christian

Christmas Bible Coloring Pages

November 8, 2016 By Valerie Mcclintick Leave a Comment

With Christmas around the corner I thought I would update and create some new Christian Christmas Coloring Pages. Each page features a different part of the Christmas Story alongside a key Bible verse for children to memorize. (Scripture references come from KJV or ESV)

Print Christmas Bible Coloring Pages Free Here

Please SHARE this link with your friends!!

Looking for fun Christian Crafts for Christmas? Check out our Christmas Activity Pack

Don’t Miss this Free Printable Advent Calendar for Kids!

Each ornament represents a special Name of Jesus and they fit perfectly on these wooden craft ornaments.

Find More Christian Christmas Freebies Here

Christian Easter Activity Pack

January 31, 2016 By Valerie Mcclintick 5 Comments

We had such a huge response to our Christmas Activity Pack last year, that I thought it would be a good idea to put together a similar resource for Easter!

I know many of you are already planning your Easter lessons, so I wanted to get this out in January to give you plenty of time to put these resources to work for you.

And since it’s the 31st I can pat myself on the back for that goal met…. ha!

You can download our Easter Activity Pack from our Teachers Pay Teachers eStore

Want to peek inside?

This pack is filled with 80 pages of multi-level games, activities and resources to take all the work out of your Easter Sunday School Lesson planning.

Three Different Easter Bible Games:

Seven Easter Arts and Craft Activities:

(Five shown below)

Easter Story Wheel & Easter Story Resurrection Eggs:

Easter Cross Geometric Art Project for Kids:

Easter Story Eggs for Art Projects

(Wreaths, Storybooks, Easter Baskets….etc)

Easter Crowns for Take Home:

There are TONS of coloring pages and Worksheets:

Full Size Easter Egg Coloring Pages

Three Levels of Easter Mazes for Kids

Easter Crosswords, Word Scramble and Word Search

(these make great take home items!)

Easter Copywork

Print, Cursive and Blank available with NIV

You can download our Easter Activity Pack from our Teachers Pay Teachers eStore

God Keeps His Promises Game

November 2, 2014 By Valerie Mcclintick Leave a Comment

Children learning about Noah’s Ark can learn an important truth that God always keeps his promises.

We have a variety of Noah’s Ark printables, crafts and resources you can add to your Sunday School Lesson, but today I wanted to add in a center time activity.

This is a game that can be placed in your learning centers or morning activity table for children just arriving or played in your own home with sibilings.

Each child receives a gameboard that reads “God keeps his promises” and has a space for each color of the rainbow.

Children take turns drawing colors from the middle hoping to be the first one to fill up their rainbow board.

If a child draws a color they already have, it’s simply discarded and the next child takes a turn.

There is even a place for children to place their favorite color.

Download God is Faithful Game Here

Expand your unit:

Noah’s Animal Groups Sorting Game

Noah’s Ark Crafts & Printables

Noah’s Ark Bible Verse Visuals

Noah’s Ark Worksheets & Timeline Cards

Noah’s Ark Lapbook

Preschool & Kindergarten Curriculum Giveaway

May 11, 2014 By Valerie Mcclintick 1 Comment

It’s that time of the year….Curriculum Planning!

If you have a preschool or kindergartner this year, you’ll want to pay attention because today Blue Manor Academy is offering our readers a chance to win a giveaway package worth $79.98!!

Manor Preschool eBook SetÂ Retail $39.99

Our Christian preschool curriculum will not only prepare your children for kindergarten, but will also lay a strong physical, intellectual, and spiritual foundation that will benefit them for the rest of their lives. Â The best part is that our lessons require zero preparation and zero teaching experience. Â Give your children an elite foundation and be amazed by the ripple effects.

This is the complete set: 23 individual books and an additional “how to” teaching manual.Â Blue Manor Academy takes Christian preschool education to the next level! Level One is uniquely designed for parents like you who want toÂ give your preschoolers a tremendous head start.

