was reminicent of being at a Rocky Horror Picture Show. People were dressed in costumes and as previously mentioned really got into the music. When the Chicago Philharmonic played the second to the song the entire audience, except maybe myself, was singing to it. Loudly! No karaoke words required.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">What made this evening so enjoyable was seeing how much my son was enjoying himself. He and everyone in that room have spent their entire lives with Pokemon. In fact I don't think my son remembers life without Pokemon. I don't think I remember him not having a game device in the car as we drove places. Because of that I recognized all the music without ever having played the game!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Another thing that was incredibly interesting was seeing the transformation in the games and even the music in them from 1996 to now with Pokemon X and Y. As the graphics and characters adapted and became more intense so did the accompanying music. The games saw a big transformation in 2013 as graphics in games adapted with technology and more mythology was introduced into Pokemon. The music changed at this time too. The music became more electronica with more power to it.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Did you know Pokemon has motivational quality within the games? I had no idea! It consistently mentions "following your dreams" and the greatest quote from the game is "Make your dream your reality, and it will become your truth." Wow! What a concept! And to teach kids, and adults, that as they play the games is fabulous. Makes me happy my son chose these games to become so involved with rather some others we won't mention.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The show ended with an encore. The last song played,<span style="font-style: italic;"> Kiseki</span>, was a tribute from the composer of the Pokemon music to the game's fans. Again, this song had great meaning to it. I only wish I had been able to write all the words down. The gist of the song was how if there was more love the world would have more peace - we get to live this life together so treasure it. A fitting tribute, especially with what has been going on in Charleston, SC this week.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">If your city has the pleasure of hosting Pokemon: Symphonic Evolutions, I highly recommend attending. Not only will you enjoy yourself, it's a great way to introduce the symphony to the non-symphony goer and you'll definitely learn a thing or two about this iconic game and its characters.</span></div>
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<span style="text-decoration: underline;"><a href="http://www.pokemon.com/us/pokemon-symphony/" target="_blank"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Check out the show schedule here.</span></a></span></div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6424966508617495402.post-66676974765315947472014-02-05T00:32:00.001-05:002014-02-05T00:36:00.187-05:00I Remember the Night the TV Went Down Into the Basement!<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="color: #cc0000;"><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><b>I saw this on Pinterest tonight and boy did it ever strike a chord with me. </b></span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #cc0000;"><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><b>"So please, oh PLEASE, we beg, we pray, go throw your TV set away, and in its place you can install, a lovely bookshelf on the wall."</b></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #cc0000;"><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><b>Kids, I'm sure, are pleading for this very thing to happen whether they know it or not! Why? Because not as much is learned from the TV that you can learn from a book. AND not as much quality family time occurs with the TV than it does from a book. In fact not as much quality family times occurs at all when the TV has control of a household. </b></span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #cc0000;"><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><b>I was the victim of the TV set being thrown away when I was a kid. Actually ours went down into the basement - the scary dark, unfinished basement where every boogie-man imaginable lived" You wanted to watch TV? You went down there to watch it. Do you think we did? Heck, NO!</b></span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #cc0000;"><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><b>I remember that fateful night. My older sisters were "glued" to the TV and clearly not listening to my mother. She finally got fed up and insisted to my father that the "thing" was going downstairs! So dad carried it down to the basement. Did he put it down at the bottom of the stairs? NO! It went in the farthest, backest, darkest corner of the basement! NEVER were we to ever have a TV in that living room ever again. It's over 40 years later now, and I can honestly attest that there is NO TV in that living room STILL!</b></span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #cc0000;"><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><b>As a kid growing up I thought it was just awful that we didn't have a TV to watch. Friends would come over and wonder where it was. If some special event, like the Olympics, or Roots, or the Holocaust was on, we would bring our little 9 inch black and white TV upstairs and watch it. Then it'd have to go downstairs immediately when it was over. </b></span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #cc0000;"><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><b>But as an adult? This just shows me how SMART my mother is! She made sure we had a house with no TV! She made sure we spent time with one another, and that we read, and played board games, and cooked, and gardened. We did everything together except watch TV! </b></span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #cc0000;"><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><b>There are times that, I have to admit, that I have cut off the cable for my own kids cause TV watching was getting out of hand. Life is SO different when you don't have TV controlling your household. So much more gets done. So much more learning, and reading, and crafting, and home cooking, and everything else gets done - TOGETHER!</b></span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #cc0000;"><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><b>So ... is the TV controlling your family? Turn it OFF! Get rid of the cable! Put it in the basement or the garage. Don't know what to do with your kids then? Read them a good book. </b></span></span><br />
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<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6424966508617495402.post-62621341788050621522013-09-22T22:20:00.000-04:002015-06-04T15:12:45.078-04:00Spooky Doodle Fun for Halloween!<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi-FgzyaM_xW4E4dwW3J28uEV8ejViLwyEGy4YzIwBMi0j_eHDhPcyuLXyUPRnk6kP6KB2WTFBDyl_BH1SC70Krr6S4dTKJ6YxHItRhWKg9zPnuc1NXy1CmYMg6LpGeNtenu5zgKee3LSB3/s1600/spookydoodles.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi-FgzyaM_xW4E4dwW3J28uEV8ejViLwyEGy4YzIwBMi0j_eHDhPcyuLXyUPRnk6kP6KB2WTFBDyl_BH1SC70Krr6S4dTKJ6YxHItRhWKg9zPnuc1NXy1CmYMg6LpGeNtenu5zgKee3LSB3/s1600/spookydoodles.jpeg" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><b>Do your kids love to doodle? Do they love Halloween? If they love both, they will have a blast with Usborne's Spooky Doodles (Usborne Activity Cards)<img alt="" border="0" src="http://ir-na.amazon-adsystem.com/e/ir?t=usbornactivi-20&l=as2&o=1&a=1409522830" height="1" style="border: none !important; margin: 0px !important;" width="1" />
