homeschooling middle school

• Fabulous Field Trip Ideas

  10 February 2012 / Elementary Homeschool, Geography, High School, homeschooling middle school, Science, Social Studies / 10 Comments

  We recently realized that we haven't shared a list of some of our favorite field trips over the years in our homeschools....so we're trying to rectify that situation in today's post!

  Going on field trips is one of the best things about homeschooling.  Getting to experience tons of learning in unusual and exciting environments, receiving instruction from folks who are passionate about their subject area....that's the stuff!

  We live in the DE/MD/PA area, so many of these field trip ideas are in our neck-o-the-woods, but you'll see a few suggestions that reach far beyond our locale.  Here's hoping you find some inspiration to go someplace fun and learn something fabulous with your homeschoolers!

  * Maryland- Conowingo Dam, Ft. McHenry National Historic Park, Harmon Plantation,

  The National Aquarium - Baltimore , Assateague, Chincoteague

  The Mayland Zoo in Baltimore

  * Massachusetts- Boston, MA,  Plymouth

  * Virginia- Jamestown National Park, Yorktown National Park, Williamsburg

  * Delaware- Pea Patch Island State Park, Grand Opera House Performances, Old New Castle (historic town), Cape Henlopen, DE State Park

  * New York City- United Nations, Times Square, FAO Schwartz, Ellis Island and the Statue of Liberty, New York/New Jersey- State Line State Park

  *New Jersey- Wheatland Village Glassblowers

  * Pennsylvania-  Gettysburg National Park, Canoe Creek State Park (cool bats) Raccoon Creek (water bikes), Lancaster, Valley Forge National Park, Hawk Mountain Sanctuary, Kempton, PA

  * Blood Bank of Delmarva

  *North Carolina- Kitty Hawk, Ocrakoke, Roanoke

  * Cape May (NJ) Nature Center

  * Alaska

  * Grand Canyon

  * National Submarine Museum, Groton, CT

  * Mystic, CT

  * Washington, DC - the White House
  * Washington, DC - Smithsonian Museum
  * Washington, DC - Arlington National Cemetery

  * Sailing in Annapolis & watching the Blue Angels practice for the Naval Academy Commencement

  * National Cryptologic Museum at Ft Meade, MD - fascinating place, interesting exhibits & we turned
  it into a team scavenger hunt!

  * The Franklin Institute Science Museum in Philadelphia, PA - for Titanic Exhibit & Body Wars

  *San Antionio, Tx- Alamo, River Walk, Local Caves

  * Any "special events" at local historic sites where they had costumed guides/reenactors

  * National Parks & Historical SItes

  * Local Nature Centers (at State Parks, etc...)

  * Waterfalls

  * Scotland

  * Paris

  Ok, we have to stop somewhere. Lots of these trips, we took as a co-op. (If you need to start a homeschool co-op, download How to Start a Co-op.)

  What are your favorite field trips?

• 3 Good Reasons to Study Earth Science

  25 August 2011 / Curricula, High School, homeschooling middle school, Science / 3 Comments

  

  picture by Shaunna Bowers

  Here on the east coast on Tuesday, we homeschoolers (and everybody else) had a 5.9 earthquake- never in my memory had we had an adventure of that kind! (I mention homeschoolers because we, of course, turned it into a lesson.)
  

  There was much emptying of buildings and phone-calling of relatives. At my counseling office, therapists and clients alike all needed to process our new-found seismophobia (as the principal of Elijah School coined the apt phrase).

  Of course, my 14-year-old was not phased. He and his friends quickly added it to the collection of larks from high school. No damage was done around here AND he knew ALL about earthquakes from studying Earth Science in middle school.

  Now Hurricane Irene is wailing her way up to us. More Earth Science in action. But we know hurricane preparation from Earth Science.

  So here are 3 Good Reasons to study Earth Science:

  1) Earthquakes- you never know!

  2) Hurricanes- every fall they help us open the school year

  3) Tornadoes- really none of these are funny, because in real life tornadoes have devastated so many places in the US last year

  Homeschool middle schoolers or high schoolers should really work the subject into their curriculum.

