10 Free eBooks and eAudio Book Sites!

Everyone loves a good book and when it's FREE, it's even better! All of the following sites offer free access to eBooks or eAudio Books that can be downloaded, read or listened to on your computer. You can find fiction, nonfiction, classics, and many technical and computer books from these sites.

1. Project Gutenberg: Project Gutenberg is the first and largest single collection of free electronic books, or eBooks. Michael Hart, founder of Project Gutenberg, invented eBooks in 1971 and continues to inspire the creation of eBooks and related technologies today.
2. getfreebooks.com: Getfreeebooks.com is a free ebooks site where you can download free books totally free.
3. Ebooks On Us: Ebook Downloads & Free audiobooks Everyday ...Forever!
4. Audio Book Treasury: Audio Book Treasury provides quick, easy and convenient access to classic audio books.
5. FreeClassicAudioBooks.com: Digital narration for the 21st century. 
6. Books Should be Free: Free Audio Books from the public domain.
7. Free Tech Books: Free Online Computer Science and Programming Books, Textbooks, and Lecture Notes.
8. Free-eBooks: Discover great fiction, from romance to mystery, or non-fiction, from business information to self-improvement. 
9. ManyBooks.net: There are more than 29,000 eBooks available here and they're all free! 
10. LibriVox: LibriVox provides free audiobooks from the public domain. 

Creative Recycled Paper and Cardbord Construction!

Children LOVE to play with cardboard and it is a cheap, indespensable material for construction projects. It stimulates and challenges the imagination of both children and adults alike!

Commonplace objects such as milk and egg cartons, paper towel and toilet paper tubes, apple crate dividers, and assorted sizes of boxes offer unlimited possibilities for creative art projects.

In preparation for a construction activity, adults should collect items such as:

• assorted cardboard boxes,
• cartons,
• corrigated cardboard,
• paper cups and plates of all sizes,
• paper bags,
• yarn,
• string,
• buttons,
• feathers,
• cloth,
• tissue paper,
• scraps of construction paper,
• wrapping paper,
• paste,
• glue,
• tape,
• crayons,
• colored markers,
• paint,
• brushes,
• scissors,
• stapler,
• staples

Most topics that interest children can be adapted to cardboard construction projects. Buildings, houses, cities, cars, and entire neighborhoods can be created using cardboard. Creations can only be limited by the imagination!

In order to help children create successful projects, adults could have the cardboard materials spread out and available for children to explore on their own. A fun way of sneaking in a little learning is to encourage children to stack materials or combine them in different ways.

Talk about (and demonstrate) ways of fastening boxes together, covering them with paint or paper, and adding other parts or features, and then set the children loose on an adventure!

A few ideas to get you started!

Paper Bags:

Large paper shopping bags with handles can be turned into an instant costume simply by cutting the bottom of the bag off. Place the bag over the child, using the handles as shoulder straps. Children can decorate their costume with scrap materials.

Boxes:

Collect several medium-sized appliance boxes that are large enough to hold one or two children. Share a story about vehicles—a train, a car, a dump truck, etc. Provide children with smocks, paintbrushes, and tempera paint and set them loose to create their very own transportation. For trains, attach boxes to one another with twine.

Allow the shapes of the cardboard to suggest ideas for a project. For instance, an oatmeal container could transform into the body of an elephant; a milk carton could turn into a skyscraper.

Paper Tubes:

Paper tubes are probably the most versatile type of cardboard out there. Children can make everything from puppets to binoculars with them. Make music shakers by taping a circle of cardstock or heavy paper to one end, filling with a handful of rice, and securing the open end with another cardstock circle.

Egg Cartons:

What CAN’T you do with an egg carton? Provide children with tape, glue, string, feathers, buttons, markers, crayons, and paint, and the sky is the limit! 

Missing Home School Posts?

Facebook recently made a few changes and because of them, some of you aren’t getting our posts in your News Feed anymore.

If you aren't getting status updates from Home School in your news feed, here is what you can do to fix it!

• Look at the top of your facebook page and click on Most Recent.
• Click the down arrow next to the Most Recent and click Edit Options.

• A box will pop up prompting you to choose All of your friends and pages.

That's it! Once you select All of your friends and pages, you will start seeing all of the Home School updates!

Navajo Fried Bread

This was a real treat for my kids. They were fascinated by the fact that it, "tastes just like bread!" The recipe is SUPER simple (which is a bonus for us adults), not too messy, and what kids don't enjoy rolling and shaping bread dough?

