What is the most out-of-the-box part

[Guest]

of your coming homeschool year?

 

I have begun taking my 14-year-old DD to a series of book readings and signings by popular science writers. We met Mary Roach this past week and heard her talk about her latest book, Packing For Mars.

 

Next month's book is The Calculus Diaries; then there are several coming up on recent work in neuroscience.

 

I'm also quite happy to have found a group that meets monthly in a bookstore to read a Shakespeare play aloud; anyone who wants to read gets a part. First meeting is in September.

 

What sorts of things are others doing that are not "schoolish" but chosen for educational value?

[Guest Cheryl in SoCal]

Well, I don't know if these qualify but one son (10th grade) goes to "Knight School" where he works with a real (yes, real) knight learning squirely and knightly things, and will be a squire in a real tournament in October:001_smile: My other son (9th grade) participates in Civil War Re-enactments (his last battle was 2 weeks ago). He's done cannons and infantry for the south and dies like nobody's business;):lol:

[Corraleno]

We're joining the local astronomy club, and hope to get into astro-photography. The club has their own mini-observatory in a dark sky area about an hour's drive from here, complete with a special digital camera hooked up to the telescope. They also run a build-your-own-telescope workshop 2 evenings/month, so DH & DS12 are hoping to build a steampunk telescope!

 

Once the weather cools off a bit, we're planning to do some camping, combining geocaching with geology/natural history study and nature journaling. There's a fantastic exhibit on nature journaling (including Claire Walker Leslie's journals!) at our local museum, so we've been inspired to start some serious nature journals.

 

We signed up as volunteers at our Natural History Museum, both in the Naturalist Center (hands-on activities plus live insects, reptiles, amphibians, protists, etc) and as members of the Friends of Paleontology group. DS12 and DH also go on a week-long paleo course twice/yr, in June and October.

 

It looks like we'll be supplementing our Medieval studies this fall with a couple of weeks in England, thanks to my drama queen MIL, who insists she'll "be dead by Christmas" so it's imperative that we drop everything and come for a visit. (And no, there's nothing wrong with her, she's perfectly healthy — just nuts.)

 

Jackie

[Guest]

Well, I don't know if these qualify but one son (10th grade) goes to "Knight School" where he works with a real (yes, real) knight learning squirely and knightly things, and will be a squire in a real tournament in October:001_smile: My other son (9th grade) participates in Civil War Re-enactments (his last battle was 2 weeks ago). He's done cannons and infantry for the south and dies like nobody's business;):lol:

 

Whoa -- that is SO COOL. Where did you ever find that? Do you have any pictures? Where you will be doing this in October? (Maybe we could see you as we are also in SoCal.)

[Guest]

Corraleno, you are so lucky to have a museum that encourages or even accepts volunteers. Our Natural History Museum here has dramatically shut down this kind of opportunity for kids over the last several years, so now the single thing they are allowed to do (and I think they have to be sixteen to do that) is help corral kids at summer camp.

 

The astro-photography sounds wonderful.

 

But what I really envy you is the travel to England! One thing that is difficult about living in southern California in a major city is that there is so little historical stuff left -- it's all been bulldozed as the city spreads out for miles and miles. What little there is doesn't date back all that far, historically speaking. I loved England (my husband is a Brit); you can scratch dirt in a field and find layer-cake history going all the way back to the Roman occupation.

 

What kinds of things are you going to take your son to see?

[Guest Cheryl in SoCal]

Whoa -- that is SO COOL. Where did you ever find that? Do you have any pictures? Where you will be doing this in October? (Maybe we could see you as we are also in SoCal.)

He kind of fell into it. The Tournament is in Poway, are you near it? You can learn more at www.worldjoust.com He'd gone for a couple of years and when he signed up to volunteer he was able to go train to work with the knights and horses:001_smile: After that he began taking horse riding lessons (he's now riding with faux lance and shooting a bow and arrow from his horse) and started going to Knight School.

Edited August 15, 2010 by Cheryl in SoCal

[Corraleno]

Corraleno, you are so lucky to have a museum that encourages or even accepts volunteers. Our Natural History Museum here has dramatically shut down this kind of opportunity for kids over the last several years, so now the single thing they are allowed to do (and I think they have to be sixteen to do that) is help corral kids at summer camp.

Well, the Naturalist Center is one of the few departments where the museum allows kids under 18 to volunteer, and they have to be with a parent, so we signed up as a family. They do have a Junior Docent program for kids in 7th-12th grade, but the only thing they're allowed to do on their own is work with one of 4 "teaching carts," which are sort of mobile mini-displays (really boring :tongue_smilie:). Sadly, they won't let DS work in the fossil prep lab, even though he's well-trained and very skilled at it, and probably has more experience (and better eyesight, LOL) than some of the old buffers they have volunteering at the moment.

