Wizard of Oz Lesson Plans

If you're like me and are just a bit fond of The Wizard of Oz, you'd be amazed at the homeschooling lessons you can do based on this old favorite. Firstly, if your kids are not familiar with the original story or movie you'll want to read the free e-book (link below) and check your TV stations, cable service, local library or video store for the movie. Want to watch it over? You can obtain your own movie copy, and lots of other Wizard of Oz stuff besides at Amazon.com.

I looked through some of the study options and picked out these favorite resources:

• WizardofOz.info - has a huge array of ideas which includes every conceivable subject from science and math to psychology and language arts. Armed with this you could spend the whole year on The Wizard of Oz if it sustained your attention.
• Reach some highbrow discussion and college level assignments from Web English Teacher.
  
• LiteraturePlace.com offers a downloadable guide for grades 4-6 at a cost of $12.95.
• Download the original story on e-book from Project Gutenberg.
  
• A 7th-8th grade drama unit from Yale.edu.
  
• Oz artifacts at the Library of Congress.
  
• Party ideas for 1-9yr olds at BirthdayPartyIdeas.com.
  
• More lesson plans from LitPlans.com.
  
• Items selling on Ebay.
  
• Usborne's Young Reading Wizard of Oz - perfect for 1st and 2nd grade young independent readers
• Teach with Movies - Wizard of Oz - suggested by Julie.
  

We all need a little magic in our lives. Enjoy!

Brought to you in association with Amazon.com - home of Amazon Video on Demand.

Happy Birthday Homeschooler's Guide to the Galaxy!

It's hard to believe it, but today, August 13th, 2009, is the 1st birthday of The Homeschooler's Guide to the Galaxy. In honor of this august occasion, I think a little reflection is in order. Herewith, some things I have learned, some posts others have enjoyed, some writing which still makes me glad I did it, and some great homeschooling (and not) friends I've made through my little blog.

Most Frequently Visited
I used to think it was somewhat possible to figure out how to get Google to send traffic here. The more I learn though, the more it seems to me a mystery. The following posts are the ones most visited, largely due to Google picking up on them for some inexplicable reason.

• Wizard of Oz Lesson Plans with 687 visits is by far the leader.
• Rocket Stove Cooking with 443 visits is one of my favorites. It is now being hosted over at Loving Nature's Garden.
• Sound of Music Lesson Plans with 250 visits clearly lags behind The Wizard of Oz in terms of popularity as a movie to teach with. I really enjoyed writing this one though.
  

Most Popular With You
You are more important to me than a casual visitor who happens here while searching for a lesson plan. I love your comments, but you keep me guessing as to what you'll enjoy reading and benefit from. Here are the posts which have attracted the most conversation in the form of comments. This time I'm excluding any posts on green/nature/gardening.

• In the clear lead with 15 reader comments is Santa = Books. This post was entered in a carnival and brought many new visitors over who appreciated what I said enough to comment. It is one of my favorites too.
  
• With 8 reader comments, My Family and Other Animals. I think we all love our pets. They are such an important part of our lives.
• And in joint third place with 6 reader comments each are Why Homebaked Bread is a Necessity and A Voting Story.

My Favorites
At this point I seem to have forgotten many of the posts I've written. Looking back through is giving me a nice little dose of nostalgia. Sometimes I even think, "Did I write that? It's not half bad!"

• I Admire You Because...
• A Hogmanay Tribute to Scottish Comedy
• Sunshine on my Shoulders...

And My Friends
You, dear reader and friend, are the reason I write a blog. I could write a diary, but for me this is about sharing. Who wants anyone to read their diary - a diary is only relevant to the author. I hope that during the last year I've brought you something good. I enjoy the conversation with you and I'm sure we'll continue to develop our friendship. Since you are reading this, you are on my list of people I'm thankful for and who's friendship I enjoy :-)

It's hard to believe it's been a whole year since I started this journey. I've learned many lessons here, made mistakes, moved ahead, shared in your world. I'm sure my kids have learned a ton second-hand through my journey. It's a great journey and I look forward to the future and to our continued connection.

I'll leave you with my first ever post which I hope conveys some of the joy I feel in exploring on the learning journey: I Love to Go A-Wandering.

Over the Rainbow

If you'd have told me when I was six years old that I'd end up living in Tornado Alley, I'd likely have thought you were 'Over the Rainbow' yourself! What were the chances of a wee Scot who's biggest adventure was exploring a weed patch at the end of her street ending up living in the place that Dorothy was whisked away from?

