The Old Schoolhouse Store: new WeE-book

The Old Schoolhouse Store has published a WeE-book about homeschooling young children. I wrote the two articles in it; the first tells about an easy way to teach using "notebooks." These are not large 3-ring binders, but smaller-- report folder-sized collections of pages that can be read through daily. They can also have pages removed or added whenever needed. This is something I did with my kids... and still do! James, who is 10, is going through a notebook this summer to practice some math things like square numbers, place value to the billionth place, and some Spanish vocabulary. We're also doing a fun song about sandwiches (I Love Sandwiches, an adaptation of Bob King's song).

But this thin notebook method is especially great for young children; I thought it should be called "the rocking chair method" because I remember having my young preschoolers on my lap on the rocking chair while we went through their pages.

The TOS WeE-book gives more details and examples about this method, and there are even five ready-to-print preschool notebook pages included at the end of the WeE-book. In the second half of the book, there are lots of other ideas of things to do with young children-- many of these use materials that can be hand-made-- along with color photographs of some of the activities.

To find this WeE-book, go to www.theoldschoolhousestore.com and look in the WeE-books section. It is called Homeschooling with Young Children, and costs $1.95. (In case you're not familiar with WeE-books, what they are is short e-books; you will not receive a printed book, but a download for an e-book. You can then either read the book on your computer, or print it out on a printer. )

New Blog Adventure

OK, it's time to start something else new-- a blog! Our homeschool curriculum business, Gentle Shepherd Curriculum, started very quietly this January, with our first book. Now we have four different titles, with one being available as a printed book and all of them available as e-books.

I think e-books are the wave of the future, and I am so pleased to be riding on this wave. There are a lot of things I like about e-books, but one of the best things, for teachers, is that you can print out all the pages on your computer. No more lugging of workbooks to the copy center, and turning and positioning each page on the copy machine. It is so easy, and convenient, to print out the e-book pages, and you can choose to print out only a few pages at a time, if you want to. The computer will be there, later, ready to print out other pages as you need them.