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Welcome, February!!

Monthly wall calendar brings joy and smiles and reminds us of special days too!!

Help welcome in a month that should be focused on charity and love.  To help us further develop our spiritual life, Mother Church dedicates the focus for this month on the Passion of our Lord.  It is fitting that St. Valentine's Day, a holiday used to express love between people, is in this month.  Although it has become a bit too commercialized for our liking, it still has much value in helping to remind us of the love that God requires we have for Him and each other.

We will be trying to highlight and offer all kinds of fitting themed resources throughout the month.  To get us started, we share our February over-sized themed wall calendar.  This cute creation is a favourite of many families as it is bright and cheery, and a reminder of many special events in the month or liturgical year.  To use this resource, simply print out the pieces, cut apart on the lines and affix to your prepared poster board or bulletin board.  The pieces can be laminated for extended use and durability.

To make the calendar base, start by making a general template from plain dime store poster-board.  Measure out evenly seven columns by six rows, counting the days of the week titles.  Don't forget to leave a bit of space to put on the border decals!  Numbers for all days are given with the option to substitute liturgical days and holidays provided.  Not all saint feast days are listed nor all liturgical notations.  We have also included a 29th day for a leap year, although this current year is not a leap year.  We tend to reuse our pieces each year.  

Don't forget that this creation doesn't need to be perfect, it just needs to be fun and festive.

Click Here to download the February calendar set. 
Click Here to see our entire collection of over-sized calendars.

Blessings,

That Resource Team

Join us at our Brand New Resource Blog For Homeschoolers Who Love to Cook (or Eat)!!

Need Some Inspiration for Snacks and Meals for Your Family?  How about some homemade goodies to enjoy or share?  Stop on into our Recipe Blog for cooking, creating and all things Kitchen.

We've been busy adding and creating more resources for homeschooling families.  One of our newest creations is a brand new cooking blog called, what else, That Recipe Blog!!  http://www.thatrecipeblog.blogspot.com/.

This new blog is a welcomed and long-awaited edition to our resource collection.  It allows us to share some of our favorite recipes with other homeschooling families and even our relatives.  Recipes include things to eat, treats, soups, kitchen crafts, breads and more.  We hope you find it useful and a welcomed edition to your daily routine.  We are aiming to share recipes we enjoy on an almost daily basis, while also allowing you to share recipes you enjoy too! And yes, you can upload a picture of your creation too!

Stop on in and take a peek now.  You can also find the links to create our family recipe book there as well. 

Have a great day and we look forward to seeing you in the kitchen.

Blessings,

That Resource Team

CM Series - What Can We Do Once We Read A Book? Pt.III - Confident Learners Who Want to Creative

Notebooking helps to give confident learners a chance to be creative in their narrations.

If your child is a confident learner but not a fan of traditional chapter by chapter narration, how about allowing them to narrating by topic?  Notebooking is a learning tool that allows narration to take place in a standard plain notebook (in its simplest form) or on individual pieces of paper that can be kept in page protectors in a binder or duo-tang.  Pages can be designed in any number of styles providing users with writing lines, empty boxes for drawings or side notes, writing prompts, images or other decorative effects.  Pages usually focus on one topic - person, place, thing, event, or lesson.  Unlike narrating a piece of literature, narrating through a notebooking sheet allows learners to pull info and data from various sources into one entry allowing them to make connections or "leaps" on their own; narrating to the topic rather than only to a straight plot or story line. 

You will find a number of different notebooking resources on our blog and on our resource website.  We have encouraged even our very youngest child to use notebooking sheets from grade one and she has done so with much success.  Almost all of our notebooking sheets have been created out of necessity for our own children.  As their writing and narrating skills have grown, so have the complexity of our notebooking sheets.  From simple sheets with primary lines to notebook ruled line spacing, we try to include various levels to encourage all learners.  Because our children, and probably yours too, enjoy drawing, illustrating or doodling, we have been sure to leave spaces for drawing in almost all of our sets and pages.

