Help! I can’t think of project ideas!
Never fear, I have a huge list of ideas for you. Let your children be in on choosing the projects as often as possible. Since the project is supposed to be “theirs” anyway, helping to choose the project will go a long way in accomplishing this!
- Active Game
- Advertisement
- Artwork
- Billboard
- Biography
- Board Game
- Brochure
- Build
- Cartoon
- Cereal Box Report
- Chart
- Children’s Book
- Comedy
- Compare/Contrast Paper
- Comparison Poster
- Complete a Task
- Compute
- Cooking
- Costume
- Craft
- Dance
- Design a Puzzle
- Diagram
- Diorama
- Display
- Experiment
- Fictional Story
- File Folder Report
- Fix Something
- Flip-Book
- Game Show
- Graph
- Handicraft
- Historical Fiction
- Instrumental
- Interview
- Invention
- Journal
- Lapbook
- Lesson for Younger Children
- Letter
- Letter to the Editor
- Magazine Article
- Magic Act
- Map
- Mobile
- Model
- Monologue
- Musical
- Mystery
- Newsletter
- Newspaper Article
- Novel
- Opinion Paper
- Organize
- Paper Bag Report
- Personal Narrative
- Photography
- Plan (Party, Shopping Trip, Chore Schedule, etc.)
- Play
- Poem
- Postcard
- Poster Person
- Power Point
- Puppet Show
- Recitation
- Research Paper
- Scavenger Hunt
- Science Fair Board
- Service Project
- Show What You Know Any Way You Like
- Skit
- Song
- Speech
- Start a Business
- Timeline
- Video
- Website
I also have a Pinterest Board just full of Project-Based Learning Ideas.
Tomorrow is the last day of this series. I’ll share some of the best-of-the-best project-based resources I’ve come across over the years. Don’t miss it!
This post has been linked to iHN’s Spring Blog Hop. Be sure to click the graphic above to find other 10 Days series written by some of your favorite homeschool bloggers.
This post contains affiliate links. Read my entire disclosure here.
Why Logic?
In the teacher’s lounge at co-op this week, we talked about the importance of adding logic into your homeschool from PK-High School. You’ve heard me say it many times before, but here’s WHY I think logic is so important…
Our children need to know how to think. With the ability to think, almost any topic at any time can be learned and/or thought about critically. Christian children who will go out into this devil-trodden world absolutely MUST be able to think critically. Their very {eternal} life depends on it.
Formal vs. Informal Logic
Most people would argue that a child’s mind isn’t ready for “formal logic” until at least middle school, and I agree. That doesn’t mean you can’t teach any logic. Introducing what I call “informal logic” early begins to train the mind to think critically, solve problems, make connections, and understand that deep thinking & perseverance are important attributes.
What’s the difference between the two?
Informal Logic includes analogies, if/then statements, all/no statements, patterning, classification, problem solving activities, mind-stretching games, matrix puzzles and more.
Formal Logic is more about finding fallacies/truths in arguments and defending/debunking arguments. A healthy dose of informal logic goes a long way in preparing a mind to go deep with formal logic when the time comes.
How To {Easily} Add Logic To Your Schedule
First and foremost, if you start early and make it fun, your children will LOVE logic and beg to do it. Why? Puzzlers, board games, card games, hands-on sorting and so much more make up informal logic – what kid wouldn’t love that? Luckily, there are tons of wonderful (and inexpensive) resources available to you – and they’re super easy to implement.
I’ve shared many of those resources with you before. This time, to get you started fast and easy, I’ll give you my top three choices of books and games for various age levels. Pick one and dive in. You’ll love it!
PK-2nd
3rd-5th
Middle School
High School
Games
Oh, my goodness. There’s simply no way to choose just three games! Here’s a {really short} list of my faves. Most of them work for various age levels.
Qwirkle
ThinkFun Rush Hour Jr.
Set
Zoologic
Equilibrio
Mastermind
10 Days In The USA
Some Lessons To Do Today
I’ve blogged about many of our logic lessons before. Below are some of the most popular posts.
Questions? Just ask.
