Geography Plans

I started the year off slow. I had to. Pain and health keeps me from doing much. The month of August we are just doing math and language arts. I'm keeping it slow and simple. Language arts consists of spelling, grammar, reading and writing.

So what about everything else? Well, I have worked up some plans for geography. I found a great book. It's Galloping the Globe. This book is actually a unit study of world geography. It includes first of all geography and also history, science, literature, vocabulary, maps and flags, recipes, puzzles, games crafts and bible. It also has reproducibles for the flags and for the different countries. I love it because it has it all.

We are going to do from this book, geography, history and science. It has wonderful references and ideas of which books to look for at the library. I wrote out my weekly plans of course because I am like that. I like to see a page and know what I am doing that week. It is easy too because as we study China we will learn about Marco Polo and the Great Wall of China for history and for science we will learn about ducks and pandas. To end the week of study we will cook up some Chinese food. The following week we move on to South Korea then Japan. We will spend one week learning things about a different country and end the week with food. There is nothing better than ending a week with food.

Monday we will go to the library and gather up books. Then we will start the following week. Each Monday we will be at the library to gather our books for the following week. Sounds like fun to me. 

These are only 2 pages of 6 for these plans.  I have added more than we might be able to do but I like to be able to pick and choose.  Can't wait to get started.  Whatcha think?  

Columbus Who?

We are done! We were working on a lapbook on Christopher Columbus. We have had fun doing different lapbooks over this past year.

Sometimes we print out copies with colored paper and sometimes we just print it out on white paper. The reason for white paper is so they can color what they want. Sometimes they color a lot and sometimes they don't. This time around they colored some. I love having the choice of making each one different.

We used several of the trace over wording for them to have some practice writing. We also added some extra reading with this. We read the book ...If you sailed on the Mayflower in 1620 by Ann McGovern and also Christopher Columbus by Susan Bivin Aller.

This is the back side of the lapbook and this was the first time I actually added things to the back. The front side had pictures of a young Christopher Columbus.

Another thing I did to make life easier is that I cut out everything and they just did the work. They don't like to cut out and I find it relaxing so I took over that responsibility.

One final picture showing their completed work. They are always happy when we complete one more lapbook and they can look thru it and see their work. I just love doing HOAC lapbooks.

We are off to complete a few more and finish off our history, art, and science lessons for the year.

Lewis and Clark

Today I finished up some notebooking pages on Lewis and Clark. I also have the book Seaman the dog who explored the west with Lewis & Clark. We will be going into this study soon and figured this book will be perfect for our reading book. Some books I've chosen for reading and one as a reader. Then there is that neat book with with different things to read and projects to make.

Netflix also have some PBS documentaries that we will be watching. I can't wait to get into this. Check out the google group for the free notebooking pages on this.

HIstory -- American Revolution

American Revolution

I don't need my children to know a lot or go in depth on some topics but I do want them to know some of the history of this world. I am not those moms that have co-ops or classes on some history topics. I'm not the type of mom that goes all out when it comes to history and war. Yes, it is interesting to see what happened and how people went about it but it's not going to help my children to know every single detail on the subject.

So our way of doing some things is by notebooking pages and dvd's off of Netflix. PBS and History Channel documentaries are usually pretty good with showing our family what happened in history. We are a documentary movie type family.

What about the notebooking pages? Well, I love making these pages. I like lapbooking but notebooking is my favorite. That is the reason for the google group with all these pages posted on there. I just need to work on some more pages. More pages soon to come.

Am I done yet?

So are you wondering if I am done with planning our history for next year? I am more or less done. I still haven't put books like The Usborne Encyclopedia of World History, The Kingfisher History Encyclopedia, Streams of Civilizations and DK Children's Encyclopedia of World History and other references.

Don't think like I said before that I am doing everything on my list. I just added all I could find so that if I feel in the mood to read a book we can or if I feel in the mood to see a movie we can. We will follow this outline though.