We offer a variety of notebooking sheets in fun layouts such as a newspaper or block style, graphic organizers, and decorative and plain writing pages in topics including history, the saints, art, science and nature, faith and our ever popular Bible sets.  Our Bible notebooking sets accompany our Life of Christ Timeline for Children and are available in English or Spanish.  Each set has twelve different layout options for learners K-12.  They are also the perfect go-along for those using the Child's Bible History by F. J. Knecht 

If we are trying to encourage creativity, some may wonder why many of our sets seem to have the same styles?  That's simple.  One of our children envisioned a sort of personal encyclopedia of their work which could expanded and added to year  after year.  Having the pages look a bit uniform gives a very nice presentation in her notebook and since we generally do not make resources that we ourselves are not going to use, we have just continued on this path.  However, we do have different styles for our nature notebooking sheets and junior notebooking sheets.

Junior notebooking sheets are specially designed for younger learners who enjoy writing and would like to begin keeping a collection of their work.  These learners generally do not need coaxing to put pencil to paper and they enjoy being creative.  We have created various themed sets of these sheets as well.  Many of them will work perfectly if you are beginning to explore weather, simple science themes, fables, tales and nursery rhymes.



We hope this post inspires you to try something new in your learning days with your learner.  Be sure to search our blog for the latest posts and newly added resources for notebooking. 

Click HERE to see all of our Notebooking resources.

Blessings,

That Resource Team


Draw Write Now, Book 1-8
Just a Quick Note:
Have a reluctant writer?  If your children can improve their drawing skills, you will almost undoubtedly find that they will want to use notebooking sheets that allow them to draw and illustrate details that can add life and meaning to their narrations.  If you are looking for a nice little resource to help teach drawing and penmanship to children K-6 while teaching about some basic topics, you may want to consider trying the Draw Write Now  series of books.  Our children really enjoyed using these books and return to them over and over to remember techniques for drawing animals, simple characters, and nature lore.




New Greek Worksheet and More Year Planner Pages featuring Monthly Menus, Bible study, Feast Days, Lists, Learning Needs and so Much More

More printables to help your homeschool stay organized all year long, plus a Greek goodie too.

If you haven't seen the journal planner that Michelle from Thinking Love, No Twaddle has been creating so lovingly for us all, you should really take a peek.  She has thought of just about everything that you could need.  She has just taken us into the fall as the September journal planner sheets are now available. 

I love that each is uniquely coloured, cheerful and inviting to use.  She has made a reminder calendar for Feast days as well as accompanying Bible study pages.  Grocery shopping pages, lists for reminders, budgeting sheets and so much more.  Plus, I just love the little squirrels and autumn themed graphics.  What an inspiration to get going to plan the new year out.  Here are just a few sample shots of September's sheets:










Click HERE to see Michelle's Page and scroll down to see all of the monthly sets she has graciously shared.

As an extra goodie today, Michelle has also sent along a new little Greek Worksheet for you too.  It is a review sheet for those using the free online resources at Kids' Greek.  This Greek worksheet features the proper use of the word "hello".  You will also find this sheet on her page as the latest addition to her Greek Worksheets.

Blessings,

Kalei - That Resource Team

A Great New Little Lesson on Obedience and Authority - Includes Notebooking Sheet, Lesson Pieces and More

New Faith Building Little Lesson touches on tough subjects in a warm and meaningful way

I am so excited to share today's resource which comes from our dear luv, Michelle, over at Thinking Love, No Twaddle.  She has created a wonderful little lesson on authority and obedience.  This is a follow up to her lesson on Milgram's Experiment which we shared earlier in the month. 

I must say, I love this lesson!!  The text is warm and inviting and ready to read with your kiddos.  She touches on the subjects of being obedient to God, and figuring out what is true authority.  This can be especially useful for beginning discussions with the tweens and teens age group.  She tackles the development of conscience, the churches stand on authority, and making moral decisions with our Lord's commandments in mind.  It is so well done.

This lesson is an eight page download complete with text, scripture references for further reflection, lapbook style pieces perfect for your on-going religion F3 folder, notebooking sheets and more.  St. Thomas More is introduced in this lesson for his Martyrdom for service to God rather than the king.  Lots to discuss over tea with your tweens and teens.  I am certainly going to use this one with my kids.  Many times I share a lesson after I have done them, but this time I am so excited I thought that I would share it hot off the e-mail for you.

Many thanks and hugs to Michelle for all her hard work in putting these Little Lessons together for her family and ours too.  These take lots of time to create and especially to have so many goodies along with it.  The little flip pieces are such a great addition and in colour too!  And can you imagine it's faith based, solid, engaging and FREE!!  Thanks, Michelle.


