Reformation Day Lesson Plans and Resources

Since we don't participate in Halloween, we have chosen to celebrate the alternative holiday of Reformation Day. Strictly speaking, we are not reformed or Lutheran (non-reformed Christians do celebrate Reformation Day but it does tend to be associated more with reformed Christians), but we do appreciate the impact that Martin Luther had on the protestant church and his bravery in confronting the false theology of the Catholic church's teachings during a time in which it was so dangerous to confront such a power. Since the information can be found all over the internet, I am just going to post excerpts and link to the sites rather than retyping it all in my own words. How lazy is that ?


From: ShareFaith

The History of the Reformation
The historical trends that brought about the Reformation began centuries before its actual occurrence. In part, the root causes stem from the Church's departure from the foundational teachings of Christ regarding a believer's relationship with God, believers' relationships with one another, and the means of salvation. By the time of the fall of Rome, in the late fifth century, the Church had already adopted many practices contrary to the teachings of Christ.

Particularly, three perceived errors in doctrine stood out as major flaws that were in direct opposition to his teachings, and these later became the basis for Luther's ninety-five theses. The first error created a priesthood that acted as mediator between the believer and God, suggesting that direct communication between man and the almighty was impossible. The second was the establishment of a pope or pontiff who would exercise authority over the entire Church. The third error related to the attainment of salvation through penitent works and charitable acts, rather than through the miracle of faith.

Indulgences
The catalyst that caused Luther to directly confront these issues, however, was the Church practice of granting "indulgences". The custom was based on a verse in the Gospel of John, where Jesus gave the apostles the authority to forgive or retain the sins of humanity. In Luther's time, the Church was engaged in the practice of selling indulgences as a means of increasing ecclesiastical wealth. The Church justified this practice by citing that, although God released the offender from his heavenly obligation, he was still required to pay an earthly price for his sin.

Such payments (or other suitable acts of charity) to the Church released a person from financial or civil obligation incurred as a result of sin. This practice greatly benefited nobles and the wealthy, who could literally pay for their crimes, and correspondingly severely disadvantaged the poor, who could not. The practice also included the selling of indulgences to the families of deceased relatives to release their souls from Purgatory.

It was the "Jubilee Indulgence," authorized by Pope Leo X to pay for the rebuilding of St. Peter's Cathedral, which incited Luther to take action. As the doors of churches were often utilized for posting public notices, Luther, having written his ninety-five theses, placed them on the Castle Church doors on All Hallows Eve, where many who would attend the following All Saints Day observance would read it. However, it was the recent invention of the printing press that allowed Luther's theses to be circulated throughout Europe, thereby bringing him to the attention of Rome and the papacy.


Doorposts offers a Reformation Day Packet with activities and lesson plans for Reformation Day.

Homeschool Share offers this free lapbook on Martin Luther and Reformation Day.


Free Reformation Day Printables can be found here.



Blessed Beyond a doubt has a nice list of Reformation Day resources.

And don't forget to browse Pinterest for ideas!

What do you do to celebrate Reformation Day?

Chocolate Chip Cookie Math

What if you could do your math and eat it too? Chocolate Chip Cookie Math is not only a math lesson but a delicious and fun way to learn about estimation, comparing and contrasting, graphing, procedure, data gathering, organizing information, logical thinking and record keeping!

You will need:
Several brands of store bought chocolate chip cookies
Record sheet for graphing chocolate chips

Lesson:
Have your child wash their hands so they can eat the yummy cookies after they do their estimations.

Have your child take one cookie from the first brand of cookies. Record the brand on your record sheet and then have the child estimate how many chocolate chips are in the cookie. Have him/her pick up the cookie and turn it over so they get a full view of the cookie. After they have their estimation, have them break the cookie apart and actually count the chocolate chips and record the results. Based on this number have them estimate one or two more. Average the results. Repeat this with each brand (though you may want to stop letting them eat at some point hehe!).

When you are done have the student answer these questions:
1. Which brand had the cookie with the most chocolate chips?
2. Which brand had the cookie with the least chocolate chips?
3. Which brand had the highest average of chocolate chips?
4. Which brand had the lowest average of chocolate chips?
5. Which brand do you think had just the right number of chocolate chips?
6. Did these results surprise you? Why?

