• The Dawn of History
• The Ancient Egyptians
• The Rise of Greek Civilization
• Greek Thought
• Alexander the Great
• The Hellenistic Age
• The Rise of Rome
• The Roman Empire
• Early Christianity
• The Rise of the Church
• The Decline of Rome
• The Fall of Rome
• The Dark Ages
• The Middle Ages
• The Late Middle Ages
• The National Monarchies
• The Renaissance and the Age of Discovery
• The Rise of the Middle Class
• The Wars of Religion
• The American Revolution
• The French Revolution
• The Industrial Revolution
• The Age of the Nation-States
• The First World War and the Rise of Fascism
• The Second World War
• The Cold War
• Europe and the Third World
• The Technological Revolution
• Toward the Future

• Breeding for a Champion - January 21
• Your Next Competition Horse - January 23
• Preparing and Breeding your Mare - February 4
• Post-Natal Care - February 11

   As the old year will soon be over and a bright, new year quickly approaches I am busy attempting to get the curriculum set for the return to homeschool on January 3. I like to plan ahead and have all of the work set up ahead of time and entered into the planner (Homeschool Tracker is my favorite www.homeschooltracker.com) and then all I need to do is assign the days work, grade and then plug the scores in when they are finished.
   This year we are studying algebra, chemistry, spelling, reading/literature and geography/history. I like to add a few "extra' fun classes each quarter that focus on art and music just to keep them using both sides of their brains and experiencing different forms of both. During December the boys had a great time doing hidden pictures everyday, even though this is a project often used in elementary school art they found it a lot of fun trying to guess what the picture was before coloring it.
   Once a month I schedule a "Fun Friday" where if we have completed the weeks work and chores then we plan for a road trip. This is especially exciting since I am usually the only one that knows where we are going until we get there.  It might be to the local bowling alley to bowl a few frames, or special museum exhibit, or maybe even the local water park (in the summer) or "The Fridge" when the winter weather allows for bobsledding along a long and winding course of frozen tubes. These adventures usually provide us with an inexpensive way to have fun, learn and attending during the weekday offers the benefit of less crowded facilities.
      
  

   Have you ever wondered what happens when you take some of those old plastic army men (you know the ones) and put them in a frying pan on your stove set at high heat? Well, aside from the obvious, they will create a smell in your home like you have never smelled before and it will linger for days! This courtesy of our 2 boys and that ever popular spark of learning that drives the homeschool process.
   After detecting the first hint of the plastic (probably toxic) smoke, I ran into the kitchen (aka the lab) to see what was happening only to discover the boys gleefully watching the little green men melt into a puddle of nothingness. Rarely have I been so grateful for Teflon.
   All of this to find out just how big the plastic puddle would be after the melting process was complete. Amazing, a simple question turned itself into a miniature science/math experiment...and our house into a stinky domain that required open windows on one of the coldest, windiest days of the year. Oh the joys of homeschooling! ~GRIN!~

A Unit Study is a collection of materials all tied into one theme. In a Unit Study all subjects can be combined into a particular theme. Unit Studies are a great hands on experience for learning. For example, let's say my child is interested in cars. For Langauge Arts, we can find stories about cars and write sentences and stories about cars. For Math, we can use simple addition and subtraction using my sons toy cars or printing and laminating clip art of cars. For History or Social Studies, we can learn the history about cars by researching it on the internet or watching videos. For Science, we can learn about the engines in the cars and how they are made. See how simple it is to tie it all together. A good place to start is as simple as what your child is interested in and working from there.

Here are some websites that supply free and complete unit studies:

Easy Fun School - Unit Studies

Free Unit Studies

Fun Christian Homeschooling Unit Studies

Free Homeschooling Unit Studies Online

Free Homschooling Unit Studies

The Learning Umbrella - Free Unit Studies

Here are some interesting finds from the last week in the news. Space discoveries have been numerous this week. My hope is you find something exciting to study more, and work into your lesson plans!:

Retro! Knitting has become a new rage among Americans again. This article helps explain the phenomenon:

Once a lost art, knitting now is a red-hot craft

Scientists are getting closer to understanding rogue waves. Join them in this article that explains exactly how they are doing that:

Scientists Shed Light On Monster Sea Waves; 'Very Difficult To Study Directly'

This article is a little disturbing to me...but interesting just the same. Scientists have modified a mouse so that it shows no fear. This article can spark some great ethical/moral debates, and also stir up conversation on "do we need fear?":

Japan Scientists Develop Fearless Mouse

There are so many space discoveries this week, so I am going to list the headlines that link to the articles:

• Milky Way's two stellar halos have opposing spins

• Asteroid Shower this Week!

• NASA discovers magnetic ropes which connect Earth to the Sun

• Voyager 2 Finds Solar System Is Uneven

• NASA Mars droid in ET life discovery shock

• Indian astronomers discover longest intergalactic beam

Is this tree a Christmas miracle or just an oddity? Read the story and you decide:

Workers find cross inside Christmas tree

Planning lesson plans for dinosaurs? Don't forget to read this first! A new breed of meat eating dinosaur has been discovered:

Student identifies enormous new dinosaur

Schedule a little learning time about how Americans' ate during the 18th and 19th centuries, a fascinating little lesson to work into your teaching:

In The 19th Century, Dinner Sets Included Soup Tureens

By studying insects, scientists have discovered how to make a robot bounce on water:

Scientists Discover How to Make Robots Bounce on Water

Hey, give me that Twinkie! Scientists have discovered that aging occurs faster in animals who have to compete more for their food. This is a interesting read for your science lesson plans:

Competition for Food Drives Animals

Work a little art into your home-school day. This is a great article on cave paintings from around the world, that include some wonderful pictures and links:

Cave art rocks

This next article is about a new book out that would be perfect for kids and adults of all ages. There is physics involved, but more fun than science! Time to build an Igloo!:

The Bookworm Sez: ‘How to Build an Igloo’ for fun and survival

That's it for this week, I hope you have found something to inspire some great lesson plans, or in the very least some stimulatingconversation between you and the children.

