Eileen Aroon Posted July 12, 2012 Share Posted July 12, 2012 It was the early 90's, the Internet had zero effect on our education, and my overachieving mother would get burned out every 18 months or so, and stick us back in PS. (we went to a private school for a couple years when I was in middle school, so I am a product of 3 different types of schooling) Anyway, my favorite thing about being homeschooled was what my mom called Great Brain Projects. I never knew why she called them this, I assumed it had to do with Fitzgerald's Great Brain Books which we all loved. The subject of the Great Brain Project was chosen by the child, but the parameters were created by my mom. We had to complete around 10 each year. Some of the subjects I did in 3rd-5th grade were: cats, greek mythology, Bach, flowers, gemstones, Queen Victoria, and mummies. Pretty broad, but this was grammar stage. To complete a project you had to write a report, compete a piece of creative writing (story, poem, play), do an art project, read x number of books, and go on a field trip (this one didn't always happen). I am going to do something like this for my 3rd grader this year. Instead of having a set history/science/geography curriculum, I am going to let her choose something she wants to learn more about and do a Great Brain Project. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Miss Marple Posted July 12, 2012 Share Posted July 12, 2012 This is a great idea. How much time did she give you to do the project? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rebeccabillington Posted July 12, 2012 Share Posted July 12, 2012 we used to do this in ps (in the UK), we called it "topics" Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eileen Aroon Posted July 12, 2012 Author Share Posted July 12, 2012 I don't remember how long we had to complete the project. I actually think it was just one of those things on the Master Task list of things to complete before we were on summer vacation. My little brother would always finish about 6 weeks before I did. :glare: I really wanted to do interest-led stuff like 8filltheheart does, but wanted to go more in depth and have more ways of expressing learning that just writing and reading. Not knocking her way, in fact I am totally inspired and hope to be one tenth as amazing as she is. Heck, we might go nuts and have even more strange ways of completing the project, like, make a board game about the topic, or a blog, Lego Model, lap book, needlework, PowerPoint presentation, stuff like that. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Momma2Luke Posted July 12, 2012 Share Posted July 12, 2012 Love that idea...I'm a big fan of project-based learning... your mom sounds awesome... :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alicia64 Posted July 13, 2012 Share Posted July 13, 2012 Sounds so fun! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alicia64 Posted July 13, 2012 Share Posted July 13, 2012 It was the early 90's, the Internet had zero effect on our education, and my overachieving mother would get burned out every 18 months or so, and stick us back in PS. (we went to a private school for a couple years when I was in middle school, so I am a product of 3 different types of schooling) Anyway, my favorite thing about being homeschooled was what my mom called Great Brain Projects. I never knew why she called them this, I assumed it had to do with Fitzgerald's Great Brain Books which we all loved. The subject of the Great Brain Project was chosen by the child, but the parameters were created by my mom. We had to complete around 10 each year. Some of the subjects I did in 3rd-5th grade were: cats, greek mythology, Bach, flowers, gemstones, Queen Victoria, and mummies. Pretty broad, but this was grammar stage. To complete a project you had to write a report, compete a piece of creative writing (story, poem, play), do an art project, read x number of books, and go on a field trip (this one didn't always happen). I am going to do something like this for my 3rd grader this year. Instead of having a set history/science/geography curriculum, I am going to let her choose something she wants to learn more about and do a Great Brain Project. I'm curious. When you say "write a report" what does that mean for a nine-year-old? My boys are following the Writing with Ease plan where it's a lot of copy work and dictation. What should I have them to for a report? Three sentences? Or. . .? They loved this idea I could tell. Alley Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eileen Aroon Posted July 13, 2012 Author Share Posted July 13, 2012 I would dictate the report to my mom and she would type it up on the computer. I was basically summarizing encyclopedia articles or listing the coolest stuff I learned about the subject (Bach had 21 kids!). I would like to make our reports a little more like a writer's workshop a la this book "No more I'm Done! Fostering Independent Writers In The Primary Grades" by Jennifer Jacobsen. I can't figure out how to link to amazon with my iPad :blushing: I really am still working out the kinks. I suspect I am nuts to try to do this instead of a structured open-and-go curriculum, but I feel strongly tha this is a better approach for my kid at this age. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
5wolfcubs Posted July 13, 2012 Share Posted July 13, 2012 Love the idea and the Great Brain books! :D Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nestof3 Posted July 13, 2012 Share Posted July 13, 2012 What a wonderful idea! What a great mom! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Delirium Posted July 13, 2012 Share Posted July 13, 2012 Thanks for sharing this idea. I think we'll start doing this when our year resets next month! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thowell Posted July 14, 2012 Share Posted July 14, 2012 Some of dd12 and dd9's best learning moments have come from interest led projects. They basically pick a topic, the first week they spend brainstorming and breaking the topic into sub topics, after that they spend a few weeks studying their topic. This involves, books, magazines, videos, internet searching and any other way of gaining info. When they are ready to wrap it up they can chose whatever way they want to express what they have learned. Last year dd12 did a project on Malaria and ended it with a wonderful power point. Dd9 did one on the coral reef and ended with a poster board and diorama. At this stage in the game I would want dd12 to do some sort of written report, just dont let this kill the joy of the learning. There are so many ways a child can express what they have learned. They each kept a big notebook of all their topics and all their collected info. Their evaluator was so impressed. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Momma2Luke Posted July 27, 2012 Share Posted July 27, 2012 Eileen, I keep thinking about this idea... the more I think about it, the more I love it. You WILL come back and update, won't you? I'll look forward to that! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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