jer2911mom Posted November 15, 2011 Share Posted November 15, 2011 The only way I can see us being able to continue with Sonlight after this year is if I can find a way to add hands-on activities that doesn't require constantly shopping for supplies, me preparing/planning ahead, or ambitious projects. I'm thinking projects of the HOD variety. What is the easiest/simplest/most efficient way to accomplish adding hands-on to Sonlight? I want truly open-and-go that uses things around the house or a kit that includes what we need. And what do I use for each core? We are in Core K now. Is it possible to add hands-on each year in this manner, or only some years? Thanks, Kathy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hen Posted November 15, 2011 Share Posted November 15, 2011 I've used the Story of the world activity book with many of the cores, and also the History Pockets books. I also found this site, Homeschool Share that is full of lapbook projects you can print out. I used these to add a hand's on part to our homeschool day, but not as lapbooks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Murrayshire Posted November 15, 2011 Share Posted November 15, 2011 I've used the Story of the world activity book with many of the cores, and also the History Pockets books. I also found this site, Homeschool Share that is full of lapbook projects you can print out. I used these to add a hand's on part to our homeschool day, but not as lapbooks. We love Homschool Share as well.....It adds that final touch to what you are studying! My K'er very much enjoys making the lapbooks! We are using Goody O Grumpity, I believe that's what its called, right now! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kathryn Posted November 15, 2011 Share Posted November 15, 2011 Handle on the Arts sells hands-on activities for the P cores through Core B. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tess in the Burbs Posted November 15, 2011 Share Posted November 15, 2011 We did a lot of History Pockets. My son didn't care for more but my daughter did so this was our compromise. Last year we found Hands n Hearts http://handsandhearts.com/ And used their Early American kit. LOVED IT! We are doing gold panning today from them. Well worth the money for the kids. It has some educational material as well as the activity. Many of the crafts were worth doing again. And most of them are still in the house. In medieval times we found a kit at a homeschool convention that had cute crafty things in it but much less educational and cheap. None of it is still in the house. So between the HistoryPockets and HandsnHearts kits we found it to be enough. The SOTW activity book would be another idea. Or the MOH ...doesn't it also have activities? Just look at some of the other curriculum and what their hands on activities are. Time Travelers has hand on stuff. Winterpromise had some neat stuff too. Just be willing to pull it from different sources and you should find more than enough. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Woodland_Mom Posted November 15, 2011 Share Posted November 15, 2011 What about using the new Sonlight Core Tips resource? Would that work? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LindaOz Posted November 15, 2011 Share Posted November 15, 2011 What I find easy is just to google the topic eg: "topic for kids", or "topic craft" etc and there is usually plenty to choose from. Print out the instructions and off you go. ;) For example, I just googled 'Greek activities for kids' and on one site alone there were coloring pages, puzzles, print outs of myths, and crafts with instructions to make various characters from Greek mythology including a cool looking Trojan Horse using a cardboard tube. There's tons of stuff out there that is really easy to access. HTH Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jer2911mom Posted November 16, 2011 Author Share Posted November 16, 2011 Thanks, everyone, for the suggestions. What I am finding is that unless something is scheduled, it doesn't get done. Does anyone know of schedules available for using History Pockets with the cores? Or any other schedules for other products? I know Handle on the Arts is scheduled, but I'm not sure their activities are doable for us. I just do not want to spend time researching projects, at all. Finding, scheduling, and deciding on hands-on projects is not my strength. I need it planned out for me and I need it to be as easy as possible, or it just won't happen. I don't want to be lining up projects/activities with topics in SL. I need truly open-and-go, with a minimal supply list. Regarding the core tips CD question, I have the free core tips that were available last year and I am not finding them useful. They are mostly links to websites that you have to research and pick-and-choose. Again, I need it already picked and scheduled out. Please let me know of any existing schedules! Thanks! Kathy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jaz Posted November 16, 2011 Share Posted November 16, 2011 I also found this site, Homeschool Share that is full of lapbook projects you can print out. I used these to add a hand's on part to our homeschool day, but not as lapbooks. Last year we found Hands n Hearts http://handsandhearts.com/ And used their Early American kit. LOVED IT! We are doing gold panning today from them. Well worth the money for the kids. It has some educational material as well as the activity. Many of the crafts were worth doing again. And most of them are still in the house. We've used both of these too. They are great! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mystika1 Posted November 16, 2011 Share Posted November 16, 2011 Maybe this would help. http://www.homeschool-curriculum-for-life.com/sonlight-hands-on-activities.html http://www.redshift.com/~bonajo/SLsupmenu.htm Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
3peasinapod Posted November 16, 2011 Share Posted November 16, 2011 I have a mini culture study that I used with Core A. Although I can see where I can make it better, I won't do so until we hit Core A again. It's a 36-week schedule that goes along with Core A. Check it out here and see if it works for you. There would be a few activity books to purchase or find at your library and some extra library books to tie things in a little more tightly. I plan to provide our schedule for free for Core B too, but I need to tweak some of the websites so they can be clickable in PDF format. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Perogi Posted November 16, 2011 Share Posted November 16, 2011 Here is a schedule for History Pockets: http://lamplightlearningacademy.blogspot.com/2007/10/ancient-civilization-history-pockets.html Also, the Handle on the Arts stuff is typically done from things you'd have around the house. It wasn't getting done in my house because we're not a terribly hands-on family but it wasn't a matter of the supplies being hard to track down. We also did a lot of notebooking pages last year as well as enhanced mapping from MapTrek. For Core 2/C we are using a lot of resources from Homeschool Share and doing lapbooks as dd was looking for a change from the notebooking. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jer2911mom Posted November 17, 2011 Author Share Posted November 17, 2011 (edited) Thanks, everyone! Mystika1, thanks for the links. I've seen those before and probably need to look into them further. 3peasinapod, I'm actually using parts of your Core A culture study this year. I'm finding we are using the extra books quite a bit but still aren't getting the hands-on done, even though I bought the books! I am just not very good/disciplined with the hands-on! But thank you for your schedule! I'm hoping we can do some of the cooking-type things over the summer. Melissa, thanks for that link. I actually came across it last night and printed it off. I am thinking that might work for us for Core 1. I will say with HOD last year, the hands-on got done. Something about that format worked and I am unable to duplicate that so far with SL. But my dd really prefers the SL books so far, so I've got to find a way to make this work. She is really creative and into the crafts side of things. I think I am going to have to dig in and find a way to get it done with SL. Thanks again for all the suggestions! Kathy Edited November 17, 2011 by jer2911mom Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
3peasinapod Posted November 17, 2011 Share Posted November 17, 2011 Thanks, everyone! Mystika1, thanks for the links. I've seen those before and probably need to look into them further. 3peasinapod, I'm actually using parts of your Core A culture study this year. I'm finding we are using the extra books quite a bit but still aren't getting the hands-on done, even though I bought the books! I am just not very good/disciplined with the hands-on! But thank you for your schedule! I'm hoping we can do some of the cooking-type things over the summer. Melissa, thanks for that link. I actually came across it last night and printed it off. I am thinking that might work for us for Core 1. I will say with HOD last year, the hands-on got done. Something about that format worked and I am unable to duplicate that so far with SL. But my dd really prefers the SL books so far, so I've got to find a way to make this work. She is really creative and into the crafts side of things. I think I am going to have to dig in and find a way to get it done with SL. Thanks again for all the suggestions! Kathy Core A was the hardest for us to supplement. It seemed to be almost a sideshow when I did my schedule. Core B can be over-supplemented easily with all the stuff floating around out there. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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