Click Here for Included Books

Kindergarten Curriculu mÂ EBook SetÂ Retail $39.99

Our Christian kindergarten curriculum will not only prepare your children for first grade, but will also lay a strong physical, intellectual, and spiritual foundation that will benefit them for the rest of their lives. Â The best part is that our lessons require zero preparation and zero teaching experience. Â Give your children an elite foundation and be amazed by the ripple effects.Â Â (Level 2 should be taught after Level 1 is complete, because Level 1 lays the foundation for Level 2.)

This is the complete Kindergarten Book Set: 23 individual books and an additional “how to” teaching manual.Â Blue Manor Academy takes Christian early education to the next level! Level Two is uniquely designed for parents like you who want toÂ give your young ones a tremendous head start.

Click Here for included Books

Blue Manor is graciously offering one winner BOTH the Preschool & Kindergarten Curriculum!

Plus because this is an eBook set, there are no shipping issues and anyone can enter to win:

Entry -Form

Printable Christmas Labels

December 21, 2013 By Valerie Mcclintick Leave a Comment

Christmas is right around the corner so here are some last minute printables!

Nativity Â Christmas Labels.

These labels are so beautiful, and best of allthey each focus on a piece of the Christmas Story. Â From Mary’s Good News, to the Visit of the Maji, these labels will enhance your Christmas presents while reminding us of the true meaning of Christmas.

We printed ours on Avery Shipping Labels (8 1/2 x 11)

(P roduct ID# 8165)

Then after we cut them out we could easily peel off the backing

And stick them on a gift.

(You could easily print these on regular paper and use a glue stick as well)

I also made a set without the “to” and “from” to be used as Christmas Tags. Â Tie the tags on with a string and write that information on the back.

Blank Nativity Christmas Labels

I even thought these would make beautiful ornaments if you added glitter to them Like we did with our Christmas Card Craft.

Either way, with these labels you’re sure to encourage people to think about the true meaning of Christmas.

Tiger Eyes Oil Pastel Tutorial

July 9, 2013 By Valerie Mcclintick 3 Comments

We are getting tons of use from our Crayola Oil Pastels.
I’ve purchased other pastel kits in the past, but I love the amount of crayon you get with this set. They are so much thicker and have lasted us much longer.

Plus they are nice for little hands.

Amazon currently has them for $3.88 and free shipping as an add on for Prime
I highly recommend them!
They are wonderful quality, and produce stunning results:

I know right?!

This is our latest project, Tiger Eyes!

I’ve posted the two part photo tutorial

Drawing your Tiger Eyes
Using Oil Pastel on Tiger Eyes

I’m guessing that this would be perfect for 6th and 7th graders,
or very enthusiastic elementary students.

The tiger is the national animal of India, and would also tie ie with our previous oil pastel tutorial of India’s national bird, the peacock.

Can you guess what country we’ll be studying this coming year?

Distracted?

May 25, 2012 By Valerie Mcclintick 2 Comments

I need to be honest here for a minute.

Lately, I’ve been quite distracted.

And even more honestly;

I’m really not getting very much work done

At All.

Maybe because it’s Spring.

Or maybe because I recently moved my desk in front of a window.

But, really I think it’s because I bought some of these.

And a little more of this.

And sitting at my desk,
When the children are tucked away in bed,
I open up my email box,
Glancing out the window….. for just a minute

And it’s hard to look back at the computer.

And soon enough, instead of typing,

I’m making a mess.

And loving every distracted minute of it!

A Barbie Alternative

April 3, 2012 By Valerie Mcclintick 10 Comments

Okay. Just to get it all out there.

I grew up playing barbies.

Not like some people grow up playing barbies
(where they have a closetfull of barbies,
and a trunk full of clothing,
and every baby playhouse, convertible, and ken doll imaginable)

Not like that.

I grew up with maybe 2 or three different barbies, one ken doll,
and one random Snoopy doll who somehow always served as an additional ken.

Side Note: Dear brother if you’re reading this I promise not to tell anyone how much you loved to play Snoopy. Or that you dressed him super chic in that bomber jacket you stole from Ken.
My lips are sealed

Anyway, as a parent I soon realized how….eh….”adult” Barbie really is,
and decided that she wouldn’t be making her debut under our roof.

And over the last 9 years I haven’t really had to deal with the whole “doll” issue.
I just simply didn’t buy them.

