Freebie Friday - Fun Addition and Multiplication Drills

Who says math has to be boring?  Today I have another freebie for you.  This time it's addition and multiplication drills.  You can print the PDF HERE.  

The idea is simple, print the page you want to practice, write the operation being practiced in the square box in the center (addition or multiplication), and then have the child perform the operation on the number in the center of the flower with one of it's petals and write the answer in the outer petal.

In the PDF there is a title page, an instructional page with examples and tips and tricks to make this exercise fun and interesting, and four pages of flower drills.  In the center of the flowers the numbers go from 1-12 and there are two flowers per number.  For each center number (1-12) there are the numbers 0-13 to practice with in the petals, with special emphasis on the numbers 7 and 9 which students often have trouble with.

10 Kid Friendly Activities For Earth Day

When is Earth Day?  It falls on April 22nd every year.  This can be a fun time to teach your kids about being environmentally friendly, recycling, pollution, conserving water, or growing your own food or other plants.  Here are 10 easy activities to do with kids on Earth Day.

1) Do A Nature Scavenger Hunt

This can be done in any nearby park, wooded area, or even your yard.  Write out or print a list of 10-30 things in nature for your kids to find.  Give them a clipboard with the list and a pen and send them off on their hunt.  Another variation of this would be to give them a camera and tell them to take pictures of everything on the list, or ask them to collect samples of 5 things on the list, so long as those samples aren't doing any damage to nature. 

What can you put on this scavenger hunt list?  Here are a few ideas: A feather, an animal, a bug, a spider, an ant, a bird's nest, a tree with tree sap, a large pinecone (or other type of cone), a small cone, a budding flower, a flower in full bloom, animal tracks, compacted soil, non-compacted soil, a leaf, mushrooms, a butterfly, a trail of ants, dew (if it's a hunt in the morning), a grass hopper or praying mantis, a fern, an area where humans have changed nature, an area where nature has probably been the same for 20 or more years (a wild or overgrown area would also work), wild animal scat (poop). 

Modify this list to your local area.  Are you doing this hunt on the beach?  Add some beach items to your list.  Are you doing this in a desert region?  Add  things from that region to your list.

2) Do A Litter Walk

Go to a park or walk through your neighborhood with a trash bag wearing rubber gloves.  Set a goal to fill the bag or to pick up 30 pieces of litter to clean up the area.  Be sure to set down guidelines and educate kids (if they are going out on their own) about what is not safe to pick up (weapons, needles, etc).  An adult should go with children on this activity to supervise.  It might be a good idea to take a separate bag for recyclables and then take a trip to the nearest recycling center.  This is a great opportunity to teach kids about recycling!

3) Re-use Boxes, Cans, Jars, Egg cartons, or Other Household Items

Recycling is important, but re-using or upcycling is also important.  Do an art project, make a toy, or find some other way to re-use what is already in the house.  Another idea would be to take old t-shirts and sew them into pillow cases, or cut them up and sew them together into a picnic blanket and then have a picnic on it.

HERE are 20 awesome ideas for upcycling from household items and

HERE are 39 ways to upcycle a t-shirt into something amazing!

4) Read Nature Themed Stories

There are a lot of kids books about nature and you can find hundreds of them at your local library.  Here are some of our favorites to read on Earth Day:

• The Berenstain Bears' Big Book of Science And Nature (has  a lot of different nature themed stories with real facts!)

• By Pond And River - A children's classic

• Backyard Biology - Let me just say that this book is awesome.  It's not in story format, but it has so many activities you can do at home to teach about nature.  It includes making your own mini green house, activities that help kids explore photosynthesis, observing micro organisms, learning about life cycles and ecosystems, and more.

• Oh Say Can You Seed - These educational Dr Seuss books read like a story, similar to the educational Berenstain Bears books, and are filled with facts that are easy to remember.
 

• I Can Name 50 Trees Today - Another fun but informational Dr Seuss Book.

• The Secret Lives Of Backyard Bugs - This book isn't in story format, but it's packed full of information about bugs and is filled with large colorful photos and easy to understand diagrams of bug life cycles and habitats.