I had on the list of people others but took them off and am making one just for them on a music and art list and adding some fun things to do. So what do you think? Do you have any ideas? Do you see anything that I can improve on? Let me know what you think.

Late Renaissance-Early Modern (1600-1850)
Interactive 3-D Maps:American History by Donald M. Silver
History Pockets of Colonial America by Evan Moor

approx 4 weeks
The Mayflower(g96 11/22 24-27) Netflix:The Untold Story of the Mayflower
Native American cultures(g96 9/8 7-12)(g2/06 10-13) Netflix: American Indian Homelands
early American settlements
George Washington (1732-1799) Netflix: George Washington:American Revolutionary
Thomas Jefferson Netflix: Thomas Jefferson
James Madison
James Monroe

Pocahontas Netflix: Pocahontas Reveled..Nova
Squanto Netflix: Squanto:A Warrior's Tale
William Penn (1644-1718)
John Smith, Jamestown Netflix: National Geographic:Jamestown
Check library for these and other titles...Books to look for:Easy Make and Learn Projects The Pilgrams, the Mayflower and More by Scholastic;A Lion to Guard Us by Clyde Robert Bulla; Naya Nuki by Kenneth Thomasma; ...If you sailed on The Mayflower in 1620 and If You Lived In Colonial Times by Ann McGovern; George Washington's World by Genevieve Foster; Step into Reading George Washington and the General's Dog by Frank Murphy; Step into Reading Thomas Jefferson's Feast by Frank Murphy; George Washington by Ingri d'Aulaire; Pocahontas by Edgar d'Aulaire;Columbus by Ingri d'Aulaire; Getting to Know The U.S. Presidents James Madison by Mike Venezia; Step into Reading The True Story of Pocahontas by Lucille Rech Penner; Squanto, Friend of the Pilgrams by Clyde Robert Bulla; The World of Capt. John Smith by Genevieve Foster
Extra projects:make our own moccasins

approx 1 week
the American Revolution, Declaration of Independence 1776
books to look for:The American Revolution History Comes Alive, Teaching Units by Jacqueline Glasthal; If You Lived at the Time of the American Revolution by Kay Moore; American Revolution(DK Eyewitness Books); American Revolution A companion to the Revolutionary War on Wednesday Magic Tree House by Mary Pope Osborne; The Declaration of Independence by Sly Sobel J.D.

approx 1 week
Russia under Peter the Great and his successors(1672-1725)
books to look for:Peter the Great by Diane Stanley

approx 1 week
The Napoleonic Wars
Napoleon(1769-1821)

approx 2 weeks
the siege of the Alamo Netflix:The Alamo (1960)
Daniel Boone
Davy Crockett
books to look for:The Boy In The Alamo by Margaret Cousins; Davy Crockett A Life on the Frontier by Stephen Krensky

approx 2 weeks
the Lewis and Clark expedition
Meriwether Lewis (g05 1/8 3)(1774-1809) and William Clark (1770-1838)
Sacagawea (c.1788-1812) Netflix: National Geographic Lewis & Clark
books to look for:Lewis and Clark for Kids by Janis Herbert;

approx 2 weeks
the California gold rush (g93 8/1 32)(1848) Netflix:American Experience:The Gold Rush Learning Through History, Westward-Ho, pg.37-51
http://www.museumca.org/goldrush/fever01.html
books to look for:Stepping Stones Gold Rush Winter by Claire Rudolf Murphy

approx 1 week
the Constitution (g87 10/22 24-27) the Bill of Rights (g91 12/8 20-23)
books to look for:If You Were There when They Signed the Constitution by Elizabeth Levy

approx 1 week
Salem Village and the Witch Hysteria (g98 4/8 31)

approx 2 weeks
Slavery in the US (g01 9/8 20-21) Netflix: Prince Among Slaves, Underground Railroad, Race to Freedom:The Underground Railroad
books to look for:If You Traveled on the Underground Railroad by Ellen Levine

approx 1 week
Louis XVI (1754-1793)
Marie Antoinette (1755-1793)
the War of 1812 Netflix: History Channel:The War of 1812

