Photo Credit: Ministry to Children

There is another FREE Vacation Bible School curriculum available!

This one titled “BigHeart Farms“ is based on The Fruit of the Spirit in Galatians 5:16-26, and comes with everything you’ll need to run a successful VBS program this summer.

You can still find the FREE Armor of God VBS Curriculum here!

I taught my son how to read when he was 4 years old using Bob Books readers, and still have fond memories of snuggling up together in a chair while he sounded out the simple three letter words.

You can get printables to go along with several of the books FREE!

FREE State Travel Guides!

FREE Kids Financial Activity books from ING.

Get the Right-Brained Multiplication & Division curriculum valued at $29.95 FREE when you use the coupon code moneysaving2 during the checkout process!

“Right-Brained Multiplication & Division is designed for children who are strongly visual, learn all at once through images, are drawn to patterns, rely on body motions, have difficulty with memorization, and are considered right-brained learners. Right-Brained Multiplication & Division uses right-brained elements such as visual, personification, pattern discovery, story, body movement and visualization to teach the multiplication and division tables, thus relying on the students’ learning strengths rather than taxing their learning weaknesses. 124 pages, full color, reproducible worksheets for practice.”

FREE Online Sewing Class.

FREE 2012 Electoral Map.  Turn Election Night into a party for your family with this fun way to track each states votes.

FREE Hidden Pictures Books Boxed Set!

You’ll find even more educational freebies here!

Summer has officially begun for some already and I thought a summer reading book list for kids might be handy!

There is nothing that reminds me of summer vacation like the idea of sitting against a tree on a beautiful summer day getting lost in a new land.  When I was a kid books were my way of traveling to far off places (and times).

One thing that I suggest when choosing some summer reading books for your kids is to choose books that are easier reading than they are normally used to.  There is no reason that they need to read a 500 page novel (unless they want to of course) and summer reading is supposed to be fun….not work!

Don’t forget to check out all of these FREE Kids Summer Reading Programs!

Also most of the books listed below are on sale Buy 3 Get One FREE!

Elementary School

Pinkalicious - Ages Kindergarten & Up

This sparkling picture book, filled with such favorites as pink bubble gum, pink peonies, pink cotton candy, and pink fairy princess dresses, celebrates all things pink while showing that being yourself is best of all.

My Father’s Dragon - Ages 6 & Up

The Giving Tree - This is one of my families favorite childhood books!  

The Magic Treehouse Books - Ages 8 & up

Jack and his little sister Annie are just two regular kids from Frog Creek, Pennsylvania. Then they discover a mysterious tree house packed with all sorts of books…and their lives are never the same! Soon they are traveling through time and space in the magic tree house and having amazing adventures. Whether it’s watching baby dinosaurs hatch, finding a secret passage in a castle, helping a ghost queen in an Egyptian pyramid, or finding pirate treasure, readers won’t want to miss a single story!

Diary of a Wimpy Kid- Greg Heffley is in big trouble. School property has been damaged, and Greg is the prime suspect. But the crazy thing is, he’s innocent. Or at least sort of.

Junie B Jones – These are the stories of a girl that trouble always follows.

The Boxcar Children - I LOVED this series when I was younger and so did my kids!

The Chronicles of Narnia – This is another series that my family and I enjoyed reading aloud together!

The Black Lagoon Books -  These fun-filled chapter books mix school, monsters, and common kid problems with hilarious results.

Percy Jackson - My son was a very reluctant reader and I had pretty much given up hope when I stumbled upon Percy Jackson!  You can read how one book had the ability to turn my son into a voracious reader (at least until he’d read the entire series).

Mike Lupica Books - Ages 8 & Up  These look to be mostly sports themed and comes highly recommended by a Paula, the mom of 3 boys.

Gary Paulsen Books - Ages 10 & Up These also come highly recommended for boys.

Little House on the Prairie -  You could let your child loose with these books, or sit down and read them aloud with them.  We read them aloud and it has become a family favorite memory.

Rick Riordan Books - Ages 10 & Up My son LOVED all of the books by Rick Riordan that he has read.  And that’s saying a lot since whe would rather have a tooth pulled than actually read for the fun of it

High School

The Hunger Games Trilogy - Thanks to the popularity of the movie based on the first book, people of all ages are curious to read the series.  I read it and loved it, as did my son who is 14 years old and not a huge fan of reading.  in fact the following book is the only reason I was ever able to get him to read anything “for fun”.

The Lord of the Rings – This series is even better than the popular movies based on the story.

Nicolas Sparks - My daughter read every one of his books that she could get her hands on one year when she was about 17 years old.

Cornelia Funk Books - There are several highly recommended books by this author.

Don’t forget to pick up a couple of Craft & Activity Books! These are great to keep on hand for long car rides too. Also it would be a lot of fun to have a nature activity book available for spur of the moment backyard fun!

Are there any books missing from this list that you would recommend?

It election season again and they perfect time to teach your kids how the process works.  We always stay up on Election night and watch as they announce who won in each state.  Then one of us colors in each state on a map according to the political party that won.

I prepare fun foods and turn it into a neat celebration of the fact that we are allowed to vote in this country!

You can get a FREE Electoral Map!

This is perfect for an Election Night Party! Just hang it on a door or wall in the room with the television and make sure to have a red & blue marker or crayon around.

Knowledge Box Central is offering $10 to everyone to spend on lapbooks & ebooks on their site!

Use the coupon code KBCFB10 to get $10 off your order. This code is good once per person and cannot be used towards any of the assembled or printed products. That said I found a government lapbook for highschoolers that I am thinking of picking up since this is the year to study it for us.

What did you end up getting?

Now through May 11tth you can get FREE access to the Leanring A-Z  site!

Although this is not a full membership, you could go check it out.  There are a ton of FREE printables that you can take full advantage of today and tomorrow only. Be sure to think of what you might need for next year too.  I know many homeschoolers have already completley planned out their next year, but I have no problem admitting that I just have a general idea of what we will be doing.

I like to have a foundation in place by the end of June that way I can take all of July & most of August off from thinking of it unless I get an idea.  I have found that if I have the basics in place such as Math, Science, & Language Arts it is okay to do it this way.  I’ve come across some amazing programs that I just happened to stumble upon when I least expected to more often than when I set out in search of the perfect curriculum.

I will get serious and finish up any planning that is left in August.  Until then I stay pretty laid back about it.  I visit used book sales and also garage sales and wait to see if any sports, classes or “extras” pop up that can easily count as “school”.

Find lot more homeschool educational FREEIES here!