Okay I bought one,
but after I found her in the back yard with little mice chewing off her eyeleashes,
I figured that my daughter wasn’t really interested in dolls.

That is until this year.
This was the year that my daughter started carrying around
the one single (non-eyelash) doll she ever recieved
and spent hours trying to get the (literal) rats and knots out of her hair.
This year she started talking purple,
and teal and matchy-matchy glitter….and all things hairstyle.

So, I knew what I had to do. I had to get proactive.
I had to search high and low for a Barbie alternative.
Something that would be just as satsifying for all those “girly” things,
but not as……eh……”adult”

Well, guess what I found?

The Only Hearts Club

These dolls are just the right size for my little 9 year old.

They come with fun, age appropriate outfits

but BEST of all when you undress them, they look just like a little girl would.

Yes. I just posted a photo of a naked doll.
You should have seen the looks on my neighbors faces as I was taking the photo.

The point being that your little girls can play with a doll that is just like them.
(There are even freckles across their little noses)

They are soft and bendable,
with hard plastic heads, and hands

At first I wondered about this “bendibility”
but then I realized that it is so they can stay on their horses:

In fact, they have an entire line of Horse & Pony friends and accessories.

And storybooks

And “Little” Sisters, and pets…and club membership mottos!

The list goes on with this line of toys,
and I’m really excited to have found something worth investing in.

My hope is that they will make a few “ranch hands”
for my boys to play along with…..

lest I have to go dig up Snoopy again.

Since receiving them my daughter hasn’t let her dolls out of her sight.
I would highly recommend them for a 4-11 year old girl!

If you want to learn more about The Only Hearts Club
you can check out their website here
or purchase them on here on Amazon

We have Olivia Hope and Lily Rose
and hope to add in a horse soon!

Scripture Art: Seasons

February 20, 2012 By Valerie Mcclintick 5 Comments

Since our last “Scripture Art” project was such a huge success,
I decided that we would try another~

We continued to work with watercolor
(This is the set that we are using)

And we kept the lesson really really simple,
with LOTS of table talk a little bit of technical instruction.

We folded our papers in half both ways,
and painted the outline of the same tree in each section.

This was quite difficult, and we soon decided that
our trees changed with the seasons as well :)

Then of course we painted each tree according to the season,
Winter, Spring, Summer, Fall.

Soooo Pretty!

Next, we added our bible verse from
Ecclesiastes 3:1

“There is a time for everything,
and a season for every activity under heaven.”

It’s such a great passage,
I almost wish they were older to copy the entire chapter.

Actually I’ve marked this book as my next to study,
I love when teaching inspires me to be taught.
Don’t you?

We’ve added our scripture art to our gallery,
and I’m loving all the bright cheery colors in my kitchen!

And when I get the little ones to sleep,
it’s my turn to experiment with our watercolors.

What fun!

Love Bible Verses for Children

February 6, 2012 By Valerie Mcclintick 19 Comments

Valentine’s Day is a great opportunity to share God’s love with children!
We’ve got some fantastic Preschool resources for you to use this year,
and now we’ve got a few activities for you your older kiddos as well.

Valentine’s Day Bible Activity Pack

This Valentine’s Day teach children the TRUE meaning of the word LOVE! This Bible-based, Christian Activity Pack includes 30 pages of multi-age activities, games, crafts and more. Designed to be low-prep and hands-on to keep little hearts and minds engaged.

Click Here

Today I wanted to highlight how to use one of our new Valentine’s Day resources:

This little printable craft would be a great way for children to learn some
bible verses on love.

For each child you’ll need to print up the envelope
(on cardstock for best results)

The outside of the envelope reads,
“I have hidden your word in my heart that I might not sin against you.” Psalm 119:11

This is a very important verse, as children grow they must learn
that what is hidden in their heart is what comes out during times of trial.
( i.e. LIFE )

Once assembled you’ll see that the back of the envelope
contains eight different scriptures for children to memorize
as well as a little space to check off each verse.

These verses coorespond with a set of printable bible hearts, (page 1 page 2)

These are black and white verses, so you can print them onto colored paper
(yea for saving ink!)

