Review: Golden Prairie Press, An American History Curriculum

Those who don't know history are destined to repeat it.  
~ Edmund Burke

History is by far my favorite subject to teach (and to re-learn!).   History has such a potential to come alive~ much moreso than, say, grammar or arithmetic.    So I was SUPER excited to be able to review The Digital Heroes & Heroines of the Past: American History Curriculum put out by Golden Prairie Press this year with the Schoolhouse Review Crew.  This is a full year (30 week) curriculum designed for students from 1st to 6th grades to work on, one lesson a day~ five days a week .   There is both a younger version for the youngest students and a more in-depth version for the older ones.  Both versions cover from 1000AD to present day, beginning with the discovery of North America by Leif Erikson.

Deciding what sources you use to teach it is a job that must be taken with care because history can be written and interpreted in as many different ways as there are writers/interpreters of history.  And as with all things, the worldview shapes the interpretation.   It has always been important for me to approach history with God at the center.  It is, after all, as C.S.Lewis once said  History is a story written by the finger of God.  For this reason, above all, I enjoy this curriculum.  The author, Amy Puetz, affirms Christ in all of History and throughout this curriculum by writing from a Christian worldview and by accentuating his hand.  When she writes of heroes and heroines who we ought to be familiar with, she uses those individuals who further God's kingdom and demand our admiration.  She does not elevate those individuals who brought godlessness to society as some history curriculums do.   This is what I most admire about the package and why I can absolutely, without a doubt, encourage those looking for a great christian worldview history program to LOOK HERE.



As part of the curriculum package, you receive three ebooks and three audio-downloads.  These include:

Heroes and Heroines of the Past: American History Part 1 ebook

Heroes and Heroines of the Past: American History Part 2 ebook

Historical Skits ebook : An entire book of 19 different skits your children can do!

Additional Materials Downloads: This includes printable timelines, instructions and entertaining videos, color artwork, coloring pages, and more.

Sing Some History CD: which includes  20 different music pieces (both instrumental and choral) mentioned in the book.  Like~ All the Pretty Little Horses, Lavender’s Blue, Liberty Song, Chester, Johnny has Gone for a Soldier, Yankee Doodle, Hail Columbia, Tippecanoe and Tyler Too, Oh! Susanna, Missionary Farewell, Henry Clay, Sweet Betsy from Pike, Dixie, Bonny Blue Flag, Battle Hymn of the Republic, When Johnny Comes Marching Home, I’ve Been Working on the Railroad, She’ll be Comin’ ’Round the Mountain, Pop Goes the Weasel, and Uncle Sam’s Rich Enough to Give Us All a Farm.

Listen to Some U.S. History MP3 CD
An audio collection of 20 original speeches, poems, sermons, and documents that are mentioned in the book. Includes: Mayflower Compact, Model of Christian Charity, Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God, On the Method of Grace, To King George on the Repeal of the Stamp Act, To My Dear and Loving Husband,Give Me Liberty or Give Me Death, The Midnight Ride of Paul Revere, Declaration of Independence, The Constitution, Bill of Rights, My Escape from Slavery, Inaugural Address, The Emancipation Proclamation, Gettysburg Address, Excerpt from A Diary from Dixie, Speeches by Red Cloud, The Atlanta Exposition Address, Christian Citizenship, and Sergeant York. 

 With students that span the age spectrum, I used the version for older grades.  Andrew, in 2nd grade was perfectly capable of understanding and participating in the older version, as we are very accustomed to ignoring 'age recommendations' when reading aloud.  ;-)  And the littles had plenty of opportunity to enjoy the lessons through the songs, crafts, coloring pages, recipes, and games that go along with each lesson.  (But especially the recipes! hehehe)  There are coloring pages to go along with each daily lesson which I often printed out for the children to do while listening to the lesson and/or the audio files. There were Bible verses for memorization and the opportunity to listen to the actual historical documents in full from the Listen to Some History MP3.  Because they are audio files- they can be played over and over and memorized too!  Personally, I think everyone would do well to memorize some of these most important documents (myself included!).

The whole digital package is $98.99 and can be saved to use and re-use over and over again.  There is also an option to buy a physical version of the curriculum (which I would have preferred as I like tangible books, myself.)   If you haven't found a history program that you love, I would highly encourage you check this one out.