For extra practice you can have the child average all of the brands together.

For more great math applications in the kitchen try I Use Math in the Kitchen.

Review: In the Hands of a Child Favorite Animated Ballets Lapbook

Download a Sample of this Great Lapbook!

Every now and then we need a break from the regular routine of school. One of my favorite ways to do that is to pull out a lapbook and the best lapbooks are those that are both fun and educational! And what little girl doesn't dream of being a ballerina? In the Hands of a Child does it again with this Favorite Animated Ballets lapbook!

Basic Information
Favorite Animated Ballet
Price: $15
Extras needed: Barbie Ballet DVDs-Twelve Dancing Princesses, Swan Lake, and Nutcracker
Card stock or file folders for lapbook base

We decided to use 12x12 cardstock to make our lapbooks. Brianna had fun designing her cover!

The Favorite Animated Ballets lapbook takes your child through the Barbie animated versions of Barbie in the Twelve Dancing Princesses, Barbie of Swan Lake and of course, Barbie in the Nutcracker. Besides getting to watch the DVDs for each ballet your child will study fascinating facts from each of the ballets including fun things such as ballet positions, mythical creatures, and even how to make sugar plums. But moms, don't worry! There is plenty of other learning in there too! From the composers of the beautiful music featured in the Ballets, to vocabulary and even some math, your child will get a full range of school activities!

Favorite Animated Ballets by In the Hands of a Child Covers All of the Core Subjects!
Here is geography and some home ecconomics.

Pros: This is an inclusive lapbook. Every subject is covered at least to some extent. It gives a lot of room for taking rabbit trails and we found ourselves spending extra time studying certain things (my daughter is a HUGE fan of unicorns!). The lapbook is easily adaptable to various ages, though I would say it would most appeal to girls ages 5-12. There are lots of notes and as always with In the Hands of a Child products, the instructions for Favorite Animated Ballet are clear and easy to follow. Something else that I really liked was that there was a lot of easier cutting for younger children. We have done some pretty complicated lapbooks and sometimes even I had a hard time cutting it out! Since I like for my children to be able to do as much of it as possible this was a huge pro. I also really liked the faith based activities and information that was included with the exception of one thing which I will mention in the con section.

Putting on a Nutcracker Puppet Show!

Cons: There is a lot of information and this one took us longer than normal, but that was mostly because we were having so much fun! You will need to plan about 3-5 days per ballet. I don't know that this would appeal to a typical boy but I think with a little work you could make it work! There was one section that concerned me in the 12 dancing princesses that had to do with the spiritual significance of 12. I wish they had left that out, but it is easily skipped over.

Favorite Animated Ballets was a fun and educational activity and we are looking forward to doing many more lapbooks by In the Hands of a Child!

F-22 Raptor and other Jet Resources

Picture Credit and More about the F-22 Raptor

This one is for the guys, well, actually my girls quite enjoyed it too!

My oldest, younger brother is in the USAF. He is quite the hit around here as he often sends us nifty little school projects such as this one about carnivorous plants. This time it was a cardboard template and a completed cardboard F-22 Raptor!

Visit Career Uncle's Site for more about the F-22!

Now this one was made with his own template, but there are templates like this one on the internet. Ok, so maybe these take a little more than safety scissors and Elmer's Glue, but there are lots of fun ways to learn about jets. He also sent us some lapbooking materials that we are looking forward to using!

The National Museum of the Airforce Virtual Tour

USAF Lapbook

The History of the F-22 Raptor

Lapbook FAQ

Free Octopus Lapbook Resources
I L.O.V.E lapbooks. Really, I do. Lapbooks are so much fun and offer the perfect break from our regular curriculum. Since I have been getting questions on my facebook page about lapbooking, here is a quick FAQ for you! Feel free to ask a question and I will add the answer!

1. What is a lapbook? A lapbook is a a collection of projects that is glued into a file folder or onto cardstock and put into a notebook. Lapbooks range from just one file folder to several and depending on the age range for the lapbook may include coloring sheets, graphs, timelines, diagrams and copy work. They are may include a variety of subjects including math, science, reading, vocabulary, history, or even cooking, but are usually only about one topic (ie trains, space, musical composers).

2. What age range are lapbooks appropriate for? There are lapbooks for just about every age group from preschool up through highschool. Some lapbooks come with the ability to adjust it to multiple age levels.

