Fun things

In case you haven't seen it, Monkeys on a Mission is now on its fourth mission. We had a get-together with several kids yesterday, where we decorated and filled bags. This is turning out to be a fun project! I will be adding to the monkey shop soon, hopefully, so poke in now and again to see some new additions.

The Chief has expressed interest in learning more about African American history and culture, so I am hoping to pull together a unit and post about it like I did with our study about India (here and here). I think I have enough material for our study to last about three weeks. Then, I'm thinking we will do a few more cultural studies, which falls into what's outlined in the 4th grade Whole Child, Healthy Planet guide. There are about 8 cultural units in all I'd like to get to this year, as long as the Chief's interest stays piqued.

I'm working on an essay in response to an article I read last week, which I may or may not put up here, depending on where I feel it will do the most benefit. Also, I am in the midst of writing a science fiction story for the Writers of the Future contest, which has a March 31 deadline. Hopefully I haven't bitten off more than I can chew...

Monsoons and such...

For the first few weeks of school we will be learning about India, with the help of several books and a DVD series. Our focus is around two picture books, Monsoon by Uma Krishnaswami and Chachaji's Cup, by the same author. They are both listed in the Global Village School's 3rd grade curriculum guide. This is a snapshot of our bookshelf for the next couple weeks:



Here is Koopa Troopa showing off one of his favorites:



I plan our week using what I have learned from Five in a Row, but basically make it our own. The Chief likes to read the core book several times, and so for five days we read it (if he did not want to read it every day, I probably wouldn't push it, but I would be sure to read it at least once at the beginning of the week, and then again toward the end). Then we take some aspect of the story and pursue knowledge of that subject a bit further. Monsoon was a great book for this. We learned about India and its culture, Hinduism, monsoons and weather patterns, the water cycle, making paper boats... We did this all last week, and will continue this week with learning about the Hindi alphabet, the clothing people wear in India, some of the myths and legends of India, and we will eat at an Indian restaurant. This coming week will overlap with next week, when we will be focusing on Chachaji's Cup. I will do a separate post on what we do with that book later on.

I supplement with several outside sources, mostly from the library. Bobbie Kalman's books are wonderful ways of learning about other cultures. We have also been enjoying the PBS series, "The Story of India." I print a lot of images from the internet, things like what a flood looks like, what monsoon clouds look like, what a drought is like. I find pictures with children doing things in them, so it's easier for the Chief to relate to them. All these pictures I make sure are specific to India, with Indian people in them.

The Chief records what he has learned about in what he calls his "Adventure Book." It's like a scrapbook; black hard covers with a spiral binding. We had tried lapbooking last year, but it was hard to store the lapbooks conveniently in a place where the Chief could refer back to them. I find that since having an "Adventure Book" was his own idea, the Chief is more excited about reading over his work again, and often takes the book down and looks at it on his own. The bonus to this versus the lapbooks is that he has to go through all his work to find the thing he was looking for. This way he can get "distracted" and happen upon bits of information that may not have been his favorite. With the lapbooks, he would just want to look at the same one over and over, whichever was his favorite.

I will say this again--I am so glad to have gotten the Global Village School curriculum guide. The Chief actually is looking forward to doing school with this. The other day he actually said, "I think it's time to do some school now."

Nutshell

This year, we are using the 3rd Grade Whole child, Healthy Planet Curriculum Guide from Global Village School as our springboard for homeschool. You can see what they are about by going to their website via the links. The curriculum is centered around the Earth Charter.

Global Village School can basically be as structured or as relaxed as you want it to be. There are many levels. You can buy the curriculum guide and use it as a reading list and starting point for your own style of homeschool, you can sign up for their "school" and have a teacher do all the organizing for you and do grades and all that, and you can pretty much do anything in between.

Basically, what I do is take the curriculum guide, which is exactly that, a 94 page "guide" giving you suggestions (most are very relaxed anyway!). They suggest ways to use the books, ways to expand your child's learning, they discuss GVS's learning philosophy. The entire guide takes the tone of "suggestions." Then I purchase or plan my library lists for the books. There are "core" books, which are the necessary ones, then there are recommended ones and optional ones, which you can use your discretion about using, depending on the type of home school you have (spelling and grammar, for example, not everyone teaches formally at these younger grades). After getting the books, or looking at them in the library, I decide how long to spend on each, how I want to use it, in what context, etc. I personally like to do the immersion project type things with my son, that's how he learns best. I plan about a week or two in advance, enough time to gather my materials but not too much time so I have to worry about glitches in schedules and falling behind. In the younger grades for GVS, there are no schedules in the curriculum guides, they leave it pretty relaxed so you can do what is best for your child, since their philosophy is 100% about getting your child to love learning. The guides also have suggestions for art and music, pretty much all the bases are covered I think. They even mention PE, one of the first guides I have seen to do so!

The curriculum guides seem expensive for what they are, but personally, I think they are worth it, simply because I love all the books they recommend, I love their philosophy, and I really want GVS to be there when my son is going to be older, in high school, when I plan on perhaps actually enrolling him (they offer a diploma program)! I really don't mind supporting them because they are one of the very few places I have found that shares my philosophy about homeschooling, and are tolerant of and encourage diversity and celebrating life and differences, truly helping others no matter who they are, etc.

I will be posting more in the future, as specific projects take shape. Our first project for the year is going to be about India. I have taken two of the books on GVS's reading list, and have collected resources around them from the internet and from the library. More on those later!

Melanie