ThadenPierce School

These are from the church but many are great even if you are not LDS.

Gospel Art Kit – display pictures around home, use for FHE and scripture study/devotional time with kids. Stories & scriptures are included on back for older children to read to younger ones?
New Nursery Manual – Behold your little ones with lesson ideas for young children.
Children’s Song Book includes some background history and scriptures for each song to study as a family.

Hymns Made Easy for early piano players.

Scripture Mastery Cards – we ordered all four sets and pulled out the ones with just one or two verses, hole punched them and hung on metal ring. Perfect for kids to use as memorization work!
Old Testament
New Testament
Book of Mormon
Doctrine & Covenants

Provident Living for extensive information on budgeting & other financial matters, home storage, gardening, recipes, and other homemaking skills.

The church also has a ton of materials in other languages for kids studying spanish, french, or most any language! They have a wide selection of materials available for hearing impaired people, so anyone working to learn ASL should explore those. For example, you can view the Articles of Faith in sign language with voice over for $1!!

The Friend Magazine, of course, for young children has tons of learning activities and games. The Primary manuals have wonderful ideas for lessons on all sorts of topics but all related to gospel principles. And for older children, the Institute manuals are all available.

Check it all out at LDS Catalog and there is free shipping to all US addresses (and maybe abroad? I don’t know.) These prices are so inexpensive, I don’t know how they are even covering their costs but seize the chance to get these great resources in your home!

Jenn was so sweet to send our kids a package and they LOVE the various goodies, including these solar system trading cards. We’re studying earth & space for science this year so these are perfect and a fun way for them to learn more.

One side has a photo, the other has information and questions to play a game with the cards.

Thank you, Jenn! We love them.

Again, I’m just posting my random notes from my homeschool folder. I don’t know where this came from.

Boring tasks:
1. Imagine it from your child’s point of view and acknowledge it’s not what they want.
2. Offer meaningful rationale for why this needs to be done.
3. Give as much autonomy as possible in doing the task.

Again, I don’t know where this list of ideas came from and apologize for not being able to cite the source.

The goal is to have a variety of natural items that stimulate the five sense. Obviously be aware of safety and choking hazards, these items would not to be supervised with mouthing babies.

Fir cones, pumice stone, loofah, shells, dried gourds, a lemon, large pebbles, avocado pear stones, a natural sponge, large walnuts. Woollen balls, large corks, small glass bottle, wooden nail brush, small raffia mat, toothbrush, bone shoe horn, shaving brush, housepaint brush, clothes peg, large curtain rings, small turned bowl, large beads on a string, wooden egg cup. Bunch of keys, lids, small egg whisk, metal beaker, lengths of chain, brass curtain rings, tea strainer, A purse, velvet powder puff, a bead embroidered purse, small teddy, bean bag, coloured ribbons, bag of herbs, leather specs case, leather key holder, small flannel. Various rubber balls, tennis ball, puppy ‘bone’, fur fabric, rubber tube, bath plug with chain, hair rollers and spoons.

For older babies add a wide range of containers – tins, yoghurt pots, ice cream tubs, baskets, wooden boxes, slide boxes, egg boxes, flower pots, handbags, wide-necked bottles, plus a wide variety of balls of different weight and feel and objects which roll like cardboard tubes, cotton reels, electric cable spools, men in a wooden boat or car, plastic or metal bracelets.

More ideas to add to the Busy Box. Some are activities to do with all kids, obviously needing supervision. Some of these are from sensory/therapy lists, too. (I apologize that I didn’t keep direct links.)

Ziploc bags w/zippers so kids can get into these by themselves.
1. counting cards – stickers, bingo counters
2. bead pattern on pipe cleaner – glue end ones, give extras to match
3. clothes pins w/numbers, attach to card w/number on it.
4. cutting sample – dark lines, sticker on end to cut to
5. toothpick punched art – black paper, white paper with dark lined shape, toothpick, towel under
6. tweezers, beads & sorting cups (medicine cups)
7. chalk & black paper
8. lacing card
9. cereal string necklace
10. beanbags
11. magnets
12. fishing rod & fish w/numbers or letters
13. button box
14. clothesline & clothespins to hang up things
15. egg carton and beans w/numbers in carton, ice cube tray
16. towel paper and paper towel rolls, small cars
17. I-spy water bottle (beans or rice w/things to find in it.)

- Create bean mosaics w/ beans and glue
- Find beans or popcorn kernels in playdough. (Place a dozen or so beans or kernals in playdough and mix it in well. It’s his job to squeeze the puddy around and find all of the beans.
- Make a clove-studded apple as a gift for someone…


- Make taffy or knead bread (the pulling and kneading is great!)
- Mazes books
- Squeeze bottles while cooking (mustard bottles, catsup, etc)


- Squeeze/ball into air toy
- Squirt Bottles (line up light toys outside, try to knock them over by squirting them with water)


- Squirt Bottles (get 2 equal bowls, fill squirt bottles w/ water. Throw 1 ping pong ball in each bowl. Race to see who can squeeze water into bowl fast enough to push ball out of bowl first)
- Stapler

I snagged this earlier but would have to amend with the new names.  :)

One family learns the names of the first presidency by singing their last names to the tune of three little Indians.

Hinckley, Monson, Faust and Packer,
Perry, Nelson, Oaks and Ballard,
Wirthlin, Scott and Hales and Holland
Eyring, Uchtdorf, Bednar

We’re using Webkinz for a lesson in money and C announces, “I wish there was a place on Webkinz to make presents.” He can buy Squeaks toys, but he cannot make them and he wishes he could create something for a holiday present.

How cute is that?

He did buy Squeaks some food – water, a healthy snack (bananas) and a treat (popsicles) and I didn’t even prompt that. I’m so proud of him.

Here’s a link to a Wikipedia article about common misconceptions in science, religion, and… stuff.

I found myself saying “very interesting” over and over while I was reading it.

It is by no means an exhaustive list, but read it. I know I learned something.

C is learning about measuring with feet and inches today in his Saxon Math (he knows this already, I just needed to show him the ‘ and ” though the text is not introducing that yet.) I was checking his work and saw that it said, “How tall is your teacher?” I wondered why he had asked my height. He had written in the answer (5′ 1″) but I don’t know why that made me grin. I’m his teacher.

So I go into Heidi and ask her, “Have you ever heard of the pistol shrimp?”

“No, why?”

“It snaps its little claw so fast, it creates a bubble which collapses on itself and sends out a shockwave that knocks its prey right out. The collapsing bubble produces heat equal to the surface of the sun.”

“Show me a website,” Heidi says.

I swear, I’m not making this stuff up.