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SPECIAL DAYS IN SEPTEMBER, 2017
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Category Archives: Special Days
October’s Special Days Activity Companion and Resource List
Once again I’ve teamed up with Fran from Funschooling and Recreational Learning for another e-book! This one has activities for everyday throughout the month of October! Families, homeschoolers, classrooms, after school program teachers, and club leaders are going to love these fun (and educational) calendar activities.
This publication:
- Offers 120+ easy to use ideas/activities and includes some delicious recipes.
- Is 16 pages long and printer friendly.
- Offers safe external resource pages for extended information, research, and learning!
- Is an Instant Digital Download: 1 PDF
- Contains Family friendly activities.
Get your copy of October’s Special Days Activity Companion at Learning Tangent Homeschool Magazine’s Shop!
Here’s a resource list to add a little more learning to the October Special Days Activities:
- Oct. 1 Model T Ford introduced 1908
Funschooling & Recreational Learning: Ford’s Model T
- Oct. 2 Farm Animals Day
Country Farm Lifestyles: Farm Animal Guide to Feeding, Housing, and Diseases
- Oct. 3 SOS (distress code) established 1906
Funschooling & Recreational Learning: SOS
- Oct. 4 Cinnamon Roll Day
Ifood TV: Cinnamon Roll History, Serving and Nutrition
- Oct. 5 Physicist Robert Hutchings Goddard born 1882
Funschooling & Recreational Learning: Robert Hutchings Goddard
- Oct. 6 Mad Hatter Day
Alice In Wonderland: Mad Tea Party Ideas and Games
- Oct. 7 Physicist Niels Bohrs born 1885
Funschooling & Recreational Learning: Niels Bohrs
- Oct. 8 Face Your Fears Day
How Stuff Works: Inside the Mind – How Fear Works
- Oct. 9 Chess Day
Funschooling & Recreational Learning: Chess
- Oct. 10 Cake Decorating Day
Creative U: Beginner’s guide to Cake Decorating
- Oct. 11 Apollo 7 Launched 1968
Funschooling & Recreational Learning: Apollo 7
- Oct. 12
Cookbook Launch Day
Instructables: Tips for Making a Family Recipe Book
- Oct. 13 US Navy Established 1775
Funschooling & Recreational Learning: US Navy
- Oct. 14 President Dwight D. Eisenhower Born 1890
Still Learning Something New: Resources for Presidents
- Oct. 15 I Love Lucy Premier 1951
Funschooling & Recreational Learning: I Love Lucy
- Oct. 16
Noah Webster born 1758/Dictionary Day/Learn A Word Day
Funschooling & Recreational Learning: Words Within Words
- Oct. 17 Author Arthur Miller born 1915
Funschooling & Recreational Learning: Arthur Miller
Still Learning Something New: Salem Witch Trials
- Oct. 18 Alternative Fuel Day
Funschooling & Recreational Learning: Experiments You Can Do With The Sun
National Renewable Energy Laboratory: Learning About Renewable Energy
- Oct. 19 Author/Illustrator Ed Emberly born 1931
Funschooling & Recreational Learning: Ed Emberly
- Oct. 20 Monster Mash Day
Funschooling & Recreational Learning: Monster Mash
Still Learning Something New: Monsters!
Autumn Leaves
Funschooling & Recreational Learning: Fall Leaves
Science Sparks: Autumn Science Activities
- Oct. 21 Apple Day
Funschooling & Recreational Learning: Apple Research Project
- Oct. 22 Daniel Boone born 1734
Still Learning Something New: Daniel Boone
- Oct. 23 Mole Day
Wikipedia: Mole, Mole Day, National Chemistry Week
ACS: Chemistry for Life: Mole Day
- Oct. 24 Food Day
PBS: Videos – What Do Animals Eat?
