To help my children understand the scope of what was included in the Lewis and Clark journals, we created worn leather journals from old paper bags in which I asked the kids to jot down all sorts of notes throughout one of our homeschool days.

The journals….

Take a flat section of brown paper bag and crinkle it up until it looks like worn leather when smoothed out again.

Carefully burn the edges to give the journal even more of a weathered look.

Line several sheets of white paper on top of the paper bag.

Lay the papers on top of a piece of wood.  Hammer several holes all the way through the papers using a large nail and a hammer.

Use whatever string you desire (we used raffia) and whatever lacing method you desire to lace the pages together.

Fold the notebook in half and there you have a ready-made journal.

Here’s what we included in the journals throughout the day…

Notes from important events throughout the day.

Sketches of interesting plants and animals we found on a winter nature walk.  I also asked the kids to include notes to describe the plants and animals as if they’d never seen them before.  If we were able to find tracks from the animals, they added sketches of those as well.

We couldn’t decide who had made these little tracks, but they were one of the few finds on our cold and blustery walk.

And finally, the journals included a map of the hiking area.

We tracked our journey into the “unknown” so we could find our way home.  (This left nice little treats for the critters, too.)

This was all part of our super-fun unit study day yesterday.  Today we’ve caught Oregon Fever!

So, in different places around the house, I have stashed a few small boxes and baskets of creative things for my children to do if the desire strikes.  (Or if I’m so sick of hearing the TV question that I demand their desire to strike.  )

The first four were inspired by LaPaz Home Learning.  A small sample of abstract art and oil pastels for recreating the artwork.  Another small sample of abstract art, this time with chalk pastels.  A few cards of architecture/machines, Sculpey clay and some “around the house” tools for recreating 3-D models.  And a bag of marshmallows and toothpicks for creating…. whatever.

There are also math manipulatives that we don’t use often during school time scattered about.  Fraction circles, pattern blocks and geo boards.

A few science kits – electricity, chemistry and magic tricks.  (Thank the Lord for grandparents who buy these fun kits for gifts!)

I’ve also been checking out more books on tape/CD for the kids to listen to as they knit or sew or clean their rooms.

Don’t get me wrong.  My children don’t always flock to these things.  If I let them, they (well one of them) will always choose TV over the wonderful extra-fun learning activities I’ve so diligently and thoughtfully placed around the house.  Sometimes, real boredom has to be experienced before any of these things seems inviting. 

Suddenly the sky turned gray,

The day,

Which had been bitter and chill,

Grew soft and still.

Quietly

From some invisible blossoming tree

Millions of petals cool and white

Drifted and blew,

Lifted and flew,

Fell with the falling might.

~Melville Cane

Welcome to the first edition of the Charlotte Mason Carnival in 2009!  You sure are in for a treat as there are over 30 posts to savor and enjoy.  I know there are gems to be found in every CM Carnival, but this one is full of really great posts!  I hope you’ll take the time to encourage each one of the writers with a kind comment.  Enjoy!

Thinking About a New Start to the Year

Jimmie of One Child Policy Homeschool shares her new scheduling plans in Rotation Scheduling for Our Homeschool.  She also shares an eye opening post about living math in Living Math is Not Quick or Neat.

Dana from School For Us gets us thinking about being passionate homeschoolers in Great Teachers.

Penny from Our Crazy Adventures in Autismland! reviews her learning goals for the new year in Task #64 Make 1 yr and 5 yr Homeschool Plans.  She continues the planning as she shares Our New School Schedule!  WooHoo!  I am on a roll!!

Sandy from Falling Like Rain has been rethinking some things for the upcoming school year, too, and shared them in A Peek Inside My Planner.

Makita of Twinkling Stars Family School reviews last semester’s plans and makes goals to improve on a few things in Change of Direction – Mid Year Review.

Christin of Journey to a Gracious Woman has written a post about all the CM goals she has for the upcoming months in As We Resume School.

Jennefer of Smooth Stone Academy is just beginning her journey into CM style learning.  She shares some of her thoughts in Learnings From Miss Mason.

