Posted by Cindy on November 12, 2009
Have you ever heard of redneck paintball? I hadn’t either! Our preacher’s wife was in charge of the family event at church this month and her brilliant idea was redneck paintball. The kids had a BLAST! And, as you can see from the pictures above, my husband did, too!
The weapons are mustard or ketchup covered marshmallows. Each team is trying to approach the other team on the other side of the field to steal their flag without getting hit twice by the paintballs. FUN!! (And messy.)
That same morning, my nine year old decided the two year old needed a quick shave. The pictures were priceless!
Posted by Cindy on November 9, 2009
I’ve had lots of questions about the projects we complete as part of our homeschool life. I’ve even presented a workshop specifically concerning this topic, as well as including it as a topic in my most popular workshop “Creative Homeschooling”.
I’ve been wanting to write a blog post about incorporating projects into your homeschool for quite some time, but Jimmie finally gave me the kick in the pants I needed when commenting on my post about our Presidents of the United States study. So for Jimmie and everyone else who ever wondered, here are the basics about adding projects to homeschooling… 
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Why add projects?
- They encourage independent learning.
- They require creative and critical thinking.
- They require writing and research.
- They allow for choices.
- They allow for meaningful, hands-on experiences.
- They allow for varied learning styles to be met.
- They encourage real learning about a subject that isn’t simply memorized for a test and then forgotten.
Our methods of learning are continually changing – mostly because I want my children to experience all forms of learning and not become “stuck” when they’re required to do something later in life in a different way than they’ve learned. For example, if I only gave paper and pencil tests for every subject throughout their entire homeschool career, they would probably struggle when asked to complete a project at some point that requires creative thinking, the ability to put together a nice visual product and speak about it. On the other hand, if I never gave paper and pencil tests, this wouldn’t prepare them adequately for possible future tasks either. I hope this makes sense. I’m continually changing the approach so they’ll be prepared to handle whatever task is thrown their way!
Even more so, though, I feel like projects have helped my children understand and retain information greatly – as compared to simply learning about a topic and regurgitating the info back to me on a test. Why? Because they become part of the learning through their projects! In order to complete the project, they have to “know their stuff” about the topic AND put it together in an organized, thoughtful, expressive way. Besides this, we expect our children to present their projects – to further embed the learning and to become comfortable with verbalizing themselves. Believe me, just because they can put together a super project, doesn’t mean they can automatically speak about it. This is a separate skill to be learned, but just as important.
What are projects?
Projects can really be anything!
- play/skit/speech/storytelling
- story/report/book report/article/newsletter
- mobile/diorama/model
- experiment/demonstration
- scrapbook/poster/journal
- art/craft/cooking/other handicraft
How do I add projects to our learning?
This is a doozy, so I think I’ll break it down into a couple of areas:
When? By the time my children are seven, they’re introduced to the world of projects. I always complete the first projects alongside them. Once I see they’re capable of completing a thorough project without my help, I’ll be available as a resource for questions or ideas. By the time they’re in 5th grade (hopefully earlier), they’re expected to complete projects on their own with very little direction from me.
If you’re starting projects when your children are older, I suggest still working along side them at first and giving very clear expectations for final outcomes until they are able to complete a thorough project on their own.
When I say give very clear expectations, this is a little misleading. I typically give my children expectations that are open-ended. In other words, “I expect your diorama to show at least five important aspects of Native American life. I also expect that all surfaces with be covered and several 3-D models will be present.” This gives them a direction without me telling them exactly what to include and how to include it. Clear as mud?
Where? Most of the time, projects are interjected into our unit studies – which happen to be science and history related. A typical unit plan might be to learn about a topic together over the course of a week or more (depending on the subject.) At the end of the unit, I decide how many projects that unit warrants. For instance, if the unit was really long, I’ll expect five or more projects to be completed. If the unit was really short, one might be enough. They have a length of time to complete the projects, we set a date for presentations and the presentations become the finale of the unit.
