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• We are excited to announce Kaleidos Language Arts Curriculum - the skill building curriculum built on creative writing and a love for classic literature.
  • Kaleidos 3 for Third grade
  • Kaleidos 4 for Fourth grade
  • Kaleidos 5 for Fifth grade
  • Kaleidos 6 for Sixth grade
  • Kaleidos 7 for Seventh grade
  • Kaleidos 8 for Eighth grade
  
  
  
• Live It Up, Write It Down: Writing for Kindergarten through 2nd Grade
  
  
• WRITE ON The Kid Friendly, Mother Pleasing Gentle Way to Learn to Write 3rd - 8th Grade
  • MORE INFORMATION on Write On
  • Three Tricks to Write On's Success
  • Reviews & Testimonies about Write On
  
  
• Ten tips for TEACHING WRITING
  • WRITING GUIDELINES for Different Ages
  • More information on the WRITING PROCESS
  • More ideas for WRITING PROMPTS
  • Ideas on creating a final WRITTEN PRESENTATION.
  • Information on the SIX TRAITS OF WRITING
  • Writing for highschool and college
  • Check out our writing contest.
  
  
• The WRITING RUBRICS Main Page - How to use a writing rubric
  • List of our elementary writing rubrics
    • Kindergarten writing rubric
    • 1st Grade Writing Rubric
    • 2nd grade writing rubric
    • 3rd grade writing rubric
    • 4th grade writing rubric
  • Essay rubrics for middle school and high school
    • 6 Traits writing rubric
    • 100 point essay rubric includes mechanics and content
    • Rubrics for research paper
  • Creating a writing rubric
  • Print all of our writing rubrics from one page.
  
  
• Ideas on developing BOOK REPORTS.
  
  
• Our previous homeschool Writing Contests
  • Expository Writing: the 5 W's
  • Persuasive Writing: Organizing Advantages
  • Character Sketch
  • Writing Historical Dialogues
  • Introductions and Conclusions
  
  
• GRAMMAR Main Page
  • ORDER page for the Big Bad Grammar Slammer
  • An English grammar tutorial listing all 37 lessons.
  • Review the 8 parts of speech - the writers tools.
  • Diagramming sentences
  
  
• SPELLING Syllable Savvy Spelling Curriculum
  • FREE DOWNLOAD of the Instructor's Guide
    or to ORDER Syllable Savvy Spelling e-books
  • Information on the THREE COLUMN METHOD
  • Directions on HOW TO TEACH Syllable Savvy Spelling
  • Lists the THEMES grade by grade
  • Samples of 3rd Grade Spelling Lists
  • Samples of 4th Grade Spelling Lists
  • Samples of 5th Grade Spelling Lists
  • Samples of 6th Grade Spelling Lists
  • Samples of 7th Grade Spelling Lists
  • Samples of 8th Grade Spelling Lists
  
  
• LITERATURE Main Page
  • LITERATURE UNIT STUDIES will make the great tales come alive.
  • CHOOSING LITERATURE for your student
  • Shakespeare Unit Study
  • HISTORICAL AND POLITICAL literature.
  • ELEMENTS OF LITERATURE for different ages.
  • Ideas on writing BOOK REPORTS
  • Depression era literature about sharecroppers in Texas
  • All The Cities of Gold: a true story from the 1940's
  • Creation literature from the time after the flood
  
  
• EARLY READING Main Page
  
  
  • Reading Confidence Cards: They will do what they say.
  • Kindergarten Sight Words & Phonic Families
  • First Grade Sight Words and Phonic Families
  • Second Grade Sight Words and Phonic Families
  • Phonics vs Sight Words: The Debate
  • Balanced Literacy: A Balanced Critique
  • Fun Reading Activities for Early Readers
  • Activities and Games to Reinforce Phonics
  • More ideas for games to teach reading
  • Erudition: The Sight Word Game
  • Preschool Handwriting Practice
  
