Thursdays for some reason always seem to be the longest day for me. What about you? What day seems to take the most effort to get through? What do you do to brighten the day or make things run smoother in your home? One thing I have done is purchase a new program to help me with my menu planning and grocery shopping. No more scraps of paper with lists. No more hunting for the recipe for the kids favorite Mac & Cheese. Shoppers-Friend is great and I have only had it for a day! It is beta testing right now so the first 100 lucky moms can get in on this but once it is fully released you have to try it out. You won't regret it.
We are down to only 4 sick ones in our home so maybe I can get in some yard time. My veggie garden laid fallow last year to rest (played nurse all summer to an injured family member) so it needs a little TLC. Better Homes & Gardens has a great site with tons of information on vegetable gardens. The kiddies are probably going to work on some of the videos we have from Izzit. You can either receive one free video /year or purchase them. They also have free daily current events lessons that you can use. Today's topic is "A Simple Health Care Fix Fizzles Out". They also may work on their workbooks that I printed free on 1800-teacher.com I found English, Math and Science work from Preschool through 10th Grade. They also have quite a few e-books to download also. This is a Singapore education site so the English is proper English but I would rather my children speak like that anyway. Much better than the hillbilly ghetto that is common around here.
I'm off to conquer the day. Pets are up and clamoring to be fed so that means the kiddies are next :).

St. Patrick's Day

Today is St. Patrick's Day. Are you wearing green? If not, beware of small fingers. A tradition with kids especially is to pinch those who aren't wearing green. Beyond that, here are a few things to help you with the kiddies today.
About.com has a list of links that include the history of the holiday, a quiz, fun facts, worksheets, crafts and coloring pages.
Currclick.com has a study about St. Patrick from Living Books Curriculum as a free download.
Kaboose.com and FamilyFun.com have a whole list of coloring pages, puzzles, coloring pages, crafts and recipes.
DLTK really has too many different printables to list! Talk about a variety.
ABCteach.com has enough resources to do a mini unit all in one place.
AtoZteacherstuff.com has an extensive list of lesson plans to learn about St. Patrick's Day.
Coloring.ws, ColoringBookFun.com, apples4theteacher.com
and mes-english.com have coloring pages to print for the kiddies.
Makingfriends.com has crafts to make and share.
Theteachersguide.com, Printactivities.com and Lee Hansen all have plenty of fun things to learn and do.
Thetoymaker.com has printable paper crafts that are absolutely beautiful.
Hopefully this is enough to keep the kiddies busy for the day.
I know I will be bookmarking some of this to use for next year. There always seems to be too much to do and not enough time. Well, to me that is. To the kiddies, all they see is the sun shining outside. Maybe we will have to take a walk outside to collect green things from nature first.

Finishing up...

The kiddies are just finishing up their lapbook/notebook study on the 2010 Winter Olympics. They seemed to drag a little at the end so I think with the next study we do, I will start some of the research for them. At least find the information and have it organized for them. I am trying to decide what to study next. Any ideas? I also am in the process of putting together a project pac for Roller Skating. Where is the best place to start selling? Decisions, decisions...

Long time gone

Talk about craziness...but I'm back. On with the show.

Christmas Symbols

Apples 4 the Teacher has a long list of Christmas symbols and their meanings. HappyHomeschool has a printable unit study on Christmas symbols. At Home School has an extensive unit study about Christmas symbols. Here you will find the Symbols of Christmas poem. Saskschool is another good reference for symbol explanations. Kaboose has a Symbols of Christmas bell craft for the kiddies. About.com has Christmas Symbol printables. Homeschool Helper has a Christmas Symbol lapbook. 1+1+1=1 has some lapbook templates for Christmas Symbols.

12 Days of Christmas

DLTK has a great set of coloring pages to go along with this subject. Here you will find the lyrics to the song and the meanings behind it. Here is another explanation of the meanings behind this song but it is more in depth with scripture notations. Homeschool Share has a free lapbook about the 12 Days of Christmas. About.com has some worksheets to print out for the kiddies to complete. First-School has some printables for the Pre-K/K set. About.com also has a 12 Days gag gift idea. Love to Know has a list of sites to find graphics that you may need in your study. The Leadership Program has a 12 Days math lesson that involves Pascal's Triangle. E-Printable Calenders has a randomly generated 12 days word search that can be printed out. The 12 Days Christmas Village has coloring pages, crafts, games, and the kiddies can e-mail Santa.

Free to help

I thought it might be a good idea to remind everyone that there are sites out there where we can help others by only giving up a few moments out of the day.
Click to Give
Free Rice
Free Kibble
Free Kibble Kat