Using Field Trips in Your Homeschool
Are you dreading getting started with school after a delightful vacation time? Take a field trip! Here is an example of what you can do with a particular field trip to make returning to school exciting.
Plan a trip to your local children’s museum.
BEFORE YOUR TRIP
~Research together the exhibits in the museum including those exhibits that are there for only a short time. Plan out your schedule to include the exhibits you would like to spend the most time visiting.
~Decide how much money you will need to cover all of the expenses and create a budget. Don’t forget to include the cost of food and parking.
~Have your children use maps to locate the museum and determine the best route to take to get there.
~Read various books related to one of the exhibits.
DURING YOUR TRIP
~While visiting the different exhibits, ask your children probing questions. Encourage them to make hypotheses and deductions. Show them how certain things work.
~Bring your science journals along. Have your children spend some time at the museum writing about a science related exhibit.
~Take photos of the activities your children enjoyed the most. Use those photos to write a story. You can even make a book about your trip.
AFTER YOUR TRIP
~Write letters to the museum staff about your experience. Include postive experiences as well as anything you feel needs to be changed.
~Make note of topics that your children found interesting at the museum. Continue to study that topic in the coming weeks.
~Create your own brochure for the museum. Include directions, parking information, dining options, the cost of admission, and information about the exhibits. Use thumbnail size photos from the visit in the brouchure.
Home Education and Blogging: A Match Made in Heaven
These days my God is teaching me that He will use my gifts in ways that I have never dreamed of. Isn’t it funny how our God does that? He has foiled my plans again and sent me off in another direction. I am doing my best to be obedient like Abraham. God and I are entering territory that I have not been in before. He has given me the tools to navigate the trip, though. I am excited and scared to see where He leads me!
First of all, I have to tell you that I am Anti-Technology Girl who fell in love with and married Techno Man. (He really is my very own superhero!) I have consistently resisted the computer and always need help with something on it. Even just a couple of months ago I avoided checking my e-mail. Many times I have ranted at my hubby for spending hours on the computer just surfing or updating his Facebook page. There was no way that I would be tempted by the evils of the internet. Oh no! It isn’t social enough for me anyway. Who wants to look at a computer screen for hours at a time?
Then Techno Man suggested that I, Anti-Technology Girl, start blogging. “Why would I blog?” I asked. He insisted that this would be a great way to promote my business and establish my expertise in my field. It would replace the old e-newsletter I used to send out faithfully. “O.k. I’ll try it.” He had no idea what he was about to start! Now I am now Super Blogger Girl, and I can’t get enough! I love blogging!
I have always wanted to be a writer. I used to write poetry and short stories as a kid. I never pursued it because it is so hard to break into the writing world. I knew that I wouldn’t be able to make a living at it, at least not at first. I needed a dependable vocation and decided that teaching would be a better career for me.
However, writing has always been hanging on in the background for me. I was on committees involved in writing the school improvement plan or obtaining grants. I loved teaching writing in my classroom, too. I even had a job that involved writing curriculum. Yes, writing has never gone away, but it has always been on the fringe of what I do.
I went to school and got experience teaching. I know lots about the education world, and now I am even homeschooling my kids. Here comes the writing piece again. Now I blog about home education. This is a match made in heaven!
Thank you, God for sending me on this journey. I am excited to find out how I will get to Canaan! Help me to trust You to lead me.
I look forward to sending you all “postcards” along the way!
Filed under Homeschooling Life | Comments (4)Make Way for Our Next Lapbook
Make Way for Ducklings by Robert McCloskey is the subject of our next lapbook. There will be a series of posts with thoughts and photos as we go through the process of this particular lapbook. I will even include titles of other books we are using. Again, I am making up my own lapbook using library and internet resources that are available for free.
I started this lapbook unit by creating a web of ideas for what we could learn about. This is a great way to get started. Based on my web, I searched the internet to see what was available. I looked at an example of what someone else had done for their lapbook on Homeschool Share, and I printed out what I intended on using for my lessons. I put together the first mini book we were going to make as well.
I introduced the book to the kids by talking about Robert McCloskey since we just read Blueberries for Sal. I read the book just for enjoyment this first time. We simply discussed the book as we went along. My kids’ bedroom is painted in a Make Way for Ducklings theme (painted by Caroline Funchion), so we talked about that connection to the book.
The next time we read the book, I wrote the ducklings’ names on our chalkboard- Jack, Kack, Lack, Mack, Nack, Pack, Ouack, & Quack - to use the ducklings’ names for learning about onsets and rimes. We created a flip book with the names. I wrote the letters, and my kids traced over them. The little one did not do a page for Ouack and Quack as I think it would have been too much work.
As a note for the reasoning behind this particular lesson, rhyming is a great precursor to reading. Try playing with rhymes when you’re waiting in the grocery line or at the doctor’s office. Sing rhyming songs for fun. Using onsets and rhymes is also a great strategy for figuring out unknown words when you are reading. Try pointing them out when you see a good one in a book or on the cereal box. This strategy is also helpful with writing. You can point out that a particular word rhymes with another one while you are writing and show your kids how you use that strategy.
I hope this helps you get started on your Make Way for Ducklings lapbook!
Filed under How to | Comment (1)Summer Science Journals for Your Home School
Do you want to improve your science program? Are you struggling to motivate your kids to write anything let alone something meaningful, especially in the summer? Are you trying to get the most out of those educational summer vacations? Try using science journals! The benefits of journals abound! Have you tried them yet? They are great even for the littlest scientists! Here are a few tips for a summer science journal. Hopefully you will be inspired to try them out this summer!
- Use something that is portable and durable for your journal. You’ll take it everywhere and use it in messy situations. You want it to hold up. Attach a pencil on a string to the journal. Bring some colored pencils or crayons along. Put the journal, pencil, and colors in a folder or a plastic storage bag.
- Bring your science journals when you go to various vacation spots. Children can journal about the ocean, fishing, the farm, the aquarium, berry picking, hiking, and camping experiences (think star gazing, and the like).
- Why not use your journal with some ongoing science projects at home? We have a garden that we journal about. (That’s a whole other post coming soon!)
- Put a title on the page indicating what the entry is about and where the family was. Write the date. (It’s important to maintain good records.)
- Have the kids include detailed, scientific drawings in their journals. They should label the drawings clearly and use appropriate colors in the picture. For example, color the ocean the colors that you see (green, blue, white, yellow), not just blue because blue represents water.
- Write observations in each entry. Little ones can dictate a sentence or two for you to write for them.
- Make the observations interesting and relevant to the topic, too. Don’t just say, “The ocean is pretty.” Try something like this, “When the waves crash on the shore, there is a lot of white foam. The water sprays up, and there is a loud crashing sound. I saw the water pull back slowly after it foamed up. I wonder what causes the water to pull back.”
- Add a layer of challenge by posing a question for the kids to answer before going out and adding the question on the entry page. Then the child’s entry must include the answer to the question.
Have fun with your summer science journal. You may just find that your children love them and use them all year long!
Filed under How to | Comment (1)
