As the first year here at TCH comes to a close I want to offer some of my favorite posts you may have missed.

The Value of Collections

Bookmaking Fun with Kids

Getting the Most out of Your Art Museum Trip

15 Great Uses for a Digital Camera

Art Preservation Made Easy–and Fun

Family Newspaper

Finally! A Use for Junk Mail

I hope you’ll find a new idea here that you can use in your home education.

As the year draws to a close, I want to list a few of my favorite posts from this year. I hope you enjoy a post or two you may have missed.

Relating to Life and Biblical Principle Approach Home Education

My place in God’s Symphony

The encouragement addiction

Creating unit studies using the Biblical Principle Approach

We are history

Average kids are gonna rule the world

Yes, home educating is my job

Life is tasty in small bites

Commonplace blogging

Relating to Bookbinding

In art, bigger really is better

Slow books

Bookmaking fun with kids

Which came first, content or concept?

Using your artistic voice

And the Freedom & Simplicity on the R Road to Biblical Wisdom ebook goes to…

TRICIA!

Thanks to everyone for playing. I love giveaways and hope to have another one soon. Tricia let me know where to email your book!

I haven’t had a contest in a long time and I love this book, so I thought I would give away a copy to a fortunate reader.

Lisa Hodgen’s new book Freedom & Simplicity on the R Road to Biblical Wisdom: A “How to” Guide to Biblical Learning in Home Education is one of new favorite books. I reviewed it at The Curriculum Choice so I won’t rehash it here. Just know that I think this book gets you where you want to go in your home education journey–Wisdom’s house.

How do you win? Leave a comment about something related to Biblical wisdom–a scripture, a question or just a comment. And please read the review before you enter so you have a good idea of what the book is about. One entry per person please. I will draw randomly from all entries stamped by 9pm CST on August 31, 2009. If the winner does not claim the prize within 7 days another winner will be chosen.

This is our first of [hopefully] many interviews with creative types.

The Science Mouse is a homeschooled kid with a penchant for all things scientific. With a little help from her mom she publishes The Science Mouse, a terrific monthly ezine for kids with a different theme each month.

Tell us about you/your family. (hobbies, stuff you like, stuff you can’t stand)

I have two sisters and two brothers. I like to swim and really like when my dad takes me out for a bike ride. I just started softball and my brother is in t-ball. I have my own dog named Copper. He is a beagle and he is named after the puppy in The Fox and the Hound. We also have gerbils and chickens.

One of my least favorite things is sitting next to my six year old brother in the car because he won’t leave me alone. He always wants my attention, but sometimes I like to do things he isn’t big enough to do or to just read.

What you do like best about homeschooling? What do you like least?

What I like about homeschooling is not having six hours of school. What I don’t like about homeschooling is that I don’t have many friends in my neighborhood.

Have you always like to write? What’s your favorite subject?

No, I haven’t always liked to write. It depends on what I am writing about. I like it more when it is something I thought of. My favorite subject is reading.

Is starting up an online magazine what you thought it would be? How is it the same/different?

It isn’t quite what I thought it would be. It is more work than I thought it would be and I was hoping that I would get more contributions from other children. Mom says to be patient. My favorite part of the e-zine is getting to stay up late to work on it when the deadline is close.

Where did you get the idea for The Science Mouse?

I wanted to start a blog and I like science. My mom talked to me about maybe an e-zine and I liked that idea.

What does “creative” mean to you?

Creative means to make up something and draw it or make a model or create something new.

Do you think you are creative? Why or why not?

I think I am very creative. I am always thinking of how to use things in new ways. For example, I made a stable for my horses out of things my parents were going to throw away.

What other creative dreams do you have?

I would like to write a book and have it published. I am writing a book right now called “The Horse Chronicles.”

What inspires you to be more creative?

The things I see.

What advice would you give to other kids who may want to start their own magazine? (How much time does it take to create an issue, what do you need, what’s the most important thing to know, etc.)

It takes a lot of time. Writing takes a lot of time, and so does typing. My mom helps me with that, but it still takes time. It takes time to let people know your magazine published. It takes time to answer emails and to learn about different things. Sometimes there are other things you want to do, but you have to work on your magazine if you want it to be successful. You also have to make sure you spell things right.

If other kids want to write for your magazine, how can they get in touch with you?

They can email me at thesciencemouse@gmail.com. Articles can be any length and it is OK for parents  to help like if a young child wants to dictate something. My mom helps me, too.

Please take a minute to visit The Science Mouse. She has videos, crafts, recipes and lots of articles that your kids will really enjoy, along with a FREE downloadable issue in PDF each month.

I just love going to my local used home school store. The woman that runs it is a walking home school catalog. Her knowledge of all the different curricula is staggering. And there is where I happen upon most of my home school loves.

My newest favorite resources are these giant, yet unassuming books. They may not sound like a big deal, but they are–at least they should be.

I am in love with all the Teacher’s Book of Lists books (available at Amazon and other online bookstores). They are worth their weight in gold. Yes you can probably find all the information on the Internet, if you took months, and even then you may not find it all. Why put yourself through that? It’s organized and at your fingertips right in this book. For example, some things included in the comprehensive science book are:

• plant terminology and classification
• dyeing procedures (from plant sources)
• animal classification, reproductive and life cycles
• major terms of the 10 human body systems
• determining to mole of a compound
• balancing chemical equations
• isotopes of chemical equations
• classification of energy
• calculating the specific gravity of a mineral
• codes for weather symbols
• classification of stars by color and temperature
• base two
• checklists for graphing conventions
• metric conversions
• professional publications
• science fair project information and checklists

And that’s just a few of other over 290 lists. In the literature book you can find 247 lists like vocabulary lists for all sorts of writing; lists by theme, genre and author; lists of award winners and books that have been made into movies. You can search by literary period, find a nice list comparing gods and goddesses and even lists of famous characters.