3. How do the projects in a lapbook work? First you will need to purchase and print out your lapbook. You will also need to see what materials are required and gather them. Some lapbooks call for many extra materials, but all lapbooks will need at least one file folder, scissors and glue. You will probably want to print your lapbook on cardstock as thin paper can curl when glued. However, this is not required. A well put together lapbook such as the ones by Hands of a Child, will have very specific teacher guides that tell you exactly what you need to do for each project as well as how to assemble the lapbook. Usually you start by reading a book or website on your theme and then doing one or two activities per day relating to it. Each day you will be given a new activity to complete. As activities are completed your child cut and pastes them into the file folder.

4. Are lapbooks supplemental or can they be used as a full curriculum? The answer to this is yes. Lapbooks can either be used as a supplement to your current curriculum, such as this one for Apologia, or as your curriculum itself, such as these from Hands of a Child. There are even lapbooks which meet state standards. Once you decide what you are looking for you can usually tell by the previews and descriptions if a lapbook meets your goals. Lapbooks are also just a great way to break and have some fun while still learning!

5. Are lapbooks expensive? This depends on what you are looking for. There are plenty of free lapbooks like the ones found here. There are also lapbooks that go all the way up into the $20 range. Most lapbooks fall in the $5-$15 range. Sites such as Hands of a Child and Currclick have lapbooks in all price ranges and the great thing is that they can be used multiple times!

Not So Scary Halloween Art, Lesson Plans, Lapbooks and Activities

We don't celebrate Halloween for personal reasons (this is not an attack on those who do, this is just our personal conviction), but there is no getting around the kids knowing it exists so we take this opportunity to do some "not so scary" activities. Besides, you don't have to celebrate halloween to know that bats, bugs and all things creepy crawly are pretty cool!

Check out this cool pumpkin eyeball! This could be a great opportunity to learn about the parts of the eye and how they work.


This terra cotta pot pumpkin would make a cute decoration that you can leave out for Thanksgiving as well!

Who doesn't love learning about mummies? Do this mummy craft and visit the mummy maker to see if you can make your own mummy the ancient Egyptian way!

In this really cool Curiosity Files unit study Anna Lyze takes you into the world of Zombie Fire Ants. Best of all it is currently on sale for just $1!!

And halloween wouldn't be complete without exploring the grossest of body functions. Learn all about what causes zits, vomiting and even scabs and puss. GROSS!!!

These are just a few of the great ideas you can find all over the internet. So if you don't trick or treat, don't worry, you can still have lots of fun exploring the creepy and the disgusting!

Octopus Lapbook Resources

This is actually a cake!!! How cool is that?!

When my daughter picked out a stack of octopus books from the library I figured it was time to go down one of those rabbit trails homeschoolers always talk about. Octopus lapbooks are not easy to come by so here is a list of the resources I found for this lapbook. Most of these will be from http://www.homeschoolshare.com/ and will be under the Nico's Octopus Unit Study.


Vocabulary Pocket
Singular and Plural Word Practice
Prefix Oct-
What Color Would You Be?
Octopus Senses
Octopus Defenses
Octopus Anatomy
Octopus Arms
Octopus Facts for Kids
Toilet Paper Roll Octopus Craft

Summer Curriculum Choices with Quick Reviews

I went to the Arlington Homeschool Book Fair with a list. I was organized and had a plan. Then I got there, and the plan went out the window. I mean seriously! Do you know how many vendors are at a typical homeschool book fair? It is unreal. I went with the full intention of getting the next level of Abeka. I browsed and picked out my books. Then the lady tells me that they don't keep stock. Now maybe this isn't the best reason to ditch a well researched and thought out curriculum choice, but I did. I walked around the corner and found Rod and Staff. I ended up purchasing the full year of language arts for both the girls.

I'm pretty excited about all of the things we are trying this year so for those of you still deciding here is what we are going with for this "semester":

Language Arts, Spelling and Reading: Rod and Staff

Coming from Abeka I thought we pretty much had intense covered. I was wrong. The 1st grade is starting a bit below where Keira is, but it picks up quickly. Brianna is struggling with her attitude with the new stuff. Not because she doesn't know the work, but more because there is so much of it compared to the Abeka. Each lesson consists of 2 phonics pages and 4 reading. She is thriving on it though and once I get her past the tantrums of having to do the pages, I think she will match very well with it. It gives a good phonemic base and has them reading stories that are very Bible based. Even better is it is reasonably priced.


