Free Resources for Homeschooling Toddlers

kid-585278_1280In all of these resources you will find hands-on, language facilitated activities. Toddlers are already learning about the world around them using their senses without parents even being involved.  Adding language to their activity is the key to vocabulary building on the concepts they are discovering.

One thing I am not going to add to this post is a link to a developmental checklist. You are probably more stressed than you need to be already. There are already to many people sharing their opinion on how you or your child should be.You don’t need a checklist, you just need to be an attentive, interactive and accessible mother. You can’t go wrong with that combination.

Language and Literacy

Read anything, talk about everything, play anytime, and enjoy music often together. It really can be that simple. Your child doesn’t have all the vocabulary needed to carry on a detailed conversation, but you  fill in the blanks. Narrate your day. Ask and answer questions. Not only is your child learning vocabulary he hears repeated, but he is learning the complex patterns of language, the ups and downs of the voice, along with facial expressions and body language that accompanies language.

I think this pamphlet on Getting Ready to Read will help you get the idea and some simple activities to start with, I think you’ll find you are doing a lot of this already. You are just needing the confidence to keep moving forward. Relax! This is natural for you. You were made for this! You are the most important person in our child’s life.

Tips for Choosing Books for Your Child

Activities to Encourage Speech and Language Development

Language Development Activities for Toddlers

50 Literacy Activities for Babies (but these are great or toddlers too, only you might get them joining in on more at this age!)

ELF Kid Videos

Songs for Saplings, Free Digital Music Downloads

Mathblocks-503109_1280

Here is a great article by the NAEYC about Math Talk. No need to buy lots of materials. Math is everywhere! Make it fun and stress free. Learning can happen in everyday routines. Counting the number of carrots on the plate. Chatting about colors in the park. the shapes of a wheel, a table, the doorway. Playing with blocks can help build problem solving and spatial awareness skills needed later in math.

Math Games for Your Toddler are simple and fun.

Baby and Toddler Math Activities

Math at Play has loads of resources for Infants, Toddlers and Twos including hands-on-activities, songs, rhymes, and language to facilitate math learning.

Toddler Math activities focus on using the toddler’s ever curious senses to explore math.

The Measured Mom has put together some great hands-on Water, Math, and Science activities to do with your kids, ages 3-6.

Don’t forget your library. Here are list of Math books for Children to begin discussion of math concepts and build vocabulary in context. If you can’t find these titles, search your library’s catalog for the types of books listed in the second article below.

Math for Preschoolers

Basic Math for Toddlers

Science

How to Nurture Your Child’s Interest in the Natural World. Don’t stop at this article. Keep reading!

The author of Teaching Tiny Tots understands how busy the senses are and has lots of toddler science fun to be had.

Here is a start-up list for 10 Preschool Science Read Alouds. No worries if you can’t find these in your library. There are sure to have others you can substitute.

Science Activities for Babies and Toddlers

15 Fun Science Projects for Toddlers

Science Activities for Toddlers

20 Science Activities for Toddlers and Preschoolers

Preschool Science Activities organized by topic.

Babble Dabble Do Science for Kids

20 Kid’s Science Experiments You Can do at Home

Social Studies and Social Skillstoy-ducks-535335_1280

Children at this age are learning the very basics of Social Studies concepts, “I am part of a bigger world”. They learn about themselves and how to interact socially within the specific environments they find themselves in, the home with family, playdates with friends of multiple ages, a Sunday school class with same-age peers, or in an adult situation where the activities are not centered on them. They learn about different social expectations in each of these situations.

Literacy is another way to learn about the people in the bigger world around them. In books they will encounter people and circumstances they might not experience directly. Videos  can serve the same purpose, while also building vocabulary for these contexts.  In addition, live WebCams for Social Studies and Science, like Wild Earth, can take your child to places he might never see otherwise.

Children will take these new concepts and mimic them in dramatic play, another way children will assimilate the new information, practicing vocabulary and developing problem solving skills for social situations.

Map Concepts can also be introduced at this age with simple activities like mapping the house (with Mommy’s facilitating) or finding places on a map or globe. Here are a couple of article talking more about developmentally appropriate objectives for Social Studies and some suggested activities and literature.

Social Studies Knowledge and Skills
Click on each objective to see some easy activities to engage your toddler in.

Early Childhood Development and Social Studies

Exploring Social Studies Through Children’s Books

Here are some Social Studies Games at PBS that Mom and toddler can begin playing together while toddler gets and introduction into some basic social studies concept to build on.

This article focuses on the classroom, but the objectives in the right hand corner serve for a source of ideas for activities.

Preschool Social Skills for the world he’s in everyday. These are some of the first steps in learning the role he has in other people’s lives, in coming out of his egocentric perspective. When a toddler begins to learn that what he says and does affects the people around him. Toddlers can realize their power and learn self control in order to balance his wants in relationship to what others need. Reading Books about Feelings can help your child understand his own and appreciate that others feel them too.

