Thursday Book Rec: Lots of Ladybugs

I am an admitted book worm, constantly on the lookout for new ones, both for the kids and myself. There's no better love you can inspire in children than the desire to read, but again, I am thousand-percent biased. A book can take you anywhere and let you be anyone you want to be- how does it get any better than that??

This is one in a series of posts spotlighting books we picked up and  absolutely loved! Most of these can be appreciated by just about any age, and I say this because I love them just as much as the kids do. I hope you do, too!

Google Images 

Title & Author: 

Lots of Lady bugs by Michael Dahl 

What It's About:

It basically teaches kids to count by fives or gives good practice if they already know the basics of skip-counting. The number-find on each page holds their interest and it is an interactive book that you can read aloud together. 

My Thoughts:
I love the hidden numbers on each page because the kids had a ball trying to find them first each time. The repetition helps kids really learn to count by fives painlessly, and then who doesn't love ladybugs? There's a cool fact sheet at the end of the book where you can learn interesting things about the very special bugs. It gave me the idea to do a ladybug theme sometime in the near future. We will be re-visiting this book when we do.

Math: Not/So Scary!

Image Source: Flickr

Are you one of those people who are afraid of Math? Have you kinda always been? I sure have and still am a little at times, even though I've mastered it up to a pretty respectable point. If I'm being honest, the idea of teaching it to the littles, even while it's still easy (you know, the parts before they start mixing in the alphabet, i.e. Algebra and family) still gives me mini-anxiety.

In the same way I get all nervous around strange dogs because the phrase "They can smell fear" conveniently goes onto an auto-playback loop in my head the second I see one, my kids' little curious eyes trained on me for a math lesson makes me figuratively sweat. In fact, I even procrastinated on introducing official math lessons on addition and subtraction until midway through this first homeschooling year.

I just feel like they can sense my near-trepidation when I try to explain the subject and that they'll be more focused on that me acting all weird than the material. I just want them to form their own opinions and not pick up any slant from me, however unintentional.

Image Source: Flickr

Then, one day I had a firm talking with my self (yes, I know, but it's 1000% genetic and therefore beyond my control) and decided to just get over it and go for it. And, as if intuitively supporting me from afar, shortly thereafter, my wonderful fellow homeschooling moms passed along this link for http://www.mathsisfun.com.

This lovely gem has all kinds of worksheets, free, printable Math worksheets- color or b/w, it's your choice. It covers kindergarten math all the way up to algebra, so no matter how old your child(ren) are, I hope you can use it, too. Just take a deep breath and go for it.

TIDBITS:
An Article on Choosing a Homeschooling Math Curriculum
A Website with Math Activities for Kids

Ramo Games- Educational Galore!

I found something this morning!! *sing-songy voice* It's a website called Ramo Games and it has links to SOOOO many educational games, mostly FREE, for kids of all ages. It even has kids' game recommendations for iPhone users.

Some of my favorites include:

The Berenstain Bears game, where kids can select pictures. What sets this apart from other games I've found like this is that when you click on the word selection to fill it in, the word is read aloud to your child so they can make the immediate connection between the picture and its spelling. The drawback: It doesn't read the completed story aloud, which would be a plus for young readers. They can' however re-read the story ad nauseum and email or print it out.

Berenstain Bears Story Time Celebrate storytime with the Berenstain Bears in the educational game from PBS. Who is ...

The Asia Geoquest game is great for learning and testing your child's knowledge of geography.

Asia GeoQuest Can you locate the countries in Asia on the map? Put your geography skills to ...

The Money Flashcards game is great for learning and re-enforcing counting, adding, and the value of coins.

Money Flash Cards Can you count the right amount of money? Challenge your ...

Check these out with your child/ren when you have a little time and try mixing in online or computer games with your lessons to keep things fun and interesting. Happy learning!