Posts Tagged ‘thematic unit’
Back to School Tips – Downloadable workbooks!
Getting ready for back to school means having lesson plans ready to go. A great asset to you lesson plans is downloadable workbooks.
Ebooks are quick to download, ready when you are, no problems with out of stock or out of print resources. Ebooks are broad ranged or specific so they can be used for review or in a theme study. Downloadable workbooks let you print only the pages you need, as many times as you need them. There are thousands of titles available and even a chance to preview some of the pages before you buy!
All you need is internet access, a computer and a printer and you can have thousands of books, workbooks and theme units at your fingertips!
Everyone has heard about the BP oil spill that resulted from an oil rig explosion in April. Although the flow of oil has now been capped, the repercussions have only just begun.
Nature and the environment are a great Science lesson. The oil spill can add to this lesson by showing the damage that occurs when the delicate balance is destroyed. Incorporate geography so kids can see where the spill occurred, and track the waterways that may show evidence of the oil spill. Create science experiments that show how oil and water react together and try to figure out ways to clean the oil from the water. Create a project about sea life and what kinds of animals are affected by the oil spill, directly and indirectly. Even an economic lesson plan could be created to identify the loss to the local fisherman and other water based businesses.
It is easy to lay the blame on the company and its slow reaction to the problem, but discuss with the students what they might have done. How long would their ‘fix’ take to implement, would it work? Obviously the oil spill is a disaster but more time should be spent on solving the problem and preventing it from happening again then on what could have been done better.
Current events can make great lesson plans and keep students up to date in the world.
So, the first mountain you have climbed led you to the decision to homeschool your child. It sure was an uphill battle but at last you have reached the top and feel accomplished.
So now, your child would like to learn about car mechanics, or magpies or even mustard plants. But you don’t know about any of those things! In this case, there really isn’t a mountain to climb. It is just a little hill that can easily be reached by a little reading and research. Look to the library for books on the subject, or find some unit studies and workbooks to help you plan a lesson. Ask people in the neighbourhood or family that have had experience with the subject and just get in there and learn it together!
Homeschooling does have its share of mountains to climb, but teaching subjects that are unfamiliar doesn’t have to be one of them. You may be surprised how much you learn, and enjoy learning in the process!
Here is a small sample of what the new Herbology unit study has to offer!
All over the world ancient peoples have dug up, dried out, chewed, crushed, rubbed and brewed plants, and through trial and error, discovered their healing powers.It is this knowledge that we use today for our herbal healing remedies.
Over 5, 000 years ago the Sumerians of Western Asia discovered medicinal uses for such plants as laurel, caraway, and thyme. From there medicinal knowledge developed into Egypt where many herbs were used in the mummification process. They also used onion and garlic to strengthen the body and mint for stomach upset. In fact, he world’s oldest surviving medical text, discovered in Egypt’s Valley of the Tombs in 1874, listed 876 herbal formulas made from more than 500 plants.
Sometimes, herbal healers could be as much of a killer than the healer. Herbal remedies could also be poisons, especially during the hostile time of the Roman Empire.The study of poisons though could also bring about antidotes against the poisons. This was the type of herbal knowledge gained by the Romans.
After the fall of Rome, European medicine became a focus of the Catholic Church. Officially, the church viewed sickness as punishment from God that could only be healed with prayer and penance. In the monasteries however, the monks were copying the ancient herbal texts. The Benedictine monks adopted the Arab practice of transferring the healing powers of herbs to alcohol and flavoured wines with herbs.
From 1300 to 1650 C.E.the view of the healer changed drastically. People (specifically women) who practiced herbal medicine and made herbal remedies were deemed witches and often burned at the stake. These witch-hunts were made worse when bad doses of herbal remedy caused poisonings and deaths among the patients. Although herbalism was not wiped out during these witch-hunts, much of the knowledge became secretive.
When Europeans came to the New World, they met healthy and strong Natives. Many that experienced native herbal healing were impressed with how quick and flawless they were. Even some early American doctors apprenticed to native herbalists. Native healers, called Shaman, relied on the energies of the herbs mixed with the powers of the spirits to guide them with healing.
