summer school

Activities for the Olympics

Let me just start by saying that my favorite place for Olympics printables and craft ideas is Activity Village. I used this site for our Diamond Jubilee coloring pages and worksheets as well, and it has tons of great resources. That being said, I also found other places with great ideas, too, and have chosen quite a few of them for our school. If you look, there are also lapbooks galore available for the Olympics, but I’ve never gotten into the lapbooking craze, so that’s one thing we won’t be doing. I’ve also heard good things about the Amanda Bennett Olympics study, but I just don’t have time for everything! The best part about all of these projects? I’ve had to purchase very few supplies to complete them…most of the items are things we already had around the house!

  • Torch Craft–Our first project, before the Olympics officially start, will be making a torch. There are lots of torch crafts out there, but this my favorite. We may even have our own family torch relay!
  • Olympic Rings–There are also a lot of Olympic Rings crafts, but I thought that paper plate Olympics rings were especially cute. This will be particularly fun for Moose and Ladybug (and good cutting practice, too), but I’m sure Turkey and Bunny will probably want to make their own, as well.
  • Design-a-Flag–Prior to the Opening Ceremonies, we’ll each have a chance to design our own flag. We’ve done this before, and it’s always fun to see how the children’s ideas for their personal flags change!
  • Memory Verse/Handwriting–The New Testament has several verses that are appropriate when discussing the Olympics, and as long as we’re memorizing one, we may as well work on our handwriting at the same time!
  • Trip Planning–One of our big projects will be planing a (fictional) trip to London. I even purchased a travel guide…if I’m lucky, maybe someday I’ll get to use it for real (even if it will be outdated by “someday”). We’ll look for landmarks we want to visit and map it all out. Cost is no object for this trip!
  • Workbooks–Although I did purchase two consumable books for the children to share, the bulk of their worksheets and coloring sheets will come in the form of workbooks I put together for them. There will be lots of different activities, including coloring pages, word searches, Sudoku, word scrambles, mazes, and more. I even found notebooking pages!  They’ll make a nice keepsake of our studies when we’re all done, too.
  • Design-Your-Own Olympics Items–This will become part of the children’s workbooks when it’s done. Each child will design his or her own Olympic logo, mascot, team shirt, and medal.
  • Medal Chart–No Olympics would be complete without tracking the medals won. We’ve chose 10 countries…the United States, of course, and host country England (technically the United Kingdom, to be exact), and then picked other countries we’re interested in, making sure to have at least one from each participating continent. And while we’re counting medals, we can also learn about this year’s design on the NBC Olympics website.
  • Medals–Speaking of medals, one craft project will be making medals as awards for our “Family Olympics.” We might make salt dough medals, or we might just use metallic cardstock. We did glitter last time, so I know that I don’t want to that again, although they did look awesome!
  • Family Olympics–The activities will be whatever we choose. It could be a physical activity like a race, or something silly like who can shuck an ear of corn the quickest. Maybe we could even award a medal for the winner of a family spelling bee!
  • Olive Leaf Crowns–I found a pattern for this in The Olympic Experience in Your School, but all you really need is green leaf shapes and  a green construction paper headband. Since we’ll be learning about both the modern and ancient Olympic games, it seems fitting to make awards that reflect both!
  • Passports–I also got this idea from The Olympic Experience in Your School, but decided to change it around a bit. I ordered some cute sticker book passports from Oriental Trading, and will be using those stickers, as well as some “stamps” I make to mark the different “venues” we’ve visited, including the history of the Olympics, design-your-own, sports, and the Olympic Spirit around the world.
  • Research Project–Turkey and Bunny will be given the task to write a short report on either a famous Olympian, a participating country, or an Olympic event. This report will also go into their workbooks.
  • Union Jack–I looked at a lot of Union Jack crafts, and I thought this would be a fun project for the children to do, and would reflect the host country at the same time. It’s also something a little different, since we just colored Union Jacks for the Diamond Jubilee last month.
  • Union Jack Cake–This activity is all mine…I’m going to make a Union Jack cake for the Opening Ceremonies, provided I can get the conversions figured out. I may also make some different foods from around the world, depending on how adventurous I’m feeling.
And I almost forgot…
  • Tea Party–Anytime we learn about anything British, it’s time for a tea party. We did it for the Royal Wedding, and again for the Diamond Jubilee, and we’ll be doing it once more for the Olympics. I try to switch up the menu, and also serve a different flavor of tea each time, so we get to try new things, and so it’s always a little different!

