Science
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California State Parks Checklist
After this last year plus of quarantine, I’m itching to get out more. But, not too far out for now. So, as I plan for next year, I was thinking we could start a couple longterm goals. 1. Get to all the national parks in the U.S. and its territories.2. Get to all the California State parks (and future goals of many state parks of states we don’t live in…not sure we have enough time in our lifetime to hit them all!) So, I easily found a free checklist for national parks here. But, I had a much harder time finding a checklist for the state parks. All the ones…
- 3-5 Year Old, 6-8 Year Old, Book Clubs, Book Focus, Curricula, Elementary Level, English, History/Social Science, Interest Led Homeschool, Math, Science, Teaching, the Give Way, Theme
Learning Plan: Age 6
Well, the new year has started! This is our first official year, paperwork included, as a private school here in California. California doesn’t have homeschoolers. Those who are homeschooling without the support of a public school system (like a charter school), file paperwork just like any private school here in the state. So, we decided to have a name for our school. It took us awhile to decide, as we wanted something we could use until they’re out of school. We also wanted something meaningful to our mission as homeschoolers. It took us two days of lots of not so great ideas to come to one that, knowing us and…
- 3-5 Year Old, 6-8 Year Old, Curricula, English, History/Social Science, Interest Led Homeschool, Math, Science, Teaching, the Give Way
Learning Plan: Age 5
And so it begins! For reals! Well, kinda. My homeschooling, in a legal sense, will start for real next year, but I’m going to use this year as a sounding board for the best way to keep records for the state. You can find my own goals and ways of doing things on my mentoring page. This page is for my oldest. She’s a go getter and has a really great memory, so lots of academic type stuff sticks, even though we aren’t doing any forced academic program, she loves to play school and do lots and lots of activities (more than I’m willing to provide, actually!). As long as…
- 3-5 Year Old, Interest Led Homeschool, Preschool, Science, Teaching, the Give Way, Theme, Tot School, Unit Study
Tot School: Fall Theme
It’s been over two years since I did this theme. I got pregnant that year and a lot of my tot school posts went to the wayside. So, I figured at least I could post the pictures I have. Fall Bath — I had my husband cut out leaves. I remember trying myself, and if you look closely you can probably tell which two I did. 😉 That’s shaving cream with orange dye. Playing in leaves. Collecting leaves for gluing onto a paper. Playing in the rain. We visited a pumpkin patch. We don’t do Halloween, so I’ve never really gone to these, but during the week, they’re pretty benign.…
- 3-5 Year Old, Curricula, English, History/Social Science, Interest Led Homeschool, Math, Preschool, Science, Teaching, the Give Way
What A Four Year Old Can Learn
Last year I realized that it was a bit of a misnomer to call this list “goals,” as I wasn’t really focused on trying to get her to accomplish them. It was more just keeping track of what she was learning. Moving forward to get something done is a pretty inherent aspect of the word “goal.” So, instead, I’ve been focusing more on my own goals and learning more about how to facilitate a natural way of learning. The baby was six months when my daughter turned 4, so we were not structured much at all early on. Fortunately, I had put together the letter of the week activities before…
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Letter of the Week – Letter J
Learning Plan: Age 5
Historical Fiction: War of 1812
- 3-5 Year Old, 6-8 Year Old, 9-11 Year Old, Interest Led Homeschool, Preschool, Science, Social Activities, Teaching, the Give Way, Theme
Butterfly Life Cycle Party
At the end of our study of butterflies, we had a party with a few family friends. Initially I was going to have them do tons of butterfly activities, but as I started really delving into info about butterflies, I changed it to have them go through the life cycle of a butterfly. I was amazed at all the things I didn’t know about butterflies! I learned so much planning all this. And, the kids had fun too! (Ages 3 1/2 to 11) You can find the directions I used for each of the stations here. The only thing I told them to do was to bring an extra shirt.…
