Alicia from La Famille and her children spent some time studying landforms this past school year and created a diorama of each topic they covered. We found their dioramas to be excellent examples of how to prepare a complete and visually pleasing diorama. You’ll notice each of the dioramas include:

• Full use of the space in the box
• Realistic landforms
• Entire habitats – food, water, shelter, and animals that live together
• Creative use of materials from plastic figures to magazine cut-outs to clay shapes
• Lots of color
• Plants and animals to-scale as close as possible

The Desert

"We made some clay snakes and cacti, used cornmeal for the sand, and added some "tumbleweeds" we found in the yard."

The Mountains

"...papier mache mountains, some rocks, and little mountain animals."

Cindy's note: Notice the use of paper mache, real rocks, plastic toys and magazine cut-outs - all tied together wonderfully.

The Woodlands

"Noah painted pine cones we gathered to make the trees. We painted some little wood thingies to look like toadstools...and most of the other stuff we found at the crafts store."

Cindy's note: This is my favorite! Notice the background magazine trees in comparison to the foreground pinecone trees. I also love all the attention to detail!

Thank you, Alicia, for creating wonderful dioramas with your children and allowing us to share them here!

Alicia is a CM-loving, busy homeschooling mama of three. School days at her house consist of lots of living books, short lessons, exploring nature, unit studies, hands-on activities, and plenty of time to learn by playing! When she’s not teaching her kiddos, you can find Alicia jogging, reading, cooking, studying her Bible, crafting, sewing, or watching movies with her sweetie.

You can see each of the original posts about their landform studies by clicking on the links below.

• Deserts
• Mountains
• Woodlands

Related posts:

1. Fungi of Summer/Late Summer

Better Than Book Reports is book is full of great ideas for projects as they relate to literature.  I’ve found the project ideas easily transferable to research/history/science topics as well.  The following three are very similar to this one, but I’m finding that they are probably out-of-print.  I’ve linked you to their webpages anyway since they can all still be purchased through Amazon new/used sellers.

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Student Product Development & Evaluation was sent to me as a review product.  Although not quite as visual, there are lots of very thorough ideas – especially project ideas for older children and teens.  A large list of project ideas is given, with about 40 of those ideas fleshed out for you with book lists, websites and possible rubrics.  This is not my favorite of the books I use for ideas, but it has it’s place, especially for the upper school years.

Easy File Folder Reports is simple for mom and children.  Each topic has reproducible pages where your child fills out the papers during their research and attaches them to a file folder.  Usually, a small hands-on project is suggested for a 3-dimensional addition to the report.

I know you hear about the NaturExplorers units all the time, but I have purposely designed the writing and research activity ideas in the units to be project-based.  In other words, with most of the writing and research suggestions,  projects like creating file folder reports, dioramas, posters, charts, models and much more are  part of the activities.

The following site is helpful, too.

More Ideas Than You’ll Ever Use for a Book Report

If you have any other resources for finding project ideas, please comment!

Related posts:

1. Project-Based Learning
2. Project Q & A
3. Seasonal Ideas

“In regards to projects and presentations, how do you gently help improve the note taking, thoroughness of information and actual presentations?  I know some of this will come with practice, but I’d like to improve on these things without stifling my child’s enthusiasm.”

Yes, better projects and better presentations come with practice.  But, like anything else we teach, if we let too many things slide this time around, how will our children know what to improve upon next time?

During and just after presentations, I give lots of praise.  Not fake praise that simply puffs my children up, but real praise.  “I love the book you chose.”  “It seems like you put a lot of time into your research!”  “I can tell you really thought through the use of materials for your diorama.”

It’s hard to give presentations – even in front of your own family!  During a presentation, your child is making him/herself very vulnerable and immediate criticism will stifle future presentations for sure.

Usually the next day, during our normal unit time, I’ll jump into any constructive criticism that needs to be discussed about the project or presentation.  Again, I’ll always start with something positive before talking about the negative.  Here’s how a conversation might go…

Dad and I were very impressed with your speaking yesterday.  You remembered to keep your head out of your notes and look your audience in the eye!  We could hear every word you said, too, which was a big improvement over your last presentation.  Let’s talk about two things that stood out to me as needing a little work next time around.