These are only the big activities. We’ll also be doing a pictogram study, looking for world flags from our flag sticker book during the Opening Ceremonies, learning about the Olympic motto and oath, studying some Olympic vocabulary words, listening to Summon the Heroes, learning a little geography and history, reading a whole bunch of books, plus whatever else I throw in. I love the Olympics, and they provide a great opportunity for fun and learning!

What We’re Reading–The Olympics

The Olympics are almost upon us–just 17 more days! Of course, an event like this means a special school unit (actually, that’s how this whole homeschooling journey started!), with special reading, crafts, and activities. Not to mention TV watching…but that’s kind of the point! I’ll share some of our crafts and other activities later, but for now, here’s our Olympics reading list…I got very lucky in that the library system carries all but one of the books I was looking for, and every one of those books was available. I’m also thankful that there are books out there for such a wide variety of ages, from preschooler on up to adult…there’s definitely something for everyone here!

I chose a selection of biographies of some famous Olympic athletes for Turkey and Bunny to read, all from the “Childhood of Famous Americans” series:

I also got some of the “official” Olympics publications, two of which are consumable books that the children will just have to share:

I have a teacher resource book, as well. The one I have is for up to grade three, which is too young for Turkey and Bunny now, but I had it from the 2008 Olympics, and I can always adjust things upward for them, and use the activities as printed for Moose and Ladybug. There is a book for older elementary students, as well, and I’m sure it’s similarly helpful:

I also found a few books that aren’t readily available here in the States, but would have made great additions to our Olympics study:

  • The Official Countdown to the London 2012 Games—This is another of the “official” books, as the title suggests, and the only one I couldn’t get my hands on. If I can find it between now and then, though, I’m definitely going to get it…it looks pretty cool!
  • Olympic Park Map–I know, not technically a book, but I think it would have been awesome to have a large-sized map to look at and practice map-reading, learn about the geography of London, and see just how many venues there are at the Olympic Games, and how spread out they all are.
  • Meet Wenlock and Mandeville–Cute-looking book featuring the Olympic mascots. I don’t think anything will ever top the Beijing mascots, which were awesome, but I also liked Izzy, so what do I know? I just like cute stuff!

Wow! Upon completing this list, even I was shocked at how many books there are to be found about the Olympics! We have to get busy reading!

The Great Bird Project

Ever since we realized that a robin had built a nest in our tree this spring, we’ve been working on a bird project. It’s finally finished, and I’m very proud of Turkey and Bunny for their hard work.

I did the typing for them, but they dictated everything, from the “bird word” definitions to the timeline of the birds in our tree.

They even lent their robin Webkinz to the project–one perching on top of the display, and the other “eating” from the soda bottle bird feeder we made, which is now residing in the aforementioned tree.

It was a great introduction to science projects for them, and I think we’re all looking forward to doing more in the future!

Homeschool Review: “A More Perfect Union”

As a part of our summer school unit, which focused on the Revolutionary War, and the events surrounding it, we learned a little bit about the Constitution. I found a book focused on how the Constitution was written, as well as who was involved in writing it, and the basic contents of it.

A More Perfect Union: The Story of Our Constitution (part of “The American Story Series”) was written and illustrated by Betsy and Giulio Maestro, a duo who have written a whole series about the early history of America. It is targeted at middle to upper elementary aged students, and Turkey and Bunny found it very interesting. It is very factual, and yet written in a way and on a level that makes it interesting to children.

