English Grammar Revolution

I have not tried this curriculum, but I do know that sentence diagramming is missing from the language arts curriculum we are currently using. It seems quite interesting, and at $12 for the downloadable e-book, it is very affordable.

This isn't a complete language arts curriculum, but teaches English grammar through diagramming sentences which, they claim, children love to do! We shall see! ;)

At the English Grammar Revolution web site, you may also sign up for their free monthly newsletter, as well as subscribe to their RSS feed so you can be notified when something new comes up.

Worth the tuition? ;)

Barb the Evil Genius thinks this private school may want to hire a proofreader in the future!  ;)

(H/T Joanne Jacobs)

Valentine's Day ideas and crafts are just everywhere!

Do you need some ideas on what to do for Valentine's Day this year?  Thank goodness for the Internet!  I have found oodles of stuff that would keep anyone busy for several Valentine's Day's to come!

Activity Village has a bevvy of beautiful Valentine cards, Valentine jigsaws, and Valentine coloring pages to keep the kids occupied from now until Valentine's Day!

The Wonder Years has an adorable craft - thumbprint heart magnets - that are perfect for gift giving!  (H/T: The Crafty Crow)

Kids can turn plain white flowers into beautiful pink or red flowers for Valentine's Day by following the instructions given at Zoom's web site at PBS Kids!

Here's a picture tutorial on flickr on how to make an origami puffy heart for Valentine's Day.  (Parents - Do not let children explore photo or video sharing internet sites alone...please.)

Roots and Wings has suggestions for a Valentine's Day book activity!

That Artist Woman has instructions on how to make a Valentine's Day diorama for those special people in your life by recycling a frozen juice can!

On the Homeschool Showcase #39, Factory Direct Craft blog has instructions on how to make a really cute paper mache Valentine's mailbox!  (H/T Weird, Unsocialized Mom at Weird, Unsocialized Homeschoolers)

Learn how to make some sweet "Hostess Cupcakes" for your sweeties at Heart of the Matter Online!

The Long Thread has instructions for turning junk mail into precious Valentine's cards.  (H/T The Crafty Crow)

Roots and Wings has instructions on how to make a long-heart-shaped "box" to put Valentine's Day sweets in for all the little Valentine friends.  The instructions will reveal a "secret cheat", and you may be surprised at what is used to make these beautiful treasure holders!

Fun in the Making shows you how to make Valentine message magnets from recycled materials.  (H/T The Crafty Crow)

For those who are handy with a sewing machine, or needle and thread, Roots and Wings has instructions for a rather ambitious gift to make - a portable felt Tic-Tac-Toe board that uses hearts and arrows instead of x's and o's!  Very cute!  (H/T The Crafty Crow)

Art Projects for Kids has instructions on how to make some adorable paper pulp hearts!

How About Orange has FREE printable Valentine goodie bags!

That Artist Woman has instructions for making Valentine's Paper Dolls.  These are no ordinary paper dolls that you can just cut out and play with, though.  These are works of art, and I can think of many uses other than Valentine's Day.  They could be dressed any way you want to reflect any time period.  The midievel ones that are shown would be great to do for art when you're studying the subject.

For those of you that would like something special to give that green-thumbed person in your life, Fun in the Making has the perfect craft - give that special someone a "pot" with all the materials needed for growing some sweet peas!  Included are printable growing instructions you can attach to the pot.  The pot and plant stake are made from recycled materials as well - so you're being frugal and "green" at the same time!

That Artist Woman has instructions on how to make an adorable King of Hearts puppet!

Making Friends has a whole PAGE of Valentine's Day goodies to make!

The Toymaker also has some Valentine's Day themed paper projects to print.

Mama Bear's Cub House has instructions for a torn paper heart/collage project that the littlest Valentine crafters can do!  (H/T:  The Crafty Crow, of course!)

Just in case you get carried away and make so  many Valentine crafts that you run out of paste or glitter, here are some homemade solutions from Nikki Shell and Learning Vicariously!  (H/T:  The Crafty Crow)

Here come national standards for education...

From Projo.com:  Alongside the attempted federalization of health care in Washington, with details being hashed out behind closed doors, a parallel bid to nationalize K-12 education is going forward more subtly but just as surely.

“Sight unseen” is the mode of operation in both cases.  (Which seems to be the way this administration and Congress like to operate.)

Members of Congress have had to vote on complex health-care-overhaul details they have not studied and sometimes not even seen. Similarly, states seeking to win juicy shares of the $4.35 billion in one-time education grants dangled before them by the Obama administration must agree to adopt a set of national education standards and a national test.