Christopher Columbus (and a few other learning resources)

 Happy Monday to you and Happy Columbus Day to boot!  We had a lovely weekend with company but now it is back to the grindstone, as they say.  As soon as I empty my camera card of wedding photos and recharge my battery, I may have something to blog.  Until then, I thought I would share a few Columbus Day goodies. 

While we use a chronological approach to history, I do take a break from our normal history programs on particular holidays to study the importance of certain days and to do related crafts and activities.   One interesting thing about Columbus is just how misrepresented the man (and the holiday) is.  Some people claim he sailed around the world to prove it was round.  Some people claim he was the first to 'discover' the Americas.  Some people claim Isabella funded the entire trip with her jewels.  Some people claim he was a vicious, awful person who encouraged the slaughter of the native people.  All of which are entirely false.  Columbus is often approached all wrong. 

~ Here is a great book on the true story of Columbus:  The Last Crusader: The Untold Story of Christopher Columbus. (This is a grown up book, mind you.)

~ Lots of free homeschool links and resources here- for various age groups and maturity levels.  These include links for Columbus as well as other aspects of American History.  Worth checking out.

~ A very good youtube video about Columbus set more as a slideshow than a movie- mostly for readers, since the words must be read, not heard:



~ The Homeschool Mom has all sorts of Christopher Columbus links- including games, crafts, unit studies, videos) to peruse which you can even filter by age group.  Handy Dandy.

~ If my printer worked right now, I would totally have the children make this Christopher Columbus Puppet.

~ Readingwell.com has many audio recordings of different books in many different genres.  Here is the link to American History where you will find the Voyages of Christopher Columbus (but don't stop there. this website has lots of goodies!)

~ I like this ship in a bottle paper craft.

~ I REALLY like this ship in a (REAL!) bottle craft!

~ Lots of free printable worksheets related to Columbus Day (including grammar and math!) for Columbus Day at Enchanted Learning.

~ Columbus' Letter to the King and Queen of Spain-  for an older child/teen/adult.

~ Extracts from the Journal of Christopher Columbus-for an older child/teen/adult.
"Tuesday, 25 September.  At sunset Martin Alonzo called out with great joy from his vessel that he saw land, and demanded of the Admiral a reward for his intelligence. The Admiral says, when he heard him declare this, he fell on his knees and returned thanks to God, and Martin Alonzo with his crew repeated Gloria in excelsis Deo, as did the crew of the Admiral."

Astronomy Stuff

In our homeschool, this years science focus is Astronomy.  Science is an amazing subject and so fun to teach, but I saw that, having no curriculum to guide me, it was consistently being shoved aside last year.  I love science and saw the tragedy in that so this year I broke down and got some Apologia. 

Apologia is a CHRISTIAN science program so, while I do explain what athiests and evolutionary worldview scientists believe and why (so that the children can defend creationism when the time comes and know what they are up against) I am not consistently RETEACHING creationism from a science text with a foundation of evolution.  Having a book to keep me on track has proven invaluable for us.  And Apologia isn't just a text.  It has experiments, projects and many hands-on learning experiences with each new chapter.

I've been searching out supplemental resources on this lovely internet of ours and thought I would share a few links, for those of you interested.

The best site I have found so far on Astronomy for children.  It has rotating 3D images (real images) of each planet and incredible information on the solar system, deep space and each planet (or dwarf planet, argh.)  It has short video clips of different topics like solar wind and stars.  If you go to any of the links I share, go to this one!

Real (and gorgeous!) images from the Hubble Telescope (Interesting Factoid:  My Opa, among other things, helped to create one of the lens for the Hubble!).

This too, is a pretty great resource online.  It has videos, projects, factoids, photos, lessons, games and experiments and not JUST for Astronomy!  It covers quite a selection of topics.

A few free printables (both activity and coloring pages).

And more free printables.

And MORE printables. (Only a few are free but if you have a few bucks to spend, this site has really GREAT printables and handy information pages on each individual planet to fill out.  At the very least, check them out and see if they are worth recreating.)


This little ditty had the planets memorized by the children in about 30 seconds.  I do admit that there is a (or several) little voice(s) that sneaks in "PLUTO!" at the end.  (Yes, we know about the dwarf planet but we kinda like Pluto anyway.)  Be ye forewarned, however, once it gets in your head, it stays.  For a LOOONG time.

And last but not least, you simply MUST watch this. Right now. Do it! :-)

Know of a great Astronomy resource? I'd LOVE to hear it!