Click HERE to download this Little Lesson on Authority and Obedience.
Click HERE to see this Faith Building lesson and others like it at Michelle's page on our resource website.

Know someone with tweens or teens who could benefit from this Little Lesson on Authority and Obedience?  Why not share our blog with them.  Tell them to come on over and join us for great free resources almost daily.  Everything is FREE and available whenever you need it to help homeschoolers around the globe.

Feel free to leave us a comment below about this Little Lesson or any other resource on our blog.

Blessings,

Kalei - That Resource Team

CM Series: What Can We Do Once We Read A Book? Part II - New writers.

My Mini-books as completed by an upper elementary learner.
Narrating when children are new to writing.  Yes, it can be done.

Charlotte Mason believed that learning was like the science of making connections.  Connections between what was read, what was experienced, and what was personally extracted from the exposure to a topic through a variety of means - books, nature walks, observations or discussions.  The key word to keep in mind is "was".  Learning comes from a continued exposure over time in a non-threatening and meaningful way.  That is what makes this learning method so unique.  Helping children find meaning in what they do, read and eventually learn and absorb into their soul and mind is a big task - thank goodness we have twelve years to do this.  It takes time to gather enough information to make a connection or "make a leap" as we call it in our little homeschool.

Narration can start at a very young age and usually starts orally with the kiddos telling back the important parts of what was read to them.  As children become older and more skillful in their grasp of reading and writing language, they are asked to begin to do some of the reading on their own and to give some kind of  account of what they read.  Keep in mind that what they tell you back will be what is most meaningful to them.  You can guide them by giving them some prompts or asking them some leading questions, or you can give them complete freedom to extract data on their own.  If you are used to a traditional style of learning or are coming from a school setting, this may require a bit of patience on your part as the guide and instructor.  Many parents will get caught up in what is given or narrated back so much so that they fail to see the connections that their child is already beginning to make.  They begin focusing on these kinds of questions:
  • Is it a full and complete thought or complex sentence? 
  • Does it tell enough of the story? 
  • Is it what the teacher's manual suggests? 
  • Is it long enough? 
  • Is it grammatically accurate all the way through?
This is a lot of pressure for a young child.  Charlotte Mason suggests beginning formal written narration at about age ten.  This is a nice and sound age, but any mom who has homeschooled more than one child at the same time will tell you that younger children generally want to do more learning activities as they see older siblings doing more complex tasks and want to mimic them.  This is why the preschooler wants to "do school" everyday like the older kids.  To combat this transitional problem we created My Books Mini-books.

A sample narration using pictures.
My Book Mini-books allow children to begin narrating things back in a simple way.  Our mini-books give children six pages of space to write perhaps a sentence or two about what they read.  Very young children may only get a picture drawn or two or three words written down, while a bit older learner may write out a sentence of two.  Older children may get a whole paragraph on the page.  The idea is that the mini-book is non-threatening and has limited space.  If a learner has only six pages they must really think about what was really important about what they read.  It forces simple but solid sentences to be composed without wordiness and extras that aren't needed at this point; that will come later.  It makes the whole process of transitioning to written narration non-threatening.

Here is how it works.  We are always adding new books to our collection.  Kids love making these little booklets on their own as it is so easy.  They are even great to use in a classroom setting. We have a few hundred books ready for you to download right now.  Some books are blank and others provide writing prompts.  Simply find the topic you are interested in, fill in, cut apart, order by page numbers and staple where indicated.  You can also allow children to draw in some accompanying illustrations or preschoolers could draw in all of the narrations since writing may be a real deterrent.  For little ones, the adage of the spirit is willing but the writing is weak may tell the whole story.  All learners should be encouraged regardless of their age, if they are showing a distinct interest.

My Book Mini-book affixed on Keepsake Page
Next you may be thinking, "We made the book, now what do I do with it?"  We are so glad you asked.  We have pages specially designed to house our mini-books.  There are a variety of themes of Our Keepsake Pages to meet the personality of just about any child.  Print out the sheet and then affix your books in the proper boxes.  These Keepsake Pages can be bound on the left, put into a duo-tang or a 3-ring binder.  We even have a few covers for your collection, if you want a more polished look.  This is such a neat resource for learners who like to showcase their work or who have to show proof of learning in a more formalized learning program.

