Social Activities
- 3-5 Year Old, 6-8 Year Old, 9-11 Year Old, Book Clubs, Book Focus, Curricula, English, History/Social Science, Interest Led Homeschool, Kids' Book Club, Preschool, Social Activities, Teaching, the Give Way, Teen Book Club, Theme
Kids’ Classics Book Club
I started a classics book club for myself and my kids. For those who are like me and would like to start one up, but don’t have enough friends who are interested. LOL! I joined a few meetup.com groups in my area and posted each book club meeting and started a secret private Facebook group for those who I knew to join in as well. (Ultimately, it became just a Facebook thing. After about six months on meetup, we had about 40 members on the Facebook page, so it ended up starting to just be new people being added by word of mouth or if I met people at homeschooling…
- 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, English, Interest Led Homeschool, Letter of the Week, Preschool, Social Activities, Teaching, the Give Way
Letter of the Week – Letter W
Day 1 Find w stickers and put on W Color and assemble Letter W Book Go to library and get w books Put out W words (wall, washer, washcloth, window…I highly recommend using masking or painting tape so nothing is ruined when you pull it off) Activity Sheet 1 Video: Olive and the Rhyme Rescue Crew Day 2 Color in W Outline and w Outline with: She decided to draw windows in one and watermelons in another. (Other options: watercolors, walnut shells, white, wallpaper, watermelon seeds, wire, wood [could be wooden toothpicks], waxed paper) Now that school has started, I watch a friend’s kids after school, once a week. They…
- 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,…
- 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, History/Social Science, Interest Led Homeschool, Preschool, Social Activities, Teaching, the Give Way, Tot School
Tot School: Airplane Dramatic Play Party
This was such a fun activity! In preparation for a flight we were planning on taking in a few weeks, I thought it might be good to show my daughter what it meant to go to the airport and fly on a plane beforehand. So we did an airplane unit (coming soon), that culminated in a fun party with some friends. The activity the kids were to do first when everyone was arriving was squeezing lemons. Great motor skill work and great fun for them. I knew it would’ve required a lot of time on my part to get all the water and sugar portions right for a large amount, but…
- 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…
- 3-5 Year Old, 6-8 Year Old, English, Interest Led Homeschool, Preschool, Social Activities, Teaching, the Give Way, Tot School
Tot School: Nursery Rhyme Party
My daughter loves nursery rhymes. Once she learned them, she would say them non-stop. So, of course, since I’m working on interest led/child directed activities, we had to do a theme for nursery rhymes. In searching for activities, I came across a ton of really fun activities that she and her friends would enjoy, so we had to a have a party. 🙂 I typed up nursery rhymes for each station — the goal being to say them as we did them. I left that up to the parents, since none of the kids can read. I also put directions for the stations, so the parents could do whatever the…
- 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…
