My Mega Ready-to-Read Bundle Giveaway & Sale

I'm ending back-to-school month with a bang!  With the help of my wonderful dad, I've been working hard to get some more of the materials I made for my daughter converted to pdf so they can be posted online.  I'm calling it my Mega Ready-to-Read Bundle.  It includes 5 books, 6 worksheets, 52 print-n-cut Word Builder cards, and a template for printing custom Words I Know cards.  There is one 8 page book for each short vowel.  I wrote the books so that, unlike many store bought beginning reader books, children just learning to sound out words can actually read the entire book themselves.  There are no difficult words in these books.  Each book has a review sheet which requires the child to match words from the book with their corresponding picture, and there is one final review sheet that covers all 5 books.  The books are formatted to either be read as ebooks or printed & assembled.  The print-n-cut Word Builder cards allow children to take the words learned in these books and use them build other words containing the same base sound.  For example, in "A Man, a Cat, and a Rat" children read the words "cat", "mat", "rat", "sat".  Take the "at" base, then add different letters to the beginning of the base to build new words such as "bat, "fat", "hat", and "pat".  There are 26 bases and 26 individual letter cards.  After you child sounds out all of those words, open the Words I Know template and print out each word your child can read.  Cut them apart and let your child use them to build his own sentences and stories.  There are so many ways to store these cards.  Punch a hole in each one and put them on a key ring, attach a magnet to each one and put them on the fridge (or print them on magnet paper), or create a Words I Know wall in your house so everyone can share in his accomplishment.  The purpose is to build your child's confidence while making reading interactive and fun.  

I have posted this entire bundle for sale in my CurrClick store for the very affordable price of $1.43.  $.43 goes to CurrClick for hosting my store, and I make $1 from every sale.  I have really tried to make my materials as affordable as possible. However, I know that sometimes each and every dollar counts, so I will be giving away one completely printed, and assembled set.  Minus the template; that will be emailed to you.  The giveaway will run for one week, ending at midnight on Friday, August 30th.  The winner will be announced in my post next Saturday, the 31st.  The more you spread the word, the more entries you can earn, so be sure to share about the giveaway on Facebook, Google+, and Twitter!  Even if you do not have ready-to-read aged children, this bundle makes a great gift.  I truly hope your family (or friends) enjoy these materials as much as mine has.
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Karissa

Mom's Summer School

There is one more week of school left at our house.  The kids were so excited for summer break to be here...and then they asked, "We're not going to do summer school this year, are we?"  Oh, yes we are.  Don't misunderstand, though, I'm not a drill sergeant.  I usually try to have a lot of fun and mix a little education into it.  I generally have some sort of math and language arts lessons each week, then fill in the rest of the week with topics they are interested in, or are not taught in school.  For example, in previous years some of the "other" subjects we've studied include art history (which included reading passages about various movements in art, viewing examples of each movement, then creating our own art in that style), cooking (which included lessons on the science of cooking, then creating dishes based on that science), and finance (which included lessons on checking & savings accounts, interest, and the stock market).  

The finance course was one of my favorites.  I printed out dummy checks for the kids and gave them each a blank check register.  They worked for me, doing chores and what not. They could either earn bonuses or get docked based on their behavior.  At the end of each week they received a "paycheck" and paystub printed out by me.  I was also the bank.  They had to either deposit their checks using a properly completed deposit slip, or cash their checks  (I gave them play money.)  They also had bills to pay. I based the cost of their rent, utilities, and car payment off of a percentage of their pay.  They had to pay their bills by check.  Also, they had to "buy groceries".  To determine this cost I had the kids make out a grocery list of what they thought they needed each week to plan out healthy meals.  Then we went to the store and wrote down the cost of what they wanted to buy.  They had the opportunity to revise their list before we finalized their cost.  This was their grocery bill each week.  Oh, and they could spend their extra money on things like buying extra dessert, buying video game time, or hiring a sibling to do the chores. Finally, at the end of each month "the bank" (that's me) gave them a statement for their account and they had to balance their checkbooks.  It was a LOT of prep work on my part, but it was so much fun and they learned skills that they will never be taught in school. Perhaps I'll create a course to post online for everyone else.  We'll see...

