Unit Study/Lesson Plan Links

Here are a bunch of Unit Study and Lesson Plan links


Teacher Vision
a bunch of Unit Study Links
Homeschool Helper studies
Easy Fun School Units
Education World Lesson Plans
Teachers.net Lesson Plans/Games
TeacherHelp Lessons
about.com unit studies
Squidoo Unit Study lenses

no more Egypt!

Finally.  I'm done with Ancient Egypt.  I am so sick of that topic, LOL.   We've been going through Exodus at church for several months, and now to spend 2 weeks on all things Egypt..........I am so pharoahed out    (what happened to all the cool smilies that used to be available??)

Those 2 weeks were interesting to say the least.   Hopefully I can look back on this at the end of the year and see markable progress.  My patience was so severely tested.  My 6 yo dd can space out so easily and not pay attention to what we're reading, and not be able to answer a question when I just read the answer 20 seconds ago.  But, she's learning.   We're using Story of the World, by Susan Wise Bauer, author of The Well-Trained Mind.   We're not solidly classical, but I like a lot of the things she has to say.  We're also using Galloping the Globe, and then an eclectic mix of other books and supplies.

I came across a neat tool to help organize things I find on the internet.  Google Notebook

a couple other egyptian links I came across:
http://www.neferchichi.com/
a fantastic clipart/photo site
inside the pyramids and other photos
egypt ideas

back in action!

alright.  It's a new year!  A real year this time.   I'm so excited to finally be doing 'real' school!  Alysa is in 1st grade, Aiden is only 4 and a half, but he wants to tag along for a lot of Alysa's stuff.  So we'll see if this ends up being preschool or kdg for him.  Baelin is 21 mos, so this should be very interesting to work around him, and the baby, Sydney, is 6 mos old and so adorable!!!  She's such a happy baby so I'm not too worried about her interfering much.

We are still doing the unit study method.  I am using Story of the World as my basis, and also using the E.D.Hirsch Core Knowledge Sequence as my other guide.  I have a 1st grade math book I picked up at a sale awhile back, and it turns out that a lot of the stuff in there is what Alysa needs to work on, so I'm just going to use that for awhile and not worry about a math curric. for right now.

We like the idea that Bauer has in The Well-Trained Mind, and SOTW, of doing a 4 year span of history, repeating it 3 times.   However, we've decided to shrink that down to 3 years instead of 4, and repeat that 3 years, so that they will only be doing school like that for 9 years.  So, we'll see how that works out this year.

catching up

So it's been a few weeks since I've posted.  It seems I go in spurts - posting a lot, not posting.  Maybe eventually I'll settle into a better pattern.  I have a bunch of things I want and need to get up here soon.  We're in our third week of school, and we've sort of been easing into it.  The first three weeks of topics weren't that heavy anyway, so it's been a nice transition.  I realized I was probably scheduling too much stuff anyways, and  I've got to get us on a better schedule timewise.   Anyway.  I came across a fascinating and dreadful newspaper article and report today.  Tragic.  Newspaper article

American Civic Literacy website, with report

a couple exerpts -


"America's colleges and universities fail to increase knowledge about
America's history and institutions. There is a trivial difference
between college seniors and their freshmen counterparts regarding
knowledge of America's heritage. Seniors scored just 1.5 percent higher
on average than freshmen, and at many schools, seniors know less than
freshmen about America's history, government, foreign affairs, and
economy. Overall, college seniors failed the civic literacy exam, with
an average score of 53.2 percent, or F, on a traditional grading
scale."


we included in our survey six questions from the National
Assessment of Educational Progress, which is designed to test high
school seniors' knowledge of America's history and institutions.
Overall, college students scored even more poorly on these six
questions than they did on the remaining 54, which were created
specifically for this survey.


In summary, though a university education can cost upwards of
$200,000 and the average under-graduate leaves campus $19,300 in debt,
they are no better off than when they arrived in terms of acquiring
knowledge about key areas of America's constitutional and economic
systems.

Bible Story ideas

For our unit studies, I just listed the name of the Bible story and
didn't say what we were going to do with them.  Here are some
things that we'll be doing.

A couple of years ago I
got something in the mail and it looked neat, so I sent away for
it.  We now have a huge collection of these Bible
cards.  I don't get them any longer, but they are really
neat.  Great
Bible Adventures  You get 9 cards that tell a Bible
story, and then on the back is a puzzle that they put
together.  And there is a reuseable activity card with a few
pages in it, as well as a coloring sheet.  It also has some
craft and activity ideas and discussion questions.  I think
each packet is 5 or 6 bucks.   A little bit pricey,
but the kids love them and it's a fun, easy way for them to really get
to know the Bible stories.  It came in handy this summer -
I've been using them for sunday school at church.

Creation

Rice Crispie Earth Recipe 

Basically, just your basic rice crispie squares recipe with
food coloring added.

1/4 cup
margarine

40
regular marshmallows

1/2 tsp. vanilla

6 cups rice crispies

green and blue food
coloring

Melt margine and marshmallows over medium heat in a large
pot, stir in vanilla and rice
crispies.  

Divide into two bowls

Add green food coloring to one bowl and blue food coloring
to the second.

Stir

Allow the children to take a scoop from the
blue bowl and a scoop from the green bowl and mash them together in a
ball (the earth). 