Get your little one involved in a family role with 10 Chores To Do With your Toddler.

More Resources for Toddlersbaby-17316_1280

Comprehensive Montessori Scope and Sequence

Toddler and Preschool Educational Printable Activities from Totschooling

Hands On Homeschooling -Curriculum for Toddlers and Preschoolers

Homeshooling with Toddlers from The Happy Housewife

Toddler Games and Activities from PBS

Homeschooling the Very Young

Montessori Monday

Early Learning Activities for Toddlers

ABC Jesus Loves Me, a Christian, comprehensive curriculum for ages 2-5

20 (more) Websites and Resources for Starting tot School

Find more FREE homeschooling resources and learn to Build Your Own Homeschool Curriculum for FREE.

Super Bowl Sunday, February 1st, 2015, Teachable Moments, Free Resources and Activities

american-football-63109_1280I’m putting some free resources together for Currclick’s Teachable Moment’s Calendar. You can receive the calendar by subscribing to Currclick’s Newsletter here.

February 1, 2015
Super Bowl XLIX

Football: Super Bowl Fun Facts and Records

Super Bowl Fun Facts & Trivia

Last Year’s Super Bowl

Super Bowl Activities from the Teachers Corner

Super Bowl Sunday Games and Activities for Kids from apples4theteacher.com

Super Bowl Activities for Kids: 11 Fun Ideas for Game Day Play

Free Super Bowl Football Games, Activities & Printables for Kids from examiner.com

Free Football Pack from 3 Dinosaurs

Super Bowl Graphing

Graphing Through the Super Bowl and other football Activities

Super Bowl Sunday Crafts from DLTK

Football Themed Fun for the Little Ones

Find more FREE resources and learn how to Build Your Own Homeschool Curriculum for FREE.

Build Your Own Homeschool Curriculum For FREE
Build Your Own Homeschool Curriculum For FREE

World History Primary Sources from Digital Libraries All Over the Globe, FREE

old-438035_1280How to Use Primary Sources

Library of Congress

History Detectives (PBS)

Primary Source World
Classroom-ready activities designed around key primary sources, including written documents, artifacts, audio clips, visual evidence and much more.

What Historians Ask

 

Primary Sources

World digital Library

National History Day

World History Matters– includes Analysis of and Curriculum based on Primary Resources

Primary Resources on the Web from Eduplace

Social Studies Central

Documents Online, listed by country

101 Pins (Pinterest)

 

Primary and Secondary Sources

University of New Haven

History 266

 

United States and World History

100 Sites for Finding Primary Resources

American and Modern World History Videos from History Heard

EyeWitness to History

Cal State Library

History Central

Find more FREE resources and learn to Build Your Own Homeschool Curriculum

Free Community Studies, Elementary (Across the Curriculum)

pioneer-statue-438114_1280Types of Communities, Geography and Mapping Opportunities

Mapping Service Providers in Your Community

Printable Neighborhood

Urban, Suburban, Rural Interactive

Urban, Suburban, Rural, Slideshare

Urban, Suburban, Rural, Worksheet

 

People in the Community

Lesson Plans on Community Workers for Kids

Community Helpers Pack– Ages 2 to 10

People in the Community– Worksheet

Community Helpers Activities for Preschool and Kindergarten

Community Helpers Theme for Preschool (Activities and Songs)

People, Occupations, Jobs, and Community– Free Crafts, a Game, and Print-outs to Color

Community Workers Packs from In All You Do (Across the Curriculum)

 

Reading

Popular Children Community Helpers Books

My Community Unit Study-Literature Based

 

Science

Preschool Science Activities on Community Helpers

Citizen Scientist by Scientific American and find a cause that you believe in.

SciStarter can help you find Projects and Resources for your next citizen science adventure.

 

silhouettes-582969_1280My Community

All About My Community Pack

My Community Crafts and Activities for Kids

Share Pictures of Your Community with National Geographic

Community and Community Helpers Free Games and Activities from Wart Games

 

Writing

Kids and Community– a site developed by City Planners with online writing activities centered around your child’s community

 

Math

Community Helper Math Activities

Sumdog lets you play Math Games in various parts of the City (Warning: Fun and addictive for Parents TOO!)

Be a Helper in the Community as you solve all sorts of Everyday Math Problems with Math Apprentice.

 

On Pinterest

Community Helpers Theme- 235 Pins!

Community  Helpers Theme- 189 Pins!