Latin: Song School Latin

We will actually start this on Monday and do it either once or twice a week. I haven't decided yet. It's very basic, using songs and chants to learn vocabulary. The one thing I am worried about is the apparently huge jump between Song School and Latin for Children Book A. I have heard that they are working on Song School Latin Book 2 though. For the cost, this one is definitely worth exploring.

Bible, Science, History and Social Studies: The Weaver Volume 1

This is every parents dream, especially if you have more than one spread over multiple levels. It literally takes these 4 subjects (also included are Language Arts and Creative Writing. We will are not using the Language arts because I didn't feel it was comprehensive enough. The creative writing we wing by using journals and just writing what is interesting to us), and weaves them together. One just flows into the other. Best of all every child stays on the same topic while Weaver adjusts the difficulty to that level! Here is an example of both ideas. One day your Bible lesson is about the wise and the foolish man. You read the Bible story and talk about how Jesus is our foundation and so on. Then you go outside and collect soil samples. You pour water on them and talk about the result. The younger children then talk about things needed to build a good strong house and then build one out of Legos or what ever. Middle elementary makes a list of materials needed to build a strong building, and upper writes a paragraph on what it takes to build a strong building. Now these are just my examples (though some of these are things we have done with Weaver), but you get the idea. For a more comprehensive review you can visit Christa's Weaver Review Here.

Cursive: TBD

I just haven't found anything I love so at the moment cursive is random bits of copy work.

Art: Artistic Pursuits Book 2

We love this art. It gives us the perfect mix of art appreciation and art instructions. And it's real art. I don't feel like I need to be an artist myself to teach this book. However, I have heard some parents say they prefer more art instruction so be sure to check the book out before you buy!

Lot's of Lapbooks:

Because Weaver is designed to last 9 months and we are stretching it to a year (blog coming soon!) we will be adding in lapbooks as a fun way to supplement. Currclick offers lots of fun and sometimes FREE LAPBOOKS.

One of the great things about homeschooling is getting to start fresh and change up the things that didn't work for you. I am very excited and am looking forward to sharing how everything worked for us!

Ice Cream Lesson Plans and Printables

Summer is here and you know what that means, ICE CREAM!!! For school today we are going to be doing all of our lesson plans with a sweet treat twist! Because I teach pre-kers on Mondays I will be including in some of the printables I used with them. July is technically National Ice Cream month but we finish with the pre-k in May so we are doing it early. You will have to excuse my excessive use of exclamation points. How can you help it when you are doing something so fun?!


Letter of the Day: I is for Ice Cream! Print this out for some penmanship work. If you have a younger child this page can be colored or stamped.

K5 and up will enjoy this Free Ice Cream Lapbook! With plenty of printables you can easily adapt this to your older or younger children. We are going to have alot of fun doing this Acrostic Poem!

For art we are going paint with popsicles that I made in advance. I used popsicle molds but ice trays and popsicle sticks are a good way to do it too!

This is a "vintage" audio clip about how ice cream is made!

Picture Credit


Of course an ice cream themed lesson plan would not be the same without some ice cream chemistry. Otherwise known as, ice cream in a bag! Learn all about the whys and hows of making ice cream and enjoy a yummy reward at the end!


Here are a few other printables I thought you might enjoy, all ice cream themed! We used this survey sheet to collect data on our friends and family's favorite flavor and then graphed it here on this ice cream themed graph paper!

The Curiosity Files Explorations: The Platypus Review

We have alot of fun with most of the products I am asked to review. In fact I can't think of any that we haven't been able to enjoy or make enjoyable. However, I don't often find one that I want to rave about. This one is it! The Curiosity Files- Platypus, a downloadable unit study (the bundle can be purchased on CD), by The Old Schoolhouse, has been a truly enjoyable unit study! Professor Ana Lyze (bu dum ching!), does an excellent job of making the oddities of the platypus and interesting and fun experience. Plus, it is very reasonably priced at just $6.95! Even better is that there are 9 in the series, and they can be purchased as a bundle for a nearly $2 savings per study!