Right before Halloween, our local Middle School had a "dress up" day.  Whoever wished to could  wear costumes to school that day.  The majority of the boys, chose to opt out, the girls, well they chose to dress as Britney Spears,  Paris Hilton, and Pamela Anderson. Only fitting since these seem to be the "heroes" of the  times for young girls.

My heroes?  Well of course, Meg, Jo, Amy and Beth!  When I was a young girl, I couldn't read "Little Women" without being drawn into their lives.  I wanted their story to continue forever, while I waited nearby watching their every move. 

Lesson plans for "Little Women" are vast, I am going to attempt here to point you to a few of the good ones.  First of all, owning the book is a plus.  Every book store and library in the country carries "Little Women".  If for some reason though, you cannot get the book, it is published online, chapter by chapter:

Online Literature

Read Print 

The Literature Page 

Background and Key facts before reading:

SparkNotes 

Online Field Trip to the Alcott Home 

Fun Facts on Little Women 

My daughter struggled a bit with the vocabulary, here are a few of the vocabulary words you may want to conquer before beginning:

Acquiesce

Adorn

Amicable

Anoint

Ardent

Bequeath

Beseech

Blight

Blithe

Bounden

Candor

Capricious

Cherub

Copious

Demeanor

Cultivate

Emaciate

Expatiate

Frolic

Gallant

Obscure

Pettish

Propitiate

Reverie

Remonstrate

Peremptorily

Irascible

Peruse

Obstinate

Exult

My daughter was a little ticked off at Louise Alcott for her strange use of words.  I told her, "Wait until you get a load of Shakespeare!"

Online quizzes and lesson plans:

Quia quiz 

Advance Infoplease Quiz 

This site has excellent ideas for lesson plans, but it is geared towards the classroom.  Some of them could easily be adapted into a home-school lesson plan:

Cheerful Hearts and Willing Feet 

Sharing this book with your daughter will bring on its own lessons, and create in her wonderful memories of her own.  I have to admit, that once the fear of the vocabulary was diminished, this was one of the best home-school lessons we have had.

Enjoy! 

Is a homeschool field trip any different than a field trip that public and private school children take?  Absolutely!  I want to take this time to discuss why this is so, and give you some great ideas of places to visit, if you want to take your family or homeschool group on a fascinating adventure!

Distances:  Consider the distances that you can travel being a homeschool family.  You are not limited by the time that you need to be back to school.  A field trip is your day of school.  You can get up at dawn and stay until dusk, if you desire.  If the field trip destination is an hour or two away, that doesn't have to sway your decision to go on the journey.

Stop Off and See Other Sites:  Are there some really cool places that are on the way to your field trip destination?  Well, you can stop and see them.  Again, with no time constraints, you can take advantage of any opportunity to teach your kids by taking them to a variety of different places.  Flexibility is great!

Field Trip Frequency:  Just think of the ground you can cover in a year!  There are field trip opportunities for many types of lessons, including history, science, and others.  Instead of taking perhaps two or three field trips in a year, consider taking two or three field trips a month.  Field trips break up a mundane routine, and they keep kids interested in their lessons.

Here are some super field trip ideas:

• Museums
• Park events
• Zoos
• Day trips to different cities or states
• Airports
• Farms
• Native American reservations
• Festivals and fairs
• Historical landmarks

I am not saying that pubic school children are under-privileged because they don't have the opportunity to go on that many field trips.  They still get to see some really great things.  What I am saying is that homeschoolers just have the opportunity to utilize field trips to their fullest potentials.

One of our favorite times of the week is spending time catching up on current events and new discoveries.  The world is growing in knowledge at such a swift pace, it is a challenge to keep up with some of the more interesting stories.

Each week here on the blog, I would like to share a few of the stories and discoveries that we have found, my hope is that you find them as interesting as we did:

Geominos - Looking for a new game for the family, this one looks promising.  To me it seems like a cross between dominoes and scrabble.  You can order online right from the Geominos website, or if you live in Minnesota, there are several stores you can pick the game up in (check website for retailers), the game sells for $29.95

How elephants keep tabs on family - The University of St Andrews recently finished a project studying the Elephant families in Amboseli Park.  They present some fascinating insight on how the elephant families keep track of each other!

China's Turtles, Emblems of a Crisis - Learn about two long neglected Yangtze giant soft shell turtles, one male, one female, that are the only two left in the world, and are fighting to survive against all odds.

Russia poised to Penetrate Huge Subglacial Lake - Learn how Russia's drilling rigs are very close at getting to Lake Vostok, the largest of over 150 lakes under the sheets of ice in Antarctica. Though causing much excitement, the project also has it's scorners.

Architect Invents a Toy Based on a Scientific Riddle - This new toy is called Qubits, and has received such rave reviews that the company has sold out of the product.  This toy teaches math concepts and myriad Science.  The website will soon offer science projects and lessons, and will also announce when the Qubits toy will be available for purchase.

Researchers Find 459-Year-Old N.C. Pine Tree - A graduate student may have discovered the oldest longleaf pine tree in all the world.  Learn all about it, it is not often you find something born in 1548!

Those are my discoveries for the week,  next Wednesday I will bring you some more finds from around the world.