Homeschool Music Curriculum

For many years I have gone back and forth with if I should be having an actual music curriculum. I love music. I have played the piano since I was about 4. Although I am rusty at it now. I played the alto saxaphone in band for 4 years and was first chair. My family are muisicians/singers on my mother's side. Although I was taught music in public school, I really think that music is something that can be taught without using curriculum. Even if you are not musically inclined. Music lessons is a good way to start. Singing around the house. Getting a recorder and a recorder lesson book is also another way to incorporate music in your homeschool day.

I came across two really good sites today, which will give you a good resource for music.

The first one http://www.geocities.com/Paris/3486/ , has piano music on it from various composers.

The seconde one, which is where I found the first one, is called Garden of Praise. This lady has put together a whole bunch of resources for you and the majority of them that I looked at were FREE. Free bible lesson pages that you can print out too on various books of the bible. She also has a website link with composers and the eras they were from. There is a lot of help on this site and I will be adding it to my favorite sites!

Calvert Homeschooling...is it worth taking a look?

I just came across Calvert. I have to say that it looks like a rounded curriculum for homeschoolers.

It has lessons already planned out. What could be better than that?
I have also heard that students using the curriculum test very well on standardized testing.

I am going to be using it with one of my kids and will let you know how I like it.

Have a GREAT day!

Writing Ideas for Homeschoolers

Need a writing idea? Have the kids pretend they are a reporter and go get the latest scoop from family members. Help them write down 5 questions they can ask each person in the family. When you are done, go and put it together in some newsletter form. There are great programs for this right on your home computer. Print it out and have them mail it to Grandma and Grandpa and other family members. You can even start doing it quarterly and it can count towards a lot of their subjects. Writing, Grammer, and Spelling. There can even be more subjects woven into it depending what the contents are about. Eventually, who knows they could even start selling them online and offline and make some money.

Yearly Testing Resource

I always buy from the same place every year for my yearly testing requirements. I buy from Christian Liberty Press. If you click on the link it will take you right to the testing page. They have the nationally-recognized California Achievement Test (1970 edition). You purchase the test from them, they mail it to you and then you mail it back to them, they score it and send the results back to you very fast. They are reasonably priced. What I like about CLP is that there is no time frame to get the test back to them and you can order it any time of the year, not just in April. You also do not have to have a degree to administer the CAT.
At the time of this post it is only 22.00! Here is the direct link to the form.
Have a GREAT day and Happy Homeschooling!

ATTN Home School MOM's

Do you shop online? If you do, would you like to receive money back on your purchases from selected stores? If you would, then check out MY Power Mall. Alpha Omega is just one of the stores in the Mall. There are over 1,000 stores to choose from. IT IS FREE to sign up. Check it out!

Homeschool Site with LOTS of IDEAS

I just found this new site that has FREE worksheets, lessons and inspiration!
Garden and Hearth. Make sure you have some time to spend on this site, because there is a lot of stuff on it! Make sure you bookmark it so you can find it again.
Have a GREAT day!

Math U See

Well I have to give Math U See the greatest recommendation. I just ordered it to try it with my kid and it went great! We have been using Saxon for many years and there has always been a struggle. We have gotten math done now for two days in a row and no complaining. 100% on first assignment we did. I truely recommend them. You can check them out at MathUSee.com. They have placement tests online for you to do. Also, you can order a sample DVD to check them out. If you have a struggling child, or a hands on child, I would recommend it to you. I will keep you posted as we are doing math over summer break, but it truely is enjoyable to do. I love math and have always been good at it, but it is even cooler to SEE the math in action.
I purchased ours on Ebay and got a great deal. You can also check out the stores links on the side of my blog to purchase it too. Look around till you find the best deal.
Have a great day!