Our CM Carnival organizer deserves a big thank you in her comment section!  Jamie from Rose CottageIntentional Homeschooling shares some of her thoughts about school and life in .

Preschool

The Queen of Carrots from Introducing the World talks about Charlotte Mason’s ideas on reading books versus storytelling with preschoolers in Tell, Don’t Show.

I have a busy toddler in the house who can make school challenging (to say the least!)  I’ve written a post called Taming the Toddler to remind myself of things to keep him meaningfully busy while the big kids are involved in school work.

Habit Training

Anne of French Kids Don’t Get Fat takes an interesting look at Charlotte Mason’s thoughts on reward systems as they relate to getting our children to eat well in How You Might Be Teaching Your Child to Hate the Very Foods You Most Want Him to Eat.

Teaching Ideas

Lapbooking has become a popular method of recording lessons learned.  Lynn from Eclectic EducationChristmas Lapbook shares one of her son’s latest creations and links in .

Artist and Composer Study

Kris from Weird, Unsocialized Homeschoolers presents Simple Artist and Composer Studies at Homeschool Bliss.

Barb from Harmony Art Mom gets us thinking about a topic we may or may not have ever considered in Art Books-How to Deal with Nudity.

Patti from Charlotte Mason in America gives tips about artist study, including some nice links, in Art.

Melissa of Living Life Between the Trees had me chuckling as I read her post about artist study in Do Art (Not Crafts).

Amanda from Hearts and Trees continues her watercolor tutorial series in Watercolor Techniques #8 Watercolor Splatters.

Handicrafts

5intow from Delighting in His Richness gives a wonderful paper quilling tutorial in Giving and Quilling.

Living Learning

Kris of At Home Science has started a new blog called Education is the Science of Relations.  She shares an interesting post about twaddle free viewing and listening in Living Media.

Molly of Counter-Culture School shares a post from her series about living literature in Whatever is Noble: Hero Stories.

Nature Study

Jonnia of Giggles, Wiggles and Wonder takes us on an impromptu nature study in Unofficial Outdoor Hour.

Julie of Homeschooling Ideas gets us thinking about displaying nature finds in Homeschool Nature Table.

Melissa from In the Sparrow’s Nest gives us some great winter activity ideas in Snowflake Craft and Project – Paper Snowflakes and Borax Snowflakes.  She also encourages us to get outside and enjoy winter in Winter Nature Study.

Barb shares a post encouraging a winter nature study of birds in Watching Sparrows and Learning Their Habits on her nature blog Handbook of Nature Study.

Candace from His Mercy is New shares all sorts of snowy ideas in A Winter Nature Study.  She also shows a wonderful idea for keeping nature study memories in A Nature Scrapbook.

Shannon from Song of My Heart gives several practical and fun ideas for studying nature this season in Winter Nature Fun!

Theresa of Grace Like Rain also gives several practical and fun ideas for nature study this season in Winter Nature Study.

Jacci (if you’ll remember as the founder of the Charlotte Mason Carnival) is back with a new blog called Understanding Charlotte.  She shares a post about getting outside in winter in Winter Nature Walks (a.k.a. a mother self-talks through the PNEU motto to combat her SAD and get her grumpy self outside).

And believe it or not, there’s one more exciting thing to tell before this carnival wraps up…. Barb from Handbook of Nature Study has come up with a plan to help us all get ourselves moving with winter nature study.  It’s called Winter Wednesday.  Click on the button to see what it’s all about.  I hope to be able to join Barb and many of you some weeks!

Ladies, thanks for starting off 2009 with such a great carnival full of practical Charlotte Mason ideas!  I pray 2009 is a year full of wonderful memories with your children.  Take time to snuggle with them during these peaceful winter days.

Nest of Pleasant Thoughts will be hosting the next CM Carnival in two weeks.  Be sure to submit a post here.

]]> http://ourjourneywestward.com/2009/01/charlotte-mason-carnival-peaceful-winter-edition/feed/ 15 http://ourjourneywestward.com/2009/01/westward-expansion-unit-plans/ http://ourjourneywestward.com/2009/01/westward-expansion-unit-plans/#comments Sun, 04 Jan 2009 16:44:10 +0000 Cindy http://ourjourneywestward.com/?p=1128

Our Pioneer unit will soon be underway!  I thought I’d share some of our plans as I try to get my thoughts organized.