- 3-5 Year Old, 6-8 Year Old, 9-11 Year Old, Interest Led Homeschool, Science, Social Activities, Teaching, the Give Way
Butterfly Life Cycle Party: Directions
Here are the directions I had at each station. This site, Learn About Butterflies, is great for printing any images you want to show them. It’s also really interesting and will give you a greater understanding of the whole process. Station 1: Make antennae Here are your supplies. Make an antennae that will stay on your head throughout your metamorphosis. When you finish, help the younger kids finish theirs. Head over to the next station. (Put out: any kind of craft supplies and headbands if you have any, pictures of antennae) Station 2: Egg Curl up in a ball at the starting point. (if you had an egg, you’d come…
- 3-5 Year Old, 6-8 Year Old, Interest Led Homeschool, Preschool, Science, Teaching, the Give Way, Theme, Unit Study
Butterfly Study
My wonderful sister-in-law set us up with a sweet deal for a caterpillar so we could watch the transformation to a butterfly (note: this was almost a year ago!! We’re coming up on time to get a new one and do this all over again!). We got our caterpillar in its little cup. And almost immediately it attached itself to the paper towel that had been placed under the lid. So, we moved it to a laundry basket…and not one of those netted ones. This is just a regular old plastic basket. We don’t keep the butterfly, so I’m not worried about it getting out. (This is a fine example…
- 3-5 Year Old, 6-8 Year Old, English, Interest Led Homeschool, Letter of the Week, Preschool, Science, Teaching, the Give Way
Letter of the Week – Letter V
Day 1 Find v stickers and put on V Color and assemble Letter V Book Go to library and get v books Put out V words (vacuum, vase…I highly recommend using masking or painting tape so nothing is ruined when you pull it off) Video: How It’s Made: Violins Video: 3 Year Old Violinist Video: Shake It Off – Chargaux Violin Cover Video: Mark Ronson Uptown Funk Viola Cover Day 2 Fill in V Outline and v Outline with: velvet, vines, vowels, violet, vegetables (cut out pictures from grocery coupon mailers) or use vegetable prints Starfall Computer activity Video: Olive and the Rhyme Rescue Crew Activity Sheet 1 Day 3…
- 3-5 Year Old, 6-8 Year Old, 9-11 Year Old, English, Interest Led Homeschool, Letter of the Week, Math, Preschool, Science, Social Activities, Teaching, the Give Way
“T” Party
During our Letter T week, we had a “T” party…get it, T like tea. 🙂 We initially were going for Tuesday the twenty-first at ten. But, then decided to have it while we had some Chinese foreign exchange students over. So, it turned into a party for the kids followed with dinner for the adults on Tuesday the twenty-eighth at three thirty. So, we ended up with 8 children ages 2 1/2 to 12 and 10 adults. It was awesome! The day before, we set up the tables in T formations, of course. And, I used a highlighter to write all the labels for things, and my daughter traced over…
- 3-5 Year Old, 6-8 Year Old, English, Interest Led Homeschool, Letter of the Week, Preschool, Science, Social Activities, Teaching, the Give Way
Letter of the Week – Letter T
This week we started day 1 on a Wednesday, skipped the weekend and ended with day 5 on a Tuesday. Because, really, you can’t have a T Party on any other day. 🙂 Day 1 Find t stickers and put on T Color and assemble Letter T Book Go to library and get t books Put out T words (TV, toilet, table, towel, toys, tile…I highly recommend using masking or painting tape so nothing is ruined when you pull it off) Starfall Computer Activity Video: Olive and the Rhyme Rescue Crew Day 2 Fill in T Outline and t Outline with: tape and tissue paper (other options: toothpicks, toilet paper,…
- 3-5 Year Old, 6-8 Year Old, Interest Led Homeschool, Preschool, Science, Teaching, the Give Way, Theme, Tot School, Unit Study
Camping
There was a camping trip planned with our church, and I was five months pregnant and sick…every day!!! So, I decided to not go camping with my daughter and husband. And, although it was almost as much work planning and packing, it was definitely nice to have a little break while they were gone. The few days before they left, I did a short (very simple) camping theme, just to help prepare my daughter for what was to come. We did a few fun activities. By the time we were done, she was so ready to go and had a great time with everyone and bonding with her dad. We…
