Here are some ideas for use in homeschooling. These things will save you
alot of money and provide a good curriculum for certain situations.
History-For my oldest daughter, I had a hard time finding an American History curriculum that
wasn't boring to her so I decided that she could find information on what she needed to know by doing a
series of theme papers starting with the first president of the USA. It keeps History in order and she
learns the major events that happend during that presidents life along with learning about each president.
She uses the library and the internet for her references and a set of home encyclopedias.
Math-I have found with Math, that the children forget so much. If you make a worksheet and each day, add a
problem or two from that days lesson, they can do the worksheet each day and be continually reminded of the things
they have learned before. The problems they master can be left out as you go.
Reading-First of all, have an extensive library of books that your child likes. Then, have your child read one
book, or one chapter of a longer book per day. For small children, you can read to them or trade pages, you read one,
he reads one. Then, after each days reading assignment, have the child,(older) write a summery of what happend in the
book. This is lots of fun. You can alter the summery writing with having the child write his or her own story or changing
the story he or she has read to make it different. Eventually, you will want to start pointing out mistakes in punctuation,
spelling and grammar.
Outline Worksheet-I made an outline worksheet for theme papers and reports. It looks something like this.
TITLE
Opening Sentences
a.
b.
c.
Time Line of Events(dates of birth and death, accomplishments, etc.)
a.
b.
c.
Events or Characteristics(Description of each event or interesting facts)
a.
b.
c.
Closing Sentences
a.
b.
c.
Index Cards-I use them for everything! You can make flash cards with them. That is how my youngest daughter learned
the states and capitols. My oldest daughter learned measurement equevilants with index flash cards. She also uses them to
help organize her facts when doing a theme paper. You can play memory games with them by drawing or pasting pictures on them.
You can create puzzles by placing them on a table together, drawing a large picture on several cards placed together and then mixing
them up. Great for Bible verses! And you can buy an index box to put them in when you have younger children that will use them later.
Shopping-I send my girls to the store with a list and have them find the best price by figuring the price per ounce, pound or unit.
Very affective and makes them feel important because they are actually taking part in saving the family money.
Compassion and Respect-
Call up your local Nursing Home and find out how many residents there are. Get together
with your homeschool support group and figure out an inexpensive project to make. It could also
be a skit or a group of songs to sing. Go to the nursing home and have the children hand out the
finished projects or perform the skit or songs. You would not believe the effect your children will
have on these people or the effect the elderly people will have on your children.
Witnessing-
This is an activity that can be done with a group or on your own. Have the children design a gosple
tract. They might want to use one of their memory verses or write a story about something that happend to
teach them a lesson or made them see Gods hand at work. After designing the tract, get lots of copies made and
take a walk around the block or down your street, passing out the tracts to your neighbors.
Have your child make presents on birthdays and Christmas. Here are some useful ideas for gifts. Low cost and fun to make.
Add a few drop of perfume to a canning jar full of epson salts, add a couple drops of
food coloring, shake well with lid on. Place material over the lid of the canning jar, put
the ring on over the material and add the ribbon.
Letter Holder
Material: Two paper plates, some coffee, polyurethane, a picture from a magazine or a drawing, glue, brass paper fasteners.
Make a strong coffee solution with water and coffee, use a paint brush to paint the coffee mixture on the paper plates.
Be careful not to put it on too wet. If you want a darker stain, wait for first coat to dry and then add another. Cut one
of the plates in half and put face down on the whole plate, making a pocket affect. Use the paper fasteners to fasten the two
plates together. Glue your picture on the 1/2 plate, trying to make sure all the wrinkles are out. You can also draw a picture on
the plate with markers. When finished, apply 3 or 4 coats of polyurothane to the entire surface of the letter holder.
First, take the clothes pins apart. You don't need the metal part that holds the two pieces together. Next, put tons of
glue around the outside of the babyfood jar and attach the clothes pins all the way around it with the thinnest part of the clothes
pin at the top. When all of the jar is covered with clothes pins, tie a ribbon around it to hold the clothes pins in place and add
decoration. Then you put two clothes pins on the inside of the arrangement going upward, again with the thinnest part of the clothes pin
at the top. These will make posts to support the "roof" of the well. To form the "roof" all you need to do is place two clothes pins together
on top of the posts. The thick part of the clothes pins should be the point at the top and the grooves in the clothes pins will help hold
the "roof" onto the posts. Use plenty of glue. Once the well is completely dry, you can put dried flower inside to add extra charm.
PomPoms
Material: Yarn, cardboard, darning needle(preferrably the plastic kind).
Cut two pieces of card board into a circle about 3 or 4 inches big. Cut a hole in the middle of both pieces to make it look like a doughnut.