Q & A: Homeschool Edition

When I opened the floor to questions last week, I never anticipated the reaction I got. I was hoping at least one person would ask something so I didn't look like a fool. Instead, I got *MORE* than enough questions to keep me busy while Matt was gone (and , in fact, kept me busy even after he returned! hehehe) The first post was full of fun and sundry questions that were lighthearted and a snap to answer.

There were quite a few others (these) that were not at all lighthearted and actually, pretty weighty, on matters of religion and faith and our education views. Naturally, I wanted to take time to consider my answers carefully and wisely and gave myself more time to do so than I did the flippant, fun ones of last week. Forgive me for using that as license to take FOREVER.

In an effort to get these published more quickly, and move on to my normally shallow every day goings-on blog posts (SOOO much to catch up on!), I decided to split the questions up once again. One more installment next week should do the trick. Until then~

On Education:

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

how you manage to integrate Adele into homeschooling? or how she amuses herself while you teach?

Adele is not quite two at this point so I don't integrate her into schooling just yet. Honestly, I have my hands full with the other two right now and am struggling to accomplish everything I must with them. Adele' does not amuse herself very well; she doesn't like to play alone, rarely looks at books by herself and always wants to be doing right alongside the other two. So I give her markers (I could kiss the inventor of washable markers), or crayons or pencils and let her have at it while the other two are sitting at the table working. I give her puzzles and playdoh or let her sit on my lap. I let her play with glue. (yes, yes I do.) One of her most favorite things to do is to play/sort/scatter the jar of coins I use for teaching money. That keeps her going for quite some time. Basically, I just try to keep those little hands busy-and if she learns things in the meantime (which she does, quite by accident), HU-RAH. ;-)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I, too, would like to know more about your homeschool. Curriculum choices and methods would be great.

(and)

I would love to know if/what curriculum you use and why you decided on it. It seems you offer a wide range of projects, subjects, and culture to your children. I would love to know more... how you order your day... anything...!!

(and)

what do you use for an art program?

Home educating, for us, is about way more than a set of grades. In fact, what I aim to do has not a speck of commonality with my public school counterparts, and will (Lord willing) produce far different outcomes. Primarily, we want a God-centered education and we realize that no education, anywhere, is ever neutral. But a good Christian school can cover that. It is natural to assume, then, that there are other reasons I am drawn to homeschooling...and indeed there are! I am "Classically Charlotte", if you will- following a classical curriculum while still recognizing the great advantages of children being children and giving plenty of time for them to explore and do and guide their own interests and learning as well. It is a dance between freedom and structure, but one that I don't find at all contradictory.

I want my children to be disciplined to do work that might not be all that intriguing but at the same time, it is very important to me that they have moments of self-discovery. Not having me tell them what to love but to discover those things out themselves. Then, to allow ample time to pursue with a vengeance things those things that they are passionate about. I want to show them how much fun learning is so that they might strive to learn something every day-not because they must but because they can.

But on the flip side: As valuable as free time is for children, I consistently struggled with my own lack of self discipline in teaching. Homeschoolers are very capable of rationalizing "educational experiences" so far into every day life that their children end up baking bread but being completely lost on logic. It is very important to me that real learning is ACTUALLY taking place and we aren't just slicing pizza or planting seeds and calling it an education.

Enter:

I can't take credit for this idea, I stole it from a brilliant friend, but I can say it has totally changed our days for the better. I will never go back to the way I was tackling the day to day. I created a weekly schedule and blocked off time to accomplish everything I hoped to cover on that particular day. Corynn has her work in pink, Andrew's is in blue and the activities both are involved in are red. I then laminated the schedule and as we complete a task/lesson, we cross it off. At the end of the week, we start fresh.

Last year, I felt I could offer the children so much more-but never got around to it. Corynn was ready for school to be over after Math (one stinkin' subject) and I was just disappointed at all the things I wanted to cover but never did. NOW-so much more is accomplished and Corynn is EXCITED to cross them off the list and move on.


