Category Archives: Our Homeschool

Special Days in November, 2017

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Click here for the updated BIG list of Special Days in November!

SPECIAL DAYS IN OCTOBER, 2017

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Click here for the list of Special Days in October updated for 2019!

 

SPECIAL DAYS IN SEPTEMBER, 2017

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Click here for Special Days in September updated for 2019!

 

The Great American Solar Eclipse

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Monday, August 21 is the date of the Great American Solar Eclipse.  However, there is much to learn and observe before the event!  Below is the collection of online resources we’ll be using for eclipse lessons and to prepare for the viewing.

Everything You Need To Know About the Solar Eclipse – Explanations, Diagrams, DIY Safe Viewing Projects, and more!

Animated and Interactive Eclipse Maps  –  Find out when and where

Eclipses: Crash Course Video

Eclipse Live Stream

Eclipse History –  NASA’s collection of historical eclipses starting with about 5000 BC including Chinese, Babylonians, and Greeks to current times.

Ancient People and the Solar Eclipse  –  Video

Solar Eclipse Folklore, Myths, and Superstitions

Eclipse in the Bible

A Day With Two Dawns  –  Free Eclipse Ebook and Resources from Apologia

Eclipse Kit   –  Resources and STEM activities from NASA

Lapbooking and Notebooking Printables

Eclipse Quotes

Eclipse Vocabulary List with Games and Puzzles 

Free Eclipse Printables and Resources

Eclipse Art Projects

Math Lesson  –  Geometry of a Solar Eclipse

Our town is one of the prime totality viewing spots. We’ve decided to avoid the crowds that are expected at the various events and have our own back yard party.

For the party!

Ideas and Planning Tips

Music Playlist

Snacks

Sun, Moon, and Stars Coloring Sheets (most of these are suitable for teens and adults)

betty jo

 

 

 

Special Days and Science

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There are many opportunities for science lessons on each Special Days list!  Scientist and Inventor birthdays, invention and technology patents, animal days  health related observances and awarenesses, food themes,  conservation topics, weather related themes. discovery and disaster anniversaries, and even more!  (See right sidebar for the current month’s list or use the search bar to access other months.)

For an example of how many science themed lessons are possible from a typical Special Days list,  here’s what some of the August themed science study choices are.

  • Botony – Cactus, Daffodil,
  • Anatomy – Eyes
  • Chemistry – Gold, Nuclear Tests, Salt
  • Health – Immunization, Spinal Muscular Atrophy, Fresh Breath, Sarcoidosis, Relaxation,
  • Geology with Labs – Water Quality, Sand, Wind, Mt. Vesuius (earthquakes),
  • Zoology – Catfish, Sea Serpent , Lion,  Lizard, Elephant, Honey Bee, Orangutan, Mosquito, Whale Shark
  • Nutrition, Growing information, and Facts – Coffee, Kiwifruit,Orange, Peach, Papaya, Potato, Zucchini
  • Astronomy with Labs- Solar Eclipse, Meteor Showers, Echo 1, Viking 1 &2, Gemini 5, Pluto
  • Scientist/Inventors/Inventions/Discoveries/Technology – Escalator, Pierre Charles L’Enfant, Neil Armstrong, Mimeograph Machine, Marvin Minsky, Florence Merriam Bailey, Phonograph, Wrench, Aviation, Canals, Roller Coaster, Radio, Lionel Cowen, Lee DeForest, Antoine Lavoisier, Carl Bosch, Charles Franklin Kettering,  Waffle Iron, Kinetoscope, 1st Solar Power Car, Slinky.

I absolutely do not expect to cover all of those science themes and days. I will have to narrow it down as I work on our weekly plans.  Some of our choices will not be a complete study but will be quick review discussion of past lessons. Others might be as simple as an online search of images or video or a definition while other science days will include more in-depth lessons and activities and could continue over several days.

Nearly all of our science lessons for the past 3 years have come from the ever growing Special Days lists. We check with our local library for books and videos. Also, a quick “Google” search will provide all kinds of ideas and resources for a DIY science study.  I highly recommend including the words ” for students”, “for kids”, or “lesson plans” to rule out search results that won’t be of much help to you.  Also, I will often include the word “free” in my search!

There are a few online resources that I tend to use over and over and I’ve listed those by topic below.