Set the balls aside until completely cool.

creation
worksheets
fish craft
- use sequins
soak seeds in water, put on a wet
paper towel and put inside a ziplock bag, tape to window...watch it
sprout!
talk about rules and why we have to obey
God.  Have them help make a list of house rules they should
obey.

Noah's Ark
coloring pages
rainbow
cookies


Abraham
Get a big piece of poster
board and make a family tree, starting with Abraham.  Add onto
it as we go through the Bible.  Another idea is to get plain
paper dolls and decorate them as the people, and post them on
the board.

Abraham and Lot
talk about
fighting and being selfish

Abraham and the promise

talk about how Abraham recognized that one of them was
God.  Can we lie to God? 

Abraham
and Issac
make an altar out of cheerios and
frosting

ACTING ON
SCRIPTURE - WILL YOU DO IT?  GAME

Have
the children line up in a horizontal line across the back of the
room.  This game is similar to Mother-May-I.  Instead
of taking turns all the children listen to your question and respond
with, "Yes, I do".  You then issue the command and they all
may respond.  In this game everyone will be a winner when they
reach you. 

1.  Mother asks you
to turn the TV off.  Will you get up and do it without saying,
"wait"? 
2.  Teacher asks you to stop
talking in class when she's talking.  Will you stop
talking? 
3.  Big brother asks you not to
play in his room while he is at school.  Will you stay out of
his room? 
4.  Grandmother tells you
eating cookie dough is bad for you.  Will you keep your
fingers out of the mixing bowl when she's not looking? 

5.  Daddy tells you to come straight home from
school and not stop for any reason.  Will you go straight home
even though your friend calls from his house to come see his new
kittens? 

Talk about how we have to obey
even though we can't understand the reason for it. Only Jesus can help
us do that.  When someone asks you to do something and you
feel like saying, "no" say a prayer for Jesus to help
you.

Issac
Issac and
Rebekah
egg
carton camel

Jacob
Jacob and
Esau
re-enact the
story

GETTING INTO
SCRIPTURE - BIBLE STORY DRAMATIZATION

Materials
needed:
2 small pieces of fur felt 
 (to place on a
child's forearms like Jacob did)
4 large rubber bands (to hold
the fur in place on arms)
Sleeping bag or blanket
2
baby dolls
Small stuffed lamb or beanie baby lamb
Bow
and arrow or slingshot
Small serving
bowl

WHAT THE TEACHER DOES: (To prepare
ahead)
There are no advance preparations
necessary.

WHAT THE CHILDREN DO:
Tell the
story using the children to dramatize the
following
scenes:
1. The angel making the announcement to Rebekah
that
 she was going to give birth to twins. Include
the
 message that the younger of the twins would
receive
 the birthright.
2. Rebekah holding her twin
babies
3. Jacob holding the lamb, Esau holding the bow
and
 arrow or slingshot
4. Rebekah planning with
Jacob how to deceive Isaac
5. Jacob receiving the birthright
blessing from Isaac
6. Esau returning and finding out that
Jacob has
 already been blessed with the
birthright
7. Jacob having to leave
home

Jacob's Ladder
go camping in the living
room.  Build an alter out of boxes.  Use a rock for a
pillow

Tagged! Homeschool resources

I was tagged by Two Kid Schoolhouse


1) One homeschooling book you have enjoyed.

Well, since we're so early into homeschooling, I haven't read a ton of resources yet.  So I'd have to say my favorite one is The Well-Trained Mind.

2) One resource you wouldn't be without.

The library and the internet.  Garage sales and used book sales are also great!


3)  One resource you wish you had never bought.

none, yet, since I haven't bought much at all.  I've bought lots of small, hands-on toys and activities. 

4) One resource you enjoyed last year.

Last year was preschool so again, didn't buy or use a whole lot.  So I'll say the internet :D 


5) One resource you will be using next year.

umm.....I'd like to buy a good world history book/s.  I will probably look into that more next year. 


6) One resource you would like to buy.

A nice set of McGuffy readers.  I'll either ask for that for christmas this year, or get a set for next year. 

7) One resource you wish existed.

I copied this one, a great answer!   Something to keep me from using time unwisely.

8) One homeschooling catalog you enjoy reading.

Learning Resources and Oriental Trading Company.

9)   One homeschooling website you use regularly.

I need to find some good ones.  Right now it's a few random yahoo groups that I use occasionally, and HSB.

10) Tag 5 people... Following the Ancient Paths   Homeschooling Grandma      In Good Company     Higher Up and Further In   Four in a Row

an excellent book

I just finished reading Left Back by Diane Ravitch.  It is very very good.  Very well written and well documented.  It is incredibly mind-blowing and angering read.  It is unfathomable to me how people could be that stupid and could do so much damage to the public schools.  Half-way through the book I told dh that my biggest fear was him dying and me having to put my kids in public school.  By the end of the book I told him that if I die, he is not to put the kids into public school.  There is no way on God's green earth that my kids are stepping foot into a public school until we are finished thoroughly educating them and they go to public high school when they are 16, as missionaries, as we've already planned.    This book was that influential.  I linked to the amazon page for this book and you can see excerpts and other reviews of it.   I have her other book The Language Police on hold at the library....that should be just as good of a read.