 

But what I really envy you is the travel to England! One thing that is difficult about living in southern California in a major city is that there is so little historical stuff left -- it's all been bulldozed as the city spreads out for miles and miles. What little there is doesn't date back all that far, historically speaking. I loved England (my husband is a Brit); you can scratch dirt in a field and find layer-cake history going all the way back to the Roman occupation.

 

What kinds of things are you going to take your son to see?

My DH is British, too (although his mother is American and his father was German, so he has an odd accent, LOL). We lived about an hour north of Cambridge for 10 years before moving back to the States, and my crazy MIL lives in Oxford, so there's plenty to do and see in and around both those cities, plus Stratford, Ely Cathedral, assorted medieval churches and manorhouses, etc. There's a place near Cambridge that was an early medieval monastery, used for a while by the Templars (there's Templar graffiti scratched into the walls), then was a farm for centuries, and is now a historic site with a lot of original farm implements and such, but I can't for the life of me remember the name. We'll spend a couple of days doing the museums in London plus the obligatory visit to The Tower. We'll go to see the Uffington White Horse, because that's where my FIL's ashes are scattered. We'll definitely do Flag Fen (a reconstructed Celtic/Bronze Age settlement), and I would also like to squeeze in a visit to York for the Viking stuff (DS is big on Vikings), and some Welsh castles & ruins, but we'll see how much free time we have. It's going to be really strange to be back in the UK after almost 7 years away!

 

Jackie

[Teachin'Mine]

This is a great thread! What cool activities!!! There's so much more to learning than what's in the books. Thanks for the reminder and for sharing. :)

[LittleHouseHomeschool]

My middle son is turning wood on a lathe and learning to chip carve. It is definitely adding to his understanding of geometry. :tongue_smilie:

[stephanier.1765]

This is a great thread! What cool activities!!! There's so much more to learning than what's in the books. Thanks for the reminder and for sharing. :)

:iagree: I'm very impressed and a bit envious of all the wonderful activities your children and families are involved in. So far our out of the box plans are still in the box and taped tightly shut. It's hard to know what we can handle during the evenings with baseball such a big part of son's life. He wants to do Teen Court where kids become the lawyers, bailiffs, and jury (the judge is the only adult) to children in trouble. They conduct a trial and pronounce due punishment upon those children. Being part of Teen Court counts as community service plus I think it will help with public speaking.

 

Yesterday I got the community education schedule in the mail and they are offering Conversational Spanish for 2 hours a week for 8 weeks for $65. I think that would take our Spanish lessons to a whole new level but son was less than thrilled when I discussed it with him. Can you guys give him a poke?

[Guest]

 

ETA, please let me know when you see them so I can take them down :)

 

Great pictures! We are in Clairemont, so we'd love to see him in October! If you have specific dates and times he'll be there, let us know (PM me?).

[Guest]

Knights, telescopes, courts, lathes... where do you come up with these ideas? They are all things that have not crossed my mental universe. Do your kids come up with the plans or do you present them as possibilities?

[Murphy101]

Kitchen chemistry/history

aviation science

astronomy

veterinary science

Drafting with autoCAD

computer graphic design and power point

Rock climbing

 

I have no idea how out of the box these are, but these are some things various of my oldest 3 will be doing this coming year.

 

It's a combination of them expressing an interest and me offering ways to expound on that interest.

[elegantlion]

I posted this on the quirky kids social group, but wanted to post here for others to see. My ds will be doing construction for the first 2-3 weeks of school. Technically we're delaying the start of school, but the construction counts! He just won't be doing traditional academics.

 

My dh is a carpenter and is going to work on his sister's house out of state. Since one of our goals is to have ds learn the construction trade, he's going with dad. Dh learned construction from his dad, we want to pass it on.

 

He's been helping on jobsites most of his life, but now he's at the age where he can be a real help. We really don't want him to go into the construction business, but I want him to be able to complete his future wife's honey-do list.

[cathmom]

Oh, I have a son who wants to be a knight! I'll have to check this stuff out. Thanks!

[dcurry]

Cheryl,

 

Would you PM me the info for the tournament as well? We'll be studying knights in school this year, and we are not very good at getting out of the box.

 

I'd also like to know where he attends knight school. I didn't know such a thing exists.

 

I'm trying to find something for my 8th & 9th grade kids to be involved in throughout their high school years, but am having trouble finding something that fits their interests. How would one go about finding interest groups in their area? (My son is interested in writing fiction, and possibly computer/robotics and my daughter is interested in art and already takes art classes).

 

Thanks for any ideas. I've LOVED reading about what people are doing with their kids.

 

Can you also tell me more about the civil war re-enactments? Is there a group somewhere that does that?

 

Thanks!

[Guest]

 

Can you also tell me more about the civil war re-enactments? Is there a group somewhere that does that?

 

Thanks!

 

Only the other day I googled "civil war re-enactments" and got a huge list of battles being restaged all over the country, organized by date and/or by geographical area.

