All-of-a-Kind Family Resource

Awhile back, I published a link to a resource that you could use while reading books from the All-of-a-Kind Family series. This book series is set in New York city in the early 1900s, and paints a picture of Jewish family life and customs at the turn of the century, through the end of World War I.

From the resource website:

This readers guide to Sydney Taylor’s All-of-a-Kind Family series was created in celebration of the author’s 100th birthday in 2004. It includes historical context, background information about the author and the people upon whom the characters are based, extension activities, and read-alike suggestions.

Here is the updated link to the All-of-a-Kind Family Companion.

Cute trick of the day

Go to Google.

Type in "Let it snow".

Watch what happens.

What fun!

Rainy, blustery Tuesday, good day to read

Found some new blogs here.

It's not like I need more blogs to read, mind you. But I was happy to hear The Old Schoolhouse Homeschool Crew had taken top honors in the 7th Annual Homeschool Blog awards, and so I went to check out the awards list.

Just in case you were looking for blogs to read, there are some good ones here. I added a couple to my sidebar, as a matter of fact, and spent the last half hour reading blog entries aloud to the girls. Lunch break over, time to get back to work.

How's your Tuesday going?

I don't have anything to post for "If it's Tuesday it must be gluten-free" as I'm lacking inspiration today, but for lunch we're having twice-baked potatoes. Y'know, bake them until soft, scoop the middles out, mash with milk and grated cheese (and bacon, if you have some already cooked, and anything else you'd like to include) and scoop back into the potato shells, and bake some more until GBD (as Rachel Ray is so fond of saying -- golden brown and delicious -- though this is definitely not a 30-minute meal).

Anyhow, it's time to get back in the saddle and herd those butterflies. See ya.

Free printables!

How Does She...? is a fun and informational website put together by a bunch of creative moms. Browsing there briefly, I found articles with how-tos for crafts and organizing ideas that range from simple to complex, a sort of something-for-everyone. No, I'm not going to be picking up a drill this week to make the cute children's chore chart, but I can see ways to adapt the craft in a way that my uncrafty fingers can manage.

Anyhow, in addition to projects you can also find free printables at the site to help you in your quest for sanity in a busy household.

They're pretty and colorful and will add a cheerful note to your organizing.

What fun!

Free printables!

While perusing this week's Subscriber Exclusive from Homeschool Freebie of the Day, I followed a link that led to a link that led to free printables from Life Your Way.

They have more than 150 free printables available for download here, including a room organizer chart (I don't know about you, but with the change of seasons we're moving our furniture around into new configurations) and a Home Management Notebook.

So if you feel the need to scratch that "get organized" itch, check out Life Your Way, and if you haven't heard of Homeschool Freebie of the Day, take a look at that site, too, where every day there's a new free download of PDF e-books or mp3 files or links to free resources.

TGIF (and an online music playground)

I've got to admit, I'm glad it's Friday. I'm tired. As a matter of fact, I started to type TIGF. Now what would that mean?

Just finished writing a review of a music education enrichment program, Quaver's Marvelous World of Music. Look for it to be published in the next issue of Eclectic Homeschool Online, along with an article about one of the co-creators.

At the Quaver link above, you'll find information about the music education DVDs, but you'll also find a website with free, music-related activities. There are arcade games (which we've spent a lot of time mastering, I'm sure you wanted to know), but there are also neat compositional tools all ready for exploring and creating music. Check it out!