Vintage Indie Kids

Teach Me Art: Christmas Mandalas

Tis the season! Today we're making Christmas Mandalas from Woo Jr. We love this network, it is full of great craft ideas, project templates and supplemental worksheets for school time learning.

Visit Woo Jr. for your very own free printables!  

Teach Me: Music O Holy Night

As some of you already know, we are homeschoolers around these parts and this year, I've decided we are going to learn a real Christmas song. One full of truth, heart, joy and love. My favorite is O Holy Night. Have you heard Josh Groban sing it? Ahh, it warms my heart to the core.

We'll be learning it a little at a time. Learning how to write the lyrics in our best cursive and then with our voices.

You can find the lyrics here.

Teach Me: Coping with the Cold

Just a heads up, my friends over at Shining Dawn Books have just released a new unit study. Coping with the Cold, How Animals Survive the Winter Season. I think nature has really brought my kids and I closer together. They are leaning so much about the life around them. I can't wait to get started on this one.

Enjoy!

Teach Me: The Well Planned Day, A Family Homeschool Planner

Talk about a kid in the candy store. When it comes to office or school supplies, I'm your lady. I love pens, pencils, notebooks, binders and especially planners. Daily calendars and family planners are something I seek out each year. Usually I have a calendar/family planner and this year I've added a school lesson planner. I was head over heals when I found The Well Planned Day. A family and homeschool planner all in one! The Well Planned Day is brought to you by the same company who publishes Home Educating Family magazine. 

My review copy was that of the PDF file version. A down-loadable file, to be printed at home. The process is easy if you choose to purchase the down-loadable file. It requires Adobe which most everyone has already on their computers or can be downloaded for free. This version is a simple print and store in a binder as you wish. Although the printable version is instant gratification and after purchase is at your fingertips, I think I would prefer the printed and bounded version for $24.95.

Now that we've talked about the various ways to obtain The Well Planned Day planner, I'd like to talk about the pages themselves. This planner is well thought out if you have more than one child you are teaching. The calendar and daily planning pages are set up, for up to four children. However, if you have more than four children and you purchase the pdf file, you can simply print off more pages. I only have two children so the printed version would work just fine for us.

The planner itself has life. It's colorful, well organized and easy to understand. In the five day spread covering two pages there is room for four daily lesson plans including Bible, English, History, Math, Science and Electives. On the right page there is a place for Weekly Priorities, Dinner Menu and more. Keeping homeschool and life together in one. It makes since!

There are many other pages that fill the planner including Class Plans for the semester, Year at a Glance, Semester Goals, Daily Time Schedule, Full Calender for each month, Field Trip Notes, Monthly Expenses, Books to Enjoy list and so much more. Another favorite detail are the helpful articles like " 10 Habits of a Healthy Homeschool by Lina Johnson that enrich the planner throughout. Bible Memory verses are also printed on each week spread making it easy to incorporate into your week.

Overall I think this planner is an excellent start to getting your home and homeschool organized. As a new homeschooler I think this will be a valuable resource to the success of our home.

Even though it is almost October, getting organized and taking control of your schedule can start when you are ready and easily with The Well Planned Day. Visit Home Educating Family to read more and find out more about their magazine. Also, coming 2010 The Well Guided High Schooler.

Edited to Note: Home Educating Family is offering 25% off price the original $24.95 price for the printed planner. Use  this link for the discount. 

Have a great day!

Gabreial Wyatt, Editor in Chief

Teach Me, Play With Me, Create With Me: Let's Explore

I'm excited to bring you one of my favorite websites. I've been a long time lurker of Let's Explore. I have been itching to show you some of their great products and their amazing blog full of fabulous kids projects.

My wish list is growing fast and these rubbing plates are on the top. Do you remember doing these as a child? These would be great for a series on birds or just some plain old crafty fun.

How much fun would it be to use these Soy Crayon Rocks on your fancy new rubbing plates?

Owner Amy Anderson makes learning fun, playing more fun and pretend so much fun. Today she posted a great learning pdf for download called Counting the House. Much like the rest of her blog, Amy has all kinds of great ideas for crafting with your kids and fresh ideas.

Spinny Spellers are also another favorite of mine. Great for pre-school and kindergarten learning. She offers another great downloadable pdf file for you to get started as soon as your Spinny Speller arrives. 

Don't take my word for it though. Head over to Let's Explore and support a small business owner with your next kids purchase.

Teach Me: Autumn Reading ( Free Download Today Only)

As a homeschooler I've realized that there are thousands of books that I would have never read otherwise. Stories about real life, poetry that's full of rich details and children's stories that make me laugh. Many of the books are older and made available on the public record.

Today, I found a book called Autumn Studies Primary Studies in Nature Literature and Art by Anna McGovern, 1902. There is a free download for this book at Homeschool Freebie of the Day, but I also found a similar book by the same author if you don't get the chance to download it today. I haven't read through it, but the charming poems and information for fall, Thanksgiving and other nature details are charming, and I've found myself wanting to read the entire book. 

One of my favorites from the book. The Forget Me Not

Teach Me: Shining Dawn Books

Whether you home school or not, learning takes place every day. If you are a parent, you've been your child's teacher from the beginning. You helped them form their first words with their tiny mouths, you've taught them the most important things to get started in life.  You have been the starting point for their education.

At Vintage Indie Kids we hope to help bring resources to you to further education at home if your child attends public school and bring more resources to the attention of those who homeschool. Not only will these tools teach you and your child something, but hopefully help to grow bonds and relationships with them through learning.

Today's Teach Me company is Shining Dawn Books. Work at home moms and teachers Melissa Leach and Cindy West have joined together to create delightful nature-based unit studies. Often times we overlook the trees, birds and even the clouds in our sky with our overstuffed schedules. Take these tiny little worlds for example. When was the last time you laid on a blanket and watched the clouds with your little one? Shining Dawn Books makes it easy to learn about clouds, trees, spiders and so much more with their line of e-books.

If you are a homeschooler Shining Dawn Books gives you helpful lesson planning ideas for their unit studies, and if you aren't a homeschooler you'll find many ideas and a ton of resources for extra curricular learning with your child.

 

Head over to Shining Dawn Books to purchase on of the unit studies above and for their selection of other wonderful nature topics.