Now, of course you can use these HOWEVER you like
Maybe handing out a full set to your students to take home,
Printing on cardstock and attaching to a lollipop, or even
Just using them to add to Valentine’s day cards and crafts.
(we’ve even got a few more printables to help with that)

But I would suggest that you actively use them
to help children commit these verses to memory.

Then as a child successfully recites each verse,
you give them the corresponding heart to put into their pocket.

(Thus, the verses in the pocket represent the verses they have hidden in their heart)

Maybe you do one or two each year…maybe the entire set…
Maybe you just keep this as a special teaching tool you pull out every Valentine’s Day.

Whatever you do with them don’t use them as a
“Hey! Look another thing I started but never finished” tool.

You know that guilt inducing tool we homeschool mom’s are so familiar with

Just have fun with it!
And if it overwhelms you Pin it and we’ll know that you’re “virtually doing it”

Looking for more Valentine’s Day fun?

Try our Valentine’s Day Bible Activity Pack today!

Psssst….If you enjoy this set, be sure you check out our other Free Bible Verse Theme Packs:

Easter Bible Verses for Children

Thanksgiving Bible Verses for Children

Christmas Bible Verses for Children

Homeschool Spanish

January 2, 2012 By Valerie Mcclintick 3 Comments

This year one of our homeschool goals has been
to lay a good foundation for learning Spanish.

It’s been one of my more challenging goals, because

(let me fill you in on a little secret here…..)

I don’t know Spanish.

Interesting little situation isn’t it?

And let me just say here, that when I started homeschooling
this was one of my biggest ~~fears~~ questions.

How am I ever going to teach my children something that I don’t know?

And so far, with my eldest in 3rd grade,
I haven’t really had to deal with that question.

But this year we’re branching out,
Breaking boundaries and learning Spanish.

It’s time to deal with my fears.

So we started off the year with simple workbooks, building our vocabulary and
introducing the concept of different languages.

We kept it simple.

And our basic workbooks were a great foundation but I soon found out something VERY Interesting:

Not only can I not SPEAK Spanish….

I can’t READ Spanish.

(Which also means I can’t PRONOUNCE Spanish.)

And the FEAR came flooding back.

Well, TOS Crew to the rescue because last month we recieved a very special
Spanish Curriculum to review!

One that has taken care of all my Foreign language Fears.

Real Homeschool Spanish
A REAL Curriculum for the Whole Family
Relax, Enjoy, Aspire, Learn Spanish.

“New and unique to homeschoolers, Real Homeschool Spanish takes the entire family on the journey of language learning. Our easy to use curriculum is made specifically for the Home Educator and the home learning enviornment. Real Homeschool Spanish trains you and your child to be able to learn Spanish together and interact together in fun and interesting ways.

Did you read that quote?

Nah. You skimmed it.

Admit it. It’s okay, I do that all the time too.

But the quote is important, it’s why REAL Homeschool Spanish is working for our family.

The program is geared towards homeschooling children,
and specifically those whose mothers mistakenly took Japanese in highschool and not Spanish like the guidance counselor recommended, defiantly dreaming of living abroad as a business student, dining on fresh Sashimi and teaching English on the side.

Okay, That’s not exactly in the quote….

but I’m pretty sure it’s implied.

*ahem*

This program comes as either a hard copy ($89.95)
OR a digital download ($49.95 which is how we received it).

The Bundled product includes:

Book (the actual text)
Activity Book (worksheets and such)
Answer Book (for the worksheets)
Audio Files (mp3 format)

You can also order a Daily Curriculum Guide for $9.95
that gives you a short daily idea to keep on track.
I enjoy these because they are short, and I can easily do them without much prep.

You can check out more information about each of the elements
to this program by visiting their website
Click Here for a sample pages.

We’ve been using the program for about a month,
and with all the amazing suggestions and guides
I quickly settled into a daily routine.

First of course, I sent the Daily Curriculum Guide
and all the Spanish Vocabulary Audio File to my kindle fire.
(Oh, any reason to use my new toy)

The Audio Files are fantastic! We listen to them every day before we start our lesson.
And sometimes in the car for an impromptu review.
That way we can listen to the CORRECT pronounciation of each new word.
I can’t stress enough what a great part of the program this is.

