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Hands-On Homeschool Newsletter - Feb. 10,
2006 Vol. II Issue 3
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
In this issue:
> 1. From the Editor's Desk
> 2. Article - Write a Skit or a Puppet Show!
> 3. Letters to the Editor - Teaching Your First
Grader
> 4. Say What? Absurd Homeschool Comments
> 5. Feature Article - Your Young Naturalist: Part
2
> 6. Homeschool Curriculum Ideas of the Week
> 7. Free Homeschool Resources
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
1. From the Editor's Desk
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Welcome!
Oh goodness, I'm running late with this newsletter
and I do apologize! I switched to a new web host
this week, and the process was a bit more time
consuming and complex than I expected. We're back
on track and online now, no worries!
Last issue we discussed ways to encourage your
child to observe nature at home and beyond. In
this issue you'll learn how to help your young
naturalist set up a workroom and ways study his or
her specimens upon returning home after a hike.
Be sure to check out this week's free online
resource links. You'll find some great homeschool
learning activities and printouts.
I hope you enjoy this issue!
Sandra B.
Editor
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
2. Article
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Write a Skit or a Puppet Show
By Sandra Bynum
One of the best ways to internalize a lesson is to
retell or explain it to someone else. When the
story or lesson involves a historical event, a fun
way to gain a better understanding of the people
and the events that they experienced is to relive
them! How? Rewrite the event as a skit or a puppet
show, and then present it.
This brings history to life by allowing the
children to analyze what they've read, heard, and
know about the event, then write their own version
of the event in their own words. Of course, this
will involve a lot of conjecture and creative
license, especially when creating spoken lines.
Although the children should stick to the basic
story and outcome, adding bits of humor and even
silliness is what makes this project so much fun.
You can bet that after the completion of the
project, the children will never forget the
historical event and the people involved in it.
As an example, my children read a story about how
a young black girl saved the life of George
Washington by preventing him from eating poisoned
peas. This story, "Phoebe and the General," was a
selection in my daughter's language arts textbook,
but was really a history lesson that the children
decided to retell.
First, the children rewrote the story as a puppet
show. They began with an introduction to be read
by a narrator. They determined what puppet
characters would need to be built and with my help
they sketched period costumes for each. They
created simple props and one piece of basic
scenery: a window (very important to the story).
We picked up a refrigerator box which we cut and
shaped into a (collapsible) decorated puppet
theater with curtains. The entire puppet skit was
taped across the inside of the theater to be
easily seen by the puppeteers as their puppets
acted out the story. The show was then presented
by my children and two other homeschoolers to our
county alternative education homeschool group, and
was such a hit that they were asked to present it
again at a local elementary school!
In honor of President's Day, I will be posting our
puppet skit, "Phoebe and the General" on my
website. I'll also provide photos of the puppets
and props. Please feel free to use these materials
for a puppet show of your own, or let it inspire
you and your children to create their own original
puppet show or skit based on what you are
learning.
Once "Phoebe and the General" is posted, I'll
email a link to you. Meanwhile, you might want to
get your children thinking about a story or
historical event they might like to retell. OR,
track down a refrigerator carton and build a
puppet theater. This is such a fun project in
itself, your kids will be bursting with ideas for
puppet shows! Take a look at
http://42explore.com/puppet.htm for
links to all sorts of puppet-related websites.
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~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
3. Letters to the Editor
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Question:
How can I keep my first grader happy and
learning? I want take advantage of his natural
enthusiasm and curiosity and make learning fun for
him.
Answer:
Hands-on learning is the secret. First graders
are so enjoyable to teach at home... a bit more
mature than kindergartners (with longer attention
spans), but still so excited about learning new
things!
Use games, puzzles, art projects, pattern blocks
and nature walks as a part of your daily learning
activities. Learning should always be fun for
children in the lower grades (okay, for all of us.
Right?)
Young children love to ask questions as they
explore their world. Make sure they have the tools
they need, such as a hand-held magnifier, several
magnets, binoculars, a "creature keeper," and
other science tools and toys. These kinds of
learning tools will keep your child busy for
hours! Encourage him to look at salt, a human
hair, insects, leaves, coins, newspaper photos and
everything else! What things stick to a magnet,
and which things don't? What kinds of things float
and what kind sink? Hands-on experimentation is
how young children learn.
Take a look at our Feature Article below, Your
Young Naturalist - Part 2. (If you missed Part 1,
email me and I'll send it to you.) Even young
children can participate in these activities, and
will do so with great excitement and enthusiasm.
If your first grader must do worksheets or other
written work, it's okay to break it down into
small bites. Divide it up into small sections,
then allow a run around the house or a few jumps
on the trampoline between each one. Younger
children are naturally far-sighted anyway, so
prolonged close work is not healthy for their
eyesight. Encourage them to rest their eyes by
closing them, looking out the window, or playing
outside for a while.
