Shedd Free Days!

Every Monday and Tuesday in February at the Shedd Aquarium is free admission. Extra exhibits are available at a discounted price. 

January 14, 2009 Co-Op

This month's theme is snow/ winter.  Today during Book Club, the kids presented their oral book reports on a Christmas or winter book of their choice.  The kids did a fantastic job!  We were so proud of them.  In music class, the kids learned about instruments and heard music from different parts of the world.  The kids really enjoyed hearing all the different styles of music.  African music seemed to be the favorite. If your child really liked a particular style and is requesting to listen to it again, all of the CDs were from Gail Borden Library!  In art class, the kids made snowflakes.  They learned how God made each snowflake unique and looked at pictures of snowflakes from a very talented photographer.  Next week, the kids will use water paints to paint their snowflakes. 

February Field Trip

This month's theme is love and family.  Since love and chocolate go hand in hand, we will be going to Cocoa Cabana.  

We will be going on a tour of the store, watching a video on the history of chocolate, and then they will talk to us about cocoa beans.  The kids will then be able to make their own chocolate pizza!  I think this will be tons of fun!   The cost of the trip is $6.00 a child. Check back at the end of February for photos of our delicious fun!

Homeschooling Web Sites

Below is a list of web sites pertaining to homeschooling.  I'm just learning of many of these.  There are tons out there.  If you have any more to add, please share.  Also, if you find yourself needing a laminator, the cheapest ones are at Sam's for $24.  Target also has them for $27.  Sam's also has 3 ml laminating sheets for $20 for 200 sheets.

For the Parents

http://www.mrsperkins.com/ - Preschool through about 5th grade - free printable games, resources.  Lots of resources for 1st grade especially.

http://www.theschoolbell.com/ - Mostly first grade material.  Print off basically a complete first grade curriculum.  Lots of creative games.

http://www.homeschoolshare.com/ - Free printables.  Lots of great resources.  Type in a subject in the search box.  I've used it for key word "Workboxables".

http://www.homeschoolhelperonline.com/

http://www.sunflowerschoolhouse.com/- Variety of free printables and downloads.  Links to homeschooling blogs.

http://www.confessionsofahomeschooler.blogspot.com/ - Great blog with lots of downloadable activities, especially for preschool through 2nd grade. 

http://www.edhelper.com/ - This is an online subscription for $19.95 per year.  I signed up for this recently and it looks very good.  You can customize games and worksheets using your own curriculum, or they have worksheets by grade level.  It goes all the way up to high school.  I recognized the school bus logo on the top of all their printables.  Apparently, my daughter's public school used this web site quite often.  Many of her take home worksheets were from this web site. 

http://www.enchantedlearning.com/ - This is another subscription web site for $20.00 a year.
http://www.teachervision.com/ - Another subscription web site for $39.95 a year

http://www.mathworksheetsite.com/ - Print out math worksheets.

MEP (Mathmatics Enhancement Programme) http://www.cimt.plymouth.ac.uk/projects/mep/default.htm

This is a free online math curriculum. It is the math curriculum used in the UK schools, but it is also available to homeschoolers for free. You do need to contact them (CIMT - Centre for Innovation in Mathmatics Teaching) and request a password, letting them know that you are a homeschooling family.  They don't want passwords to get in the hands of their students.  If you join the MEP yahoo group, you can get the password and assistance on how to use the program. It is a program with teaching involved but it is a complete math curriculum and from the reviews I have read, it is also a very good one.  I plan to look into this one.  I couldn't find where to actually sign up from this web site.  It would probably be easier to sign up for the Yahoo group and ask there.  They probably have all the right links too.  Here is the link for that Yahoo group. 

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/mep-homeschoolers/


http://www.sonlight.com/ - This is a curriculum, but I list it here because I have used it to supplement my oldest's reading (he's in private school).  Go to your child's age and look at the Core packages and pull it up so you can view all items in the package.  It will give you a list of books that come with the package.  You can get most if not all of these from your library.  Granted, you won't get the Teacher's Guide that comes with the Core that includes questions after each chapter, but we've found that the books they choose for these cores are outstanding.

