I am blessed to have the privilege to homeschool my children. We have fun with our school time and make every minute a learning experience. I will be posting various resources and fun ideas as we continue on our homeschool journey. I'd love to answer any questions and welcome your ideas!
We absolutely love Math IXL for all ages and stages. It is a free resource and you can check it out here:
You know you're homeschooled when:
- You were constantly asked by the cashiers while waiting in checkout lines "so no school today?"
- You have been asked if you actually have to do schoolwork.
- Watching the history channel counted as history class.
- You learned all your vocabulary from reading several grade levels above your own.
- You're able to learn what most kids take 2 or 3 class periods to learn in about an hour.
- A FEW families get together and you have enough to make a at least two hockey teams.
- You're constantly asked, by people that you've just met nonetheless, "how do you MEET people?"
- Your science classes are Creation Based.
- You felt cool when you wore a backpack cause you barely ever wore one.
- You know you're homeschooled when you go to see a movie with your friends on a weekday and you're the only ones in the theater.
- You know your homeschooled when your subjects are Math, Science, History, English and CLEAN YOUR ROOM!!!
- You have books in every room of your home.
- You have no difficulty conversing with people of all ages.
- You know how to cook and what it takes to run a household.
- You know you're homeschooled when you get extra credit for cleaning your room or doing the dishes.
- Most of your friends aren't your exact age.
- You've taken vacations in the middle of the year...while all the other kids were still in school? ...
- When people asked what grade you were in you picked a random number and hoped it was close...
- You had to wait a few hours before being able to play with any of the neighbours kids because they were still in school...
- When your family's vehicle could actually qualify as a bus, in usage, and in size!
~author unknown~
January - February 2011
Comprehensive Reading Hands-On Activities Home School Lessons
We read James and the Giant Peach. This is an excellent lesson because you can incorporate it with many ages! (Older children can read out loud. Choose vocab words from the book that would work for younger ages. Drawing pictures based on descriptive writing for younger kids. Etc.) After reading the book we picked from this lesson plan. Halfway through watching the movie, we took the vocab tests and discussed some of the below lessons. Then, we watched the rest of the movie. It was a fun couple of weeks! (Note - you can get the movie from HERE. It cannot be found anywhere else at this time.)
Unit Plan - "James and the Giant Peach" by Roald Dahl
Pre-reading
1. Prior to reading the book, show the students the book and determine what they know about the book.
2. Discuss the following information contained in the book: England, losing parents, living with relatives, being abused, insects and bugs, peaches, seagulls, flying, clouds, New York City, the Empire State Building, and Central Park.
3. Read information about the author to the students.
Vocabulary
Before beginning each chapter, the new vocabulary words for that chapter will be introduced. The vocabulary words will be written on an index card and put on the wall chapter by chapter. The vocabulary words will be introduced in the following manner:
Focus your child's attention on the chapter's vocabulary words.
Ask their understanding of the words.
As you or your child reads, point out these vocabulary words and try to determine the meaning of the word from context clues. Clarify the meaning of the word by providing a definition, synonyms, and antonyms for the word. The teacher will also use the word in several sentences. Each day the teacher will review the previous day’s vocabulary words with the students.
