Homeschool Freebie of the Day

We’ve got some great language resources for you today from our friends at Calico Spanish:

Three tracks from the new CD, “Mi Guitarri” by Joel Valle (mp3 audio) – This fabulous CD will have you singing and dancing in no time. Native Spanish speaker Joel Valle has a rich voice and clear pronunciation. He shares his love of children, the guitar and musical performance in this debut album.

Five Free Lanuage Resources (PDF ebook) – Do time and resources limit your travels? Do you wish you could immerse yourself in another culture and learn the language? While you wait for the opportunity to travel, read this short report and learn five ways to expand your exposure to a second language using free, readily-available resources. Immerse yourself in the culture, sights and sounds of your target language using these five easy to implement suggestions.

Click here for today’s resource!

Raggedy Andy Stories by Johnny Gruelle (PDF ebook) – Up today is this sequel to “Raggedy Ann Stories”, which we offered here a couple of weeks back. More great fun with Raggedy Ann and her doll friends as they welcome a quiet newcomer to their world – Raggedy Andy. Beautiful color illustrations and delightful read aloud stories your little ones are sure to enjoy!

Click here for today’s resource!

Boys’ Book of Model Boats (PDF ebook) – Classic guide to building and sailing miniature boats as a hobby. May be a bit too detailed for most kids, but crafty woodworking types will really enjoy this! Fully illustrated. Take a look.

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Tomorrow night, August 11 and again on the 12th are the best observation nights for the BEST, most reliable meteor shower of the year: The Perseid Meteor Shower! Today’s resources are these links to these excellent sites and PDF guides to the Perseids, with tips on viewing this amazing site and where to look in the night sky (bottom line: everywhere, they will be all over the place!) If the skies are clear where you are, get out in the country the next couple of nights and enjoy the show!

from the ARRL:
“On the night of August 11 and well into the next day, Earth will make its annual passage through the bulk of the debris shed by a comet known as Swift-Tuttle. Much of the debris is composed of dust-sized grains, but when these fragments come plunging into our atmosphere they can create a dazzling meteor display. Not only are the meteors fascinating to watch, they also leave short-lived streams of ionized gas in their wake. As hams have known for years, these meteor trails are excellent reflectors of radio waves. The Swift-Tuttle meteor showers are known as the Perseids because they appear to come from a point in the sky that lies within the constellation Perseus. This year’s shower is forecast to be especially active because we’re about to pass through a somewhat thicker filament of dust that boiled off Swift-Tuttle in 1862.”

LINKS:

Meteor Showers Online’s great page on the Perseids

Sky & Telescope’s page on viewing the Perseids

Nature’s Cosmic Fireworks (written in 2007, so the schedule is off a day, but very good info)

PDF DOWNLOADS:

RIGHT Click here to download the 2009 Perseids Meteor Shower guide from the H R MacMillan Space Centre (PDF)

RIGHT click here to download the North American Meteor Network’s detailed scientific guide to meteor showers, with details on the Perseids.

UPDATE: Links are now fixed, sorry for the glitch!

Something To Do, Boys: A Book for Wide Awake Boys (PDF ebook) – This immensely appealing and well illustrated volume was edited by Edna Foster and originally published way back in 1916. It is a great old fashioned collection of hands-on projects and activities for boys (and girls too!) who love to make things, grow things, build things, and create their own fun. It is a diverse collection of fully illustrated plans for such things as:

Toy building
Furniture building
Construction projects
Games to play
Raising small animals
Foods to make and eat
Art projects
Nature projects
… and much more.

This is a BIG ol’ PDF download (11 megs) but well worth your time. Check it out… and have a great weekend!

Click here to go to today’s resource!

FIVE Famous Stories (mp3 audio) – The time-honored stories retold in James Baldwin’s classic book “50 Famous Stories Retold” are such an integral part of the literature and history of western culture that a knowledge of them is an indispensable part of one’s education. Here for your listening pleasure are five audio versions of some selected stories from Baldwin’s collection, which will long be remembered by listeners young and old alike. All of these readings and dramatizations were all done by homeschooled kids. Let us know if you like these, and if so we’ll bring you more in the future. Enjoy!

The Endless Story, read by Allie Cacy

Alexander and Bucephalus, read by Allie Cacy

George Washington And His Hatchet, read by Joshua Turner

Grace Darling, read by Rochelle Braun

Arnold Winkelreid, read and dramatized by Nathan Pilling

Click here for today’s resources!

One of our favorite musicians, Wendy Francisco, put together this animated version of her simple song, “GoD and DoG”.
It’s lovely, funny and grace abounds in this. Just thought we’d share it here. Enjoy!

Note: Comments are now closed on this.

“Organizing Homeschool Field Trips for Groups” by Jill Hart (PDF ebook) – Many homeschool families want the social interaction that group trips provide… and the money saving benefits of group discounts are an added bonus. But without proper leadership and planning, these field trips can easily turn into nothing more than a “glorified play date.” Home education time is limited, especially with the increasing number of extra curricular options for homeschoolers.

“Organizing Homeschool Field Trips for Groups” explains how to plan and host a great group field trip that will leave participants anxious for more! From generating ideas, to promotion, to feedback – everything is explained in detail with sample planning sheets and forms. This usually sells for $5 on Jill’s site, but it is yours free today, right here, right now! Enjoy!

Click here to visit Jill’s well done website, Homeschool-by-Design.com

Click here to go to the download page for today’s resource!

The Critter Construction Book by Rebecca Hargrave Malamud & Nathan Malamud (PDF ebook) – This little book was originally produced by the author and her son for a group of preschool HeadStart children and was designed specifically so the kids could cut out a set of basic shapes and then create the “critters” herein with their parents. New designs have been added to the originals over the years until now there is an entire menagerie of critters to create. See if your little ones can put together the ones here… and perhaps create some new ones on their own!

Click here for today’s resource