For the Kids

http://www.spellingcity.com/ - Free spelling games.  Type in your child's spelling words and it will produce games for the kids to play.  It will also speak the spelling words to the kids and test them.  Part of this site is a paid subscription but you can use the basic spelling games for free.

http://www.starfall.com/ - Great reading web site.  Interactive books and videos.

http://www.freerice.com/ - Free web site for older kids that tests their knowledge in different subjects.  The web site donates so many grains of rice for each correct answer your child gets.  So, as they are learning and honing their academic skills, they are also helping to feed hungry people around the world.

A Visit from Johnny Appleseed!

Johnny Appleseed stopped by the Nature Center last week, carrying along his sachel filled with apple seeds!  The kids loved listening to him tell tales of how he journeyed across the midwest into the east coast, planting apple orchards along the way and selling seedling trees to settlers.  He reminded the children of how important it is to plant seeds of kindness, generosity, and God's love as well. 

Royal Farm Apple Orchard Field Trip

On September 23rd, we visited the Royal Farm Apple Orchard in Hebron, IL. We had fun picking apples, feeding the farm animals, eating apple donuts, and playing on the playground.

Extracurricular Activities

Below is a list of some activities that our kids might enjoy. Please let us know of any other activities that you hear about and we will add them to the list.

Legoland in Schaumburg

You must go to their web site and print out the Homeschool Days registration page and fax it in. Below is the link to the homepage. Click on Schools and then Homeschool Days.
http://www.legolanddiscoverycentre.com/chicago/us

The cost for the Homeschool Days is $7 per child, with one free adult for up to 5 children (limit 6 tickets). The cost includes a free 30-minute workshop where the kids will learn about structures, etc. The Homeschool Days is only offered on Wednesdays from now until mid November and then again from January through May. You must send in your request about 2 weeks ahead of time for a reservation. About a week before your requested date and workshop time, they will e-mail you a voucher that you need to print and bring with you.  I have read some reviews that they are overpriced, it was overcrowded, and they were disappointed, but for $7, I think it's worth one trip, and I would expect the place to be pretty empty on a school day. They have a little lego museum of sorts to walk through, a slow ride, a 4-D movie, and a builders area where the kids can play Legos of course. I expect to spend most of our time there. The normal admission price is $19 for adults and $15 for kids. Please post a comment if anyone has already been there.

Right now, they are also running a special promotion of $5 per ticket if you come after school, arriving between 3pm-5pm, and they close at 7pm. However, each adult must pay $5 as well and it would not include the free workshop.
For fun at home, you can go to the link below and print out pictures and instructions of some lego creations that you and your kids can try to build.  Under the "Inspiration" tab, there are some more pictures with a number to them.  I believe you can plug that number in somewhere to get the step-by-step instructions on how to build those.  I'm thinking we will be asking for Legos this Christmas.  There is so much you can create, but it seems we don't always have all the pieces.  Also, at the top, there is a "Play" tab where your kids can play some Lego games.  My 9-year old loves this site. 

http://creative.lego.com/en-us/Familytime/buildinginstructions/default.aspx


Swim & Gym

This is a class offered at The Centre of Elgin, off Route 31, across from the Elgin Library. The class is offered to homeschoolers between the ages of 5 and 15. It includes an hour of instructed gym time (much like a P.E. class), and then an hour of swim lessons (40 instruction time and 20 minutes of free swim). The days and times are 1:00pm-3:00pm, Tuesdays, Wednesdays, or Thursdays. It is a 10-week class running through mid November. The cost is $54 for Elgin residents and $64 for non-residents. If you have a toddler, there is a parent-tot open swim from 1pm-2pm while the older kids are in the gym. Some of the classes are full, but if you do join now, you will pay a pro-rated fee for the remaining classes.  Their phone number is 847-531-7000.  Ask for Brett Lind.

For the younger kids, check out your local gymnastics gym for Junior Open Gym times.  We go to Excel Gymnastics in St. Charles or Batavia.  It's $5 per child for an hour (for kids under 6 only).   Sometimes we do the open gym for older kids (6 and up) on Friday nights from 7-8:30pm in Batavia.  The cost is $10 per child.  They watch the kids for you.  Most parents just drop their kids off.