I’ve added some links, activity books and literature books that I plan to use for our Pioneer Unit in my sidebar – scroll pretty far down.

Here’s the rest of the plan….

Daily

Copywork Quotes from Amanda Bennett’s Pioneers

Timeline and Map work

Reading/Research

Work on one or more projects (project ideas below) and/or work on a hands-on project from Westward Ho!, Pioneer Days or Wild West Days

Order of Learning – most of the outline comes from Amanda Bennett’s Pioneers, I have noted when I added something with an *.

Daniel Boone – pioneer, frontier boundaries after Revolutionary War, Wilderness Road, Northwest Ordinance

Thomas Jefferson – Louisiana Purchase

Lewis and Clark – Northwest Passage, plants and animals discovered (nature journals), geographic barriers, cartography, map of Native American tribes across N. America

Sacagawea – conestoga wagons, Monroe Doctrine, fur trade, Oregon Fever (*use some of the Sacagawea unit)

*War of 1812 – America & Great Britain, disagreement over shipping & trade on seas – Embargo Act, Henry Clay,  fought in America & Canada, Star Spangled Banner, Treaty of Ghent

Jedediah Smith – Oregon Trail, Santa Fe Trail (*use bits and pieces of Oregon Trail and Santa Fe Trail units)

Davy Crockett – prairie schooner, Jason Lee, Independence Rock

*Trail of Tears – Indian Removal Act, Andrew Jackson, Cherokee history

Johnny Appleseed (John Chapman) – six states created from 1816-1821, wagon groupings, Pony Express

*The Battle of the Alamo – some of Alamo unit

*Oklahoma Land Run – some of Oklahoma Land Run unit

*Chisolm Trail and Cowboys – some of Chisolm Trail unit, Buffalo Bill, Ben Holladay, Annie Oakley, Wild Bill Hickock

Potential Projects

Choose one major pioneer to research and complete a biography project.

Choose one major westward expansion movement or event and create a presentation project.

Interview grandma (who is very much into our family’s history) about a pioneer relative.  Put together a book including the story behind the person with pictures if able.

Plan and prepare for a “no electricity day”.

Prepare a book report on assigned chapter book.

As usual, I’ll be sharing bits and pieces of the unit as we go along.  As my blog’s title says, we’re just about ready to go on “Our Journey Westward”!

Mom, you know what I would like about going to public school?  What? The school bus – and nothing else.  Well, maybe the cafeteria, too.  Why would you like the school bus? Because you don’t have to wear seat belts.  Oh, and I like the brown or blue seats, too.  Oh, and I like the way the doors open.

The school bus might actually be my worst nightmare about public school!

I’m trying to keep up with my promise to show you what some of our unconventional math lessons look like around here.  Today I want to share how I plan a math lesson around a piece of literature.  It’s really very easy!

Like most everything I do, I grab a pencil and a pad of paper before I do anything else because I’m always writing notes.  If I don’t write something down as it pops in my head, it’s usually gone – never to return again!

So with pen and paper in hand, I grab a math book and quickly read through it.  I jot down math concepts and activity ideas that jump out at me.  The more you do it, the easier ideas start jumping out at you, I promise.  Sometimes, I’ll only write a couple of ideas – which means one day’s worth of lessons is all we’ll do before that book goes back on the shelf (or back to the library.)  If a lot of ideas are written, I might plan a few days worth of lessons around the book.

If NOTHING pops out at me, but I really like the book, I’ll do one of two things:

1.  We’ll just read the book together for fun – no math strings attached.

2.  I’ll do a quick google search to see if any good lessons are floating around in cyberspace just waiting for me to grab.

This week we read Sir Cumference and the Isle of Immeter.  I found a worksheet in my geometry folder that sent Mahayla on a hunt through the house measuring the perimeter, area and volume of various objects.

