The Old Schoolhouse Magazine Review

A few years ago when I first started considering homeschooling, I asked for advice from some people who had been homeschooling for a while.  One of the recommendations I was given was to check out The Old Schoolhouse.  I immediately loved it!!

The Old Schoolhouse has been around since 2001 and there are many different aspects of their site that offers help to homeschoolers.  One of my favorite parts is The Old Schoolhouse magazine.  I absolutely love it!!  There is a wealth of homeschooling information available in every issue.

The Old Schoolhouse magazine is a bi-monthly magazine.  The columnists are all experts in homeschooling, and many have homeschooled their own children.  I like getting advice and ideas from people who have actually been there and know what it is like.  The articles are well-written and interesting, as well as being pertinent to my daily life.

Do you know what one of my most favorite things is about The Old Schoolhouse magazine?  It’s free.  Yes, absolutely free!  There are six digital issues each year that you can get for free right on your computer.  If you would prefer, you can download The Old Schoolhouse app so that you can read The Old Schoolhouse magazine for free on your Apple devices, Android devices, Kindle Fire or Nook HD.

If you’re like I was at first, you might not be too sure about reading a magazine online, but once you give it a try I think you will find that you really love it!  No magazine to look for or carry around, it will always be in the same place- or for me several places.  I love that I can read it on my laptop, my tablet or my phone.  Another thing that is great about a digital magazine is that when I see something in an article or an advertisement that is interesting to me- I can click on direct links to get more information about the topic I am reading about.  There is a lot of interactive content and even videos.

In the November/December issue there are some really great articles that I think you should go and check out.  There is an article titled “Creating Holiday Fun With the Littlest Ones” and another one titled “10 Tips for Teaching Reading.”  There really is an article for everyone!  If you’re just looking for some product reviews as you try to make your decisions about what homeschool tools you want to purchase, you can find that too.

There is also The Schoolhouse Review Crew blog where you can get some great ideas to use in your homeschool.  For example, right now you can get some fabulous suggestions for creating your own Christmas traditions or get some advice about how to homeschool a wiggly and talkative child.  In addition to that, there are some great reviews to check out.  If you’re trying to decide on a curriculum to use and you need to read the advice of people who have used it- this is the place to go.  Maybe you need to pick a science curriculum, a foreign language curriculum, or you’re just looking for a fun way to get your kids to practice the concepts you are teaching- you can find ideas for all of those right on the blog.

Beginning to homeschool and trying to find the best curriculum to use is a very overwhelming time.  The Old Schoolhouse can take some of the stress out of that time with all of their fantastic resources.

Bee Crafty Kids- Turkey Fun

Welcome back to the Bee Crafty Kids link up that I am co-hosting with To The Moon and Back and Look! We’re Learning.

We are learning all about Thanksgiving this month and this week we did some turkey crafts.

First up- we made turkey hats

Hailey and Hunter posing in their turkey hats.
(I have to mention that we did this on our Wacky Wednesday fun day, which I’ll be posting about later.  But, Hailey is wearing her pajamas inside out for Wacky Wednesday.  Hunter is wearing his pajamas because he insists on wearing his Lightning McQueen pajama shirt almost every day.)

We made another fun turkey, that I had made with Hailey a few years ago.  It’s amazing how much she has changed since we made turkeys a few years ago.

Hunter adding some feathers to his turkey.

Hailey made a pattern with her feathers.

Hailey had written a turkey poem, so she added her poem to the front of her turkey.

Hunter’s turkey.

Be sure to like me on Facebook and follow me on Pinterest so you don’t miss any of our fun activities.

Now it’s your turn! Link up and share what you and your kids have been busy making. Grab a button so others can join in the crafting fun too 🙂

<div align="center"><a href="http://ourcraftsnthings.com/" title="Our Crafts N Things"><img src="http://i1165.photobucket.com/albums/q594/dustybug83/BeeCraftyKids3_zps44074ad6.png" alt="Our Crafts N Things" style="border:none;" /></a></div>

Rules are simple:

~Enter the direct link to one or more of your own posts that showcase a craft or hands on activity for children.

~A link back with the above button is appreciated, but not required

~Try to at least comment on one or two of the other blogs that took the time to share and join!

Week in Review

We are taking a few weeks off from Heart of Dakota.  While there is a lot of information about the Pilgrims covered in HOD, I wanted to do a Thanksgiving unit that also focuses on the Native Americans.

I am using a fantastic Thanksgiving Unit from The Razzle Dazzle Classroom.  Last week we learned all about the Sioux Indians, and it was so much fun!

After we learned about the Sioux Indians- Hailey made this tee-pee and wrote some information about what she had learned about the Sioux.

We did this super fun mapping activity, which Hailey loved!  She said, “Wow, this is a lot of fun!”

I tried to convince Rich that we should make an actual tee-pee in our family room, but he did not share my enthusiasm.  So, instead I had Hailey and Hunter make these adorable tee-pees that I found on Pinterest.

Hailey is learning plural nouns vs singular nouns- she did a word sort with nouns, putting each word into the correct category.

She also did some worksheets to practice plural nouns.

We did a lot more, but I guess I didn’t take very many pictures.  I’ll try to do better this week 😉

Be sure to like me on Facebook and follow me on Pinterest so you don’t miss any of our fun activities.

Veterans Day

We don’t have school today because of Veterans Day, but I decided to do a quick little activity.

First we read “The Veterans Day Visitor” by Peter Catalanotto and Pamela Schembri.  It was a pretty good story for explaining why we observe Veterans Day.

Then we made some soldiers that I saw on Pinterest.

Hunter working on his soldier.

Hailey and Hunter’s soldiers.

Be sure to like me on Facebook and follow me on Pinterest so you don’t miss any of our fun activities.