For more ideas about how to write an effective
homeschool curriculum for first graders, visit my
article about this subject at
http://www.pagewise.com/homeschool-first-grade.htm.
You'll also find some excellent ideas on our
weblog at
http://homeschoolinghelper.blogspot.com.
* * * * *
Editor's note: Do you have a question or a
comment about an article or feature in this
newsletter, or homeschooling in general? We would
love to hear from you! Please email your comments
to:
sandrabynum@allthingshomeschool.com
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
4. Say What? This Week's Absurd Homeschool
Comments
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Mike Farris, the co-founder of HSDLA, recently
asked readers of his column to submit "dumb
statements" people have made regarding
homeschooling. (I've heard quite a few whoppers
myself over the years; haven't we all?) Just for
fun, we'll feature a few of these silly comments
in this forum.
From Pam Hynes:
I told an old friend from high school how my son
was able to progress in each subject at his own
rate. She earnestly replied, "What if he learns it
all before he finishes high school?"
From Rose Mary Coffey:
When my husband told his mother that we were going
to home school, she replied, "What makes Rose Mary
think she has the right to teach my
grandchildren?"
Mike: It's in the same clause of the Constitution
which gives grandmas the right to feed cookies and
candy to the grandkids an hour before being sent
home for dinner.
From the Austin family:
A female public school teacher said, "Your son
will turn out to be much too feminine or gay
because you home school him. Being with his mother
so much is not good for boys."
Mike: I guess that spending ages 5 through 12 with
female public school teachers would be better.
Note: Send the most ridiculous comment(s)
you've heard about homeschooling to us at
submissions@allthingshomeschool.com
and we'll publish them in "Say What?"
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
5. Feature Article
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Your Young Naturalist - Part 2
In our last issue we talked about the process
of exploring the out-of-doors including the
backyard, the neighborhood, and beyond. We
identified 17 different environments that can be
explored; and we listed simple tools to carry in a
daypack that can greatly enhance your children's
outdoor explorations and the study of nature.
Additional tools that can enhance your child's
nature observations can be found on our website at
http://www.allthingshomeschool.com/hs_science.htm,
such as the Creature Peeper, Bug Collecting
Kit, Underwater Magnifier, and the Land and Sky
Telescope. Portable creature keepers can be taken
along on hikes for live-trapping, while larger
sizes can be used to house specimens for longer
observation periods before returning them to the
wild.
Remember that the welfare of your subjects and
their natural habitat is most important. Please
see the Naturalist's Code for guidelines to follow
while studying our world and its wildlife, at
http://www.naturenb.ca/English/federation.htm#Conduct
(scroll down to center of page). Encourage
your friends and family to respect and care for
our environment and its inhabitants. Always carry
field guides so that living specimens can be
identified prior to capture. Do not attempt to
capture or collect poisonous wildlife such as
scorpions, wasps, vipers (poisonous snakes), or
poison ivy; and keep a safe distance away from
these specimens while taking photographs. Do not
capture, collect, or disturb any wildlife that is
threatened or endangered. If collecting specimens,
take only what you need for your study, disturbing
the habitat as little as possible.
How to collect specimens:
Plants - cut stems containing leaves, seed
pods, flowers, etc. from the plant and carefully
wrap in plastic bags to preserve humidity and keep
plants fresh. Place in jars of water immediately
upon returning home.
Living insects (butterflies, moths, grasshoppers,
ladybugs, caterpillars) - place in jars or
plastic containers with holes pierced in lids or
portable creature keepers.
Dead insects - carefully pick up the insect,
using tweezers if necessary, and place in
protective envelope. Dead insects are usually
brittle and dry so handle with care.
Mosses and fungi - carefully remove a small
sample and place in a zip lock bag to prevent
drying out.
Single-cell animals - scoop up a few jars of
pond, creek, rain, or ocean water, seal tightly
with a lid.
Soil-living creatures (sow bugs, worms, etc.) -
place specimens with a small handful of
soil-habitat in a jar or plastic container with a
lid.
Mollusks (snails, slugs, mussels, oysters, clams,
etc) - place in a water tight jar with a small
amount of the moistened soil, sand, or debris in
which the creature was found.
Amphibians and fish (small frogs, frog eggs,
tadpoles, etc.) - place specimens in a water
tight lidded jar with just enough pond or creek
water for the creature to survive in.
Reptiles (lizards, garter snakes, etc.) -
Place in muslin bag and wrap rubber band or string
tightly around opening, or place specimen a
portable creature keeper.
Small mammals or birds (living) - place in a
portable "creature keeper" or similar container,
and do provide water and whatever else is needed
to make the creature comfortable. NOTE: Avoid
attempting to capture healthy mammals or birds.
