With Thanksgiving right around the corner many of us have already started thinking about Christmas (whether we want to or not). For us Christmas decorations and music don't being until the day after Thanksgiving, which was a tradition in my household growing up and one that I've continued with my own children. I feel that it's important not to rush each holiday, but that we take time to savor each one that is important to us.
I do however like to plan ahead, so get ready to bookmark these 7 free resources for the holidays to get the kiddos into the holiday spirit.

One of the questions we get asked the most is, "what curriculum do I need?" Let me just say that there is no right or wrong way to home school. The first step is to check the state home school education standards where you live and from there you the parent are able to customize the curriculum to fit each child.
The important thing to remember here is don't try to make it like public school! Think about why you are home schooling or have taken your child out of the public education system. Whether your child is a gifted learner or just needs some one on one help, you get to help them achieve their best learning experience because as their parent you know them best.


There are tons of boxed curriculum out there to pick and choose from and with a plethora of online schools popping up everywhere it is easy to feel overwhelmed by all of the options available. But it is alright to pick and choose, to think outside of the boxed curriculum and gather resources from across the internet, used bookstores, etc. Some of the best resources I have found are available for free online, which is what Home School Freesource is about. But I have also found great textbooks, workbooks, etc at a local salvage store. So sometimes you find what you need in the most unlikely of places.

Don't feel discouraged mama, just remember each child/family is different and not everything will work for everyone.

So I was going through my homeschool folder on my PC and located a page I had forgotten all about bookmarking. My son spent all day yesterday doing these fantastic science simulations and playing a space simulation game. I finally had to kick him off my PC at 7pm for dinner!
They were made by University of Colorado Boulder.


If you have kids who like to play video games then they will probably get a kick out of these interactive science lessons. And you can tie them into whatever you are learning about in Science.

Phet Interactive Simulations

Today we focused on Science, particularly Health. We find it's easier and more efficient to do 1 subject per day that way we can better focus and retain the information we are learning.

Here is a breakdown of today's assignments:

• Human Skeleton Worksheet
• Human Organs Worksheet
• Create a vocabulary/spelling list from words on worksheets listed above
• Have them create sentences using these words
• Watched one of our free DVD's from HHMI.org called 'Changing Planet: Past, Present, Future'
• Make snowflakes (it's been snowing off and on today) so this was just something fun to do while we talked about snowflakes and looked at photos of snowflakes on Pinterest.

Today we decided to take it easy since we have been hard at work this week. I decided to start the baby sign language I've heard so much about this week and we found Signing Time on Netflix and are giving it a try!

For those interested in baby sign language I found a great little chart with basic signs for the everyday basics with baby.

This is a fun visual strategy to work on vocabulary development. The size of a child's vocabulary has been shown to be related to their reading proficiency. It makes sense that children who have a lot of words in their repertoire face fewer challenges, since fewer words are unfamiliar.

To make your own, you will need some window markers or window paint and some challenging reading materials. Books don't have to be beyond your child's reading level; they just need to have new and unfamiliar words that you can encounter together.  Try adding the most challenging to pronounce, words that your child wants to see spelled out, or words that your child thinks are fun to use. Try using the words in conversation at home. And, as the window fills up, wipe off words that have been established in your child's vocabulary and use the space to add new ones.



Word windows are easy to clean up and add just a little bit of novelty to make building a vocabulary as much fun as it is important.

After a night of freezing temperatures and extremely high winds, our water it seems has frozen again. So it was a rather sleepless night. Today we are taking it easy and working on a review, nothing major though, just enough to jump-start the brain.
Here is what my 2nd grader is doing for his review:

• 23 Math problems
• 2 Time Telling Worksheets
• Winter Unit Study Packet
• Reading two stories to his 9 month old sister

One of the things I want my children to know is a second language. America has never made learning other languages a priority in its school system, whereas in Europe kids learn 2 or more languages in addition to their native tongue. They taught us elementary Spanish in grade school but it was never conversational, just random words and phrases. That is one thing I wished would have been mandatory in school, second language classes.

So after some research the best tool I have found for teaching a second language is the Duolingo app/website. It's FREE and they offer English, French, German, Italian, Portuguese, and Spanish. It's a great interactive program that makes it feel more like a game, so it's great for kids.

Now that we find the holiday break over it is time to get back into the swing of things. We had a few extra days off during our holiday break due to illness. We are now at the tail end of this crud, so we are trying to ease back into our routine. I have spent the last couple of days trying to decide how we can get back on schedule without overwhelming the kids or myself.


The best idea I have come up with so far is to spend 2 days doing a review of what we've covered prior to the holiday. What are your thoughts? How are you all handling the transition back into school work?

As Halloween grows ever nearer and the kiddos get excited with visions of chocolate dancing in their heads, remind them of the virtues of CANDY CORN with this great Candy Corn Math pack by Royal Baloo. It's 17 fun filled pages of candy corn themed math problems. Covering addition and subtraction as well as estimating and a dice game! The best part is that the estimation problems require a bag of candy corn to complete, so you get to enjoy eating them when you're finished! Enjoy!

In continuing with the fall theme, today's freebie is a fantastic 65 page Scarecrow Activity Pack  It's got great graphics, full of lots of colorful little scarecrows and other fall items. But don't worry, it prints just as well if don't use color ink! So round up the kiddos and set them down with this activity pack, should be plenty to keep them busy, quiet, and learning for a while.

Have your little learner write a Halloween story on this lined Pumpkin Writing Paper! Let them be as creative as they want, it could be a spooky story or a story about what they want to dress up as for Halloween or just some other fun fall story!  Enjoy!

Bats are often misunderstood but really they are adorable helpful little pollinators. They are currently in danger as are our other pollinator friends bees and hummingbirds. This is largely due to pesticide sprays and climate changes. Learn some fun facts about the only flying mammals and have no fear of these great little bug catchers. Here is today's freebie, the Bat Mini Helper. Enjoy!

Recently while looking for some new and interesting science lessons, I came across the Howard Hughes Medical Institute website. Where they believe one should never stop learning. As such, they offer free educational resources that can be ordered straight from their website. You can choose from their printed bulletins, DVD's and even CD-ROM's of interactive labs. I ordered some materials  this summer and we are getting ready to start utilizing them in our daily lessons. We got most of the DVD's listed and also the CD-ROM with interactive labs. They are completely free of charge and you get them in about a week. If you'd like to check them out you can find them here.