Tuesday 21 January 2014

Magnetic Book Marks {Homeschooling Essentials}

Welcome to day two of this weeks 5 Days of Homeschooling Essentials posts brought to you by the Homeschool Review Crew.  We have 89 homeschool Mom's like you sharing their top homeschool essential lists with you.

Today I would like to share about my second most essential homeschool item: the magnetic book mark.  I have owned and lost so many book marks over the years that I have lost count of them.  I have been using these for the last couple of years and I am impressed with their performance and price.  They are a great investment in any home that has books.  

Details:

Each clip measures 57 mm from tip to tip when open, 18 mm wide and 28 mm from edge to tip when closed.

Because they are magnetic they do not fall out of the book.



Meaning you can use either side to mark the exact spot on the page you stopped reading.


They are 2 mm thick when closed and do not damage the book you are reading.

They are available as 

They are fairly popular and sell out fast but be persistent till you get the ones you want.  I buy mine from Book Depository.  They come in a pack of eight and Sir N loves choosing the one we use for each new read aloud.

Blessings
Chareen

5 Days of Homeschooling Essentials Don't forget to check out and see what my fellow Homeschool Review Crew mates are sharing this week. Here are some to get you started. Some of these links will not be live until tomorrow due to time zone differences as these bloggers are from across the globe. Here are some from the crew to get you started


Note: This articile is part of a reprint from my post in 2011
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Monday 20 January 2014

Social Studies & Science Resource Lists {Virtual Curriculum Fair}

Welcome to week three of the 2014 Virtual Curriculum Fair.  Today I'm sharing on Social Studies {History & Geography} and Science, both what we do and some of the curriculum that is available in the homeschool market to help you in these areas in your homeschool.

My personal passion is teaching/learning history chronologically. My reasons for this are: dates help us to anchor our learning and every single subject you learn happened somewhere in history.  The stories of history are my personal favourite and I have shared more thoughts on this  here: Teaching History Revisited

Over the years I have found that geography is one area that is mournfully neglected in the home school community.   There are a few ways of teaching this interesting subject after all everything that has ever happened in history happened somewhere in our amazing world!

I have also come to appreciate the value of hands on science learning and as a result I am purposing to do more experiential learning with Sir N. I have shared more thoughts on this in these two posts: Science in the Junior Years and Science in High School.

Our Year Ahead
In our homeschool we are following an eclectic approach this year incorporating a Charlotte Mason approach along with Delight Directed education and Sonlight

History / Geography

Science

Resources
There are many many resources available to homeschool families in these areas.  If I started to add the lists here we will be reading for many years.  In order to make it easier I have compiled lists covering history, geography and Science.  Click on a subject graphic to access more information. 
You can find full internet linked lists covering Pinterest, Curriculum Choices, on the www, and freebies for the following subjects (click on the graphic to see the post)



Blessings

Chareen



Take some time this week to visit some of the other 2014 Virtual Curriculum Fair participants.

Some of these links will not be live until tomorrow due to time zone differences as these bloggers are from across the globe.

What are you using for Math and Logic this school year? Susan has invited you all to share what you are using and add your link to the linky

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Stationery {Homeschooling Essentials}

Welcome to day one of this weeks 5 Days of Homeschooling Essentials posts brought to you by the Homeschool Review Crew.  We have 89 homeschool Mom's like you sharing their top homeschool essential lists with you.  Today I would like to share about my essential stationery list for homeschooling.  For me they are Pencils, eraser, scissors and glue.

Pencils
One of my pet hates is sharpening a pencil and the lead is broken inside.  Grrrr it frustrates me endlessly.  When my teens were younger this drove me to Warehouse Stationery NZ where I spent a while reading the backs of all the coloured pencil boxes in an effort to find a better pencil that I did not need to sharpen and sharpen and sharpen again!

I discovered that Faber-Castell had a new type of pencil on the market and were advertising SV bonding.

Faber-Castell Tri Grip Colour Pencils
What is SV Bonding ?
SV stands for the German word "Sekuralverfahren" meaning secural bonding or (secure-all bonding). The SV Bonding is a process of gluing the lead to the wood on both sides and the full length of the pencil. This results in strengthening the lead to prevent breakage, provides for better sharpening, which produces a fine point. All Faber-Castell pencils are SV Bonded. SV Bonding is a Faber-Castell trademark.

Faber-Castell Jumbo Colour Pencils


I ended up buying a set of Faber-Castell Jumbo Colour Pencils and have never looked back.  They have lasted for over 10 years of almost daily use in our house.  I highly recommend these pencils.

This is what three of my daughters pencils look like after 12 years of use.  Miss used to colour in every day!


They hardly ever need sharpening and when they are dropped the leads do NOT break inside. They are more expensive to purchase than other brands but well worth the price as you do not sharpen them very often and the leads do not break.  In fact I have had a set for Sir N which he uses often and I sharpened them for the first time yesterday.

Links for more information:
Eraser
Although the children like fancy erasers and the ones that come on the backs of pencils I find it frustrating when I use them and they leave a dirty great big smear across the page!  I finally bit the bullet and purchased a couple of good erasers.  My two favourites are the Faber-Castell PVC free eraser and the Staedtler Plastic Eraser Holder.


Scissors
Cheap scissors are a waste of time and your finances.  They don't cut the paper well and end of being a frustration to you and your student.  Go to the store and try out the types they have their.  See if fingers fit the grips and whether they are comfortable.  Next check the blades. Are they sharp ? Straight ? Even ? Well made ?  Spend more than 99 cents and you will get years of happy tidy cutting from your students.

Glue
Years ago I was introduced to the UHU line of glues by a friend and I have never looked back.  We had tried all sorts of glue sticks and were getting really frustrated.  Some would dry before you even had a chance to adhere it to the page and others would simply peel off a couple of weeks later.  This is no longer a problem since we now use UHU Stic Glue.  I look for this and stock up when it's on special.  We use UHU glue sticks for most of our notebooking and timeline glue needs.



What is on your must have homeschool stationary list ?

Blessings
Chareen

5 Days of Homeschooling Essentials Don't forget to check out and see what my fellow Homeschool Review Crew mates are sharing this week. Here are some to get you started. Some of these links will not be live until tomorrow due to time zone differences as these bloggers are from across the globe.  Here are some from the crew to get you started


Note: The pencil part of this articile is part of a reprint from my post in 2011
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