I did a THING today in our homeschool journey.

I decided that my daughter's research paper was never going to get done, was scattered and was way too complicated.  I also decided that my sixth grader needed to learn the basics of how to do a research paper this year.

Mind you, we are finishing our school year THIS week.  WHAT was I thinking???

I decided to do "A Research Paper in a Day."

My husband thought I was crazy and perhaps he was right.  Not only did I decide that the ninth grader and the sixth grader would do a whole paper in a day, I decided  to bring the second grader in and have him do a simple one as well.  I AM crazy.

But... we did it. 

The younger two and I actually went the library yesterday afternoon to pick up several books.  I planned to have them use at least two internet sources as well so they would learn the basics of how to research using the internet and how to cite those internet sources.

We made note cards of our sources first.  Then we numbered those source cards and began to take notes on cards, referencing them to the sources with numbers.  Then we arranged the cards in the order we wanted to write about them and began to write.  My second grader wrote about a page and a half!  Yeah!  And it was really good.  My daughter finished before noon and my sixth grader just finished up a few minutes ago.

It was a harrowing day, very intense at times.  But in one day we conquered the research paper.  My children learned how to cite sources, plan a paper, research and put down ideas on paper that make sense.  They even learned how to make a title page. 

I guess this is one more neat thing about homeschooling.  When I notice a gap or need, I can spend a whole entire day working to fix the problem.  Yes, we did break for lunch, but we were able to concentrate on one thing for a whole entire day until we mastered it.

I think I like "A Research Paper in a Day."  But it will be another day in the distant future before we tackle a project like this again.