 

By the way, if you have a kid who is really interested, Confederates in the Attic is a bizarre and engaging book about the continued passionate interest in the Civil War all over the south. It has several chapters on re-enactments.

[elegantlion]

Cheryl,

 

I'm trying to find something for my 8th & 9th grade kids to be involved in throughout their high school years, but am having trouble finding something that fits their interests. How would one go about finding interest groups in their area? (My son is interested in writing fiction, and possibly computer/robotics and my daughter is interested in art and already takes art classes).

 

Thanks for any ideas. I've LOVED reading about what people are doing with their kids.

 

Can you also tell me more about the civil war re-enactments? Is there a group somewhere that does that?

 

Thanks!

 

For your son who is interested in writing I would recommend http://www.nanowrimo.org. It's a writing contest each November, they also have a young writer's contest. There are IRL all over the world that meet during the month of November. I've created some great friendships by competing and we continue to work together throughout the year.

[Guest Cheryl in SoCal]

Cheryl,

 

Would you PM me the info for the tournament as well? We'll be studying knights in school this year, and we are not very good at getting out of the box.

 

I'd also like to know where he attends knight school. I didn't know such a thing exists.

 

I'm trying to find something for my 8th & 9th grade kids to be involved in throughout their high school years, but am having trouble finding something that fits their interests. How would one go about finding interest groups in their area? (My son is interested in writing fiction, and possibly computer/robotics and my daughter is interested in art and already takes art classes).

 

Thanks for any ideas. I've LOVED reading about what people are doing with their kids.

 

Can you also tell me more about the civil war re-enactments? Is there a group somewhere that does that?

 

Thanks!

I sent you a PM:001_smile:

 

For anyone else who might be interested in Civil War Reenactments:

 

My other ds got involved with Civil War Reenacting when he went to a reenactment. He went over to the different groups and when he started asking questions they asked if he wanted to participate. All the groups he spoke with said to try different groups (battalion, cavalry, etc) and find out what type of position he likes best before joining a group. They said just to come early in the day and stop by to participate (they all have loaner clothes/equipment you can use until you get your own).

[Brindee]

My dd is working on a community project. She and her friend called up our local Mental Health Services, and asked if they had a project they could help with. They were given their choice of a few, and they picked helping raise funds for a playground for kids with autism and other mental and physical illnesses. They've made a fund-raising plan, talked with Civic and other groups, put jars in businesses, helped write grants and gift requests, etc. over the last year and a half. It is coming to fruition--they only have about $2000. to go for the $30,000. project! They have a meeting soon to discuss plans for the construction and opening ceremony. They have already met the Mayor and the county Sheriff, who will be at the opening ceremony, and have been told that they are the ones who spearheaded this project and they will be the ones to cut the ribbon at the opening! They've been to catered dinners when they make their request for funds with Elks and Rotary clubs, and the mayor, who was at one of the presentations the girls made, handed them a personal check for the playground project. It's been quite the ride! One lady from the Elks club nominated them for a Community Service award, which was voted on by "the committee" and they were presented with the award. It's all been an AMAZING journey for them, and everyone is getting excited as the project draws to the actual building of the playground! They made a Power Point presentation to show while they're speaking. I'm giving dd speech credit for this, since they've done so much planning, research and speaking!

 

If your kids have a friend, or some friends that are willing to work on something like this, it's a GREAT learning experience! My dd wouldn't speak in front of a group before this started, and now she's used to it, and willing to do so for a good cause. It's been a lot of good experiences in which she and her friend have gained skills that will only help them as they get older! They've also made a lot of new friends that will be happy to work with them again should they choose another project to work on. The girls didn't start this to get attention, they really want to help kids. It 's just that the people are thrilled to see teenagers willing to put in so much effort to help others, instead of being into themselves or drugs or whatever!

 

 

The girls' goal is to help kids who can't help themselves, and they, her friend's grandma (who is my friend) and I are considering a mission trip to India (through a group the grandma and I have worked with before) to work in an orphanage for a couple of weeks. That's in the works, so we'll see if it will come to fruition.

 

Don't be afraid to go out of the box and do something like what people have mentioned! I believe the kids learn a LOT more from these "outside the box" experiences than straight book work!

 

I hope you find things your kids will want to to and experience! Best wishes!

[Ravin]

Outside the box...

 

We check every time we're in the library (once or twice a week) for culture passes, which are free passes to local museums available for checkout. I plan on dropping what we're doing and going whenever we score a good one.

 

Then there's our SCA activities. DD is getting old enough that she is starting to like helping with projects the adults are doing. She also wants to do more youth combat--not as cool as Knight School, from the sound of it, but probably as close as we're going to come out here (and on our budget, and with DH's severe allergy to horses). She's currently the King's Youth Warlord, which is the winner of the King's Champion tournament for her age division. She's the smallest kid I've ever seen on the combat field, and her armor is very, very pink.:D At the last event she attended, in addition to winning the tourney for her age category (by continuing to go up against the older kids after the other kid in her age category quit), she learned to play croquet. Recently at a meeting of our local group (we play with the college group at ASU), she and I learned to play 9 Man Morris and Hneftafl.

