Initial Academic Plan for Kindergarten

Very initial look -- off the top of my head!
Of course, many more things to consider for Kindergarten than academics but I haven't planned them out yet.

Reading:
GOAL: 
To move from current level of slowly blending cvc words to:

• being able to recognize basic level K-1 Dolch words
• read cvc, cvcv, cv, and several cvcc words
• continue learning the phonics sounds of each letter and blends (from All About Spelling)
• want him to feel that he likes reading!
  

Sources:
Games for Reading by Peggy Kaye
Headsprout (online)
100 Easy Lessons
Leapster Star Wars Reading
Evan Moore Centers:  Phonics and Literacy (both K-1)
Some sight words

Books/Literature:
GOAL: 
To have him enjoy great books, the sound of language, artwork, creating books...

Sources:
Audio books
Magic Tree House
FIAR books


Hand Writing:
GOAL:  Improve handwriting so that it becomes more fluent.  Currently working on numbers and most lower case letters.  (Upper case letters are all recognizable).
Probably need to do a bit on hand position

Sources:
Games for writing
Handwriting without Tears -- manipulatives
LEGO, clay, sand/rice writing, sidewalk chalk, paint

Math:
GOAL:
To continue to explore numbers, quantities, measurements, and relationships between them
Continue to work on time and money
Place value, multiplication and division, writing number equations, functions, patterns, geometry...

Sources:
Evan Moore Math Center (K-1)
Maria's Math Club?
Singapore Math/other workbooks when it's helpful
Decimal Street games
100 chart
Add in some homemade Montessori methods?s

Science/History/Geography:
GOAL:  Explore all topics on a regular basis to get the "hooks" for more indepth learning later on.  Might be interesting to do 2 week units on topics -- alternating between Science and History?  Maybe a "theme of the 2 weeks" to focus all reading/internet videos/activities/games on...

Options:
Life cycles
Space
Magnets
Electricity
Water
Sink/float

Egypt
Greece
Rome
Vikings
Great Wall of China
Medieval Knights/Castles
Renaissance

Other:
Building
Animation
Tae Kwon Do?
Bicycling
Yoga?

Initial Plan for 10th Grade

Current plan (and this could definitely change!  I'm at the "extremely optimistic" phase!):

Literature/English/History/American Civics (2 credits):
English (Literature/Composition) and History will focus on American History and Civics.  The following sources will be used in combination to cover the topics.
The Great American Bestsellers:  Books that Shaped America
Institute for Excellence in Writing:  US History-Based Writing Lessons Civil War to Present
Connect the Thoughts:  History VII - American Civics—An Owner's Manual
Thinkwell's American Government

Geometry (1 credit):
Math-U-See Geometry

Biology (1 credit):
Pre-College Course in Hands-On Biology by the Contemporary Science Center
Supplemented with the following texts/study guides
Thinkwell's Biology
Campbell's Biology:Concepts and Connections

Spanish II (1 credit)
TBD

Electives

• Game Design (1/2 credit)
• 2D and 3D game design
  
• Personal Finance (1/2 credit)
• Physical Education (1/2 credit)
• Basic Engineering (CAD, Programming, ME, Robotics)
  
• Basic Business (marketing, graphic design, public speaking, presentations, meetings)

Montessori Materials Links

An excellent blog about making your own Montessori things at home...
http://homemademontessori.blogspot.com/search/label/math

What are "Grammar Filling Boxes"????
And other discount montessori things...
http://www.alisonsmontessori.com

I really like these number/place value boards
http://www.montessoriland.com/site/1270021/product/ID_%202051

Shiller Math -- look at this a bit and try the first year diagnostic to see where Jm's at or how useable it is:
https://www.shillermath.com/sm3/showitem.php?itemcd=K01-DL5-0408


--

Unit Study: Star Wars

After my 5 yo has totally immersed himself in all aspects of Star Wars for the past 8 months, I finally decided to write it up in more educationalese so I felt a bit better about the process!

 

Literature:

• Critical analysis of plot, character and settings – and their consistency across the original movies, Star Wars the Clone Wars, and Star Wars LEGO wii.
• Exploration of character – is C3PO patient? When does Anakin become angry and is that what made him go to the dark side?