A few more notes on using My Book Mini-books:
  • Mini-books are great to add to your F3 folders and projects or lapbooks.
  • Mini-books can reinforce textbook lessons or work done in workbooks.
  • Mini-books are very inexpensive to make.
  • Our collection of mini-books includes prompted as well as blank books on various topics.
  • There are over twelve areas from which to select books.
Click HERE to learn more about our My Book Mini-book resources.

Our next post in this series will cover confident readers and writers from elementary to high school.

Blessings,

That Resource Team

CM Series: What Can We Do Once We Read A Book? - Part I.

Part I. - Narration for Confident Readers and Writers

I was recently asked a very simple question that all of us CMers (Charlotte Mason style learners) have heard posed at meetings, co-ops and playdates:  "What do you actually do once you read a book?"  I too asked this question about six years ago when we first discovered the Charlotte Mason learning style and theory.  The whole "narration" idea can be very challenging for some families who may face a myriad of challenges such as a having reluctant reader or writer, raising children with ADD or other learning challenges, having multiple children at different reading levels or perhaps even facing the old dilemma of skepticism about the efficacy of the CM theory itself.

I thought that I would address what you could actually do to show proof of incremental learning from the slow digestion of a written work.  For the next few posts I will highlight different CM inspired resources from our resource collections to answer this question.  I try to remind myself  that everyday someone new begins to homeschool and has questions and fears about doing so.  Without fail, if I forget someone will always contact me and that reminds me of the purpose of our online ministry - to help and support those who want to happily homeschool their children with the Lord at the centre.  So let's begin with a very simple and traditional method of narration for learners who already possess solid skills of reading and writing.

We try to provide a host of different activities and resources which meet and meld reading and recalling in a fun and creative way.  One of the first ways that has been traditionally used for older learners capable of reading and writing independently is recalling written works by individual chapters.  To meet this need we created our Big Books for Narration this past year.  These books give a space to narrate with words as well as a space for children to be creative and narrate with drawings as well.  If you have a younger learner who is advanced in their learning skills, they may find this a fun and great tool too.  This is why you may find titles available from a variety of levels because this tool can appeal to younger readers and writers as well as older ones.

Some ask why drawing should be incorporated if it is supposed that we are focusing on narrating or telling back the details of the work.  We should never forget that images and art are also a great way to narrate about the plot, setting and characters.  Don't believe me?  Why not try out our art game designed to teach about the Seven Sacraments using the art work of Rogier Van der Weyden.  The artwork and details contained in the three panels tell about the time period, the administration of the Sacraments through the ages, the church through the ages, the sorrow of the Crucifixion and so much more.  It is such a rich lesson to have with your children or CCD class.  I have used it quite successfully in my own CCD classes.  Try it.  You'll either surprise yourself with how much you know about the sacraments or realize that bit more time for reading of the Catechism should probably be scheduled into your daily routine.

Big books are fun to make, easy to use and very affordable.  Sheets can be printed out for the entire work at once or chapter by chapter as needed.  Readers simply fill in the chapters with details from their reading.  They can then draw an representative picture of the plot, characters or setting.  We usually try to include a page or two of extra elements for additional thought including copywork, additional questions or clues to look for in the work, notes or even additional ideas they may have.  Finished sheets are folded in half, stacked  and bound on the left hand side using any number styles including:  brads, closure rings, comb bind spines, hand sewing, using a mini 3-ring binder, a duo-tang cut in half, twist ties, twine, beautiful ribbon . . . anything you can think of, really. They make great proofs of learning for formal learning needs as well as neat keepsakes for warm and fuzzy sharing with others like older siblings or grandparents.


Samples of binding techniques - (left) comb bind spine, (top) mini 3-ring binder, (right) closure rings.
We are always expanding our titles as we finish them in our own little homeschool, so we look forward to sharing more works with you as they become web-ready. 

Click HERE to see our current collection of Big Books for Narration.

In our next post I will chat about narration activities for new or less confident writers. 

Blessings,

Kalei - That Resource Team

Are you a new to or interested in the Charlotte Mason Method?  Looking for good books that teach about Charlotte Mason and her teaching methods?  Here are my four personal favourite CM resources from my own library.  I have returned to these works time and again over the years.

Our Animal Friends Teach Us the Value of Work

Non-fiction nature story reinforces what the Bible tells us - No work, no eat!