 

She's wanting to learn to sew and do embroidery, too, so I've started her with yarn and a yarn needle on plastic mesh, and she's practiced on the sewing machine with a threadless needle on paper. She wants to help make some baby garb (your basic medieval baby clothes were practical gowns that overlap in the front; extremely simple to sew).

 

She also wants to do archery, which we took a class on last Estrella War, and I plan on getting her her own bow for her birthday.

[mcconnellboys]

I LOVE your ideas! I'm going to have to check out our bookstores to see if they offer any such things. I think I would have noticed if they did, but I'll have to double check now, LOL!

 

My stuff is not as neat as yours....

 

We start school tomorrow and we're going to a place called Glassworks this Friday where my son is going to get to blow his own art piece (an orb he can use as an ornament). Allowing visitors to participate in blows is something that's newer for this place, so I'm excited about it.

 

An area history museum is adding tons of great homeschool programming for the upcoming year and we plan on attending many of their events. They have always done a very good job with their re-enactors, so I'm hopeful it's going to be a very good school year!

 

We're taking two trips in September. It's the first time in several years that we've gotten to travel with my younger son. We're going to Williamsburg and then to Boston, so both are going to relate well to our history studies this year, which are going to be heavy on American history....

 

He's going to be messing around in the garage of an organic chem professor we know about once a week this school year. If they don't blow up each other or the house it should be a fun time for all.....

[dm379]

Mine have resumed flying lessons. DH takes them to work and teaches them to fly the aircraft in the simulators. This year he begins teaching them about flight plans, maintenance, engine parts and all that boring stuff I don't understand. Both of them love it and if dh keeps it up when they're older it won't take much for them to get their private pilot's license which is a good fall-back job.

[Murphy101]

I just signed my oldest 4 up for ballroom dance lessons.

Yes I did.

They will thank me one day.

Probably.

;)

[Guest]

I just signed my oldest 4 up for ballroom dance lessons.

Yes I did.

They will thank me one day.

Probably.

;)

 

I really wanted to do this, but my daughter so far is showing less than delight at the prospect. Sounds like great fun!

[swimmermom3]

Knights, telescopes, courts, lathes... where do you come up with these ideas? They are all things that have not crossed my mental universe. Do your kids come up with the plans or do you present them as possibilities?

 

Karen, our best outside-of-the-box ideas come from recognizing rabbit trails as opportunities and then trying to go to the source for experience. For example, a love of working with animals and photography could take you to the zoo for volunteer experience. We came up with this idea after a weekend of camping where my dd spent hours observing and photographing salamanders. We were talking about some of her shots and the conversation turned to hs science classes and why couldn't they be more relevant to life. The next day we found out our veterinarian is licensed to work on exotic animals and has done everything from piecing wings back together for raptors to caring for elderly mountain lions. Fish and Wildlife call on him frequently. He is one of the few people my youngest holds in absolute awe as being "really smart." Dh told my daughter if she volunteered at the zoo, he would contact a high school friend who is a photographer for National Geographic. At that point, my dd wasn't yet ready to come home for school. Now, that she is, there are different opportunities.

 

I find that whenever I let go of the fear of stepping outside the boundaries, ideas and opportunities practically fall in our laps. Within 48 hours of my dd deciding to come home for school, she had an offer to apprentice in a large city in an upscale hair salon complete with a great living arrangement. As exciting and frightening as this is to her, I am still hoping for a college education. Low and behold, the two of us visited a major tourist attraction and art conservation and historic preservation were a part of nearly every exhibit. She was completely sucked back in to an old interest of hers. Now I am trying to figure out how to take what we learned and turn it into the last elective she needs for graduation.

 

I think I have already told you how your mention of the Gems science curriculum led me to purchase their ocean units, which led to planning a trip to the aquarium which unbeknownst to me is in the same coastal city as one of our university's marine biology lab which just happens to have an entire day this fall set aside for homeschoolers.:D

[Corraleno]

Knights, telescopes, courts, lathes... where do you come up with these ideas? They are all things that have not crossed my mental universe. Do your kids come up with the plans or do you present them as possibilities?

Well, the epic breadth vs depth thread had a lot to do with getting me out of the box! Here I have this super-sciencey 12 yo DS, and instead of letting him follow his passions and interests down rabbit trails, I was making him slog through HS textbooks because, well, he's sciencey so of course he can handle that level of material. And we could only do one science per year, because it takes at least that long to slog through a 1000 page textbook; this year it was biology, so the Galileoscopes were tucked away in the cabinet until we get to Astronomy (in a year or so), and the insect books were in the bookcase, because we needed to finish genetics and DNA before we could get into arthropods, etc. etc. etc.