 Reading:

• From the Wii game: how do you spell each of the special options that need to be turned on and off (“Force Blasters,” “Poo Money,” “Invincibility”).
• Star Wars Reading for the Leapster: sounds of letters, blending, spelling, sight words.

Science:

• Discussion of body parts essential to keeping your body alive
• Life cycles and familial relationships (who is who's mother versus sister versus wife)
• The difference between a droid and a human.

Social Studies:

• Weaponry -- who carries what types of weapons and what are the pros and cons of each.
• Habitats and cultures of societies on various planets.

Math:

• Comparison of patterns between levels and episodes
• Calculating how much money it takes to get a new character on a Wii game
• Star Wars Leapster Math: addition, subtraction, place value, time/clocks

Philosophy:

• Exploration of philosophy
• Meaning of peoples' innate tendencies toward good and evil
• Meaning of life and death
• When people “turn bad”
• Why, why was Anakin angry?
• What is the difference between a droid and a human in terms of what they feel?

Drama

• Playing Star Wars with friends – each episode and each series, depending on who was alive and whether they were on the good side or the dark side
• Set design with LEGO's and DUPLO's
• Performance for Book Club about Boba Fett

Art:

• Drawing Yoda, various other Star Wars scenes

Music:

• Singing the Star Wars theme at all times of the day, including 6:45 am as a wake up song.
• Learning to distinguish by ear between those who “can’t sing Star Wars theme songs” and those who can.

Technology:

• • LEGO Star Wars Animation using iKitMovie

The requirement of this unit study is 14 hours/day of immersion for several months.

How to create a highschool Nutrition Class

Steps one would go through to create their own highschool class -- using Nutrition as an example:

1.  Look up sample syllabus examples to see what other courses cover and see if there are some good resources out there -- look at their textbooks, the topics they cover, etc.  Pick and choose...
("nutrition syllabus" = search terms -- can specify high school as well but not as helpful for nutrition -- sometimes helps for other topics)

http://ocw.jhsph.edu/courses/humannutrition/index.cfm
http://faculty.deanza.edu/liechtybarbara/stories/storyReader$105
(plus one attached that I couldn't figure out how to link to)

Look at some university programs:
http://www.ncsu.edu/foodscience/acdprg/u-nutrtn.html

2.  Figure out if you want it to be a full credit or a half credit (60-80 hours vs. 120-140 hours)

3.  Find a "spine" -- what you use as a basis of topics that you build from or if you want to create your own spine of topics
(remember -- you want to have multiple sources, multiple viewpoints so you get a good perspective of the topic -- not just one book's "bias"):

A textbook?  (search for "nutrition textbook" -- gives a good idea of the main topics -- here's an example but there are lots available)
http://www.amazon.com/Introduction-Human-Nutrition-Society-Textbook/dp/063205624X

Reviews of nutrition books:
http://www.todays-women-and-health.com/10-nutrition-books.html

Some favorite video or online sources:
http://www.thegreatcourses.com/tgc/search/search.aspx?searchphrase=nutrition

Decide if you want to add human anatomy/physiology with it:
http://www.ed2go.com/waketech/online_course/hap/detail/Human_Anatomy_and_Physiology.html

or search for "free online course materials nutrition" and get a list like this:
http://www.nafwa.org/lma/directory/Free_e-Courses/Nutrition/Nutrition.php


4.  Find something to supplement with:

Supplement with videos:
http://movies.netflix.com/WiSearch?oq=nutrition&ac_posn=-1&v1=nutrition

Science:  http://www.khanacademy.org/

Field trips:  
NCSU -- here are several faculty involved in their cross-departmental nutrition program:
http://www.cals.ncsu.edu/food_science/acdprg/index.html

Duke Sarah W. Stedman Nutrition & Metabolism Center
http://stedman.mc.duke.edu/modules/stedman_about/index.php?id=1

Department of Nutrition at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
http://www.sph.unc.edu/nutr/

5.  Create your own syllabus.  Include a description of what it will take to get a "C," a "B" or an "A."  Maybe a "C" is to read 1 book, watch 3/4 of a DVD course and write watch one movie.  Or an "A" is to complete a 6-week ed2go class on Human Anatomy and Physiology; read 2 popular nutrition books with different perspectives; create a blog with weekly tips/information about nutrition that lasts a minimum of X months or XX blog posts...???   