Let's start with the recipe.

Ingredients:

• 1/2 tsp. salt
• 2 cups self rising flour (or 2 cups regular flour plus 1 tsp. baking soda)
• 1 tbsp. vegetable oil
• 3/4 cup water
• Butter for frying

Directions:

• Mix together salt, flour, oil, and water. (Sunglasses are optional!)

• Knead and shape into several small rounds of dough.

• Press or use a rolling pin to form flat discs.

• Fry in butter on medium heat until golden brown on both sides.

• Serve with butter, honey, sour cream, jelly, cheese, or sprinkle with powdered sugar and enjoy!

Motor Skills Involved: Mixing, Pouring, Measuring, Rolling, Kneading

Sensory Experiences: Smelling, Feeling, Tasting, Seeing, Hearing

Related Concepts/Developmental Areas:

     Science: melting butter, browning bread, addition of water to dough. 

     Language: discussion of American Indian heritage. 

     Social Skills: learning safe cooking procedures.

Black History Month--Famous Inventors

February is Black History Month and we invite you to celebrate with us by exploring our favorite African American Inventors!! 

A NEW BOOK CLUB!

We have a new area to add to our blog and facebook group!!


A FORUM! 

Homeschoolers Book Club (hosted by Weebly) houses our new forum. We can utilize the forum area to chat about our favorite books and to encourage our homeschoolers to engage in weekly book club challenges.

It's a great way to get our kids excited about reading and sharing what they love--and loathe--about some really great literature. Books selected for discussion will be age appropriate for that forum.

But why let the kids have all the fun?? There is also an adult area for parents or older siblings 18+ that would love the opportunity to join in!

Moderating opportunities ARE available. I am looking for adults who are invested in reading, organizing, and participating in group book discussions. If you would be interested in applying, let me know a.s.a.p. by posting in the NEWS SECTION of the forum!

Tips for Success in your Home School Art Program

Successful experiences in art require organization and thoughtful planning. With a few simple tricks, you can banish stress and ensure your child will have a great experience.

Dry erase boards are a wonderful addition to a home school classroom and are useful art tools. Ours are well used and can become stained after repeated use. In order to restore the boards back to white, I clean them once a month with a Mr. Clean Magic Eraser. These workhorses can even remove stubborn permanent marker stains.

One of the biggest challenges I have with art supplies is trying to keep the scissors together. A cheap and easy solution to this is to make a scissor holder. Using a gallon milk container, punch holes in the sides and place scissors in the holes with the points to the inside. Styrofoam egg cartons flipped upside-down also make great scissor holders. Carefully cut slits into each mound and place scissors with points to the inside.

When we buy certain types of art supplies, we buy in bulk—and that can spell disaster when trying to organize later. I have found that, when using pipe cleaners, things can go from organized to chaos in a snap. A simple solution is to reuse old metal popcorn tins (popular around the holidays.) Fill the inside with paper towel tubes stacked vertically inside. Sort your pipe cleaners by color in the tubes. You will save time finding the right colors and be able to see when you are running low. You can also use the tubes to store slips of colored paper, posters, and older artwork.

Markers are expensive so when they dry out, I try my best to save them. Try this tip before heading to the garbage pail the next time you find a marker that seems like it is at the end of its life,. Pour ½ inch of nail polish remover into a paper cup and let the tip soak for 30 seconds. Let dry for at least 30 minutes before using. The acetone in the remover restores moisture without diluting the color and draws the ink down to the tip.

My kids are always on the hunt for paper. In order to keep their creativity from being put on hold while we hunt for it, (and to ease the cost of buying new packs of paper), we have created a two-box system and load them with scrap paper. One is for recycled white paper and the other is for recycled construction paper. Whenever we do a school project and produce scraps, they are placed into one of the boxes for use later.

We make a lot of homemade clay and if it is not properly stored, it will dry out and be useless. Airtight coffee containers and plastic food containers keep the clay moist and always ready for use.

I have made countless paint containers from things like muffin tins and Styrofoam egg containers, but my favorite containers come from yogurt cups. These work well both inside and out because they are sturdy and not easily tipped over. The yogurt cups with lids are ideal because when the artwork is finished, you can snap on the lid and store for later.

Cotton-ball painting is more fun (and neater) when you clip spring-type clothespins to the cotton balls. Children can use the clothespins like handles. Clothespin painting can also be done with a wadded up paper towels, small sponge pieces, and even fabric.