 

After the breadth vs depth thread, I put the textbooks away. We built a couple of Galileoscopes and started observing the sky, which led to a visit to our local planetarium, where I saw a flyer for the local astronomy club, which led us to attend a "Star Party," where we got to look at all kinds of cool stuff through 15-20 different scopes, and discovered that many of them were built by members through the club's biweekly workshops. Next week we're going to our first general meeting, hosted by the university, which includes a lecture on black holes. We've also been watching tons of documentaries, and DS is working on a very steampunky design for a Dobsonian reflector. :D

 

We're also studying insects now, despite not having completed genetics :tongue_smilie:, because we found a large European mantis, found a mate for her and watched them mating (but luckily missed the post-coital cannibalism!), watched her lay eggs, and made some amazing observations about the way she catches and eats prey. We looked up the internal anatomy of mantids and drew pictures. We looked up the internal anatomy of grasshoppers and figured out that the one part the mantis always discarded was the gut. We also caught and fed an antlion for several weeks until it eventually completed it's metamorphosis and flew away! We've captured and identified (using a microscope and a lot of online research) all of the different ant species on our property, and we watched a colony of large spiky harvester ants invade a colony of tiny forelius ants, who had to abandon their nest and move a few yards away. They still maintain their "herd" of mealybugs in a nearby tree, but they have a more round-about route to the tree now, and they started a second herd in another tree. We discovered that mealybugs look incredibly disgusting under a microscope, and we even watched an ant "milking" one while we observed it close up. DD7 set up a woodlouse colony in a plastic Critter Keeper and is anxiously awaiting babies. :D

 

I chucked the history texts, too, except as reference works, and I bought Technology in World History (an awesome 7-volume set from Oxford University Press), along with a bunch of books and DVDs on the history of science and technology, which made DS very very happy. He's currently researching Greek science & technology; watching Engineering an Empire, Decisive Battles of the Ancient World, and the Teaching Co lectures on classical archaeology; and trying to figure out the math to scale up the Greek ballista plans because the one in the Gurstelle book is way too puny. :lol:

 

The kids are making sets of astronomy cards (using blank index cards), with drawings of the planets and different types of stars and galaxies and important facts on them (which the kids have to research themselves). DS is going to do a "report" on the history of astronomy in Comic Life, using clip art from the CD-roms that came with the DK Astronomy and Universe books. For his report on Greek science & technology, he's considering writing & designing a funny Ancient Greek "newspaper" that will have articles about different discoveries and inventions, and for literature he's going to rewrite the Odyssey as a futuristic sci fi story.

 

We still do "regular" math, but with fun stuff added in, like Zome geometry for DS and the Pet Shop version of Your Business Math for DD7.

 

Once I got out of the box and realized just how much cool stuff there is to do "out here," and how much my kids can really learn without textbooks and lesson plans and busy work, well, I can't imagine getting back into that box. And I owe a huge thanks to you and Jenn and Nan and Lisa and Paula and everyone else who contributed so much to that thread, because it came at exactly the right time for me and it has truly changed our family's lives!

 

Jackie

[Corraleno]

our best outside-of-the-box ideas come from recognizing rabbit trails as opportunities and then trying to go to the source for experience....I find that whenever I let go of the fear of stepping outside the boundaries, ideas and opportunities practically fall in our laps.

This is sooooo true — and so freeing, once you make that leap!

 

Jackie

[swimmermom3]

Well, the epic breadth vs depth thread had a lot to do with getting me out of the box! Here I have this super-sciencey 12 yo DS, and instead of letting him follow his passions and interests down rabbit trails, I was making him slog through HS textbooks because, well, he's sciencey so of course he can handle that level of material. And we could only do one science per year, because it takes at least that long to slog through a 1000 page textbook; this year it was biology, so the Galileoscopes were tucked away in the cabinet until we get to Astronomy (in a year or so), and the insect books were in the bookcase, because we needed to finish genetics and DNA before we could get into arthropods, etc. etc. etc.

 

After the breadth vs depth thread, I put the textbooks away. We built a couple of Galileoscopes and started observing the sky, which led to a visit to our local planetarium, where I saw a flyer for the local astronomy club, which led us to attend a "Star Party," where we got to look at all kinds of cool stuff through 15-20 different scopes, and discovered that many of them were built by members through the club's biweekly workshops. Next week we're going to our first general meeting, hosted by the university, which includes a lecture on black holes. We've also been watching tons of documentaries, and DS is working on a very steampunky design for a Dobsonian reflector. :D

 