activity cards. Set includes 50 wipe-clean cards along with the dry erase pen needed to doodle on the cards. They are two-sided so there are a total of 100 doodle scenes to draw on. As they can be drawn differently every time, the amount of fun is endless! These are also a great item to keep in the car for traveling entertainment.</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><b><br /></b></span>
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><b>Both of my kids love these - especially my son who is more into spooky fun than my daughter. Here's a few he did:</b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><b><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhpvpU5jkT_OKPfXMLkTEte-rRgpUXkWgBhn-imI70XMMX2reRxrQ-g_6W3pKyx8Au6t_R63DqCFduVCnfvAA-TFf2rrb14dCico1MU47D8VcZQ3tFloHsz1wfUJwAgLv2Bh9-p5EiuoP5b/s1600/spookydoodlesdone.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhpvpU5jkT_OKPfXMLkTEte-rRgpUXkWgBhn-imI70XMMX2reRxrQ-g_6W3pKyx8Au6t_R63DqCFduVCnfvAA-TFf2rrb14dCico1MU47D8VcZQ3tFloHsz1wfUJwAgLv2Bh9-p5EiuoP5b/s320/spookydoodlesdone.jpg" width="320" /></a></b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><b><br /></b></span>
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><b>One tip I will share with you ... be sure to wipe the cards clean BEFORE packing them back in the box to put away. </b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><b><a href="http://c2264.myubam.com/p/1540/spooky-doodles" target="_blank"></a><br /></b></span> Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6424966508617495402.post-39765709812040143062013-09-17T12:24:00.001-04:002013-09-17T12:33:11.604-04:00Five Tips to Keep Teens Interested in Reading<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhTIjB3gcJ9Veu9F5-z4PAdKBZ_ZUvqhyphenhyphenUMPP0-CE2wttGc8NOlS49eLu2xCJLpa2oGZKseYxTKVLk3KZ07mjD-KNpesn5Onk5K7ioK391Rj1E6Dk4pMIuoxUv3gTjJyf3W1xkuuHfpeIqG/s1600/literacytipofweek.1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhTIjB3gcJ9Veu9F5-z4PAdKBZ_ZUvqhyphenhyphenUMPP0-CE2wttGc8NOlS49eLu2xCJLpa2oGZKseYxTKVLk3KZ07mjD-KNpesn5Onk5K7ioK391Rj1E6Dk4pMIuoxUv3gTjJyf3W1xkuuHfpeIqG/s320/literacytipofweek.1.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: purple;"><b>Teens nowadays spend very little time reading. Everything they do is all technologized, as I call it. I know that's not a word, but I'm declaring it to be one!</b></span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: purple;"><b><br /></b></span></span>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: purple;"><b>As most teens spend the majority of their time outside of school on their phones and techno contraptions, how do we keep their interest in reading? It's hard in their junior high days, I know! And it gets even harder as they enter the high school years.</b></span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: purple;"><b><br /></b></span></span>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: purple;"><b>Here are five tips to help keep your teen interested in reading:</b></span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: purple;"><b><br /></b></span></span>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: purple;"><b>1. Even though they have to read specific books for school, have them find a great book that interests them outside of school. They can read it on the bus, while eating breakfast, and especially before they go to bed. So many kids loose that love of reading because they are TOLD what to read by their teachers. They don't get to choose a book that is of their own interest, therefore they loose interest in reading all together. Keep them reading books that still fascinate them on a subject matter that intrigues them and you will help them keep that love for reading.</b></span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: purple;"><b><br /></b></span></span>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: purple;"><b>2. Get your teen a subscription to a magazine(s) of their choice. It could be a fashion magazine, art magazine, some kids love science type magazines. Whatever your teen is interested in, that would be a fine magazine to have them receive monthly in the mail. Even if it's a magazine on video games, they WILL read it! </b></span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: purple;"><b><br /></b></span></span>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: purple;"><b>3. Many teens like to know what is going on in the world these days. Reading the newspaper (yes, they still print those!) or reading a news site or blog can keep teens in the know. </b></span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: purple;"><b><br /></b></span></span>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: purple;"><b>4. Anytime you see an article about anything that interests your teen, save it. Whether it is in print or on the computer, cut it out or email/text them the link. By keeping information in front of them that interests them, they will continue to read instead of solely finding information on youtube.</b></span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: purple;"><b><br /></b></span></span>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: purple;"><b>5. It's still ok to read to them! Believe it or not, and they probably won't admit it, but they still love to be read to! Get a good classic, or a good modern novel that you know your teen will love and sit down and read it together. You'd be amazed by the discussion you can develop with your teen, and you just might learn something about that child who no longer wants to talk to you much.</b></span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: purple;"><b><br /></b></span></span>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: purple;"><b>If you have some other tips on keeping teens interested in reading, I'd love for you to share them.</b></span></span><br />
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<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6424966508617495402.post-28846062982214021962013-09-11T16:32:00.004-04:002013-09-11T16:32:55.140-04:00The Boy Who Still Loves To Be Read To<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEii1BgR4-PvmwRJD67iQxszGsCKQSHMNbF0Ry_sa5CXCDTDS1b3Yea9jbKwZdl7ZxzKeQe6Y8NE08n47bRBOyhchEMpGEmWc7S-9IShkRGZnrn-Jca33Im7W_rlJskevCrZcHdKhjoIuS3x/s1600/boywholovestobereadto.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEii1BgR4-PvmwRJD67iQxszGsCKQSHMNbF0Ry_sa5CXCDTDS1b3Yea9jbKwZdl7ZxzKeQe6Y8NE08n47bRBOyhchEMpGEmWc7S-9IShkRGZnrn-Jca33Im7W_rlJskevCrZcHdKhjoIuS3x/s1600/boywholovestobereadto.jpg" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="color: #660000;"><b>My daughter still LOVES to be read to at night before bed. We read a lot of non-fiction science and history along with longer picture books and a chapter from a classic. I did the same with my son when he was younger. We read and read and read. Reading time was his favorite part of the day. It used to be that even though he thought he was too old to be read to any more, he would still come in and sit on his sister's bed when I started reading. He still wanted to be a part of reading time. Well, now that he is in high school, he doesn't dare join in on reading time - "That's for kids" he says. </b></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="color: #660000;"><b>But I will tell you this! The door to his room is right by the door to my daughter's room. I have noticed that he makes sure his door is open at reading time. I also have noticed that he pipes in and makes all sorts of comments about what we are reading! He expounds on the non-fiction topics at hand so as to teach his sister a bit more about what is in the book. He also comments on the fiction. So ha! He still enjoys reading time! He still loves to be read to just as he always has. He just doesn't want to admit it! I truly think and hope that some of my children's fondest childhood memories will be of us reading together.</b></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="color: #660000;"><b><br /></b></span></span>