Scientists Biographies Resources:

Inventions Resources:

Resources for Animal Days (Zoology):

Resources for health related themes:

Chemistry –

Physics

Geology

Astronomy

  • Sky Guides                                                                                      https://www.almanac.com/astronomy
  • Text, Videos, Games                                                                               https://www.kidsastronomy.com/
  • NASA Space Place                                                                                               https://spaceplace.nasa.gov/

This post is actually ‘Part 4’ of a series in which I’m explaining how my family learns across the curriculum with topics selected from the Special Days list. For the series introduction click here. For Part 1,  how we use famous birthdays for biographies with resources, click here. And, Part 3 – geography with resources click here.   Part 4 – electives and extras will be coming soon!

betty jo

 

 

 

 

 

Special Days and Geography

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Each month the Special Days list will include multiple opportunities for geography studies! (See right sidebar for the current month’s list or use the search bar to access other months.) Some months will have a “Heritage” theme. For example September is ” Hispanic Heritage”  so the countries of  Spain, Mexico, the Caribbean and Central and South America could be included in the month’s lesson plans.  Other geography lessons can be based on Statehood Anniversaries and Country Independence Days which are also included as entries in the Special Days posts. In fact, we just finished a study on The Bahamas that we began on their Independence Day  (July 10, 1973).

Both the kids and I look forward to our geography studies!     We generally include mapping activities, fun facts (natural resources, population, currency, landforms, etc.), event timeline, famous people, key words and phrases of the language or lingo, culture, music, art, landmarks, religion(s), holidays, unusual customs, a recipe, a video tour, a postcard art project, and occasionally another hands-on project.  We have a binder that we continue adding to as we learn about places.

Our local library has a good selection of books and DVD’s to help with geography studies. We also get a lot of our information from web searches using the country’s name and “travel tips.  I find it good advice to preview everything before sharing with your family!

Below is my online “go-to” list when preparing for a geography study.

We enjoy watching  “Geography Now” videos and will check there first when looking for ‘country’ videos.   We will usually find a virtual tour or travel guide on Youtube to watch, too. (When using the Youtube search bar, I will include the words “for students” or “for kids”. This saves me quite a bit of time previewing because bad language or an inappropriate image is less likely) .

“Get all sorts of information on any country including a map, a picture of the flag, population and much more!”
http://www.ducksters.com/geography/

Maps and Facts    http://geology.com/world/world-map.shtml

Geography Project Ideas     https://www.weirdunsocializedhomeschoolers.com/10-hands-on-history-and-geography-activities-for-kids/

Around the World Craft Ideas                                                                                              http://www.freekidscrafts.com/world-crafts/

Country Notebooking Printables                                                 http://www.notebookingnook.com/freebie-country-study-notebooking-pages/

States Videos and Facts                                                                               http://www.history.com/topics/us-states

States Notebooking Printables

http://elementalblogging.com/us-state-study-homeschoolers-revisited/

States Lapbook Printables                       http://www.homeschoolshare.com/connections__usa.php

Crosswords, Word Searches, and Writing Pages Every State                                   http://www.printable-worksheets.com/states

Printable Maps                                                                   http://www.yourchildlearns.com/megamaps.htm

Blank Timeline Printables                                                                http://notebookingfairy.com/timeline-notebooking-pages/

I will often make a wordsearch or crossword puzzle to include with a country study.

Christian Resources and Prayer Projects for Country Studies  https://joshuaproject.net/global/countries

Recipe Collection from Around the World for Families                                                                             http://globaltableadventure.com/

Learn the Basic Key Words and Phrases with Audio of Many Foreign Languages                http://www.surfacelanguages.com/

Foreign Language Courses                                                                           http://www.languagetutorial.org/

As I’ve said before, I love combining several subjects into one topic!  I keep a daily journal and subject checklist and will often be able to checkoff Geography, History, Art/Music Appreciation and Application, Cultures, Religion,  and various sciences such as Zoology, Geology, Botany during a week long (or longer) geography based study.

Language Arts naturally fits into a geography study with the subjects of

  • Reading Comprehension,
  • Vocabulary,
  • Foreign Language
  • Composition and Penmanship

Math lessons are easily added to a geography study.

  •  Figuring travel time and costs to visit,
  • Calculate currency conversions.,
  • Use map key measurements to calculate distances from home to the place being studies
  • Graphing a map
  • Half a recipe or cook for a party
  • Temperature ranges and averages
  • Statistics  –  Population, Gross National Income, %’s, and graphs
  • Math usages from data – tallest mountains, sea level heights, river widths/lengths, area in square miles  and/or meters.
  • Anything with numbers that comes up during  a Special Days – Geography study.