All the vocabulary comes in a printable format as well.
I have my children follow along with their fingers, and quietly repeat
after the nice lady on the kindle.

After reviewing our vocabulary, we use the suggested teaching tips to put them into practice.
Some of the things we’ve done so far:

Flashcards:

Comic Book Strips:

And even some Role Playing….

My favorite part about this program is that it’s very simple to implement.
I did one night of prep-work (making flashcards, masks, role-playing scripts, and printing)
and I haven’t had to do anything else all month.

There are so many suggestins and ideas that I haven’t even scratched the surface,
It’s a great way to get some hands on learning alongside your children.

Another benefit is that you can work this book at your own pace,
spending extra time on lesson if they are difficult, or
skipping a lesson if you children master it with ease.

We plan on using this curriculum for the rest of the current school year,
and most if not all of the next.

Disclaimer: I was given a free download of this product for my honest opinion. All ideas and expressions are my own.

Bible Printables: Abraham

November 1, 2011 By Valerie Mcclintick 8 Comments

This post has been a long time coming.

You might already know that we’re using
The Mystery of History this year,
(you might be annoyed of all my posts about the program),
but the program is amazing and has quickly become the CORE
of our homeschool days.

It’s that good.

I quickly found myself scheduling art projects, crafts, and even reading and writing assignments to surround the weekly themes that are outlined in the curriculum.

(Here’s more on that)

With the MOH program you spend one lesson on Abraham,
but we soon found that we were enthralled by his story and decided
to turn it into a month long lesson.
(Wow. The joy of homeschooling!!)

First we learned about the lineage of Christ, as mentioned in Matthew. There is also a lineage in Luke, but this one started at Abraham, and since we learned about the promise that many would be blessed through Abraham we chose the one in Matthew.

There is also a book with a CD called The Ballad of Matthew’s Begats.We listen to it all the time and just learning it helps us keep track of Who’s who! This also goes from Abraham to Jesus.

We also learned that God’s promise was to be fullfilled through his son Isaac and not his son Ishmael. So I made this visual to help explain the lineage and for my children to copy the specific promise from the bible.

We also learned about Lot, and Sodom and Gomorrah. So I made this visual to show the children what “raining sulfur” might look like.

After reading about Abraham, we watched this great video that takes children from the first calling of Abram, to the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah. I have quite a few of the videos in this series, they have been wonderful teaching tools over the years. If you have Netflix you can order them too.

To wrap up our study I made this Bible File Folder Game called, “God’s friend Abraham.”
Included are four sheets of questions you can use to help children review facts about Abraham and the people around him. This is a great way to quiz children on what they remember from the lessons as well.

We had a fantastic time learning about Abraham, and I ended up creating a TON more printables, crafts, and worksheets for our sister sites.

You can find the Preschool resources here on ChristianPreschoolPrintables.com

And the K-5 resources here on BibleStoryPrintables.com

I hope you find these helpful for your own bible studies!

Big I.Q. Kids: A TOS Review

September 11, 2011 By Valerie Mcclintick Leave a Comment

Have you heard of Big I.Q. Kids?

Big I.Q. Kids is an online learning program for children
covering Math, Spelling, Vocabulary, and U.S. Geography.

Big I.Q Kids offers Free programs and Paid Premium programs.

I’ve used the Free spelling programs with each of my children in the past,
so I was semi-familiar with Big I.Q Kids before we were asked to review this program.

First if you haven’t yet tried Big I.Q. kids….you really should.
Because they offer the Free options for spelling and vocabulary
you can easily try them out with your children to see what you think.

Additionally you can even sample the Premium version for 7 days to
see if you think it’s worth paying for. (btw-I’ve linked to the chart outlining the differences between the free and paid versions below)

Again, since there is a free version and a paid version,
things might get a bit confusing here, but I’m reviewing the PAID
version for you today.

As part of the Big I.Q. Kids premium version, children get to customize their
character, and just for fun I thought I’d share the ones my children made:

Strikingly similar to their actual daily appearance
~~minus the pirate hat.~~
No, nevermind, that’s pretty accurate.