We're also studying insects now, despite not having completed genetics :tongue_smilie:, because we found a large European mantis, found a mate for her and watched them mating (but luckily missed the post-coital cannibalism!), watched her lay eggs, and made some amazing observations about the way she catches and eats prey. We looked up the internal anatomy of mantids and drew pictures. We looked up the internal anatomy of grasshoppers and figured out that the one part the mantis always discarded was the gut. We also caught and fed an antlion for several weeks until it eventually completed it's metamorphosis and flew away! We've captured and identified (using a microscope and a lot of online research) all of the different ant species on our property, and we watched a colony of large spiky harvester ants invade a colony of tiny forelius ants, who had to abandon their nest and move a few yards away. They still maintain their "herd" of mealybugs in a nearby tree, but they have a more round-about route to the tree now, and they started a second herd in another tree. We discovered that mealybugs look incredibly disgusting under a microscope, and we even watched an ant "milking" one while we observed it close up. DD7 set up a woodlouse colony in a plastic Critter Keeper and is anxiously awaiting babies. :D

 

I chucked the history texts, too, except as reference works, and I bought Technology in World History (an awesome 7-volume set from Oxford University Press), along with a bunch of books and DVDs on the history of science and technology, which made DS very very happy. He's currently researching Greek science & technology; watching Engineering an Empire, Decisive Battles of the Ancient World, and the Teaching Co lectures on classical archaeology; and trying to figure out the math to scale up the Greek ballista plans because the one in the Gurstelle book is way too puny. :lol:

 

The kids are making sets of astronomy cards (using blank index cards), with drawings of the planets and different types of stars and galaxies and important facts on them (which the kids have to research themselves). DS is going to do a "report" on the history of astronomy in Comic Life, using clip art from the CD-roms that came with the DK Astronomy and Universe books. For his report on Greek science & technology, he's considering writing & designing a funny Ancient Greek "newspaper" that will have articles about different discoveries and inventions, and for literature he's going to rewrite the Odyssey as a futuristic sci fi story.

 

We still do "regular" math, but with fun stuff added in, like Zome geometry for DS and the Pet Shop version of Your Business Math for DD7.

 

Once I got out of the box and realized just how much cool stuff there is to do "out here," and how much my kids can really learn without textbooks and lesson plans and busy work, well, I can't imagine getting back into that box. And I owe a huge thanks to you and Jenn and Nan and Lisa and Paula and everyone else who contributed so much to that thread, because it came at exactly the right time for me and it has truly changed our family's lives!

 

Jackie

 

Wow, Jackie! Just wow! I am feeling blown off course a bit with added an unexpected student at the last minute so please keep reminding me of all the wonderful opportunities. It sounds like you and the kids are off to a great year! Our Galileoscope came while we were on vacation. I would love to hear more about the star parties. There is a club not too far from us and I think it looks like a lot of fun.

[Corraleno]

Wow, Jackie! Just wow! I am feeling blown off course a bit with added an unexpected student at the last minute so please keep reminding me of all the wonderful opportunities. It sounds like you and the kids are off to a great year! Our Galileoscope came while we were on vacation. I would love to hear more about the star parties. There is a club not too far from us and I think it looks like a lot of fun.

We were just looking at the moon through our Galileoscopes a few hours ago. :D

 

The "Star Party" was amazing, way cooler than I expected. I remember reading posts from Jean in Wisc urging anyone interested in astronomy to locate a club and go to a "star party" but I never followed up. Besides the fact that astronomy "wasn't scheduled yet" :tongue_smilie:, I think I had this (totally incorrect) assumption that it would be a small "clubby" group of people who would know everything about everything, and we'd be the dorky noobs who didn't know our asteroids from a hole in the ground, crashing the party. So we finally went to one and there were about 200 people there! Lots of families and other people attending for the first time, queuing up to look through all the different scopes, asking lots of questions. The club members were soooo kind and helpful and genuinely enjoyed talking about astronomy — especially the ones who had built their own scopes. And they got such a kick out of all the oooooo's and ahhhhhh's from the kids — DD7 looked at a close-up of the moon through a 10" reflector and shouted "OMG it's full of holes!!!" :lol: It's one thing to see a photo of it in a book, but when you see it close-up, live, through a telescope, you can see the mountains and craters and it's just a totally different experience. We also got to see the rings of Saturn, a globular cluster, a whirlpool galaxy, and DS still hasn't recovered from his astonishment at discovering (and seeing) that Polaris is really a binary star. :001_smile:

 

They also did a great "constellation tour," which was like a planetarium show but with a real sky! The guy had a green laser pointer that he used to point out all the constellations and asterisms (see, I learned something new :D) and his talk included science, Greek mythology, astronomical history, and lots of cool random facts. We also saw some amazing meteoroids, since it was during the Perseid meteor showers. It was a great family night out, it was free, and we all had a blast. I highly recommend it!

 

Jackie

Edited August 17, 2010 by Corraleno

[elegantlion]

 

 

I chucked the history texts, too, except as reference works, and I bought Technology in World History (an awesome 7-volume set from Oxford University Press), along with a bunch of books and DVDs on the history of science and technology, which made DS very very happy. He's currently researching Greek science & technology; watching Engineering an Empire, Decisive Battles of the Ancient World, and the Teaching Co lectures on classical archaeology; and trying to figure out the math to scale up the Greek ballista plans because the one in the Gurstelle book is way too puny. :lol:

 

 

 

 

Jackie

 

Jackie :svengo: !!! How awesome!! Thanks for suggesting the technology books.