Well, somehow I ended up Over the Rainbow, but in Kansas, not in The Land of Oz. Yesterday I spent over an hour in my basement watching radar pictures and storm commentary on our emergency TV. I feel fortunate though, whilst I would not have to worry about tornadoes if I'd stayed put in Scotland, I'm glad I moved somewhere with tornadoes and not hurricanes! I've not seen the news today, but I'm guessing it's not pretty - I hope the help this time is what these people need.

It's amazing how every topic can turn into an exploration. A google search on "wizard of oz" lesson plan turns up a whole host of ideas for further learning. I'm going to take a look at them later today and make a note of the best ones here.

Free E-Books at the World E-Book Fair

Between now and August 4th you can download a selection of free E-books at the World E-Book Fair. Here are some links to check out:

• World E-Book Fair - the whole list of books.
• Children's Literature Collection - includes A Child's Garden of Verses by Robert Louis Stevenson, A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court by Mark Twain, A History of Animals published in 1843, A Journey to the Center of the Earth by Jules Verne, and Abducted to Oz by Chris Dulabone.
• Classic Literature Collection - includes Heidi, The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde, Treasure Island, The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, Dracula, 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, Frankenstein, The Time Machine, Beowulf, The Case Book of Sherlock Holmes, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, The Art of War, Robin Hood and Hamlet Prince of Denmark.

There's nothing beats a good read, unless it's a good read for FREE! I just read A History of Animals. What is particularly interesting is the definition of TOYS - take a look at the back page of this book to see what I'm talking about.

The Power of Google Analytics

Google Analytics is a neat little tool for the website and blog owner. I won't attempt to explain what Google Analytics does, because Google have cornered the market on doing a good job of that. I will, however, let you know that daily perusal of Google Analytics will not only tell you where your visitors are coming from, and whether anyone at all likes your writing enough to come back, but it can lead to a good few, free laughs!

One of the categories of information provided by Google Analytics is Keywords. You get details of the words people punched into their search engine, which turned up your website/blog and caused them to visit. Am I weird to be fascinated by this? I don't know, but I think it's useful information. For instance would you ever have guessed that the most common reason people reach my blog here is because they are searching for Wizard of Oz Lesson Plans? Try it, search on this phrase, or something similar, and my humble, little blog comes up on the first page of Google results! Well, that may be surprising, but it's not terribly amusing. Hold on, just getting to it...

Here is a list of the more unusual keyword combinations that have found my blog in the three months that I've been blogging:

• as i go a wandering - I hope they got there.
  
• flintstone's premiered-1960 - I don't remember mentioning the Flintstones!
  
• "hedge apple" ethanol - wonder what they were planning...
  
• 10 nice people attributes - apparently people don't know what qualifies as nice any more!
  
• 47d608ad36f318f572b6b4c232 - well, no clue on this one.
  
• arr where's me booty - not on my blog for sure!
  
• canada economy materialism - did I talk about this?
  
• galaxy bits - was this the candy/chocolate galaxy, or are we falling apart?
  
• google analytics zero views - I guess someone wanted to know how to make their blog invisible, which brings us to...
  
• guide to become invisible - I'm lost for words!
  
• i admire you for raising your children - thank you, I appreciate that.
  
• it's a braw bricht moonlicht nicht the nicht robbie burns - my favorite - who ever typed such a lo....ng search term?

So, have people used weird search keywords to find YOUR blog? For personal security purposes it might be worth knowing!

Brought to you by GreatFunBooks.com - the home of fun reading for kids.

Ideas to Benefit Your Family

I've been thinking hard about what to share with you to benefit your family. Thanks to those who already completed my poll, I see that homeschooling and saving energy are your two biggest interests. If you've not yet completed my poll, please do take a minute to do so and let me know what I can provide.

Coming up for you here:

• More Movie Madness - lots of ideas on how to jump off movies into homeschooling or just family activities. If you liked The Wizard of Oz and The Sound of Music I have plenty more ideas.
  
• Make a Change for our Earth - ways to do things better, save energy, learn about our planet, or even just explore ideas and maybe change your thinking a bit. If you liked my Permaculture Roundup, Green Improvements List, and/or Air Dry Your Laundry Outside. I'll have more related to this with updates on my progress (or not) and links to products and homeschool ideas.
• Weekly Celebrations - a new thread on some of those crazy, fun, thought provoking, or historical celebrations like Talk Like a Pirate Day and Johnny Appleseed's Birthday (September 26th).

Of course I'm going to complete my journey through the 10 Attributes and no doubt I'll be wandering off to find other things I've not yet thought of. I do have 3 other threads that I'm keeping a secret for now!

Happy Reading :-)