Next, you need to tie a very long piece of yarn through the center of the "doughnuts" and start wrapping the yarn through the hole and around the
outside of the "doughnut". Go all the way around so that the yarn completely covers the card board. Keep wrapping the yarn around untill there is
no more hole. Slip a pair of scissors into the yarn, between the two pieces of card board and cut the yarn along the outside. Tie a piece of yarn
tightly between the two pieces of card board around the middle part of the yarn, like a yoyo. Be sure to make the knot tight. Next, work the cardboard
off of the yarn from either side and fluff the yarn out to make a pompom. You can then add eyes and a bill and some feet to make a duck or be creative and
make any kind of animal or wear them on your shoes. Team colors are popular and don't be afraid to use 2 or 3 colors for one pompom.
Yarn Dolls
Material: Yarn, eyes, cardboard.
Make two pieces of cardboard about 4 inches across by 6 inches tall. Tie a long piece of yarn long ways around the two pieces of cardboard, tieing them
together. Keep wrapping the yarn around till it gets pretty thick, about 20 times or more. Then tie a short piece of yarn through the top of your finished
product. You can now ease the yarn off of the cardboard. Next, tie a piece of yarn about an inch down from the top. This makes her head. Devide the remaining
yarn into three sections. Tie the outside sections in near the end of the lenghth of each section to make her hands. Then tie a piece of yarn around where you
think her waist should be. Add eyes and mouth to the head. To make her look more interesting, you can cut the loops of yarn at the end of the hands and bottom and
make it look more fringey. You can add hair made from another color of yarn or felt.
Refrigerator Magnet Drawing Holders
Materials: Clothes pins, magnet stips that can be bought at most any store like K-mart or Walmart, and beads, eyes, small pompoms, colored feathers, pipe cleaners, anything to
decorate with. Be creative and provide lots of choices. You will be surprised at what your child can create with lots of things to choose from.
First, you glue the magnet onto the back of the clothes pin. Then, you allow your child to use his/her imagination with several different things
you have provided for him to use for decoration. Just make sure he/she knows that the clothes pin top is the part you sqeeze together to open because this
masterpiece will be hanging on your refrigerator, holding other masterpieces your child has done.
Potpouri Balls
This one is for older kids.
Materials: Lots of whole cloves, apples or oranges, thimbles.
Starting at the bottom of the apple or orange, stick the cloves into it going around and around untill the entire piece is completely covered
with cloves. Fill a basket with them once you have enough and put them on an endtable or as a centerpiece for your table or coffee table. The
scent is overwhelming and lasts for a long, long time. The cloves will keep the fruit from spoiling. As the apple or orange dries out, the cloves will
get tighter and closer together. The apples look very country and turn out actually shaped like the apple. After a few months, and the
scent is not as strong, you can put cinnimon oil on them and they are once again, a terrific smelling decoration.
Stamp and stamp pad
Material: Potato, metal nail file, poster or finger paints, pencil.
Cut a potato in half. Use a pencil to draw a shape or design on the potato, then use the handle part of a metal nail file to cut away all but the
design from the potato. Cut down about 1/4 of an inch. Use a paint brush to put paint on the design and then press onto a sheet of paper. You can create
your own stationary to write letters on or make cards for people.
Recipe for Homemade Clay
Materials: Baking Soda, cornstarch, water, cooking pan with tight fitting lid.
Put exactly 2 cups of Baking Soda, 1 cup of cornstarch and 1 and 1/4 cups of water into a pan with a tight fitting lid.
Cook over medium heat about 5 minutes or until the mixture looks about like mashed potatoes. Put the lid on the pan and put
in refridgerator for 45 minutes. The clay will be luke warm and ready to use. You can put in plastic container when finished
to keep from drying out or you can make things and allow to dry 24 hours. The clay will become hard. To make Christmas Ornaments,
use cookie cutters to cut out the shapes of the ornaments, ease a paperclip into the top of the "cookie" for the hanger. Allow to
dry 24 hours and then use model or enamel paint to decorate. I have also used glue and glitter but beware of the mess. You'll be cleaning
up glitter till next Christmas.
Car Trip Activities-A new friend gave me this idea. Thanks, Estella from the Kenton Soapbox! This will be helpful on support
group field trips or any family car trip.
Here is an old faithful. Make a bunch of dots in the shape of a square. Have children take turns connecting one dot to another. When a person
finished a small square, he puts his initials in it. At the end of the game, when all the dots are connected, the person with the most initials wins.
Here is one called "Rapture" but you can name it whatever you want. We are all in agreement that the Bible says, "the dead in Christ shall rise first".
Have the children count the graveyards on their side of the road. Write them down on paper if you can't remember how many. When a church appears on their
side, they start the count all over. At the end of the trip, the person with the most graveyards loses.
This one works in the car or anywhere. It's more fun if you have a group but two can play. Start a story and give each child 30 seconds to add a part
to the story. You will be surprised how a story can emerge with a little imagination.
Here are some ideas for use in homeschooling. These things will save you
alot of money and provide a good curriculum for certain situations.