Do you have a little one, or even a big one, that doesn't like doing chores?  Many children do not like doing chores.  Let's be honest, many adults do not like doing chores either.  After many attempts at trying to get one of our children to help with chores willingly, we heard 2 Thessalonians 3:7-12 preached in Daily Mass.  My favourite line was verse ten:

"For also, when we were with you, this we declared to you:  that, if any man will not work, neither let him eat."

My youngest thought that rule was for others, but not children, and certainly not her.  I prayed for a way to show her that everyone should help out willingly.  The next day my heart was pulled to reach for a book from the shelf called, Animals in Winter (Let's-Read-and-Find-Out Science 1) by Henrietta Bancroft and Richard G. Van Gelder.  This wonderful little read shared facts about how all kinds of animals prepare or survive in winter.  Animals such as bluebirds, bats, butterflies, woodchucks, pikas, squirrels, mice, deer and rabbits are highlighted in this easy to read book. 
The fantastic thing about reading this book is that it provides lots of great examples of how animals work in preparation to be able to eat later on in the year.  The pika, for example, will have gathered up to fifty pounds of grass over the summer to eat later in the winter.  These are great practical examples of why we must all work to earn our food.  Our Lord shows us that He expects all of His creatures to follow the same rules for working and eating.

Animal Traits Graphic Organizer
As a go-along resource for this story, you may want to use these worksheets to help children explore more about the animals mentioned in the story.  A few animals are mentioned specifically, but the templates can be used for any animal you want.  This graphic organizer style worksheet is easy to use for learners of various ages.  Confident writers can write out information while newer and younger writers can draw out information in a simpler style.  This style sheet is great for independent learning or even to use with a specific work like Animals in Winter because the amount of information presented is limited.  This can help build confidence in younger learners.

Animal Detective Sheets
As an alternative to a graphic organizer you may enjoy our popular Animal Detective worksheets.  These sheets require learners to find specific information about an individual animal.  It is fun and engaging and very non-threatening.  We have gotten great feedback about these sheets in the past.

St. Joseph Trading Card
Another little resource that your child may enjoy having as a go along to the scriptural reference is a saint trading card for the patron saint of workers, St. Joseph, the foster father of our Lord.  If working and doing chores isn't a well received idea for your young Catholic, perhaps asking St. Joseph for a bit of intercessory help could be wise.  You may also want to remind your beloved that even our Lord had to do chores - he would have had to sweep up and help maintain the carpentry shop. :)

Click HERE to see our animal worksheets and templates.
Click HERE to see our printable saint trading cards.

We hope you'll enjoy this read and that it helps make happier little helpers in your home.

Blessings,

Kalei - That Resource Team

 




New Art Worksheets to Help Homeschoolers Learn About Colours

Let's learn about colours - primary, mixing, and creating new ones.

I read today in a junior science book about light, the most beautiful title of a chapter, "Light Means Life".  I immediately thought of our Lord Jesus, who is the light of the world, and how we could not live without Him in our lives.  Inspired to create something fun from our science reading lesson, I created these worksheets which allow children to create the glorious colours that our Lord designed while illustrating how light is so easily filtered.

There are three different sheets in this art worksheet set.  Using a graphic organizer featuring little lenses, learners will create colours and mix them using pencil crayons or plain crayons being sure to shade the lenses as directed using layers of colour rather than just one heavy colouring.

The first worksheet allows learners to mix any two colours they desire per lens pair to create a new colour in the overlapped area.  By simply colouring the circles one at a time and allowing smooth strokes to overlap a new colour will reveal itself.

The second worksheet gives learners the chance to create and mix new colours with just a bit of formality.  Gentle colouring and blending unveils new colours within circles.  Warm (reds, oranges, yellows), Cool (blues, greens, purples) and Neutral colours (blacks, whites, greys, browns) are noted for new colours as well.

The last art worksheet uses three different lenses and asks learners to colour the circles as instructed while creating new colours from primary colours.  It is a fun, easy and unique way to use Venn diagrams.

Simply download and print out to these worksheets to begin creating some fun with colour.  This resource is available in UK or US English.

Click Here to download the UK version of this resource.
Click Here to download the US version of this resource.

Blessings,

That Resource Team

The Necessity of Simplicity - Weekly Lesson Planning Sheets to go With Your Journal Planner Sets

New weekly lesson sheets compliment our recently shared monthly journal planner.