On YouTube

Community for Kids

 

In the Community

Community Service ideas for Kids

Untied Way

35 Service Projects for Kids

Find more  FREE resources and learn how to Build Your Own Homeschool Curriculum for FREE, here

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Free 50 States Studies, Elementary

usa-155594_128050states.com

How All 50 States Got Their Names

Reading Around The USA, 50 Books For Kids From 50 States

State Travel Guides

14 Resources for Studying the United States

Exploring the United States and It’s Regions

Free Printable US States Geography Cards

How the States Got Their Shape

Awesome America, Fun Facts, Stunning Photos, Travel Info for All 50 States

US State Printables

Explore Your America

One Thing You Must Do With Kids in Every US State

Free 50 US State Printables

States and Capitals Worksheets

Flat Stanley Unit Study

For more FREE homeschooling resources join my Facebook group here.

Writing a Friendly Letter

thank-you-515514_1280Although we live in an age that is centered on communications in technology, writing a friendly letter is still a practice among those who desire to be more personal in their communication, whether to a friend afar or to thank a potential employer after a job interview.

As a teacher, I still wrote thank you  notes to my students who provided me gifts of appreciation. The children loved to receive them. With the small gesture, they knew the appreciation was returned.

My own children love to receive cards and letters in the mail.
I know, I’d sing atop a mountain if I was  to receive one that isn’t a bill.

While business communications make  the most of the efficiency of an email or messenger program, nothing says “tender love and care” like a hand written letter.

Here, I have put together some resources for teaching and applying the art of letter writing through the friendly letter.

Letter Generators
We recently picked up a book from the library in the children’s non-fiction section called How to Write a Letter. It included format, conversation topics, and how to address a letter . They have a series on different types of writing that we have been checking out one at a time. One of the things I love about using books over something online is that my 5 year old will see my 7 year old using it to learn how to write a letter and then she begins pulling out paper and pencil with him. Nevertheless, we find many useful tools on the internet for learning to include  four interactives for writing last year when my son was less than willing to put pen to paper. One  of these focuses on writing a friendly letter.

We love having a book in hand and I encourage the keeping of a journal in at least one subject. However, we have less space  now, so online learning is convenient , but also fun and interactive.  I’ll talk more about online learning in another post.

I love the Read Write Think site! Here is an interactive template or Letter Generator guiding the student through each step of the letter writing process.

Step-by-Step Guides
Here is an activity for writing a friendly or personal letter including a step by step visual guide and other friendly letter links.

Wiki How provides another step-by-step guide to writing a friendly letter. This is for the more mature writer as the content of the sample letters includes great depth and detail.

Lessons and Literature

Teaching with TLC has some resources and letter writing activities including suggested books to inspire the beginnings of a writing habit.Carey Jane Clark shares a lesson integrating reading a writing of a friendly letter along with other book ideas for the theme.Teach Kids How provides some suggestions on how and what to teach to different age levels, providing a way to differentiate for students of all ages.
Activities and Worksheets
DLTK has letter writing resources geared toward the younger writer that include a “stamp glue recipe” and templates for envelope and stamp.
 You can find some printable worksheet sources here,  such as  visual aides, templates, and written assignments.
Addressing Envelopes

Read Write Think and ABC Teach both have templates and instructions for addressing the letter.

I haven’t paid the bills via snail mail in so long that it wasn’t until my daughter and I both began writing someone out of state that I realized I no longer remembered how. Very humbling.

For more FREE homeschooling resources join my Facebook group here.

Across the Curriculum with The Rover Boys- A Unit Study

Reading

The Rover Boys on Internet Archive or Project Gutenberg

For Girls, 10 Free Bobbsey Twins Books on Kindle

people-163906_640Explore the genre with this lesson on Ingredients of a Mystery. Several Free Worksheets are included as well as a list of suggested books. There are plenty of free mysteries for Kindle and on Google Books, including the Bobbsey Twins and The Rover Boys.

There is a little confusion about the real author of these books. In The Story of the Bobbsey Twins, you” ll read about the

Read Mysteries By Kids

Use an interactive tool from ReadWriteThink to dissect your mystery. There are writing activities too!

Writing

Mystery Writing: Write with Writers

How to Write a Mini Myster

Writing Mystery Stories The Best Mystery Writing Tips and Tricks for Kids

Science

Kids Ahead – Crime Scene Investigation Activities

Science Mystery – Educational Mysteries (and Reading)

Detective Science Games

History

The 25 Biggest Mysteries of History

The 20 Coolest Unsolved Mysteries in History

Mystery Timeline and more, including lessons and interactives.

detective-156961_640Math

Mystery Math Pictures -Math Facts

Mystery  Picture Math -Math Facts

Mystery Pictures with multiples and division.

Maths Mysteries Online Games

Math Maven’s Mysteries Home – Scholastic  Various Skills and Levels, including Logic and Reasoning

Mystery Math– an online game of deductive reasoning

Critical Thinking

Solve some mysteries at Mystery Net’s Kids Site.

Mystery Fun
Make your own spy equipment!