We don't start at a particular time every morning and we don't use a buzzer between subjects. In fact, I purposely try to keep time out of it for the most part simply because I enjoy having freedom from clock-watching. (The same reason I don't wear a watch...) I wrote time approximations when I made the schedule to be sure it wasn't TOO much time devoted for schooling and not enough time for real-life and real-fun, but we never follow those intervals. If Math takes less time-awesome. If reading takes three times as long because we are into a good book, fine by me. If the day has been a long one and we don't finish all the tasks, we circle the task we didn't get to and, if there is free time throughout the week we can make it up. Or not. I don't get bent out of shape if we miss a history project or science experiment, because having a Godly education is our primary goal. That said, being given gifts from God, like a brain, means we have a specific obligation to USE that brain well, so we Christians ought not to be raising imbeciles. If we raise children to love God and to find passion in LEARNING, we will have succeeded.

One way that I do this is to surround them with books, whole books--all the time. Learning doesn't just happen "within school hours" but can and should happen at any hour of the day. Books are the door into those new worlds of discovery. If I can help my children develop a passion for books, they will develop a passion for learning. I give them books that are too young for them, too old for them, and suited to their age group. They love them all. I read baby stories to the babies and the big kids snuggle in. We read mature chapter books in the evening, and the babies listen while playing. No one is exluded and anyone can glean anything they want in the amount that they want from whatever books they can. I keep animal encyclopedias out on the coffee table, or artist biographies (grown up books) and they scour the pictures and paintings. We go to the library once a week and I request particular books throughout the week that would interest them/pertain to what we are learning. There are books in every room of this house, not just in bookcases, but in baskets and piles too.

As for curricula~

The Well Trained Mind by Jessie Wise and Susan Wise Bauer is an incredible resource (nearly all the books she recommends, up to second grade, we own or borrow repeatedly from the library.) We also follow (more loosely) their suggestions for educating: like creating notebooks, etc. I love this book-and it has been a LIFESAVER for this girl who was completely unprepared for homeschooling.


For history~ The Story of the World by Susan Wise Bauer. We love this. Whole-heartedly. This is one curriculum that I don't bat an eye to recommend. While the Activity book is pretty hefty in price, I will never go without it. It makes history come alive and offers so many extra resources that it well makes up for the price. You *MUST* check this out.


For Science~We don't use a formal curriculum at this point. Rather, I make lessons pertaining to the things the children are exploring or interested in. Animals, plants and the human body is what I hope to cover this year. We have covered rabbits early (thanks to Sassafras and Blossom having litters) and will do most plant work throughout the summer. For animals, I made an "observation page" based on The Well Trained Mind book that asks questions about the species to aid in observation. All these pages go in an Observation notebook.

If the children are interested in space or dinosaurs, I make up lessons and get loads of books on the subject. When they get a hunkering for experiments, I get out a few science experiment books and pick one. Science is pretty unorganized right now, but classically taught kids usually aren't taught any science at all until much later, so I figure we are doing just fine.

"Hey LOOK! Mama!! This is the spider we read about yesterday!" the boy shouts as he peruses a new animal book. Don't you just *LOVE* that?!?!

For Math~ we use Saxon, which is excellent but (in my opinion) offers far too much busy-work. We usually do HALF the work they offer in each lesson (two pages a day instead of four) and that is plenty sufficient. PLUS-that means that the OTHER half left undone will be Andrew's workbook when the time comes! Two for the price of one! Wa-hoo.

Spelling and Grammar-I can't recommend anything because we are hanging on by the skin of our teeth on these things. I haven't really found anything I get excited about....any suggestions?


Art~ I don't have a particular art program. I make projects up out of my head. I keep famous paintings where they can reach them. I keep a variety of markers, papers, scissors, paints, colored pencils, stickers, etc. around for whenever their fancy strikes. We look at paintings and make our own versions of them. We cut out magazine pictures and imitate them. We explore famous paintings, we read about artists, and we try and make our own art. There are so many great resources out there. So many. I could do an entirely separate post on this subject alone. Maybe I will. Someday. One thing I find extremely helpful in getting children into art and really trying their best at it, is to do it beside them. If they are watercoloring, you watercolor. If they are painting birds, you paint birds. And always, ALWAYS refer to them as artists. Because they are.

We do a composer of the month, an artist of the month, and we learn a new psalm to sing every month. We are continuously changing out the family read-aloud and I included several different genre for Corynn to read outloud for her reading time throughout the week, so as to expand her horizons. Poetry, Nature Reader, library book and her choice. Of course, those are just the books she reads to me. She always has her nose in a book. All the reading things I added to the schedule only to convey how much fun schooling is-because the way to my childrens' hearts is through books. :-)

Quiet time is after lunch, and is two hours where the babies sleep, Andrew reads (and sometimes falls asleep much to his chagrin) and Corynn reads/draws or plays quietly. After this, the afternoons are free for them to do anything their little hearts desire.

