Archive by Author | Lisa McAfee

Free Unit Study Planets Guide

Sep14

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With most homeschool families being a one-income family it’s nice to find curriculum and resources that are low-cost. Well, I found a low-cost unit study on planets that homeschoolgiveaways is offering, and it is so low that it is FREE! Here are some features this curriculum offers for your 1st- 6th grade students:

  • Planet and solar fact sheets and corresponding fill-in-the-blank worksheets
  • Cursive & manuscript copywork
  • Glossary of terms and corresponding fill-in-the-blank worksheets

If you would like to find out more about this resource, CLICK HERE

Free Geography Resource

Sep11

For today only you can download a FREE United States Geography Resource by Geography Matters. Trail Guide to United States Geography is a multi-level curriculum that can be used as your main curriculum or can be used as a supplement. It has daily drills, map activities, and also literature! I have used their ideas in my own geography class and I highly recommend this if you are wanting geography resources. CLICK HERE to learn more. Screen Shot 2015-09-11 at 5.49.28 AM

Butternut Squash Soup

Sep7
We had made a decision this year to let our garden rest. We thought that if anything volunteered we could harvest from those plants. I was pleasantly surprised when we had a butternut squash begin to grow out of our compost pile that is directly behind our garden plot. It [the plant] loved the rich soil and took over more than half of my 15’x20′ garden! Say what?!  I had to take a picture of one of them for you just get an idea of the magnitude of the size of the fruits that are coming from this plant. The ruler is below the fruit, measuring at more than a foot long. So, what to do with such a bountiful harvest of squash besides give them away? How about some healthy soup? I thought you might be looking for some easy recipes for days that you just want to have a crock pot recipe for those busy days.
butternut squash

butternut squash

Slow Cooker Butternut Squash Soup
Prep time: 20 mins
Cook time: 10 hours
Total time: 10 hours 20 mins
Author: Organize Yourself Skinny
Serves: 6
Ingredients
  • 1 butternut squash (whatever size fits into your slow cooker)
  • 2 tablespoons water
  • 1 tablespoon olive oil
  • 1 large yellow onion, chopped
  • 3 garlic cloves, chopped
  • 1 quart chicken broth (or 4 cups), you can also use vegetable broth to make this vegetarian. Also, depending on the size of your squash you might need more or less broth.
  • salt and pepper to taste
  • parmesan to sprinkle on individual bowls
Instructions
  1. Place whole butternut squash and 2 tablespoons of water into the slow cooker. Put lid on and cook for 7-9 hours on low.
  2. Heat olive oil in a medium pan on high. Cook onions and garlic until translucent, about 7 minutes. Set aside.
  3. After the squash is done remove from the slow cooker, cut in half, remove the seeds and skin, and scoop out the flesh and place it back into the slow cooker. Discard the seeds and skin.
  4. Pour the onion mixture and chicken broth in with the squash. Using a hand blender, blend the ingredients until blended and smooth. Cook on high for another hour.
  5. Add salt and pepper to taste. Serve with a sprinkle of parmesan cheese.
Notes
Make ahead tips
This soup can be made completely ahead of time and frozen into individual servings for easy lunches and dinners. Reheat on the stove or in microwave.
Nutrition Information
Serving size: 1½ cups Calories: 200 Fat: 3 Carbohydrates: 41 WW Points +: 5 Fiber: 6Protein: 7
One last picture of this monstrous fruit… That is my Vitamix next to it, which isn’t a small blender! 🙂
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What to Teach in Kindergarten

Aug31

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Kindergarten is such a great year of school with everything being new to your child in the world of academics, but it can be intimidating to you as a new homeschool teacher. What exactly does a kindergartner need to be learning?

Language Arts

Reading readiness is the main emphasis and core of the language arts program in kindergarten. Letter recognition and sounds are paramount and lay the foundation for being able to read. Once your scholar is comfortable with them you can have him begin to read sight words. Kidzone has a sight words page that you can download for FREE.  For penmanship have your student practice writing the alphabet, printing their full name, and practice copying the sight words they are learning.

Math

Colors, number recognition, counting, and adding numbers to 20 are the concepts to concentrate upon throughout the year. Cutting with scissors and basic shape recognition are taught as well.

Social Studies

Knowing what a community is and how this operates is the main emphasis of study. Your student should know their address, phone number, community helpers such as: pastor, doctor, dentist, firefighter, police officer. letter carrier, and nurse are some of those professionals that your kindergartner will recognize and know what each of their jobs entail.

Science

The human body, weather and animals are all introduced in kindergarten. A basic knowledge of each of these topics is all that is needed for your young student.

Health and Safety

Since your student is learning about the human body you can easily incorporate nutrition and disease prevention to fulfill the Ohio requirement for homeschooling your student.

Above all, have a fun year!

~Lisa

Starting School

Aug24

apple_and_slateboardIt’s nearly the end of August and that can only mean one thing- school is starting! (yay!) If this is your first year, or you are a veteran, I thought you could use some points to keep in mind. May you have a wonderful school year. 🙂

Make the first day (or week) special. Fix a special breakfast of pancakes or French toast, get out the books, sharpen pencils, talk about what you are going to do for the year, do a little math and reading. Ask your child(ren) what areas of study would they like to do and plan to incorporate that into your school year.

End the first school day on a happy note. Finish the day with an art project or bake some goodies together. Be sure to take a first day of school picture. It will surprise you as you look back at the end of the year in the spring to see how much your student has grown.

Once you get the first day under your belt, what else is there to keep in mind?

Set a time to begin and a time to end. What time is best for your family? Be sure to keep a set time for everyone to begin school. Also, pick an ending time so that you aren’t doing school until dinner. Everyone needs a break and you should be able to wrap up your day when your student is in elementary school by 12:00 if you begin at 8:00. If you have a kindergartner, your time will be much shorter.

Do math and reading every day. When you stay consistent in these two areas, progress will take place and your student will do well. Of course, the other subjects need to be covered as well, but can be a few days a week instead of each day.

Make school fun. How can you do this? Find something your family enjoys doing and incorporate it into your schedule. One of the things we looked forward to was a read aloud book. You can do this after lunch when everyone is settling into an afternoon routine or do it before bed when your husband can read it to all of you.

Have a great year!