The illustrations are great, and add interest to the story. The timeline in the back of the book is a great concise help in seeing the big picture of the Revolutionary War, and the early years of America as a free country. Basically, everything about the books is both interesting to children, and full of information–a great way to encourage children to learn without even realizing they’re doing so, and make history come alive for them!

This was a great resource for learning about a very important part of American history–I’m so glad I took a chance on it! There are six other books in the series, covering the history of America from her pre-history to discovery by Columbus to the War of 1812, and everything in between, including the French and Indian War. I can’t wait to add those to our library as well–these are definitely books that the children will want to read over and over again!

Homeschool Review: “Liberty’s Kids”

We finished watching the Liberty’s Kids series on DVD last week, and I can’t find enough good things to say about it! It was a great introduction to early American history for Turkey and Bunny (and Ladybug, who insisted on watching with them)–they are now familiar with the major players and places in the Revolutionary War.

The story uses a group of fictional characters–mostly children–to interact with real people in American history to tell the story of the American revolution, often from the perspective of an aspiring journalist. Turkey and Bunny loved these characters, but even more than that, they loved learning about the real characters that fought and founded our country. Turkey is fascinated with George Washington and the Battle of Yorktown, while Bunny was thrilled to learn about women such as Abigail Adams, “Molly Pitcher,” and Sybil Luddington, who impacted the war in their own unique ways.

I discovered that I also learned a great deal from the series. I don’t know if I just forgot that much of what I learned in school, or if my education wasn’t that in-depth, but I picked up on many new details, and have a greater understanding of the bigger picture of the things that affected the war. I suppose I should be embarrassed that I learned so much from a children’s show, but learning is learning, and I’ll take it any way I can!

I highly recommend this series to anyone who has a child that they want to help learn about the key points of the Revolutionary War. I only hope that someday, the rumored Civil War edition of this show might be produced!

Fort de Chartres

Thanks to Moose’s teacher, I found out about a great location for a field trip related to our Revolutionary War themed summer school. Fort de Chartres, near Prairie du Rocher, was originally a French fort, then fell into the hands of the British, and finally was taken by George Rogers Clark during the Revolutionary War.

I am so glad she told me about this location–I was despairing of the fact that I couldn’t figure out any field trip in our area that relates to the American Revolution, and it never occurred to me to look into French settlements that existed at that time in history.

We had a great time–there was a small museum, with cool artifacts and reproductions, and several buildings open to tour, including the oldest known building in Illinois, the former armory. Turkey and Bunny also had fun playing around with the cannons on the property, and climbing stairs and ladders to get to the top of the fort wall. It was a great start to our Independence Day weekend!

Almost Done

Next week is our last week of first grade. I can’t believe it. We’ve completed almost two full years of homeschool. Given that I wasn’t sure we’d survive one year, I’m still kind of surprised at how (mostly) smoothly this has gone.

I have plans for a special summer school unit again this year, this time focusing on the Colonial and Revolutionary War periods, and all things American. I’ve planned a few fun crafts, including creating old-fashioned shop signs and making silhouettes. We’ll be reading a lot of fun books, including the American Girl Felicity series and a great series about early American history by Betsy Maestro. I’m especially excited that we’ll be watching the Liberty’s Kids series on DVD. I bought it last year at an amazing price, and have just been waiting for the right time to introduce it. The funny thing is, when I was planning summer school, it didn’t even occur to me to use the series until *after* I’d planned our other activities. I love when things unintentionally work out like that!

So, we’ll be finishing up that last of our first grade materials (which, at this point in the year, is primarily math, with some other stuff thrown in), have a small break before “summer school,” and then a bigger break after before we start on Sonlight’s Core 1.

I’m going to have two second graders soon…how is that possible?

Blast Off!

