My cutie pies

I just had to post this. Jasmine and Rosie dancing around. ;)

Homeschool Freebie

I just wanted to share a site that I recently found.

Homeschool Freebie of the Day

Each day of the week (Mon-Fri) they post a new freebie. Each freebie looks to be a PDF download. This weekend they are having an 'End of Summer Bash' where you can get more then just one freebie.

Hope you find it useful. Have a great weekend!

This is so Awesome...

I just came across a new toolbar today. Yep a toolbar. But this isn't just any old toolbar. This one is so perfect....perfect for homeschoolers! :)

I love it! Seriously. It's the Homeschool Toolbar and it has some great features.

• Homeschool blogs
• homeschool websites/resources
• email
• Gadgets - todo list, notes, calculator. (I love the notes)
• weather
• You can personalize....I added buttons to open Word, Excel, notepad and paint with one click.
• The search box is really neat to. You can search the web, the site your on and ebay! AND if you see something on the page you're on that you want to learn more about just highlight the words and they automatically show up in the search box...just press enter to do your search!

How cool is that? Really? Ok, so go check it out. On their site you'll see their complete list of items on the toolbar (I didn't name them all) and at the bottom of the page they have a picture of the toolbar. I hope you like it too!

All About Spelling

Lily (10) recently started doing All About Spelling and so far it's working well.

She's a terrible speller (the poor thing) and after looking at many different programs I decided on AAS. Being that it's hands-on (letter tiles) with constant review of what she needs (index box system) I knew this would work very well for her.

We started with Level 1 and have been doing about a 'Step' a day. We are now almost through Level 1 (It's been 3 weeks now).

I just received my order of the next 3 Levels. :) Yep, the next three. See, I knew we needed Level 2 really soon. And then there was a sale on Level 4 so I wanted to buy that one too. So I might as well get Level 3 also. Right? To save on shipping. :)

Well, back to how Lily is doing. She really likes it. She likes spelling words with the tiles. She doesn't even mind spelling the words on paper too (and she hates writing). She's flying through the first level because the words are so easy, again she is 10. But I'm glad that I started with Level 1 for a couple of reasons. First, Lily's confidence about spelling is up because she is flying right through this first Level. Second, the review of all the letter sounds and the rules. For instances the letter o. Did you know that it makes 4 different sounds? As in - odd, open, to, and oven. I hadn't realized that. Then again, I never sat down to try and figure that one out. Anyhow, I'm glad that Lily is learning to memorize all the sounds associated with a letter and not just the basic sounds we all know.

In yesterdays lesson she learned how to tell whether or not to use the letter 'k' or 'c' in different words. Like 'kit' and 'cut'. It depends on the letter following it.

Oh, and I don't get a fight when it's spelling time now! That's a huge plus in my book.

When Lily is done with Level 1, I might start Jasmine in it. Of course we would go really slow. But I think she would be ready for it. She already can spell some what (3 letter words). She can read the Bob books, so I think she's ready for this. In fact, I believe that it will be fun for her because of the letter tiles. She's already trying to help Lily. Of course so is 'Rosie', but her idea of help and our idea of it are two different things. :)

Funny...

(from an email my mom received)

My five-year old students, are learning to read.

Yesterday one of them pointed at a picture in a zoo book and said,

'Look at this! It's a frickin' elephant!'

I took a deep breath, then asked...

'What did you call it?'

'It's a frickin' elephant!

It says so on the picture!' And so it does...

' A f r i c a n Elephant '

Wordless Wednesday

Argh

So my girls are currently all outside playing. I'm upstairs in my room when I hear the front door open, then Jasmine's voice travel up the stairs "Momma, is Santa Clause real?"

WHAT!?! She's only 4 (barely), who in the world is telling her that he's not real!

I dart to the top of the steps as fast as I can to say, "Of course he's real! Who's talking about Santa anyways?"

I race outside and set the kids straight. ;)

Then I looked at Jasmine and I asked,
"You get presents every year at Christmas from Santa don't you?"
"Yes"
"See, he's real."

I think she was fine with that. You know, if momma says he's real then that means he's real. After all, I know more then little kids. :)

That just really irritates me!

Kids need to know not to spoil it for the little ones!

My husband happened to see Santa at work today (not in a Santa outfit). So he took a picture with his phone. I plan on showing the picture to Jasmine tomorrow. :)