Handwriting Fonts for Free

Handwriting fonts are a great idea if, for example, your 8th grader has just gone off to school and is now expected to write in cursive.  Yes, he had a cursive book that he sort of did, and his older brother learned cursive so quickly, and, but...

They are also a good idea for my younger son still homeschooled in order to create copywork based on Connect With History rather than have him separately work on penmanship (and he needs some work in that subject.)

Forget about Getty-Dubay or D'Nealian or any other font from educational vendors as they are cost-prohibitive.  Isn't there something among the thousands of free fonts out there?

I have found a nice grouping at Fontspace tagged "instructional" here.  You can get block, manuscript, and cursive (Learning Curve Pro is particularly good.)  You can also get fonts for music, sign language, and creating crossword puzzles (boxes with numbers in the corner.)  Some are solid, others dotted, and others with the paper lines included.

Wish I had found these years ago--some of them were created as early as 2007!  Now my 8th grader can type his assignment using Learning Curve Pro and then use that as a visual guide to transcribe his work in his own hand onto paper.  So long as he does not have to write in cursive in class.

Here is how you install them in Windows.  Once you download them, you will need to extract the files from the zip format (right-click and choose "extract all files".)  You need the files ending in .ttf or .otf (the latter is better if you get it.) Next, open the Control Panel and select Fonts.  You can copy and paste or just drag the files into the Fonts directory and you are done!

Professional Book Narration for a Song!

This will work only if you have a Kindle or Kindle app and device capable of installing the Audible app, which are available on both the Apple and Android platforms.  It is a really great way to get very cheap audiobooks and you don't have to have an Audible account to get them.

Amazon has a neat feature for some books called Whispersync for Voice that allows you to synchronize your visual book with you audiobook.  Let's say you are reading a book on your Kindle at bedtime.  The next day, when you go off in the car, you can synchronize your audiobook to wherever you left off reading.  That night, when you want to read more, you can synchronize to where the audio left off.  It works really well!


What's even better is that some books in the public domain--the kind homeschoolers are often reading--offer both the visual and audio books for incredibly cheap prices.  For example, Great Expectations Kindle edition is free and you can add on the professionally-narrated audiobook for a mere $0.99!  (Anyone that has listened to a poorly-narrated book will appreciate the benefit of professional narration.)  Once you buy it, just open the Audible app and it will show in the library for you to download onto your device.  It is very simple to use and I have found it very handy!

The Gardner Museum

Another wonderful field trip we took this week was to the Gardner Museum.  Back in the late 19th and early the 20th century, Isabella Stewart Gardner used her wealth to collect art.  She then build the museum to house her impressive collection and show it to the world.  She had to expand the building once in her lifetime.  The gorgeous new wing, a contemporary building built beside the original and now the official entrance, just opened about a month ago.

Upon her death she left an endowment for the museum with the stipulation that the art be left as she placed

All children up to age 18 are always free. Typically adult admission is $15, but visiting with my mother and aunt we again made use of a library pass that allowed up to 4 adults to be admitted for $5 each.  The museum is well worth it.

The boys did really enjoy the art and wondering through the many rooms.  Everyone was impress with the beautiful courtyard mosaic and garden at the center of it all.  We may go again with our history co-op as we are studying the late middle ages/early renaissance and the museum has an abundance of pieces from this period.

The museum was the target of a highly publicized and yet unsolved theft in 1990 when 13 pieces were stolen including two by Rembrandt.   The empty frames remain on the wall keeping vigil in hopes of their contents' return.

That Resource Site $50 Giveaway

Have you visited That Resource Site for free printables, lapbooks, lesson plans, or articles?  Their collection is large and growing!  And they have quite a give-away underway: a $50 gift certificate to Amazon.  You can enter up to 4 times by writing a blog post (like this), subscribing to their feed, liking their FB page, or simply leaving a comment about their site.  Of course publicizing it decreases my chance, but that's O.K.--That Resource Site is worth telling people about.

