Microscope books

Here is a great collection of public domain books on the subject of microscopes, their history and activities you can do with them at home. Just click on the picture below to get the links. Enjoy!!

Homeschool Enrichment

If you are looking for inspiration and ideas for this upcoming year, here is a great homeschooling magazine, Homeschool Enrichment, which is offering for a limited time a pdf download of all their 2012 issues... find the link below

http://homeschoolenrichment.com/goodies/all-issues-of-hse-magazine-from-2012

Naked egg

This is a pretty cool experiment that uses only a few items, but provides a fascinating result. An egg is a perfect example of one animal cell that you can actually study without a microscope, plus who does not want to see what an uncooked, unbroken egg would look like sans shell...

If you ever wondered, here is the way to do it. :)

Materials: One egg, a glass container to hold it, and enough vinager to submerge the whole egg.

Steps:
Place egg in the container. Cover it with vinager. Wait for a few days (you can place it in the refrigerator if you want).

 The acid in the vinagre is going to dissolve the shell completely. You can help the process by gently wiping it with a moist paper towel.

This is what is going to look like:

 
Enjoy! Handle with care, and discard after you are done. You definitely do not want to make an poached egg with this one :)

New edition of a classic... At a great price!!

I am really happy to share that this wonderful grammar book (yes, I know, wonderful and grammar don't seem to belong in the same sentence :)) is at last available for Kindle. Those of you familiar with "The Well trained mind", will surely recognize this author, since it is recommended there. I am talking about Mary F. Hyde, and this is book 2 of her "Two book course in English"

Giveaway of Montessori materials

Go to this wonderful website "What did we do all day?" and check out their giveaway of Montessori materials... It is a bundle of 22 Geometry printables.

Good Luck!!

Free poetry book

Getting ready for National Poetry month? In case you did not know, that is the month of April, according to the Academy of American poets. Is there a better way to celebrate the love of music and beautiful words than enjoying a little sample of the wonderful poems the English speaking world has produced?

That is what you'll find in this volume of selected poems for children. This collection progresses from little poems written for children in the past centuries, to examples of the best British and American poems both past and present. Hope you enjoy!!

You can download "100 Poems for the classical child" for free from my blog. I have 2 versions, one for Kindle and one as a pdf, just in case you want to print the work. 

100 poems for the classical child (Kindle version)


100 Poems for the classical child - .pdf file (you will need Acrobat Reader)


All materials for personal use only. Thank you!

And, if you are interested in more Kindle books for children, see here. I am planning to add more titles soon :)

Tangram fun!

The tangram (Chinese: "seven boards of skill") is a dissection puzzle consisting of seven flat shapes, called tans, which are put together to form shapes. The objective of the puzzle is to form a specific shape (given only an outline or silhouette) using all seven pieces, which may not overlap. It was originally invented in China at some unknown point in history, and then carried over to Europe by trading ships in the early 19th century. It became very popular in Europe for a time then, and then again during World War I. It is one of the most popular dissection puzzles in the world
(From Wikipedia)

We just love tangram... it can be quite easy or quite challenging, and it just provides a wonderful fun way to improve geometrical perception.
These are some of the shapes you can build...I have a book that boasts +6000 combinations, with the corresponding "solution", so it is a self correcting work that allows children to work independently... I am going to make some cards to share soon...

But let's start with the set itself.

I have a black plastic Tangram set, but my children each wanted their own, so made a very simple one with black construction paper that has been previously laminated.

You can basically use any material you want, from  cereal boxes to wood, of any size you want. All you need to do is start with a square.

Step 1

Draw a square of at least 8" x 8"

Step 2

Step 3

 

Step 4

Step 5

Step 6

 

Step 7

Step 8