I was just checking my email and saw that CurrClick has a free booklet for making shields out of duct tape. It is an excerpt from The Battle Book: Warfare by Duct Tape. Of course, I downloaded it and know that after the boys get a hold of it, they will want to make more stuff from the whole book. This will give us an excuse to get some of the really cool colored duct tape at the store. Maybe I'll make my very own pink or purple shield so I can join in the fun.

Police K9 Unit Study

I don't do unit studies very often but an opportunity presented itself and I can't let it pass by. My husband is a police officer, so the topic is near and dear to our hearts. One of his co-workers told me about a public K-9 demonstration coming up and as I was passing the information along to other homeschoolers, I decided to look for some related educational sites. I found some really good ones and decided that next week we will do a unit study on police officers and their canine counterparts.

Dog Heroes Unit Study

How Police Dogs Work

German Shepherds - Information from the AKC

Community Helper: The Police Officer - Preschool lesson plan, crafts & activities

Police Coloring Pages

Elementary Read-Alouds:

Officer Buckle & Gloria - Here is a lapbook study to go with this title.
Aero and Officer Mike
Police Officers on Patrol
P is for Police

2010-11 Curriculum

M1 - 10th Grade

• Algebra I - Teaching Textbooks Algebra, Life of Fred Beginning Algebra
• English I - Excellence in Literature-Introduction to Literature
• To Kill A Mockingbird, Around the World in 80 Days, 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court, Jany Eyre, Pygmalion, Treasure Island, Animal Farm, The Tempest, Gulliver's Travels

• Biology - Apologia Exploring Creation with Biology 
• Spanish - Rosetta Stone Spanish/Latin America Homeschool Edition
• World History - Around the World in 180 Days
• Drivers' Education - Rules of the Road DVDs, Crash-Proof Your Kids
• Life Skills/Personal Growth - The 7 Habits of Highly Effective Teens, Do Hard Things, Money Matters for Teens

NG - 6th Grade

• Unit Study - A World of Adventure - Covers Ancient History through Age of Early Exploration, social studies, science, Bible, language arts, and fine arts
• Math - Singapore Math, Life of Fred Fractions
• Language Arts - I will probably supplement with Painless Vocabulary, Easy Grammar 5/6, and some spelling
• Typing - Mavis Beacon Teaches Typing

IB - 1st/2nd Grade

• Phonics - Alpha-Phonics, BOB Books, LOTS of read-alouds
• Math - Miquon Math, games
• Unit Study -A World of Adventure - Little Adventurers
• Language Arts - I'll teach him grade-level appropriate concepts using homemade games, flashcards, etc.

2/4/11 Update: We are using Time4Learning for a while for NG, IB, and LJ (PreK).