As we organize our own little homeschool and household in this new year, we are finding the recent monthly journal planning sheets from Michelle over at Thinking Love, No Twaddle very useful.  She has just shared a few more journal pages that will take us into planning for August.  Click here to see her page on our website and get what you need to help keep chaos at bay in your home, learning, and life.

I will confess that I usually like to make things highly organized, very detailed and fairly complex.  Many times this can eat up my free time, creating time, teaching time and downtime.  This year as I try "just a little bit more" to heed the warnings of my pastor to simplify my life and invite more peace and joy back into it or risk immediate burnout, I decided to just print out the journal pages from Michelle on individual sheets, staple them in the top left hand corner and be done with it.  And boy.....was that liberating!!!!

Our life, like many homeschooling families, is very full.  We are busy doing lots of things for lots of people.  We must always remember to keep homeschooling at the forefront of our tasks as we are called to be the first teachers of our children and are accountable for the proper formation of their souls.  I think it would be very difficult to explain to our Lord how we gave homeschooling the same importance as say shopping, music practice, or playing sports.  The formation of the soul is so important and it is the very reason why many families choose to homeschool their children.

As we draw closer to our Lord this year, He has begun teaching us many lessons out of necessity - and it seems to be painfully progressing to a positive end.  We have begun reorganizing our homeschool, decluttering, cleaning out the toy and curriculum shelves, sharing things no longer needed, scheduling our days, and also leaving activities behind that just don't seem part of God's plan for us. 

It seemed such a natural progression to use Michelle's very gentle Journal sheets and get things in better order.  Because I didn't want to bother her to make anymore additions to her sets, I added a simple weekly lesson planning sheet in various colours to match her sets - I hope they match anyway. :)

I hope that you can find these sheets useful.  They can be added to Michelle's set for the month.  There are 12 sheets of varying colours per .PDF set in landscape orientation.  One set is in print and the other is in a nice script font.  Simply print out a few for each month and staple in the left hand corner..lol.

Click Here to download 12 page set of weekly planning sheets in print.
Click Here to download 12 page set of weekly planning sheets in script.

Blessings,

Kalei - That Resource Team

A Few More Mystery Themed Resources

Bookmark, reading log sheet and worksheet help bring mystery stories to life.

Since we began sharing resources about mystery stories yesterday, we thought that we should highlight a few of our other mystery themed resources in case you would like to take some time to focus on this literary genre.

If you or your learner likes to keep a reading log in on a full sized sheet or in a folder, then our Mystery Reading Log sheets may be just what you have been looking for.  Each page has a space for the date, title, author, amount read and completion column.  Pages are available with a definition of the genre as well as a simpler version with just the genre and graphics.

Click HERE to see these and other reading log sheets.



Our Reading Log Book Mark (left) can help readers keep track of the mystery stories or books they read.  It also highlights some details about the specialized genre.  Children can easily fill in the info and gain confidence and practice in reading.

Click HERE to see this and other reading log bookmarks.







Have a child who really loves to read and loves a good challenge?  How about trying our Book Detective Report?  This report requires learners to meet different grammatical tasks using the text of their story.  For example, learners may need to find a proper noun, tell what page it is on or find and list three adverbs.  You get the idea.  It is fun and always challenging.
Picture books, chapter books and novels could easily be used in succession to build confidence.  This could be a great grammar review for older learners.
 
Click HERE to see this book report and others in our collection.
 
 
May you and your children always explore the mysterious fun of reading!
 
Blessings,
 
That Resource Team
 

Introduce Young Learners to the Literary Genre of Mystery - Poster, Worksheet and Suggeestions

Finding clues makes reading mystery stories unique and fun.

It is always a joy to see the faces of young readers when they discover a new type of story.  Mysteries are very captivating for readers of any age.  Mysteries can help readers develop critical thinking skills as well as exposes them to the beginnings of more intricate plots and characters.  The resources we share today help children to learn mysteries with a reference poster and a simple worksheet that can be used with any mystery book.

The poster is simply worded with themed colour graphics.  Simply print out and affix to a bulletin board, door or wall.  You may also choose to use a three hole punch and put it in a folder or duo-tang for reference.  Although there is so much to teach with this genre, we chose to focus on the aspect of clue finding through careful reading and drawing conclusions.

Click HERE to download this Mystery Genre Poster.
Click HERE to see a collection of our other posters.


