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Homeschool Memorization Planning & Tracking Form

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I’ve been bad, real bad. I have been off playing. It finally arrived. We got some fall weather, even if it is only for 2 days.  Okay, well I have been doing a bit more than that and its almost time to let you in on the secret I have been holding in too. I won’t make you wait much longer. Don’t hate me, but its coming soon.

letters for homeschool graduation picture collage

One BIG thing happening this week that I have been holding in and that has me so OVER the top that I am not sure if I can sit still long enough to tell you is that FINALLY I get to have the graduation party for Mr. Senior 2013.  Because I am not a whiner and always, always prefer to focus on the positive I can tell you now that my summer was a bit more emotional than I let on.  I kept thinking anytime now we could have what I planned for so long, but it just didn’t happen. Oh sure, he graduated because he finished the credits that I had planned, but the hubby was so sick in the hospital and no one felt like a party. Other things were more important in May and June.

letters homeschool graduation R

The  heart problems with the Mr. came back to haunt us and everything was put on hold.  It’s just so hard to look at hubby (I know I say this all the time, but the guy looks great) and think he is a heart patient at such a young age, but we are fighting genetics. Its like trying to change the color of your eyes. He knows he will have problems, but you just do the best you can.

Too, I am not just saying this but don’t you think that our homeschool kids are just the best sometimes? Sure we have problems with rebellion attitude and oh yes they are trying to find their adult voice, but every minute spent with my teens have been precious.

Mr. Senior 2013 just stepped in and stepped up as he is helping us to run the business at the moment. I always thought he would sprout his wings and flutter and he has,  but on line college has been a real life saver now as we continue to need him. Maybe because of how hard it has been this past summer, it really has me counting my blessings.

letters for homeschool graduation E

Besides, who else besides us doesn’t think its weird to have a graduation party in fall?

I promise to share all the pictures and ideas after we finish celebrating this week.

Homeschool Memorization Tracking & Planning

Before I get too off track, I wanted to share this form that I have been working on also.  I finally, I think anyway, have it perfect to my liking. You know I don’t release a new form even if it means taking longer because I like to use them for a while and then change them if needed.

Memorization Planning Collage

I did end up changing this one a bit as I went back to look at some of my lesson planning pages to see what else I wanted to add.  At the top under Types of Memorization, I forgot about music, so I added that too.  I went ahead and changed V = verses to B for Bible because this is more broad and can cover anything we want our children to memorize about the Bible.

I know P = Poetry is language arts but the reason I made it separate is because poetry is a major reason a lot of use memorization. L = Language Arts/Grammar is a broad category too because it can cover any types of list from foreign language to helping verbs to memorize for grammar. Keeping this area at the top a bit uncluttered and the categories broad will keep our form clean looking.

Also, I went ahead and made this both a tracking and planning form. You know I have said before planning pages ore different than tracking pages at times. So you have room to pen in the date, and check off the weeks you worked on a particular list or passage and then a place to categorize the type of memorization work done. So plan and track from this one page. It has 20 lines so that is 20 weeks of school if you are having them memorize one list or passage a week which is a good pace. But use it how you like it if you have more memorization lists you want to include as I kept the form flexible.

New Download here Memorization Planning and Tracking Form

I hope you love it, I am already loving it!

Hugs and you know I love ya,

2012Tinasignature How to Memorize the Countries of South America & Mountain Climate Zones Minibooks

How to Memorize the Countries of South America & Mountain Climate Zones Minibooks

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This post may contain affiliate links. For more information, please see my full disclosure policy.

South America LapbookI went ahead and started planning and arranging the minibooks, that we have so far,  on a file folder for our South America Unit Study. Remember these can be glued notebook style too. Nothing babyish about lapbooking or notebooking.

We still don’t glue them in our file folder at this point, this is just a visual so I know where else to place the upcoming minibooks too. We are up to 4 now.

Today, I have minibooks 3 and 4 for you.

Comparing Mountain Zones - Andes @ Tina's Dynamic Homeschool PlusMinibook 3 is Comparing Mountain Climate Zones. It is a book I prepared because I wanted us to focus on the climate of the Andes Mountain and compare them for our geography niche on this.

Near the equator the climate at the lowest elevation is tropical. If you were to climb midway up the mountains, you would find a more mild climate and then again at 15,000 feet you would find extremely low temperatures and icy winds.