Homeschooling with eReaders

I bought a Kindle just before Christmas, and Ds#1 received one as a gift. I planned to integrate them into our homeschooling and they have been very useful. To get the most use out of an eReader you need to understand the difference between a scanned book and a digital book.

Scanned book are just pictures of each page of a book; the actual words on the page have not been "digitized."  These are the books you get from Google Books and Open Library.  These two sources have the most books, and they can be used on eReaders that can read pdf, but they are a bit trickier to use.

Manybooks.net

First, do not convert them to an ebook format.  A program tries to "read" the picture and digitize the words but they are filled with spelling errors.

Another option I use is to put the scanned book on the Kindle, though the print is rather small in the portrait (upright) position.  Because it is a scanned book you can't enlarge the font; but you can change the display to landscape (sideways) and the scanned page enlarges enough to make it easily legible.  The pages are sluggish to turn, and to can't use the bookmarks, dictionary or highlighter, but you do have access to a large library of free books that you don't have to read on a computer screen.

Digital books are for what eReaders were made, and the number of free digital books is growing.  Project Gutenberg and Many Books are two great sources (Many Books gets all their digital books from Project Gutenberg and audio books from Librivox but it is easier to use, IMHO.)  You can download books in a variety of formats to read on whatever eReader you have.  Selections from Tappan, Eggleston, Marshall (check both H.E. and Henrietta Elizabeth), Fabre, Colum, Chesterton, Belloc, and several of the titles I discuss on A Private Eye Nature are available.  While not quite free, Heritage History offers their eBooks, many of which are not available elsewhere, for only $1.99 each.

If you have a Kindle you can also order free books directly from the Free eBooks Collection at the Amazon.com Kindle store.  (Interestingly, Amazon lists the same sources I mention here, though I used them long before Kindles hit the market.) Some of these are formatted so badly that it is distracting.  If you are thinking about buying an inexpensive older book that has been converted to the Kindle format, I suggest downloading a sample and check the formatting first.

As for eBooks for which I actually pay, I have had a mixed experience.  Kindle prices are far better than any hardcover price, especially new-releases.  I have purchased a number of Catholic titles that I have long wanted to read because of the cost savings, like the Ignatius Catholic Study Bible: New Testament for only $9.99.  As for paperbacks, sometimes the Kindle price is only marginally less, or even more expensive, so used paperbacks are often cheaper.  This gives rise to the dilemma of buying cheaper, used paperbacks that don't really hold up well or an eBook that requires no storage and will not fall apart?

Buying eBooks for my pre-teen kids is even more limited.  Any picture book is out of the question unless they have black-and-white line drawings.  The vast majority of popular books are pure twaddle (I'll get them from the library I must) or worse if they are morally corrupting. Many of the small Catholic presses do not offer digital versions of their books.  This may change soon, though, as evidenced by Bethlehem Books releasing some of their offerings as eBooks. (Note that this link goes to an eBook search for Bethlehem Books; while all the books they publish are on the list, other books not from them will also appear as you scroll through the pages.)  Also Sophia Institute Press has some books available and plans to expand their Kindle offerings.

While a variety of eReaders are on the market, I prefer the e-ink technology (like a Kindle) to the backlit readers (color Nook or tabets.) Intensely reading and illuminated computer screen is hard on the eyes and the light can interfere with sleep patterns.  Having to find an external lighting source at night is fine with me, and I can read in bright sunlight easily.

Ultimately, my children are the ones that have made our Kindle experience a good one.  They definitely prefer digital books to scanned books, but they prefer the eReader to the computer screen (usually); they even prefer digital books to paper books, but would rather have paper than scanned.   The portability is excellent, especially if you are concurrently reading multiple books; and you always have your bible with you.  You can quickly check the meaning of words you don't know (so the kids may actually do this every now and again if asked).  You can add notes, too, using the somewhat cumbersome but functional keyboard; I often share annotated highlights on Facebook and Twitter right from my Kindle.  And I have saved a lot of money and time by not printing out books too long to read on the computer.