Caleb and I pulled out the one-inch tiles and measured the perimeter and area of things around the school room.  After a while, he tried his hand at measuring the length and width of the objects with the tiles, then multiplying the numbers to find the area.  Finally, he had to use a ruler to find the perimeter and area of many things.

Not only did this simple little lesson create excitement, but it allowed the kids to practice measurement, perimeter, area, volume, mental addition & multiplication and more complex math formulas such as 2l + 2w=p, l x w=a and l x w x h=v.  I could’ve done the same sort of teaching from the textbook, but I’m rather sure this lesson will stick a little better!

A couple weeks ago, I forced gave the moms at co-op the opportunity to try their hands at this process and they were VERY GOOD at it!!  Here is a great list of math ideas they came up with on many various math titles.  The activities are in no particular order – some will be appropriate for little ones, while others will be appropriate for jr. high.  I just asked the moms to pick a book and try to think of ideas that would be good for their own children.

The cute math clip art came from Philip Martin.

This month’s topic was “Learning in the Car”.  Below is the list of ideas they came up with.  So many of us spend a lot of time traveling to appointments, lessons, co-ops, field trips and more, that time sitting in the car can take away from school time if we aren’t careful.  With all these ideas, though, you never have to feel guilty again if ‘school time’ finds you traveling to and fro!  (Sorry, I copied this document from my computer and pasted it into my blog.  For some reason, that never works very well here at homeschoolblogger.)

Making Time in the Car Educational

Bible Memory Work

*Recite Bible verses

*Recite the books of the Bible

Skills

*Math drills – any number of mental math drills

*Spelling drills

*Sign reading

*Vocabulary words

*Drills of important dates to remember

*Drills of important people or events and their significance

*Narration

*Poetry recitation

*Buy skill workbooks from the dollar store

*Buy fun books of mazes, crosswords, word finds, etc.

*Run off a blank US map and ask kids to color in each state when they see a license plate from that state.

Games

*Play ABC I Spy – either with objects or words on signs

*Name things you see outside that were mentioned in the Bible

*Buy little travel games and keep in a plastic tote

*“Bugs and Cruisers” – Assign point values to certain types of cars and have the kids keep a point tally as you drive. Example: VW Bugs and PT Cruisers are each worth 1 point. Hummers might be worth 10 points. Jeeps might be worth 5 points. You get to make up the rules and values according to your child’s abilities.

*Play color or shape I Spy

*Storytelling

*Storytelling where one person stops a story at the climax and another person continues the story

*Grammar guess – mom says a sentence and asks child to repeat a part of speech. Example: Mom says, “Name the prepositional phrase, ‘Look for the ball under the bush.’ ” The child then repeats the prepositional phrase.

*Hum or whistle tunes and see who is the first to guess correctly.

*Play 20 questions.

*Play an oral ABC scattergories. Think of a topic and the first person names something that fits in the topic starting with “a”, the next person thinks of a “b” word, and so on.

*Play word memory. The first person says a word that fits in a certain topic. The next person says that word and adds another word. The third person says the first two words and adds another word. You keep going until someone messes up. Example: Topic=animals, first persons says ‘dog’, second person says ‘dog, cat’, third person says ‘dog, cat, frog’

Educational CD Ideas

*Adventures in Odyssey

*Jonathan Park Adventures

*Foreign languages

*Bible verse CD’s

*Bible song CD’s

*Any “living” book on CD

*CD of music or stories that go along with a unit you’re studying

*Story of the World CD’s

*Any historical fiction book on CD

*Lyrical Life Science CD’s

Other Ideas

*Keep a lap desk or clip board in your car, along with a supply of pencils, crayons, etc. and bring the school books along on a trip!

*On a familiar drive, ask your child to create a travel brochure of the sights you see.

*Stop at a rest stop or hotel in an unfamiliar area and pick up a few brochures. Let your child be the “tour guide” of attractions in the area as you drive. You never know when an unexpected field trip might turn up.

*Listen to a preacher on the radio and discuss the sermon.

*Turn up the music and practice singing harmonies.

*Buy travel books like Smileage.

For more ideas, you might enjoy this book.

