Alpha Omega Publishing - 20% off in April

Alpha Omega Publishing, who publishes homeschooling curriculum, is having a 20% off sale during the month of April. Their curriculums include Monarch, Horizons, Switched On Schoolhouse, Weaver, and Lifepac. If you use these curriculums, or are thinking about using them, now is a good time to plan ahead and order now for next year. There are no coupon codes necessary, their prices are alread reduced on the site to reflect the April sale. They also have free shipping on orders of $250 or more for April. You can view their products at http://www.aophomeschooling.com/

Homeschool and Teacher Discount at Border's Bookstore

Border's, the bookstore, has a 25% discount available for both teachers and homeschoolers. To receive the discount, you will need to provide proof to them that you are a homeschooler or a teacher (they can take care of getting the discount card at the registers). They will then give you a card that you will need to present when you make a purchase. The discount is good for any materials you will use for school or homeschooling. The discount is available even on sale and clearance merchandise, so if you do your shopping right, you can get some really good deals!

Free Math Website - Preschool through 8th Grade

Just thought I would share a cool math website. It is free, and has interactive games and practice exercises for mathematical concepts ranging from preschool age through 8th grade. We will be utilizing this resource with our children, it looks to be promising as a supplement for strengthening their math skills! Membership is also available via this site for a fee.

http://www.ixl.com/

Salt Dough Christmas Ornaments Craft Project

Yesterday, the kids and I started the process of making some Christmas ornaments out of a homemade salt dough. It was really simple, I mixed up the dough, then we rolled the dough out with a rolling pin and used cookie cutters to cut out different shapes. You do have to bake these ornaments, but before I put them in the oven, I used a skewer to poke a hole in the top of each ornament, so that we can use some ribbon, yarn, or string to be able to hang them. We will be keeping some of these for our own Christmas tree, but will also give a few for gifts. I got the recipe for the salt dough from http://www.divinedinnerparty.com/christmas-ornament-dough.html .

Salt Dough Recipe

4 cups flour

1 cup salt

1 1/2 cups water

Mix ingredients together well and knead dough until well blended. If too sticky, add additional flour a little bit at a time until the right consistency is met. If too dry, add additional water in small amounts until desired consistency is achieved. Roll out dough and cut with cookie cutters, place shaped dough on a foil lined cookie sheet. Bake at 300 degrees for 30 minutes. Let cool, then paint.

I was going to buy some special paint to decorate the ornaments with, but the article at the above posted link suggested nail polish as a nice, decorative paint. Since I had plenty of nail polish around, we decided to try that out. I must say that it adds a nice touch to the ornaments, and the shine is lovely!

Overall, this was a great activity to do with the kids, and they loved it!

Free Printable Math Worksheets - Fractions

We needed to find some supplementary worksheets on fractions so my daughter could get some more practice on working with them. I came across this website that has a comprehensive list of worksheets for all kinds of different fraction operations problems, all printable, and all of them free. And there are plenty of worksheets to choose from, so if we need to review more than just a little, there are more worksheets to print and practice with. Each worksheet also has an answer key, if you need it. The website is http://www.math-drills.com/fractions.shtml .

Washable Finger Paint Recipe

We tried a new finger paint recipe today. What makes it even better is that it is washable! I got the recipe over at http://www.kinderinfo.com/finger-paint-recipe-washable/ . The kids are having loads of fun!

Washable Finger Paint

2 tbsp sugar
1/3 cup cornstarch
2 cups water
1/4 cup dishwashing soap
Food coloring

In a large saucepan, combine sugar, cornstarch, and water. Stirring constantly, bring mixture to a boil, continue stirring until mixture is a smooth gel. Add dishwashing soap. Separate mixture into several small containers. Add desired food coloring to each container. Let cool, then paint!

As a side note, I used a small whisk to stir the mixture while it was cooking. This helps prevent clumping so you get a smooth consistency for your finger paint.

Another Free Learning Website

I just discovered another great free learning resource today! It's called http://www.superteacherworksheets.com/ , and it has all kinds of free printables for math, english, phonics, social studies, spelling, and holidays. Go check it out!

P.S. The picture is the logo from their website.

Free Learning Website - Starfall.com

I stumbled across an excellent parent/teacher resource today online. It's called http://www.starfall.com/ , and it has printables for abc's, phonics teaching tools, as well as interactive applications to use as aids for teaching children to read. Best of all, it's free! It does have an online store where you can buy curriculum that goes along with what is online for free, if you choose to go more indepth with their program. As the mother of a preschooler and a kindergartner, I will be keeping this website in my stash of resources.

P.S. The picture is the Starfall logo and came from their website.