The Finding the Clues worksheet is designed to help children look for the real "mystery" or dilemma of the plot as well as clues in the book they are reading.  Children are also encouraged to figure out the importance or significance of the clues the find. 

The perfect book to use with this worksheet is Peabody's First Case by Ruth Thomson.  The clues are easy to pick out and readers can also have a bit of fun spotting the clues in a hide and seek type illustrations.  Children up to grades 5-6 can appreciate this book, although grade 1-2 learners could also find it a hoot with a bit of support from mom or dad, if needed.

Click HERE to download this Mystery worksheet.

Looking for suggestions for mystery stories? 

Here are some of our family favourites which we have used over the years.

[K-2]  Inspector Hopper series by Doug Cushman; A grasshopper and his bug sidekick find and solve mysteries in a garden habitat.  These are part of the I Can Read book series.

[1-3]  Nate the Great series by Marjorie Weinman Sharmat; A young boy solves adventures in his neighbourhood in true super sleuth style.

[3-6]  The Boxcar Children series by Gertrude Chandler Warner; Four children who once lived in a train boxcar, have adventures together making simple discoveries.

[3-6]  The Bobbsey Twins series by Laura Lee Hope (Classic Edition);  Four children, Bert and Nan, Freddie and Flossie, have great adventures in a variety of locations solving mysteries and having fun.  This is a great classic series from the 1960s. 

We hope that these books and resources will help bring a love of reading to your learner.

Blessings,

That Resource Team

Little Lesson for Older Learners on Obedience as Discerned Through Milgram's Experiment

The modern repetition of this classic experiment can teach us a lot about our willingness to obey authority. 

Today we highlight a new Little Lesson by Michelle from Thinking Love, No Twaddle.  This lesson is geared for mature or teen learners.  It focuses on an experiment of the 1960's by professor Stanley Milgram in which he shows that peoples' willingness to obey those in authority.  Although the results of the experiment can be quite disturbing, Michelle helps learners to look at obeying authority as it applies to our Lord and out Faith.

This lesson has ten pages which include an introductory page, a lesson text pages, scripture references, copywork pages, and a series of notebooking pages on St. Maximilian Kolbe, and Milgram's experiment itself - with though provoking questions too.

Here are a few sample pages:



This could be a nice little study for a day that could help your teen develop more confidence to hold fast against peer pressure of a social, physical or even political nature.  Seen through the lens of our faith, we learn and reiterate the concept that God is, or should be, the ultimate authority in our lives.

Click HERE to download this Little Lesson on Obedience to Authority.
Click HERE to visit Michelle's blog and read her post about this resource.

Blessings,

That Resource Team

New Greek Worksheets to Help Homeschoolers

I'm Learning Greek!  Are you?

Actually we are studying Latin in our little homeschool, but many Catholic homeschooling families end up doing some of both Greek and Latin.  Classical style learners gravitate toward learning Greek as well.  If you currently study Greek or perhaps are wanting to dabble in learning Greek, then the resource we share from Michelle over at Thinking Love, No Twaddle can help you explore the Greek language with your children.

Today's free printable is a five page worksheet set that is bright and inviting. I'm Learning Latin 1 contains sheets to prompt children to think about what they are learning as well as gives a review for basic vocab.  Originally created to be used with the great materials from Kidsgreek.com, these sheets can still be quite useful for those using other programs as well.

Thanks, Michelle, for sharing your time and energy with us. :)

Click Here to download I'm Learning Greek 1 worksheet set.
Click Here to visit Michelle's page on our website to see the freebie goodies she has both for Greek and Latin as well.



Blessings,

That Resource Team

NEW Notebooking Pages for Lovers of Literature

New printable notebooking sheet allows readers to make notes about what they read.

Do you have a child who loves to read or perhaps do you really enjoy reading?  Then today's sheets generously created and shared by Michelle at Thinking Love, No Twaddle may be quite enjoyable for you and your family.  Although they depict children, they are still charming for adult use as well.

These printable sheets are contained in one file with two pages.  I love that these pages use old fashioned graphics depicting children and have a nice little quaint feel to them that many Charlotte Mason style learners really adore. These sheets could be used for any number journal tasks including keeping reading notes, narrations for literary works, or just a daily journal of learning ideas.

Click Here to download today's literature themed journal sheets.
Click Here to visit Michelle's page on That Resource Site and see all the free printable goodies she has to share with you.

Blessings,

Kalei - That Resource Team