(This post is actually ‘Part 3’ of a series in which I’m explaining how my family learns across the curriculum with topics selected from the Special Days list. For the series introduction click here. For Part 2  how we use famous birthdays for biographies with resources, click here. And, Part 4, science studies click here).

betty jo

 

 

 

Special Days and Biographies

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I’ve been asked several times, “How exactly do you teach from your Special Days lists?”  The answer to that comes in multi-parts, but usually starts with “Biographies, lots of biographies!”

Every Special Days list includes birthdays of famous people throughout history.  I’ll ask the boys what they know about that author/artist/scientist/historical figure/religious leader.  If they are not familiar with him/her, we’ll do biography study!  Some days we only have a brief discussion about the person, or a review if we had studied him or her in the past couple of years.  Other days we will go more in depth and I’ll include reading resources, videos, and quotes into the lessons.  Some biography studies can be finished in a couple of hours.  Some biography studies catch a bigger interest and I won’t stop the study until that interest is satisfied, even if it means having to cancel my other special days lesson plans for a week or more.  Whoever we miss, we can try to catch next year or the year after when their special day happens again.

This past school year we started notebooking some of our biography studies and plan to continue with this for the upcoming school year.   We arranged the pages in a timeline order and as the notebooks fill up, we can start a new one.  However, the boys prefer projects over notebooking, so we’ll do some of each.

Below is my “go-to” resource list for online resources for biographies, how-to’s, and notebooking printables.  Also, our local library has a wonderful collection of biographies and Youtube has many video biographies suitable for children and youths, so don’t forget to check those when you are looking for resources.

Alternatives to Writing Biographies  –  Biography Project Ideas 

Lesson Plans for 6 sessions of the “Writer’s Workshop  – The Biographical Sketch” http://www.readwritethink.org/classroom-resources/lesson-plans/writers-workshop-biographical-sketch-1039.html?tab=4#session1

How to Write a Biography  –                                                           http://www.howtowriteabiography.org/

100+ Biographies and Printables (These are short and written for younger readers, however older students will find these helpful as a starting place when researching a historical person.  Also the printables are a useful for work samples for portfolios or history based notebooks)   http://gardenofpraise.com/leaders.htm

Online Art Galleries with Artist Biographies –                                http://www.abcgallery.com/alfaind.html

Composer Biographies with Music Selections                                   http://www.classicsforkids.com/

Kid Safe Scientist Biographies Resources-                                                   http://www.kidtopia.info/science_biography.html

President Biographies Resources  –https://stilllearningsomethingnew.com/2014/02/14/resources-for-presidents-day/

Church Leaders, Missionaries, Hymn Writers, and Evangelists Biographies  http://www.wholesomewords.org/biography/index.html

Kid Safe Online Encyclopedia  –            http://academickids.com/encyclopedia/index.php/Biographies

1000’s of Biography E-books to download or read online  http://www.gutenberg.org/wiki/Biographies_%28Bookshelf%29#Pierre_Abelard

When we write biographies, we generally include the person’s birth and death dates, where they were from, a childhood fact or two, and their accomplishments as adults including spouse and children.  We will usually add a quote to the notebooking page, too.

Biography Notebooking Printables from The Notebooking Fairy

Author

Scientist

Artist  

Composer

Presidents

Timeline Facts

For Any Person 

Inventors (from Homeschool Share)

Missionaries  (from the Proverbial Homemaker)

Composers (from Homeschool Giveaways)

Portraits of Historical Figures (public domain)  for when we want a photo to print off for the notebooking page                                                   http://www.lib.utexas.edu/exhibits/portraits/index.html

Sometimes we’ll look over a history timeline to get the idea of what was going on in the world during our subject’s life.                                                             https://www.factmonster.com/us/timeline-archive

In accordance with my state’s homeschooling regulations, I keep a daily subject checklist.  On biography days I will check off the relevant History/Science/Art/Music and Reading Comprehension boxes. And, if we made a notebooking page I’ll check off Composition and Penmanship, too.  Don’t you just love it when one topic can cover multiple subjects!

And every now and then we’ll bake and decorate a birthday cake because …

I’d love to hear how you go about biography studies!  Please share about them in the comments.

