Back to School

It was the first day of the new school year yesterday. This year is going to be challenging with eight students, which means eight different grade levels. I guess it's actually only 7 levels, since the twins are both in K4. That's still quite a challenge. In the Life in America curriculum, there are four basic levels: Beginners, Early Learners, Intermediate and Advanced. I have two children in each different level.

The first day went fairly well. Rebekah, though, thought drawing circles was "too hard." Too hard, that is, until she found out that a smartie candy was waiting at the finish line. She ended up being the first one done! LOL

I have stumbled across some really neat websites during homeschooling. There is SO much on the internet, and all free for the taking. (Here I go again with freebies!) For those homeschoolers that want to be organized, and keep track of the attendance, assignments, reading log, & grades, this FREE software is fantastic! The couple that made the software, homeschoolers themselves, offers the basic edition free, but have also developed a "plus" edition which has even more features. I have only used the basic edition, and love it!

A website that I found yesterday when studying the cotton gin, has an animated version of it here: Cotton Gin Patent
I just found another one here, too: Cotton Gin animation

I was doing a little research on the U. S. Mint and coins, and found that the U. S. Mint website is superb! It has all kinds of information, and another section for kids called H.I.P. (History In your Pocket) Pocket Change. When you follow the yellow link at the bottom left of the page, it takes you to a children's section where you can play games, learn the history of coins, collecting coins, see cartoon explanations of different things and find lesson plans for teachers. There is a great lesson plan for learning about the 50 states quarters that are being minted. Lots of fun there--the kids won't realize they are learning, too!