Saturday Steals, Deals & Reviews: Curriculum of Love
Here are some fun freebies for the week, plus a bit of information about the latest homeschooling book I’m reading. Enjoy!
Money Saving Mom has a bunch of free curriculum resources this week, including Angry Birds learning resources, free book bundles and more.
Make yourself a free chandelier out of old glass bottles.
Join the Homeschool Movie Club on Facebook to get movie suggestions, free guides and chances to win free movie passes.
Here’s a yummy recipe for a cheesy potato and cauliflower bake.
I don’t know if this free way to deal with spiders works, but it couldn’t hurt to try it!
Save up to $51 per person when you register for the Rethinking Everything conference (featuring the unschooling Martin family and many other speakers) before May 1.
Get a free project pack for Island of the Blue Dolphins from Currclick this week.
Right now Wood Sprite is really enjoying Neil Gaiman’s picture books, which I am thrilled about since he’s one of my favorite authors. You can read along with him to a couple of his books on YouTube for free:
The Day I Swapped My Dad for Two Goldfish
Review of the Week
This week I am reading David H. Albert’s lovely book of essays called Have Fun. Learn Stuff. Grow. Homeschooling and the Curriculum of Love. It’s an interlibrary loan, so I can’t dog-ear the pages—but I have about a dozen bookmarks in it, which makes me think I really need to buy a copy! The book depicts so many lovely aspects about unschooling in particular, like not using rewards and trusting kids to learn on their own.
Did you know that motivated kids who actually want to learn math can do it in just eight weeks—all math covered in school, from grades K to 12, by the way? The Sudbury Valley School, a free school, has proven this again and again, and all it takes is a child who is interested in math.
Why spend an hour a day for 12 years on it when you can do it all in a few weeks? This makes perfect sense to me; I remember struggling to teach my daughter math a few years ago when I thought we “had” to do it, but now that she is interested she’s soaking it up like a sponge. Unschoolers will tell you it all goes back to that main concept: Trust your children.
Albert’s book is funny and full of useful and interesting information, as well as commentary and personal stories. I have also enjoyed his book Homeschooling and the Voyage of Self-Discovery.
Photo courtesy of Sara S.