  
• Overview of The Better Letter Primer HANDWRITING Program.
  • All Four Steps of the BETTER LETTER PRIMER
  • All of the handwriting downloads on one page.
  • Writing Direction and blank handwriting practice sheets.
  • Handwriting Worksheets for the 8 Letter groups
  • Number Formation Handwriting Worksheets
  • Handwriting Practice Pages to Review All Letters/Numbers
  • Handwriting Practice Coaching
  • Kindergarten Handwriting
  • Preschool Handwriting
  • Compare Pencil Grips
  
  
• MATCHCARD SCIENCE Main Page
  • Light & Energy Unit Study
  • Weather Unit Study
  • Force and Motion Unit Study
  • Geology Unit Study
  • Oceanography Unit Study
  • Human Anatomy Unit Study
  • Chemistry Unit Study
  • Astronomy Unit Study
  • Botany Unit Study
  • Zoology Unit Study
  • Nutrition, Health, and Safety Unit Study
    • Instructor's Guide for MatchCard Science
    • Components of a MatchCard Science Unit Study
  
  
• Cool SCIENCE EXPERIMENTS: Individual experiments from MatchCard Science
  Light and Energy Experiments & Projects:
  
  • Translucent, transparent, and obaque objects
  • Refraction, Reflection, and Absorption of Light Waves
  • Magnetic Poles
  • Compare frequency and amplitude of sound waves
  • Celsius to Fahrenheit
  • Freezing, Melting, Evaporation and Condensation
  • Convection, Conduction, Radiation: Transfer of Heat
  • Diagram and build an electrical circuit
  • Test materials to see if they are conductors or insulators
  • Explore static electricity
  • Compare amps, volts, and watts
  • Compare the two forms of nuclear energy: fusion and fission.
  • Arrange the colors on the light spectrum.
  • Experiment with a triangular prism
  • Contrast the different electromagnetic waves
  • Compare actual and potential kinetic energy.
  • Conservation of energy
    Weather Experiments & Projects:
    
  • Different weather in the 2 Hemispheres
  • 5 types of precipitation<
  • Precipitation Experiments
  • Explore the Water Cycle
  • Identify wind strength with the Beaufort Scale
  • Use weather instruments to measure weather conditions
  • Compare a hurricane and tornado
  • How to use a pet tornado
  • Identify cloud types
  • Atmospheric Pressure and Temperature
    Force & Motion Experiments & Projects:
    
  • Six Simple Machines
  • Compare mass and weight
  • Demonstrate effects of friction and inertia
  • Analyze the effects of gravity
  • Compare speed, velocity, momentum, and acceleration
  • Explore Newton's Three Laws of Motion
  • Compare Newtons, Joules, and Watts
    Geology Experiments & Projects:
    
  • Compare Rocks and Minerals
  • Learn the Layers of the Earth
  • Investigate the 4 types of Weathering.
  • Learn the 3 types of rocks and the rock cycle.
  • Use the Mohs Hardness Test to identify rocks and minerals.
  • Mineral identification lab to test the physical properties of minerals.
  • Identify the five types of mountains.
  • Erupt a volcano and learn its parts.
  • Demonstrate the three types of waves in an earthquake.
    Ocean Experiments & Projects:
    
  • Find the six major oceans.
  • Investigate the three major types of ocean creatures.
  • Explore the ocean floor.
  • Trace the route water takes from mountain springs to the oean.
  • Learn the parts of seaweed.
  • Learn the three ocean zones.
  • Compare different types of algae with plants.
    Human Anatomy Experiments & Projects:
    
  • From Cells to Systems - Identify how the body parts work together.
  • Trace the route of food through the digestive system.
  • Build a tooth model and observe tooth decay.
  • Listen different parts of the respiratory system.
  • Trace the route of blood through your heart, lungs, and body.
  • Identify the major bones of the human skeleton.
  • Identify four types of joints and two muscles of the human anatomy.
  • Find what human organs are part of the renal system.
  • Learn about the nervous system.
  • Learn the parts of the human eye.
  • Identify and use the parts of the human ear.
  • You're covered in it! Get a feel for what skin can do for you.
  • Match the hormones to their endocrine glands.
    Chemistry Experiments & Projects:
    
