Daily Learning for Secondary Students using the NYT

The newspaper is an excellent learning resource for secondary students , especially in the areas of current history/culture, journalism and reading comprehension.  Every weekday The New York Times  provides new  free educational resources based on the content published in the newspaper.  Click on the image below to browse The Learning Network’s teaching and learning resources. The Learning Network - Teaching and Learning With The New York Times

Arts & Crafts Inspiration

Want to add  handicraft project to a unit study?  Interested in some lessons on color or texture?  Visit our Arts & Crafts Pinterest board for ways to get crafty!

Thought for the Day

Beautiful Baby Sucking Blanket“Don’t wait to make your son a great man – make your son a great boy.”

                                           ~Unknown

Food for Thought ~ Nurturing children: Why “early learning” doesn’t help

An article from the Institute of Marriage and Family Canada is making the rounds through several homeschool sites I visit.  It discusses the socialization myth and why early learning programs are not necessarily beneficial to young children.  It is definitely food for thought – Nurturing children: Why “early learning” doesn’t help

Learning at the Welcome Center

Our family recently drove from Texas to Florida to help Grandma celebrate her 80th birthday.  As we crossed into each new state, we stopped at the state welcome center.   Welcome centers are always fun for us, we like inspect the displays of state attractions and  colorful brochures and flyers.   Since I am helping my 2nd grader to understand the concepts of state vs. country vs. continent this school year, I wanted to collect something  to show that each state is unique and different from his home state of Texas.   I mentioned this fact to the hostess at one Louisiana Welcome Center and she was enthusiastically supportive!   She showered us with lots of lovely Louisiana specific items: beautiful calendars, interesting postcards, neon-colored pencils and more. She was even kind enough to go to the “back room” to search out the best brochures listing the important facts of Louisiana.  It was her idea to give us two copies of several items- one to save whole and one to cut up for scrapbooks.  My 2nd grader was thrilled to have bag full of treasures. As a home educator, I was thrilled that my son was learning about social studies without even knowing it.   Our scrapbook will have many lovely pages featuring Louisiana!DSCF0379Not only did I leave that particular welcome center with a new appreciation of Louisiana hospitality, I realized anew that state welcome centers are a treasure trove of information for learning about US history and geography.   Next time you take a road trip, don’t look at the welcome center as just a spot to stop stretch your legs.  Take time to let the hosts/hostesses know that you are ready to learn about their state. Ask what interesting materials are available.  Be sure to look for historical markers that might be near or around the welcome center.  Remember to snap a few photos!  All of these things will combine to become a living textbook for your children.

 

God Loves Me 28 Ways ~ Free Bible Study Lessons

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Bible Adventures for Young Readers.

A Bible study set featuring 28 lessons covering the fundamental beliefs of the Seventh-day Adventist Church.

Free .pdf  files for you to download and save.

Don’t miss this wonderful resource!

HINT:  Be sure to scroll through the ENTIRE page linked above.  There are some great free  health audio downloads  and other free resource links too!

Happy New Year by E.G. White

“This beautiful morning of January 1, 1881, I greet the children and youth of the Instructor with a Happy New Year. The old year, 1880, with its burden of records, has passed out, and the new year, with its prospects, hopes, and labors, has come.

My dear youthful readers, will you not pause, while standing upon the very threshold of 1881, and inquire of your own hearts what has been the character of the life record that has passed up to Heaven for you? The past year’s record, be it good or evil, cannot be changed. If you feel that your past life has been almost a failure, how much reason have you for gratitude to God that your probation did not close with the old year!

Another year now opens its fair unwritten pages before you. The recording angel stands ready to write.quill paper Your course of action will determine what shall be traced by him. You may make your future life good or evil; and this will determine for you whether the year upon which you have just entered will be to you a Happy New Year. It is in your power to make it such for yourself and for those around you. If you connect with God, you may make bright sunshine in the family circle by thoughtfulness of others’ comfort, putting away all discontent, and being cheerful, courteous, and obedient, or you may pursue a course that will bring a dark shadow upon the hearts of those who have ever loved you, watched over you, and cared for you from your earliest infancy.

Will the youth who read the Instructor ask themselves the question whether they are a blessing to their parents, or a source of anxiety and a curse? It would be a great satisfaction to them to know that you are trying to be dutiful and kind; but nothing can give them so much real happiness, this new year, as the knowledge that you have made Jesus a gift of yourselves, and that your daily prayer is, “My Father, be thou the guide of my youth.” Begin the new year, then, by giving yourselves to God, if you have not already done so; and every day you spend in his service will bring blessings to you and all connected with you.”

Excerpt from Youth’s Instructor, January 5, 1881

The remainder of the article can be found HERE