 Image © Wendolin Jacober; Flickr.com So, you want to homeschool your kids, but people are telling you it’s going to be expensive, right? They’re so wrong! Learn how to homeschool for for free using these and other resources.
Use a Free Online Curriculum There are tons of sources if you’re looking for a free online curriculum. Some of my favorites include Easy Peasy All In One Homeschool, Easy Peasy All In One High School, and Khan Academy. However, these are far from the only resources. Do a web search for free online curriculum or free homeschool curriculum to find even more. Amazon also has some great resources if you do an Amazon search for “free homeschool”. Some are free books or curriculum resources and others teach you more about how to homeschool for free. Make Use of Free Printable Homeschool Worksheets There are many sites out there with free printable worksheets for teachers and homeschoolers. Look for them in every grade level, concept, and subject. We even have free printable worksheets here at Heart and Mind Homeschool. You don’t want to base your child’s education solely on worksheets. However, they can definitely play a big part, as it helps them learn and practice each concept. Write the Lessons Yourself, Based on State Standards Whether you choose to write all of the lessons yourself or just some, it’s a rewarding experience. Creating them based on your child’s needs is not only free but beneficial to your child’s homeschool education. To find your state’s standards, visit the department of education for your specific state. They each have different standards and requirements. You’ll also need to check with that same department or board for the appropriate laws and regulations. Utilize Free Events and Free Days at Zoos, Museums, & More Many zoos, museums, state parks, farms, factories, and other venues hold free days. If you look around, there also free events for kids going on all the time in most areas. These are awesome when it comes to homeschooling for free. If you check ahead of time, you can pair them with your child’s lessons to get even more from the experience. Make Use of Free Online Videos and Lectures Did you know there are bucket loads of free educational videos and lectures all over the web? Do a search and see what you come up with. Some of our favorites include WatchKnowLearn, NeoK12, PBS, DiscoveryKids, History.com, Open Yale Courses, MIT Open Courseware, and SchoolTube. Don’t limit your kids to these choices. There are tons more out there. Have fun exploring and learning together with the help of fun and informative videos made by kids, parents, teachers, and more. Homeschooling for free is actually quite easy to do, if you you get creative. Use these ideas or come up with your own. Whatever you do, learn and have fun!  Image © Massachusetts Office of Travel & Tourism; Flickr.com Looking for free educational activities for homeschoolers in Houston? As a mom to many, who lived and homeschooled in Houston for a while, I discovered lots of great places to go. Here are 5 of the most interesting free educational activities for Houston kids.
The Sam Houston Boat Tour is great free activity for kids in Houston.Operated by the Port of Houston Authority, the free educational tour lasts 90 minutes. While on the tour, homeschoolers can observe international cargo vessels that may pass by, as well as the operations at the port terminal. While free, reservations for this Houston activity must be made in advance. The Health Museum in Houston contains a variety of educational exhibits for children to explore.This interactive science exploration is for all ages. It focuses on the human body, mind, and spirit, encouraging kids to focus on health. On Thursdays, the general admission is free for families from 2pm - 7pm. At Mercer Arboretum and Botanic Gardens, kids can enjoy the education and beauty of nature. Native and cultivated plants thrive in this 300 acre horticultural museum of life. In addition to learning about the plants by observation, Houston homeschoolers also can enjoy the educational benefits of observing the animals that live in this park. Utilize the Kids Workshops at Home Depot to their full advantage. Once per month, the Home Depot locations in Houston offer free workshops for kids, in which they get to learn and build projects that they can use. These educational workshops are not only free of charge, but are a great supplement to homeschool wood shop. They also work as an extracurricular educational activity for Houston kids in both homeschool and traditional school. Free Crafts for Kids are offered every Saturday from 11am - 3pm at Houston Lakeshore Learning Store locations. Yes, crafts are so much fun for kids. But, did you know that they also have educational value? Craft activities can help homeschoolers with focus, creativity, and fine motor skills. These skills all are required to complete other educational activities. Houston kids will enjoy creating fun and educational crafts that they can use to decorate their rooms, give as gifts, wear, and more. A different craft is featured every week. Free Educational Content for PreK-12 on Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Day  Image © U.S. Mission Geneva; Flickr.com Martin Luther King Jr is a special day to celebrate equality among all people. Teaching children about Dr. King is vital to their education. Here you will find a collection of a wide variety of stories, songs, activities, worksheets, and more to celebrate MLK Day. While Martin Luther's King's actual birthday is January 15 (1929), it is observed on the 3rd Monday in January every year. It is a federal holiday.