I think you get the point. You will be so glad you have these books on your lesson plan bookshelf. It is saving me so much time looking up things that I need to grab and move on. These book keep me from getting lost in the details, so I can focus on the principles I want to teach. These lists are great for illustrating principles, gleaning ideas for reading lists and essay questions and for just plain fact-gathering and they cover k-12, so there are no other books to buy (always a winner to me!).

If you prefer integrated studies, these are still valuable. You can use them as project starters, essay fodder and just general resource. Because they are broken down by subject you are able to hone in on just the info you need. You can also see who the subjects intertwine. And you can use them to make mini offices for your kids on any subject. If you aren’t convinced by now, you are a hopeless case. Or you  have another easy source for all this information available at the tum of a page. If you’d like to share a favorite resource, please leave a comment. I’m always curious to know what other moms are using in the homeschooling.

If you are like me you are always looking for things that will help you get things done easier and faster. You also don’t want a huge learning curve. One thing you may want to try for your homeschool is a product (or three) from Inspiration.

They have three products that I am in love with. There  is something about visual learning that is helpful to everyone, no matter what your learning style. Mind maps, graphs and charts make it easy to see what you are learning and how it is connected to other things.

I highly encourage you to watch the videos of each of the products here so you can see how they work. I downloaded th free trial and in no time I was using Inspiration 8 to help me write a book. It creates an outline of your mindmap and then you can dump it into your word processor and voila there is your paper or book or article. It’s fabulous!

And Kidspiration is great. Visual math lessons can replace manipulatives and they can see how to add fractions, learn to read and write a paper in one very easy program. It will even give verbal cues for pre-readers.

InspireData is a scientist’s dream. Teach your kids how to collect and analyze data. Create slideshows of your findings and more. There are even databases included that you can use to practice analyzing right away. If you want you can create a secure online survey that your child can use to collect specific data. Their community is a great place to share tips and get help, should you need it.

I don’t make any money from this company, I just love their products. User friendly, affordable and useful. I can think of a hundred ways I will use their products. Download a free 30 day trial and see for yourself.

I bought this book a year or so ago and wanted to give a review of it. Actually it will be more of a “why I like this book” kind of post. 

Beyond Numbers: A Practical Guide to Teaching Math Biblically by Katherine Loop is the most helpful introduction to teaching math with Biblical principles that I have come across. She packs a lot of food for thought into less than 100 pages, and as a busy mom I appreciate that I can read it in one night.Chapters include “Where Did Math Come From and Why Does it Work?,” Math is Not Neutral,” and “Teaching Math Biblically.” It is a concise synopsis of math’s origin, exactly how to discover principles and how to teach them to your children of all ages. She also offers  curriculum suggestions, supplement resources, and help to overcome challenges (which we all have with some child at some time).

BPA requires you to internalize the principles and ideas in order to teach them to your children and she does a good job of helping you do that.If you have a hard time with math yourself or if you struggle to get your children when math lessons come around, this book will bring the subject alive for you. As she states in the chapter “Adopting a New Heart Toward Math, “…I would encourage you to do more than just add Bible verses to your curriculum. Let God change your heart toward math….As you begin to see and use math Biblically yourself,you will be able to teach math Biblically to your children so that they too, can behold God in math.”

For more info on this book visit Christian Perspectives. They offer many mathematical resources.

Okay this book is another gem I found at my local used homeschool bookstore:

Watchwords of Liberty: A Pageant of American Quotations was I think $4 bucks or so. It’s a fabulous library copy with the pocket still in the front cover. The binding and cover are still in excellent shape so it will stand up to many happy years of reading.

The point of the book is to tell the stories behind  famous American phrases, such as, “These are the times that try men’s souls,” and, “Cotton is king,” and, “Don’t fire until you see the whites of their eyes.” Over 100 pages of terrific stories and tales of how these sayings came to be. It’s a wonderful addition to our history studies.

Actually I found this book a few months ago. I’m trying our a new category where every week I share a resource that is meaningful to me, and hopefully to you and BPA as well.

A few months ago I finally got around to watching the movie Amazing Grace. I love period movies and this one did not disappoint. The music elevates and the subject convicts. I was particularly interested in the abolitionists who were working so diligently, doing little works for God with great love and conviction. There was a mention of Olaudah Equiano‘s self-published biography. I was amazed that he was able to sell over 1,900 copies of his book in Ireland alone.

The book intrigued me. I was impressed at how many books he was able to sell at a time when there were none of the modern marketing tools available. Not long after that I was in one of my favorite haunts, my local Goodwill. (They have so many terrific books there!) While scanning the shelves my eyes fell upon a little hardcover with  greenish bookcloth. Imagine my delight when I checked the title and discovered it was a wonderful copy of Equiano’s biography! For a mere $7.50 I was able to take my treasure home.

It has maps and engravings sprinkled throughout. It is an amazing story of his life. I am not done yet, but I am fascinated and horrified at his experience. It is magnified when I think that his story is not unusual. This is not a post on slavery, but I must state here that slavery violates God’s law (love your neighbor as yourself, among many others) and all 7 principles of America’s Christian history. But his book is not only of slavery, but one of God’s Providence and His redemptive power that is available to all men.

I was so glad to add this tome to my collection of beloved classics. I love stumbling across little jewels like this.