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="color: #660000;"><b>Read to your children EVERY night! Read to them no matter if they can read on their own or not, and read to them no matter how old they are. Read four or five smaller books or pages from non-fiction books on subjects that interest them. You can even read to them about a topic that you would like for them to learn more about. Not only are they learning and developing stronger reading skills, you are building a bond between you and your child that will never be broken. </b></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="color: #660000;"><b>Happy Reading!</b></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="color: #660000;"><b>Kristie</b></span></span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6424966508617495402.post-39943701603011319592013-09-05T14:16:00.003-04:002015-06-04T15:12:12.989-04:00The Usborne Human Body Sticker Book is a Fun Way for Kids to Reinforce Learning About the Body<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://c2264.myubam.com/p/2335/human-body-sticker-book-ir" target="_blank"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg_9_Z2d-HVARswv0NYAdP6l1VygvhIMDBKk0X1GoePqD1dpjXoXQi_joXcRJAGLgbF7qVoiCrDcxsccGRmmJEvnY9GILsHhXrfCm9Bvr3bMug_lQ2F-MkBu3fIelfSteb-cZjqYkBaAmmm/s1600/humanbodystickerbook.jpeg" /></a></div>
<span style="color: #351c75;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><b>The Usborne Human Body Sticker Book is a fantastic way to teach kids about they body. It's also a fun tool to supplement with what your child is learning in his/her science or health class. With true Usborne style, this book has snippets of an incredible amount of information on each page. Having stickers to use after each topic that they learn helps to reinforce everything their brain has just taken in. There is also a glossary at the back that defines each term in a concise format for memorization. It even includes terms for the body parts in Latin and Greek.</b></span></span><br />
<span style="color: #351c75;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><b><br /></b></span></span>
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjYfY6ROZGLgXd9pSNlI8SSZrk5YAmruuIRylIQNFtPmTSe-hEqS1RRPq9flAryV43wktpfNTZvJF1xRzy9T0czmvTXtP_Odfktf-u27mBrODu7Y0Y1OFNyWNtLCc2be5jq530K5MQ2MoXa/s1600/humanbodystickerbook.1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="239" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjYfY6ROZGLgXd9pSNlI8SSZrk5YAmruuIRylIQNFtPmTSe-hEqS1RRPq9flAryV43wktpfNTZvJF1xRzy9T0czmvTXtP_Odfktf-u27mBrODu7Y0Y1OFNyWNtLCc2be5jq530K5MQ2MoXa/s320/humanbodystickerbook.1.jpg" width="320" /></a><span style="color: #351c75;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><b>We just used this book this week. My daughter is learning about cell structure in science right now. After she had studied this topic in school and BEFORE she took her final test on the subject, I had her work on the <i>Looking Closer</i> and <i>The Secret in Cells</i> pages. It reiterated many of the facts that I knew were going to be on her test, especially that Robert Hooke discovered cells in 1665. One full page is devoted to what is inside a cell. As I knew she would have to diagram and know each definition of what constructs a cell, this was a very useful review for her. Having stickers of each major cell part to match into the diagram of the cell is not only a visual, but also kinetic learning activity. My daughter said this actually helped her as she was able to visually remember putting those stickers on the smaller cell parts.</b></span></span><br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEicrVA90nOUzNYwxosDsTHWWLxfD4ijDPI0wkgmcvi8iNNiXQYgMBjpvp5XBewXi3zbPSFwNgM-NJEsirsgUbWYc0kR1OE4cJLAbg9xERSlNuGz5dT1FQMkfgJkbg1wZP_5xolcFuSLj5F-/s1600/humanbodystickerbook.2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEicrVA90nOUzNYwxosDsTHWWLxfD4ijDPI0wkgmcvi8iNNiXQYgMBjpvp5XBewXi3zbPSFwNgM-NJEsirsgUbWYc0kR1OE4cJLAbg9xERSlNuGz5dT1FQMkfgJkbg1wZP_5xolcFuSLj5F-/s320/humanbodystickerbook.2.jpg" width="239" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The stickers for Looking Closer and The Secret in the Cell pages.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="color: #351c75;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><b>I hope The Usborne Human Body Sticker Book will be a big help to you, and I am sure your children will enjoy learning with it.</b></span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #351c75;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><b>Happy Studying! </b></span></span><br />
<a href="http://c2264.myubam.com/p/2335/human-body-sticker-book-ir" target="_blank"><span style="color: #351c75;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><b><br /></b></span></span></a>
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<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6424966508617495402.post-62149104303936005952013-09-03T10:00:00.000-04:002013-09-03T10:00:01.109-04:00Butterfly Snack Bags<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg1Ko1QXczyQ2tdqC1WSOwz7gHPoqBa6-kdAmks_H3ZEnSu1FCXG6V2txBq018iyspw15grb4huKp2Iv-4jUj2d_nGQznFa8PAp3qEPwdn77ZHE8eoL_W4xIBXePjSeDB5ZyEs5mSbmV-3G/s1600/butterflysnacks.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="212" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg1Ko1QXczyQ2tdqC1WSOwz7gHPoqBa6-kdAmks_H3ZEnSu1FCXG6V2txBq018iyspw15grb4huKp2Iv-4jUj2d_nGQznFa8PAp3qEPwdn77ZHE8eoL_W4xIBXePjSeDB5ZyEs5mSbmV-3G/s320/butterflysnacks.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<h4 class="uiStreamMessage userContentWrapper" data-ft="{"type":1,"tn":"K"}">
<span style="color: purple;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span class="messageBody" data-ft="{"type":3}"><span class="userContent"><b><span style="font-weight: normal;"><b>How cute would it be for your child to find these in their lunch bag or on their after school snack plate?!? They also make a fun take home craft for any children's activity where a craft is needed. They are so simple to make!</b><br /> </span></b><span class="text_exposed_show"><b><span style="font-weight: normal;"><br /> <b>Supplies:</b></span></b></span></span></span></span></span></h4>
<ul>
<li><span style="color: purple;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><b><span class="messageBody" data-ft="{"type":3}"><span class="userContent"><span class="text_exposed_show"> Clothespins</span></span></span></b></span></span></li>