Free Martin Luther King Jr Acrostic Poem Worksheet Acrostic poems are those where you use each letter in the name of a person or object to build the poem. Teach-nology.com has a wonderful MLK acrostic poem worksheet and also a variety of other printables. Some are free and some require registration. Free MLK Worksheets Ed-helper.com has a large variety of MLK activity worksheets, lessons, timelines, stories, and more. There are MLK materials for a variety of subjects and grade levels. Ed-Helper.com also has a variety of lessons and worksheets on other subjects. Free Civil Rights Songs NPR has a wonderful interactive history post on the Songs of the Civil Rights Movement. One can click on each song underneath the historical info. There is also much more history to be found on this interesting website. Free MLK Lesson Plans Here is a collection of free Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Lesson Plans from around the web. "I Have a Dream" Collective Banner (K-2) MLK Jr Theme (Pre-K) MLK Jr Timelines (3rd-5th, 6th-8th) MLK Jr Theme (varied ages) MLK Jr and Me (K-2) Martin Luther King, Jr. Lesson Plans and Activities Free MLK Stories, Games, Crafts, & Activities There are many fun games, activities, stories, and crafts around the web to learn about and celebrate Dr. King and the Civil Rights Movement. Here is a collection of those which I consider some of the best. Civil Rights Movement Game MLK Poem Preschool Coloring Book Pages More MLK Color Pages Printable MLK Book MLK Crafts MLK Activities and More MLK Online Books Know of another MLK resource? Just have something to say? This author welcomes feedback and discussion in the comments section below.  Image © Clotee Pridgen Allochuku; Flickr.com February is Black History Month. During Black History Month, kids all over will learn about important contributions to American and World History by African Americans. Parents and teachers (homeschool and traditional) alike can help their kids and students learn about Black History with free printables, such as coloring pages, stories, worksheets, and activities.
Free printables can be a great teaching resource for Black History Month and all year long. They can be combined for an entire unit, used as stand-alones, or even used as fun time slot fillers, extra credit, or supplemental unit lessons. Free printables are great for parents, teachers, and homeschoolers because they often offer quality lessons with no additional costs. This resource is packed full of free black history month printables, lesson plans, and more. Teachers, homeschoolers, and parents can utilize these free printable black history month coloring pages, activities, and lessons for varied grade levels. This guide contains much more than just printables. Free Printable Martin Luther King, Jr. Coloring Pages Martin Luther King is an extremely important leader in black history. As such, children should learn about his contributions. Enjoy these free printable coloring pages around the web featuring the prominent civil rights leader, MLK. Free Black History Month Printables at Teacher Vision Teacher Vision has a great selection of free black history month printables for all ages. Visit this resource for lessons and printables featuring Dr Martin Luther King, Jr, famous Black American scientists, African folktales, music lessons, printable coloring books, and much more. Free Black History Month Printable Lessons at Lesson Plans Page Lessons Plans Page is a user-created resource, featuring a wide variety of printable lesson plans on black history and other subjects. Use this resource for printable lessons on Harriet Tubman, MLK, equality, slavery, and more. Free Black History Month Printables at Family Education FamilyEducation.com has an interesting selection of free printables and resources for Black History Month. These are for varied age levels. Visit this resource to find printables, quizzes, lesson plans, coloring pages, activities, and more for Black History Month. Free Black History Month Printables at The Teacher’s Corner Here, you’ll find many free printables for Black History Month. Find free Black History Month printables on famous Black Americans including journal pages, word scrambles, crossword puzzles, word searches, matchups, and more. Free Black History Month Printables at ABC Teach ABCTeach.com features an assortment of printables on Black History Month. Find printables on Louis Armstrong, Martin Luther King Jr, Rosa Parks, Thurgood Marshall, George Washington Carver, Abraham Lincoln, and more. Printables include worksheets, stories, facts, organizers, report planners, research planners, famous speeches, word searches, word walls, writing paper, writing prompts, posters, and more. *I originally published a version of this via Yahoo Contributor Network by Lyn Lomasi, Write W.A.V.E. Media Staff  Image by frankieleon via Flickr.com Variety and a dash of fun can give kids a running start when it comes to learning. This is especially rue when learning math, as many kids aren't exactly enthused about it. Because I am a parent and a home school teacher, I often invent fun learning games for the kids. This free homeschool math game called Fast Cashier is easy to make on the spot with materials you already have. It can help with computation skills in multiplication, decimals, counting, addition, subtraction, and other math operations.