Think about your poster.  You spent a lot of time researching about Teddy Roosevelt, but I could tell you didn’t spend as much time making sure your poster was neat and organized.   Do you agree?  What do you think went wrong?  Did I not give you enough time or did you get tired of the project and rush to finish it?  What are some specific things you can do next time around to improve the visual appeal of your project?

One other thing I noticed was a big gap in the information you presented about Teddy Roosevelt.  You told us a lot about his life before becoming president and several fun facts about his presidency, but I felt like the important work during his time spent as president was lacking.  Again, it almost seemed like you started your project with a lot of gusto, but puttered out towards the end.  Why do you think the second half of the report wasn’t as thorough as the first?

Every single time I’ve taken the time to gently discuss the major problems of a project, my children have improved on those aspects in following projects!

Here’s the catch, though!!  Even if you see 10 things that really need improvement, try to focus on only one or two at a time.  They can only process so much, and hearing about too many things at once will seem more like tearing them down causing LESS effort next time.  As you talk about one or two main issues, you may be surprised to find your children paying better attention to the other issues that you didn’t even mention anyway!

One other thought that comes to mind is the use of a rubric to give your child a basic guideline of your expectations.  Basically, a rubric tells your child what you expect from the project in order to gain a specific grade or score.  See sample rubrics here.  You’ll have to click on a link to see the particular rubric.  Scroll down a bit to the “Research Process Rubrics” – they go along well with presentations.  Take some time to go through the other subjects as well, then look near the bottom to find “Creating Your Own Rubrics”.

I don’t always use rubrics.  Quite honestly, they take time to create and time is of the essence around here!  But, when I have taken the time to create one, my children have ALWAYS done better on their projects.  They tend to reach farther if they know where the higher goal sits.  Something to think about for you and me!

Related posts:

1. Project-Based Learning
2. KY Project Presentations
3. Keepers At Home Service Project

The emails I’ve received have all been similar in the basic four questions I tend to be asked.

1. How do you choose what you study each year?
2. How do you plan your units?
3. Is there any sort of curriculum you follow?
4. How do you not overload?

I’ll take a few minutes to try to answer these questions in a way that makes sense.  (Planning is a very personal thing, so I have a hard time articulating how I plan sometimes.)

How do you choose what to study each year?

Our unit studies typically revolve around history and science.  Although I consider myself a Charlotte Mason style homeschooler, I follow the Classical model of a four-year cycle in the areas of history and science.  Basically, that means every four years we will be covering similar topics with the depth of understanding and expectations growing each time around.  Here’s the plan I’ve followed from the beginning:

• Year 1 – Ancient History / Biology
• Year 2 – Medieval History / Earth & Space Sciences
• Year 3 – Early American History / Chemistry
• Year 4 – Modern American History / Physics

Of course, I don’t limit myself to only doing these units or studies each year.  I do make sure each of these are covered in their appropriate year, though.  I also include nature study (biology) each and every year.

I used to follow The Well-Trained Mind’s plan of history three days a week and science two.  For me, this seemed to drag each study out way too long.  I opted to create my own units to cover the history and science concepts in blocks of time and I haven’t turned back.  (With the exception of chemistry last year.  We did chemistry a couple times a week while history units were done in chunks of time.)

My children and I really like delving into a particular history or science subject.  We’re able to check out all sorts of library books, books on tape and videos that go with the theme.  We’re able to include whatever math, language arts or other subjects that might fit with the unit.  We don’t have to stop learning about something just because we’ve already done history three times in the week.  And, we’re able to end the unit and move onto something else when we’ve soaked in all we can handle.

How do you plan your units?

I always start by gathering information and supplies.  For instance, if I’m going to do a unit on Slavery in America, I’ll start by going through all my files, curriculum guides and bookshelves to see what I already have by way of ideas and resources.   Oh, and I’ll also check my computer files for e-books and other resources I’ve stashed away.

I think I need to stop here and remind you that I keep fairly organized files, shelves and computer files, so the initial gathering of materials doesn’t take long at all.  All my resource books for history are placed in chronological order on a bookshelf.  I also keep file folders on various topics.  As I come across a great idea that I don’t want to forget, I copy it or tear it out from a magazine and file it in the appropriate folder.  You can get a glimpse of my file cabinet here.  I also keep history related literature together on a bookshelf so they are easy to find as well.  And, I suppose you might like to know that I have a folder on my computer for each academic area, so I can stash e-books in an organized way.