Books
Don Quixote (abridged)
Oliver Twist
Treasure Island
Gulliver's Travels
Robinson Crusoe

List of people
Isaac Newton (1642-1715) w77 4/15 244-247
Benjamin Franklin (1706-1790)Step into Reading Ben Franklin and the Magic Squares by Frank Murphy; Benjamin Franklin by Ingri d'Aulaire
Catherine the Great (1729-1796)
Betsy Ross (1752-1836)
Captain James Cook (1768-1771)??? g95 3/22 12-15
Andrew Jackson
Paul Revere
Buffalo Bill book: Buffalo Bill by Ingri d'Aulaire g96 9/8 3-4
Sitting Bull book: Sitting Bull (All Aboard Reading) by Lucille Recht Penner

g71 5/22 13-16

approx 27-36 weeks in all

History Planning is not scary!

Now don't get all scared at my plans for history. I know it was a lot but I am still working on it. Look what I have so far. I've added movies and magazine articles. This doesn't mean we are doing it all just that it is there if I decide to do one thing or another. I am still not finished though.

This gives you an idea as to how my crazy brain works in trying to get our next school year planned. I still need to look into some books to read and add in some field trips. It would not be any fun unless there were field trips, right? Then there are some more people in history that I would like to go over.

Like I said this is a work in progress...so whatcha think so far?



Late Renaissance-Early Modern (1600-1850)
History Pockets of Colonial America by Evan Moor
The Mayflower(g96 11/22 24-27) Netflix:The Untold Story of the Mayflower
Native American cultures(g96 9/8 7-12)(g2/06 10-13) Netflix:American Indian Homelands
early American settlements
George Washington (1732-1799) Netflix:George Washington:American Revolutionary
Thomas Jefferson Netflix:Thomas Jefferson
James Madison
James Monroe
Pocahontas Netflix:Pocahontas Reveled..Nova
Squanto Netflix:Squanto:A Warrior's Tale
William Penn (1644-1718)
John Smith, Jamestown Netflix:National Geographic:Jamestown


Russia under Peter the Great and his successors
British-French conflict in Canada
the American Revolution
The Napoleonic Wars
Napoleon

the siege of the Alamo Netflix:The Alamo (1960)
Daniel Boone
Davy Crockett

the California gold rush (1848) Netflix:American Experience:The Gold Rush
http://www.museumca.org/goldrush/fever01.html

the Lewis and Clark expedition
Meriwether Lewis (1774-1809) and William Clark (1770-1838)
Sacagawea (c.1788-1812)


the Constitution (g87 10/22 24-27) the Bill of Rights (g91 12/8 20-23)
Salem Village and the Witch Hysteria (g98 4/8 31)
Slavery in the US Netflix:Prince Among Slaves, Underground Railroad, Race to Freedom:The Underground Railroad
the War of 1812 Netflix: History Channel:The War of 1812

History Plans

Jackie over at http://www.cenla.net/jwtrue/ commented on my last post and thought I would share how my planning is going with in history. I have always liked The Well Trained Mind because it gives you an idea on how to get your "stuff" together for each subject. I love the lists they have for history. I have a list going on what we will study this coming year. The only part I have finished is the beginning. I am using the History Pockets of Colonial America that you can get at any bookstore. It reminds me of lapbooking and notebooking together. The best of both worlds in my opinion. Anyway, this is my list. Keep in mind that it is not finished. Only the first part is done and we will probably spend 3 or 4 weeks on that. I will include Netflix movies and maybe a book or two. There are also some magazine articles I need to work on getting in there.

The rest of my list is in the making. I have to put events together with people in history and probably delete some things.