Colonists, armed with the knowledge of the native healing herbs, would often grow both medicinal and culinary herbs in their own gardens. Many pioneer gardens were filled with vegetables as well as herbs for cooking, healing and even dying clothing. Along with herbal remedies, pioneers were offered special elixirs that “cure” everything from arthritis to headaches. Charlatans (tricksters) would offer snake oil, magic elixirs and liniments to cure what ailed you. Usually they had so much alcohol in them that a ‘cure’ seemed to happen, or at least you felt better for a while. These “fake” doctors became known as quacks because usually what they sold had no medicinal value.
Create an advertisement for your cure-all medicine.
For the complete unit study go to www.homeeducationresourceemporium.com/unit-studies
When it is a magic act!
Preparing a child to speak in front of an audience can be difficult, especially if the child is shy. Hiding a speech into a different type of performance can be helpful.
A study about magic can include information about Houdini, various science experiments as well as a few magic tricks with cards or coins. After the lessons you can have your child perform a magic act for a small audience of family or friends. Their interaction with the audience, their presentation of the magic tricks and the memorization of each trick are all the same tools they would need to do a speech. By making it a less formal and fun experience the child will be less afraid. When the performance has been done once, any further performances will be even easier, and soon, even a speech won’t seem that scary!
Mixing fun with education is a great way to increase learning!
A unit study is a set of lessons, worksheets and more on a specific topic of interest.
Each topic provides comprehensive, cross0curricular activities to inspire and educate a child in science, social studies, language arts, math, fine arts and more.
They can encompass various learning levels making it useful to teach more than one child at different learning levels. It can work well with different learning styles because it offers a variety of lessons that focus on each learning style – an art lesson for the visual learner, a field trip or science experiment for the kinesthetic learner and a poetry or rhyme section for the audio learner for example. Since each lesson is based on the same topic it can give options on how to study the topic that best suits each child.
Unit studies can be downloadable which saves money, time and the environment since you only print the pages you need. They can provide fun and learning for your child and encompass puzzle sheets to “reward” children for finishing a more challenging exercise.
A homeschooling family enjoys having time together but adding in planning for each school year can be time-consuming. Here are some time-saving teaching tips to help give you more family time, and less planning time.
When you schedule a week of school make room for a day to do errands. This can become part of the lessons, or a day of project/research work. Setting aside this time allows you to get things done without feeling the crunch of time constraints. At particularily busy times of the year use unit studies, curriculum that is already set up so there is little or no preparation work but lots of educational benefits. On weekend getaways or family vacations incorporate some lessons on geography, culture, economics and more. Filling in education in these extra places can help alleviate some of the structured work that needs planning. Finally, teach your kids how to organize themselves, find answers for themselves and structure their days, that means you have time to structure yourself without having to worry about keeping them on track.
After a night of trick or treating and a belly full of candy, getting children to concentrate on school work can be a challenge. The trick is to incorporate Halloween into the lessons!
A bag of Halloween candy is a great math manipulative. It can be used for counting, sorting, graphing and more. Even the wrappers can be used for collage art! A health lesson on the good and bad of sugar is another great way to incorporate treats into the lesson plan. Keep out those costumes and use them to act out plays, fairy tales or other stories that has the character in it. Kids will study topics they are interested in so find a thematic unit on Halloween, ghosts, bats or other spooky themes. Bringing Halloween into the lesson plan will take the trickiness out of teaching over-excited children!
A unit study, or thematic unit offers a comprehensive overview of a specific topic. It provides a variety of activities that cover science, math, language arts, social studies and fine arts. A unit on Vikings for example could contain a mapping activity for geography, a saga lesson for language studies, some math questions about how much a Viking ship can carry and more.
Not only do unit studies provide lessons and worksheets across the curriculum but they can also provide lessons for a variety of learning styles and levels. Unit studies are especially helpful for the reluctant learner because they can be about a topic that is a favorite and will therefore make them more willing to learn!