FloridaLisa Posted July 30, 2012 Share Posted July 30, 2012 My kids are somewhat in sets: an older group and two youngers. :001_smile: I'm usually on the high school board, but I truly love being able to homeschool the early years again. I love that learning occurs so simply and naturally at this stage. As I'm planning for our year, I'd love to hear some of the things you all did that were the most simple, fun and educational with your youngers. I'll have a 5- and 7-year old. I'll start: *100 day jars: Label 3 jelly jars as Ones, Tens and Hundreds. Starting the first day of school, have your child put one popsicle stick in the Ones jar. On the 10th day, wrap the 10 sticks together with a rubberband and place in the Tens jar. Keep adding one popsicle stick a day, wrapping sets of 10 together and placing in the Tens jar. Once you reach 100, place all 10 sets of 10 in the Hundreds jar and celebrate . . . *100 Day. Lots of activities for 100 day. A quick google will turn up many fun ideas. *Planet Walk. One of our all-time favorites! Incorporate as part of an astronomy study or just do it one day for some outside fun! *Raising butterflies; catching tadpoles and watching them turn to frogs. Care to share your favorites? Lisa Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FloridaLisa Posted July 30, 2012 Author Share Posted July 30, 2012 (edited) I remembered another one. :001_smile: One year, we read through the Ruth Heller grammar books and my kids followed each by making and illustrating their own. They created one page for each part of speech and we pulled them together in a book. Those are still keepsakes. Lisa Edited July 30, 2012 by FloridaLisa Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gentlemommy Posted July 30, 2012 Share Posted July 30, 2012 LOVE your popsicle stick days idea!!!:001_smile: Our favorites seem to revolve around living things...:tongue_smilie: Raising caterpillars, tadpoles, praying matis(es? s'? What's the plural???) Growing plants-we did a veggie garden, an herb windowsill planter, and flowers Volunteering at a farm! Best one by far. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gentlemommy Posted July 30, 2012 Share Posted July 30, 2012 Oh! We also have an inexpensive plastic aquarium thing that we use for 'Pet For the Day'. If we find a bug, worm, frog spawn,or even a tiny snake once(!) we keep it for a few hours and observe it, while looking it up in our field guide or online. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KristenR Posted July 30, 2012 Share Posted July 30, 2012 My girls loved our prehistory unit and this ice excavation activity sounds out. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Closeacademy Posted July 30, 2012 Share Posted July 30, 2012 The best fun learning experiences for us in the early years: the beach--waves, sand, tide pools, living creatures the forest--walking in the forest there is so much to observe the meadow--letting them explore a grassy area near a pond they found all sorts of bugs, frogs, turtles, plants, etc. growing a butterfly--caterpillar to butterfly growing a frog--our tadpoles died before full transformation but it was still fun venus flytraps--neat while they lasted watercolor--giving them one or two colors at a time or just the primary colors and letting them explore clay/playdough/etc.--letting them work in this material helps small motor and builds imagination as they make things balance scale--nothing like spending a few hours weighing various small objects Singapore Math's Earlybird water experiment--they had the kids fill all sorts of different containers with water and then pour the water in other containers to learn about volume :001_smile: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Monica_in_Switzerland Posted July 30, 2012 Share Posted July 30, 2012 Thank you for the idea on the Heller books- those look wonderful, and writing our own sounds like a great plan!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BugsMama Posted July 30, 2012 Share Posted July 30, 2012 We had a lot of fun with weather related projects. Geocaching was a hit. I LOVE the Popsicle stick jar idea! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mommie_Jen Posted July 30, 2012 Share Posted July 30, 2012 Even though we have already started school, we are starting the Popsicle stick idea this morning. I figure we'll just play catch up for the month and go from there. Love it! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
trishhoward Posted July 30, 2012 Share Posted July 30, 2012 :lurk5: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FloridaLisa Posted July 30, 2012 Author Share Posted July 30, 2012 We had a lot of fun with weather related projects. Bugsmama, Can you give some details? Sounds like a nice topic. And on that note, it reminds me of another fun thing we did. Read Thunder Cake when it was stormy and made our own cake. Makes a good storm lots of fun! My older boys remembered loving Stone Soup and read that with my youngers, then pilfered the pantry to make their own version. There are several publications of this old fable, but we used this one. Also fun to make Cranberry Bread after reading Cranberry Thanksgiving. Lisa Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lori D. Posted July 30, 2012 Share Posted July 30, 2012 - science museums with hands-on exhibits - tour a cave - field trips (all the way into high school -- gear them towards career fields and university dept tours!) - history and science videos (documentaries, Mythbusters, etc.) - raise a caterpillar to a butterfly - plant a garden from seed (earthworms, measuring how much a plant grows in a week, picking and eating the veggies) - nature walks (match leaves, flowers, bugs, etc. with the photos in the Auduban guide books; see animals; watch the same spot change over the seasons; collect rocks for identification or testing at home) - camping (how to make and feed a campfire; using a pocket knife; how to make a shelter out in the wild; what to do if you get lost; etc.) - dissections (cow eye; fish caught while camping; owl pellets) - free night viewing at the local observatory to see planets - use binoculars to look at the lunar eclipse - make foods from different cultures - play games from different cultures Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MissKNG Posted July 30, 2012 Share Posted July 30, 2012 -The Grassroots Festival (see my blog for a few pics) -Tent camping Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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