{Although a silly story (needing some tweaking), the science mystery experiment pictured above is both fun and worthwhile as you step away from the textbooks this Christmas season.  Enjoy the Christmas Cookie Mystery with Teacher Directions.}

Below is an article I wrote for CHEK’s December Newsletter.  I thought I’d post it here just in case some of you are overwhelmed this Christmas season.  

Are you tired yet?  By the time December rolls around each year, I’m ready for a break – only to find all the busy moments surrounding the Christmas season staring me in the face!  Instead of throwing in the towel on homeschooling in order to manage all the other to-do’s of December, we have “Christmas school”.  That’s a fancy term meaning we relax the regular schedule and make the to-do’s part of our school routine.

During these two or three weeks just before Christmas, the textbooks are often replaced with practical things such as menu planning, couponing, baking, party planning and decorating, shopping for presents on a budget, crafting homemade gifts, addressing Christmas cards, practicing for plays and musicals at church, and more.  We’ll spend extra time fitting in service opportunities, too.

We also replace our daily Bible routine with one that prepares our hearts to celebrate the birth of Christ.  There are so many different Bible schedules and Christmas devotions readily available, even some with learning activities!  I’ll mention just a few to get you started.  We love completing a Jesse Tree and have done this several different years.  We have completed several themed studies relating to Advent, the Symbols of Christmas, and the Names of Jesus.  We’re also suckers for good literature.  Our very favorite Christmas series is written by Arnold Ytreeide and includes three books (read one book per year) with readings every day of December leading up to Christmas day.   If you are new to this series, I would read them in the following order: Jotham’s Journey, Bartholomew’s Passage and Tabitha’s Travels.

Don’t let the craziness of December leave you feeling overwhelmed and spent.  Enjoy your family.  Enjoy your homeschool.  Enjoy the to-do’s.  Enjoy the extra-gushy time with our Lord and Savior.

If you’re interested in planning unit studies, you might like to check out my four-part series over at the Heart of the Matter.

• Unit Study Planning
• Project-Based Learning
• Planning a Small Unit Study
• Planning a Large Unit Study

I’ve posted several reviews recently at The Curriculum Choice that you might like to read, too!

• Don’t Make Me Count to Three
• Games for Learning
• Story Starters
• Exploring Creation with General Science
• Patricia St. John’s Books
• Piano Course for Christians
• Bluestocking Press Middle School Set
• Research in Increments

I found a FREE and truly WONDERFUL lapbook on Homeschool Share written by Jodi Small on the topic of Ancient Greece. Because I was in a hurry on planning day, I didn’t take the time to copy everything on pretty colored paper. 

The topic of unit studies here on my blog always generates a lot of interest and questions. I’ve started a mini-series of sorts about unit study how-to’s over at The Heart of the Matter.  This month I’ve given you an overview of how I plan and develop unit studies.  Over the next few months, I’ll talk about incorporating project-based learning into a unit and walk you step-by-step through the planning of small and large units.  I’ll link each article for you here.

Until then, hop on over to read this month’s article!  As usual, I’m happy to elaborate if you have any questions.

Speaking of Heart of the Matter…I’m speaking on the topic of living math during their online conference in February!  (Everyone who attends my session will receive a discount on the soon-to-be-released Loving Living Math – a book that will give you the know-how and confidence you need to add living math to your curriculum!)

Science and history have always been “together” studies.  In the past, we’ve almost always used unit studies for these subjects since they can so easily be manipulated to fit the needs of each particular child.  In other words, we can learn the exact same things together, but each child can complete projects, writings and/or tests that are on their own level.

Most of you know that I decided to go with Apologia’s Physical Science
this year.  Why?  I got scared.  I wasn’t sure my unit study approach could be doing a good enough job at the upper middle/high school level.  So, I jumped into physical science with the 8th grader, wondering what I was going to do at the same time with the 5th grader.  I’ve learned two things.

1. I was wrong.  I was doing perfectly fine creating my own unit studies!  Besides a tad bit of technical info, my unit studies were very in depth and could rival just about any textbook any day.  However, I have REALLY enjoyed the ready-made lessons this year.
2. The textbook – even though meant for middle/high school students – can still be used with multiple levels.  It’s taken just a tad bit of manipulation, but my 5th grader is moving right along with us most days.  On days when the subject matter is too tough, he does other things on similar topics – like reading library books, researching a topic on the internet, or completing a NaturExplorers activity.  (I have a post coming up soon over at Shining Dawn Books about how perfectly the NaturExplorers units have jived with textbook life!)

A little pre-planning was all I needed to turn the textbook into something both my children could use.  It took one short afternoon this summer to skim through the textbook and divide it into lessons.  For each lesson, I determined whether or not it was suitable for Caleb (the 5th grader).  If not, I wrote down a simple alternative lesson idea.  At the end of the day, I had the entire science schedule planned for both the 8th grader and 5th grader!

