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Before After
Observation We're learning about atmospheric pressure, so what are we looking at? |
Posted in Lesson Plans
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I spent today creating a daily lesson plan for our history studies next year. The kids' literature course dovetails into this plan. This lesson plan is suitable for students 6th-8th grade. We are a Catholic family, thus several biographies of saints are included on the reading list. I've tried to include a secular choice for each unit too. My kids love to read, and some of these titles will be books they read years ago. I'm hoping they will gain a more mature understanding of the historical conflicts and character virtues exemplified. I have always relied on a spine text and supplemented with living history books. This is the 8th year I've developed this kind of plan, but the first time I've shared it with others. You are welcome to use any whole or part of these lesson plans.
See day by day lesson plans HERE. Some of the literature we will be using includes:
Related Tags: history, literature, lesson plans, education, classics |
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Aside from the fact that I tend to be a compulsive planner, it really is time to start planning for the 2007-2008 school year. It's the perfect time for adjustments for THIS year based on desires for next year! First, I will have my oldest student in high school. Decisions on remaining independent vs. enrolling under an accredited school's umbrella, transfering high school credits, and college prep/entrance requirements are suddenly looming on the horizon. The first decison made, we will enroll in an accredited high school program. Second decison.....which one? In evaluating some of the accredited high school programs, Keystone and the Allied National High School, we decided we definitely desired a Catholic high school education. The accredited Catholic homeschool programs we explored include Seton Home Study, Kolbe Academy, and Mother of Divine Grace School. Seton offers a traditional, rigorous academic curriculm; Kolbe and MODG follow the classical education model. We have enjoyed several of the Seton classes through grade school including Religion, English and Reading/Literature. But we've always leaned toward the more classical model. Both Kolbe and MODG are also very literature-based which matches our educational goals and philosophy. Third........cost and support. The founder of Mother of Divine Grace, Laura Berquist, wrote the first book I read about classical education and homeschooling titled, Designing Your Own Classical Curriculum.
The book itself has been of great support and inspiration over the last 10 years and I have met Laura Berquist twice at homeschooling conferences. She is very real about our Catholic Faith and the development of children's faculties of faith and reason. I have followed many of her recommendations throughout K-8th grade. The high school program is designed as a college prep curriculum imbued with teaching Catholic history and morality. The high school program offers a degree of flexibility for families desiring to modify some coursework and teach some courses together. The tuition is family-based vs. student-based....a good value for larger families. Consultants provide three conferences/year to evaluate student progress and parent concerns. Teacher-assisted and Teacher-directed options are available for added direct support to the student. The first phase of enrollment applications for the 2007-2008 academic year are due this month for Mother of Divine Grace School. We decided to pursue this program as our own goals seem to best match those of the school, the cost is affordable and several degrees of support are available to meet our needs as we negotiate a college prep course of studies through the high school years. So, as it turns out, we really DID need to start planning for next year during the New Year!
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Posted in Lesson Plans
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In the year 2000, I perused a thick curriculum guide called The Prairie Primer. Although I found awesome cross-curricular ideas, I knew I wouldn't have the energy or the resources to do it all! So I rallied several homeschool moms to form a group study. The result? A small homeschool co-op which included ~20 students.
But let me be perfectly clear, you do NOT need a co-op to use the Prairie Primer effectively. It's just more fun! The hardest part about using the Prairie Primer guide as a family was to narrow our focus. I was tempted to follow every rabbit trail, but if I had, we'd never finish! The kids remember that year as one of our favorite years....any family could easily adapt this guide to fit their family interests and desires. As always, a nearby library for rabbit trails is always helpful! Whether you study as a family or as a co-op, the study topics, based on the Little House on the Praire book series are abundant! Some of our rabbit trails included studies of:
The culmination of the co-op activities included a play re-enacting a schoolroom scene from one of the books with costumes, props and an audience of proud parents and grandparents. I don't have complete documentation of all our studies....well I did, but that computer crashed! So this is not an exhaustive list. For us, Prairie Primer covered all our bases for history, science, and literature that school year. We added phonics and math and augmented with our own faith formation studies. Our librarian loved to see us coming and enthusiastically helped us with finding books about our chosen weekly theme. I attempted one science or history theme/week, otherwise we could still be using the Prairie Primer. One poignant memory is emblazoned on my heart related to our Prairie Primer year. We had moved to NY, temporarily, midway through the year to stay with my mom while she was on hospice. Everyday, we'd gather in her family room, with mom in her easy chair and the rest of us curled up on the sofa, reading our book chapters. She loved this time as much as the kids. We read The Long Winter there with her (and it was....a record 123 inches of snowfall). The last book we finished together with a big group hug and many tears closed with:
"Golden Years are passing by,
These happy, golden years."