<li><span style="color: purple;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><b><span class="messageBody" data-ft="{"type":3}"><span class="userContent"><span class="text_exposed_show"> Snack size zip lock bags</span></span></span> </b></span></span></li>
<li><span style="color: purple;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><b>Googly eyes</b></span></span></li>
<li><span style="color: purple;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><b>Pipe cleaners</b></span></span></li>
<li><span style="color: purple;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><b>Glue</b></span></span></li>
<li><span style="color: purple;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><b>Paint, glitter glue, puffy paint, marker</b></span></span></li>
</ul>
<h4 class="uiStreamMessage userContentWrapper" data-ft="{"type":1,"tn":"K"}">
<span style="color: purple;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span class="messageBody" data-ft="{"type":3}"><span class="userContent"><span class="text_exposed_show"> Snacks: </span></span></span></span></span></h4>
<ul>
<li><span style="color: purple;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><b><span class="messageBody" data-ft="{"type":3}"><span class="userContent"><span class="text_exposed_show">Goldfish crackers </span></span></span></b></span></span></li>
<li><span style="color: purple;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><b><span class="messageBody" data-ft="{"type":3}"><span class="userContent"><span class="text_exposed_show">Dried fruit</span></span></span></b></span></span></li>
<li><span style="color: purple;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><b><span class="messageBody" data-ft="{"type":3}"><span class="userContent"><span class="text_exposed_show">Cereal</span></span></span></b></span></span></li>
<li><span style="color: purple;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><b><span class="messageBody" data-ft="{"type":3}"><span class="userContent"><span class="text_exposed_show">Grapes</span></span></span></b></span></span></li>
<li><span style="color: purple;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><b><span class="messageBody" data-ft="{"type":3}"><span class="userContent"><span class="text_exposed_show">Trail mix</span></span></span></b></span></span></li>
<li><span style="color: purple;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><b><span class="messageBody" data-ft="{"type":3}"><span class="userContent"><span class="text_exposed_show">Blueberries</span></span></span></b></span></span></li>
<li><span style="color: purple;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><b><span class="messageBody" data-ft="{"type":3}"><span class="userContent"><span class="text_exposed_show">Any other snack you may wish to use </span></span></span></b></span></span></li>
</ul>
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<span style="color: purple;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span class="messageBody" data-ft="{"type":3}"><span class="userContent"><span class="text_exposed_show"> </span></span></span></span></span><span style="color: purple;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span class="messageBody" data-ft="{"type":3}"><span class="userContent"><span class="text_exposed_show">Directions:</span></span></span></span></span></h4>
<h4>
<span style="color: purple;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span class="messageBody" data-ft="{"type":3}"><span class="userContent"><span class="text_exposed_show">
For each bag, decorate one side of a clothespin with paint,
puffy paint, glitter glue or marker. Glue two small googly eyes near the
gripping end of the clothespin. Let the glue dry.</span></span></span></span></span></h4>
<h4>
<span style="color: purple;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span class="messageBody" data-ft="{"type":3}"><span class="userContent"><span class="text_exposed_show"> </span></span></span></span></span></h4>
<h4>
<span style="color: purple;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span class="messageBody" data-ft="{"type":3}"><span class="userContent"><span class="text_exposed_show"> Put the
snack into a snack-size zip lock bag until it's a little over half full.
The Butterfly Snack Bags pictured above are filled with half the bag with goldfish and the other half of the bag with grapes. Seal
the bag, cinch the middle with your fingers, and clip it with the
clothespin.</span></span></span></span></span></h4>
<h4>
<span style="color: purple;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span class="messageBody" data-ft="{"type":3}"><span class="userContent"><span class="text_exposed_show"> </span></span></span></span></span></h4>
<h4>
<span style="color: purple;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span class="messageBody" data-ft="{"type":3}"><span class="userContent"><span class="text_exposed_show"> Next, fold down or curl the tips of a 6-inch length of
pipe cleaner, then bend the entire piece in half. Clip the pipe cleaner
in the clothespin.</span></span></span></span></span></h4>
<span style="color: purple;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><b>Wallah! Tasty fun treat, easy fun craft!</b></span></span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6424966508617495402.post-9817959726846179732013-09-02T16:32:00.002-04:002015-06-04T15:13:47.568-04:00The Usborne Book of Drawng, Doodling and Coloring Fashion Will Inspire Any Child to be a Fashion Designer<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjK8MQbx0VFnZx6mmBiCJD_EQMnSZdHvc76ss6qMd4hxfDvW9cqOILw-AaLWllNybeTQMLKTplUKQwGvH1AWA9lpiYNcMabB6Vk4eU383xjBFxkvirinMgguXLz4gvPFaRyF9G-kmgpN9gT/s1600/coloringfashion.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjK8MQbx0VFnZx6mmBiCJD_EQMnSZdHvc76ss6qMd4hxfDvW9cqOILw-AaLWllNybeTQMLKTplUKQwGvH1AWA9lpiYNcMabB6Vk4eU383xjBFxkvirinMgguXLz4gvPFaRyF9G-kmgpN9gT/s1600/coloringfashion.jpeg" /></a></div>
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<span style="color: #a64d79;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><b>Do you have a budding fashion designer on your hands? If so, <a href="http://lilyslicorice.blogspot.com/2008/09/top-10-barack-obama-jokes.html" target="_blank">The Usborne Book of Drawing, Doodling and Coloring Fashion</a> could be right up their alley!</b></span></span><br />
<span style="color: #a64d79;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><b><br /></b></span></span>
<span style="color: #a64d79;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><b>This book contains pages upon pages of different activities all geared around fashion design:</b></span></span><br />
<ul>
<li><span style="color: #a64d79;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><b>Create your own patterns</b></span></span></li>
<li><span style="color: #a64d79;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><b>Dress the designer dolls</b></span></span></li>
<li><span style="color: #a64d79;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><b>Design some party make up for models</b></span></span></li>
<li><span style="color: #a64d79;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><b>Imagine a feature in a fashion magazine</b></span></span></li>
<li><span style="color: #a64d79;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><b>Design hats</b></span></span></li>
<li><span style="color: #a64d79;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><b>Embellish jewelry</b></span></span></li>
<li><span style="color: #a64d79;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><b>Coordinate a fashion show</b></span></span></li>