• Be A Friend To Trees - I love love love the 'Lets Read And Find Out Science' series.  On the outside these look like level readers, but they're not.  It's jam packed with information about it's given subject and has well drawn, colorful pictures and diagrams.  These books really make science fun for my daughter and I, and I would recommend them for first through third grade, though I think fourth graders might also enjoy them.  It makes the information so easy to digest.
  
• Ant Cities - Another 'Lets Read and Find Out Science' book.  Love it.

• Follow The Water From Brook To Ocean - This 'Lets Read And Find Out Science' book is about the water cycle and is awesome.

• In The Rain Forest - On Earth day children often learn about the area they live in, but this is a great book to help kids explore the rainforest and the role it plays for the entire earth.  Another awesome 'Lets Read And Find Out Science' book.

You can click on any of the book covers above to be taken to that book on Amazon.  These can also be found on www.rainbowresource.com .  We own all of these books and love them.

5) Take A Field Trip To A Local Refuge Or Wildlife Area

Most states have areas that are designated as protected for birds and other wildlife.  These areas are usually called refuges and can be a great place to visit.  Many of them are free or only cost a couple of dollars for parking fees.  HERE is a list of National Wildlife Refuges by state.  You may also want to search out Wildlife Areas in your state.  These are similar to refuges but are protected on the state level instead of the national level.  If you can't visit a wildlife area or refuge, consider heading out to a State Park or National Park.

6) Take A Trip To See Local Waterfalls Or Natural Features

Are there waterfalls within driving distance?  What about caves?  Or how about a spectacular lake or river, or a place to go rock hounding?  What about the beach?  Whatever your local area has to offer, take your kids out and wow them with nature. Sunset or sunrise is a great time to be out and be inspired.  It's a great motivator to get them to keep our environment clean, to not litter, and to recycle or to reduce our carbon footprint.

7) Have Nature Quite Time

When I was in 6th grade and went to outdoor school, one of the things they had us do each day that always stuck with me, was taking a half hour and just sitting alone in nature.  We were told that we could draw, read, write, or just sit and reflect, so long as we were sitting quietly.  They spaced us out about 20 feet apart from each other.  At first kids may seem uncertain about why they are doing this, but once they are alone and quiet they can start to observe what's going on around them... they can hear the birds and bugs, feel the wind and hear it as it rustles leaves around them, observe small bugs as they pass by, and more.  At the end of the set quiet time (try to make it more than 10 minutes), have them tell you, or write down 10 things that they observed about nature.  Ask them what they saw that was cool or interesting.  This can be done at a park, or even in the yard.  If it's sunny out, be sure to take them to a shaded place to sit and give them a bottle of water.  Also make sure they don't have to go to the bathroom before they start.  The goal is to avoid distractions so they can enjoy nature.


8) Draw/Write Nature

Give kids a drawing pad, a pencil and an eraser (you could also give them crayons or colored pencils in a pencil case), take them outside to a park or the yard, and tell them to find one interesting thing in nature to draw.  Tell them it doesn't have to be perfect, and it doesn't have to look exactly like it does in real life.  Tell them to observe the object and to draw what it is about the object that is interesting or special.  You could also tell them to sit and draw the object in two or even three different ways.  Something else you could have them do is write a poem about an object in nature.  Depending on where you are, this could be a poem or drawing of a mushroom, a pine cone, a feather, a birds nest, a river, a lake, trees, grass, flowers, bees, ants, or even the dirt!  Let them choose something that's of interest to them and let them have fun with it!


9) Go On A Nature Hike

Take your kids on a nature hike in a park or wild area.  Tell them you're looking for interesting things like animal tracks, or cool plants or bugs.  Point things out along the way that you find interesting.  Take your time as you walk and spend at least a half hour really observing nature and stopping to look at things.  The kids might have fun taking photos of different things they find, or keeping a list of things so they can go home and research more about them.  If you have a field guide of plants and wildlife in your state or region it can be fun for the kids to look things up if they aren't sure what the names of plants or bugs are.  There are hundreds of these guides for sale.  Four of my favorites are:

• Reader's Digest North American Wildlife An Illustrated Guide To 2,000 Plants And Animals - This book has plants, birds, bugs, animals, trees, and other wildlife.  This book does not say what is edible or medicinal.
 