Materials
Game Setup Find a small table, crate, or other object to place a play cash register on. If you don't have one, you can form a makeshift one with a shoebox or other container you may have handy. Arrange the play money in the cash register. Be sure to have bills and coins separated according to value just like a real cash register. Set up some items to 'purchase' in another area of the room. Label the toys and item with prices. Yard sale stickers work great for this, as does masking tape and a pen. Have one child (or adult) stand behind the cash register to man it. Everyone else gets a shopping bag to place the toys in, as well as some play money. Use dollars and coins. Playing the Fast Cashier Homeschool Math Game Once the kids are ready, shout or blow a whistle for them to start. The kids with the bags need to choose their items quickly and place them in their bags. Once they have what they want, they line up at the cash register. The cashier then has to ring them all up as quickly as possible. This requires getting the correct total for all of the items, as well as counting back the change correctly. Have the children trade duties back and forth so that each child gets a turn at being cashier. What Can Kids Learn From Playing Fast Cashier? This game will help children practice money-counting and decimal addition skills. Encourage multiplication skills when there is more than one item priced the same. Addition, subtraction, and decimals will naturally be used in adding prices and figuring change. In addition to math skills, Fast Cashier can help teach organization, teamwork, coordination, and more. All of these skills will be needed throughout school, as well as life in general. *I originally published this via Yahoo Contributor Network.  by Lyn Lomasi, Write W.A.V.E. Media Staff Directions: Read the story below. Then, remember what happens in the story to answer the questions. To print, highlight the text section, then right click and choose "print selection. If you don't mind printing the images, you may also select file, then print. Some systems may require that you copy/paste the text into another program before printing if you choose to leave out the images.
Marge's New Blue Hat Marge woke up happy. It was Saturday. Today was going to be great. She would get a new hat today. Marge was very excited. She could hardly wait. While she put on her best outfit, she wondered what kind of hat she would pick. There were two hat stores in the mall she was going to. Marge was excited about more than the hat. This would be the first time her mom would trust her to go to the mall alone. She wouldn't exactly be alone. Her friend Sinda was coming, too. Since Marge was turning 12 on Sunday, her mom told her an early birthday present was for Marge to go to the mall and pick a new hat. Her mom said that since Marge was growing up, she might be able to trust her to do more grown-up things and shopping was one of those things.But, she had to bring a friend because, like her mom always says, "Safety Comes In Numbers". Marge had never gotten ready so quickly before. She dressed and ate the eggs, pancakes, and fruit her mom had left her all within 15 minutes. That was a new record. Quickly gulping her milk down, she dialed Sinda's phone number, but before she started to hear the ring, the doorbell rang. It was Sinda. Sinda was just as excited as Marge. It was also the first time she would be trusted. Marge and Sinda rushed out the door, remembering to lock up the house and to take along their personal alert systems that would make a loud sound if anyone bothered them. They walked two blocks to the bus stop and waited five minutes before a bus pulled up. They looked at the screen on top to make sure it said 65. Number 65 was the bus to the mall. It said 65, so they got on. Sinda watched for their stop while Marge watched out for strangers. As the bus pulled into the mall stop, Sinda and Marge stood up and held onto the safety poles. When the bus stopped, they got off carefully and walked straight to the mall, making sure to watch the strangers. Once they were inside the mall, they went straight to the first hat store. They wouldn't have to go anywhere else. Marge spotted the perfect hat. 1. What day of the week was it when Marge got her hat?