Tuesday 10 June 2014

2014 World Cup Soccer Unit Study Resources

I've managed to leave this a little late and the FIFA World Cup starts in a few days, but as they say better late than never.  Here are some resources I discovered online today when looking for resources about the soccer world cup.

Did you know that the first World Cup Soccer tournament was held in Uruguay on the 13th of July 1930 with 13 teams from around the world. Uruguay was also the first nation to win the World Cup.

The original cup (Jules Rimet Trophy) was stolen and not recovered and the current cup was commissioned in 1974. The World Cup is 36.5 cm tall,  is made of  5 Kg of 18 carat gold and weights 6.175 kg. There has been some speculation about which parts of it are solid gold.  You can watch an interesting YouTube clip about it here: Chemistry of the World Cup Trophy

At the Library
To Print
On Pinterest {FIFA 2014 World Cup Soccer}

On YouTube

On the WWW

Host Country Brazil
Although this video clip is from the South African World Cup I wanted to finish up with it because it's so much fun to watch: Animals Playing Soccer.





If you have any recommended resources for studying the Soccer World Cup OR Brazil please add them to the link up below.

Have fun learning about the Soccer World Cup

Blessings
Chareen

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Saturday 7 June 2014

It's been a cultured week {HSMJ}

In my life this week…
It's been one of those weeks two long weeks where everything just takes a long time ... Have you heard about the Willis Clan ?  What an amazing home educating family of 12 children. Music and dance are not optional for this amazing family and it shows.  They have several dance and wrestling titles between them and tour and recently auditioned for America's got talent where they sing their own version of These are a few of my favourite things. They enjoy Irish Dancing.  I have been totally blown away reading each child's biography.


In our home school this week…
  • We have been working our way through a ton of library books.
  • Started back into our drawing class. We are now attempting to draw a face.  Mmm let's not tempt fate so we are using a provided outline for this one.
  • We are both enjoying our history journey with Veritas history.
  • N is working through Science 4 Us 
  • Much to his excitement N has started his official first round with Minecraft Homeschool.  Minecraft does my head in but he is enjoying it.  In week one we did orientation and this past week we learned about the Grand Canyon.  This week is the Great Barrier Reef.
  • I dug out our Learning Vitamins and we are once again doing math drill work.
  • I was pleased to discover that Apologia have brought out junior notebooks for their apologetics series.
  • We have also started a new learn the piano from home course called Homeschool Piano which has inspired N to play around on the piano.

Helpful homeschooling tips or advice to share…
Places we’re going and people we’re seeing…
  • Saturday week ago we attended Sing-A-Long-A Sound of Music.  
  • We experienced Flip Out trampolining for the first time.
  • Went Ten Pin bowling.
  • Had a birthday.  Sir N is now officially nine years old.
  •  Attended a Melbourne Symphony Orchestra Meet the Orchestra day.
  • My sister baked the most amazing minion cake for Sir N's birthday party on Saturday. Be sure to check out her Cake decorating page on Facebook Sunflower Creations Cake
 
My favourite thing this week was…
  • Seeing this beautiful prom dress a high school senior painted by hand.  She painted Vincent Van Gough's Starry Starry Night painting on her dress.  Beautiful.
  • So very proud of Sir N a photograph he took at Werribee Zoo was featured on their Facebook page.  It has had 890 likes and 50 shares.
Questions/thoughts I have…
  • What are your thoughts on teaching and learning Latin ?
Things I’m working on…
  • Read about our first book study guide.  We did Frog and Toad Together.
In Bloggy world I’m reading…
A photo, video, link, or quote to share…

I enjoyed watching this update of their lives. You can jump to 7:35 for the update.

Blessings

Chareen

Homegrown Learners

Photo collages made with: Photoscape a FREE photo editor
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Wednesday 4 June 2014

Progeny Press ~ Frog and Toad Together {Review}

Over the years I have heard many wonderful things about study guides for books but have never actually used one. When I heard about Progeny Press a Christian Publishing company that produces study guides for literature from a Christian perspective via the crew I just had to give it a try. Their company mission is "To teach our children to think clearly, to understand literature, and to rely on the scripture for truth and values, and enjoy themselves while they do it!"

I am a huge fan of Arnold Lobel's books and so was thrilled to be given a copy of the downloadable Frog and Toad Together - E-Guide to use with Sir N.

What we received

The guide consists of
  • Table of Contents
  • Note to the Instructor - a short note about how the guides are to be used.
  • Synopsis -  A short synopsis of the book the guide is based on.
  • About the Author - a synopsis of the life and work of Arnold Lobel
  • Before you read  activities - these questions helped set our attitude before we started reading the book and helped us discover our own perspective about the issues surrounding friendship.
  • Chapter 1 to 5 This covers the five chapters in the book Frog and Toad Together.
  • Venn Diagram and Word Search
  • Suggestions for Further Reading
  • Answer Key
  • List of available study guides from Progeny Press.

How we used it
I downloaded the guide which arrived in a PDF format (523 KB).  It had a total of 36 pages with a full colour cover.  This PDF is a secured** copy. I printed our copy at home on our printer.

Starting off our study we used the before you read questions to think about friendship. We looked at friendship from two perspectives.  One of ourselves and the other from what we enjoy in our friends. We then took Sir N's bible and had a look at what friendship means from a biblical view from Proverbs. The before you read activity encouraged us to make new friends.

We borrowed Frog and Toad Together (a Newberry Honor book) and Sir N and I took turns reading the stories together. This is a beautiful book illustrating the depth and breadth of friendship in a collection of five adventures that Frog and Toad go on together. Each chapter provides a valuable life lesson for the reader regarding friendship and commitment. After Sir N read the chapter to me I would re-read the chapter to him so he could sit back and enjoy the beautiful illustrations and the sometimes very humorous situations that Frog and Toad find themselves in.

Chapter 2 Sample question page
We then moved to the table and looked through that chapter's study guide questions.  I wanted Sir N to have the opportunity to think and share with me his thoughts so I was the scribe and reader of the guide to him. From the guide I learned to turn to God's word and dig deeper and draw parallel's to what we were reading and learning. Together we learned to think more clearly about the story we were reading together. This had a benefit as Sir N got to look in his own bible to discover more about what God said on the subject. Each scripture reference was followed with thought provoking questions to help the student dig a little deeper and apply the knowledge of what they had just learned both from the Word of God and the book they had just read.

Sample of digging deeper in scripture questions.

Each chapter was then finished off with a fun hands on activity.  Sir N really enjoyed baking biscuits after reading about the Frog and Toads biscuits. There were recommended memory verses and fun projects for each chapter as well.



**Please note if you are taking a secured PDF to print at Office Works the self service machines can not print these correctly.  The staff are very friendly and will help you to print it from the counter.

Cost of Study Guide

All of the guides are available in three different formats: E guide, CD or printed book.

Recommended Age Range
  • K through 2nd grade 
Categories available
Connect with Progeny Press

What we thought
Sir N and I both enjoyed our very first literature study guide together.  I enjoyed the digging deeper questions and watching him grasp the impact upon himself of reading a story had on him. He also enjoyed the hands on projects and some of the further reading and listening suggestions at the end of the book.

This guide was easy to use and there was very little preparation work for me the teacher.  I liked how the layout was easy to follow and simple to use.  

If you are looking for a study guide to use with your children that digs deeper and goes beyond asking mundane questions like who is the main character and what did they do ? A guide that relies on scripture as the plum line. Progeny Press study guides are your answer.

I look forward to using more guides in the future with Sir N.

Blessings
Chareen

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