Sometimes creatures that are orphaned or in
distress are inadvertently found (children are
experts at finding injured animals). Often a small
animal can be nursed back to health or hand-reared
successfully. A bird that has flown into a window
can be kept in a dark warm place until it is
revived and released, for example. Contact your
local SPCA to find out how to hand-raise or nurse
an orphaned or injured bird or animal. Take birds
with broken bones to a vet.
Dead mammals, reptiles, or birds - take a few
moments to observe carefully, but unless you
intend to dissect or preserve the specimen and
know how to do so safely and correctly, it is best
to leave it alone. Numerous dead animals can be
found in the countryside and along roads,
sometimes trapped in bottles or cans, or supplied
by your cat.
Other collectables - bird egg fragments,
bones, seashells, feathers, pinecones, seed pods,
abandoned nests, owl pellets, snake skins, tree
bark, etc.
Projects in the field:
1) Label all collected plant specimens. (Bring
blank stickers with you!) Attach to plastic bags
and other containers. Record all applicable
information about each specimen and its habitat in
your notebook as well, and draw sketches. Record
the location, date, time of day, weather,
surroundings, detailed physical description,
behavior and activities, and what it was doing
when you found it. You'll use this information for
later projects.
2) Capture a spider web. Don't worry! Spider
webs are rebuilt regularly, and many are already
abandoned when discovered. For instructions, visit
http://www.delamar.org/gvspiderweb.htm
3) Take a photographs of wildlife in its
native environment. Begin with general scenery to
capture a sense of place. Then move in closer to
expound on the specific habitat, and still closer.
A close up lens is idea if you have one for
photographing insects and plant life. Also, many
digital cameras now allow you to move in very
close - within 12 inches. For each numbered
snapshot, record in your notebook what you are
photographing, and all applicable observations as
noted in item one above.
4) Observe plant and insects carefully with a
hand lens, high quality magnifying glass, or
underwater magnifier. Use quality binoculars to
observe larger creatures from a distance. Your
children will be amazed at what they discover in
this new way of seeing commonly found plant and
wildlife.
5) Make plaster casts of animal tracks. A good
website to learn how to do this using plaster of
Paris is
http://www.bizarrelabs.com/track.htm.
You'll find several sample animal tracks and
detailed instructions for preserving them at
http://cahe.nmsu.edu/pubs/_circulars/circ561.html
6) Make leaf or bark rubbings. Place a sheet
of paper over various shaped leaves and textured
tree barks, and rub with the side of a crayon or
oil pastel. Be sure to find and identify the
specimen in your field guide, and label each
rubbing.
7) Explore a pond using an underwater
magnifier. Look for water insects such as nymphs,
dragon flies, pond skaters, and water mites. Here
are two identification keys that you can print
out:
http://www.naturegrid.org.uk/pondexplorer/key1.html
http://www.naturegrid.org.uk/pondexplorer/key2.html
8) What other kinds of projects or experiments
could you and your children do while exploring the
seashore, a grassy pasture, or a woodland, for
example?
Projects at home:
1) Observe your specimens carefully, and learn
all you can about them. Make notes of your
observations and draw sketches of what you see at
different magnifications -
Use the hand lens for X8 to X10 magnification. A
binocular microscope, often called a dissecting
microscope, has two eye pieces and provides
three-dimensional vision using three lenses, such
as X10, X20, and X30. A light microscope uses a
mirror to reflect light and a built in light bulb
to provide illumination. Lenses provide X20 to
X500 magnification, allowing observation of
one-celled animals in a drop of water. (Use a drop
of glycerine to retard their movements for easier
observation.)
2) Sprout seeds without soil, grow an avocado
tree from a pit, and vegetable plants from
cuttings; grow a moss terrarium, lichens, or a
mold garden; learn about chlorophyll; preserve and
press plants and flowers; and more - find
experiments and observations at
http://www.bizarrelabs.com/plant2.htm
3) Create a self-contained bottle garden, a
terrarium. Grow your own barley from seeds grown
in yogurt tubs. Soak seeds overnight in water,
plant in tubs filled with soil, keep warm, moist
and well-lit. In about ten days you will have
fresh homegrown plant food for your herbivores
such as grasshoppers and locusts, or mice and
voles. You can grow wheat the same way.
4) Preserve colorful autumn leaves. There are
three different methods on this website. Our
favorite is the glycerin method, which produces
leaves that are amazingly supple and perfectly
preserved:
http://www.holidayfamilyfun.com/articles/fall/preservingleaves.htm
5) Extract creatures from your collected soil.
A simple way is to combine one part soil with
three parts strong salt solution. Pour mixture
into wide bowl. Soil will sink to bottom, animals
will float to the top. Look for beetles, sow bugs,
flies, grasshoppers, spiders, worms, slugs,
snails, nematodes, and caterpillars. Examine them
with a hand lens or magnifying glass. Draw
pictures of each animal, color, and label. Create
posters or a project book to display your work.