(This post is actually ‘Part 2’ of a series in which I’m explaining how my family learns across the curriculum with topics selected from the Special Days list.  For the series introduction, Special Days and the Evolution of Morning Calendar Time, click here. For Part 3, Special Days and Geography click here. For Part 4, Special Days and Science click here)

betty jo

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Special Days and the Evolution of Morning Calendar Time

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Like many other homeschooling families and classrooms worldwide, we used the calendar as part of our early learning activities.   Calendars are the best way to learn the name of the months and days of the week.  Counting down to holidays and birthdays were some of our earliest math lessons. “Morning Calendar Time” was often the highlight of our homeschooling day.  When we started calendar learning with our second child, we added a few things for our oldest, such as the month’s name origin, gemstone, and prominent constellations.  And, this type of calendar learning continued on through the preschool years of children three, four, and five.  Cross curricular and multi- level unit studies of seasons and holidays were extensions from that “Morning Calendar Time” and were something we all looked forward to as we would break from our regular learning.

Then one August morning,  Joshua (child #4) was rather distraught about the lack of a family birthday or holiday being on our calendar.  Our local homeschool support group did not have a party or field trip scheduled for August either. He was so disappointed. There was nothing “special” to look forward to.   His unhappiness was contagious.

At that time, the older children were working on a study of the Middle Ages so we began adding the birthdates of the people we were learning about to the calendar. Then one day, we stumbled upon a food calendar so we added food days to our calendar (and often to our shopping list and menu) and nutrition studies to our schooling.

In September of the next year, we learned that there was a “Talk Like a Pirate Day”! Of course we added that to our calendar and lesson plans. Soon we were discovering odd and unusual holidays for every month. No longer was Joshua going to be sad during morning calendar time because there weren’t special days. In fact, we had collected so many special days, the wall calendar didn’t have enough room for us to accommodate them all! Thus, a Special Days list was started!

The following year we were focusing our studies on US History.  We added presidents, explorers, and patriots birthdays and statehood anniversaries to our list. We also included the opening and dedication dates of state parks and monuments. War related dates were put on the list as well. The following year as we were learning about world cultures and religions, we were able to add their holidays to our special days collection.

A friend, knowing our building interest of  calendar studies, gifted us with an educational activity book that was based off of authors, artists, and composer birthdays. The book also listed the dates for invention patents and historical events.  Yes, you guessed it!  Many of those dates were put on our list!

It was never my intention to turn our Morning Calendar time into a full curriculum, but that is what  happened. Every month offers so many holidays, famous persons birthdays, foods, statehood anniversaries, historic and scientific anniversaries,  foreign nations heritages observances, health related observances,  wildlife  and conservation awareness days, arts, music, and physical activities that we’ve been able to learn more than enough to cover nearly all of our core subjects and elective studies!  Some days we’re even able to incorporate a math lesson with the special day!

This upcoming school year will be our 4th year of having nearly all of our learning coming from the calendar!  We are not even close to exhausting the educational possibilities based on the monthly Special Days lists. And, we are still making it longer! Starting  July, 2017, the updated Special Days lists will included foreign country Independence Days and National Days.

The current month’s Special Days list and resource collections are always accessible from the right side bar of my blog page. Other months can be found by an archive search or search bar (also in the right margin). The lists are updated often.

Along with my friend, Fran from Funschooling, I hostess a Facebook group based on fun learning activities for seasonal themes and special days. You can request to join Fun Days Homeschooling Co-op here. We’d love to have you!

“How do you make your Special Days lists your curriculum?” is a question I hear often.  I’m planning a blog series, “Special Days and …” to answer that “how” question for each subject along with  resources and ideas.

Special Days and Biographies –   How to with resource list

Special Days and Geography  –  How to with resource list

Special Days and Science    –  How to with resource list

I have co-authored an Activity Companion for learning with August’s and September’s Special Days. An October Activity Companion is in the works!

How do you use the Special Days list in your classroom or homeschool?  I’m looking forward to your responses!  And, if you have questions, let me have those too!

betty jo

 

 

July Resources

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Here is a wonderful list of free resources for learning (and teaching) through the month of July!