 
• Field Guide To Edible Wild Plants
 

 
• Field Guide To Medicinal Wild Plants
 

 
• Field Guide To The Cascades And Olympics (specific to to the Pacific Northwest, but does not tell you what plants are edible or medicinal) - This book also includes plants, trees, bugs, birds, fish, and a variety of animals. 

You can click the above book covers to be taken to these books on Amazon.  Your local library should also have similar books.

10) Go Rock Hounding

Each area of the world has their own special rocks and minerals.  Do some research and find out where you can go nearby to find rocks like: agates, geodes, thundereggs, obsidian, gold, sunstones, opal, petrified wood, jade, jasper, pumice, and others.  HERE is one site to get you started, but there are many many more.



Whichever of these activities you choose to go out and do, be sure to teach your kids about low impact hiking (staying on the trail to avoid compacting soil, taking out what you hike in with... trash etc, and trying not to disturb animals or ruin their habitats).  You can also take the opportunity with any of the above activities to talk to your kids about protecting nature and animal habitats, as well as talking about how man manages nature in a positive way (talk about BLM and Forest Service), and how sometimes man has negative impacts on nature.

Have other ideas for Earth Day?  Let us know in a comment below.

Homeschool Curriculum Review: My Printing Book Grade 1

Notice: This is an honest review.  I have not been paid to write this, and I have not received a free copy of the curriculum in exchange for a review.

I want to tell you how pleased we are with My Printing Book Grade 1 by Handwriting Without Tears.  My daughter knew how to write some of her letters but not all of them and going into first grade I wanted her to have a lot of practice.  If you want to see the 2nd grade Handwriting Without Tears review click here.

Three Things I love about this curriculum:

Waiting For Fall

We're waiting for our 2nd grade curriculum in the mail and I thought I'd share with you what we did for our 1st grade curriculum this past year. Below is listed the topic and current price along with the link to where we bought it from.  You might also be able to find some of these resources at your local library.

Please note:I'm  not being paid by the publisher to advertise these or give them my stamp of approval.  For the few that come from Amazon however, I am linking them via my affiliate link if you should chose to purchase them via my link.

Math

Homeschool Math:

$74 Horizon Math Grade 1 and 2
We actually went through grade 1 and 2 for first grade because my daughter liked it and zipped through it.  I have heard from other parents that as a program Horizon tends to be above grade level by one grade compared to what the public schools teach.  It's colorful and fun and easy to use.  Read our review of Horizon Math (with pictures) here.

 We also used the Horizon Math Grade 1 Manipulative kit $69.  You don't need it but it's nice to have and has some great things in there to teach math with.  It is expensive however, and you could probably find some of these things cheaper elsewhere or make up your own manipulatives.

Addition and Subtraction Math Wrap-Ups (prices vary).  For first grade we used the addition and subtraction ones and mostly kept them in the car.  Whenever we would go somewhere, my first grader would use them and it was a great way to keep her occupied but also practicing her math facts.  Be advised that there is a long string attached to each wrap up (it's part of the learning toy) so you shouldn't let younger kids be alone with this unsupervised.

Language Arts

$23 Voyages In English Grade 1
We really really like this curriculum for homeschooling English.  It's colorful and you don't need the teachers book at this level because the student workbook explains all of the concepts in depth.  We'll be using Voyages In English grade 2 in second grade and also not ordering the teacher's book for that year.


Reading

We used $49 Hooked on Phonics Grade 1 and loved it.  We'll be using Hooked on Phonics Grade 2 for second grade.  Each year comes with 2 DVD's with 4-5 minute reading cartoons, 2 workbooks, 8 level readers, and stickers to keep track of progress.  It's a 'go at the child's pace' program, so if your child zips through it, great, and if they need to repeat a lesson several times, that's ok too.

$10 Brain Quest Reading Grade 1 (grade 2 also works for this grade level if your child is advanced).
We liked this program because it's fast and easy.  We take the little books in the car with us and use them there.  You read a short 2-3 minute story to your child and then they answer 10 questions about it.  It's a great start to reading comprehension.

