Looking for science and history to interest my kid

[Cakes]

I need to shake up Science and History for DD (7th).

 

I am thinking a unit or semester study on diet/nutrition/anatomy/physiology..since she is a dancer something in this vein might capture her interest. Plus it would go hand in hand with my plan to over haul her diet for the new year :laugh: . She has been growing, dancing many hours and is not eating as well as she needs to. We need to switch her mindset from 'I don't like that' to 'that is good fuel for my body, I may not love it but I need to eat it'.

 

Secondly, for history I am thinking that if I can find something that relates to ballet it may be more interesting. 

 

This is our first year homeschooling and neither one of us are loving science (astronomy) or history (early man). I think having shorter units or even something that is complete in a semester is better that the big textbooks that we have that will simply never get through in a year. I sort of feel like we are trying to dig a swimming pool with a spoon.

 

I need to get her writing more as well. I am thinking that if these two areas of study are interesting to her, I can get her to put a bit more into her writing. She is actually pretty good at writing but since I brought her home she has written very little.

 

I know a homeschooler who appears quite successful at it and she feels that if the focus is reading, writing and math, it will make for a well rounded kid. I am trying to make sure these three are the priority and I am having trouble implementing it.

 

I would really love any advice or suggestions. 

[Alice]

I have a sixth grader. We've homeschooled from the beginning using mostly the WTM 4 year-history cycle approach. We enjoyed it but I decided to change for sixth grade to something different. This year we're doing unit studies. Each one is 6 weeks and has been a different focus. The first was "Other Worlds". We read fantasy, science fiction and dystopian literature and compared them. We studied Astronomy. He had to do a project and he chose to create his own world and do an atlas style page for his world. The second unit was "Non-fiction". He read the newspaper every day, read other non-fiction books, watched documentaries. The third unit has been "Short Story/Creative Writing". Dh planned it. Ds read a short story or two every day and did a writing exercise from a kid's creative writing book we found. He also had to write his own short story over the 6 week period. Next up after break is Mythology. We'll touch on Norse/Greek/Roman and Egyptian mythology and he'll study for the NME. I think the next one will be something on maps/explorers but it's still in the planning stages. The last one will be Poetry to go along with April an National Poetry Month. We'll also do some Shakespeare then as our co-op puts on a Shakespeare play every year in May. 

 

Somewhat random thoughts/advice:

 

*It's been more work doing it this way. But he likes it. : )

*The second unit on non-fiction was the weakest for two reasons. First, I didn't put the time into planning it that I should have. Second, it was too broad of a topic. A better unit might have been Documentary Film or Journalism or something narrower.

*6 weeks is short! We might do something similar next year but we'll likely make the units longer.

*I decided to think in terms of goals instead of content for middle school. I felt like my son had a really strong foundation in elementary school and I know that high school will have to be a bit more structured. So I wanted the next three years to be more fun and bit more free. I decided goals were writing (he is not a strong writer at all), study skills, and independence. We're working on those with adding in writing assignments to each unit, having him learn how to take notes, and doing longer projects where he has to think about time management. 

*We decided that for us Math, Latin and Piano were the essentials. He does those daily regardless of what else we are doing. . He reads a ton on his own already or I would add in reading to that list. Then the unit study gets layered on top. 

*We will probably do something similar next year but a bit more coherent rather than going from topic to topic. Right now we're thinking about a year of world studies with a focus on a different continent every 6-8 weeks. I will probably have the two younger ones work with him if we do that. 

[Cakes]

I like the idea of rotating topics because if something isn't very interesting, you have touched on it but they see a light at the end of the tunnel!

 

I am not really sure how much would need to go into a unit study. Can anyone give me an outline of what one would look like as far as content?

I have a diet/nutrition book that I think is very good and yet a pretty easy read. I may just start with that. Perhaps add in some meal/menu planning as well as some time preparing meals for the family. 

 

I will do some searches, but I am still curious to hear other opinions!

[8filltheheart]

You could build a nutrition unit around these lectures. http://www.thegreatcourses.com/courses/nutrition-made-clear.html  After purchase, they should send you an email with the professor's supplemental materials list.  I haven't actually used these lectures, but they have a 5 star rating.  I just received an 80% off catalog.  I can see if I can find it and post the code.

 

For history, how about a history of ballet?  You could study the Renaissance and the cultures where ballet spread (Italy, France, Russia, and Austria).  You could tie this to a literature study as well and read works from the various countries.

 

 

 

 

[8filltheheart]

The coupon code for $10.00 off any order is E6NF.  The 80% off is only off select courses.

[Cakes]

That is cool, I will check it out. 

 

I do have a pretty detailed book about the history of ballet, I need to pull it out and take a look.