State and local school systems had until this past Tuesday to have their so-called Race to the Top (RttT) applications filed with U.S. Education Secretary Arne Duncan. His office has stated clearly, in writing, that states will have no real shot at this slush fund unless they have agreed to adopt “common standards” and “common assessments.”

The consortium of Big Education interests behind the Common Core State Standards Initiative (CCSSI) released a first draft of national “college and career readiness” standards last fall, but its grade-by-grade K-12 standards for language arts and math either have not been completed or are not available for public inspection. Texas and Alaska are the only two states that have declined to hop aboard this Race over the Cliff.

Meanwhile, the common assessment — a national test — is currently just something Duncan vows to purchase with a spare $350 million from his federal stimulus stash, employing yet another handpicked consortium to write the test for all American children.

In short, states must accept the national standards and national test — essentially a national curriculum — sight unseen if they want the federal largess.

Read the rest HERE.

Amazing Mathemagician!

H/T:  Math-Whizz

Free Elementary Life Science Curriculum!

This is a download and print curriculum, complete with teacher's manual.  There are fun experiments and zany pictures to keep kids interested.  There are comprehension questions and tests - a complete curriculum.  The reason it's so well put-together may be because it was written by, of all things, an 8th-grade science teacher!  "Mr. Q." has also taught classes for homeschoolers, so he knows what a homeschooler needs. 

The first level of this curriculum, "Life Science", is free for you to download and use in your homeschool.  Mr. Q has also written three other levels - Earth Science, Chemistry, and Physical Science - which he sells for $50 for the full curricula, or for $15 per month-long unit.  This is a secular curriculum, but it is suitable for homeschoolers of all persuasions!

At the Lab of Mr. Q web site, you can download the free Life Science, download sample chapters of the Earth/Chemistry/Physical Science, as well as read his new blog, and sign up for Mr. Q's "Lab Notes" - which are little extra goodies that he throws in for free as well!

School Administrator allegedly ignores pleas for help...

Darren from Right on the Left Coast put up a story about racial violence in a Philadelphia high school.  The story, originally from The Detroit News/AP told of a group of Asian kids who were harassed by some African-American kids.  The Asians pled for help from the school administrator, apparently only to have their cries fall on deaf ears, until the group of Asian kids were attacked by the bullies.

An excerpt:

PHILADELPHIA (AP) -- The blocks surrounding South Philadelphia High School are a melting pot of pizzerias fronted by Italian flags, African hair-braiding salons and a growing number of Chinese, Vietnamese and Indonesian restaurants.

Inside is a cauldron of cultural discontent that erupted in violence last month - off-campus and lunchroom attacks on about 50 Asian students, injuring 30, primarily at the hands of blacks. The Asian students, who boycotted classes for more than a week afterward, say they've endured relentless bullying by black students while school officials turned a blind eye to their complaints.

"We have suffered a lot to get to America and we didn't come here to fight," Wei Chen, president of the Chinese American Student Association, told the school board in one of several hearings on the violence. "We just want a safe environment to learn and make more friends. That's my dream."

Read the rest of the story HERE.

Donate $5 or $10 to Haiti through CurrClick and they will match it!

Click HERE to donate!

Submit your post for the Carnival of Homeschooling!

Don't forget to send in your post for the next Carnival of homeschooling! The deadline is always the Monday before the Carnival each week before 6:00 pm PST. The Carnival will be up every Tuesday.

If you participate in the Carnival, please make sure you promote it on your blog and let your readers know to be looking for your contribution!

There are two ways to submit a post for the Carnival of Homeschooling:

1. You can send your post via BlogCarnival. Just go here and follow the instructions.

2. You can email your entry to : CarnivalOfHomeschooling@gmail.com by 6:00 PM (PST) on the Monday evening of the week. It will be greatly appreciated if the submissions come in earlier. Please send the following information:

Title of Post
URL of Post
Name of Blog
URL of Blog
Brief summary of the post
(With "carnival" or "submission" in the subject field of the email.)

This week's carnival will be held at Corn and Oil - - don't miss it!

New Amanda Bennett Unit Study - Winter Olympics - special price...

Amanda Bennett of unitstudy.com has her new Winter Olympics unit study (available in download only) on sale for $8 through today!

"The Lottery"

This is a documentary, which will be out on May 7, that follows the stories of four Harlem families who sign their children up for a lottery for a spot in a charter school.



H/T:  Joanne Jacobs

Related:  Gotham Schools, and 60 Minutes - The Harlem Children's Zone