I'm not going to link the following books, but these are some of the library builder's we're ordering for less than $5 each: Skylark, Sarah Plain and Tall, More Perfect Than The Moon, Grandfather's Dance, Caleb's Story, Berenstain Bears Show Some Respect (this one is more for character building).  You can pick these up on Rainbow Resource or Amazon.  These were books I read to her, not that she read to me.  As far as her reading, we checked out around 100 level readers throughout the year from our local library.  If you plan on buying level readers, I highly recommend the stone arch level readers, especially for a beginning reader who may not read fast enough to get through some of the lengthy level readers from other companies.  Not being able to get through a book can be discouraging for young beginning readers so it's important to keep level of ability as well as word count in mind.

Writing

$10.95       My Printing Book Student Workbook Grade 1
My daughter already knows how to write all of her letters and numbers, but like most first graders, her writing is still a bit shaky.  I wanted a simple, easy, daily exercise she could do to hone her writing skills, and this curriculum is awesome!  Check out our review of this curriculum!

Spelling

We tried using a rote memorization spelling program (your typical spelling program) but found that she didn't do well with that.  So we did some research and found $44 Words Their Way which we love.  It's more like a game and she is really doing well with it.  She went from stressing out and fighting us to do her spelling, to asking us if she could do her spelling first thing in the morning. 

Other

$109    Rosetta Stone German Version 3 Level 1 with Audio Companion Homeschool Ed.

This is a part of our curriculum that I am very excited about.  Normally in America students don't start to learn foreign languages until middle or high school, but in foreign countries it's common for young children to begin learning a second or even third language.  My daughter has always enjoyed trying to speak Spanish and even Chinese from the bits and pieces she's picked up from cartoons, so I wanted to see how she would do with a full language program.  I took 2 years of German in high school, which is why I am choosing German now, because I know I can help her with pronunciation, and when she starts speaking in full sentences, she can practice with me.  Version 3 of Rosetta stone gives students the ability to pronounce the words they learn into the computer mic.  If they get it right, it will move on to the next word, and if they pronounce wrong, they have to try again.  This version also allows students a certain amount of time to speak with native German speakers online via video messaging software for practice.  I'm not going to force her to get through the entire program in 1st grade.  If she likes it and wants to go through lessons fast, she can, and if it takes 2 or even 3 years before we reach the next level, that's fine with me too.

History/Geography

We tried using Story of the World for history (secular) but ended up switching to $37 Mystery of History which we absolutely love.  I have no issue with secular curriculum, especially in History, but we found Story of the World severely lacking in details and not historically accurate.  Mystery of History parallels biblical history with world history and is very detailed and has great activities/assignments for kids ages 5-18.  It's a good program to use if you're teaching multiple age levels because it tailors the activities for each lesson to each age group.

$20.95       Daily Geography Practice Gr. 1

We love this curriculum and I'm glad that it goes all the way up through middle school.  There's a short lesson followed by 10 questions.  You could do 2 questions per day like the book suggests but my daughter was speeding through them so we would do 1 lesson per day with all 10 questions.  It teaches the use of maps, types of cities, towns, counties, countries, states, regions, cardinal directions, and other things.

$14.50       Geography: A Visual Encyclopedia

I really like the DK books, and I wanted her to have this one for reference.  She loves to look at books like this on her own.  These have a lot of pictures and easy to read descriptions for kids.  This is purely supplemental but I know she'll get a lot out of it.

Science

$148.25      Science Fusion Grade 1

This is done on the computer.  It does come with a beautifully color illustrated student workbook/textbook that kids will work in, but for the most part the lessons are done online.  This is not software that you download and your purchase is for a one year subscription to this program, so it's not ideal if you plan on re-using it over and over with other children.  It's worth it to buy though.  The lessons are interactive and for 1st grade level the lessons are recorded so the children don't have to read the lesson themselves (though the audio can be turned off on the program).  Even the experiments are done online.  Each lesson on the computer tells you what state benchmark your child is meeting for that grade level.

