Sunday Shout Out ~ Guides, Assessment, Online Study & Books

Sunday Shout Outs are a blast from the past from around here. I did a few of these awhile back. They are a way for me to share some of the reads, sites, links or other things that touched me in some way during this past week.

I was either sent or stumbled across a few new to me things and wanted to share them with you so a Sunday Shout Out seemed like the logical way to go. Who knows I may just bring them back into existence ;-)

• Simply Charlotte Mason offers FREE Curriculum Guides, I had no idea! They are broken down into a time period in history, the idea is you choose your time period and focus on that as a family. Within each time period is a list of grade level books.

Then you can also choose from a list of  'enrichment topics' with even more great book lists.

Really does make choosing books nice and easy.

This is definitely on one add to your bookmarks list.

Mardel Homeschool has this really neat assessment tool, I found it quite interesting and was pleasantly surprised that my results pretty much matched up with my line of thinking. Charlotte Mason was number one on my list. Complete the teaching assessment online here. 

Ok this is simply a treasure trove. Over 1,000,000 free ebooks to borrow at Open Library.

•  A friend of mine stumbled  onto the Hachette Children's Books website, they have a bunch of free downloadable teacher resource files to go along with many of the books they have available. Check them out here. 

I'm currently pondering this book series by Lois Walfrid, this from the Freedom Seekers  website, "Travel back to 1857 with Libby, Caleb, and Jordan, who need to make life-changing choices that answer the question, "What does freedom really mean?" From the golden age of steamboats, the rush of immigrants to new land, and the heart-stopping dangers of the Underground Railroad, come true-to-life stories of courage, integrity, and suspense."  Check them all out here.

If you have or your children have read any of these I would love to hear from you.

It dawned on me recently that we really aren't all that far away from the high school years so I have started a collection of various helps that I may look into when the time is right. Studying online is definitely one of those options so when someone suggested to take a look at Open 2 Study I quickly added it to my trusty basket of future tricks. You have the option of studying through different Universities using the Open 2 Study website. I always love hearing of homeschoolers using their high school years to explore a variety of avenues and this is definitely one of them that is filled with possibilities.

Lots of fabulous finds this week, I hope something here has been of some help to you.

Sunday Shout Out: Freely Educate

If you haven't already stumbled on to this fabulous resource then may I suggest you jump over to Freely Educate now and take a look around.

You will find links to so many free educational resources, careful you might be there awhile.

From Lori, the author of Freely Educate,

At FreelyEducate.com, I focus on high quality, 100% free educational finds.  I post for the children:  preschool, elementary, middle school, and high school. I also post for homeschoolers, teachers, students, and families who love to learn together.

My goal is to prove a high quality education can be free. I don’t have a problem with paying for education.  I’m just trying to remove one obstacle - finances - from those who think they “can’t” give - or get - a good education.  Even if you don’t have money, you can still have knowledge. Isn’t that a beautiful truth?

This is definitely one to subscribe to so you don't miss anything.

Sunday Shout Out: Alphabetimals

Have you seen the Alphabetimals Website yet? If not jump over there right now. They are just so damn cute.


A different animal is represented for every letter of the alphabet, they are so well done.

Alphabetimals is a grass roots project started by a husband and wife team, a psychologist and an illustrator, in an effort to share literacy around the world.


Once you have played around with the Alphabetimals site you can order your name or creation on a personalised item, bags, shirts, mugs etc.

For every personalised item sold a book will be sent to a child in Africa.

The site also has free printable resources. The super cute alphabetimals in flash cards, a poster, colouring pages and you can even print your name in the super cute Alphabetimals font.

Alphabetimals, jump over there and check it out. 



Disclosure: I have not received any form of compensation for this review and was not asked to write it. All opinions expressed are my own. 

Sunday Shout Out: Little Folk Friendly

Recently my mum took Surfer Dude to a Playgroup gathering in a park nearby us.

This was a gathering of local playgroups in the area.

Whilst it's been a awhile since I have been involved with a regular playgroup if my memory serves me correctly they are a showcase of sorts. Each individual playgroup puts together some type of activity and the children wander (or possibly run around silly) around participating in the activities that take their fancy.

Mum was given a small goody bag that contained a handful of bits and pieces and one little treasure.

The Little Folk Friendly Book. Whilst the logo states that it is a book of fun for Little Folk, it is really a book for big people to aid them in having fun with their Little Folk and saving money along the way.

This is the frst edition of it's kind and Brisbane was the first city to have the book. Editions are planned for other major cities around Australia.

Little Folk Friendly is an activity book and contains a massive amount of discount vouchers for various outlets, stores and products in and around the Brisbane area. When I say massive, I mean massive. Well over three quarters of the book is discount vouchers.

The first part of the book contains activity ideas for you to do with your Little Folk, things like games to play with a bucket, art and craft recipes, more fun and games and cheap ideas for getting out and about.

I would love to see this section grow to include colour photographs, being the highly visual person that I am.

Section two, the major component of the book holds the vouchers. Vouchers for nearly anything you can think of relating to Little Folk in and around Brisbane. A very handy resource to have for parents with little ones.

This is a great idea and one I hope will grow and flourish with the support of the local community.

Visit Little Folk Friendly for more details.

Sunday Shout Out - Enchanted Homeschooling Mom

I recently stumbled on to Enchanted Homeschooling Mom's Blog. I'm not sure how I found it, I think maybe from Educating April.

She shares lots of fun things on her blog, ideas, reviews and plenty of printables too.

Just today she shared this really neat way to help kids with their spacing when learning to write.

Are your kids into the Berenstain Bears? Then make sure you have a look at her Year of Learning Lessons with the Berenstain Bears.

See I told you there was plenty to check out! Jump or should I say click on over there and have a look around. Don't forget to say hello :o)

Sunday Shout Out: Educating April

I wanted to share a new blog I've been reading of late - Educating April - they are Aussie Homeschoolers sharing just a little of the fun and adventure they get up to during their days.

Click on over and follow along too.

Sunday Shout Out: Mindful Parenting, Acceptance, Love & Learning

These posts have touched me all in different ways this week, some have even brought a tear or two to my eyes.

• In her post, entitled, What Stranded Kittens Remind About Parenting, Organic Sister discusses the importance of parenting mindfully and being your childs' advocate.

• Jenny has posted on the topic of Acceptance over at the Latter Day Homeschooling Blog. I totally understand the need for accepting one's feelings and validating those feelings, as opposed to sweeping them under the carpet and telling yourself that they will go away.

• The Sparkling Martins features a moving post on Loving It Forward. This is a must read for any parent, for anyone really. A wonderful reminder of not judging a book by its' cover.

• This is my new favourite blog. I have been going back over the archives here reading everything. But How Do Learn, Just A Bald Man discusses the cradle to career education system and why this may not be one of the best policies. (whilst this is written with response to the US Education, in most cases here in Oz we quickly follow suit to many of the American ways and I feel that this post is just as valid for Australian's)

I hope you enjoy these reads as much I did.