Frugal Homeschooler

Passover is Here and Here are Resources!

April 9, 2012 By NerdMom Leave a Comment

Article first published at Label Daddy.

Passover is the celebration of God taking the Jews out of Egypt! The final plague was the Angel of Death taking the lives of the first borns in Egyptian households. Jewish homes that had the lamb’s blood on the door frame was passed over untouched. Get it? Passed over, Passover;)!

Are you celebrating Passover this year? Do you need some resources? Well, let me share a few!

Aish.com has great resources for all Jewish holidays, not just Passover! I always find great recipes, poignant pieces, and videos over there. A key post of theirs on Passover isHaggadah: An Introduction.

Another resource isn’t really information but food! I am now gluten free so Yehuda’s Gluten Free Matzo page is pretty awesome. You can see all the gluten free Passover options and order from them if you want to (but I have seen the boxes of matzo at Whole Foods). But when it comes to the actual Seder dinner the Chabad has a piece on what kind of matzo is really acceptable (it seems complicated).

Do you have a Haggadah? Looking for one you would like more? Uncle Eli has a kids version. I wouldn’t use it alone but it is entertaining and would print it for the kids to have at their seats. Looking for something a little more mature;)? Check out About.com’s Judaism page. They have a ton of options and a summary about each one.

There are some resources to get you going! Anything else you are looking for? Let me know in the comments and I will see what I have for you.

Happy Passover!

Filed Under: Educational, Free, Frugal Homeschooler, Holidays

Free Poetry Month Resources!

March 30, 2012 By NerdMom 1 Comment

Graphic of Jack Prelutsky from Scholastic's Page!

Did you know that April is National Poetry Month? It is and as always there is a wealth of free resources out there to teach your kids about poetry! And I mean kids of all ages!!!!

Scholastic has a ton of activities for kids k-12. There are workshops, printables and prompts but it all starts with a reading from Jack Prelutsky!

The Shel Silverstein site has a ton of resources from mini units to single printable pages. They have simple printables under kids and a ton more (including this and last year’s poetry month packs) under educators. 1 warning about the site, it pops up with music and you have to click through a few pages to get to anything.

Poets.org has a variety of units available. They were all created by secondary teachers. It also has poems to teach with some of them even being read to you!

Do you like poetry? I loved Shel Silverstein growing up and gotten his books from the library for my kids. But honestly, other than to answer trivia questions, I don’t know much about poetry. So I look forward to learning about this with my kids! Go get your literature arts on and teach your kids to enjoy poetry!

By the way, make sure you check back because later in the month I will be reviewing some poetry apps too!

Filed Under: Books, Educational, Free, Frugal Homeschooler, kids, literature

Recycle, Reuse and Educate

March 26, 2012 By NerdMom 2 Comments

Gorgeous right?

It isn’t hard to take this scrap of wrapping paper and get not only a great fine motor skill lesson but some great kids crafting!

Filed Under: Educational, Free, Frugal Homeschooler, kids

Frugal Homeschooler: Fraction Help

September 2, 2011 By NerdMom 6 Comments

Here in the NerdFamily we are having fraction issues. The NerdBug and NerdPie basically understand them but haven’t gotten used to using them so there is a constant reminder lesson going on. We are really having challenges in multiplying, dividing, and reducing. So I have decided we need some dedicated fraction time! And why pay for a book when you know there have to be some great resources out there? Here are some of the awesome things I found!

Home School Math has some great worksheets! They have free worksheets that will work on multiplying and dividing factions (and mixed numbers) along with another option that works on reducing! Just scroll part way down the page of worksheet options to find it!

One of my all time favorite sources for fact math sheets, The Math Worksheet Site, also has a generator for reducing fractions.

Dositey has a great Fraction Mystery Game. The kids match the numbers to the clues. Not only is it great fraction practice but problem solving and that will help with algebra in the future.

CoolMath4Kids has a section explaining how to work the fractions. And then at the bottom they have a couple great games!

Hopefully these resources will help your kids either learn fractions for the first time or help them just hone their skills! Remember that education doesn’t have to be expensive!

Filed Under: Educational, Frugal Homeschooler, math

Frugal Homeschooler: English Teaching Aids

April 4, 2011 By NerdMom 1 Comment

Last week my kids brought their grammar 5 a day with a question. “Mom, what is a superlative adjective?” Well, I was pretty sure I knew but you really don’t want to risk teaching bad grammar (even if I do use it sometimes;). So I started doing a little research. I found 3 pretty good sites that are pretty good! I am linking straight to the superlative part since that is what I was using;).

YourDictionary.com is a good place to define terms and see some usage recommendations.

English the Easy Way is actually a site that is designed to teach English! So everything is in a very simple presentation. I can see the kids using this on their own!

English Club is probably the most comprehensive site. It is also aimed at being an ESL site but it isn’t just for ESL but also for teachers. It has games, quizzes and more. It even has a section for English references for idioms, sayings and slang. Love it!

Filed Under: Frugal Homeschooler, Grammar

Wordless Wednesday: St. Patrick’s Lapbook

March 29, 2011 By NerdMom Leave a Comment

Just wanted to post the St. Patrick’s Day lapbook that we did. This is the one made from the free template I wrote about in the Frugal Homeschooler!

Filed Under: Frugal Homeschooler

Frugal Homeschooler: St. Patrick’s Day

March 14, 2011 By NerdMom 4 Comments

Here in the NerdFamily we love St. Patrick’s Day! We love the food, the fun and the learning! And we love that there is so much out there for free to enjoy!

This year we are going to do our first lapbook! And in typical Frugal Homeschooler fashion we are using a free lapbook template from Homeschool Helper Online. It even has a library list for you!

There are a lot of sources for history on St. Patrick. Of course there is Wikipedia and that is a pretty good piece. There is also a lot of information over on the History Channel site. Or you can just go to the source! CCEL has St. Patrick’s actual confession. It really is an easy read and quite interesting. It helps to separate some of the truth from the myth.

Then it is time for fun and learning! Easy Fun School has a unit study on St. Patrick that is aimed at all ages and even has music. The Activity Village has a ton of fun. They have games, puzzles, stationary, crafts, etc.

So what are your plans for your learning and St. Patrick’s Day? Let me know if you do any of these fun activities. And remember that learning doesn’t have to be expensive.

Filed Under: Frugal Homeschooler, Holidays

Frugal Homeschooler: Presidential Timeline

July 10, 2010 By NerdMom 1 Comment

C-Span is giving away a Presidential Timeline free to teachers! I registered with the site as a teacher. I think it will be a great tool to put on the wall. You can use it to inspire a study on a president or just to place events in time!

Remember as always, homeschooling doesn’t have to be expensive to be educational!

Filed Under: Frugal Homeschooler, history

Frugal Homeschooler: Free Educational Dvd’s

June 11, 2010 By NerdMom Leave a Comment

Sometimes homeschooling frugally just means keeping your ear to the ground. Opportunities can just crop up that you need to seize! I stumbled across some educational dvds on some of my homeschool yahoo groups and thought I would share!

Nasa and the American Museum of Natural History are offering a free dvd and educator’s guide! It is called Journey to the Stars and they say it is available for both teachers and parents. As a homeschooler I am filing as a teacher.

The History Channel has a new series called America: the Story of Us going right now. I know many people who are dvr’ing it but don’t bother (unless you want to see it now;). They are offering it on a free dvd! You have to request it before July 1, 2010 and they won’t send it until August.

For both of them you just fill out a form!

Filed Under: DVD's, Frugal Homeschooler, history, science

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