On Plants

It's springtime, and very nearly GARDEN time. This fact, paired with my recent goal to include more variety into our schooldays, resulted in this experiment completed nearly four weeks past.

"What would the effect be on white carnations, if they "drank" up colored water?!"


It reiterated color concepts as we mixed food coloring into various colors.
It confirmed the purpose of stems as "pipelines" for nutrients. (They DID change color)
It got us out from behind books and into the "lab room", aka kitchen.


It was the impetus behind child-made hypotheses like "If we split the stem in two, will one flower suck up two different colors?" (It did.) or "If we create purple using red and blue, will the petals show the separated colors or just purple? (Just purple).


It added vibrancy to the window, especially around 5:00pm.


It required me to buy fresh flowers at the store. My arm is still sore from all the twisting.

Lots more plant resources to come...

The Artist Within

Monday and Tuesday of this week I took care of a little boy, very spontaneously, as emergency childcare.

At one point, I came into the room and saw this:

Which reminded me very much of this:

The Boy Who Loved to Draw.

(If you haven't read the book, you really need to. It is great. Quaker boy discovers incredible talent at a very young age (a talent which questions his family's' beliefs), learns to make paint out of dirt from friendly Indians and begins making paintbrushes from his cat's fur until the poor thing is splotched and nearly naked.

I am hoping to have this be our next family read aloud:

Benjamin West and His Cat Grimalkin

So I have taken to calling her Benjamin West.

Corynn has been on a drawing kick for ages now, but ever since Monday it has been kicked into full-throttle. The girl wants to be an artist, I tell ya. And she IS, she IS!

After the above portrait was made, she proceeded to draw portraits of the whole family. SMOOCH included (yellow sheet).



I realize you can't really see the actual drawings well from the above photo...the point is that they are EVERYWHERE. If you want a close-up, here is one of Matt.


(for the record, that magnet is SO true. I love him from the top of his heart-shaped head to his right-sided tear ducts. I tease (on here), but please know, I am very impressed that she even DREW tear ducts.)

The next day, she drew about a half dozen more pieces of art. I will spare you most, but here are a few favorites:

Despite the size of the photos, the actual drawing was very small. The people were about two inches high and the cat was smaller than my thumbnail, so she really had to have a steady hand when drawing this one.


I saw her sitting outside on the front step for a while there and didn't know what she was doing. I figured she was enjoying the warm sunshine. Instead, I find out, she was studying the rooster.


I love how she diagrammed the "important" stuff like FOOD. She tells me she also wanted people to know that chickens don't have almondy shaped eyes like people, but that they are just CIRCLES.


My personal favorite was the spurs, though. I must admit.

All of the above drawings were made within a two day period. So you see my dilemma? Which is why I am saving some in photograph form, for posterity (and so we don't get buried alive in papers....) Just to forewarn you: Grandparents and friends...be prepared to be inundated with artwork! ;-)

And one last one, done a month or so ago: The Flood

That's Noah and one of his sons on the right, another son on his left and his wife, holding a basket of food.

Noah and the Ark is not a cutesy story but the most horrendous punishment and tragedy of all time, the import of which is lacking in most of the childrens' versions. I always try and make sure the children understand how dire a situation it really was, and how tragic.

We have devoted our Bible time recently to Dinosaurs, Extinction and the Flood through this book:

After looking at Corynn's drawing, it seems to me there are some real elements of understanding scratched on there. There is death portrayed (sad, drowning women in bottom) and volcanoes erupting (left hand side) and fire (upper left) but still the picture of redemption (the dove).

Seems my 6 year old did a better job portraying the event than half the childrens' books on the subject.




I have been meaning to start this book with the children for AGES (we have an older copy) but never have gotten around to it (read: made it a priority). I have heard great reviews about it. It seems, given this surge of interest, now is the best time yet to begin...

Another great artistry book that I have borrowed several times from the library and WILL get for our OWN library some day is this:

It is really fabulous and would be a great resource to have at home.

