Unit Study
-
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, 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, 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, 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…
- 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, History/Social Science, Interest Led Homeschool, Preschool, Teaching, the Give Way, Tot School, Unit Study
Tot School: Family Unit
This was a simple unit that I spread out over the month, but probably would have taken a week or so if I’d done an activity each day. Goals: Start to know she has a past Know her middle names and where they came from Know that aunts are girls and uncles are boys Know the term “cousin” and who it applies to Introduce her to pictures and names of family members we don’t see often or who are deceased Activities 1. Looked through family picture albums together. When I pointed out her great-grandfather whom she never got the chance to meet, I told her his name was “Fa” (a…
- 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, Interest Led Homeschool, Math, Preschool, Teaching, the Give Way, Tot School, Unit Study
Tot School: Intro to Shapes
Some find the idea of planning activities for two year olds crazy. But as a former teacher, I can rarely go a day without planning in my head. It used to be U.S. History that I saw everywhere (Pool noodles on sale? Those would make great bayonets for a Civil War battle! Controversial Dixie Chicks song? Perfect for our freedom of speech discussion!). Now that I’m a parent of a toddler, it’s a little different (Extra coffee beans? just the thing for the brown sensory bin! Worn out frying pan? Put it in the yard for the future mud kitchen!) It’s what we teachers do. I can’t not plan.…
- 3-5 Year Old, Curricula, English, Interest Led Homeschool, Math, Preschool, Science, Social Activities, Teaching, the Give Way, Theme, Tot School, Unit Study
Tot School
“Tot school” is a term someone coined for doing activities with a toddler. I’d never heard it before having a toddler, but it’s real. My favorite site — and inspiration for a lot of what I do — is 1+1+1=1. They have a fantastic amount of information about this kind of thing. Many parents will say that there’s no need for “tot school” since they never did it with their child. But really they did — they just never used the term. Every time a parent does something that helps their young child learn (talking to them, letting them help cook, etc.), that could be called “tot school.” The difference…