 

Sounds like you have an awesome year on your hands.

[swimmermom3]

Karen, thank you for starting this thread. These kinds of ideas keep me excited and moving forward when the panic is threatening to paralyze me.:tongue_smilie:

[Guest]

We are currently nearly finished watching Broadway: The American Musical, thanks to a recommendation from JennW. Now my daughter has asked to link history to musicals. So we were browsing around on the web -- what musicals have to do with the middle ages and Renaissance? -- and besides Camelot, of course, I found this bizarre off-Broadway spoof called Gutenberg. You can't find a DVD, only the soundtrack, so we're going to be inventive with that and stage scenes at home. We're linking this to a bio of Gutenberg, a study of manuscripts and early printed books (field trip to the Huntington in LA) and a rare book collector, and a very loose look at early ballads and broadsheets (pre-newspapers).

 

Our entire reading program has been set up around parodies, satire, and spoofs.

 

My daughter has also expressed interest in finding out about how betting works, particularly horse betting, after watching The Sting. The horse racing season is on right now near us, so I'm trying to figure out how to have a chat with a bookie.

[JennW in SoCal]

What a fabulous post, Jackie!! Terrific opportunities, terrific learning, and clearly terrific fun. I'm so glad you were inspired to put away those text books! I want to join you!

 

I am heartened to see so many outside the box stories on this board as it is a good antidote to all the AP and transcript questions. There is so much valuable learning available outside text books and AP syllabi, but sometimes feels like I'm the only odd duck around here who is avoiding anything resembling traditional school.

 

My ds spent last spring as an intern for an Electrical Engineer, and continues to work for him when he has a backlog of things to get done -- boards to build or test. They've also done a few fun projects together. This fall my ds has an 8 week internship at the zoo where he will be going behind the scenes and shadowing scientists and keepers, then writing about it for the zoo's educational website. He will likely participate once again on his charter school's Mock Trial team.

 

After many years of a completely outside the box approach to school, this ds is ready to formalize his science education, and to that end is starting to take math and science classes at the community college. For those who wonder, his desire to formalize his study is not because I somehow failed him by being outside the box, it is because he is ready to go much deeper. He is ready for a systematic and formalized approach, although much of the required content in beginning college science courses will no doubt be review.

[JennW in SoCal]

Karen

 

Do you remember William Murray who taught writing at UCSD? He was a horse racing buff -- a fixture at Del Mar -- and wrote some fun books about it. He tried to explain betting to me one time. Does Del Mar still have the doughnut mornings where the public can come watch the horses exercise?

[Kareni]

We are currently nearly finished watching Broadway: The American Musical, thanks to a recommendation from JennW. Now my daughter has asked to link history to musicals. So we were browsing around on the web -- what musicals have to do with the middle ages and Renaissance? ...

 

 

Are you familiar with Spamalot, Karen? It's definitely a spoof, but it feels like the right time period.

 

And thanks for mentioning Gutenberg! The Musical!; I've asked my library to purchase it.

 

Regards,

Kareni

Edited August 17, 2010 by Kareni

[CathyT]

My boys are part of a fife and drum Corp. They play at Sturbridge Village, musters, and in parades. They love it and have learned so much about history!

[Guest]

Are you familiar with Spamalot, Karen? It's definitely a spoof, but it feels like the right time period.

 

 

My daughter went to see the touring Broadway version last year, has the soundtrack memorized, and quotes in CONSTANTLY. I, on the other hand, feel that if I don't see or hear any more Monty Python for the rest of my life, I will be okay with that.

 

She just found out that there is a serious musical version of Lord of the Rings playing in London, set to go on world tour next year; the excitement of this is almost unbearable for her. For spoof fans, JennW also pointed me in the direction of an absolutely wildly hilarious musical called Fellowship. It's currently not playing (will show for six days in October in NYC), but you can download the soundtrack and watch clips online.

[Kareni]

My daughter ... just found out that there is a serious musical version of Lord of the Rings playing in London, set to go on world tour next year; the excitement of this is almost unbearable for her. For spoof fans, JennW also pointed me in the direction of an absolutely wildly hilarious musical called Fellowship. It's currently not playing (will show for six days in October in NYC), but you can download the soundtrack and watch clips online.

 

Well, thank you for both of these pieces of information. My daughter loves musicals, too, and will doubtless be delighted to learn of both of these musicals.

 

Regards,

Kareni

[Guest]

My boys are part of a fife and drum Corp. They play at Sturbridge Village, musters, and in parades. They love it and have learned so much about history!

 

Fun! I am always a bit frustrated when history becomes something you do exclusively from books (especially when they are textbooks). This kind of activity, the re-enactments someone mentioned, the school for knights, are wonderful ways for older kids to become so much more engaged with the historical world.