Anyway, back to what we are going to do THIS summer.  There is such an age difference between my children that I have two separate schedules.  (If you've never checked out the About Me page, I have two 15 year old boys and a 9 year old daughter.)  

For my daughter:  she needs to improve the speed of her math facts, so I downloaded and installed a free version of Timez Attack from Big Brainz.  She will play for 30 minutes per day, 4 days each week.  This will be her math class for the summer. (See, I told you I try to make it more fun than work.)  There are four areas of language arts she will be working on this summer; inferring, comprehension, handwriting, and writing 5 paragraph essays.  She will have a lesson on one of these each Monday, meaning she will study each area once a month.  I don't have lesson plans for these yet.  I'm still working on that. One day each week will be spent doing some sort of craft-ish activity.  She loves cooking, sewing, and paper crafts, so I thought we would combine home-ec & science and get crafty.  I'll post about some of those as we do them.

For my boys:  they are taking Algebra II this fall.  After taking Geometry between Algebra I & II, I think they could use a refresher course.  I've purchased Algebra and Algebra Practice Book from CurrClick.  We will pick and choose the specific chapters that they need the most help with.  Since this is our first year in Florida, my husband suggested that they take a boating safety course and get certified to operate a boat.  We found a free boating safety course that they will complete one lesson in each week.  Finally, the boys are getting old enough to go get jobs...the tax paying kind, not the work around the neighborhood kind.  I did some searching and found some lessons on Money Instructor that I though would give them a head start on being successful in the workplace.  They include topics like filling out an application, how to give a good interview, filling out a W-4, giving & receiving criticism, and dealing with difficult people.  Note that some of Money Instructor's lessons are free, and others are only available to subscribers.  

For all the kids:  our local library is planning an extensive summer reading program this year.  They are having separate events for younger children and for teens.  Both programs take place on Wednesdays, so we are setting aside Wednesday as reading day.  We will not study other subjects or do other classes that day.  It will be a day for reading and doing activities at the library.  Finally, summer is about getting to play and do some things you don't get to do during the school year. With that in mind, we are setting aside Friday to hold a Video Game Summer Olympics.  We scoured our library's video game collection and came up with a list of competitive games that we've never played.  We will check out two different games each week and hold competitions.  Scores will be tallied, and carried over from week to week, until we have an overall champion at the end of the summer.  Most of these games are for the Wii and are active participation type games, so I don't have to worry about them just sitting on the couch like slugs.

Finally,  I stated Tuesday that I would announce the winner of the $10 CurrClick gift certificate giveaway.  Unfortunately, there were no entries, so there is no winner.  If you tried to enter, but were not able to, please contact me right away.

Karissa

Mid-week Morsel: My Very First Giveaway!

*Note: This giveaway has ended.*

I'm so excited to hold my very first giveaway that I just couldn't wait to get this post out!  I've been wanting to have one for a while, and finally decided to go for it. I'm using Rafflecopter to manage the giveaway for me.  It is a free service that will accept all of the entries, then randomly and impartially chooses a winner once the giveaway has ended.  Here are the details:

• The prize is one $10 gift certificate to CurrClick.
• The giveaway runs from May 21 at 12:00 a.m. until May 25 at 12:00 a.m.
• Each person can earn 8 entries by completing promotional tasks.
• I will announce the winner in my May 25th blog post.  I will also contact the winner directly.
• The $10 gift certificate will be transferred to the winner's CurrClick account once (s)he has provided my with his/her name and email address used on his/her CurrClick account.
• No purchase is necessary to enter or win.
• A free CurrClick account is required in order to receive the electronic gift certificate.