How Animals Use Their Senses to Find Food
- Oct. 25 Magic Week begins
Funschooling & Recreational Learning: Magic Tricks Resource Page
- Oct. 26 Red Cross Founded 1836
American Red Cross: Works, Services, Military, Mission, History, Stories
- Oct. 27 Tell A Story Day
Funschooling & Recreational Learning: Tell A Story
- Oct. 28 Statue of Liberty dedicated 1886
The Real Life (Youtube): Virtual Field Trip – Statue of Liberty
- Oct. 29 Cat Day
Funschooling & Recreational Learning: Domesticated Cats Resource Page
- Oct. 30 Candy Corn Day
National Confectioners Association: Candy Corn History, How is Candy Corn Made, Fun Facts
- Oct. 31 All Hollows Eve/Halloween
Funschooling & Recreational Learning: Halloween & Pumpkins
For the August and September Activity Companions click here
betty jo
Relaxation VS Stress – Resource List
Understanding stress and how to relax are life lessons I want my boys to grasp. According to Special Days in August, the 15th is “Relaxation Day” and the perfect time for us to focus on this topic. I’ve gathered some resources for our homeschooling lessons and want to share them with you.
Free K-12 Teacher Guides – What stress is and how to manage it.
Top Relaxation Techniques for Children
Relaxation Music and Nature Sound Playlist
Articles with Audio for Students:
Five Steps for Fighting Stress
betty jo
The Great American Solar Eclipse
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
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
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 Vocabulary List with Games and Puzzles
Free Eclipse Printables and Resources
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!
Sun, Moon, and Stars Coloring Sheets (most of these are suitable for teens and adults)
betty jo
Special Days and Science
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:
- http://www.kidtopia.info/science_biography.html
- Notebooking – Scientist
Inventions Resources:
- Timeline, photographs, quotations, and additional resources http://www.ideafinder.com/history/timeline.htm
- Famous Inventions http://www.biographyonline.net/scientists/famous-inventions.html
- A-Z Inventions and Discoveries https://www.infoplease.com/science-health/science-inventions/guide-inventions-and-discoveries-adrenaline-zipper
Resources for Animal Days (Zoology):
- Online Animal Encyclopedia https://a-z-animals.com/
- Huge list of Animal Lapbook Printables http://www.homeschoolshare.com/index_animal_studies.php
- Nice Collection of Animal Videos https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLXB5R79dmFB5kuknaFqaMDBYUmPRLPgLM
-
” The Lil’ Fingers YouTube Zoo is a selection of over 100 animal videos.
All videos have been reviewed to not include animals mating, killing or bodily functions. “ - Animal Notebooking Printable https://notebookingfairy.com/animal-notebooking-page/
- Animal Research Projects and Activities http://www.franw.com/2017/09/animals.html
Resources for health related themes:
- K-12 Student and Educator Articles with Audio http://kidshealth.org/
- Human Body Printables http://www.myjoyfilledlife.com/2016/08/01/free-human-body-printables/
- Human Body Activities and Projects http://ht.ly/R76I9
- Study health benefits and nutrition with food themes! http://foodfacts.mercola.com/
Chemistry –
- Peroiodic Videos http://www.periodicvideos.com/
- Online Text http://www.chem4kids.com/
- Projects https://www.homesciencetools.com/a/science-projects/c/chemistry-science-projects
Physics
- Online Text http://www.physics4kids.com/
- Projects https://www.homesciencetools.com/a/science-projects/c/physical-science-projects
Geology
- Online Facts, Videos, and more http://www.kidsgeo.com/geology-for-kids/
- Weather http://www.weatherwizkids.com/
- Projects https://www.homesciencetools.com/a/science-projects/c/earth-and-space-science-projects
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
Louie Armstrong
According to the Special Days in August list, August 4, 1901 is the birth date of jazz legend Louis Armstrong! Below are some wonderful online resources that we’ll be following as we learn about “Satchmo” and his fifty year career as songwriter, musician, and film star.
Jazz Slang (Parental Guidance Alert! Not all the words in this glossary are appropriate for children!)
Read Aloud – When Louis Armstrong Taught Me Scat
Later, Cool Cats! Catch ya on the flip!
betty jo
Special Days and Geography
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 in August, 2017
Special Days and Biographies
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
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
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
Still Learning Something New 