Dec. 1, 2006 - Early American History
The last couple of months have been filled with the study of Early American history. My mother-in-law has been teaching my children and 3 cousins history this year and the fall is a great time to study Christopher Columbus and explorers, as well as Native American Indians. The children have been having so much fun and learning a ton.
In addition to what the children do with Grandma, I also have them continue their history learning at home with hands on projects. Logan and Shelby built a wooden explorer ship with a kit I bought at the mall. They did a great job and it was not easy. he project did not come with detailed instructions, but with numbered pieces. By using the map of pieces and a picture of the finished product they were able to figure it out. But what I loved about this project was the character they gained in the process. They wanted to give a couple of times because it was getting too difficult and pieces were not fitting properly...but they either took a break and came back or they kept going...thus learning perserverence. It also took a lot of patience and diligence. Not to mention team work and the satisfaction and pride of seeing the project complete.
They have also been making lapbooks and doing reports on explorers. I hope to post photos soon.
All of the lapbooks we have completed so far have been homegrown...meaning not from a purchased kit.
The first one was on Christopher Columbus and included the following information:
* Maps of Spain and Portugal
* A diagram of a Spanish Explorer Ship with parts labeled
* A layered book of different instruments used by explorers (cross staff, back staff, quadrant, compass, chart and globe)
* A timeline of Christopher Columbus' life
* A map of the world with Columbus' 4 journey routes drawn in
* A picture of Columbus' banner and a drawn picture of his crest
* A pyramid book of latitude and longitude with the locations of Cuba, Genoa, San Salvador and Trinidad
They did a great job with these and even my 15 yo son enjoyed this.
They each did a report on a different explorer, including copywork of a poem about that explorer that we found on the internet...I'll see if I can find that link again.
Then we checked out books on different Indian Tribes and they lapbooked that information. I did an example for them to have as a guide. I did a lapbook on the Huron Indians including this information:
* Origin of the tribe
* The tribe's version of the creation story
* Maps of the region the tribs comes from
* Responsibilities of men, women, children and the family structure
* Crops they grow, what they hunt and things they eat
* Type of housing
* Clothing
* Means of travel
These turned out great and it happened that we all did a tribe that came from a different part of the country.
The best part of the hands on learning was the play they put on with the help of director Grandma. The 5 children played 16 different roles in the story about Squanto...with costumes, props, scene changes and the works. It was awesome. The kids did a great job memorizing lines and helping write, produce and put on this play. It was just in time for Thanksgiving and again, they learned character qualities that are much more important than knowing what the pilgrims had for the first thanksgiving dinner.
Hope you all are having a great time in your homeschool and hope you had a wonderful Thanksgiving...now let's get ready to Christmas.
Blessings,
