Catholic Free Video Collection

You may want to check out my free video collection it includes many Catholic subjects and saints. Plus other educational videos all free.

Game for studying 13 Colonies

I found a new interactive game to help learn the first 13 colonies of the United States. This should help add a little fun to any to any grade schoolers day. Use to help get ready for the 3rd grade test.

13 Colonies

Connecting Science pre-k, 1st, 2nd, 3rd, grade

Another great CM style resource for science comes from a company called Teacher Created Resources. It’s called Connecting Science. They use literature, picture books to explain a science concept and then list several fun activities to reinforce the concept. Teaching Science concepts never got easier for primary grades pre-K through 5th.

Several book titles and topics to choose from. I really like this book they its very user friendly for both teacher and child. I was struggling with when to start Apologia materials this year or next – then I found my first Connecting Science Book at a book sale. For primary and younger ages these manuals are perfect. The newer versions may not include the literature you would have to check. However they do offer a thematic version for almost all the Magic School Bus series. These books are much better than I originally expected as a homeschooler.

You can find titles for yourself through the link below.

Short Summer Break

Over the next couple of weeks my family will be visiting Springfield, Illinois for a Baptism. We plan to visit the Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum, I understand it is fascinating. The only disappointing factor is, not getting to go to Mass at Immaculate Conception Cathedral. It is closed for renovations. However there are plenty of nice Catholic churches there and we will be attending a couple of them.

On our way back home we plan on visiting the Parthenon in Nashville TN. and the Hermitage (Andrew Jackson’s Home) nearby Nashville. So in the course of about a week we will be covering:

A sacrament - Baptism
Ancient History – Greek Architecture and Mythology (Athena, Nike and I believe some other well know statues will be inside.)
7th President of the United States and early American times.
16th President of the United States and the time of the Civil War.

By the time we return home we should have our Time Line up and ready for posting pictures!

Compare Catholic 3rd Grade Homeschool History curriculum

Compare Catholic home school History. Catholic Schools don’t have to be at an institution they can be in your home.

Key:

Seton Home Study – Seton

Kolbe Homeschool Academy – Kolbe

St. Thomas Aquinas – STA

Our Lady of the Rosary – OLR

Our Lady of Victory – OLV

Mother of Divine Grace – MDG

Catholic Heritage Curriculum – CHC

Mater Amabilis – MA (Catholic Version of Charlotte Mason Style)

Angelicum – Angl

Totally Tut Pyramid Game $17.98

Kolbe:

Catholic Bible History

Kolbe, STA, MA, AGL:

Ancient Egyptian History. Find a rich source of Ancient Egypt books on the Anglicum website
Tales of Ancient Egypt (Puffin Classics)
Spend the Day in Ancient Egypt: Projects and Activities That Bring the Past to Life (Spend The Day Series)
The Ancient World of the Bible
Usborne Book of the Ancient World: Combined Volume : Early Civilization/the Greeks/the Romans/ (Illustrated World History)
Pharaohs & Pyramids (The Usborne Time Traveller)
The Orchard Book of Egyptian Gods and Pharaohs

Anglicum, Kolbe also offer lessons plans for an additional $9 or $10.

Seton, MA:

The Catholic Faith Comes to the Americas
MA also offers another supplemental American History book called THIS COUNTRY IS OURS.
It can be be found online for free or you can find the best price on the market through the link I provided.

OLV:

How Our Nation Began (The Christian social history series)

OLR:

Working together

MDG:

Our American Heritage (ABEKA-non Catholic) or How Our Nation Began (The Christian social history series)

Bible History is taught as part of Religion.

There is another choice in History. None of the Home School Programs use it however several families who create their own curriculum do. It is a Catholic Based Program called History Links. It can be used for all ages year after year with several unit studies in Ancient Egypt, Israel, Greece, Rome, Mesopotamia among others. History Links can be intgrated with Science, Writing, Math, Art, Literature, Spelling, vocabulary and more. This program is also among the top 100 picks of Cathy Duffy’s Homeschool curriculum and are proud to be a Catholic based program. A list of some of the resources History Links uses are:
Catechism of the Catholic Church, Story of the World Volume 1, Ancient Times: from Earliest Nomads to Last Roman Empire and Story of the World Volume 1 Student Workbook, Ancient Times: from Earliest Nomads to Last Roman Empire.

See All that You Can Do With Notebooking and Lapbooks

Just what is notebooking?

That was my question the first time I heard about it.

Grab a cup of coffee sit back with you kids and watch these videos on lapbooking or notebooking they should help explain and give you a better understanding of the concept.