If you are really dedicated to your eReader, you can convert scanned images and then correct the spelling errors before converting it to an eReader format.  If ever I do that I'll be sure to post them.

Free Computer Resources

We homeschool together, all in one room.  When I am working with one son I shcedule something the other two can work on independently, which can be challenging with kids in 2nd, 4th, and 6th grades.  This time is split into 3 categories:  reading, writing, and computer time. While I have purchased some great computer-based learning programs, like ExploreLearning and Adaptive Curriculum, I found a couple of great free websites as well.

The first is The Head of the Class. This website has activities for grades K through 5th.  After I logged in I went to the control panel and clicked on "Customize Curricula" to set up the activities I wanted for Ds#2 and Ds#3.  I choose only the interactive activities and not the worksheets that have to be printed out, so this website has many more resources available than what I use.  They even have a book for each grade.

The second is Brain Nook. This one is more play than learning, but the kids really enjoy it.  They create basic characters and travel through different regions of the globe.  They can interact with other people but at the basic level they can only "say" what is on a list of responses (premium members can type whatever they want, which is one of many reason we are not premium members.)  Often my kids will call their friends and log on at the same time while talking together on the telephone.  To earn points they have to play math and language arts challenges.  Once a week you are emailed a progress report that tells you how many challenges they played, what level they played at, and the breakdown of math to language arts.

Enjoy!

UPDATE (6/14):  We dropped BrainNook because it turned out to be too much play and not enough skill building.

Advent

We have begun our Advent break and, yes, I am already behind in our activities!  Sunday was spent relaxing--and lighting the Advent wreath--and yesterday was a whirlwind!  We did see a wonderful performance of the Nutcracker in the morning, spent a couple of hours with friends in the early afternoon, brought Ds#1 to choir practice after that, and then I was off to teach for the evening.

We are catching up, though!  Advent mornings begin with reading The Jesse Tree by Geraldine McCaughrean.  We then read the bible passages listed on the back of the Jesse Tree ornament and place it on the tree.



Next we are following the Advent Catechesis Reading Plan 2010 from Family in Feast and Feria.  The plan is based on three beautiful and instructive books written by Inos Biffi and illustrated by Franco Vignazia.  All three books are available through Family-Centered Media.  The plan has us read An Introduction to the Liturgical Year over two weeks, adding in The Life of Mary during the second week, and then reading The Way to Bethlehem for the third and fourth weeks.  Added to this are readings from Ethel Marbach Pochocki's books Saints of the Seasons for Children and Around the Year Once Upon a Time Saints.  The former is used throughout all 4 weeks; though it is OOP it is readily available used.
The latter is available through Bethlehem Books, as well as Amazon.


I also downloaded the files for My Little Advent cards and companion calendar from Family in Feast and Feria, so I better print them out very soon!

Especially, let us prepare our hearts to celebrate the Lord's coming, and prepare our souls for Him to come again.  Advent blessings to you all.

This Year's Program

I have been very busy over the summer and this fall such that I have not been able to blog, so now that the first term is two-thirds over I guess I will post something about what we are using this year!  I am now into our sixth year of homeschooling and finally, finally have I found what works for us

Religion:  We are continuing using the excellent Faith and Life series, only this year my two older boys are going through the program online.  I purchased access through My Catholic Faith Delivered which not only has the text read aloud to them, it also has a lot of multimedia and interaction to reinforce what they are learning.  They very much enjoy working this way.

Math:  This is our third year with the Mathematics Enhancement Programme (M.E.P.), still a free download from the Centre for Innovation in Mathematics.  Ds#3 is about to start Year 2, while Ds#1 and #2 will move up to Year 5 and Year 4 respectively by the start of our next term.  We have a lot of living math books as well that the kids are free to read and use, but this is really our focus.  The program is truly excellent for teaching math.