<li><span style="color: #a64d79;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><b>Decorate prom dresses</b></span></span></li>
<li><span style="color: #a64d79;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><b>Design shoes</b></span></span></li>
<li><span style="color: #a64d79;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><b>And tons more!</b></span></span></li>
</ul>
<span style="color: #a64d79;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><b>This is my favorite page:</b></span></span><br />
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<b><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjd5KX4navYXpfhoWuDUK79AX-zUDImTjkHx9xbSd3kSCqgE9bR7pgLEeSn5I7DDmp7R8pCZrHFVOsHuvTHHTyWPZkTO9TlsQHFrBdPIWZ6l4cZk2uSDSJvCVxmbm0lYtB7iBIjQcH4wcP1/s1600/coloringfashion.1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjd5KX4navYXpfhoWuDUK79AX-zUDImTjkHx9xbSd3kSCqgE9bR7pgLEeSn5I7DDmp7R8pCZrHFVOsHuvTHHTyWPZkTO9TlsQHFrBdPIWZ6l4cZk2uSDSJvCVxmbm0lYtB7iBIjQcH4wcP1/s320/coloringfashion.1.jpg" width="240" /></a></b></div>
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<span style="color: #a64d79;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><b>Simply provide crayons, colored pencils, markers and pens and your designer will be off creating all sort of fashion. My daughter spent hours working on every page of this book. She even asked for a second one when she was done so she could make more of everything in a different way. Just like real fashion designers do.</b></span></span><br />
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6424966508617495402.post-65561986838405040692013-08-29T11:07:00.000-04:002013-08-29T11:08:44.449-04:00It's Back to School Time ~ Make Homework Time More Enjoyable with Usborne Books' Homework Helpers<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjhojF1HvNmKEIUzX352S4ezdjJyscU7jR2y_3Vx0g53VXAn3tZ8URsxEFFKeVqJybXY9bMTqJsM8vjDzzJowzF8hXjSAjiW6Ide-676kJHr8HzWm6na5OxvDUygL9u9xVplaAWk3iW4pb-/s1600/usbornebacktoschool.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="118" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjhojF1HvNmKEIUzX352S4ezdjJyscU7jR2y_3Vx0g53VXAn3tZ8URsxEFFKeVqJybXY9bMTqJsM8vjDzzJowzF8hXjSAjiW6Ide-676kJHr8HzWm6na5OxvDUygL9u9xVplaAWk3iW4pb-/s320/usbornebacktoschool.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<span style="color: #666666;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><b>It's back to school time which means it's back to homework time. Even I, the parent, need resources to be able to help my children with their homework. Usborne Books provides a great array of books to help!</b></span></span><br />
<span style="color: #666666;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><b><br /></b></span></span>
<span style="color: #666666;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><b>I am going to go over the books pictured above and then add a few of my own that I used frequently with my children.</b></span></span><br />
<span style="color: #666666;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><b><br /></b></span></span>
<a href="http://c2264.myubam.com/search?q=grammar+and+punctuation" target="_blank"><span style="color: #666666;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><b>Grammar and Punctuation</b></span></span>:</a> <span style="color: #666666;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><b>This is a set of wipe-clean cards that will reinforce grammar and punctuation skills that are learned in school. Or if you are a home school family, this set is a great teaching and reinforcement set for those learning grammar and punctuation. Makes for a fun way to learn and review rather than just on paper. At only $9.99, these are well worth it. They also come with their own dry erase pen.</b></span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #666666;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><b><a href="http://c2264.myubam.com/p/1048/solar-system-ir" target="_blank">The Solar System:</a> This is part of <a href="http://c2264.myubam.com/search?q=beginners+series" target="_blank">Usborne's Beginners Series</a>. I had to use this book last year to help my daughter with a project she was working on with the solar system. Any of the books in this series are a great help. They are internet related which means there are web links in the back of the book that help reinforce the information learned in the text of the book.</b></span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #666666;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><b><a href="http://c2264.myubam.com/search?q=what%27s+math+all+about" target="_blank">What's Math All About:</a> For ages 8 and up. This book explains more about the principals of math and mathematicians. I highly recommend the Illustrated Dictionaries of Math for homework help instead. They go much more into the principals and problem solving of math concepts. There are three different ones for three different levels: </b></span></span><br />
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<ul>
<li><a href="http://c2264.myubam.com/p/1358/first-illustrated-math-dictionary" target="_blank"><b>First Illustrated Dictionary of Math</b></a> <span style="color: #666666;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><b>For ages 6 and up</b></span></span></li>
<li><b><a href="http://c2264.myubam.com/p/751/illustrated-elementary-math-dictionary-ir" target="_blank">Illustrated Elementary Math Dictionary</a></b> <span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><b><span style="color: #666666;">For ages 8 and up</span></b></span></li>
<li><a href="http://c2264.myubam.com/p/419/illustrated-dictionary-of-math-ir" target="_blank"><b>Illustrated Dictionary of Math</b></a> <span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><b><span style="color: #666666;">For ages 12 and up</span></b></span></li>
</ul>
<span style="color: #666666;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><b>I have used these books more than any other for math homework help and for teaching my children math concepts back when we were homeschooling. Every home with kids in it needs these books. There is a set of all three available: <a href="http://c2264.myubam.com/p/1404/complete-math-collection-3" target="_blank">Complete Math Collection</a>.</b></span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #666666;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><b><a href="http://c2264.myubam.com/p/97/going-to-school" target="_blank">Going to School:</a> This is an Usborne First Experiences dual reader that is a great read aloud to explain to kids what to expect when they start school. Illustrated by Stephen Cartwright, there is a little yellow duck to find on every page.</b></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><b><span style="color: #666666;"><a href="http://c2264.myubam.com/p/513/illustrated-dictionary-of-science" target="_blank">Dictionary of Science:</a> For ages 12 and up. This is a fantastic reference guide for biology, physics and chemistry. This is another book that every household with school aged children need to have. I cannot tell you how many times we used it last year for my child's science class homework - almost every day!</span></b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><b><span style="color: #666666;">Essential Atlas of the World: This book is shown in the picture, however it is being updated at this time. A much better book for Geography homework help is <a href="http://c2264.myubam.com/p/933/geography-encyclopedia-il" target="_blank">Usborne's Geography Encyclopedia with Complete World Atlas</a>. I used this book a lot when we were homeschooling. And it is an essential reference text to have at home. It covers cultures, and all geographical topics around the globe. There is also a very extensive atlas at the back of the book which we used a lot for my daughter last year for her map assignments. The book itself was so much easier for her to use than to try and find and look at maps online.</span></b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><b><span style="color: #666666;">There are two other reference books that I want to share with you. Both will be utilized a lot for homework help for grades fifth on up through high school. If you have children in these grade spans I highly recommend having these in hand. They will save your day all the time!</span></b></span><br />