I will usually come up with a list of several project choices from which my children can choose. I try to vary the learning styles required in the project list so my son who doesn’t prefer too much writing can find projects to suit his needs. Here’s a sample list of project choices I might offer if I expect them to complete THREE projects:
- file folder report
- diorama
- skit with siblings
- scrapbook page
- newspaper article
- commercial
In this list, all will require some reading, research and writing, but can you see how they allow for a variety of learning styles – writing, speaking, organizing, crafting, acting, etc?
We have also completed language arts projects such as bound poetry books and math projects such as grocery story price comparison charts. Remember that most any project is going to involve reading, research and writing – so language arts is always included!
As for grading, well, we don’t give many grades around here. We do talk about what was really good about the projects and what could be improved next time. Through my gentle direction, my children have quickly learned how to critique their work. (If not handled with care and lots of encouragement, this could turn into self-bashing. Don’t let them do that to themselves!)
If I’ve noticed that one of my children really needs to improve a certain part of their projects, I will simply include that more specifically in my instructions to them next time around. For example, one of my children was not very thorough in his/her research and writing during our past unit. When the next project time rolls around, I’ll be sure he/she chooses a project with plenty of writing and make it very clear how much of each I expect. You see, project time allows for choices, but mom’s still the boss! )
I sure hope this has been helpful and not muddied the water! Please ask whatever questions you may have and I’ll write a second post if I need to clarify anything.
You might find the following posts helpful in seeing some of the projects we’ve completed in the past.
Just in case you ever wondered, one of the things Melissa and I have included in the NaturExplorers units is project-based learning. Each unit gives several ideas for hands-on, writing/research and other projects you can assign!
Posted by Cindy on November 3, 2009
What a glorious time of year! In my part of the world, God’s creation is singing in brilliant colors and crisp notes. In honor of His magnificent show, I thought I’d center the theme around bits and pieces of Autumn Beauty. Enjoy the wonderful articles!
Nature Study
Julee from Abundant Harvest shares her family’s awesome nature study that came from an injured monarch in Nature Study – Butterfly.
Alicia from La Famille gives a great tutorial for making a dye from black walnut shells in Nuts About Dye!
Ritsumei from Baby Steps shares about her family’s recent trip to their local nature preserve in Critters and Moss.
Kris from At Home Science provides a nice list of living books and such for anyone planning to study rocks, soil or the earth in Geology Study Resources.
Barb at Handbook of Nature Study shares about one of her nature challenges in Outdoor Hour Challenge Autumn Series – Seasonal Weather.
Yours truly is sharing an article from Shining Dawn Books about Nature Study with a Toddler or Preschooler.
Art/Picture Study
Dana from Epi Kardia takes us on a how-to journey through picture study in Charlotte Mason Mondays – Picture Study.
I’d like to share a recent picture study resource review I wrote at The Curriculum Choice about Dover Art Cards as well as our latest artist study activities in The Thinker and Other Rodin Fun.
Living Literature
Keri from Sunny Scholars helps unmuddy the waters when it comes to finding good literature that’s also friendly to beginning readers in Readers.
Amber from The Mommy Earth shares how she and her children enjoyed a cozy reading time together in Book Review: Five Little Peppers.
Kris from Science of Relations provides a set of living literature for our reading enjoyment that focuses on history in Westward Expansion: Santa Fe Trail.
Jimmie from Jimmie’s Collage reminds us that even older children enjoy picture books, and she’s found several goodies in Picture Books for Middle School.
Science/History
Heather from Maple Hill Academy shares how she has implemented a family time line in Book of Years.
Barb from Harmony Art Mom shows us how she uses a traditional teaching text with CM flair in Apologia Physical Science with a CM Style.
Super Odds and Ends
Penny from Our Crazy Adventures in Autismland! gives us a glimpse into habit training in Bedtime Routine into Habit.
Richele from Under the Golden Apple Tree reminds us of the importance of leisure time in Masterly Inactivity.
Johnna from Living Charlotte Mason in California is the perfect ending to a cool weather carnival as she shares about her family’s adventure making Autumn Butternut Soup.
Thank you so much for visiting the Charlotte Mason Carnival today! Richele from Under the Golden Apple Tree will be hosting next time on November 17th. I hope you’ll consider submitting an article! Until next time, I hope your autumn days are spent in thankfulness to our Creator for His bounty!