Sadly, the formal study of economics is left out of most of the curricula I’ve run across in my 11+ years of homeschooling. An understanding of economics is EXTREMELY important as our children grow up to care for a family, learn to tithe and give, and become the financial leaders of our country.
Unless we took an economics course specifically in high school, or more likely college, I venture to say most Americans today don’t have more than a surface understanding of managing our own money – much less how the government officials (who are supposed to be accountable to their well-informed citizens) are managing our money in the larger scheme of things.
Is economics something that can only be understood and taught at the high school or college levels? No way! We should begin teaching economics principles as soon as our kids understand the worth of money.
And just how to we go about this? Homeschool Economics!
In the earliest years, our family starts with chores, allowance and a saving/spending/giving model; we teach them the hard work and satisfaction of saving for big ticket items; and we make sure there are lots of opportunities for giving with joy. As opportunities present themselves, we introduce economics vocabulary into our conversations.
During the elementary years, we use literature to help us demonstrate some more formal economics concepts in a laid back way. I’ve shared about one of those lessons in this post about productive resources. We also try to plug in at least a few field trips that lend themselves to economics discussions – factories, a bank, a grocery store, farms, having a good conversations with any business owner. Really, just about any trip can be turned into an economics-themed trip – even a trip to a pioneer fort where you discuss trading goods.
In my quest to raise economically smart children, I’ve used many tools and come across others that are waiting in the wings for the right time. I’ve included all of them below. The * indicates those that are tried and true resources.
Elementary / Middle School
Curriculum:
Teaching Economics Using Children’s Literature
*
Striker Jones: Elementary Economics For Elementary Detectives
and Teacher’s Companion
Junior’s Adventures: Financial Peace
Online Lessons:
Literature-Based Lessons from KidsEcon Posters *
EcEdWeb Lessons, many are literature-based *
JMU Center for Economic Education
Children’s Literature List with Key Economics Concepts
Middle / High School
Curriculum / Textbooks:
Whatever Happened to Penny Candy?
*
Common Sense Business for Kids
*
Capitalism For Kids: Growing Up To Be Your Own Boss
*
Economics in a Box
Exploring Economics
Dave Ramsey Financial Peace University DVD Home Study Kit
*
Money Matters for Teens
The Myth of the Robber Barons: A New Look at the Rise of Big Business in America
Starting a Micro Business
Online Lessons:
15-question economics quiz *
Homeschool Economics – unit study of sorts
EcEdWeb Lessons, most of these are very good *
Currency Exchange Mystery
Playdough Economics *
For Various Ages
Computer Games:
Chocolatier
Lemonade Tycoon
*
Favorite Literature for Teaching Economics Principles:
What about you? How do you teach economics?
My sweet friend, Tricia, and her mother have been treating us to pastel tutorials over at Hodgepodge for quite some time. I’ve enjoyed those posts so much! Chalks are very forgiving, making it easy for children to find success quickly. There are many other benefits to using pastels, too:
- Preparation for the projects is quick and simple.
- Projects only require a few tools.
- Chalks can be used by all ages at once.
- There is relatively little mess to worry about.
Now, much to my excitement, Tricia and Lucia have put together an entire e-book of pastel tutorials for us! A Simple Start in Chalk Pastels contains 45 lessons – more than a year’s worth if you use one lesson per week!
The lessons are conveniently divided into the themes of landscapes, weather, trees, birds, flowers and butterflies, food and seasonal topics. Since I often tie art together with nature study, the nature topics have been especially useful to me!
I am NO artist. Really. My children and I have achieved beautiful finished products every single time we’ve followed Tricia and Lucia’s tutorials. It’s so wonderful to feel like an artist when looking at the end result! (The conifers below were completed by children 4-14 years old.)
Each e-book tutorial begins with a photo of the finished project, followed by a short list of supplies and some quick tips for success. Step-by-step directions and photographs take you through each project from start to finish. Directions are clear, concise and friendly. It’s almost like Tricia or Lucia is standing right over your shoulder encouraging you the whole way through!
For those of you new to using pastels, a thorough introduction to their use is included. This covers everything from where to find pastel chalks and how to organize them to dealing with the chalky hands and storing your art projects. You’ll even find links to two bonus video tutorials!