BigIQkids Spelling & Vocabulary: Complete Program is Free!
With a over 40,000 word dictionary, BigIQkids spelling & vocabulary program comes pre-loaded with 40 lessons for K-adult appropriate word lists. Or, as a parent or teacher, you can easily enter your own word lists and the program will automatically create a weekâ€™s worth of lessons, quizzes and tests around your own list with the goal of achieving 100% on the Friday spelling and vocabulary tests. The program includes tracking and progress reports. You can build your own curriculum or use our default settins. The program is completely customizable and goes around a student’s prograss.

What I Like about the Spelling/Vocabulary Program: I love that is free! You can customize word lists, take spelling tests, hear your word, and understand the meaning of your word, and my children’s favorite: Take a spelling bee!

What I Dislike about the Spelling/Vocabulary Program:
Computer Generated Voices. These are used throughout all the programs. They take a bit of getting used to. My kids don’t seem to mind though, but I wonder a bit when the program is teaching vocabulary and my children are asked to pronounce the word immediately after the computer says it. (I’ll also note that my son has a bit of a Speech issue, so I’m hypersensitive to what he is being taught)

BigIQkids Math Program:
(Free v. Premium Membership)
You can set up a child’s lesson to mirror what they are doing in their current curriculum. For example, if the child is on double digit addition and single digit multiplication, the program can focus on just these two areas providing invaluable practice and reinforcement that is certain to provide them with the tools to ace their next test. Or, BigMathTime can automatically generate grade specific and subject specific lessons as per your requirements.

What I Like about the Math Facts Program:

If there is one thing I’ve learned about homeschooling math, it’s that we can always use more proficiency with our math facts! They really do have to be MASTERED. And really, the only way to do that is with repetition and repetition and more repetition. This math program allows you to work with children on addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division. These are the only topics covered with the match program and with the timer clock it’s really like an online worksheet. There isn’t a lesson, or demonstration or anything like that. However, when a child clicks on help, it pops up a small screen with a visual hint for how to solve the problem. Additionally you can really tailor this to fit your child’s ability level, and print up the worksheet or set your child up with a quiz.

What I Dislike about the Math Facts Program:
This is a Math FACTS program only. For the price of premium membership ($49.99/year) I would like to see a more expanded Scope of Sequence. Math isn’t just about Facts (addition, subtraction, multiplication and division.) What about geometry, and algebra? I have a third grader who is needing these important foundations in math and $50 is 20% of my homeschool budget. Even with the tracking and the customization options, I simply can’t spend that much just on Math Facts alone.

U.S. States:
(Free v. Premium Membership)
Every elementary student will be confronted with the need to know their US State facts to mastery. BigStatesTime is the ultimate tool in learning the state’s location, capital, spelling, abbreviations and general state facts. The program allows parents/teachers to add additional facts which will be included in the child’s lessons and the program culminates in a â€œState Mastery Examâ€ that, if passed with 100% mastery, awards the child a State Master Certificate.

What I like about the U.S. States Program:
We loved this program. I haven’t found anything on the web that does what this program does, and I appreciate the fact that Big I.Q kids is providing this service. We are learning about the states this year and I love that my children can hop online and hear a few facts about each State. They also practice spelling the state, learning the state capital, and the abbreviation. Immediately after learning about the state they take a short quiz to make sure they were listening! This is a great program. I can set the difficulty level for each child, turn states on or off, and even set up a test.

What I Dislike about States Program:
While we enjoyed the States program much more than any other program on this site, again the price of $39.99/year is a huge chunk of change to us and it wouldn’t be something that we could afford. Love the program though, and I’m feeling very blessed to be able to review it.

Overall Thoughts:
In general this is a great program, but the cost is something you’ll want to consider before upgrading to a Premium membership. Additionally you should be aware that not only are there advertisements on the free version, there are advertisements in the GAME SECTION of the Premium versions as well. This was actually problematic for my 5 year old who clicked on an ad (thinking it was a game) and was taken offsite to an inappropriate website. Thankfully I was standing close to him and saw that he wasn’t on BigIQ anymore, but I was concerned none-the-less.