<a href="http://c2264.myubam.com/p/59/encyclopedia-of-world-history-il-cv-reduced-format" target="_blank"><br /></a>
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><b><span style="color: #666666;"><a href="http://c2264.myubam.com/p/59/encyclopedia-of-world-history-il-cv-reduced-format" target="_blank">The Usborne Encyclopedia of World History:</a> This text covers world history from the Big Bang on up through the year 2000. It is internet-linked which means that each page of the book has topics online that correspond. This is so helpful for those working on a history project for school. And for you parents, it's absolutely fascinating to read!</span></b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><b><span style="color: #666666;"><br /></span></b></span>
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><b><span style="color: #666666;"><a href="http://c2264.myubam.com/p/961/science-encyclopedia-il-cv-reduced-size" target="_blank">The Usborne Science Encyclopedia:</a> This text covers just about every science subject your child will learn in school from fifth grade on up through high school. A must have for science help and great for science projects. This book is internet-linked too. My son has used it for all of his science fair projects.</span></b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span style="color: #666666;"><b>Both the history and science encyclopedias are available in paperback and hardback. I recommend the hardback as you will use these books a lot! Also, all three of the internet encyclopedias, geography, history and science are available in a very affordable set: <a href="http://c2264.myubam.com/p/2636/internet-linked-reference-collection-3" target="_blank">Internet-Linked Reference Collection</a>.</b></span></span><br />
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<b><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgXG4Ml_gBs-O7gbXy641b9A4DTm2-poXwo0HGLK7o9UybZ5AJi4dzKfcF18KQrMXIhWKWl9p4e1wvS81294-y1uEazXzEeYgTcjyuXeHzOs_r1hBEHC835is9az3Aowxgdl08U-caV9WzU/s1600/referenceset.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgXG4Ml_gBs-O7gbXy641b9A4DTm2-poXwo0HGLK7o9UybZ5AJi4dzKfcF18KQrMXIhWKWl9p4e1wvS81294-y1uEazXzEeYgTcjyuXeHzOs_r1hBEHC835is9az3Aowxgdl08U-caV9WzU/s1600/referenceset.jpeg" /></a></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span style="color: #666666;"><b>Having these books I've gone over on hand will make for a much more enjoyable homework time!</b></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span style="color: #666666;"><b><br /></b></span></span>
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span style="color: #666666;"><b>Happy Homework! (is there really such a thing?)</b></span></span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6424966508617495402.post-46810298164226217872013-08-27T23:41:00.000-04:002013-08-28T00:05:01.113-04:00Wordless Wednesday ~ Reading to Abby the Therapy Dog Helps Shy Boy<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjXhaF4kH5vdjGDxL5EeU3CfYuwNEZ4-eIXfk9EhhPFVIgIYeb9-Dtp1Pht5l0oJtZb_5bA5yLAez-DUwKSz3BamrB5iCU5_iFaHzEPxkmjwfHgW_ommjDaXAbIJd58S3U3PvUF45ipOUHl/s1600/Abby-the-reading-dog.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjXhaF4kH5vdjGDxL5EeU3CfYuwNEZ4-eIXfk9EhhPFVIgIYeb9-Dtp1Pht5l0oJtZb_5bA5yLAez-DUwKSz3BamrB5iCU5_iFaHzEPxkmjwfHgW_ommjDaXAbIJd58S3U3PvUF45ipOUHl/s320/Abby-the-reading-dog.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><b>LINKING TO:</b></span> <br />
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<a href="http://www.wordlesswednesday.com/" target="_blank">Wordless Wednesday</a><a href="http://www.blogger.com/null"> </a><br />
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<a href="http://www.create-with-joy.com/" target="_blank">Create With Joy</a> </center>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6424966508617495402.post-77048501042569539162013-08-23T14:06:00.003-04:002013-08-23T14:06:59.616-04:00What I Learned About Leonard da Vinci Today During My Kids' Art Class<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEisBBkP7zUlXXn3aDLTNCQeWPVAuKyTuyP_Eb2qbMTnYvldZkQu7q29VykAqYB6uV6Tp5NAqvV-81ExBneDU3x-1-nJkcAco1Y0zhNpB1J9ECqTu0fucaP40v7WQ_yAINOMu_1s3eizoblS/s1600/davinci.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEisBBkP7zUlXXn3aDLTNCQeWPVAuKyTuyP_Eb2qbMTnYvldZkQu7q29VykAqYB6uV6Tp5NAqvV-81ExBneDU3x-1-nJkcAco1Y0zhNpB1J9ECqTu0fucaP40v7WQ_yAINOMu_1s3eizoblS/s1600/davinci.jpg" /></a></div>
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<span style="color: #783f04;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><b>Although my kids officially go to public school now, they had asked me to continue to teach them subjects and topics that they weren't learning in school. That makes me very happy as they shared with me that they miss our "learning time" together - which tells me I definitely did something right during those eight years of homeschooling.</b></span></span><br />
<span style="color: #783f04;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><b><br /></b></span></span>
<span style="color: #783f04;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><b>So today we started our Art History studies. I am using Usborne's <a href="http://c2264.myubam.com/p/1317/famous-artists-il" target="_blank">Famous Artists</a> book for this. The book starts with Giotto, however the kids asked for me to start with an artist they were more familiar with. I knew who they wanted (da Vinci, of course), but I had them select between da Vinci and Michelangelo. Guess who they picked?!? You guessed it! Leonard da Vinci!</b></span></span><br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjcE0zueogNfIqs-HS7XPAIyAuYZu1JZi3x-RJxb5RUTIN68RrtuNYIReA5A32Mq0_HxUHVC2UtKzIeJXAoouT1xNIFRi7TLXRuAfWgfiADAzxn8WyAoeyjcC2MZ6Br2jK2FBfqx-YlKp8E/s1600/famousartists.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjcE0zueogNfIqs-HS7XPAIyAuYZu1JZi3x-RJxb5RUTIN68RrtuNYIReA5A32Mq0_HxUHVC2UtKzIeJXAoouT1xNIFRi7TLXRuAfWgfiADAzxn8WyAoeyjcC2MZ6Br2jK2FBfqx-YlKp8E/s1600/famousartists.jpeg" /></a><span style="color: #783f04;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><b><br /></b></span></span>
<span style="color: #783f04;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><b>Having studied art history in college, I have been a huge fan of da Vinci for most of my life! The kids, therefore, have probably been taught more about him than any of the other artists. Now that they are bit older, I am going to change that. And now that we live in Chicago, we can visit the Chicago Art Institute and see some great paintings - LIVE!</b></span></span><br />