The study is very comprehensive and while we did squeeze it into a few days (we were having so much fun we couldn't stop!), it could easily be spread out over a week or maybe even two if you followed the "rabbit" trails that pop up, and trust me, even with my younger girls we had plenty of them.Because it included Bible, math, language arts, poetry, copy work, science and even some history, you could easily put all other work on hold to do this study. And, anytime I don't have to search down extra links and resources for a study I am excited. Dozens of links and website suggestions are included in the study. It saved me alot of time not having to search for graph paper, pictures of platypus burrows, and so on. As with most studies you can always add library books, but I didn't find them necessary at all. The reading portion is well laid out, though for my children's ages (6 and 7) I did have to use some different wording and I skipped portions of it that were more geared towards older children. However, considering the study is rated for ages 8-13, I found it very easy to adapt to my own children's ages. After we got past the reading is where the real fun began for us. The platypus unit study has numerous hands on skills in all areas. We glued beans into drawn illustrations of burrows, graphed beads, made tent "burrows", solved word searches and there were so many things I either didn't list or we didn't have the time to do! I am telling you, this study was just packed with these activities!

I think what I loved most as teacher, is the adaptability of the study. A few ways we adapted included counting out our beads by 's and 10's instead of using the worksheet and as I men

(I should say that since my kids are younger we leaned towards and enjoyed the hands on activities in the study, but there were plenty of more in-depth lessons and worksheets for older students as well. Though, the activities are enjoyable for the older ones as well! )

I only have one complaint about the study and it is just a matter of personal preference. I like to print out hard copies of my unit studies that I keep in binders. I just find it easier for me to read that way. This particular study has alot of graphics and background images that make it impossible to print without using an enormous amount of ink. This is minor though and is not going to keep me from purchasing the other studies available in this series.

You can purchase this unit study as well as many other great products from The Old Schoolhouse website or you can call at 1-888-718-HOME. Be sure to check out the sales. Some of this series is on sale for just $1.00! And if you buy and don't love it, The Old Schoolhouse has a 7 day money back guarantee on all e-books published by TOS.


PS: As soon as my husband reveals the top secret location of the cord I need to download photos from my camera, I will add a few pictures of some of our favorite things we did!

I was given this unit study free from TOS to review. Everything written here is 100% honest and 100% mine.

Butterfly Lesson Plans, Crafts and Resources

I bought the girls a few insect habitats around Christmas, including the Insect Lore Butterfly Kit.




This was one of the best things we have done. Our caterpillars arrived within a few days of ordering and we watched them double in size nearly every day! After they were done growing we watched them go from hanging upside down to transforming into chrysalis' and then into butterflies. Today we released them out at my parents and watched them flit from flower to flower. Everyone from my husband to my 2 year old enjoyed this project and we will definitely be re-ordering!

Spring is the perfect time to study about insects that help pollination. Here are a few resources to help with your butterfly lesson plans, crafts and lapbooking:

Butterfly Lapbook by Hands of a Child

Butterfly Crafts

Painted Lady Life Cycle Video

Free Butterfly Lapbook Resources

Butterfly Lesson Plans

Butterfly Pollination

St Patrick's Day Crafts and Lesson Resources

Just a quickie with some links to St Patrick's Day Crafts and other resources!

DLTK's Site has resources for all ages! Crafts, songs, coloring sheets, and word searches are just a few of the resources you will find on this site!

Enchanted Kids is another great site! Check out the cute potato face craft or make a rainbow in a cup! There is also a nice number of printable worksheets and lapbook printables.

Lesoon Plans Page has a list of St. Patrick's Day lesson plans.

American Girl Samantha Valentine's Lapbook

Currclick has a great deal on American Girl Samantha Valentine's Lapbook! For just $1.00 you can get this great Valentine's Day lesson plan and lapbook for your Valentine's Day but only until February 15th, so get it quick!

For other great Valentine's Day activities, lapbooks and lesson plans visit here!

Valentine's Day Lesson Plans and Activities

Crafts are all over the Internet so I am going to give you a few resources for lesson plans and educational activities with a Valentine's Day Theme. Some of these would also make great gifts for your special someone(s).

