Sunday Links (sorry, more than seven)

The theme of this collection of Sunday links is --
Things of Use in My Homeschool Right Now.

Kim uses lots of coloring pages in her Starry Sky Ranch homeschool, and explains why. Helpful for me since I've been sort of ambivalent about the coloring assignments in the curriculum. Lots of tips about how to bring coloring closer to art education.

Laughing Stars blogs a freeschooling learning day, and describes a math game "Race for a Dollar" that I will probably use when we finally get to that money counting unit in Paddy's curriculum. Or maybe I'll start it now so some of the groundwork will be laid by that time.

A few links I found during the week to get ready for next week:

• Some activities you can do with hundreds' charts (from Let's Play Math!).
• Also, some number sense games.
• And some algebra math games.
• Here's an online coin value game.
  

And a few more places I don't want to forget about:

Basic Handwriting for Kids (I found it because of a blog post at Higher Up and Further In)
Sound City Reading: Downloadables for teaching reading
Montessori language materials (free downloadables)
Many, many flashcards
Spelling Lists for Grade 1 -- then you can do spelling games with the words.
Some math games online
Book List for Ancient Egypt


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Changing the subject as I think about how I want next week to go:

Three things I needed to work into our routine after I got accustomed to the charter school were

1. Semi-organized religious education
2. House cleaning and maintenance
3. Aidan's education
4. Oh yes, and exercise, but that one I'm reserving for now, so it doesn't count.

I have gotten a routine going for religious education, so that's good. I only have to fill it out a bit.

I've gotten into a routine for my household cleaning, too. I'm revisiting this one.

I've been doing better on setting a pace for Aidan, but that's the one I need to definitely focus on this week. I think the solution will be to enroll him, too, but I have to find out lots about their special education plan, first. In the meantime I need to have an accurate sense of where he is and what speed he is going.

So I've been working with him casually on basically the same content as the beginning of Patrick's Grade 1, though I don't use the same materials. He is doing all right with it. But I need to spend more time and energy with it. That's the focus for next week!