Science
- 12-14 Year Old, 15-18 Year Old, 3-5 Year Old, 6-8 Year Old, 9-11 Year Old, Creative Commons Photos, History/Social Science, Interest Led Homeschool, Life, the Give Way, Preschool, Science, Social Activities, Teaching, the Give Way, Virtual Field Trip
South African Safari Photos (Pilanesberg National Park)
Here are a photos from the spring in Pilanesberg National Park, South Africa. Find a list of historical fiction set in Africa here. These photos are published under a creative commons license (CC BY-SA 4.0). If it seems like the photo isn’t downloading at a res you’d like, please leave a comment with the number of the photo, and I’ll send an original. Thanks! 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 6. 7. 8. There’s a lion laying in the grass, dead center…if you look hard enough. 🙂 9. 10. 11. 12. Hippo in water. 13. 14. 15. …
- 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 D
Day 1 Put letter D and d (cursive and manuscript) on 12 circle stickers. Hide them in a room. Once she finds them, she puts them on letter D outline. (see example in picture above) Letter D book (I only chose three of the pages I thought she would like most.) Gathered up D books from around the house. Video: D Is for Dragons and Donuts! Song: D Song Play dominoes (and play with dominoes…and even dance with dominoes. 🙂 ) Day 2 Visit the Natural History Museum to see some dinosaur bones. We went to the LA Natural History Museum. It’s free the first Tuesday of every month, except in July…
- 3-5 Year Old, 6-8 Year Old, Curricula, English, Interest Led Homeschool, Letter of the Week, Math, Preschool, Science, Teaching, the Give Way
Letter of the Week
So, there is a lot of controversy over whether to do letter of the week or not. Really, there is. I can see the validity of both sides and have tried to take out the repetitiveness and implement more meaningful activities. But, ultimately those who oppose the letter of the week idea, would rather the learning is part of something bigger, and has the whole alphabet being learned on a continuous basis, not as separate parts. This is basically what we’ve been “doing” for the last year, which is evidenced by her knowledge of the alphabet already. But, it really came down to our family situation this year. With being…
- 3-5 Year Old, Curricula, English, History/Social Science, Interest Led Homeschool, Math, Parenting, the Give Way, Preschool, Science, Teaching, the Give Way
What a Three Year Old Can Learn
I really liked having goals for my two-year-old and myself last year. So, I figured I’d try and do it every year. Then as I wrote this article and titled it “Plans and Goals,” I realized that there are goals for me, but most of what I called “goals” are really just what I see her learning. I’ve always had a hard time explaining why I really didn’t care if I met the goals. I mean, why make goals if you don’t want to meet them, right? So, I’m changing my terminology as part of my attempt to grasp this natural learning process. So what follows are goals for me and just…
- 3-5 Year Old, Curricula, English, History/Social Science, Interest Led Homeschool, Math, Parenting, the Give Way, Preschool, Science, Teaching, the Give Way, Tot School
Learning: Ages 3-4
Cutting basil she picked for pasta I’m still dipping my feet into this whole “homeschooling” thing. I really don’t like the term “homeschooling,” since I don’t like what comes to mind when I think of “school.” As a ten year veteran elementary and middle school teacher, I have seen lots of flaws and learned a lot about how we all naturally learn. I like the idea of “unschooling,” “delight-driven learning”, and “child-led learning.” All fancy ways of just explaining how everyone from a baby to a senior citizen learns. So, for the last couple years, I’ve been studying and trying to implement what I’ve learned. Finding what my daughter is…
- 3-5 Year Old, 6-8 Year Old, English, History/Social Science, Interest Led Homeschool, Preschool, Science, Social Activities, Teaching, the Give Way, Tot School
Tot School: Community Worker Dramatic Play Party
At the end of our community worker theme, we had a little get together. It was a great party. It would have been a lot better if I’d had a few more older kids to show the little ones how to do things, but they did a great job on their own. There was one area that they didn’t even attempt. We moms could’ve helped more, but these are as much for us to enjoy talking with other adults as it is for the kids. 🙂 The kids had fun. We had fun. And this is part of my journey of letting go of my controlling tendencies…I will not force…