<a href="http://c2264.myubam.com/p/1317/famous-artists-il" target="_blank"><span style="color: #783f04;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><b><br /></b></span></span>
</a><span style="color: #783f04;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><b><a href="http://c2264.myubam.com/p/1317/famous-artists-il" target="_blank">The Usborne Book of Famous Artists</a> is great as it gives just enough information, two to four pages worth, to whet anyone's appetite to learn more about the artist presented. Usborne is known for presenting accurate information along with not so well-known information. I was shocked as I read the four pages on da Vinci to my kids that there were some facts about him that either I didn't know already, or I simply had forgotten over time. I'm sure the later is probably the case. </b></span></span><br />
<span style="color: #783f04;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><b><br /></b></span></span>
<span style="color: #783f04;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><b>Here are those new or old found facts on Leonardo da Vinci:</b></span></span><br />
<span style="color: #783f04;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><b><br /></b></span></span>
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<ul>
<li><span style="color: #783f04;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><b>I knew da Vinci kept lots of notes and sketches in journals on his studies, but did you know that he wrote in reversed form and from right to left on the pages? </b></span></span></li>
<li><span style="color: #783f04;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><b>He was so busy coming up with new ideas that he often abandoned his paintings before finishing them. There are only about 10 actually finished da Vinci paintings today. I personally think he got bored and decided not to finish. How many of us have started projects and not finished?</b></span></span></li>
<li><span style="color: #783f04;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><b>Leonardo was born in the village of Vinci. Hence the name "Leonardo of Vinci"! I'm sure that is a fact that got lost in my brain somewhere.</b></span></span></li>
<li><span style="color: #783f04;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><b>It is common knowledge that da Vinci designed military equipment, but did you know he also designed defensive buildings?</b></span></span></li>
<li><span style="color: #783f04;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><b>In his last three years of life Leonardo, the French king offered him to move to France and he gave him a grand salary and even a castle to live in. I never knew this, but it is said that da Vinci died in the arms of the French king.</b></span></span></li>
</ul>
<span style="color: #783f04;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><b>Now that we have that short yet interesting introduction, we can move on to other information about Leonardo da Vinci not only as an artist but also as an inventor. </b></span></span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6424966508617495402.post-5661799561712907002013-08-21T15:38:00.004-04:002013-08-21T15:38:48.476-04:00Usborne Books / EDC Educational Services ~ An Endorsing Partner of Common Core State Standards<br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><b><a href="https://www.usborneactivities.com/" target="_blank">Usborne Books / </a><span style="font-size: small;"><a href="https://www.usborneactivities.com/" target="_blank">EDC Educational Services</a> provides K-12 supplemental
materials to support Common Core State
Standards (CCSS). ALL of Usborne
and Kane Miller titles support the standards.</span></b></span>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><b><span style="font-size: small;">As an endorsing partner of CCSS, <a href="http://www.usborneactivities.com/" target="_blank">Usborne Books / EDC Educational Services</a> makes it easy for schools and families to choose books to help educate
their children, both at school and at home. Some
topics mandated by these standards include myths, stories from around
the world, and informational text.</span></b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><b><span style="font-size: small;"><strong>The following collections are available through <a href="http://www.usborneactivities.com/" target="_blank">Usborne Books / EDC Educational Services</a> to support the Common Core State Standards:</strong></span></b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><b></b><b><a href="http://c2264.myubam.com/p/2650/foundational-skills-collection-41" target="_blank"><span style="color: #660066;"><strong>Foundational Skills Collection</strong></span></a> — Includes 41 phonics based hardback and library bound titles to encourage
Phonological Awareness and Phonics/Word Recognition. </b></span><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><b><span style="font-size: small;">Allows
students to recognize distinguishing features of the sentence as
described in the Common Core State Standards.</span></b></span><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><b><span style="font-size: small;"> Included in the collection are Usborne's Phonics Readers and one each of the Very First Reading and First Reading sets. </span></b></span><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"></span><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><b>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><b></b></span><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"></span><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><b><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: #660066;"><strong><a href="http://c2264.myubam.com/p/2651/literature-myths-and-stories-collection-15" target="_blank">Myths and Stories Collection for Literataure</a> </strong></span>— Fifteen hardback and library bound titles allow students to
recount stories as suggested in Common Core State Standards including
fables, folktales and myths from diverse cultures including GREEK MYTHS and SHAKESPEARE
for all ages.</span></b></span><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"></span>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><b><span style="color: #660066;"><strong><a href="http://c2264.myubam.com/p/2652/literature-picture-books-collection-54" target="_blank">Picture Book Collection for Literature</a> </strong></span>—Includes 54 hardback and library picture book editions including many award winning titles from around the world. Popular titles include: Boom, Bah!, On the Moon, Kali and the Rat Snake, One Night in the Zoo, SoSu's Call, The Big Little Book of Happy Sadness, While We Were Out and Wilfred Gordon McDonald Partridge just to name a few.</b></span></div>
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collection includes 78 hardback library bound titles to encourage
students to read informational text as suggested in the Common Core
State Standards. Includes many titles from Usborne's non-fiction and internet-linked titles series such as The Discovery Series, First Encyclopedias, Beginners Series and much more.</span></b></span>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><b><span style="font-size: small;"><em>As your Educational Consultant, please contact me for further information or to place an order at:</em></span></b></span></div>