If you are not familiar with CurrClick, it is an online marketplace for curriculum, worksheets & teaching aids, lapbook & notebooking templates, live online classes, free clubs, and more.  Products are great for all types of students from pre-k through high school, and include every school subject in addition to a large selection of faith-based subjects. There are over 52,000 products to choose from, including over 37,000 products available for $10 or less and nearly 800 free items.  Take a minute to browse their products and see what you might want to spend the $10 on.  $10 worth of curriculum and teaching aids is a great way to gear up for summer learning.  Please note that I do list my teaching aids on Currclick for sale under the name The Bright Ideas Company, and that I am an affiliate of the website.  As such, I receive a small percentage of sales generated by my promoting the website.

As I said, this is my first giveaway.  I think I've covered all the details, but if I've left anything out or you have any questions, please just leave a comment.  

Karissa

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April Showers Bring...

April showers bring...stem and leaf plots?  Sure, why not?  Especially when the stem and leaf plots are disguised as May flowers.  My daughter learned about stem and leaf plots in math class this week.  Frankly, I don't remember learning them when I was in school, so we learned them together.  In case you don't remember them either, according to her text book they are "convenient ways to organize data using numerical order and place value.  The digits to the left of the ones digits are called the stems; the ones digits for each stem are called the leaves."  Just for fun, we started drawing flowers, using their stems and leaves for the stem and leaf plots.  It was much more fun than doing them the way her lesson suggested.  She decided I should make them for my store.  (I have mentioned that she's a very smart girl, haven't I?)  So, I sat down after dinner and started working on these Stem and Leaf Plot Manipulatives.  Visit my CurrClick store to download a copy.  The list price is $1.43, however for my blog readers it is free.  You can only get it for free by using the link above.  I do ask, though, that if you download a copy, please take a moment to rate and review it on CurrClick.  It will really help other customers know that I provide quality products.

Karissa

Free Fractions Printable

One of the reasons I love schooling my children at home is because it allows each of them the opportunity to learn in his/her own style.  One of my children is a very kinesthetic learner.  She learns best when I give her a manipulative so she can really experience whatever it is she is learning.  So it was no surprise to me when she learned fractions that the fraction bars provided by her school were just the tool she needed to fully grasp the concept.  They were such an important part of the learning experience that I decided to make my own fraction bars and post them online for free.  Visit my CurrClick store to download your free copy.  Regardless of what type of school your child(ren) attend, having a set of these fraction bars at home can save time and frustration when solving fraction problems.

Karissa

The Bright Ideas Company is Now on CurrClick

The Bright Ideas Company is a project my husband and I started in 2007 as a way to share the teaching aids I created for our daughter.  Our sons are nearly seven years older and were already in school when Sadie was born.  Not surprisingly, by the time she was a toddler she wanted to have school also.  Never wanting to discourage learning, I indulged her, thinking she would loose interest quickly.  Boy was I wrong!  She loved it!  She quickly learned her letters & letter sounds, and was reading simple words by age three.  By four, she was counting to 100; even skip counting by 2's and 5's to 100 before kindergarten.  

Like most people, we have always lived on a budget, and effective teaching aids and easy reader books are not always cost effective.  Neither are they easy to find.  Frustrated, I decided to simply make the materials I needed to teach my daughter at home.  I wrote books, and created printables & games for her.  Many friends and family members had children about the same age, so I decided to give the materials a more professional look and share them with others.  I've always stated on my blog that the good life should be free...and it should.  Unfortunately, the real world is not free at all.  And so, we have listed our products on CurrClick at an affordable price.  However, I will continue to offer freebies and special offers for my blog readers.

Visit CurrClick to check out our product line.  I am currently in the process of reformatting all the materials I've made so that they can be available online, so more materials will be added as I get them ready.  Books are available as downloads to be viewed on your device or printed by you.  CurrClick does offer books as printed materials shipped to you, and I am working on getting that set up as well.  I will update this page when that option is available.  Here is a quick preview of some of our products.  

Available Now

     

Doodle Letters: Printable pages for the beginning writer.  Available in ball & stick print, casual print, and D'Nealian print. 

Sing & Sign: Letter Sounds and Letter Signs: A simple song sung to a familiar tune combined with American Sign Language make learning letters and letter sounds more fun and interactive.