I’m working on a “summer school” unit for Turkey and Bunny.  We’re kind of doing year round schooling, but I don’t want to start our regular curriculum earlier and earlier every year (at least not until they’re older), so in addition to the special units I do during the regular school year, I’m tyring to come up with some summer units as well.  Right now, my main focus is on outer space, as it’s something that they’re both interested in, and something that has a lot of available resources, and resources that can go beyond science (history, reading, math, biographies, etc.).

We already have quite a few books about space, courtesy of Turkey’s interest, so I have a starting point for my lessons.  We have three DK Readers, which will be useful both for reading practice and learning: Rockets and Spaceships; Starry Sky; and Astronaut Living in Space.  We will also re-read one of our favorites–There’s No Place Like Space: All About Our Solar System.  Although this is written in the style of Dr. Seuss, and stars the Cat in the Hat, it actually teaches quite a lot about outer space, and is just a fun book to read.

We also have two encyclopedia-type books: My Book of Space and the DK First Space Encyclopedia.  These books (especially the latter) have to be read with some care, to avoid the topic of the “Big Bang,” which I do not feel is an appropriate subject at this young age.  When Turkey and Bunny are older, we’ll discuss the theory, as well as why it’s incorrect, but for now, until they can process more fully, we are avoiding the subject altogether.

We’ll also be reading some Magic School Bus titles (The Magic School Bus Takes a Moonwalk and The Magic School Bus: Sees Stars, but not The Magic School Bus: Lost in the Solar System, as that will be a Sonlight book down the road), and I’m hoping to get the Magic School Bus: Secrets of Space science kit, which will provide us with lots of science experiments and projects, including making a telescope (although we’ll be using Turkey’s real telescope in the evenings to hopefully look at some of the things we’re learning about) and  a model of the solar system.secrets-of-space-boxsecrets-of-space-contents

I want Turkey and Bunny to also learn about a person more in-depth, and after seeing an age-appropriate book about him at Moose’s school’s recent book fair, I decided on Neil Armstrong.  Who is Neil Armstrong? (part of Scholastic’s Who Was…? series) is a child-friendly biography of Neil Armstrong’s life, including his famous journey to the moon.

I found a cool book at the library recently that I’m also hoping to use (as long as someone else hasn’t checked it out!): the DK/Google e.guide–Space Travel.  I can’t believe I’ve never come across any of these books before, especially since this particular one is almost five years old, but I find them very interesting.  All of these e.guides have Internet links written into the book for further study.  This will be helpful in learning about space, and in learning a little more about using the computer.

I’m hoping to find The Best Book of Spaceships at the library, as well.  This book was supposed to be a birthday present for Turkey, but it’s “temporarily unavailable.”  I don’t know if it’s going out of print, or maybe is just going through a new printing, but I’m hoping one of the libraries in our system has it. I may also try to find the Usborne First Encyclopedia of Space at the library.  We’ve used several Usborne books in school this year, and I’ve been impressed with them overall, but if this title is too repetitive of what we already have, or focuses too much on the “Big Bang,” I won’t bother checking it out.

I’ve seen some children’s books out there about individual planets (or pairs of planets), but the titles are escaping me at the moment.  If I can ever remember what they were called, I may try to find those at the library, too.  I’d like to learn about a different planet each day for nine days (yes, I’m still counting Pluto), in addition to the sun, other stars, space travel, and all the other things I have planned, and that would be an easy way to go about it, *if* I can find them.

I’m sure we’ll also do the puzzle Turkey received as a Christmas present at least once.  It’s a big Melissa and Doug floor puzzle of the solar system, and even though he and Bunny have pretty much memorized it, it’s a helpful tool for remembering the names of the planets, where they’re located in relation to Earth, and what they look like.

I have a lot of stuff planned for this unit–right now, I’m planning on it lasting two weeks, but I’m sure I could easily turn it into three (maybe even four) weeks of instruction.  It will be something to keep little brains busy in between Sonlight cores this summer, anyway–it’s just too bad they’re not old enough to watch Apollo 13!  Maybe we can sneak an episode of Star Trek in there–even though it’s fiction, it has shaped a lot of the way we view space travel!