6) Create interesting collections by drying,
mounting, and labeling your specimens. Examples:
sea shells and coral, starfish, butterflies,
moths, hard-bodied invertebrates (insects and
spiders), seeds and seedpods, birds eggs,
feathers, pinecones, dried flower heads, tree
leaves (preserved as shown in item four). See
http://www.nfi.org.za/inverts/Collect/preserving.html
to learn more about collecting and mounting
insects.
7) Create posters displaying your
investigations of particular plants. Select a
plant species such as a wild flower, shrub, or
tree. Display a large drawing of photo of the
plant, surrounded by labeled pictures or mounted
samples of twigs, leaves, bird and insect
visitors, blossoms, seeds and fruits, bark
samples. Preserve fern fronds and create a poster
of the life cycle of ferns, displaying both the
top and the undersides of the fronds that show the
spore sacs.
8) Set up an aquarium, build a pond, breed
butterflies and moths, raise earthworms, or create
an ant farm. Rear frogs and toads from spawn and
experience the amazing process called
metamorphosis. Keep live animals such as
amphibians, reptiles, mice, and voles in glass
aquariums. Compare the behavior variations of a
common garter snake and an aquatic garter snake.
Raise a wild mouse and a domestic white mouse in
separate cages and watch and note behavioral
differences in their habits.
9) Learn the classification hierarchy of
organisms and make a poster showing each
classification group and one or more examples.
Begin with the largest groups of all living
things, called "kingdoms." (There are only five
kingdoms!) The next group is phylum, then class,
order, family, genus, and lastly, the species.
10) What other kinds of projects or
experiments can you and your children devise to
learn more about the natural world?
For an excellent resource chockful of
investigations, explorations, and projects, (and
beautiful color photographs), consider adding The
Amateur Naturalist by Gerald Durrell to your
homeschool library. You can find it at
http://www.allthingshomeschool.com/HS_magazines.htm#Science
Activity
Books and Magazines
Also we recommend the National Audubon
Society's Field Guides, particularly (North
American, or your region of the world) Mammals,
Reptiles and Amphibians, Birds, Butterflies,
Insects and Spiders, Trees, and Wild Flowers. Find
more information here:
http://www.allthingshomeschool.com/HS_references.htm
* * * * *
You'll find many more activities just right
for homeschoolers in our new e-book,
101 MORE Hands-On Tried & True Homeschool
Curriculum Ideas You'll Love! Publication is
scheduled for March, 2006. Good news! Hands-On
Homeschool Newsletter subscribers will receive
very special pricing.
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
6. Homeschool Curriculum Ideas of the Week
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
1) Collect, set up a habitat, and study
crawfish. These freshwater crustaceans are also
known as crayfish, crawdads, mudbugs, yaddies, and
crawdaddies. Here is an excellent printable PDF
study guide of crawfish learning activities
including background, anatomy, habitat
preparation, and specific observation procedures -
for the upper elementary grades:
http://lamer.lsu.edu/classroom/seascope/folios/crawfish_folio.pdf
On this site you'll find beautiful color
identification photos of various Astacidea
species. (Click "Sample Pictures" for new set of
photos):
http://tolweb.org/tree/home.pages/randPic?restrictClade=yes&group=Astacidea
2) If you live near a coastal area, you can
find a large variety of fresh sea creatures at the
fish market, including bony fishes, crustaceans,
eels, shell fish, squid, and octopus. Acquire a
variety of specimens for detailed examination and
dissection. Learn "wet" preservation techniques,
using glass jars with sealable lids and alcohol to
preserve intact specimens.
3) Keep a preying mantis, potato bug,
millipede, and/or centipede in a creature keeper.
Research the creature in advance to learn how to
feed and house it properly; and observe its habits
and behaviors.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
7. Free Online Homeschooling Resources
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
http://www.easyfunschool.com/page1056.html
This site reminds me of taking a trip to the
library without actually getting into the car. An
amazing collection of lesson plans, activities,
and projects in art, science, history, language
arts, and more.
http://quizhub.com/quiz/quizhub.cfm
The Fun Online Interactive Learning Center -
thinking games, logic puzzles, fun quizes and much
more. Lots of free sample activities, subscription
required for some.
http://www.readinga-z.com/newfiles/preview.html
30 FREE downloadable books PDF - Reading
Resources include grade leveled English readers
(with downloadable worksheets), French, Spanish,
decodables, poetry, read-aloud, and an alphabet
book. Paid subscription gives access to 1600 books
and "thousands" of resources.
http://tolweb.org/tree/home.pages/treehouses.html
Treehouses are Tree of Life pages designed for
k-16 learners, teachers, and the young at heart;
most of which involve the natural sciences. Find:
* investigations
* stories
* fun & games
* art & culture
* teacher resources
* webquests
* biographies
* portfolios
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