Posted by Cindy on February 19, 2009
The smaller of the two homeschool groups I’m a part of met this week for a Night at the Museum party. What fun it was!
Each child was supposed to choose either an historical character from the movie or a character based on one of the time periods covered in the movie. They were asked to dress like their character and bring some sort of food representing their era. There was a place to display projects they completed about their character/time period and we gave them each a few minutes to share what they’d learned.
After lunch from the food brought and sharing of projects, all the kids nestled in to watch the movie. What a great time!
Do you have any other ideas for academic themed parties like this?
Posted by Cindy on January 4, 2009
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”!
Posted by Cindy on November 26, 2008
I had intended to be completely finished with this unit before Thanksgiving. Although we’ve completed the study of the war and all the projects going along with it, I decided to spend another week or so on what I’m calling American Pride. We’ll be learning about the Constitution, Bill of Rights, our flag, National Anthem and various American symbols, as well as some of the rights and obligations we have as citizens of the United States.
But for now, I thought I’d go ahead and share what made up the bulk of the American Revolution unit study.
We read and listened to many, many books – picture books, chapter books and books on tape. Some of our favorites were:
Johnny Tremain
Sarah Bishop
Ben and Me: An Astonishing Life of Benjamin Franklin by His Good Mouse Amos
George Washington’s Socks
Benjamin Franklin
Katie’s Trunk
Yankee Doodle
If You Lived At The Time Of The American Revolution (If You.)
Paul Revere’s Ride
The Fourth of July Story
Carry On, Mr. Bowditch
The Matchlock Gun
Below is a wonderful book my husband bought from the HSLDA table at our homeschool convention a couple of years ago. I highly recommend it!
The America’s Heritage: An Adventure in Liberty curriculum had many nice lessons for things such as the Declaration of Independence, George Washington, John Hancock, the Constitution, and the Bill of Rights. I think you can order a FREE CD-ROM of the lessons by going to their site!
Mahayla’s final project had to include an Easy File Folder Reports
biography of a notable figure from the war, some sort of presentation about a famous battle during the war, and a complete time line of important revolutionary dates.
Here’s what she came up with. 
A file folder biography about Molly Pitcher.
An oral report about the Battles of Lexington and Concord, complete with maps and a model of the battle.
She even decided to make a little flip book of her battle.
And a time line three legal pages long!
Caleb’s assignment had to include a file folder biography and a presentation of a famous battle. Here’s what he came up with.
A file folder biography of George Washington.
And a reenactment of George Washington and his troops crossing the Delaware River to battle the Hessian soldiers, complete with Daddy as Washington’s horse!
Here are two more pictures of the file folder biographies – the title page and a not-so-great close-up of the little clay figures they made.
I promise, if you give your children a little guidance and a lot of freedom, you’ll be amazed at the results!
Have a wonderful Thanksgiving!
Posted by Cindy on September 6, 2008
Our Native American unit was a tad more independent than most units we’ve done in the past. I’m trying to allow Mahayla to take on the freedom in learning that she desires, while pushing Caleb toward taking more responsibility for his learning.
Each day’s study started out with all of us reading something about Native Americans together – either fiction or nonfiction. Then, we’d try our hand at a game, craft or cooking project that I found in two of the main books I used for ideas -
Finally, they had research and project time. Each of them chose a tribe to research. Their assignment was to create an information board and at least a model of the tribe’s typical home. They were encouraged to complete other models or things to show during their presentations. I was knocked out by their presentations this time around! They “get” it this year. After me holding their hands and giving more than a fair share of suggestions last year, they took the reigns wonderfully this year.
Mahayla studied the Shawnee tribe. She had all sorts of maps, population charts, facts, and such on her backboard (which was made from a diaper box.) She had created games to teach us Shawnee words, typical foods they ate and gave us a Native American quiz. She also prepared some authentic cornbread to share with us and passed around some arrowheads and stone tools we have found on our farms over the years. Her model home site was very detailed, including a woven rug, a fire, a cross section of the chief’s home, a river beside a forest and even a coiled clay pot full of vegetables. If I gave grades, an A+ would have been in order!
Caleb studies the Cherokee tribe. I helped him research on the internet and in a few library books. Together, we talked about what might make a good backboard and model home site. I helped him make copies of maps and such. He looked over big sis’ shoulder several times over the two weeks to get “ideas” for his project. Of course, sis and I had to talk about how he was simply looking up to her as a model for excellent work and she should be proud that he wanted to share her ideas! In time, I’m sure all his ideas will be his own. (He’s only eight!) One of my favorite parts of his presentations was the display of Cherokee foods. He would tie each example to a string and pull it up from behind the display board (in very dramatic fashion, I might add.) By the way, he wasn’t mad in the picture below. He was pretending to be a strong and gruff chief.
Mahayla’s assigned reading for this unit was The Double Life of Pocahontas
. The activity that went along with the book was to write a blog entry sharing her reactions. Finding out the “real” story of Pocahontas (as compared to the Disney version) was very unsettling to her and she gave the book a poor review. Oh well, real life isn’t always as glamorous as the movies, and I suppose that’s the biggest learning experience!
Two of our favorite picture books from the unit were:
Next week, we’re off to a quick study of the Pilgrims before heading to a very in-depth unit on Colonial Life. I love history (now that I’m living it with my children!)
Posted by Cindy on February 1, 2008
Last week we finished up a short, but successful unit on our state. I think all involved liked the change of pace this time around. Mahayla practically completed her readings, worksheets and projects on her own, while Caleb and I tackled his work at our own pace. Here are just a few highlights. (By the way, the camera that died recently revived itself to coma status. It will charge enough to take two or three pictures as long as there’s plenty of sunlight. Until we can buy my new camera, I’ll take coma over death!)
Completed notebooks.
A scavenger hunt of our county. (I had a picture here and then realized that it gave too much information about us. Sorry!)
This was fun. Basically, I just wrote down facts concerning our county that I wanted the kids to know. We went to the courthouse, city building and tourism office asking different people to help fill in the facts. Afterward, we visited the cemetery to learn more about some noteable people buried there and attempted to visit our local museum. (They were closed this month.)
Here are the scavenger hunt items:
- Name three important historical sites.
- Find the names of two famous people from ___ County. What made them famous?
- What important invention came from ___ County?
- Who holds the following offices?
Mayor
Judge Executive
Chief of Police
Sheriff
District Judge
Circuit Judge
State Representative
State Senator
- What is the purpose of the tourism department?
- What offices are located in the Court House?
- What is ___ County’s largest industry?
- What are three natural resources found in ___ County?
Here’s a field trip journal entry from Mammoth Cave.
They each had to learn about an animal native to KY. Mahayla chose the raccoon and Caleb chose the black bear. After preparing a diorama including the animal in a complete habitat, they had to give an oral presentation telling everything they learned about it.
They also had to research a famous Kentuckian and give a first-person report. I know you’ll have no problem figuring out that Mahayla is Jenny Wiley, a pioneer woman taken captive by indians, who bravely escaped. One of our state parks is named after her. And of course, Caleb is Daniel Boone, the explorer who basically paved the way for pioneers to settle in Kentucky.
After a week’s break to catch up on some artist and around the world studies, we’re off to medieval times next week!
