Archive by Author | Lisa McAfee

The Legend of the Money Pit

Oct29

Are you having a difficult time getting your boys (and girls) to write? How about listening to an old-time radio program about a tunnel that has baffled people for over 200 years? The tunnel is known as the “Money Pit” and is located in the town of Mahone Bay, Nova Scotia. I won’t give away any more of the details, but you can listen to an account of it and follow-up with some of these activities.

Listen to the radio program Money Pit Click Here

Research the story. There are several articles that have been written about this fascinating topic. Here are some websites with information to further guide your search for the mysterious treasure. I have created a worksheet with comprehension questions and paragraph writing. The Money Pit

Neatorama Gives an interesting account of the discoveries from the excavations of the Money Pit.

Hub Pages Spoiler ALERT! The article mentions what is currently happening at the Money Pit at the beginning of the article.

The Mysterious and Unexplained has links to maps and a timeline.

Create your own model of a money pit and island. Make your model out of play dough, clay, or salt dough.

Lost Ladybug Project

Oct22

Just a few years ago we had a large population of ladybugs that would swarm the back porch every fall. I was just thinking that I haven’t seen any the past two years. Scientists are wondering  why this is the case and have been asking for the help of people like you and me to help gather ladybug data. New colonies are being started in different areas of the United States while old colonies are disappearing.

This would be a great science project to complete and now is about the time ladybugs are spotted. You can read all about it, take pictures of ladybugs and submit them if you “spot” them near your home or places you like to visit. 🙂 Here is the website called The Lost Ladybug Project to help determine what is occurring in ladybug populations. Click Here to begin the adventure.

Here are some more ladybug resources to enhance your study. Enjoy!

The Grouchy Ladybug, Eric Carle, (preschool, elementary) A fictitious account of a ladybug who is looking for a fight and uses the excuse, “You’re not big enough.” until someone muuuch bigger than her takes on the challenge. Read to find out what happens.

Ladybugs, Gail Gibbons Did you know ladybugs live on 6 of the 7 continents? You can read more about them in this nonfiction book about ladybugs.

Ladybug Websites:

Ladybug Lady has coloring sheets, FAQ’s and more.

Enchanted Learning has information as well as pictures to label and crafts to create.

Lapbooks

Grouchy Ladybug Lapbook  looks like a lot of fun! This would be a fantastic compliment to the Grouchy Ladybug book.

Lapbook Lessons Preschool-Elementary A ladybug lapbook for all to enjoy.

Ladybug Beetle Lapbook (Members)

How about Hatching your very own ladybugs? Purchase live ladybugs and start your own insect-eating colony! They are good for your gardens as they eat aphids that are harmful to roses and other flowers.

Doing Something Good

Oct15

DO SOMETHING GOOD FOR SOMEONE 🙂

This week my sisters, dad, some nieces and nephews and I walked in memory of my mother at the Leukemia/Lymphoma walk. It was a beautiful evening to all get together to celebrate the life of our wonderful mother and grandmother. I bought helium balloons for all of us and we set off on our two-mile trek across Cincinnati with a ton of other walkers. I was proud of my family as we all had some obstacle we had to overcome in order to be there.

I have noticed that doing something good takes a lot of effort at times. I am not sure the cause, but I believe one reason is it takes some perseverance and inconvenience. I believe the result of helping others is well worth it though. Jesus talks about feeding the poor and helping those in need in Matthew 25 so I try to find ways to help where I can.  Here are some ideas for doing something good for someone else. How about trying to do one kind thing as a family for the month of October? I bet you will like it so much you’ll want to continue.

Make cards for:

  • Grandparents
  • Nursing homes
  • Soldiers
  • Your pastor, Sunday School teachers

Make a meal for someone. A person doesn’t have to be sick in order to receive a meal. 🙂 You can make extra of whatever you are serving to your family and it won’t take all that much extra to put it in a dish and drop it off.

Pack a lunch for Dad and put a love note in it from each of the children and you.

Find a 5k walk/run event to attend that supports a worthy cause or sponsor someone if you don’t care to do it yourself.

Volunteer at a soup kitchen or a food bank. Here in town we have several places that need volunteers. Matthew 25 Ministries and the Drop Inn Center are just two places I am acquainted with personally.

Kids Against Hunger is a national organization that feeds children a nutritious meal for .25 a serving. You can volunteer to make the rice packets or you can raise money and send the funds to the organization. We have helped several times with one locally and it is a great way to give to others in need.

The Election Process

Oct8

I am extremely grateful that I live in the United States where I have a right to vote for those in government positions. With that right I believe it is important that we also teach our children about the election process. I have gathered resources for you to introduce and teach this process to your children.

Learn Our History by Mike Huckabee is a DVD that you can get it for FREE, you only have to pay $3.95 for shipping and handling. It is called Election Day: Choosing Our President

Here is an online resource that you and your children can use to not only learn about the election process,, but also historical facts, word origins of terms, and trivia. Look what I learned about the word ballot. Ballot comes from the Italian word ballotta, which means small ball. Centuries ago, people voted secretly by dropping a small ball in a box or other container. A white ball indicated a vote for something; a black ball indicated a vote against it. Congress for Kids

How about reading some books with your student?

Election Day, Margaret McNamara (Level 1 reader) Although this is listed as a level 1 reader, it is recommended for children who are not beginning readers. This book uses a classroom setting to illustrate campaigning.

Election Day, Patricia J. Murphy (rookie Reader)

How about doing a lapbook? This is not necessarily for primary students, but they could do it with your help or you could choose some sections to do that are more at their level. Click here

Here are several activities that you can print for your student that include word searches, coloring pages, and worksheets. Click here.

Time4learning

Oct1

I am always on the lookout for resources I can find that can help you as a homeschool educator. I found this online website that offers language arts, math, science, and social studies for your student(s) that I think looks interesting.  It is a PreK-8th grade online service with the following benefits:

  • Access to 3 Grade Levels of Lessons
  • 1,000+ Student-Paced Multimedia Activities
  • Language Arts, Math, Science and Social Studies
  • Interactive, Project-Based Activities
  • Detailed Reporting for Easy Record-Keeping
  • Lesson Plans and Teaching Tools for Parents
  • Lessons Correlated to State Standards

While they do not offer a science curriculum for 7th or 8th grade you could still have student use it as a supplement or if you have not yet covered that information, use as their curriculum for the year. Membership is less than $20.00 per month. There are also lesson plans, worksheets, quizzes, and tests to accompany the subjects. For more information and to see for yourself if this is something you would like for your school Click Here.