Language Arts:  Ds#3 started Primary Language Lessons from Hillside Education.  It's been a slow start for him as he gets up to speed with his reading and penmanship, but he is at the stage where he is progressing rapidly.  The program is designed to be covered in a single year, 3rd grade, but I like to go more slowly and cover it in two.  I really love how this program prepares my kids for writing.  No, this program will not put them on "grade level" with grammar or spelling or vocabulary.  But I no longer do any formal spelling since I have found that for some children it comes easily (Ds#2) and for others not so much (Ds#1), and they have best learned spelling through writing.  Vocabulary, too, is best learned through reading.

Ds#2 began Intermediate Language Lessons also from Hillside Education.  He brings his writing from this program to a writing class at our co-op and together they have really improved his imagination and narration.  Ds#1 is on the third section of this program, and also has a co-op writing class, and he has blossomed into a talented creative writer--and this from the loudest complainer about writing!  These boys, they do complain, but eventually they grow into it and this program has helped.

As for grammar, I agree wholeheartedly with the philosophy put forth by Analytical Grammar, a program we are trying, and liking, this year.  They believe, as I do, that grammar is a finite subject that can be learned during the 3 middle school; no year after year of grammar.  The program consists of 3 "seasons" or 10 week sessions, one for each year for grades 6th through 8th.  The bulk of the grammar is taught in these sessions, one building on another; periodic worksheets keep the information fresh between seasons.  I had my doubts that Ds#1 would be able to handle something this intensive and fast-moving.  I made a point of giving him my attention as he learned each section.  It was rocky at first; now I am quite impressed with how well he parses and diagrams sentences.  If he can do it, anyone can do it!
 
World History:  This is our second year using Connecting With History from St. George Books. We are using volume II this year, from the Birth of Christ to the Battle of Hastings (1066).  Between the books and the activity suggestions, this is how history should be done.  While this is a Charlotte Mason approach based on living books, the program is designed like a Classical approach such that you revisit each volume every 4 years, each time moving up another stage.  The whole family worked out of the same volume, yet they each read books and so activities for their level.  If only such a product was available for American History!

American History:  Since we do not have something as great as CWH for this subject, I try my best to set up something similar.  I have decided this year that we are going to study early America--American Indians, The Colonies, and People of the Revolution and the Constitution.  Our focus will be on biographies rather than events.  I used LibraryThing to figure out what books I already have relating to these topics, and then I use the library to fill in anything I may be missing.

You can see what we are doing for Science and Nature on my two other blogs, At Home Science and A Private Eye Nature.  More about co-op, Charlotte Mason, and learning to come!

Twisty Noodle

If you are a fan of Donna Young's Resources and Printables then you may want to check out Twisty Noodle.

Twisty Noodle has tons of coloring pages and penmanship worksheets with a picture to color, the words to copy under the picture, and under than the formatted line to write on.  Just having a picture to color after writing is appealing to Ds#3.  What I found really neat is that not only can you change the words on the worksheet to whatever you want, you can also set the font to be block, D'Nealian, or cursive.  I've printed out a week's worth to get the school year started.

Interactive Notebooks with OneNote and Dropbox

Around this time last year I blogged about using OneNote for lesson planning, and I still love it!  In each notebook I create, I can add as many tabs and pages in that tab as I like.  On each page I can put all kinds of resources, from website links to screen clippings to file links or even files, as well as create content directly.  I have not even used a lot of the available features, like tags.  I have found it to be a very powerful tool.

I am now incorporating it into our homeschool.  They have OneNote on their computer upstairs and I created a notebook for each of them with 5 tabs--Science, Nature, Math, US History, and World History (for now).  I can put reading assignments, links to Adaptive Curriculum or ExploreLearning or Discovery Streaming, and comment on their work.  Each subject tab has a journal page for them to write notes about their assignments.

This is the Journal page for the Nature tab. You can add as many tabs and pages as you need.