_____________________________________ 2. Who went to the mall with Marge? _____________________________________________________ 3. Why did Marge's mom let her go to the mall without a parent? _______________________________ ___________________________________________________________________________________ 4. How old was Marge on Saturday? ______________________________________________________ 5. What bus went to the mall? ___________________________________________________________ 6. What color do you think the hat was that Marge saw? ______________________________________ What made you think it was that color? __________________________________________________ 7. What do you think will happen after Marge pays for the hat? __________________________________ ____________________________________________________________________________________ Challenge: On the back of the page (or on a seperate paper), write the ending to the story. It should be a happy ending. Start with what happens after Marge sees the hat.  Homeschooling can be challenging, but because of the freedom allowed, such as not waiting for everyone in class to finish a subject, the students sometimes find themselves finishing classes early. Many children will still want to do something. Below are some free things to do when kids finish their homeschool lessons early.
- Do crossword puzzles, word searches, or other pencil word games. These stimulate the brain, which is excellent for comprehension skills. - Take a nature walk. Try to reference something from recent studies. If that isn't possible, teach a lesson about what you do see. - Play flashcard games. These can help to keep current lessons fresh in the mind. Flashcards can be made for any subject using index cards. Just cut them in half for a more convenient size. - Make and play a homemade learning game together. Games can be made out of many different things. For a jumpstart on homemade math games, try these free, easy and effective math games for kids. - Play educational software on the computer or online educational games. Educational games can stimulate the brain and some games can even teach new things. - Visit a local library and attend storytime. This will not only be fun and educational, but it's a great opportunity for socializing with other children. Library storytime is often very interactive, requiring children to work together. - Do extra language or math worksheets. This might sound hard to believe, but my children actually enjoy worksheets and sometimes ask to complete more than what were assigned in these areas. - Practice handwriting skills. Having good handwriting skills can help your child immensely. Daily practice can be very useful. If you already practice this every day, a little extra time will be even more beneficial. - Write a story. Writing is an essential life skill that should be practiced regularly. - Keep a calendar of free events, festivals, and activities going on in your area. Check your calendar when the kids finish early to see if there's something you can surprise them with. Many cities also have free educational activities and classes available at universities, libraries, museums, churches, hospitals, parks, and more. Some are even especially for homeschoolers. Always check the paper and surf the internet for free offerings so you can keep many items on your calendar. - Read a book. Reading stimulates the mind. In fact, there has been recent research showing that reading regularly is one of the very few ways to create new brain cells. - Draw a descriptive picture of something recently learned. Putting thought into pictures helps improve comprehension, as well as enhance creativity and imagination. - Watch an educational video. - Do some of the next day's work. This will build confidence in children because they will learn they can do anything if they put their mind to it. - Call around and see if any museums or zoos are offering a free day. If they are, take up the opportunity. - Have a picnic (lunch or snack) and reading circle at the park or in your backyard. - Go to the YMCA open gym. This will be free if you're a member. If you're not a member, the fee is minimal. - Ride bikes to a local nature spot. This could be a large park, mountains, bayou, or any other area where wild animals might reside. - Tour a neighboring city. This will require gas money and possibly money for food, but is relatively close to free. Remember that learning can come in many forms. Keeping an open mind is essential to running a successful home school. You don't always have to spend money to learn. There are educational opportunities all around us. Also remember that it's okay to finish early and just let the kids play sometimes, too. After all, they did earn it by working so hard to finish early. *I originally published a version of this via Yahoo Contributor Network |
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