Category Archives: Frugal Homeschooler

Office Max Deals

48154_It's like getting one for $.01 after MaxPerks Bonus Rewards on classroom must-haves

I know that I am a little late in posting about the awesome deals that OfficeMax has this week but life has been a little busy;). But OfficeMax has a ton of items that are only 1 cent after the MaxRewards!

There is an incentive for ordering online this week! One of the free after MaxPerks deal is a 3 hole punch! But it is only available online.

So order online! If your purchase is $50 you get free delivery but that $50 is before the MaxPerks so if you take advantage of all the free and 1 cent deals you will get free delivery and pay almost nothing!!!

Go, shop! Before the deals are gone!

Brave Fun

Brave is coming soon! As a matter of fact on June 22nd! In preparation for Brave coming out there are some awesome activity sheets that kids will love. I may even take a couple for my daughter to do while she waits for the movie to start.

There are also some great recipes too!!!

Passover is Here and Here are Resources!

Article first published at Label Daddy.

 

Passover is the celebration of God taking the Jews out of Egypt! The final plague was the Angel of Death taking the lives of the first borns in Egyptian households. Jewish homes that had the lamb’s blood on the door frame was passed over untouched. Get it? Passed over, Passover;)!

Are you celebrating Passover this year? Do you need some resources? Well, let me share a few!

Aish.com has great resources for all Jewish holidays, not just Passover! I always find great recipes, poignant pieces, and videos over there. A key post of theirs on Passover isHaggadah: An Introduction.

Another resource isn’t really information but food! I am now gluten free so Yehuda’s Gluten Free Matzo page is pretty awesome. You can see all the gluten free Passover options and order from them if you want to (but I have seen the boxes of matzo at Whole Foods). But when it comes to the actual Seder dinner the Chabad has a piece on what kind of matzo is really acceptable (it seems complicated).

Do you have a Haggadah? Looking for one you would like more? Uncle Eli has a kids version. I wouldn’t use it alone but it is entertaining and would print it for the kids to have at their seats. Looking for something a little more mature;)? Check out About.com’s Judaism page. They have a ton of options and a summary about each one.

There are some resources to get you going! Anything else you are looking for? Let me know in the comments and I will see what I have for you.

Happy Passover!

Free Poetry Month Resources!

Graphic of Jack Prelutsky from Scholastic's Page!

Did you know that April is National Poetry Month? It is and as always there is a wealth of free resources out there to teach your kids about poetry! And I mean kids of all ages!!!!

Scholastic has a ton of activities for kids k-12. There are workshops, printables and prompts but it all starts with a reading from Jack Prelutsky!

The Shel Silverstein site has a ton of resources from mini units to single printable pages. They have simple printables under kids and a ton more (including this and last year’s poetry month packs) under educators. 1 warning about the site, it pops up with music and you have to click through a few pages to get to anything.

Poets.org has a variety of units available. They were all created by secondary teachers. It also has poems to teach with some of them even being read to you!

Do you like poetry? I loved Shel Silverstein growing up and gotten his books from the library for my kids. But honestly, other than to answer trivia questions, I don’t know much about poetry. So I look forward to learning about this with my kids! Go get your literature arts on and teach your kids to enjoy poetry!

By the way, make sure you check back because later in the month I will be reviewing some poetry apps too!

Frugal Homeschooler: Fraction Help

Here in the NerdFamily we are having fraction issues. The NerdBug and NerdPie basically understand them but haven’t gotten used to using them so there is a constant reminder lesson going on. We are really having challenges in multiplying, dividing, and reducing. So I have decided we need some dedicated fraction time! And why pay for a book when you know there have to be some great resources out there? Here are some of the awesome things I found!

Home School Math has some great worksheets! They have free worksheets that will work on multiplying and dividing factions (and mixed numbers) along with another option that works on reducing! Just scroll part way down the page of worksheet options to find it!

One of my all time favorite sources for fact math sheets, The Math Worksheet Site, also has a generator for reducing fractions.

Dositey has a great Fraction Mystery Game. The kids match the numbers to the clues. Not only is it great fraction practice but problem solving and that will help with algebra in the future.

CoolMath4Kids has a section explaining how to work the fractions. And then at the bottom they have a couple great games!

Hopefully these resources will help your kids either learn fractions for the first time or help them just hone their skills! Remember that education doesn’t have to be expensive!

Frugal Homeschooler: English Teaching Aids

Last week my kids brought their grammar 5 a day with a question. “Mom, what is a superlative adjective?” Well, I was pretty sure I knew but you really don’t want to risk teaching bad grammar (even if I do use it sometimes;). So I started doing a little research. I found 3 pretty good sites that are pretty good! I am linking straight to the superlative part since that is what I was using;).

YourDictionary.com is a good place to define terms and see some usage recommendations.

English the Easy Way is actually a site that is designed to teach English! So everything is in a very simple presentation. I can see the kids using this on their own!

English Club is probably the most comprehensive site. It is also aimed at being an ESL site but it isn’t just for ESL but also for teachers. It has games, quizzes and more. It even has a section for English references for idioms, sayings and slang. Love it!

Frugal Homeschooler: St. Patrick’s Day

Saint Patrick in Stained GlassHere in the NerdFamily we love St. Patrick’s Day! We love the food, the fun and the learning!  And we love that there is so much out there for free to enjoy!

This year we are going to do our first lapbook! And in typical Frugal Homeschooler fashion we are using a free lapbook template from Homeschool Helper Online. It even has a library list for you!

There are a lot of sources for history on St. Patrick. Of course there is Wikipedia and that is a pretty good piece. There is also a lot of information over on the History Channel site. Or you can just go to the source! CCEL has St. Patrick’s actual confession. It really is an easy read and quite interesting. It helps to separate some of the truth from the myth.

Then it is time for fun and learning! Easy Fun School has a unit study on St. Patrick that is aimed at all ages and even has music. The Activity Village has a ton of fun. They have games, puzzles, stationary, crafts, etc.

So what are your plans for your learning and St. Patrick’s Day? Let me know if you do any of these fun activities. And remember that learning doesn’t have to be expensive.