Books by G.A. Henty

I recently listed to a seminar on homeschooling boys and the speaker recommended books by G. A. Henty as good stories showcasing manly men. These are available for free at Project Gutenberg, but also for free via Amazon for Kindle. You can download a Kindle for PC application to read them on your computer if you don't have a Kindle.

Free: Hands-on Science Activities at Michael's

Handicrafts: Woodworking

In the area of handicrafts, the plan is to concentrate for the next year on woodworking with our 5 year old son. We are going to try out the free workshops offered by businesses in our area. Here are the options for the next few months.

Lowe's Build & Grow

Jewelry Organizer

Saturday Feb 13, 2010

10:00 AM - 11:00 AM



LoweBot

Saturday Feb 27, 2010

10:00 AM - 11:00 AM

Kid Workshops at Home Depot

Handicrafts

From Ambleside Online:

The handicrafts Charlotte Mason wanted children to do were more than arts and crafts projects - she wanted children to put time into creating something of real use, and she expected them to care enough about the project to take pains to produce well-done work. Making (and mending) real things like rugs, baskets, ceramic pots, doll furniture, and sewing on lost buttons, hemming pillowcases, cooking, woodworking, cross stitching and fixing plumbing were what she had in mind rather than worthless busy art projects that end up thrown away. She saw this as a way to encourage a productive will and develop skills that can be carried into adulthood, and perhaps a way to reveal and exercise talents or callings. Afternoons were left free for children to work on such projects.

I'm starting to look at our 2010-2011 school year and putting together our education plan. One thing that I felt compelled to do this year was "Arts and Crafts" which generally took a lot of time to get together and then ended up in the trash - after a picture of our work, of course.

My children LOVE doing "crafts". My 5 year-old son has recently started using his own toolbox to build things out of wood, so we decided for the next year we'll concentrate on woodworking with him. For our 4 year-old daughter, I'm thinking about beading in addition to (for both) working with textiles - cutting and dying fabric as elementary sewing.

Field Trips

Place of Interest	Free Admission Times	Membership Fee & Description
Memphis Botanic Garden	Wednesdays - Noon until closing (6 pm)	$75 - 2 adults and children under 17 - Reciprocal Admission to AHS Gardens (not Dixon)
Dixon Gallery and Gardens	Saturdays - 10 am until Noon	$60 - 2 adults and children under 17 - Reciprocal Admission to AHS Gardens (not Memphis Botanic)
Memphis Zoo	Tuesdays - 2 pm until closing with TN Driver's License	$79 - 2 adults and children under 17 - Reciprocal Admission to AZA Zoos
Brooks Museum of Art	Home School tours scheduled throughout season Family Days scheduled throughout season Wednesdays - 10am - 4pm Pay What You Can
Pink Palace Museum	Tuesdays - 1 pm until closing (Enchanted Forest, IMAX and Planetarium shows are not included)	$75 - 2 adults and children under 18 - Reciprocal Admission to ASTC Science Museums + free admission to Lichterman Nature Center (Best deal - buy a membership to AR Museum of Discovery - get reciprocal admission at Pink Palace AND Children's Museum of Memphis)
Children's Museum of Memphis	None - Coupon Available for $1 off each admission (admission is $10 for each person age 1-100)	$150 - up to 10 people - Reciprocal Admission to ACM Museums - not Pink Palace

Timesaver: the Library

I love the idea of taking the kids to the library at least once a week. It is important to both Don and I that we pass on a great love of reading to them. I can imagine us spending a few hours looking at books, finding a few good ones to take home, teaching them how to research etc. Growing up, I loved going to the library.

Notice, however, that when I refer to my kids and the library my writing is filled with words like "the idea" and "imagine". You see, right now, with four children five and under the library is not such an enjoyable experience. My 2-yr old son is trying to eat the fish from the aquarium. My 4-yr old daughter is being called down by the librarian for riding the turtle (it's ceramic, but it's on top of a bookshelf). My 5-yr old is busy pulling about 30 books off the shelf to take home. So, for now, those nice calm trips to the library are a figment of my imagination.

For now, I use our public library's online tools to find the balance between introducing my children to lots of great books and saving my sanity. Our library has an option to create an online account, linked to your library card, and request books be placed on hold. I believe the limit is 5 books at a time. From the comfort of my home, I search the card catalog and choose books we want to check out. I place them on "hold" and sometime within a day the librarian calls me and tells me they are ready. Usually I ask my husband to go by the library on his way home from work and pick up our books. It takes about 5 minutes for me to request them and about 5 minutes for him to walk to the check-out desk and pick them up.

Of course, one day it will be beneficial to teach the kids how to act in the library and how to use it, and I will. In the meantime, placing books on hold is a great time and sanity saver.

free classical music from Amazon.com

A nice addition to our classical music library! Amazon.com offers several different classical pieces for free via MP3 download. There are also other categories in the Free section including songs for children and Christian music. I believe the offerings change out frequently, so check back on a regular basis for more free songs.