My precious mom died of breast cancer at the age of 63 several days later. This happened 5 years ago this week.
Another little antecdote: My aunt, a retired librarian, wrote to Laura Ingalls as a young girl, telling her she liked her books and asking her how Almanzo was doing. My dear aunt sent me a photocopy of the handwriiten letter she received from Laura Ingalls stating that Almanzo had died, but she was enjoying a peaceful quiet life.
Thus, I am biased about the Prairie Primer....it is special to me on many levels. If you are looking for a family-centered curriculum guide for students K-6th grade, I happily recommend adding the Prairie Primer to your list of possibilitites.
What began as getting a few families together to optimize the Prairie Primer activities (and hold us accountable to stay on the suggested reading schedule), resulted in the birth of a small co-op of 8 families. I've since contributed as an author to the Catholic Homeschool Companion on the topic of co-op start-ups and have spoken at the St Louis Homeschool Conference about the same. This original co-op recently completed its 5th year of studies. Of course we completed the Praire Primer the first year and have tackled many other subject areas during ensuing years. The co-op has doubled in size since its humble beginnings. And the Prairie Primer was the impetus to it all.
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"Let your fingers do the walking."
Not only can your fingers walk through the yellow pages, your fingers can walk through the centuries of time. Are your history studies a bit dry some days? We've found a fun way to incorporate history, reading comprehension, narration/composition skills, handwriting/keyboarding and art. Making a Book of Centuries is not an original idea. But I thought if I detailed how simple this project can be, other homeschool families may enjoy starting their own Book of Centuries.
Each week my kids make a story page about a person, place or event studied in history. Filed chronologically in a very large 3-ring binder, they can literally turn the pages of time!
I have placed divider pages every 500-1000 years from 5000 B.C. to 500 A.D. By placing bible story pages and ancient history pages in chronological order, we learned to appreciate the biblical backdrop provided by ancient cultures. When the kids were younger, they wrote a title and a one/two sentence explanation.
Now they are older, so I ask them to write a paragraph. We inserted dividers every 100 years from 500 A.D. to present. The kids must research the exact location for a new story page not only by century, but in context with other events within the century.
I use blank copy paper for our story pages, but others have been much more creative. Maureen Wittmann graciously shares the forms she incorporates in their Book of Centuries.
A Book of Centuries can be anything you want it to be. Making a Book of Centuries is a fun way to record your history studies. My kids can thumb through 5000 years of story pages, laughing at their early artwork, critiquing their crooked primary handwriting, and recalling the rabbit trails we chased. Are you ready to turn the pages of time in your homeschool?
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Points will be awarded based on knowledge and mastery of the information, attitude/enthusiasm throughout, thoroughness and timeliness of the written assignments.
SOME OF THE BOOKS WE READ:
Related Tags: history, literature, education |
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Homeschool Tracker: My Organizational Secret
This is the third year I've used Homeschool Tracker software to keep me on my chosen course. I find summers are a great time to reflect on our progress and think about goals for each of my children for the upcoming year.
In my experience, my summer thoughts are filled with clarity and specific objectives for the next school year. Before using HST, by January and February, our days were clouded by uncertainties. I never knew if we were keeping up with my original intentions to finish an area of study or if my recordkeeping was adequate for creating future transcripts. Many mornings I wasn't quite sure what should be on our agenda for the day and half the morning was gone by the time we were back on course.
Since discovering Homeschool Tracker, our days have direction. I can manage our schedule and student assignments more effectively. I can print assignment lists, reading logs, chore lists, schedules, report cards, transcripts and more. Some people function well without organizational tools. When my memory was sharper, my children younger, and our outside activities at a minimum, I managed on my own. Alas, I am no longer young, my children are involved in a variety of outside activities and like to work independently in many of their subject areas. Homeschool Tracker has helped us stay the course toward our goals. |
Posted in Lesson Plans
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Fill one-fourth of a glass with vegetable oil. Add an equal amount of water and record results. Add an equal amount of maple syrup and record results. Add to the mixture a small rock, an olive, an ice cube and a small cork.
THINKING QUESTIONS:
What do you see? Which substances contain the most tightly-packed atoms? What conclusions can you draw about the density of an ice-cube vs. the density of water? Which variable most affects the density of H20?
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