I’ve posted a sample of how I scheduled the lessons below, but first I’d like to share a few guidelines I used when planning.

• If the textbook lesson had an experiment, I almost always included Caleb.  Since I have him write definitions or draw diagrams in his science book as I read, I figure he’s picking up on much of what we’re discussing – and the experiment helps to cement that.
• If the textbook lesson presented something he was already familiar with, I almost always included him.  Having a beginning understanding of the topic goes a long way in being able to go deeper.
• If the textbook lesson was way too deep/technical/long, I stuck with the same subject and tried to pencil in an activity that he could complete independently.

Here’s a sample of my schedule from the first three modules of the textbook.

Module 1 – The Basics

1.1 – p.1-7 – with us

1.2 – p.8-18 – read library book about molecules and atoms

1.3 – p.18-24 – with us

1.4 – study/test – hands-on measurement worksheet in mm/cm/m, in/ft/yd

Module 2 – Air

2.1 – p.27-30 – with us

2.2 – p.30-33 – with us

2.3 – p.33-38 – with us

2.4 – p.38-40 – read library book about air

2.5 – p.41-45 – create mini-poster about air (You can see that poster in one of the photos above.)

2.6 – p.45-51 – simple experiment book about air, complete at least 3 experiments

2.7 – study/test – perform air experiments for family

Module 3 – The Atmosphere

3.1 – p.57-61 – with us

3.2 – p.61-66 – layers of the atmosphere internet research and draw poster (NaturExplorers activity!  The second photo above is his poster.)

3.3 – p.67-70 – with us

3.4 – p.70-75 – read library book about clouds

3.5 – p.75-76 – use NaturExplorers notebooking page to observe and label clouds

3.6 – study/test – NaturExplorers cloud making experiment with Mom

I am incredibly happy with our science plan this year and plan to (most likely) stick with Apologia sciences as Mahayla continues on into high school.  I will also (most likely) pull Caleb right along with her.  I’ll keep you posted as the years go on!

Here are some photos from our first unit culminating projects based on Creation and the flood.  At the end of each unit, Diana Waring has included a huge variety of project ideas.  Your children choose whatever most floats their boat as far as topic and learning style.  This time around, Mahayla chose to create a poster of the lineage of the Seed line up to the point of Noah and a demonstration with research about the effects of the world-wide flood.

Caleb chose to rewrite Genesis 1 and 2 in the form of a comical puppet show.

I haven’t even included pictures of the mapping, timeline, vocabulary work, poster projects and artist study we did!  I may put up another post of those soon, but more likely I’ll wait and try to include those in a unit 2 wrap-up.

Until now, I’ve never found a single curriculum that I haven’t had to add to in some way or another to make it exactly what I was hoping for.  This is even more perfect than I had imagined!

Side note: I’ve had several people ask me about the age appropriateness of this program.  I’m using it with an 8th grader and 5th grader.  The 5th grader is a tad bored once in a while when we get into more technical or drawn out readings or discussion.  That’s when I pull out the activities from the younger student activity guide.  To really get the full benefit from everything available in the curriculum, I’d say it’s most appropriate for 7th or 8th and higher.  I don’t have any regrets bringing the 5th grader along, but there are just some of the fascinating learning opportunities that are flying over top of him right now.  On his own upper elementary level, though, he’s gaining a ton from the study, too!  If you have the option, I’m just saying that I think waiting until upper middle and high school is better.  Hey, it can count for a world history credit if you wait!

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 Melissa and 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!

“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!

“To clarify, it sounds like you do one unit at a time, either a science-based one or a history-based one. Is that right?” Yes.  I have tried doing two at the same time – history a couple days a week, science a couple days a week and it never worked out well for us.

“I really want to do unit studies, but feel pulled toward a full curriculum so I’ll be sure not to leave anything out.” So many people – and I mean almost every one I talk to – feel like a prepared curriculum (ie. A Beka, Sonlight) gives them “everything” they need.  In other words, once their child is finished with 12 years of a particular curriculum, they will have learned all there is to know.  Certainly, your child WILL have a very solid education, but there is always more to know, no matter what curriculum your child uses.

Others really WANT to do all that certain curriculum choices offer, but find the assignments overwhelming and impossible to fit into a normal routine.  I have never wanted my children to literally be “doing school” for six or more hours a day just to say we got it all in.

Unit studies are a wonderful way to get learning in without being overwhelmed.  When we can learn about a science or history topic, complete research on that topic, include wonderful literature (reading skills), writing assignments, drama, speaking, etc.  – in other words, pull in all sorts of academic areas in one sha-bang (yes, that’s my own made up word) – then we’re getting SO much of what the boxed curriculum choices have to offer, but in a more compact, doable way.  In a way that is drastically more interesting and fun as compared to most boxed curriculum choices.