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6424966508617495402.post-70323111811201656142013-08-20T15:06:00.001-04:002013-08-20T15:06:11.721-04:00Sparrows, by Hans Post & Kees Heij ~ Such a Delightful Book to Teach Kids about Sparrows<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiKUgYB9YHSeZMnhYidmIDd86CM3aFZCwd3Y24Hj8inLIYk5QJmgML2x17kpM0dPOfKXWCBM_I7bqkO5Sgyoui2l5Ix_exrE6Ay-3vNgQb8Nj-6zWrt54q5YiQ6v73WZfUo6rH3sk8s09jE/s1600/sparrows.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiKUgYB9YHSeZMnhYidmIDd86CM3aFZCwd3Y24Hj8inLIYk5QJmgML2x17kpM0dPOfKXWCBM_I7bqkO5Sgyoui2l5Ix_exrE6Ay-3vNgQb8Nj-6zWrt54q5YiQ6v73WZfUo6rH3sk8s09jE/s320/sparrows.jpg" width="255" /></a></div>
<span style="color: #783f04;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><b>I found this book at the library the other day. Since we just moved up north from down south I thought it'd give the kids an understanding of the sparrows that we find nesting here. We didn't have these birds flying around our house down south. Down there we had a lot of doves and cardinals in our yard - not to mention a very LOUD woodpecker!</b></span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #783f04;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><b>To my amazement, this is going to become one of my favorite books! The kids loved it so, and it really taught about what these sparrows do here. I myself learned quite a bit just in the first few pages! For instance, I didn't know that sparrows are not native to North America. They came over with the early settlers.</b></span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #783f04;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><b>The illustrations by Irene Goede, are spot on in depicting the life of these fine sparrow birds. I grew up in the north and remember all the baby sparrows that would be in the nests in spring. Goede's illustrations of the baby birdies with their mouths open is exactly how they are! Her illustrations are so life-like!</b></span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #783f04;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><b>The book starts out as we would expect with the baby sparrows hatching from their eggs. It goes on about how mama bird takes care of her young and what the birds do throughout the year. It is so well done and even takes kids to various places where sparrows will build their nests. We always laughed at the silly birds who built their nests in the lighted letters of the Food Lion grocery store sign. And here in this book the sparrows are shown having a nest in a lighted store sign because it keeps them warm. Smart birdies!!</b></span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #783f04;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><b>At the back of the book the authors share about how the sparrows came to North America back in the 1850's. They also have a list of facts about the sparrow. The fact we found most interesting was that "a sparrow can weigh as much as seven sugar cubes." As much? Doesn't sound like much at all!</b></span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #783f04;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><b>I highly recommend finding this book to read to your children. Not only will the kids enjoy it, you will enjoy it too!</b></span></span><br />
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<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6424966508617495402.post-35838059437181692382013-08-19T16:24:00.001-04:002013-08-19T16:24:35.379-04:00Usborne Books Celebrates 35 years of Stephen Cartwright Illustrations<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi70MNhLr9A2HL10jEqGX9AIOmZ5ISJWwgYcwRLlPsfqKFy7bo49r-yd4FdH-64BojutRNKJ5Um8Dy7ZKneKllrXWFDOToI2BeSdrBo0bkmOJR_hvAoDY6X2NS3NU75fwaLwsyhZCsSr75o/s1600/stephencartwright35.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="117" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi70MNhLr9A2HL10jEqGX9AIOmZ5ISJWwgYcwRLlPsfqKFy7bo49r-yd4FdH-64BojutRNKJ5Um8Dy7ZKneKllrXWFDOToI2BeSdrBo0bkmOJR_hvAoDY6X2NS3NU75fwaLwsyhZCsSr75o/s320/stephencartwright35.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<span style="color: #cc0000;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><b>I have to admit it myself. I love the duck! Stephen Cartwright was brilliant when he designed the little yellow duck that you have to find on every single one of <a href="http://c2264.myubam.com/search?q=farmyard+tales" target="_blank">Usborne's Farmyard Tales books</a>. That duck is my children's favorite aspect of Usborne Books and it will stay with them forever, as it does with so many of the children who grew up with the Cartwright duck.</b></span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #cc0000;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><b>For those who are scratching their heads wondering what the heck is the Cartwright duck? Well here he is!</b></span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #cc0000;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><b><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhv8D6Edh2Iqp9KiTstm328QJRvh2rg82CKa9gx2in1s4b6pIKyXXtcLYasKMFfPqN0jFyFivXTHC_KPI88x-wuJwNz1METdifep1_pLr4z-9B6jrrYa3EnIHC1uKtpT6DNW6m-1_Ov1nKE/s1600/duck.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhv8D6Edh2Iqp9KiTstm328QJRvh2rg82CKa9gx2in1s4b6pIKyXXtcLYasKMFfPqN0jFyFivXTHC_KPI88x-wuJwNz1METdifep1_pLr4z-9B6jrrYa3EnIHC1uKtpT6DNW6m-1_Ov1nKE/s1600/duck.jpg" /></a></b></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #cc0000;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><b>I have had so many people come up to me at Usborne events who just rave and rave about this little duck. They all share with me how much their kids love him or how much they themselves loved him as a child. I remember distinctly chatting with a gal at a holiday market in Charlotte, NC who was so happy to see the little yellow duck. It reminded her so much of her childhood and she stated how she was looking so forward to sharing that little yellow duck with her children someday. I'm sure Stephen Cartwright had no clue the following this little yellow duck would have when he first drew him on paper. And to think he was given no name. He's just merely "the little yellow duck" to all.</b></span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #cc0000;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><b>You can find the little yellow duck in all of Usborne Books Farmyard Tales stories illustrated by Stephen Cartwright. On each page there is the little yellow duck to find!</b></span></span><br />
<a href="http://c2264.myubam.com/search?q=farmyard+tales" target="_blank"><br /></a>
<a href="http://c2264.myubam.com/search?q=farmyard+tales" target="_blank"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><b><span style="color: #cc0000;">CHECK OUT FARMYARD TALES STORIES ILLUSTRATED BY STEPHEN CARTWRIGHT HERE</span></b></span></a><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg-8byFL80J76hB4QZztdGSMipTUU0pfDXznRqwxJYk1YJvHp996hYXRY75_iLg4w0inWvEINSW_E61Jq5pIhlrFyArszhNl7deKUeK1EyV0Sf3oCIoma-lJ2ZlllzBcnILpdOjZoeBL4Si/s1600/findtheduck.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg-8byFL80J76hB4QZztdGSMipTUU0pfDXznRqwxJYk1YJvHp996hYXRY75_iLg4w0inWvEINSW_E61Jq5pIhlrFyArszhNl7deKUeK1EyV0Sf3oCIoma-lJ2ZlllzBcnILpdOjZoeBL4Si/s1600/findtheduck.jpg" /></a></div>
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<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0