- Curricula, English, History/Social Science, Interest Led Homeschool, Math, Parenting, the Give Way, Preschool, Science, Teaching, the Give Way, Tot School
Plans and Goals for My Two Year Old
I like to plan. But, I also like to lay in bed. I figured if I tried to have at least a simple list of things I need to keep in mind each day, then I would not spend all day finding ways to keep my 2 year old busy at home, just so I don’t have to go anywhere or do anything. 🙂 I started doing this when she was an early toddler with the hopes that each year I’d reevaluate, but always have something to focus on. Each Day Go somewhere (unless we’ve been doing too much, then stay home and relax 🙂 ) Read for 30 minutes…
- 12-14 Year Old, 3-5 Year Old, 6-8 Year Old, 9-11 Year Old, History/Social Science, Interest Led Homeschool, Science, Social Activities, Teaching, the Give Way, Theme, Unit Study
California History Field Trip: Native Americans and Exploring
My sister-in-law is homeschooling her 4th and 2nd grader. She is not a fan of California history (crazy!), so I offered to try and put together some field trips for the kids. We live in the general LA/San Gabriel Valley area, so you won’t be finding us taking any Sacramento trips. I love my niece and nephew, but I’m definitely not taking them that far. 🙂 For our first trip, we focused on the Native American group in the area (Tongva) and exploration by the Spanish, by means of the LA River and Arroyo Seco. This lesson plan can also be used for any area, you’d just have to find…
- 3-5 Year Old, 6-8 Year Old, Interest Led Homeschool, Kids' Book Club, Preschool, Science, Social Activities, Teaching, the Give Way, Tot School
Tot School: Fall Party
At the end of our Fall Theme, we had a fall party! We invited a few friends and had a great time. This one cost a little more than the Bear Hunt Party, mainly because I bought pumpkins, apples, squashes, cider and some sensory bin items. But, using a lot of supplies I already had, I was still able to come in under $40. And I have pumpkins and scarecrows as decorations, left over sensory bin items for next year and some apples, squash and pumpkins to eat (which we still have…almost four weeks later 😉 ) This was also going to be a 2 1/2 hour party, so I…
- 3-5 Year Old, 6-8 Year Old, Book Focus, English, Interest Led Homeschool, Preschool, Science, Social Activities, Teaching, the Give Way, Theme, Tot School
Tot School: Book Focus – We’re Going on a Bear Hunt
As I looked for good books and activities for the cave theme I was planning, I came across a lot of fun things to do with the book, We’re Going on a Bear Hunt by Michael Rosen. So, I decided that the last week and a half of the cave theme we’d focus on this book. So we read the book each day (a few days she watched a video of it instead of me reading it to/with her). Sometimes I had her read it to me. One time I acted it out very dramatically. My dramatic “What a beeeeeeaaaauuuutifuuuuuul daaaaaay!” stuck with her, so that’s how she said it from then on.…
- 3-5 Year Old, Interest Led Homeschool, Preschool, Science, Teaching, the Give Way, Theme, Tot School, Unit Study
Tot School: Cave Theme
I’m not sure exactly when my daughter became interested in “caves”, but it happened. All she wants to do after her bath, was for her dad (or me) to join her in the towel cave. In the morning, it’s the sheet cave. “Come on, dad. Come on, mom. Get in the sheet cave!” I’m trying to think of themes that are interest led, so of course, we had to do caves. What I found astounding, since I know lots of kids love pretending to be in caves, is there are not a ton of cave activities online. Even on Pinterest! Lots of bear activities, hibernation activities, but no cave ones.…
- 3-5 Year Old, 6-8 Year Old, English, Interest Led Homeschool, Math, Preschool, Science, Teaching, the Give Way, Theme, Tot School
Tot School: Beach and Ocean Theme
The great thing about themes is that any academic subject fits into them. There’s no need for objectives at this age, because she has such a limited knowledge of most subjects, totally immersing ourselves in a theme results in her knowing a lot more than she did at the beginning. There are a ton of things out there to do for this theme, but I stuck to things that involve the least amount of prep and work on my part since 2 year old’s (and most kids) are notorious for not being interested in things we plan for them. 🙂 We did all this in about four weeks. Books (what…