Facts to Learn About South America

Notice on the book, the cover has 4 different colors so this is a visual to match the accordion fold minibook so that your child understands about each zone. The top part or light purple is the Tierra Helada and the light green is Tierra Fria and etc.

So here are the facts for using in the minibook. I probably should do an answer key to go with the book, but this information really finds it way to my website. So I just add it here for you in case you and the kids want to go ahead and do it.

Frozen Land or Tierra Helada .

  • Above 10,000 feet
  • Place for livestock like llamas and sheep

Cold Land or Tierra Fria

  • 6,000 – 10,000 feet
  • Place for crops: Wheat, apples, potatoes and barley

Temperate Land or Tierra Templada

  • 3,000 – 6,000 feet
  • Place for crops: corn, cotton, coffee and citrus fruits

Hot Land or Tierra Caliente

  • Sea Level – 3,000 feet
  • Place for crops: bananas, cacao, sugar cane and rice.

How to Remember the Countries of South America

Memorize the Countries of South America at Tina's Dynamic Homeschool Plus

Minibook 4 is a book that uses a mnemonic saying to remember the 12 countries and the one 1 French territory. Give me something that doesn’t make sense anytime to remember and that is what I will remember.

Too, help your child to understand that French Guiana is a territory like a state is here to us in the United States. If you don’t live here, then use one of your local provinces to describe a dependent area so they understand that it is not a country.

This came from a neat website called Memorize the World. Here is how it goes: The Biggest Country (Brazil). Arnie Takes his mom Tina to eat Chile. (Argentina and Chile). Cool Vegetable Guy Studies French (Colombia, Venezuela, Guyana, Suriname and French Guiana).  Every Person Boils Purple Unicorns. (Ecuador, Peru, Bolivar, Paraguay and Uruguay.) That’s it.

Project and Study Ideas for South America

To flesh out this unit some more, here are more ideas for each subject. There is NO shortage of content or ideas to spur your sparks of creativity. Unit studies have this affect on us.

How to Memorize the Countries of South America & Mountain Climate Zones Minibooks

Nazca Lines – The Monkey

How to Memorize the Countries of South America & Mountain Climate Zones Minibooks

Nazca Lines – The Dog (Pic Attribution)

History

Nazca is the name of the culture that flourished in Peru and also the name of the mysterious lines they created in the Peruvian deserts. These lines, carved into the desert rocks depict huge animals and geometric shapes. No one is really certain about what they mean.

Also, compare and contrast Inca society to Spanish colonial society.

Science

Research the Galapagos Islands and the animals unique to that region.

Math

Why did Ecuador change its currency from sucres to dollars? Also understand some about the metric system since its used there.

Geography

1.  Create a travel brochure and map to show what journey you would take if you visited South America. Compare and contrast animals and plants living in the different mountain zones.

2. Also list some of the famous places like Machu Picchu in Peru. Indians build that walled city and for hundreds of years it was hidden from the rest of the world.

3. Famous places.  People go to see the Gold Museum in Bogota, Colombia and there are emerald mines nearby too.

4. Quito is one of the highest cities in the world and it in Ecuador. It sits on the side of a volcano and is the oldest capital city in South America.

5. Make a map of South America and focus on the major regions: Andes, Amazon Basin, Guiana Highlands, Orinoco Basin, Rio de la Plata Complex, Brazilian Plateau, Pampas, Patagonia, Llanos, Pantanal, Wet Coast Flatlands, Southern Chile coast and color each a different color or make it different colors using salt dough.

Art

Find examples of the art of Manuel Rendon, Eduardo Kingman and Juan Agustin Guerrero.

Music

Research flutes played by native people from Ecuador. Listen to or watch an Argentinean tango, a Brazilian samba and a Colombia cumbia.

Did I tell you that I grew up dancing the cumbia? BELIEVE me, coordination and grace are not at the top of my skill set, but this dance is so easy and fun.

Look at a few of these videos.  I love the first one because you can actually hear the music and watch the partner steps and the second one shows basic steps with no music.

Food

How to Memorize the Countries of South America & Mountain Climate Zones Minibooks

Make Fried Plantain

Colombians often eat plantains in place of potatoes.

How to Memorize the Countries of South America & Mountain Climate Zones Minibooks

(Cesar Vellejo)

Language/Language Arts

1. Cesar Vallego (1892-1938) one of the greatest twentieth century poets focused on poverty and injustice. Study his poems and his life.