Valentine Math

More Valentine Math

Easy Fun School Unit – lots of ideas including science, cooking, a book list.  As always with Easy Fun School, this is a well put together unit!

The Virtual Vine – an early elementary site meant for the classroom, but still offers lots of cute ideas.

LaCelle Family Ministries Unit Ideas

I’m convinced that people (including children) who are immeasurably blessed, take their blessings for granted.  To not know what it’s like “on the other side of the fence” seems to blind you to how wonderful your side of the fence really is.  My children have never known sitting for hours on end in a public school.  They’ve never known sitting for hours on end in front of a dvd teacher.  They’ve never even known sitting in front of textbook after textbook on a daily basis.

They have no idea what a cool mom I really am.  I don’t say that in a boastful way!  What I mean is that they have no idea how exciting and wonderful their days really are.  They don’t know that not every child gets to do experiments, lapbooks, field trips, nature walks, cooking and art.  They don’t realize that not every child gets to sit wherever they want to do their work.  They don’t realize that not every child gets to take the day off on an unusually beautiful day in the middle of winter.  They don’t realize that not every child is free to spend the afternoon grooming and riding horses.  Believe you me, I tell them how blessed they are.  Sadly, they just don’t get it.

I’m not down for the count – just frustrated.  I’m not giving up on them either.  I know they’ll begin to understand their blessings as the get older.  I’m just so tired of the whining and complaining.  I wish there were a way to help them to see  – really see – how wonderful their life is.

We seem to go through a season such as this every year about this time.  The holidays are coming.  It’s time for a school break.  Yesterday was the feast at co-op.  It’s always hard to lasso my kids back into schoolwork after a special day like yesterday.  Top that off with all the junk food they ate and I know why today has been “one of those days.”

After my, ahem, “mommy tantrum”, I went to my room to fold about seven loads of laundry that have been piling up.  I heard a lot of ruckus in the kitchen, then complete quiet for about 20 minutes.  Soft footsteps came to the door, then a little knock.  The door opened a crack and through the crack came a folded peice of paper.  That 20 minutes of quiet had been spent writing an apology note.  They gave me great big hugs and led me downstairs to a wonderfully cleaned kitchen.  Yes, there’s hope for them yet!   I suppose there’s hope for me, too.

What is a unit study? A unit study is really any subject that you spend time learning about.  Many times a unit study will integrate many academic subjects.  For instance, if the unit focuses on the Civil War, you might plan reading, writing, science, art, music, spelling, Bible, home ec, and other academic assignments, as well as the obvious history lessons.  A unit study doesn’t have to integrate other academic subjects, though.  For example, if you plan a math unit around m&m’s, you may choose to only do math activities and not add any writing, history, etc. to the unit.

Why do unit studies? They can be done with all ages at once, they’re fun, they provide a nice change of pace, they provide more learning in less time, they can be geared towards your children’s interests/talents/gifts, they cover a multitude of subject areas, work can be kept in notebooks or lapbooks which make a nice finished product, they’re inexpensive (or free), they can be fairly hands-on, they involve mom and/or dad in the learning process which excites the kiddos and they promote self-inspired learning and research skills.

What could be a difficulty? It takes a bit more planning and preparing on the part of mom. If you use them as “commercial breaks” from the regular schedule, it could be hard to get the regular schedule going again. There is a ton of information for mom to choose from when planning, so information overload can occur.

How do you plan your own study?

1. Decide on a topic. Science, History/Social Studies/Geography, Literature and Bible topics lend themselves well to a comprehensive unit.

2. Write down your major goals for the unit. You can figure out what you might need to teach by finding a “spine” book (one that you will use as the main teaching book) and using its contents as your goals. Or you can do an internet search. For example: “ocean scope and sequence” will bring up topics about the ocean that your children need to know.

3. Gather your resources

-things you already have on your shelves (teaching guides and reading books)

-check the internet for already made units to give you ideas

-visit the library for teaching and reading books

-buy a pre-made unit if you feel like you still don’t have enough to make a complete unit

4. Chart out your plan. I make a little chart with each subject area (science, history/social studies, geography, Bible, writing, vocabulary, other language arts, math, art, music, P.E./health, field trips, cooking) and just start jotting down my ideas. Most of the time I have way too much, so I start pairing down to the best, most meaningful ideas. Then I decide about how long the unit will be and write out a rough plan of what I’m going to do each day. This always changes when we actually get into the unit.

