It's all gouda: New Look!

Saturday, May 15, 2010

New Look!

Playing around with templates today. What do you think of this look? It's kind of fun messing around with different templates!

10 comments:

3 Little Chicks said...: I like it. It's calm, yet fun. Green and brown is a good combo - kinda reminds me of Andes's thin mints - yum!; May 15, 2010 at 11:18 AM
Tatersmama said...: I really like it. Clean, calm, but still pretty!; May 15, 2010 at 12:59 PM
Terri said...: How did you know green was my favorite color?? :-)

Nice look.; May 15, 2010 at 2:02 PM
Valerie Harrison (bellini) said...: I think you have found "home" Paula. Green and brown are not only my favourite colours but are very relaxing colours.; May 15, 2010 at 2:35 PM
pam said...: I could spend hours playing around with templates. That's why I don't. My blog is unbelievably boring white. Though this summer, I might, gasp, actually put a picture in my header. Love green and brown.; May 15, 2010 at 6:18 PM
Cathy said...: I like it! I think it livens up the look. I know what you mean - I get caught up in playing with something or another and spend hours with it.; May 16, 2010 at 7:27 AM
Robynn's Ravings said...: I LIKE this one. I need a facelift so BADLY on my blog. I'm afraid it'll turn out like Joan Rivers, though!; May 16, 2010 at 9:36 AM
Anonymous said...: I LOVE itand it suits you......that wasn't so hard now was it??; May 16, 2010 at 6:45 PM
Marjie said...: I leave town for one lousy weekend and you change it up on me? I was confused! It's pretty. But I'm still confused.; May 16, 2010 at 8:38 PM
Pam said...: I think the new template looks really cute!

The bean and tuna salad looks really tasty, healthy, and filling.; May 17, 2010 at 7:11 PM

Homeschool Tips and Tools: 2010

Bananagrams! Not too long ago, my kids and I discovered a great new game called Bananagrams. Far more fast paced and loads easier to play than Scrabble, this game requires only a table top and kids to get the fun underway. Better yet, adults and kids of all ages can play together. The playing pieces come packaged in a delightful, banana colored and shaped, zippered cloth pouch. It's free formed fun, and great entertainment for the entire family.

From a homeschooling perspective, it's a great tool to segue into creative writing or story telling. My kids create their own Bananagram "puzzle" and then use the words they created to write or tell an impromptu story. Silly or serious, all type of stories are encouraged!

The book titled English from the Roots Up by Joegil K. Kundquist has rapidly become one of my favorite resources for building a strong vocabulary base for my children. This spiral bound book provides both Latin and Greek word roots that provides students with tools to help them determine word meanings. I absolutely love it, and the rapid results that I see in my children are amazing. This is way better than a spelling program; by studying word roots, my children are gaining a much broader understanding of language and the power of words. The lessons are very easy to administer, short in duration, and my kids enjoyed them.

On the writing frontier, there is a book called Story Starters, Helping Children Write Like They've Never Written Before by Karen Andreola that provides writing prompts in the form of partially written stories for children to complete. While I found the book to be just ok, my children love it. I read the partially written story aloud, and they write the rest. The kids really enjoyed doing this as each of them looked forward to hearing the other's completed versions. This ended up being a great experience as the kids really wanted to impress their siblings with their version, and thus put more effort into their writing.

And for the grammar enthusiast lurking inside your student, here's a great book that explains how to diagram sentences. Diagraming Sentences by Deborah White Broadwater is a 46 page workbook complete with an answer key, and is perfect for your middle schooler.

Does your student embrace Science? Do you need quality supplies to conduct more in depth experiments at home? Check out Home Science Tools. I'm very impressed with the quality of the products we just ordered. Beakers, flasks, stirring rods, thermometers, chemicals, safety equipment, and so much more can be found and ordered on their website. www.homesciencetools.com . The items we received were top quality, the customer service rep was super, and the items were extremely well packed and delivered as promised. Look out Bill Nye ... future scientists in the house!

Lapbooking and Notebooking are buzz words in the homeschool community. Here are two great resources for incorporating those strategies into your learning curriculum. Big Book of Books by Dinah Zike and The Ultimate Lap Book Handbook by Tammy Duby and Cyndy Regeling helped me enhance our homeschooling experience using lapbooks. The content found in these books enabled me to teach a group of homeschool mom's how to incorporate lapbooking into their curriculums. You'll want to laminate your copies as they will get pulled off the shelf over and over again.