If you already know about notebooking then click the free resource link to find out all about what my homeschool mom friends are talking about. Free resources for Notebooking pages

Sample of States, Insects

First Lapbooking Adventure Doing Lap books with themes.

OKAY so how do I start. The kids can go play now, mom get another cup of coffee.

My List – Free Science and Nature Study

PharmaOmega Learn is designed for school-aged children who need omega-3 to help them focus and do their best in school.

Interactive Homeschool Fun and Learning find hours of Educational Website for Science, Nature Study, Spaces Exploration and Environment.

ll the activities listed below are free of charge. You may be asked occasionally on a site for your email address, if it wasn’t a safe site it would not have made it on my list!

More of my lists are coming soon and being updated I hope you enjoy them.

4H Virtual Farm

http://sites.ext.vt.edu/virtualfarm/main.html

Learn everything about living on a farm. Dairy, Beef, aquaculture, Poultry, Horse Farm, wheat Farm; view videos, live cam, see live chicks hatched, read all about farming. Meet other Farm kids.

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Virtual Forests

http://sites.ext.vt.edu/virtualforest/

Virginia Cooperative Extension virtual Forest

Click the Tree Detective help identify trees or solve mysteries.

Old Field Succession see how the land is used.

Photosynthesis interactive; very good educational tool that can be used for teaching photosynthesis.

Fun inviting learning activities.

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Zoos

Smithsonian Zoo Animal links

http://nationalzoo.si.edu/Animals/default.cfm

They have live webcams and audio to hear what the animal sound like. They also offer photogalleries.

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Smithsonian National Zoo

http://nationalzoo.si.edu/Education/ConservationCentral/walk/default.cfm

At Conservation Central there are live webcams and audio to hear what the animal sound like. This website also offer photo galleries. The fantastic multimedia section comes with or without narratives. Great for the Charlotte Mason types to use on a rainy day. There are other selections too, such as, Dirt Detective Tree and soil, Forrest layers, Tree ID walk, Observing Seasonal Changes.

Have Fun with this one!

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Bird Habitats and sounds

Your family with have fun with these sites and use them time and again.

Bird Calls by Habitat

http://www.learnbirdsongs.com/habitats.php

Country, Forest, Cityscapes and wetlands

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Bird Calls Audio only

http://www.enature.com/birding/audio.asp

List of several birds by category with their calling sounds, Great for testing Bird lovers

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Fish Game

http://www.epa.gov/fishadvisories/kids/arcade.html

Find and catch the fish that are safe to eat and throw back the fish that are not safe to eat. You think it’s just a game until you realize the types of fish that are safe and which types of fish are not safe to eat. Good Game.

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Nature Sounds – Natural Museum in California

http://www.museumca.org/naturalsounds/home.html

Listen to what nature sounds like in California – from the Great Basin, Coast Mountains, desert, coastline and more. Learn about the animals that live in those areas of California.

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Field Guide Indexes

http://www.enature.com/fieldguides/index.asp

All types of critters and animals. Find a field guide to just about everything, insects, mammals, reptiles, butterflies, trees, seashore, wildflowers, spiders, ocean, poisonous, dangerous, endangered and native plants.

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National Geographic Videos

http://video.nationalgeographic.com/video/

Kids Sections -
Animals

http://video.nationalgeographic.com/video/player/kids/index.html

Games Animals and stories

http://kids.nationalgeographic.com/

Activities

http://kids.nationalgeographic.com/Activities/

Science – Equinoxes, Moon, Solar System, Sun, Solar Blast, Missions to Mar, voyager, Hubble Telescope. Also learn about the environment, travel and culture tells about different countries and hurricanes in the special video section.

http://video.nationalgeographic.com/video/player/science/index.html

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Yellowstone National Park Service

http://www.nps.gov/yell/forkids/index.htm

Main Kids Page includes – website scavenger hunt, Alphabet animal and sounds live book, online Coloring book, print coloring pages, puzzles, word games and Wolf Quest

Game: What’s the difference between Antlers and horns? Match the horns and Antlers to the animal.

http://www.nps.gov/yell/forkids/ahdiff.htm

Go on an electronic Virtual Field Trip to the following locations

http://www.windowsintowonderland.org/

Go on a Geyser Quest, Bison Roam and Yellowstone Exposed field trip. Sounds like fun check it out!

No cost it really is free.