2. Learn some Spanish

si  = yes

por favor = please

gracias – thank you

de nada – you’re welcome

buenos dias = good morning

adios = good – bye

ayer = yesterday

hoy = today

manana = tomorrow

Como esta usted? = How are you?

muy bien = very well

Donde esta…..? =  Where is…?

How to Memorize the Countries of South America & Mountain Climate Zones Minibooks

(quipu. Pic. Attribution)

3. Do some Inca Writing. Find a picture of a quipu, the knotted cotton cords of different lengths and colors with which Incas kept records. Using thick yarn, try to imitate the pattern.

I think we need some vocabulary words and we are going to focus next on some of the animals of the Galapagos.

South America Printable Minibooks

Also, look at these minibooks which come in the free South America lapbook 27 page download.

  • Animals of the Galapagos fan book which includes the Giant Tortoise, Lava Lizard, Marine Iguana, Green Turtle, Galapagos Penguins, Magnificent Frigate Bird, Blue-Footed Booby, and Blue-Banded Goby.
  • Comparing Mountain Climate Zones
  • Simon Bolivar Copywork
  • Map of South America to label and one labeled
  • Machu Picchu – Lost City of the Inca
  • Negrinho – A dessert from Brazil
  • How to Memorize the Countries of South America and Dependent
  • Map Flags to put on your salt dough map
  • 2 – The Galapagos Island layered book. One prefilled with facts and one blank to add your own information.
  • Vocabulary Pocket and Vocabulary Words

More South America Unit Study Resources

How to Get the Free South America Printable Lapbook

Now, how to grab the free lapbook. This is a subscriber freebie.

That means when you sign up to follow me, you get access to my subscribers library and this freebie.

However, not all my freebies are in the library (wink).

I like to keep up to date with what is valuable to you so I can give you more, some freebies you must sign up again on the form below even if you are already a follower.

And it’s the only way I have of freely delivering them to you. Just follow the steps below.

► 1) Sign up on my list.
► 2) Go to your inbox and confirm your email from the automatic reply I sent you. If you’re already a confirmed subscriber, you will not have to do this. You’ll receive the freebie instantly.
 ►3) Last step. look for my reply AFTER you’ve confirmed your email.

Ocean Currents and The Galapagos1

5 Days Of The Benefits & Challenges of Teaching Mixed Ages Together – Day 3: Challenges of Teaching Kids Together

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This post may contain affiliate links. For more information, please see my full disclosure policy.

Today, I have teaching kids together tips.

I would love to craft each blog post so that you come away more energized than the previous one, but there are times I have to tell it like it is when it comes to homeschooling. 

I guess thinking about it though, saving you stress and plain downright frustration is a way of breathing life into your day.

Perfect Homeschool Approaches

The challenges of teaching kids together is not imaginary and it does have its drawbacks. When it comes down to the nitty-gritty of homeschooling, any approach will have a negative.

There is simply NOT ONE approach that will fit every family perfectly. 

Too, sometimes we just don’t have a lot of wiggle room to experiment with new approaches because of the age of our children, our limited time for a learning curve on a new approach and our age. (okay, okay maybe not our age unless you feel really old. Not me.)

Knowledge is power in understanding the downside to teaching multiple children so that we avoid wasted time and for goodness sake ALL that energy it takes as both a teacher and a child.

Here are the things that we need to be on guard for when we are homeschooling our children together.

  • It is not easy to accommodate ALL your children’s learning styles.

It is a known fact that among homeschoolers we have a lot of gifted children and this is not something just perceived by us as parents.

For me, taking Mr. Senior 2013 out of school was partly due to the fact that he was so above grade level academically than his peers.

Homeschooling Multiple Children Diversions

Too, though we also have children that may seem delayed to the public school standards. Along came wonderful Mr. Awesome who just did not race to learning academically.

He was more comfortable doing hands-on things as he learned.  He was just way more wiggly than Mr. Senior 2013 so I had to adjust my view of what is normal because by all rights he is brilliant using a different part of his brain.

  • Preschoolers and Toddlers Unite in their Mayhem.

It’s true or at least it seems like they unite in their efforts to sabotage your day with all your beautiful lesson plans written out so nicely. For being the sweetest and the littlest things in the house, they wield such power.

It gets quite the juggling act and your day may look more like a three ring circus as you try to manage the older children while keeping one eye on the toddler turmoil.

  • The young child may get out shined by the older child.

Because of the fact they are working together or side by side in some cases,  a younger child may compare his work to his older sibling. Right away, he sees that his penmanship, drawing skills or art skills are different. As moms, we accept this and are so proud of all of our children’s work.