If I don’t have many resources on my shelves already, I’ll go to the internet next and type in searches for free units based on the topic I’m planning.  This will usually lead me to more information than I care to have, so I limit internet searching as much as possible.  From my resources, I start a list of important topics I feel need to be covered.  I simply jot them down in a notebook.  As I make topic notes, I’ll also jot down great activity ideas or literature suggestions I run across from the resources.

All of this eventually fleshes out into a full unit!  I NEVER get to all the activities that are jotted down in the initial planning.  As the unit progresses, I pick and choose what will work best based on how my children are responding to the study.

I might note here that during the planning stage, I almost always pick out one or two pieces of living literature for my children to read during the unit.  Plus one or two that I will read aloud and/or we’ll listen to on tape/CD.  All of our units rely heavily on living literature!

Either as I’m planning the unit or as we come to the end of it, I’ll be thinking about final projects.  You can read more about our projects here.

(I know this seems confusing.  I’m trying to write it clearly, but it would be so much easier for me to have you over for some tea and cookies and just show you this process.  It really isn’t as hard as it looks!)

Is there any sort of curriculum you follow?

When we’re talking about unit studies, the answer is yes and no.  If I come across a really great curriculum guide or library book with most of my topics covered, I’ll often make that my “spine”.  In other words, I will use that book for the majority of our studies, but I never hesitate to add or take away from that book.  An example of this would be using a prepared lapbook unit.  That lapbook unit will provide much of the material for our unit.  If I come across a hands-on idea that seems like it will help the children understand something better than the particular lapbook activity, I’ll ditch the lapbook activity and do the hands-on idea instead.

I have used in the past, and probably will use in the future, some really good curriculum for my unit studies.  I just rarely use them “as is”.  In other words, I use them in ways that meet our family’s needs rather than how I’m “supposed” to.  Some examples of great unit study type curriculum would be Story of the World, Mystery of History, prepared lapbooks from any company, Apologia Elementary Science, Considering God’s Creation, Diana Waring elementary materials, and Beautiful Feet units.  I’ve never used any of these “as is”, but they have each been great “spines” at one time or another.

How do you not overload?

Well, this question could actually have two meanings: How do I not overload myself as I go about planning and preparing units? AND How do I make sure not to overload my children with the unit?

1. How do I not overload myself as I go about planning and preparing units?  I’ve been doing this a long time.  In the beginning, I did overload myself.  I spent WAY too much time planning, preparing, scouring the internet, searching the library, etc.  Overplanning will burn you out on preparing your own units faster than anything else!

My best tips are:

• Don’t plan too many units per year. (I only plan approximately six per year.)
• Use a good spine like a prepared hands-on curriculum and tweak it to fit your needs.
• Don’t try to pull in too many resources for ideas.
• Try to get as much planning done as possible during school breaks.  (I get the basic planning done for all units over summer break.)
• Don’t try to teach everything about a subject and don’t try to do every wonderful activity you come across.
• Keep units shorter, rather than dragging them out too long.

2. How do I make sure not to overload my children with a unit?  Oh, I have!  And, believe me, I knew it!  When you’ve planned too much or the unit has gone far too long, your children will not hesitate to let you know they’re tired of the subject. 

I’ve tried to keep my units shorter and save project time for the rabbit trails that interest my children most.  This way they get the basics, while delving deeper into parts of the unit that are most meaningful to them.  We all win that way!

Please feel free to ask questions!  I’m sure I haven’t covered everything.

Update:  You can find answers to several questions from this post by visiting Unit Study Questions Answered.

Related posts:

1. Unit Studies
2. Early American Explorers Unit
3. Wildflower Studies

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… )

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.

• Presidents of the United States
• US Geography
• Slavery and Civil War
• Westward Expansion
• American Revolution
• Native Americans
• Kentucky History
• Weather
• Astronomy
• Chemistry
• Poetry at the Coffee House

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!

Related posts:

1. KY Project Presentations
2. Learning Centers
3. Embriodery Project