But what a pain it is to log into their accounts and review their work, especially when I often do that after they go to bed and the computer is in Ds#1's bedroom.  I found a brilliant and free solution called Dropbox that has really let this idea of an interactive notebook take off.

I created a Dropbox account from my laptop; it asks you to put a name in for your computer, so I called it Mom. (It automatically fills in any name already given to your computer, but you can erase that and fill in whatever you want.)  I downloaded the desktop application onto my laptop and onto their computer.  A Dropbox icon now appears in right section of the taskbar and a My Dropbox folder is created in My Documents.  In the My Dropbox folder are the folders that I created online.

This is my folders list on the Dropbox website.

I then created their OneNote interactive notebooks and placed them in my Homeschool folder in the My Dropbox folder. On their computer, I logged into each of their Windows accounts and then logged into Dropbox.  It asks again for a computer name and I put in a different one when I logged in under each of their Windows account--Ds#1 and Ds#2.  Within seconds the OneNote notebooks I created for them appeared in their own Homeschool folders in their My Dropbox folders.

Now all any of us has to do is open the notebooks from within OneNote and make any changes we want, just like we would do before installing Dropbox; it automatically updates all the computers without having to do anything else.  It is all very simple to do, and my kids don't need to have email address or logins to do it.

Of course you don't have to use this to create interactive notebooks.  You could have your children's writing assignments automatically synchronize with your computer, or whatever other file you choose.  Just place a file in the My Dropbox folder on your computer and the software does the rest.  You can even use it for what it was intended--to keep files on your computers, laptops, and mobile devices all synchronized.

You can also make public folders that anyone can access, or shared folders that only people in your network can access.  It's a great way to collaboratively work on a document should you need to (maybe a co-op, perhaps.)  Feel free to join (if you go through this link I get a little extra storage space--a referral perk Dropbox gives to everyone) and connect with me, Kris AtHomeScience!

Mater Et Magistra Magazine and Giant Silkmoths

Mater Et Magistra is my favorite homeschooling publication.  It has an incredible mix of articles and exceptional writing, making it informative, inspiring, and enjoyable.

As you can see in the picture, the magazine has a lovely cover design.  And though I don't think the designers used a Cecropia silkmoth for the color palate, the two happen to match perfectly. The moth my aunt found in her yard.  I put it on the magazine to give perspective to the size of the moth in a photograph and could not help but notice the resemblance.  It shows just how much all-around good sense the publishers have!

Flowchart Notes

I can across this link on another list and it looked like a really neat idea for narration especially if your kids like to draw. It is simply a flowchart where you draw a picture and then write what happened below it, and when put it all together you get a story.

It is more in depth than a single picture narration and yet not as extensive as a lapbook. The idea came from this page at mrcoley.com, the web site of a fifth grade teacher. He also has a pdf available describing it. My kids' pictures won't be as nice as these but I think they will enjoy the process and improve their note-taking skills.

Bookmarking Learning Sites for the Kids

I bookmark a lot of really great web sites to enhance our homeschooling. The problem is that the kids share a computer while I use my laptop, so when I find a great site on my laptop, I bookmark it in Delicious and then I forget about it. When one has computer time, I am getting another set up for something and teaching the third so I don't have time right then to hunt for sites.

I have come up with a solution using Google Bookmarks. The kids' browser's homepage is set to iGoogle, a customizable page. In iGoogle I've put the Google Bookmarks gadget in the upper left side so the kids can easily see it. I have bookmarks labeled by subject, so they can just change the drop-down list to get a set of links for a specific subject.

You can also set the browser homepage to Google Bookmarks. Sort the list by label to see them grouped by subject.

Now I can say, "For the next 20 minutes pick a Language Arts link to play." The kids are now actually using the many links I have found to help reinforce what they have learned without me having to hunt for them!

BTW, at the bottom of the Google Bookmarks page is a button you can drag to your toolbar that lets you bookmark a website you are viewing. Now that makes it really easy!