More Homeschooling Multiple Ages Tips

But, for younger children it can start to affect their confidence and sadly some withdraw emotionally.

They are always trying to measure up to some standard that you have not set, but have you unintentionally? Yikes. I made this mistake and I had tears (my tears) before I figured it out.

Now that we covered some of these things to earmark and watch for, how can we overcome some of those challenges? I will share some tips on Day 4.

Have you noticed any of these things creeping up in your school day repeatedly?

Read the other posts in this series:

Safe Email for Kids – Can you be too Protective?

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This post may contain affiliate links. For more information, please see my full disclosure policy.

 

Kid Email Review @ Tinas Dynamic Homeschool Plus

Sponsored Post at Tina's Dynamic Homeschool Plus 3

 

Like us, kids enjoy connecting with each other. So when I heard about Kids Email last year I was thrilled to use it. I was told about the trial period and one thing I knew that I absolutely loved right away about the way they do business was the fact that I did not have to give out ONE piece of personal information.

What I Heart About Safe Email for Kids

A lot of sites make you fill out every piece of personal information about yourself, including your charge card before you get to test drive any of the fancy features. Not so with Kids Email. They are so proud and sure of their product that you don’t have to give out ONE piece of information and that includes your billing information before you get to use it.

That appealed to me right away and then that is not even the best part about their service. It truly is very unique which is why I am proud to have them as a sponsor.

I saved some pictures when I set up Tiny’s personal and unique email so I could show you.

Kids Email Sign In Area

Isn’t that a cool sign in area? I can tell you Tiny was a lot more excited than I thought he would be when I finally set up his personal email.

Some of the things that Tiny enjoys besides having his own personalized email of course is how kid friendly it is.

image

The window is big and there are not a lot of complicated buttons and ways for him to get in trouble because there is no outside links on the pages.

I have to mention the “settings” button is just way too cute from a technical point of view. When he clicks it, the only setting he has is choosing a background. But he was way into it like he was really managing a high tech device. I got a good silent chuckle. It is absolutely a sweet way to introduce him to managing settings.

It also has quite a few adorable background choices. This one above was the first one and bit too young for his liking, but your guy may love it.

Plenty to choose from for both boys and girls.

Tiny finally chose the wolf background, his favorite. I had to email him right away so he could start using his inbox and receive an email. Well he had to get over the fact first that I would actually let him have an email way earlier than I did Mr. Senior 2013.

But, one of the reasons I like it is the parental control area which is the best part. From the beginning, it literally takes just minutes to sign up and get going AND each one of your kids can have their own email. You are still managing them all from one location.  Goodness knows I don’t need to learn how to manage any more techie devices so this keeps it nice and easy.

After I registered, all I do is add children. Then I check to see if the email is available that we created. It is so I get going. Now here is the feature that sold me and the reason Jo Public can see his email if Tiny ever gives his email away without me knowing about it (yep I have no perfect kids over here) is that……………..

UNLESS I add an email to his contact list, he NEVER gets the email. It stays in the queue for me. Sweet!!!!!

There is even a setting for a format for older children so that the email does not look so babyish and the older child format gets a choice of an email that ends in a kmail.org suffix so it looks a bit more sophisticated.

And if all that protection is not enough for the kids, there is a message at the bottom of the email. So there is no doubt a person knows they are emailing a kid AND their emails are watched.

Too, because I know we have this problem around here and that is Tiny has to be reminded about when to get off devices. So there is a setting to post time limits. And, because email is a privilege, it also has a monitor for a

child that is grounded. Look at all those settings on the left side. It’s smart too because when I added Mr. Awesome so I could play with it, it automatically included him in Tiny’s contact list as a sibling.

I also like the fact that I can get a copy of Tiny’s outgoing or incoming email, decide if images will be allowed and remove links if I want to.

Email Writing By Kids

Did I tell you too that email is a great way to get writing phobic kids to write? Emails are still somewhat formal unlike texting. I used email with Mr. Awesome to help spur on his writing because there is so much satisfaction in getting emails from their friends. It makes them want to write and see a purpose in writing. Not that your kids have to agree with you when you assign their work, but you do want them to eventually see the value of the life skills you are teaching them.

kids email young author competition

Because Kids Email is kid friendly, I have a neat competition to tell you about. Kids Email is hosting their first Young Author Competition. Write a story and share it with Kids Email. Winners of each age group will have their books professionally illustrated and shared with other kids.