$7.95       All About Rocks Mini-Lab

Another rock lab for science.

$9.50       Break-Your-Own Geodes (Box of 10)

Another fun rock lab for science.  My daughter and the neighborhood kids had fun with this.  I will say that it's best not to follow the instructions.  They tell you to put the geode in a sock and use a hammer but it didn't work well.  Instead we took these out to the driveway, I had the kids stand back, and I used a hammer.  There were 10 in the box and 2 were duds (completely solid with no crystals inside).  I would buy this again though, it's a good kit.

$8.50       Rocks & Minerals (Eye Wonder)

Another supplemental book.

$6.95       Rocks and Minerals: Gem of a Book

Another supplemental book.  This one looks like a lot of fun.

$13.25       3D Explorer: Planet Earth
This book is AWESOME!  We'll be using this through 2nd and 3rd grade as well.  For what you get in this book, I was honestly surprised at how cheap it was.  It really helps kids visualize what they're learning about.  Best pop-up ever.  Seriously.

$4.75       Volcanoes Stage 2 LR + FOAS
We really love the Lets Read and Find Out Science Series.  They're well illustrated and a great place to start a study of specific science topics.  They're jam packed full of information.

$12.50       Volcanoes & Earthquakes (Eyewitness Book) 

We can see 3 volcanoes from our house and when we get to this part of our curriculum it will be a perfect time to take a field trip to one of the volcanoes nearby.

$3.25      Volcanoes: Mountains That Blow Their Tops (Penguin Young Readers Level 3)

You'll notice that some of our supplemental books are also library builders, or level readers that my daughter can read by herself.  I want to give her the power to study by herself and also make her feel empowered in that she can read about the world on her own.

$5.25       Mountains by Seymour Simon 

$5.36       Wonders of Our World – Caves 

One of our favorite parts of studying geology is caves.  We live near to a national park full of caves to explore, and when we get to this point in our geology science curriculum it will be the perfect opportunity to take a field trip to the caves.

$8.50       One Small Square: Cave

$11.95       Cave Book by Emil Silvestru

$2.88       People of the Caves – Level 2 (Half and Half)

Another opportunity to get in some reading time with a level reader on topic.

$4.75       Earthquakes (LRAFOS L2)

Another level reader.

That is we did for the rock/geology portion of our year for science.  Here is the rest of what we did for 1st grade science:

$1.94    Water (Penguin Young Readers Level 2)

$3.25    Butterflies (Penguin Young Readers Level 2)

$3.45    Poisonous, Smelly, and Amazing Plants (I Can Read!  Level 2)

We'll see if they let us order this because on the cover it says "Made By God."  If not I'll have to order this myself.

$9.50    Scholastic Discover More: Weather
Really nice book with a ton of info, but not in story format and definitely takes some explaining by parents at this grade level.

$4.75    What Will The Weather Be? St 2 LR+FOAS

$15.95    Attracted to Magnificent Magnets Kit (Magic School Bus)
The kit feels cheap because there's not much in there, but with that being said my daughter loved it and was constantly begging me to pull it out and re-do the activities inside.  It's a good kit and we would buy it again.

All of this came out to about $800 which is pretty typical of curriculum.  Remember that if your order is above $50 on Rainbow Resource that shipping is free.

I also plan on adding the following to our curriculum for Bible and Art this year, though this is not covered by our money from the county:

Art (with Bible)

$99 See The Light Art Class Volumes 1-9 (one year course) or get it at Seethelightshine.com

This looks like an amazing DVD art course for kids.  My daughter watched 2 of the sample lessons with me on their website seethelightshine.com and ran to get her art supplies so she could follow along.  It also incorporates short 2 minute Bible lessons in each 9-10 minute art lesson which is awesome.  They also have other DVD art series for cartooning, and Bible story based art DVD sets.

We also have a lot of step by step drawing books that she uses and loves.  You can pick those up usually for under $5 on Amazon or Rainbow Resource.  I like to get ones that fit other topics we're studying like in science so she can draw what she's learning.  I like that there are so many how to draw books you can get ones that your child is interested in.

Are you getting excited to get your home school curriculum in?  Share with us in a comment below.