I emailed the owner of Big I.Q. Kids to let her know about the ad, and asked about their advertisement policy. I thought it was important that I share with you here about the response I recieved:
(Please note this is in reference to the Premium/Paid version)

“We are IN THE PROCESS of creating a totally AD FREE game page. Because the PREMIUM programs DOES NOT have ads in the lessons portion of the program. The only ADs the student can see in the PREMIUM program is via the game page. BUT, a parent can turn the game page OFF which will creaete an AD FREE program but not a happy student. :) We are working on our game page being an AD FREE game page.”
-Debra Marcionette www.BigIQKids.com

I posted this just for your reference, so you can also know why you might see advertisements in a paid site. I’m really glad to hear they are working on an Ad-free Premium version, and I for one completely understand the need to support the site with outside advertising. It can be quite difficult and a lot of work to make sure every add is Family friendly, it happens to me all the time, and Debra’s quick response showed me that BigIQKids.com was committed to having a safe place for my children to play online.

Overall I am really looking forward to seeing this company grow. I love to see things like the Interactive Homework lessons, and the Worldwide spelling competitions! I love that Debra provides so much of these programs for Free, and I sincerly hope that the premium version will fit more in our budget in the years to come.

Don’t just take my word for it!
This review is part of The Old Schoolhouse Homeschool Crew,
check out what other homechool families thought of Big IQ Kids here!

Disclosure: This product was provided to me for free in exchange for my review as a member of the 2011-2012 The Old Schoolhouse Magazine Homeschool Crew. My review of the product reflects my honest opinion.

Yo Yo Hairbows

August 6, 2011 By Valerie Mcclintick Leave a Comment

Last night, I dared to look into my craft closet.

I know what your thinking…
and YES the entire closet if filled with crafts

It’s nothing special, just a simple linen closet completly devoid of linen.
I love my Craft Closet.
There is a scrapbooking shelf, a sewing shelf, a knitting/yarn craft shelf
and then a shelf of “Open Projects” as I like to call them.

(One shelf actually has linen on it, with a few bedsheets smushed in between a serger and a sewing machine)

Oh, and as you’re reading this You might be noticing
that I haven’t included a photo of these lovely shelves,
It’s not because I forgot.

But Anyway, perched atop the “Open Project” shelf
I found my bag of Yo-Yo hairbows:

And like a child who just found a bag of candy treasure,
I got all giddy and excited about this long forgotten project!

You see, I’ve actually been making these for a while now,
(I even sold them in boutique store before we moved)
and now I’m passing the torch, and sharing my super secret
Yo-yo hairbow tutorial with the public.

(you’ll laugh at that later, because these are soooo easy to make)

In fact these are perfect beginning sewing projects for your little girls!
Which is exactly why I included the tutorials in our new Home Economic
Sewing Projects.

Yo-Yo Tutorial

Yo-Yo Hairbow Tutorial

Happy Sewing!

Inuit Snow Goggles Craft

September 22, 2010 By Valerie Mcclintick Leave a Comment

Awesome Book

+ Awesome Craft

= Hours of Pretend Play!

My house is filled with little (blond) Inuit children making “igloos’ from my couch cushions!

Make your own? Here’s the Step By Step with a printable template!

Rocks and Minerals Discover Day!

March 30, 2010 By Valerie Mcclintick Leave a Comment

Last week I set up this Rocks and Minerals Discovery table for the kids to explore with! Let me tell you that they L-O-V-E-D it, and it was hard to wrap it up and move on to the next thing. (Don’t you just hate when you have to pry them away from learning in order to get them to eat something?)

I used a few different kits that I picked up at the local teacher store, as well as our local museum. If you’re looking to pick up a kit for your classroom, I think the Minerals kit was better because it came with a streak plate and a nail to test the rocks with. However, the more “fancy” rocks like the ones in the first photo are the ones we picked up at the Museum, and you can snag a nice kit of some here online.

Here are some photos of the different stations that I set up:

Click here for the rest of them, including details for each one.

I also made up this handy Rocks and Minerals printable to keep track of all the information we collected about the rocks. These print 2 to a page so you can easily have a bunch on hand for your kiddos to fill out.

And CurrClick has a Rocks and Minerals Flash Card Set for Free!

Stay tuned for more Rocks and Minerals Activities!

