Homeschool Unit Studies 2009-2011 Edition (Gardening, Butter making, An Edible Cell, Queen Esther, & Winter Olympics)
The past few weeks I've had several friends ask questions about creating or purchasing unit studies and honestly, I did a lot more of them when my 3 oldest were younger. I had more time and it was a great fit for siblings schooling altogether. As I look through these old blog posts, it sparks new ideas for my littles now. I hope that these old posts (from my private blog) will be helpful to you, too!
Homeschooling: Queen Esther & The Winter Olympics
We just wrapped up a two month study on the book of Esther! We used this Grapevine Study in Ebook form, so I could make as many copies as I wanted. I really liked the focus completely on scripture, as that was our only text. The girls also loved it because it incorporated art! Drawing added a new dimension to studying God's Word and was a lot of fun.
We also memorized 12 verses from the book of Esther; and for fun I read aloud the fictional book Haddassah: The Girl Who Became Queen Esther (adapted for 10-14 year old readers and I omitted a few paragraphs to make it appropriate for our little girls) by Tommy Tenney and we watched One Night With the King.
I wanted to have a Purim party, to celebrate God using Esther to save the Jews, but other things got in the way this year. But, some of our dear friends brought us some yummy, Hamentashen Cookies (Haman's hat or ears from what I understand) & Anna, from Domestic Felicity, shares her recipe here.
We have also been speed skating around our kitchen, luging down the stairway, skiing around our living room, and figure skating on actual ice. Hee. Hee. I even let Savannah and Alisa stay up way, way past their bedtime to watch several of the 2010 Winter Olympic events.
We used pieces from this lapbook by Currclick for our unit study. We also enjoyed several books from the library and video clips online. Since Savannah and Alisa have been taking ice skating lessons, we focused a great deal on the female figure skaters.
I found studying the Winter Olympics to be a great tool in teaching geography, learning to pray for specific needs of Olympians and their families from other countries (when the Luger, Nodar Kumaritashvili, from Georgia was killed and Jeannie Rochette from Canada, lost her mother two days before skating and ultimately winning the bronze metal in women's figure skating), in talking about self-discipline, working hard, setting goals, and planting dream seeds... Did your family watch any of the games? What were your favorite events?
We just wrapped up a two month study on the book of Esther! We used this Grapevine Study in Ebook form, so I could make as many copies as I wanted. I really liked the focus completely on scripture, as that was our only text. The girls also loved it because it incorporated art! Drawing added a new dimension to studying God's Word and was a lot of fun.We also memorized 12 verses from the book of Esther; and for fun I read aloud the fictional book Haddassah: The Girl Who Became Queen Esther (adapted for 10-14 year old readers and I omitted a few paragraphs to make it appropriate for our little girls) by Tommy Tenney and we watched One Night With the King.
I wanted to have a Purim party, to celebrate God using Esther to save the Jews, but other things got in the way this year. But, some of our dear friends brought us some yummy, Hamentashen Cookies (Haman's hat or ears from what I understand) & Anna, from Domestic Felicity, shares her recipe here.
We have also been speed skating around our kitchen, luging down the stairway, skiing around our living room, and figure skating on actual ice. Hee. Hee. I even let Savannah and Alisa stay up way, way past their bedtime to watch several of the 2010 Winter Olympic events.We used pieces from this lapbook by Currclick for our unit study. We also enjoyed several books from the library and video clips online. Since Savannah and Alisa have been taking ice skating lessons, we focused a great deal on the female figure skaters.I found studying the Winter Olympics to be a great tool in teaching geography, learning to pray for specific needs of Olympians and their families from other countries (when the Luger, Nodar Kumaritashvili, from Georgia was killed and Jeannie Rochette from Canada, lost her mother two days before skating and ultimately winning the bronze metal in women's figure skating), in talking about self-discipline, working hard, setting goals, and planting dream seeds... Did your family watch any of the games? What were your favorite events?
Thursday, April 30, 2009
A week of gardening fun!
In Kansas, we so enjoyed having a garden in our backyard. Well, I should say that Tony did 98% of the work and I did 100% of the enjoy part. I had no idea what a job weeding can become and I ended up leaving most of the work to my sweetheart. We all enjoyed the benefits of delicious veggies though!At our current home, we have a large yard, but only a small portion is fenced in and the dirt is far from rich soil. So, the girls and I decided to have fun making a "container and pots garden". It turned into a wonderful unit study and science project for Savannah, which we will continue through charts, measurements, observations, and tasting of course. Mmm.
The girls painted sticks to use as markers for their veggies and flowers! Can you guess what seeds were planted here?
Savannah cut pictures from the seed bags and is going to keep a chart in her "Creation Notebook," recording how her garden grows.
Below are a few books we've enjoyed about gardening. Do you have a garden this year? Do you have favorite books about gardening with little ones?
We have also enjoyed: This is Your Garden, by Maggie Smith, A Harvest of Color, by Melanie Eclare, and The Berenstain Bears GROW-It!.
Wednesday, April 6, 2011
Science ~ An "edible" cell
I have found that as a family, we really enjoy "unit studies." We like to see how God's Word, history, science, writing, reading, math, life, etc., all come together. Most of the time our science lessons are woven into all subjects and part of our everyday life too: nature walks, living books, and gooey hands!
We also enjoyed utilizing "The Young Scientist Club" the past two years. Upon completion of that, I felt that because of Savannah's great interest in doing science experiments, I should add in specific science curriculum once or twice a week. I love to feed their passion for learning!
She and I did some research and picked out Apologia's Exploring Creation with Human Anatomy and Physiology and their JUNIOR Notebooking Journal. It's been exactly what we hoped. And, yesterday Savannah, made an "edible cell," which she, Levi, and Alisa enjoyed eating!
Saturday, February 5, 2011
Butter! Oh, Butter!
We spent six-weeks with Felicity, in 1774; six-weeks with Josephina, in 1824; and are now enjoying learning about a precious Swedish immigrant, turned Minnesota pioneer girl in 1854; Kirsten.
Yesterday, we stepped back in time, to make our own butter. And, you could say we had a little too much fun dancing around the house, shakin' our cream for almost 45 minutes, watching it turn into butter! Isn't it funny how things that were once "hard work", are now science experiments?!
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| Dancing with the cream |
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| Straining the buttermilk |
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| Rinsing the butter |
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| Pressing out the liquid |
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| Shaping the real butter! |
Years ago I came across your original blog... and loved it! I used to blog back then too. This is how I remember your beautiful girls.. and you were pregnant with your little boy a little later. I can't believe how grown up they are now! Such a wholesome and beautiful family. x
ReplyDeleteAh, it's great to get re-acquainted Amanda! God is good in every season and looking back through these old pictures was such a treasure to me too. May HE be glorified!
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