Posts Tagged ‘educational books’
Back to School Tips – Downloadable workbooks!
Getting ready for back to school means having lesson plans ready to go. A great asset to you lesson plans is downloadable workbooks.
Ebooks are quick to download, ready when you are, no problems with out of stock or out of print resources. Ebooks are broad ranged or specific so they can be used for review or in a theme study. Downloadable workbooks let you print only the pages you need, as many times as you need them. There are thousands of titles available and even a chance to preview some of the pages before you buy!
All you need is internet access, a computer and a printer and you can have thousands of books, workbooks and theme units at your fingertips!
So, the first mountain you have climbed led you to the decision to homeschool your child. It sure was an uphill battle but at last you have reached the top and feel accomplished.
So now, your child would like to learn about car mechanics, or magpies or even mustard plants. But you don’t know about any of those things! In this case, there really isn’t a mountain to climb. It is just a little hill that can easily be reached by a little reading and research. Look to the library for books on the subject, or find some unit studies and workbooks to help you plan a lesson. Ask people in the neighbourhood or family that have had experience with the subject and just get in there and learn it together!
Homeschooling does have its share of mountains to climb, but teaching subjects that are unfamiliar doesn’t have to be one of them. You may be surprised how much you learn, and enjoy learning in the process!
Recently I just read about a charity that is helping to supply books to homeless shelters, battered women’s shelters etc in order to give the kids there something to read. Imagine the gift these books will be to allow kids to soar away with their imagination and leave behind the cruel world around them.
“I met a child who loved to read but didn’t own a book. I found a lot more like her when I took a closer look.
I rallied troops to help me and we sought books by the heap. And now we find the kids in need and give them books for keeps!”
This is the motto for Books for Keeps which I think it is worth all of us adopting.
Another great way to help give books to others is through BookMooch. This is a book swap site in which you post books you wish to give thereby earning points. You can then use your earned points to choose books you would like to mooch from others. Your only cost is the shipping cost of the books that are mooched from you! I often have people ask if I have a certain book, and if I can find it on there for free I will pass it along to them!
Many local libraries also collect books near the holidays in order to give the gift of reading to those less fortunate. Books are such an integral part of learning, and learning is an important part of life. So giving the gift of reading, or even a used book, is necessary so that there is at least one book for all!
Homeschool lessons are full of facts, figures and information. Obviously, your students will not retain everything they learn. But the main lesson for them to get is how to find the answer.
Knowing how to find the answer is as good as knowing the answer. Not only does it teach children how to become independent learners but it also allows them to know the answer to any question they come by. When a child asks a question, certainly it is easy to offer them the answer. But it is a better learning lesson if you show them how they can find that out for themselves. Encyclopedias, dictionaries and thesauruses can be used to find information, understand spelling or understand the meaning of a word. The internet is a great tool for search and find. Also, how to use the library is an important lesson on independent learning. At first, teaching them how to find the answers themselves will be a time-consuming lesson but eventually, much of their studies can be done on their own.
It is also encouraging for a child who is struggling with math or finds it hard to remember all the dates in history, that should they come across the need to know this information, there are ways to find it out.
Downloadable ebooks are a great way to have instant lessons! Find the book, add it to your cart, download and print!
Downloading workbooks is time-saving, money-saving and paper-saving because you need only to print the pages you want. It gives you a great opportunity to fill in lessons with ready-made worksheets, templates and more. Even novels can be downloaded which can be great when there is a hard to find or popular book to be read for that lesson. Sometimes it is worth downloading a book to see if it is worth buying it for keeps. Audiobooks can also be downloaded to a computer or MP3 player, allowing for stories on the go, or to help the audio learner. Downloadable ebooks make quick and easy lesson plans with just a couple of clicks of the mouse!
For many homeschoolers, learning is an integral part of their life, their everyday routine. Every day there is learning whether it be in the classroom, on a field trip or running errands.
It is important to encourage learning. An easy way to do this is giving educational gifts. A book, a game, a science kit or even a craft kit all have the potential to inspire learning in children. Don’t forget educational video games too – fun and learning together! Inspire learning not only in your own children, but other children to whom you give gifts.
Although the practice of teaching home-schooled kids can be a joy, tracking down books can be another story entirely. In public schools, the textbooks are often long out-of-date and torn to shreds, but at least they are provided free of charge. It’s not until college that most kids have to start worrying about paying grossly exorbitant prices for books. Home-schoolers have to provide their own study materials from the outset.
Parents of home-schooled kids like to get as much value for their money as possible; that way they can afford more materials for the next semester. Used homeschool books are considerably cheaper than new copies, and they are not defaced and marked up in the fashion of public school hand-me-downs. And since they are become the propety of the student, they don’t need to be turned back in at the end of a semester.