Archive for August, 2008
Free Language Arts Lesson: Parts of Speech
You might want to have a basic English grammar text around for additional review and explanation for this lesson, but the basics are covered and suggested activities provided. Enjoy
Add comment Saturday, August 30, 2008
U.S. Math & Science Scores Lacking: Homeschoolers Not Exempt
Methane Molecule
The TIMSS (Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study) is conducted every four years and compares 4th and 8th grade math and science scores for dozens of participating nations around the world. Surprisingly (or not), the U.S. scores are not great. Depending on how you look at the scores, they are either lackluster or terrible. While it looks like achievement gaps are narrowing, the U.S., as a whole, is losing ground compared to other nations. The result, of course, is that fewer and fewer American children are adequately prepared to excel in technology careers. If this trend continues, prosperity for Americans will continue to decline as prosperity is increasingly tied to a nation’s technology literacy.
Because most homeschoolers do not normally participate in standardized tests, we really have no idea whether or not we are doing any better at preparing our children in math and science than the public education system. My fear is that we may not be. Why? Because, as a whole, the American population (including homeschoolers) is not necessarily educated, knowledgeable, or interested in math and science.
Too many parents think science is just performing a series of fun kitchen experiments. Although fun and entertaining, these kinds of activities alone may not prepare young minds for careers in biotechnology, nanotechnology, and beyond. To succeed, students need critical thinking skills and an absolute understanding of the underlying physics, chemistry, biology behind the technology.
The solution? First, educate ourselves about science, math and technology through daily immersion in science news relating to innovative technologies and technology trends. Next, start a rigorous science curriculum (chemistry, physics, biology, etc.) where students learn to understand and explain the science behind the kitchen experiments. Finally, start at an early age and teach accompanying math as an integral part of each lesson instead of as a wholly different topic.
Although not every American child needs to become a biotechnology engineer, every child needs to be highly technology-literate in order to participate in the world economy.
Related Post – Big-Picture Thinking: Math and Science
Add comment Thursday, August 28, 2008
Integrated Visual Arts Makes Learning Fun!
We believe that visual arts are an important part of an education and we add an art component to just about every topic. So, even when we study about carbon, we pull out the oil pastels! We love to experiment with different media, too, and have used chalk pastels, water color pastels, termpura paint, paper shapes, dried flowers, clay, charcoal pencils, colored pencils, water colors and paper ’sculptures’.
Homeschool art on display!
Last homeschool year, we invited family and friends to an art exhibit in which we displayed all of the wonderful art our homeschooler created over the year. We had history-based art, math-based art, science-based art, and favorite subjects such as dinosaur art. We matted some pieces on colored construction paper and used cellophane tape to gently affix the pictures to the walls at kid-eye level. We displayed three dimensional objects on short tables.
Our homeschooler wouldn’t sell any of his art, but he learned that “his art had value to others”.
The best part was that we used the exhibit as a year-in-review tool by keeping the art on display for the entire month. Every day, we chose a few pieces to discuss. We imagined life as a dinosaur, wondered how to “land a space craft on the gassy planet, Jupiter”, remembered the fun we had at the local plant festival and reminisced about the adventure we had when we took our art supplies outdoors. What a fun way to enhance learning and review past lessons!
Add comment Tuesday, August 26, 2008
Free Language Arts Lesson: Word Fun
Metaphors, similes, onomatopoeia, oh my! Word fun is a 5 day lesson covering synonyms, antonyms, metaphors, similes and onomatopoeia using favorite toys as inspiration. Check out Word Fun and let us know what we can add or change to make it even better!
Add comment Saturday, August 23, 2008
New Feature: Free Weekly Language Arts Lessons
We are adding a new feature to spottybanana.com. Starting today, we will be offering a free, weekly language arts lesson (roughly 4th – 5th grade level) that we put together for our own use. We are sharing our hard work with everyone and ask only that you link back to us if you republish on the web.
Each lesson contains 5 days worth of material, but feel free to use and modify as needed.
Our first lesson, Research and Present, takes the student through basic research, citation and presentation lessons.
Let us know how you use the lesson and any additions you make so that we can make our lessons even better!
2 comments Sunday, August 17, 2008
The Olympics, World History and America
Looking back, I wonder about the reason American history was taught exclusively in my elementary years. To me, world history provides essential context for understanding and appreciating the significantly more ‘recent’ history of the United States of America.
With the Olympics in Beijing in full swing, I am reminded of the amazing diversity of our world’s peoples and am encouraged by the stories of sacrifice and persistence of athletes to make it to the Olympics, an ancient sporting event with its own history. I am also reminded of a Chinese culture much older than ours, with so much more ‘history’ than the United States of America. I am also keenly aware of the amazingly global impact the world’s countries have on each other’s environments, economies, culture and stability. Shouldn’t children learn as much as possible about the world as soon as possible? After all, technology has erased physical isolation and has given power and wealth to those countries who embraced it.
Americans have been ethnocentric for too long, and ignoring the rest of the world in place of several hundred years of history does disservice to a child even more than in generations past. By this, I mean, teach children world history first with lessons that build appreciation and understanding of the great world cultures through history, including those that shaped the United States of America. Our children need to learn from the past to live in the present and plan for the future, not as a nation, but as a world.
We use many different resources to study world history, but one of our key resources is the ‘Story of the World’ series.
Story of the World, Vol. 1
Add comment Wednesday, August 13, 2008
Free Homeschool Unit Studies at Homeschool Share
Another free Resource! Homeschool Share has a nice collection of unit studies grouped by age appropriateness and type. Each unit study provides a book list and a good deal of detail about how to use the lessons. Some of the lessons can very easily be extended or abbreviated. Also, if you have a unit study that you have written, you can submit it to Homeschool Share.
Add comment Monday, August 4, 2008
ENTRIES (RSS)
COMMENTS (RSS)