Do you have any ideas for me? Suggestions are welcome. *wink*


Late Renaissance-Early Modern (1600-1850)

History Pockets of Colonial America by Evan Moor
The Mayflower
Native American cultures
early American settlements
George Washington (1732-1799)
Thomas Jefferson
James Madison
James Monroe
Pocahontas
Squanto
William Penn (1644-1718)
John Smith, Jamestown


Russia under Peter the Great and his successors
the Enlightenment
the agricultural revolution
the British in India
the French Revolution
British-French conflict in Canada
the American Revolution
The Napoleonic Wars
the industrial revolution
Simon Bolivar's fight for independence in South America
the siege of the Alamo
Daniel Boone
Davy Crockett
the California gold rush
the Lewis and Clark expedition
Meriwether Lewis (1774-1809) and William Clark (1770-1838)
Sacagawea (c.1788-1812)
the US acquisition of North America territories
Australia's beginnings as a penal colony
the Constitution
Salem Village and the Witch Hysteria
Slavery in the US
the War of 1812
Napoleon

Books

Don Quixote (abridged)

List of people
Charles I (1600-1649) Rembrandt (1606-1669)
John Milton (1608-1674)
Robert Boyle (1627-1691)
Louis XIV (1638-1715)
Isaac Newton (1642-1715)
Peter I (Peter the Great) (1672-1725)
Yoshimune (1684-1751) Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750)
Fredrick William I (Fredrick the Great) (1688-1740)
Benjamin Franklin (1706-1790)
Qianlong (1711-1795)
Maria Theresa (1717-1780)
Catherine the Great (1729-1796) Franz Joseph Haydn (1732-1809)
Thomas Jefferson (1743-1826)
Betsy Ross (1752-1836)
Phyllis Wheatley (1753-1784)
Louis XVI (1754-1793)
Marie Antoinette (1755-1793) Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756-1791)
George III of England (1760-1820)
Eli Whitney (1765-1825)
Captain James Cook (1768-1771)???
Tecumseh (1768-1813)
Napoleon (1769-1821) Ludwig van Beethoven (1770-1827)
Simon Bolivar (1783-1830)
Shaka Zulu (1787-1828)
Nat Turner (1800-1831)
Buffalo Bill
Andrew Jackson
Paul Revere
Sitting Bull

Lapbooking...what is that?

Click on pictures to enlarge.

Most of you will know what this is. Lapbooking is a fun way to do school. If you have ever scrapbooked then it's close to what lapbooking is. We have been working on our Viking lapbook for history and our Bird one for science. Yes, we started two at the same time. It has been fun getting these done and then we have something to keep after we are done with those lessons.

These few pictures give you an idea of all we have done these past weeks. They are still not done yet but I would say it's about 99% done. They did a great job!

History Fun

We've been having fun with our new tradition of having tea time and reading. Since we are reading up on Marco Polo I thought it was the right time to read more of our book. I don't ever remember learning so much about Marco Polo when I was in school. This has been fun.
We also decided to do something different and take some time to do a lapbook on him. Since HOAC had a Marco Polo freebie I knew we had to do that one. As you can see we are not done yet but I thought I would show the project in progress. This is the first folder.
We have a little more done on the second folder. They still need to color and finish up a few more to add and fill up the folders.
All the boys are doing this but this is my 5yr olds lapbook. I thought I would show you his handwriting. He loves to write and I am glad about that.
We love reading the series of books Who Was....They have lots of drawings in them and are non-fiction. We have read a few already on different people and I do suggest these books. We also got this Marco Polo movie from Netflix. It's not rated but it's a Hallmark Channel movie and so far I am enjoying it. Although be warned, it is an almost 3hr movie so we are watching it in parts.

Now since I am talking about movies have any of you seen Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure? We also got it from Netflix and even though it is a movie about some high school kids it has some history in it. This movie is rated PG and is 1 hr and 30mins. Talk about the right humor for my kids. They were rolling on the floor on some parts.

We had a full day of learning including watching movies. I love homeschool.