Cactus Hotel Unit Study

We did this a couple of months ago when we were on vacay but here's the list of studies we did

Social Studies - Hotels, community, Life & Death, Age


Geography - Sonoran Desert
                     Arizona

Art - Watercolor, shadows, use of color to depict twilight, storms etc.  color pallet when  depicting the death of the saguaro (browns)

LA - Italics (first page)

Vocab:  Saguaro
              Skitters
              Paloverde Tree
              Jackrabbit

Math:  Measurement, Weight (tons), 2000 (counting),

Science:  Desert - Specifically Sonoran Desert
                Animals - Pack Rat, Spotted Ground Squirrel (chipmunk), Jackrabbit, coyote, gila woodpecker, elf owl, mice, lizards, snakes, foxes, bats (fruit).
                Plants:  Paloverde Tree
                             Saguaro
                Life Cycle of Plants
                Habitats (biomes)
             

Activities:  Watched Reading Rainbow - Cactus Hotel!  This was so much fun for the kids since it was the book and we WERE in the Sonoran Desert...and the cactus were in bloom!

             

Summer Fun! or Almost FREE Curriculum!

It's that time of year when:

1. You're kids are starting to get bored because you're not schoolin' year 'round or
2. You're looking for FREE or nearly free curriculum for the next year

I've got you covered with two really great options.  First you'll notice that my left sidebar has lots of curriculum listed and included in that is a section on free curriculum.  But let's say you want lesson plans and free curriculum???

Easy Peasy All In One Homeschool   which is Charlotte Mason influenced.  This has everything you'll need to homeschool your kids to 8th grade and now the owner is starting on highschool.  This is a missionary family so please consider donating to help them!  If you have a tablet ....this curriculum rocks!

or

for ONLY $15.95  Everything Homeschool  which is more unit study and delight directed influenced.   Here's a free sample of the weekly lesson plans  Here's the free stuff off Everything Homeschool.  Here's some summer fun and here's their magazine blog  Homeschool Fun with stuff that's fun to do in summer or...whenever!

Both are fabulous resources for summer or you're whole school year!  They both have lesson plans and free forms for tracking with probably Everything Homeschool having quite a bit more in that category.

Summer Projects For Boys!

Need something fun for the boys (or girls...but I have boys)???

100 Awesome Engineering Projects for Kids

ACE Pace Samples Online

So you're thinking about ACE for your kids but you'd like to see detailed samples...not just 2 or 3 pages??? me too..

Here ya go..

ACE Pace Samples

Ignore the reference to the new website...it no longer exits.

ACE Paces Catalog, Scope & Sequence & Home Educator's Manual - FREE Download

So you know I love ACE here's the full color catalog that you can download and look at and the Scope and Sequence

ACE Scope and Sequence


ACE (School of Tomorrow) Full Color Catalog -  NO LONGER WORKING!

ACE Home Educator's Manual   This spells out EXACTLY how to implement ACE Paces and is part of their home educator's kit ($25.00) - and it's free here!





http://www.aceministries.com/

Down Down The Mountain Links!

Social Studies - Blue Ridge Mountains
                       
                          Blue Ridge Parkway
                          Blue Ridge Mountains
                          Appalachia Mountain Montage

                          Appalachian Culture
                          Women Of These Hills - quite long but very informative...there is some reference to
                                                                  creation stories
                           Heart Of Appalachia
                          Appalachian Settlers and Their Dwellings - for some reason this doesn't want to play
                                                                                               on an iPad

LA - Vocab- word search
         Alliteration
         Drama - Act Out

Art -  Making Composite Illustrations
          Make a Picture in the Style of the Artist

Math - Playing Store, Money and adding Money

Science - Botany of the Blue Ridge Mountains
                Virtual Drive of Blue Ridge Parkway in Bloom
     
                Night Birds
                Whipporwill Calling At Night - Only sound
                 Barred Owl Hooting


Play with Lincoln Logs!

What I LOVE About Paces!

So It's been about 5 months since we switched to ACE Paces and here's two things I LOVE about them:

1.      Portable Learning! 

 

2.  It gets done!!!   Last week was a bad week for me not feeling well and yet....school went on almost without me.  I say almost because I check my kids work but still.....such freedom to not HAVE to teach them everything and yet learning continues in the morning.  In the afternoon/evenings we do our unit studies when I feel up to it.

Now for the naysayers who think ACE is behind I just did a quickie check against other workbooks that you can get at the market or wallyworld and guess what??? It was ahead of them so that means it's ahead of what the school is doing and the explanations for the kids was SOOOO much better. 

Beautiful Day!

Happy Weekend!...

Little Light Reading On A Beautiful Day

Angel Baby trimming with "tweezers"

Big "tweezers" right??? LOL

How To Use ACE Paces (workbooks) For More Than 1 Child!

*** updated post here


First let me say that I think it's a good idea to buy from ACE so you support them but I know that many right now are needing to tighten their belt so hopefully this will help someone out. We have bought all of the Paces for the kids but recently I needed to cut back.  When the children are little and are not capable of copying into a copybook for the answers you need to come up with a way for them to write in the Pace without marking it.  Most people suggest cutting up the Pace and then putting them into a page protector but I didn't want to cut the Pace up so here's what I did:




First I bought Sliding Bar Report Covers like this:

and fine point pens:

***A note of caution about fine point wipe off markers...most of them are NOT fine point even if it says fine point.  These ARE so I highly suggest you get these since they are most like a pencil or pen.

Then I cut (the part that opens) the report covers  to 8" so they fit a page of the Pace then slide the page in and put the slide bar over the end.  I do this also to the prior page so that the wipe off marker doesn't get on the prior page.

I do this for each page that my kids are going to do for that day and...

WALA!  Wipe off Pace (workbook)...

To erase I HIGHLY recommend you take the report cover off first and then wipe it off...ya I've had it wipe off onto the Pace page so you're warned...

KONOS Obedience - Bible Link Share!

KONOS Links for Obedience - Bible

Printing Press

A Short History of Printing

The Impact of the Printing Press - visual only, no sound...but really good

Demonstrating the Gutenburg Press

Printing Press Demo In Kalona, Iowa - near our hubby's hometown

The Magic Of Printing  - Book Of Knowledge Encyclopedia (1957 Edition)  pg 4637

Inventors Of Printing - Book Of Knowledge Encyclopedia (1957 Edition) pg 4652

Scrolls, Manuscripts & Scribes

Manuscript Making

A Visit With A Sofer (Jewish Scribe)

Interview with a Female Jewish Scribe - very unusual for that community

Bible

Why The Bible Is The Most Reliable Ancient Manuscript

Bible Corrupted?  Dead Sea Scrolls Prove Otherwise

History of the Bible - From Papyrus to Print

How Paper is Made

How Paper is Made