Make Your Own Fossils

March 20, 2010 By Valerie Mcclintick 5 Comments

We’ve been slowly fazing in some Rocks, Minerals, and Fossils to our science lessons, and this was one of the activities that we just had to do!

So...here is a super simple way for children to make their own fossils.

I had no idea that Plaster of Paris could be so easy to work with!

(I had envisions of cement mixers, inhaling nasty white powder, and crusty rock formations on my best spatula)

However with a little prep work, None of that occurred, and we had a fantastic time making fossils!

And apparently our excavation site was somewhere in the Asian territory of a remote place called “ANIHC”

Too Cute Right?

Click Here for full Photo Instructions!

Word Ending Block Game

February 24, 2010 By Valerie Mcclintick 10 Comments

I have been dreaming this up for weeks!

Okay, probably months, but I hesitate to let you know what a slacker I am.

SO LOOK!

Awesome right?

Besides looking so colorful and linguistic (which of course appeases ever nerve in my homeschool body) these actually make up a fun educational game as well:

Total Score, I know!

So you play by rolling the dice and making words from the letters and word endings that you get.

For every word you can make, you get one point.

You can make these with as many letter blocks, and word ending blocks as you like depending on your child’s ability level. (We used 9 blocks total)

You can snag the wooden blocks at the craft store for about 50 cents a pop.

I put full instructions for how to make this game on our main site here!

I even found this cool wooden crate to store it in from the Dollar Tree!
What an Awesome Day!

NEW! Family Math, Art, Geography, & Science Curriculum…..

February 15, 2010 By Valerie Mcclintick 5 Comments

Recently my 4 year old son (Bubba) has been showing interest and readiness to learn at a higher level then I’ve been presenting to him. I’m really excited to see the changes over the past few months:

He will sit for extended periods of time
He can hold a pencil the correct way most of the time without help
He knows his letters and the sounds they make
He is writing his name and other short words
He is beginning to recognize common words (Thanks Starfall!)
He is showing an interest in having “HIS OWN” school books (instead of sharing with Sissy)

I’m really excited because he has been such an “Energetic” little scout, and it’s been really hard to even attempt to lead any type of learning experience that required “FOLLOWING INSTRUCTIONS”

SIGH.

But I see that we are coming around the bend, and my little Preschooler just might be ready for some more one-on-one instructional learning.

Thus, I’ve been spending the past couple of weeks RE-Arranging my ~~LIFE~~ Homeschool schedule to fit him in a bit more, and of course researching curriculum choices that I could use for both children. I haven’t got it all just perfect yet (do we ever) but here are a couple of new additions to our Homeschool Curriculum that I wanted to share:

The Complete Book of Science:

I love this book not only because it is in full color (total score for entertainment factor) but it has 12 different sections that provide hands on learning alongside worksheets and reproducible charts and diagrams. One of the first topics we started with this book was “Our Human Body” and we made these life size representations of our organs, bones, and muscles. You can imagine that both kiddos were giggly excited to do this. (Now, we’re learning about Rocks and Minerals) You can read sample pages here….

Family Math:

I saw this book at a thrift store (after I read that a friend picked it up at a thrift store) and decided to give it a shot. I mean $2 is worth a shot right? Totally worth it. I love this book already, it has transformed Math time at our house in a matter of days. Both of my kids love the hands on activities, and they love learning alongside eachother when an activity fits both their ability levels. The best part about this book is that it tells you very clearly, what ages each activity is for, and then it has pictures and additional ideas for how to explore the concepts with each child. Here is Bubba playing one of the sorting and counting games:

Teaching Children ART:

Okay, I know…we don’t really need books to teach children art do we? Aside from subscribing to Art Projects for Kids, I’ve been using this book to make sure that the kiddos recieve some sort of formal traning on Art (you know like color theory and all that technical stuff) So far we’ve done a couple of lessons as a family, and both children have been very interested. Here are some photos of them learning about line (horizontal, vertical, and diagonal)

And for Geography…..Did you see? I won the 6 month Subscription to Little Passports, and should be receiving some fantastic learning materials soon! I can’t wait, so stay tuned for photos of those!

I’ve added all of our new books and resources to our Homeschool Curriculum page, in case you’re interested in what we’re using for the other topics too!