BIG LIST of Special Days in July  –     

Resource Collection for Calendar Based Lesson Planning  https://stilllearningsomethingnew.com/2016/07/31/learning-resources-for-special-days/

Specific July Themed Resources –

Presidents with July Birthdays

  • Calvin Coolidge – July 4, 1872
  • George W. Bush – July 6, 1946
  • John Quincy Adams – July 11, 1767
  • Gerald Ford – July 14, 1913

Awesome resources for learning about the Presidents – https://stilllearningsomethingnew.com/2014/02/14/resources-for-presidents-day/

July Statehood Anniversaries

  • Idaho – July 3, 1890
  • Wyoming – July 10, 1890
  • New York – July 26, 1788

Country Independence Days

Burundi – July 1, 1962
Canada – July 1, 1867
Rwanda – July 1, 1962
Somalia – July 1, 1960
USA – July 4, 1776
Venezuela – July 5, 1811
Malawi – July 6, 1964
Argentina – July 9, 1816
Bahamas – July 10, 1973
Sao Tome and Principe – July 12, 1975
France – July 14, 1789
Colombia – July 20, 1810
Belgium – July 21, 1831

Egypt – July 23, 1952
Liberia – July 26, 1847
Maldive Islands – July 26, 1965
Peru – July 28, 1821

Fantastic List of Geography Resources                https://stilllearningsomethingnew.com/2017/07/29/special-days-and-geography/

Daily Specials for July  (I’ll be updating the daily specials with more resources as we go along through the month, so check back often for more!  And, if you have any special day resource favorites, be sure to let me know and I’ll edit them into the list. I appreciate all the help I can get!)

July 1 – International Joke Day – Our favorite kid’s joke resources and tips – https://stilllearningsomethingnew.com/2013/07/01/just-joking/

July 4  –  Independence Day – Cross Curriculum Unit Study Resources  https://stilllearningsomethingnew.com/2016/07/01/history-fireworks-food-and-family-fun-a-4th-of-july-unit-study/

July 7  –  Chocolate Day  –  Learning Resources, Recipes, and Activities  http://www.franw.com/2013/02/chocolate.html

July 8 –  Liberty Bell cracked 1835  –  Learning Resources  –  https://stilllearningsomethingnew.com/2013/07/08/the-liberty-bell/

July 11  –  Author EB White born 1899  –  Charlotte’s Web Activities  http://www.confessionsofahomeschooler.com/blog/2015/01/charlottes-web-activities-for-kids.html

July 12  –  Julius Caesar born 100 BC  –  Biography  http://www.ducksters.com/history/ancient_rome/julius_caesar.php

July 12  –  Henry Thoreau born 1817  –  Lesson Plans and Activities http://www.readwritethink.org/classroom-resources/calendar-activities/henry-david-thoreau-born-a-20558.html

July 14 –  Artist Rembrandt born 1606 – Learning Resources and Activities –  https://stilllearningsomethingnew.com/2013/07/15/rembrandt/

July 16  –  World Snake Day  – Learning Resources and Activities   https://stilllearningsomethingnew.com/2018/07/15/snakes/

July 17 –  Hymn Writer Isaac Watts born 1674  – Biography and Hymns  –http://www.cyberhymnal.org/bio/w/a/t/watts_i.htm

July 18 –  Nelson Mandela born 1918 –  Lesson Plans and Printables               http://www.scholastic.com/browse/article.jsp?id=3758626

July 24 –  Aviator Amelia Earhart born 1897  –   History and Photos  https://www.awesomestories.com/asset/view/National-Archives-Photo-Does-It-Depict-Amelia-Earhart-

July 24  –  Learn Nothing Day (Unschool Holiday)                                                                  http://www.christian-unschooling.com/learn-nothing-day.html

July 26 –  Artist George Catlin born 1796  –   Gallery with Commentary  http://americanart.si.edu/exhibitions/online/catlinclassroom/cl.html

July 28  –  Fingerprints First Used for Identification  –  Fingerprinting Science Activities  http://www.kcedventures.com/blog/fingerprint-science-for-kids

July 28 – Author Beatrix Potter born 1866  –  Lesson Plans and Activities  https://edsitement.neh.gov/lesson-plan/beatrix-potters-naughty-animal-tales#sect-activities

July 29 – International Tiger Day – Facts, Listen to “ROARS”, Coloring printables, and more – http://www.tigers-world.com/

July 31  –  Uncommon Instruments Awareness Day –  Odd instruments to view and hear  http://www.oddmusic.com/gallery/

Happy July Learning!

betty jo