Get started!  And enjoy!

SolidWorks and Project Based Learning

Project-Based Learning - Making SolidWorks Meaningful to Students
by Elise Moss

A good description about how/why to do project-based learning.  Interesting idea that the students should have 80% of the skills in place in order to pick up the other 20% successfully in the project.  Wonder if it could be more like 60% of the skills?

http://www.solidworks.com/includes/swworld/presentations_/proceedings_display.cfm?sid=24555

Squishy Circuits

Here's a great way to make circuits and talk about conductors and insulators -- by making playdough recipes that conduct and don't conduct electricity.

Very, Very Cool...

http://courseweb.stthomas.edu/apthomas/SquishyCircuits/index.htm

Earth Science

Prentice Hall Earth Science
Including Guided Reading and Study workbook (0-13-125901-6)
and online resources:
http://www.phschool.com/webcodes10/index.cfm?area=view&wcprefix=cuk&wcsuffix=9999

Teaching Company's
How the Earth Works
or
Geology

Lots of options

Thoughts on Co-ops (especially early years)

I've been asked which topics are best for coops and which are best for doing at home -- and I've been pondering that. Now that I'm paying attention to that decision, I have noticed that coop and group learning needs are different for my highschooler versus my almost-kindergartner.

 

In both areas, I guess I look for group learning opportunities to provide things that are positive for the student, it keeps me on track to provide a better quality product in those areas, and makes learning overall more fun for both of us.

 

In the early years, the students have so many social cues they're learning that sometimes learning with 2 to 6 other students their age can provide great learning experiences regardless of the topic.  In the early years, it is much easier to do a coop for supplemental topics where students aren't trying to pick up specific skills -- so it can more easily accommodate different stages of learning and skill level.

 

Social studies, science, art, exploratory math concepts are areas where groups of students can work together without feeling like some are "ahead" of others.

• Those are areas where I don't put as much effort for Jm as it takes more creativity -- and often more work pulling it together for one student than it takes that student to do.
• More creativity is required to get the most fun out of it -- again, difficult for me to get motivated to do with one
• Students learn more about these areas by hearing other students and working with other students

That leaves the more "factual learning" to do at home.

Areas I'm thinking about for coops for Jm this year would be:

• History (maybe loosely structured on a "year through history" similar to the History Hideaways in the Winter Promise curriculum): http://www.winterpromise.com/hideaways_history.html
• History/Science Unit Studies (maybe loosely structured on the Konos Unit for Obedience -- lights/light houses, kings/queens, horses (http://www.konos.com/gallery2/v/Kids/VolumeI/Obedience/)
• Science:  Pick a unit topic each month:  Light, Plants, Dinosaurs, Magnets, etc.
• Five in a Row would still work
• Geography:  One country for each month?

Regardless, I'd like to have the units and basic framework spelled out ahead of time -- with expectations clearly laid out for everyone involved. Makes it easier!

Starting Next Fall's Plan for Grade 10

Science:  This year's Chemistry filled a lab requirement but did not adequately cover an Honors level understanding of Chemistry.  Next year, we'll take Glencoe's Chemistry: Matter and Change 1 chapter per week and work through the text, understanding, and problems.  Completing that will mean an Honors Level Chemistry course.

In addition, I think a Biology lab if they're still offering it -- that means that a second year of BIology could be added if this wasn't enough (expensive, though!):  http://contemporarysciencecenter.org/homeschoolbiolabs.html    Here are some interesting hands-on biology classes:
http://serendip.brynmawr.edu/sci_edu/waldron/

Literature and writing:  We will be losing our marvelous Literature/Writing teacher this coming year.  What to do?  One option is a private tutoring for writing like what a friend is doing (is that available?), or doing an essay class from IEW's materials, or maybe something like EMC's Write In Reader for Grade 10: http://www.emcp.com/product_catalog/index.php?GroupID=862%20

PE:  TKD Black Belt testing occurs in October!  Training will need to be done before that.

History:  Time to add some history -- might be interesting to do a Winter Promise history like...?  We do need to do American History this year or next with the election coming up.

Math... oh, yes, math...


Robotics, goes without saying