  Here is my favorite Earth Science curriculum:

  Concepts and Challenges in Earth Science- Pearson Education
  

  User-friendly 2-page lessons. Homeschoolers can do most of the topics on their own but learn some great material. My son, not a scientist, liked the curriculum. Lessons can be done in a brief time, leaving time for other topics in education- or even real life. It is a secular text, so we add our own Scriptures and discussion.

  The study of Earth Science is so important. If homeschoolers understand the world around them:

  -they can rejoice well in the things that God has made

  -they can understand current events

  -they can be better prepared if scary things happen

  What have you done with your homeschoolers for Earth Science- texts? field trips? other adventures?

  =======================================================================================================================

  While you are filling in your curriculum for the year, check out our ebookstore for Language Arts, Social Science, Prayer Journals, and practical stuff for moms.

  BTW- This is not a sponsored post. I simply shared a curriculum my family liked.

• Spanish, French, Russian, Chinese, Japanese...Making World Languages Fun!

  01 August 2011 / Curricula, Foreign Languages, High School, Homeschool Information, homeschooling middle school, News, Teaching / 8 Comments

  COMING TOMORROW!

  1/2 price on the ENTIRE ebookstore!

  We want to help you get ready for the new homeschool year!

  Start with a prayer journal and our ebook on how to help a friend in crisis (Carry Each Others' Burdens)

  Then add Career Exploration, Human Development and Psychology. Follow that up with British Literature, Lit Study and Poetry Writing Guides.    You will SAVE a bundle!

  ====================================================================

  Are you teaching Spanish, French, Russian, German, Italian, Latin...or any other World Language to your homeschooler?  Want to know how to make it fun?  Good for you!

  Making language learning fun is a big part of success for both teacher(s) and student(s).  Think back to when you were learning any subject.  Didn't you want to spend more time practicing the things that were fun to you?

  Whether you're teaching an elementary, middle or high school student, read on for a few of my favorite tips on teaching world languages in a one on one situation:

  -Incorporate vocabulary that is meaningful to the student. 

  If I learn all the words for the people, places and things around me, I will think of them each time I see them.  Are the words for computers and other technology-related items more relevant to you and your student or the words for farm animals?  One of my favorite ways to do this with high schoolers is to have them pull words from their texts and Facebook messages.

  

  Senora Kym and her first born

  -Use your target language in other fun activities that your student enjoys. 

  Sing songs in Spanish.  Make and serve a homemade Japanese meal together.  Connect with someone like my French friends that I met in the Grand Canyon, Christine and Alan, and become Facebook friends. Go to a Chinese church service.  One of my students' favorites is to watch a TV show of movie, with which they are very familiar, using the target language with English subtitles or vice versa.

  -Play games! 

  Some of my favorites are Veo, Veo, Algo... (like I spy something...) hangman, crosswords and word searches.  You can be the "leader" then reverse roles and have your student be the "leader".

  Whether you use Rosetta Stone, Holt McDougal, Learnables, Flip Flop Learning with my amiga Senora Gose, the high school curriculum I'm developing or something you've created yourself, remember to laugh together.  Fun is one of the keys to successfully mastering any world language!

  What are some interesting methods you have used in teaching World Languages to your kids?

  ===================================================================

  Don't forget to sign up for our free enewsletter. It comes once a week with groovy financial tips from Sara and other good stuff. Sign-up on the right.

• Articulating What You've Read in Your Homeschool

  24 May 2011 / High School, homeschooling middle school, Language Arts / 4 Comments

  I frequently hear homeschool parents who heave a sigh and say,  "My kid just hates it when I have him write about a book we've read.  He always says, 'I don't know what to write!' I don't know how to get him started."

  Have you ever been there?  Some of my homeschoolers have taken to writing about books likes ducks to water, and some have taken to it more like cats to water.

  One thing I've discovered that can help is recognizing that ARTICULATING IDEAS about what you've read is a separate thing from WRITING  about what you have read.

  Being able to articulate ideas about what we've read is an important skill that we will use all throughout our lives. For some children, jumping directly from READING to WRITING about it is too big a jump.  They may be less paralyzed if we first help them learn to articulate ideas from the material.

  Here's an exercise that I have found to be fun and empowering for students who have trouble writing about what they have read:

  * Read something together.  It can be as short as a poem or an article, or as long as a Victor Hugo novel.  (I personally recommend saving Hugo for down the road a ways...)