You can find more FREE resources in my Facebook group, and learn how you can Build Your Own Homeschool Curriculum for FREE.

 

Tappan in the Public Domain, History and Legends Ebooks

This is an incomplete collection of Tappan’s work. She had a way of bringing history to life in her books. Perhaps it was her many years teaching and her in depth knowledge of literature that helped  her achieve success.

The first part of this list was contributed by my friend, Allison. I will update as I find more titles.

tappanThe Story of the Greek People: an Elementary History of Greece

American Hero Stories

Making Your Own Word Family Lapbooks

folders-24867_640Here is a sample lapbook from 1+1+1=1 to model after. I love this simple idea. Those are the best. The lapbook includes a poem, an easy reader, and copywork. We like to use a spiral notebook for ours and use duct tape on the spine for longevity. I think a word list would be a good addition. You could incorporate a word list into your mini-book or even into a word family wheel. You might also use these Editable Lapbook Pages to copy and paste word lists, your poems, or individual words with a picture on the cover.

Word Family Lists and Poems

This endless list of word families from  Mrs. Alphabet also has poems you can copy and paste onto a document or lapbook template.

Here is a grouping of CVC Word Family Wall Cards from 3 Dinosaurs.

Copywork or Worksheets

ABC Teach only has a few of these copywork booklets available for free, but the idea is a simple one a easy to reproduce in Word.

Starfall’s Download Center has several printables for word families that would make a great lapbook activity.

Education.com allows 10 free downloads a month and has several nice word family activity pages to choose from.

Everything is free over at Have Fun Teaching, including these word family worksheets.

The sample at the top used the poem as the copywork activity. You can easily make this yourself by copying and pasting the poems from Mrs. Alphabet (above) into handwriting generator like the one here at Handwriting Worksheets or by using the fonts here at the Learning Place.

Free Homeschool Deals has shared a Short Vowel Worksheet Packet and Short Vowel CVC, Stamp ‘n Write booklets, both from Mama’s Learning Corner.

Word Family Readers

One of the sites below shares how the author made her mini-books.  It is so easy to make your own with the lists available in the above links. You could even incorporate lines from the  poems or make your own simple sentences.

Hubbard”s Cubbard is a great place to start for word family readers.

The Measured Mom has some short vowel word family sets.

Lavinia Pop shares some short vowel word family readers at Teacher Pay Teachers.

These phonics readers from Progressive Phonics include short vowel word families. You could easily print each word family out separately to make your own book or page for your lapbooks.

Starfall’s Download Center has several printables for word families including mini-books. I like the “find the word in  the picture” page.

Word Family Pictures

Storytime Standouts provides and shows you how to make your own word family flip books, as well as providing words and picture sheets.  You could cut the sheets with words and pictures to staple into your own little book or have you child use for a matching game that is then pasted into the lapbooks. Be creative and have fun with it.

About 3 or 4 sections from the top, you’ll find a group of word family printables from The Measured Mom (again). She has a lot of pictures to use for word families. You could use them as a bingo type activity and then create your word wheel (below) using the word ending and pictures provided.

Pixabay is a great place to find your own pictures for free.

Word Family Wheels

I think these could be a great addition to your lapbook. Word Wheels can include some of the words in the list, as well as pictures to match them. You could trace one of the pre-made word wheels to make your own template. If you make one in Word, you can add text/picture to it before printing or you can have those on a separate page for your child to cut and paste on.

ABC Teach has a huge selection of resources on the free portion of their site. Here are some word family wheels.

34 FREE Short Vowel Houses from The Measured Mom (one more time 😉 ). Check out the rest that she has pinned!

Build Your Own Homeschool Curriculum For FREE
Build Your Own Homeschool Curriculum For FREE

Visit my Facebook Group for more FREE Homeschool Resources and learn to Build Your Own Homeschool Curriculum for FREE

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Makers of American History Series

Makers of American History Series

mount-rushmore-55477_1280This may not be a complete list. I will update the post as I find more titles in the series. This first contribution was built with the help of my friend Allison, who shares the same love for books.

Lee – General Lee

Peck – Daniel Boone

Schouler – Thomas Jefferson

Abbott – George Washington

Courtenay – Christopher Columbus

Abbott – Benjamin Franklin

Courtenay – Abraham Lincoln

Everett – Daniel Webster

Gammel – Roger Williams

Hilliard – Captain John Smith

Ellis – William Penn

Jenkins – John Caldwell Calhoun

Everett – Patrick Henry

Build Your Own Homeschool Curriculum For FREE
Build Your Own Homeschool Curriculum For FREE

Adam – The Lewis and Clarke Exploring Expedition

Sumner – Alexander Hamilton

Tuckerman – Peter Stuyvesant

 

Visit my Facebook Group for more FREE Homeschool Resources and learn to Build Your Own Homeschool Curriculum for FREE.

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