  • Build a model of an atom.
  • Make a hydrogen and helium model
  • Play a game with carbon, nitrogen, oxygen models
  • Learn electron configuration with paper plates
  • Construct molecules with the molecule worksheets
  • Build water molecules (and eat them)
  • Hunt for molecules and compounds and make a mixture
  • Make a fried egg sandwhich and compare chemical and physical changes
  • Compare properties of solids, liquids, and gas
  • Use the density formula to compare different objects
  • A sizzlin' way to learn the conservation of mass.
  • Make your litmus paper for acids and bases.
  • Find metals and non-metals on a periodic chart.
    Astronomy Projects:
    
  • Demonstrate the rotation and revolution of the Earth.
  • Demonstrate the size and distance of planets in the solar system.
  • What is a planet? AND should Pluto be allowed back in?
  • Chart the moon cycle and demonstrate the cause of the moon's changing shape.
  • Demonstrate two types of lunar eclipses
  • Demonstrate two types of solar eclipses
  • Find the sun's composition and what it emits
  • Find the North Star and its two constellations
  • Identify five northern constellations visible all year round.
  • Distinguish meteors, asteroids, and comets (and eat them).
  • Explore galaxies, clusters, and superclusters - at the speed of light!
  • Make your own sky chart and sextant
    Botaony Experiments & Projects:
    
  • Build a mini-ecosystem in your own home.
  • Ecology lesson - five factors that change the environment.
  • Tear apart flowers to learn their parts.
  • Who or what causes the flowers to be pollinated?
  • What part of the plant cell makes your veggies so crunch?
  • Watch plants bubble and see how fast you can solve the photosynthesis formula.
  • Plant nutrition and transport
  • Sexual reproduction in plants
  • 5 types of asexual reproduction in plants
  • Carbon cycle in plants and animals
  • Nitrogen cycle in nature
    Zoology Experiments & Projects:
    
  • Identify the parts of an insect.
  • Watch a butterfly emerge from a cocoon.
  • Compare the size and shape of five different types of fish fins.
  • Compare the skin of reptiles and amphibians.
  • List six unique characteristics of mammals.
  • Distinguish primary and secondary consumers in the food chain.
  • Compare the teeth of herbivores, carnivores, and omnivores.
  • Trace the scientific classification of dogs from kingdom to species.
  • Describe five kingdoms on the biology tree of life.
  • Compare nine different animal phyla.
  • Check out the skeletons of 7 classes of vertebrates.
  • Identify the major functions of an animal cell and match them to the cell diagram.
  • Use the cell worksheet to find three methods of cellular movement - and what's living under your fingernails.
  • Make a flipbook of the stages of mitosis.
    Nutrition, Health, and Safety Experiments and Projects
    
  • Learn the foods in the food groups.
  • Crunch up some carbohydrates.
  • Compare protein, fats, and carbs.
  • Check for Vitamin C in foods. Find out what Vitamin E does. Learn about 6 important vitamins.
  • Learn about the minerals calcium, iron, potassium.
  • Compare benefits of exercise and relaxation.
  • Quick: how safe is your home? See if you and your kids can pass the home safety quiz.
  • Practice using a fire extinguisher and learn the 3 classes of fires.
  • Identify the risks of smoking, alcohol, and drugs and how they impact lives.
  • Evaluate risks of sexual behavior outside of a monogamous relationship.
  • List strategies to avoid being in an abusive relationship.
    Technology Experiments & Projects:
    
  • Build models of four different types of bridges.
  • Kids can use Bernoulli's Principle to discover how aerodynamics keeps a plane up in the air.
  • Find the input, output and signal processing unit of electronic equipment.
  • Build a circuit board and learn the function of the major devices on it.
  • Play games converting from binary to decimal numbers.
  • Investigate what browsers do. Compare input and outputs of different devices. Contrast ROM & RAM.
  • Discover what a laser really is. Compare laser light with flash lights.
  • Make a robotic hand. Discover the principles of robotics. List the 3 laws of the ethics of robotics.
  • Learn the four strokes of an internal combustion engine in this lesson. Watch the combustion of flour.