Will I leave things out over my children’s education?  Certainly!  (As will all curriculum choices.)  There’s way too much knowledge to be gained in this fast-paced world of ours.  I’m doing my best to give them solid instruction in the basics – readin’, writin’ and ‘rithmetic – AND preparing them with the skills they need to be able to find information they need to know.  At the same time, hopefully giving them a lifetime love for learning that will spur them to keep on gaining knowledge their whole lives.

“How do you decided what you are going to do each day? How do you break that down?” That’s a tough question to answer.  Let me say again that on most days we complete Bible, math and language arts lessons separate from the unit study, so they come first.  Afterwards, we jump into the unit study time.

So, on a typical day you might see us sitting together to read from the Bible, trudging through our Saxon lessons, going over multiplication flashcards, completing a grammar lesson, practicing spelling words, writing or typing something, and reading from a good book.  After the “main stuff” is out of the way, you’d find us doing one thing or another having to do with our unit study.  This could include one or more of the following: reading a book, researching on the internet, completing a lapbook activity, working on a project, performing an experiment or putting on a play.

How do I choose what we’re actually going to do each day?  Hmmm…that’s hard to explain.  If you remember the main unit plan I make, you’ll remember that I jot down activity ideas.  Well, over the weekend I try to sketch out a basic plan for the upcoming week.  It’s nothing fancy, just quick notes about which math lesson we’ll aim to complete each day, which grammar lesson, what writing projects… and what unit projects.  I simply look at my unit plans and jot down things I think we can tackle for each day.  Those plans don’t always work!  Some days we get so involved in a project (or the opposite) that my good intentions don’t happen.  That’s okay with me, though, I just readjust as the week rolls on.

Also remember that I said in the first post that I rarely ever complete everything on the unit plan list.  As we actually dive into a unit, I often realize that there are way too many ideas, or some of the ideas won’t fit like I had imagined, or I just don’t like them anymore.

No unit study day is ever the same.  (See, I told you this was hard to explain.)  If one day finds us reading a book and completing a lapbook activity, the next day might find us choosing final projects and diving into them, while the next day might find us cooking a themed meal for dad.  One thing I can tell you clearly, (and I hope it helps in some way bring a real answer to the question) in planning, I TRY to plan for about an hour’s worth of unit “work”.  My kids give up on me after an hour. 

If I’ve made this muddier than it is clear, please keep asking more specific questions so I can try to pinpoint a better answer.

“When you choose your artists/composers for the year, how do you choose?  Do you tie those studies into the four year history/science cycles?  Nature?  Seasons?  Holidays?  I’m getting really bogged down with how much there is to do!  So many options, so little time!”

You’re exactly right – so many wonderful learning opportunities with so little time to fit it all in!

I don’t have a four-year plan for artists or composers.  As I’m planning my year, I’ll pull out the NaturExplorers units that I hope to use monthly for nature study and see if there are artists or composers included that we haven’t studied yet.  I try to tie nature, artists and composers in together.  That doesn’t always work and that’s okay with me.

On months where I need to fill in, quite honestly, I just pull out my Discovering Great Artists book and my Great Composers Dover coloring book and choose someone we haven’t yet studied!  There is no rhyme or reason to my choices.  This is one area where I don’t worry about choosing particular artists or composers to go with our time period or unit.  You could, though.  It’s just something that hasn’t seemed overly important to me.  (Nor have I had the time to research who fits with which time period.)

As for nature study, I usually pick a monthly theme from the NaturExplorers units.  I try to choose a topic that will go well with the season.  Sometimes we ditch the topic of the month and just walk, or something else grabs our attention and we go with it.

I wasn’t really good at including artist/composer study until last year when I decided to set aside an entire day for these things.  One day a week, we only do math and a tad bit of language arts, then spend the rest of the day learning about our artist, completing art projects, learning about/listening to our composer, going on a nature walk and maybe completing some sort of experiment that goes along with our nature topic.

Whew!  Another long post.  Are you still with me?

How are your unit studies going?

We experimented with pitch based on the amount of air available for vibration in the jars. The more air to vibrate, the slower the sound waves move. Slower sound waves = a lower pitch.

Several activities helped us to see, hear and feel sound wave vibrations. This is the classic cup and string phone.

Sound waves can bounce off of objects or be absorbed into objects. The kids had to design various experiments to prove both facts.

Click on the graphic above to download a copy of the light, color and sound test I gave the kids.

And, finally, here’s the resource list that’s been in the sidebar.  For those of you following my unit study posts, the spines for the unit turned out to be two books I checked out from the library that included wonderfully illustrated experiments with explanations that covered just about every topic I had hoped to cover.  The list below includes the extras that helped me fill in when needed.

The spines were: Science For Fun: Light & Color and Hearing Sounds with Easy to Make Scientific Projects.

Light, Color and Sound

A-Z Home’s Cool Homeschooling Lessons

Heart of Wisdom Links

Links for Sound

Easy Fun School Music Study