ST Aidens Newsletter 09/11/2007

Tuesday already, hope you all had a wonderful weekend and enjoyed family time on Sunday, being Grandparents' Day. We got very busy and created a digital scrapbook for my mum who celebrates her birthday today. It came out beautifully, although we should perhaps have stuck to printing on white cardstock to keep the original look and feel. It really is a fun family activity and I am gradually adding scrapbooking sheets and notepaper to each and every activity page that we have.

In keeping with our Countries of Africa series, a few more study units have been added and these can be accessed at http://www.staidenshomeschool.com/africa/countries/Africa-Countries.html. In addition to the study units, there are individual activities, crosswords, printable and interactive online puzzles that can be done. I love our interactive Maps of Africa, and find it is a great way to learn what country belongs where. I must confess to be improving in my location of the various countries as I study more about each one... I was sad before now :) http://www.staidenshomeschool.com/africa/interactivemapofafrica.html

For younger students there is a fun Flash Challenge at http://www.staidenshomeschool.com/africa/africageographyquiz.html and if you would like your own African Geography Challenge software, you can download it at http://www.staidenshomeschool.com/africa/africancrafts/AfricanArtsnCrafts.html

While working on South African pages I stumbled upon some really good videos of Zulu dancing in Northern KZN and Zululand, a must-see for anyone who has never experienced it. http://www.staidenshomeschool.com/south_africa/zululand.html

So too did I add a beautiful rendition of the SA National Anthem sung by PJ Powers and Miriam Stickley, including Xhosa. A little bit of nostalgia :) http://www.staidenshomeschool.com/south_africa/southafrica.html

A number of additions again to copywork units on nursery rhymes. I find this is a fun way to read and practice writing short passages, very necessary when one's daughter has the attention span of a sparrow... :) I have also included sheet music and midi files for many of the nursery rhymes. http://www.staidenshomeschool.com/nursery_rhymes_poems/NURSERY-RHYMES_With_activities.html

A few new Alphabet Tracing notebooks have been uploaded to http://www.staidenshomeschool.com/alphabet/ALPHABET2.html, one with pictures and the other with a pretty pencil theme. These files are in PDF format.

I hope to have themed notebooking pages or mini-notebooks up in the next few days, I will keep you posted on that. They have been created, it's just a matter of publishing them.

That's it for today. I'm sure you'll find good use for the links I have provided. As always if there is anything you would like to see that I am not showing quick enough, please drop me a line and I will do my best to get it uploaded for you. For smaller uploaded files, links, resources and local events please join the mailing list at http://goups.yahoo.com/group/staidenshomeschooling

Have a fantastic fun and safe week.

Blessings

Donnette