Posted by Cindy on December 16, 2010
She might design a purse!
Because of our Charlotte Mason style homeschool, I’ve encouraged handicrafts such as sewing, crocheting and knitting from the very beginning. I’ve enlisted the help of a 90+ year old neighbor, a grandmother and a 4-H sewing class – for, you see, I’m not good at any of these skills!
Mahayla had a friend over not too long ago and they spent the entire afternoon designing adorable purses. What a pleasure to know the gentle encouragement handicrafting has provided not only skills, but pleasure as well.
Posted by Cindy on June 28, 2010
I LOVE 4-H! We have awesome extension agents and helpers who are very serious about helping kids learn! Mahayla was able to take a sewing class this semester where they made laundry bags, pillow cases, backpacks, garment hanging bags and a roll-up for accessories. We still have one more lesson where the girls will make pajama pants, too!
Mahayla entered most of her sewing projects into the fair and won Grand Champion on two of them!
Between Mahayla and Caleb, they entered 14 different projects in the categories of sewing, homemade soap, canned veggies, beaded jewelry and art and came home with FIVE Grand Champion ribbons, 12 Blue Ribbons and 2 Red Ribbons. The Grand Champion items will go to the State Fair in August! (Caleb wanted me to insert here that his projects were only in canning, soap and art – he DID NOT make any jewelry or sew any girlie stuff.)
And together, they brought home $41 in prize money to boot!
Goat showing, well, it didn’t go quite as smoothly as planned. We were complete newbies – and everyone there knew it! Ha! From where to go and what to do, we didn’t have the first clue. Granted, after many required hours of goat and livestock classes we should’ve known what was going on, but the classes didn’t ever teach the practical side of show day. Oh well, live and learn is a saying that truly fits in this situation. We’ll know better next time. In fact, we were so lost that we completely missed showing goats during one round because we had no idea that we weren’t finished after the first showmanship round. There is apparently a showing class based on the weight of the goats that took place while our kids were screaming at the top of the ferris wheel! Oops!
Below is Mahayla with her Daddy. They were watching Caleb show goats. Caleb was able to watch a few more rounds than her, which gave him a distinct advantage in the ring. She’s busy telling her dad how ticked she is that he didn’t work his goat NEARLY as often or as hard as her, but was placing higher.
Eli was SO cute! And made everyone melt as he talked to the judge. Again, we had no idea the kids would be questioned by the judge, so that’s yet another thing we were unprepared for. But the kids held their own even under the surprise pressure.
Here’s Eli’s conversation with the judge. He didn’t skip a beat.
Judge: And what’s your name young man?
Eli: Eli
Judge: How old are you, Eli?
Eli: Two (He’s not, he’s three and a half!)
Judge: Wow! Two? (Eli shakes his head ‘yes’.) And what’s your goat’s name?
Eli: Sister, but this is my brother’s goat, Brother. (Eli’s goat had a hurt foot, so he showed Caleb’s goat, which Eli calls Brother.)
Judge: That’s a really long name! What do you like best about your goat, Eli?
Eli: When he pets me.
Judge: You like when the goat pets you? (Eli nods ‘yes’.)
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 May 22, 2009
It’s been in the works for about 6 months (and actually still needs a roof), but the big kids officially have a tree house!! It’s very rustic – which I love. The kids are already planning to deck it out in Boxcar Children-style! I’ll post indoor pictures when it’s complete.
Have a very blessed Memorial Day weekend! I hope the weather is beautiful where you are and you get to spend time with family and friends!
Posted by Cindy on March 12, 2009
The Slim Goodbody Bodyology Tour came through our area Monday. It was well worth the $6.00 ticket price! I even won a music CD for sharing an awesome muscular ability I have – being able to close one eye completely without closing the other at all. Now, how cool is that??
On Tuesday, our Homeschool 4-H Club had a special speaker who happened to be talking on the topic of nutrition. A perfect fit even if it wasn’t planned! After talking about healthy eating habits, they made some fun little critter snacks out of apples, raisins, pretzels, granola and peanut butter. Yum!
Our group usually gets to help bag take-home snacks for the needy children in our local schools. They always enjoy helping with this task.