We have never really done the whole Easter Basket thing, but I think I might have to surprise Corynn with a newly crisp sketchbook, just because. An artist can't be using LINED paper, ya know. :-)

Now-anyone have any art suggestions for me? I'd appreciate any links, suggestions, recommendations, good books, etc. you have to offer on the subject! Leave 'em in the comments section (please) for everyone to see.

Inquiring minds want to know! ;-)

Viper Fish

If anyone is unfamiliar, janbrett.com has a tremendous wealth of activities, coloring pages, learning aids and even videos on her site. We really enjoy watching the "How to Draw" videos she posts.

The latest one is about a Viper Fish~ creature of the deep. Because the viper fish lives at the very bottom of the ocean floor and there is no light down there, she suggested it be drawn on black paper. The viper fish has bioluminescence and some weird flap-thing that hangs over it's head and in front of it's large, teeth-filled mouth and on the end of that weird flap-thing is a bioluminescent ball that attracts other fish to it, which it then feeds on. It was very interesting, and Corynn wanted to draw it right away. Have to say: I was SO impressed with her drawing! I didn't remind her about ANY parts, and I didn't help her in any way. She even drew a little fish getting lured to the big one. After she was through, we poked holes in it where the bioluminescent spots are and shined a flashlight through it.

It was great fun.

You should try it! GO here: viper fish video

Or, go to Janbrett.com to see the other videos and fun stuff. I love Jan Brett


In other news: we got three BOXES filled with all manner of homeschool fun this past weekend shared generously from a friend. What a TREASURE trove! The day they arrived, Corynn plopped down right on the garage floor and got engrossed right away.

Needless to say: we are keeping busy!

Teaching Resources

This is how I found Corynn yesterday during naptime. She was out like a light-and in the funniest position I just had to get a picture or two. Guess sleep just kind of popped up on her. She must have been tired!

Which I am feeling right now-but it is a GOOD tired, as opposed the the tired I was feeling a few days ago. By the way, thank you all for your warm and generous comments about our 'incident' the other day. I really appreciate the support and kind thoughts and prayers you all so willingly offer me. I felt much better the next day, after the initial shock had warn off. The children seem no worse for the wear, though we did make our way into said Walmart this morning (with Matt) and Corynn brought up that this was where the "naughty man" had been. Still, it seems as childhood innocence can be blissfully sweet, as I was the only one really shaken by the whole thing.

Now-WHY do I feel happily overwhelmed? I'll tell you.


This internet is just SUCH a vast, tremendous, overwhelming source of all and any information that you might devote a braincell to in your life.

I mean, golly.

I could be on here for HOURS and HOURS and still not find all the wonderful craft tutorials out there, offered for free and at my disposal.

Now that I am homeschooling, I am able to find websites and curriculum's at every button click, units studies by the dozens and information by truckload.

I mean, if I had all day to be on the computer, I don't know that I would need to spend a single NICKEL on homeschooling books! It's all accessible to me, if only I had the time!

Here are a few particular places I will most definitely be using...in a smaller capacity now and in their entirety at a later date. Perhaps you might enjoy them as well?!


Homeschool Share was just referred to me by Tamara of Training Hearts. It is also the one that got me started on this multi-hour information expedition. (Thanks alot TAMARA! hehehe) This is website where homeschoolers share unit studies, lapbooking ideas, websites, etc. that they have used and enjoyed. I love word of mouth...really do! If these women take the time to write all the information and provide all the links, they must have really thought it worthwhile!

Composers for Kids is a great tool for older children studying music. Teaches you to compose, has a detailed list of composers with information, photos, and samplings of each.

THIS one is my FAVORITE! State by State unit studies-all for free! These are based off of Gale books-but you needn't have the books to use the FANTASTIC resources! Complete lapbook and unit studies with FABULOUS information-all for free. I am in love with this site. I am already planning a Pennsylvania unit ( a bit more simplified) for Corynn. AWESOME.

Oklahoma Homeschool has a nice variety of DETAILED (and that is an UNDERSTATEMENT) unit studies and timelines for free. Just check out the one for Thanksgiving if you don't believe me! They also have things for purchase. Are you overwhelmed yet?!?

This one is for your littlest ones, Kiz CLub has lots of fun preschool thru third grade crafts, phonics help, etc.

And one more, just to put you over the top... Preschool Express. Obviously, also geared for the younger child. This too looks like a fun resource. Though I didn't get a chance to go through it all, I do look forward to doing so. SOMETIME!