What Now?

The Olympics are drawing to a close.  I don’t know what we’re going to do with ourselves.  In the last 16 days or so, we’ve lived the Olympics.  We’ve watched it all.  Anything that’s been on network TV, we’ve seen (it’s the first time I’ve really missed having cable!).  We started our day every morning with “Today” in Beijing, and then on days when we didn’t have various appointments, we kept the TV on to see the morning/early afternoon coverage, breaking only for our Olympics school.  We watched all the primetime stuff (and I do mean all–I planned all the grocery shopping and other errands for the last few weeks so that I was always home in time for the games).  I even stayed up and watched some of the late night stuff.

The traditional favorites were, of course, enjoyed–gymnastics, swimming, diving, and volleyball.  Turkey also added cycling to his list of favorites, and I discovered a new love of water polo.  Heck, we even watched stuff we didn’t really like, including the entirety of both the men’s and women’s marathons (not necessarily by choice, but because we kept hoping they’d break in with something more interesting!)  We saw many records set, and cheered on our team.  We even turned into the NBC Nightly News and the Olympic Zone, because apparently we just weren’t getting enough of an Olympics fix without them!

Our school allowed us to really immerse ourselves in the Olympic spirit, and we covered almost every subject you could imagine studying about the Olympics, China, and sports.  We learned a Bible verse and talked about working your hardest, playing fair, and sportsmanship.  We learned a lot of geography in mapping the torch route, and in studying one country from each continent (save Antarctica, obviously), and added in history and government with our country studies.  We used counting our team’s medals to learn math, including counting by fives.  We learned more about our favorite sports, and then talked about events we’d never even heard of before.  In studying China, we learned about everything from architecture to fashion to history.  We had music appreciation and art (we colored a lot of pictures!)  We even studied a bit of foreign language, learning a smattering of Chinese, and even some Latin.  We read stories from around the world, and compared and contrasted the world’s flags.  We snuck in a bit of physical education with our family olympics, and craft time with making medals.  We even had fun with cooking–one night we made Chinese food for dinner, and then all ate with chopsticks (Turkey was surprisingly proficient in that area!), and we made an Olympics cake, complete with the Olympic rings made from M&Ms (brown is the new black!).

Yep, we’ve really enjoyed our Olympics experience.  It’s hard to say what we liked best, because we liked it all.  I just don’t know what we’re going to do tomorrow!

Night and Day

Turkey and Bunny are amusing to me.  Today was our first really involved day with our “practice school,” otherwise known as our Olympics unit.  We did have a short lesson on Friday, but it mostly involved them listening and looking at the map and some pictures.  Today we got fancy and had some counting, quizzing, and coloring, too!

Now, none of this was terribly surprising to me, but it was still funny to see how very different the two of them are in their approaches to learning.  For example, I gave them each a box of crayons to color pictures of the Olympic torch.  Bunny dumped her box of crayons everywhere, and, as far as I could tell, mostly just grabbed them at random (except for the pink, which, of course, had to be the first color she used).  She also colored quickly, even though she was trying to stay inside the lines. Turkey, on the other hand, took one crayon out of his box at a time, and put it back before he got the next color.  He picked his colors very deliberately, and colored very slowly and purposefully.

Their approach to something as simple as a coloring assignment showcased their different personalities quite well.  Bunny is very impulsive, rarely thinks things through, and works quickly, sometimes sacrificing the quality of the end result.  Part of this may be because she’s 16 months younger than Turkey, but I really think it’s mostly just who she is.  Turkey, on the other hand, is rather fastidious, very exact and orderly. This is how he has always been–he hates getting dirty, likes to know exactly when things are going to happen, and follows the letter (although not always the spirit!) of the law.

Funny how easy it is to spot differences in children when they’re doing schoolwork!