5. Go for it! Jump into the lessons and be prepared to have lots of fun!! Beware – if you try to plan too much – your kids WILL get bored and learning WILL stop. Think about their learning styles and plan accordingly. If your kids love to talk and move, have them finish off the unit by putting together a video of what they learned. If they love to scrapbook, they would love putting their work into lapbooks. You get the idea. ALWAYS end the unit with a bang – a field trip, a family party that goes along with the theme, or a showcase of their work to grandparents. It makes the unit really stick out in their minds.

6. Keep the work well-organized. Put it all into a notebook, lapbook or colorful folder. They will appreciate looking back through their work. When you present the work in a meaningful way, they respect the work much more! (It would also make a lovely thing to hand over to those well-meaning DPPs if they ever show up on your doorstep!!)

Helpful Websites and Such

The Checklist by Cynthia Downes – www.oklahomahomeschool.com (If you’re worried about whether or not you’re covering what you need to, this could be a helpful resource.)

How To Create Your Own Unit Study by Valerie Bendt (I’ll be happy to walk you through your first one, though.)

FREE Unit Sources

www.homeschoolestore.com (Free weekly book)

www.homeschoolmom.com

www.homeschoolinthewoods.com

www.homeschoolshare.com

www.oklahomahomeschool.com

Do “free unit studies” search on the web

Companies That Sell Unit Studies

www.handsofachild.com

www.knowledgeboxcentral.com

www.fiveinarow.com

www.konos.com

www.heartofwisdom.com

www.homeschoolinthewoods.com

www.learning-adventures.org

www.cadroncreek.com (Prairie Primer- based on Little House books)

http://www.freewebs.com/brandenburgstudies/ very comprehensive, internet-linked studies for older children who might prefer to work independently.

Other Notes

I usually don’t include math and grammar into my units. If I find a really good activity, I will add it to the unit, but I continue with my regular math and language curriculums while the unit is going on.

I also keep up with our regular Bible time. I do add extra Bible when it fits with the unit.

I try to keep the books we check out from the library to a minimum. I used to leave the library with stacks of books to go with a unit. That was information overload for my kids. I’m more selective now, choosing only the best informational and literature books.  That being said, I still go home with tons of books.  Often, I’ll allow the kids to choose from the abundance of books the one or two that they are most interested in for “digging deeper” into a subject.

A unit doesn’t have to cover every subject every time. Some units will be heavier in science, others will be heavier in history. Some units will include lots of art projects, some may include none. It all seems to work itself out in the end, especially if you are keeping your eyes open to what you need to include more of in the next unit.

What About Grades?

The first aspect of this is a question I’m always asked – How do you keep grades?  Um, I don’t.  I keep narrative report cards that tell what my children are doing, what they have done well with and in what things they need extra practice.  That’s not to say you can’t keep grades during a unit study.   Giving quizzes or tests based on the info covered would be acceptable.  Creating scoring guides for projects they put together would be acceptable.  For me – at this stage in the game – I just don’t see any purpose for grades.  I expect my children to do well.  If they don’t, they often have to redo or rework things.  Not always, but if the poor work is for a lack of effort, I usually don’t let it slide.  In other words, all their work is expected to be “A” effort and “A” finished product.  I find it much more meaningful to ”tell” about their progress than to write a bunch of “A’s”.

The next question is – How do you know what grade your children are in if you don’t follow a graded curriculum?  It’s pretty simple really.  My son is seven, the typical age of a 2nd grader – so I call him a 2nd grader.  In some subjects he might be considered on a 3rd or 4th grade level, in some he might be doing typical 1st grade work.  The grade doesn’t really matter to me as long as I’m giving him things that challenge him to grow at whatever pace he needs.

PLEASE let me know how your units go!! If you already use and love units, PLEASE leave a comment to encourage others!!