National Park Service

For home school kids who can’t leave the area this Web Ranger option with over 50 interactive games, would make summer a little more fun. You must sign up before you can join in the fun yet, definitely worth it and it’s free.

http://www.webrangers.us/index.cfm

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Printables from National Parks

Find all the Junior Ranger zones at http://www.nps.gov/learn/juniorranger.cfm

Become a Junior Ranger with a Free printable Activities book – Lincolns Historic home

http://www.nps.gov/abli/forkids/junior-ranger-booklet.htm

Big Cypress National Preserve Florida

http://www.nps.gov/bicy/forkids/beajuniorranger.htm

Bandlands in South Dakota – Fun Pages -

http://www.nps.gov/badl/forkids/parkfun.htm

Be a Fossil hunter; learn about Geology, Animal tracks, make an Armored Mud Ball and more.

Find more fun at the National Parks Fun pages for a park near you.

http://www.nps.gov/learn/parkfun.cfm

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Free Public Domain Images from Yellowstone National Park

http://www.nps.gov/features/yell/slidefile/index.htm

Use them for your school Projects! What a resource!

Public Domain – over 13,000 in the collection; over 23 categories main categories and several subcategories to choose from of birds, animals, people, plants, scenery, weather,

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Free Sound Effect

http://www.a1freesoundeffects.com/animal.html

Teach your children what animal’s sound like. This site has a wide selection of animals, just click and listen; very simple. You could also download the sounds if you’re interested in doing an audible story and need the sound of an animal to enhance the story.

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Listen to Nature, Bird Calls Field Guides

Listen to the Sounds of Birds

Birds make the most wonderful sounds. Don’t we all wish we could identify them. Now with the help of this website you can. There are several different birds to view and listen to what they sound like.

Nature Field guide for Birds with pictures, details and sounds.

Enature Bird Calls audio only several different bird calls.

Bird Songs by Habitat Country, Forest, Cityscapes, and Wetlands.

Listen to the sounds this coo bur makes! 20 different Bird imitations including camera sounds and chain saw sounds. Amazing.

Find Catholic Curriculum with Free shipping

Looking at Catholic Curriculum for next year. I would like to recommend a company called Sacred Heart Books and Gifts.[singlepic id=17 w=320 h=240 mode=web20 float=right]

I found this company last year when I was looking for Saxon Math 2. I really like them, maybe it was because I have a devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus that drew me to the Sacred Heart Books website or maybe it was where they are located, having come from the Midwest. I recently discovered that they are now carrying materials for Catholic Charlotte Mason users. They also have curriculum supplies available for Mother of Divine Grace and many others. There website is dedicated to families and especially one single income families; they keep their prices low! You can find discount prices on Catholic Curriculum from their website all year long. They offer FREE SHIPPING on orders over $25.00 and less than $5.00 on all orders under $25.00. That is a pretty awesome deal for those concerned with purchasing books yet still having funds enough to cover the sometime high cost of shipping.

Before going to Amazon to buy your books check Sacred Heart Books and Gifts out. Their prices are very reasonable. You know the books are new and the best part is FREE SHIPPING with orders over $25.00. You are also helping a fellow Catholic Servant who is to helping Catholic home schoolers.

50 States Songs and Games

Teach your children their 50 States, fast and easy?

I recommend the following links. Some are songs, like the 50 states song that is sung to the tune of Turkey in the Straw. Other songs are sung while learning the state flags. I think this collection is some of the best out there for kids today.
Sequence States & Capitals Game $19.98
Scrambled States of America Puzzle$7.98 Scrambled States of America 2 Game $4.98

50 Nifty States song

will scroll the state names across the screen while singing a catchy tune. At first you wonder if they are going to show the states, they do, and it’s a snappy tune that your kids will love to learn. Total Song time is 2:32″.

U.S. 50 State Commemorative Quarter Map
$12.98

50 States Song done to the tune of Turkey in the Straw.

50 State Games

These state games are on kid friendly websites. Most do not have tempting games all over the board to distract your child from learning.

Learn 50 states easily by playing this game. It is easy to manuever. It is a matching game. You view the state in text then place it in a outlined map. Click here

Tire of losing those puzzle pieces. Try this state game. Grab a state and place it on the map. Kids won’t realize they are learning they will think they are playing. Click here I recommend level two. The outlines of the states are inplace. After placing your state the name of the state pops ups. Very nice.

This 50 States game is a bit more advance. You have to place the shape of the state into a blank map. If the state shape is in the wrong location the correct location is highlighted and can be replaced. Score is kept on placement. Click here

Capitals with US State Map

When your child is finished learning their state location try this game. The states are in place with a dot where their captials should be. A state capital is presented and the proper state must be click. If your incorrect you do not get the credit. Click here