Check out Kids Email Young Author competition by going to their blog here.

You see, it would have been nice to have Kids Email around when Mr. Awesome and Mr. Senior 2013 were young, but I am grateful they are here for Tiny. It allows him to have an email way earlier than my other two boys ever did.

Remember, test out all the fancy features FREE, no obligation ever, by clicking on Kids Email.

curriculum_award_2013

One more thing, I want you to know, yep I am bragging proud just a tad bit about my sponsor, but they won an award for top homeschooling products of 2013.

They are such nice folks they never asked me to talk about this, but I wanted you to know. I am grateful for my sponsors because I am proud to partner with them because I feel they have unique products we can use. Too, I appreciate their support of my blog and websites and I ALWAYS have time to say Thank You.

Don’t forget to check out Kids Email young author’s writing competition!

products facts a glance 1

Product: Safe Email Service for Kids

Website: Kids Email. Org

Ages: Young Children until you feel safe enough for them to have any other email. Is that 30 years old? Okay, okay.

Free things you’ll like: Free 30 day Trial Period, NO Credit Card info needed. Love it.

Price: Month to Month $4.95. They have a special going on right now and you get up to 6 email accounts for 13 months for $38.95 which is $2.99 per month.

Note: All prices are true and correct at the time of this blog posting.

Hugs and love ya,

2012Tinasignature Negrinho From Brazil–South America Unit Study

Negrinho From Brazil–South America Unit Study

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This post may contain affiliate links. For more information, please see my full disclosure policy.

Today, I am sharing a dessert recipe called Negrinho from Brazil. Also, look at my page South America Unit Study Resources and Free Lapbook.

Tiny made this as we continue on in our study of South America.

You know how we often sneak in some baking or cooking and call it history or is that social studies? We found a recipe where we had just about had all the ingredients on hand, so we whipped this up.

The book we used said that Brazilian children often make Negrinho to share with their friends at parties.

Recipe For Negrinho from Brazil - South America Unit Study
negrinho from Brazil

It was such an easy recipe with just a few key ingredients. Of course , it didn’t call for chocolate chips, but a little extra chocolate didn’t hurt. Well,  it did call for sweetened cocoa. So we added both.

Negrinho From Brazil–South America Unit Study
ingredient from negrinho

I have to admit that I have not given Tiny as much time behind the stove as  I have with the other boys. Maybe its something with him being the last kid so this was a perfect chance to increase his cooking skills.

Negrinho From Brazil–South America Unit Study

He actually is similar to Mr. Senior 2013. They both like to be cooking or at least interested in eating it. A little chocolate dessert helps to spur on those skills.

One mistake we made in making it that we won’t make next time is not letting it cook long enough. The minute the chocolate chips were finished, we were ready to eat the stuff.  So instead of balls at the end, we had one long river of ewwwwy gooey chocolate goodness.

He tried to form balls but we had to put it in the refrigerator to help out. Then we ate REAL fast.south ameria unit study negrinho from Brazil

He wasn’t so sure he would liked his own cooking……………

but one bite and he was sold. It was super sweet, but sooooo good.

We love walnuts and not so much a fan of coconut, so we rolled ours in some chopped walnuts.

Absolutely delicious!! Let me know if you try it.

South America Printable Minibooks

Also, look at these minibooks which come in the free South America lapbook 27 page download.

  • Animals of the Galapagos fan book which includes the Giant Tortoise, Lava Lizard, Marine Iguana, Green Turtle, Galapagos Penguins, Magnificent Frigate Bird, Blue-Footed Booby, and Blue-Banded Goby.
  • Comparing Mountain Climate Zones
  • Simon Bolivar Copywork
  • Map of South America to label and one labeled
  • Machu Picchu – Lost City of the Inca
  • Negrinho – A dessert from Brazil
  • How to Memorize the Countries of South America and Dependent
  • Map Flags to put on your salt dough map
  • 2 – The Galapagos Island layered book. One prefilled with facts and one blank to add your own information.
  • Vocabulary Pocket and Vocabulary Words

More South America Unit Study Resources

Ocean Currents and The Galapagos1

How to Get the Free South America Printable Lapbook

Now, how to grab the free lapbook. This is a subscriber freebie.

 1) Sign up on my list.
 2) You’ll instantly be directed to download the printable.
3) Last, look for my emails in your inbox as a follower. Glad to have you following me!