At the end of the book, Tricia and Lucia have provided wonderful, rich links for practical use of pastels in your homeschool. There’s even a section teaching you about special considerations when doing art with little ones.
This book is a gem! Learn more about A Simple Start in Chalk Pastels by visiting Hodgepodge.
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Filed Under: Art
In this final installment of my unit study series, I’m going to share with you how to design a unit study that is fairly in-depth. For those of you new to this series, you can catch up by reading…
In this post, I’ll walk you through how I plan for a large unit study, in particular Slavery and the Civil War. This study lasted about ten weeks!
How do I go about putting together a thorough study on such a large topic?
1. I gather all the resources I currently have in the house – resource books, files, e-books, and living literature.
2. If I don’t have much, I browse the internet for free units and lessons plans. If I’m still lacking, I search my local library’s database.
3. I go through all the resources looking for main topics that need to be covered in the unit.
4. Once the main topics are listed, I go back through the resources and start jotting down activities and/or literature that will cover each topic.
5. My list is usually way too large, so I whittle it down to the best ideas and start making a list of supplies I might need – including any library books that need to be checked out.
6. I don’t worry about covering every single subject within one unit study. Why? Partly because I already use separate math and language arts curricula, so it’s not imperative that I incorporate all subjects. And partly because the end-of-unit projects will cover a large selection of academic areas.
7. I don’t schedule activities until right before I’m ready to use the unit. Even then, I only schedule one week at a time in case we go over, take a rabbit trail or need to make other adjustments.
8. Once we dive into the unit, I start brainstorming a list of potential end-of-unit project choices. I might also start accumulating questions for a “final exam.”
Now, let’s take a more practical look using my example of Slavery and the Civil War.
I have taken numbers 1-8 above and made specific planning notes below.
1. I own: The Underground Railroad for Kids
, The Last Safe House: A Story of the Underground Railroad
and Civil War Days: Discover the Past with Exciting Projects, Games, Activities, and Recipes
.
2. I have plenty of in-house resources, but decide to do an internet search anyway and come across a few good websites: Lesson Plan: the Civil War, Slavery in the United States, and Civil War in Children’s Literature.
3. The main topics I decide to incorporate after going through my resources include:
- What is slavery?
- When did slavery begin? How did it begin in America?
- What was it like to be a slave in America?
- Who played major roles in the abolition movement?
- What were major events of the abolition movement?
- What was the Underground Railroad and who were some major figures in helping slaves escape to freedom?
- What was the Civil War?
- For what reasons did the Civil War take place?
- What were several major battles and who were several major figures of the war?
- What was the war like in Kentucky (a divided state)?
- What is the Emancipation Proclamation?
- What was life in America like directly after the war?
- How did life change for former slaves after the war?
- What struggles did former slaves still face after the war and for many years to come?
- Where is slavery still taking place in today’s world?
4. Under each of the above topics in my notebook, I write down activities, assignments, books, online games and/or field trips that will adequately cover the topic. Sometimes, I simply assign my children a book to read and consider the topic covered. Sometimes, we go on a field trip and consider a few of the topics covered. Sometimes, we do a few hands-on activities and a writing assignment – you get the idea.
5. Large lists of the library books we read can be found at Slavery and Civil War Book Treasures and Slavery and Civil War Resources.
6. Nothing to say here, aren’t you thankful?
7. One week at a time, I go down the list of topics with their activities and schedule what I think we can handle per day. This often needs adjustment, so I write in pencil!
8. At the end of the unit, I give my children a list of projects from which to choose (so I have some say, while giving them choices at the same time.) In this instance, they had to choose three of the four projects below. I gave them one week to complete the projects, starting on Monday and presenting them on Friday.
- Choose one famous slave. Learn all you can about that slave and be prepared to tell us about the slave in first person. Don’t forget to create an authentic costume.
- Choose one Civil War battle. Create a model of the battle front and tell everything you can about the battle as you reenact it with the model.
- Choose one famous Civil War figure. Prepare a file folder biography about that person. Be sure to include pictures or illustrations when applicable.
- Either read or recite the Gettysburg Address.
There you have it. A large unit study takes just a tad more time to organize than a small unit, but your time will be well-worth the effort!