Edited August 17, 2010 by Guest

[Corraleno]

This fall my ds has an 8 week internship at the zoo where he will be going behind the scenes and shadowing scientists and keepers, then writing about it for the zoo's educational website.

What a great idea! I should check into that for DS (future bio/paleo major) when he's a few years older; we have a pretty good zoo here. Has your DS seen the "Raw Anatomy" shows that were broadcast on National Geographic last year? They did autopsies/dissections of huge animals — it was actually produced by Channel 4 in the UK, where it was called Inside Nature's Giants. You can see the episodes on youtube here. They did an elephant, giraffe, crocodile, whale, shark, and python, and there are supposedly two additional episodes (lion and tiger) which I'm hoping will be posted soon!

 

Jackie

[Guest]

What a great idea! I should check into that for DS (future bio/paleo major) when he's a few years older; we have a pretty good zoo here. Has your DS seen the "Raw Anatomy" shows that were broadcast on National Geographic last year? They did autopsies/dissections of huge animals — it was actually produced by Channel 4 in the UK, where it was called Inside Nature's Giants. You can see the episodes on youtube here. They did an elephant, giraffe, crocodile, whale, shark, and python, and there are supposedly two additional episodes (lion and tiger) which I'm hoping will be posted soon!

 

Jackie

 

I wish I could introduce you to my daughter's orthodontist; she has done root canals on tigers for the Wild Animal Park -- we saw all the photos.

[JennW in SoCal]

Has your DS seen the "Raw Anatomy" shows that were broadcast on National Geographic last year? They did autopsies/dissections of huge animals

Jackie

 

Thanks for the link, Jackie. My gut reaction (pun intended) is "ewwww" but my son said "that sounds rather interesting".

[2cents]

Just finishing: Hogwarts Summer Correspondence School-We did Herbology, Astronomy & Cooking. Forensics through Duke TIP (fantastic!)

 

Fall:MIT's Open courseware Kitchen Chemistry, Unit Study on haunted places through Universal Class (for a fun Halloween project), Yale's Open courseware Roman Architecture. I'm putting together a primate study this year using open courseware too. We're also doing a large unit study on Buddhism using the online secondary student syllabus at Buddhanet.com.

Edited August 18, 2010 by 2cents

[swimmermom3]

Just finishing: Hogwarts Summer Correspondence School-We did Herbology, Astronomy & Cooking. Forensics through Duke TIP (fantastic!)

 

Fall:MIT's Open courseware Kitchen Chemistry, Unit Study on haunted places through Universal Class (for a fun Halloween project), Yale's Open courseware Roman Architecture. I'm putting together a primate study this year using open courseware too. We're also doing a large unit study on Buddhism using the online secondary student syllabus at Buddhanet.com.

 

:blushing: What's open courseware?

[2cents]

:blushing: What's open courseware?

 

Open Courseware are free college level courses on the internet for use by anyone. They can be very complete with video lectures, a syllabus, lesson plans and worksheets etc. MIT offers a lot of courses and other colleges like Yale, Univ of Washington, Harvard, etc offer open courseware. If you google it, you'll come up with a lot of links. The MIT one is here:

http://ocw.mit.edu/index.htm

We're really getting into open courseware in our homeschool. There are some real gems out there! :D

[beth in md]

I don't know if this qualifies as "outside of the box" but it feels like it to me. This fall my twins will be starting at Wilostar3D, an online school where they teach the curriculum using virtual world technology and software.

 

We have been using a modified WTM curriculum in the past, but they struggle with school and are so excited by the Wilostar idea that it's worth a try. They are both very creative and love virtual world technology, so using it to reinforce and demonstrate learning sounds ideal for them.

 

The school runs from 6th grade through high school and is fully accredited. http://www.wilostar3d.com

 

Disclosure: Wilostar3D will be advertising on my homeschool websites soon but I found out about them independently, through a positive post on Twitter.

 

Beth in MD

http://www.homeschoolmontgomery.com

http://www.homeschoolfrederick.com

[BlueTaelon]

I don't know if this qualifies as "outside of the box" but it feels like it to me. This fall my twins will be starting at Wilostar3D, an online school where they teach the curriculum using virtual world technology and software.

 

We have been using a modified WTM curriculum in the past, but they struggle with school and are so excited by the Wilostar idea that it's worth a try. They are both very creative and love virtual world technology, so using it to reinforce and demonstrate learning sounds ideal for them.

 

The school runs from 6th grade through high school and is fully accredited. http://www.wilostar3d.com

 

Disclosure: Wilostar3D will be advertising on my homeschool websites soon but I found out about them independently, through a positive post on Twitter.

 

Beth in MD

www.homeschoolmontgomery.com

www.homeschoolfrederick.com

 

 

Beth,

 

How did it go with Wilostar? I just found out about it and it sounds like something my dd would be interested in. Is it worth the tuition?