My method of madness to teach my little ones is a mix of Charlotte Mason/eclectic/anything that gets the lesson in their head/with a dash of Montessori, because we don't want computers to take over the child's imagination completely. I have learned so much about who I am as a teacher and how incredible my kids are, just from trying so many different things to figure out the best way to homeschool for us.
Pinterest is my bestest best friend! I have found pretty much any kind of inspiration needed for just about any subject, just from following the brilliant teachers and fellow homeschooling parents out there.
Yeah, I also like to make up my own units. I know I can buy units that already have everything in it, but at this point in time, I can't really afford to buy them, and I'm only teaching 1-2 grade and preschool. I think I got this.
For the month of April we have been discussing about plants. Hey it's spring time!
I split April up into 5 weeks. Yes, I know there are only 4, but the last week runs in through Tuesday, so I took that whole week for our Plant study, because I really like plants.
Week 1: Seeds
We talked about Seeds. Big seeds, little seeds, hard seeds, soft seeds, cone seeds, pod popping seeds, little microscopic seeds... What's inside seeds? How do they germinate? What are the three things they need to grow? Read stories about seeds, looked at pictures of seeds, planted seeds, pretended to be a seed growing into a plant, counted seeds in math time, and watched videos about different kinds of seeds!
Craft:
So I found this little craft on Pinterest and thought PERFECT. It shows very simply the seed coat, the food and the baby plant. Everything the plant needs to grow is all in the little seed. I loved the verse,
Genesis 1:11 'Let the earth bring forth grass and herb yielding seed, and the fruit tree yielding fruit after his kind whose seed is in itself.'.
Now we don't have too much wall space and I like to have what we are learning to be at kid eye level, so we make a huge project that goes on each kids door. This is our seed planted in the soil, water, and warmth (from the sun). What a way for them to remember not only the verse as we memorized it for the week, but also the three things a seed needs to grow!
Week 2: The Roots
We learned about how the roots sense gravity and grows down to anchor the plant, and how the roots acts as tiny straws to drink up the water and nutrients from the soil.
Craft: Straw Roots
This craft I came up with on my own, because I couldn't find what I wanted online, and I also wanted to make sure the kids are reminded that the roots are like tiny straws that drink up the water just like how we use a straw to drink.
It was really easy, a small handful of straws cut into thirds, glue and construction paper. Draw the root system with the glue and place the straws in "connected" order!
Once dry, we added it to their doors.
Experiment: Celery and white carnations
This I also found on Pinterest, celery and white carnations in colored water!
After a week: The celery in the red water looks like it's dead (but hey, red and green are on opposite sides of the color wheel and we all know that when you mix complimentary colors together, you get brown.), and the one in the blue water looks almost spooky healthy!.. Except for the tinge of blue on the edges of the leaves.
The idea of these experiments is to teach the child that as the roots drink up the water, the water goes through the stem and out to the petals and leaves, that's why we can see the color of the water in the plant! And it's pretty.
It's was really fun watching the kids excitement as each morning comes and the first thing they do is check to see how much more color is in our plants. It's a bit like Christmas time and they are looking for Lucy our Elf on the Shelf every morning.... except the plants stay in one spot and don't get into mischief.
With Love,
Emily