  

  * Jot down a few simple notes as you read about things that you notice in the text.  For example, "Cool string of onomatopoeia!" or "That character did a total flip-flop from the beginning of the story to the end," or "The description of the dinner table made my mouth water."

  * Discuss what you've read with your student.  Take your own observations and turn them into questions for your child. "Look at the 2nd stanza....do you notice anything unusual and cool about the words in lines 2 and 4?" or "The character of Daisy...what did she say was her passion at the beginning of the story?  <wait for an answer> But what did she end up doing with her inheritance at the end?" or "When you read about the dinner party, what helped you to almost sit down at the table with the guests?"

  

  * Jot down notes of your student's answers.  NOTE: DO NOT make the student take notes. That turns the exercise into a quiz instead of a conversation.  They will begin to believe that there is a RIGHT answer to your question rather than feeling comfortable that you are simply interviewing them about their genuine response to the text.

  * Recognize that some types of reading material will work better for some students than others.  If your child is very resistant to answering, don't get discouraged.  Try again another day with a different type of reading material.  Eventually the defenses will come down if you are consistent in "interviewing" them for their observations, rather than testing them to see if they noticed things the same way you did.

  
  * After you have some notes about your student's observations, walk away from the subject altogether. Wait a day, or maybe even more.  Take some time privately to look over those notes and see what topics for writing emerge from the page.  When you feel ready....

  

  * Take the notes back to your student. Now you get to turn the tables on him...he is the one who observed these things, he watched you take the notes as he was talking, so he can't really convince himself that he doesn't have any idea what to write about that piece you read the other day.  "We talked about Daisy and her change of heart...you said that you noticed she only wanted a life of ease and to be left alone, but eventually she spent her whole inheritance on the orphans.  What were some of the things that turned her around?"  Take notes again, or if there isn't too much resistance, have your student take the notes this time.

  * Bingo! You've got the beginnings of an outline for a character analysis essay.

  This exercise works with children of varying ages.  It can be a really empowering stepping stone from reading to writing about it.  Let 'em talk it through first, and you may be amazed at what they end up putting down on paper!

  Do you have ideas for encouraging writers in your homeschool?

  For help in thinking about WHAT you are reading, check out our growing collection of literature study guides.

• 5 Goals for Homeschooling Middle School

  17 April 2011 / Homeschool Information, homeschooling middle school / 6 Comments

  This is the first year since I can remember (if I remember correctly, which may be doubtful*sigh*) that I don't have a middle schooler. But for many years I did. By the time I got to kid #5, I had some very specific goals for the middle school years.

  There is not just one way to homeschool and your goals may end up looking different from mine, but I am sharing mine today as a jumping-off point for newcomers to the adventure.

  Goals for Homeschooling Middle School

  1) Prepare for more rigor in high school.

  I used middle school to introduce longer papers with more details like citations, examples, and transitions. My kids who didn't just read for the joy of it, read more books- especially classics or Newberry Award winners.

  

  Marcus plays for the homeschool praise band.

  2) Develop some strengths

  Middle schoolers have the developmental need to be industrious. While some would prefer to simply be industrious at computer games or Wii, all need to explore new things. As they find a talent, they should find ways to develop it. My kids played sports, musical instruments, drew, memorized Scripture, wrote stories, re-enacted historical events, and more through middle school. It was a time to start trying on hats.

  3) Earn confidence in social settings

  I did this for my kids by teaching them how to start and continue conversations, how to exhibit lady-like and gentlemanly behaviors, looking for quiet kids and talking to them. This SERIOUSLY adds confidence.

  4) Take lots of field trips with co-ops or friends

  You won't have so much time for field trips in high school. Get it out of your system now and you'll really enjoy the few you can squeeze in during high school.

  5) Have lots of fun

  

  Back when they were in middle school...

  These are the last truly carefree years. (Not that high school doesn't have fun- but the level of responsibility is so much higher then.)  So have fun, lots of silly/zany fun!

  What were some of your goals for homeschooling middle school?
  

  BTW- if you have questions or want guidance about homeschooling middle school (or high school), check out our coaching page- Marilyn, Kym, Sabrina, and I would love to help you or your group.

  Also, don't forget to sign-up for our free e-newsletter. A quick read with financial tips, recipes, winners, and releases. Sign up right here on the blog page.