Lesson Plans:

Valentine Lapbook Ages 5 and up
Will you be my Valentine? Valentine’s Day is a day to send cards, candy, and maybe even flowers to loved ones. Learn the history, customs, and traditions of this lovable holiday in the Valentine’s Day Project Pack from In the Hands of a Child. This 64-page project pack includes a 10-page research guide and 16 hands-on activities to help your student learn and celebrate Valentine’s Day!

L is for Love
L is or Love introduces preschoolers to two greatest commandments as presented by Jesus. Biblical references include Matthew 22:37-40, 1 Corinthians 13:4-8 and Romans 5:8. L is for Love includes basic preschool skills such as phonics, less than, writing practice, bar graphing, L words and counting. Easy to assemble, hands on activities encourage interaction and retention!

Designed to prepare preschoolers for kindergarten by introducing Biblical knowledge, language skills, math skills, social studies skills, and science skills to preschool age children through hands on activities and practice. All lap-books include an art activity, sight words and a memory verse. In addition, there is a list of extension activities to strengthen the skills presented in the lap-book



Valentine's Day Bible Verse Copy Work




Valentine's Day Science:


Fizzy Bath Bomb

Candy Science

The Science of Sugar

Language Arts, Math, Cooking, Art and Other Subjects:

Valentine's Day Recipes

Box of Chocolate Adjectives

Graphing Conversation Hearts

Healthy Hearts Musical Chairs

For more great ideas visit Teach-nology.

Shared at Raising Homemakers.

Thanksgiving Lesson Plans and Resources

I wish I had gotten these up a bit earlier, but better late than never right?

There is just so much on the Internet that I could never hope to post it all but here are a few of my favorite sites for Thankgsiving Lesson Plans and Resources:

Thanksgiving Lapbook

Thanksgiving Lesson Plans

Thanksgiving Printables

Thanksgiving Crafts

Thanksgiving Unit Study

Thanksgiving Book List

Enjoy!

Sunday Book of the Week

And actually on time this week!!!

This weeks book is The Tale of Peter Rabbit by Beatrix Potter.

"Now run along, and don’t get into mischief," Mrs. Rabbit tells her bunnies. But frisky Peter runs straight to Mr. McGregor’s tasty garden and sneaks under the gate!

Goes great with The Tale of Peter Rabbit Unit Study!

Smores on a Stick

I can't remember where I came across this recipe, but I knew I was going to have to try it! It is a fun twist on the classic smores and best of all it was something the kids could do right along with me!

I just kind of went with the flow on the measurements for this one so I am going to guesstimate what it took me.

Ingredients:
1 package(1lb) semi-sweet morsels
1 large package large marshmallows
about 8 graham crackers
24 kebab skewers

In a ziplock bag crush graham crackers. Some like it crushed really fine others like bigger chunks. How fine you crush is up to you, but we crushed ours pretty fine.

Place one or two marshmallows on the wooden skewers.

Melt chocolate using the microwave or a double boiler method. I add a bit of vegetable oil to thin it out while it's melting. It just makes for easier dipping.

Dip marshmallows in chocolate then immediately roll in graham cracker. Place on a cookie sheet lined with wax paper and allow to harden in fridge.

This would be a great recipe to do with the Chocolate Lapbook!

Enjoy!!

Disclaimer: These are incredibly addictive! I can not be held responsible for any weight gained as a result of using this recipe. Eat at your own risk!

Mary of Puddin Hill Field Trip

A few months ago while we were working on our Chocolate Lapbooks, I did some searching around and found out about a neat chocolate factory tour at Mary of Puddin Hill in Greenville. We were so blessed to be able to not only tour the factory, but we got to make our very own chocolate bars! The factory tour itself is completely free and to make the chocolate bar (which in my opinion is an absolute must!) is $5 and is something they only run in the off season so be sure to call ahead to make sure they are doing it during the time you are touring. The employees were so nice, the tour was conducted by a very enthusiastic manager who was very knowledgeable about the factory, from its history to the chocolate making process, and after we were done we got to try out some yummy samples.

If you are looking for a great lapbook that is fun and easy I definitely suggest the Chocolate Lapbook. I did have to modify it a bit to suit my younger ones, but that was easy enough and between the chocolate factory tour and all of the great chocolate recipes that we tried it was definitely in our top 5 favorite lapbooks.