The vocabulary words for each chapter are as follows:
Chapter 1 – enormous, escaped, mischief, nuisance, permitted
Chapter 2 – peculiar, hag, blunt, spectacles
Chapter 3 – emerging, beckoning
Chapter 4 – gulp, miserable
Chapter 5 – scattered, vanished
Chapter 6 – mistaken, ripe
Chapter 7 – extraordinary, mammoth, spellbound, cautiously
Chapter 8 – greedy
Chapter 9 – trembling
Chapter 10 – tunnel, soggy, gigantic, horror, glanced, bolt
Chapter 11 – recline, famished, faint
Chapter 12 – disagreeable, slither, scornful, musician, colossal, hysterics, rascal
Chapter 13 – hammock, shimmered, gossamer, ambled, drowsily
Chapter 14 – desolate, nibbling, journey, repulsive, lurching, venomous
Chapter 15 – fortune, horrid, panicked, jostling
Chapter 16 – plunged hurtling, hedges, paddock, stampede, wading, serenely
Chapter 17 – unfortunate, disentangle, bobbing up and down, giddy, refuse
Chapter 18 – impossible, unbelievable, awkward, perish, gloomy
Chapter 19 – swiftly, panic, pandemonium
Chapter 20 – frantically, seagulls, propose, martyr
Chapter 21 - genius
Chapter 22 – danger, wailed
Chapter 23 – ascent, steeple, inspection
Chapter 24 – audience, melodies, encore, ridiculous, rude, rambunctious
Chapter 25 – modestly, blushing, gazing, scarlet, pest, dreadful
Chapter 26 – teetering, brink, hauling, funeral
Chapter 27 – ¾ moon, stealthy, massive, quiver, immediately, imbeciles, infuriated, fury, terror, statues, insulting
Chapter 28 – leaking, arch, hypnotized, enthralled, pandemonium, flabbergasted, pity
Chapter 29 - proposal
Chapter 30 – faucet, waterproof, somersaults
Chapter 31 – glimpses, blizzard
Chapter 33 – sighted, hovering, bomb, smithereens, interrupted, population, summon
Chapter 35 - plummeted
Chapter 36 – Empire State Building
Chapter 37 – flying saucer, swarmed, commotion, dangerous, introduce, subway tunnels, sewer, simplicity
Chapter 38 – flabbergasted, escorted, procession
Chapter 39 – journey, famous, monument, acquired, gossip
Idioms
Week 1 - "All in the same boat"
Week 2 – "Pulling my leg"
Week 3 – "Flood of Tears" "Work Like Mad"
Week 4 – "White as a Sheet"
Each idiom will be typed and placed on the board for the students to see. The teacher will introduce the idiom by reading it to the students. The students will then draw a picture of the idiom’s literal meaning. The following day the students will share their pictures. The teacher will then read the idiom in context as it was used in the story. The students will use context clues to try to determine the meaning. The teacher will help the students create a definition for the idiom. The teacher will provide several examples of how the idiom is used in everyday life. The students will then draw a picture of the true idiom meaning and write a sentence explaining the idiom meaning. The next day the students will share their idiom drawings.
The students will make an idiom book from their drawings.
Activities
1. Compare the skin, seeds, color, and taste of a peach, nectarine, plum, and cherry (see attached chart). The students will then complete a Venn diagram comparing and contrasting a peach and a nectarine (see attached diagram).
2. When reading chapters 2, 3, 5, and 6, have students record characteristics about Aunt Sponge and Aunt Spiker (see attached chart). Then have students complete a Venn diagram comparing and contrasting Aunt Sponge and Aunt Spiker (see attached diagram).
3. Classifying insects – Students will be taught the difference between a bug and an insect. They will learn that there are 3 essential characteristics of insects. They are three main body parts: head, thorax, and abdomen, three pairs of jointed legs attached to the thorax, and a stiff, shell-like outer covering. Students will be provided with a variety of bugs. They must determine which are bugs and which can be classified as insects.
4. Students will make the little green crystals (crocodile tongues) from the story. First, the students will count out 1, 000 grains of rice to make 1,000 crystals like the story. Then the students will use green food coloring to dye their crystals.
5. Students will make a papier-mâché peach to resemble the peach in the story.
6. Using the attached pattern, the students will make seagulls and will tie string around their necks and tie the strings to the peach to resemble the events of the story.
7. The students will make a boxed stringed instrument. See attached direction sheet.
8. The students will make a rainbow collage. See attached direction sheet.
9. After the book has been read, the class will watch the movie James and the Giant Peach. Then we will record the similarities and differences between the book and the movie.
Writing Activities
1. Have students write a paragraph and draw a picture of either Aunt Sponge or Aunt Spiker using the characteristics listed on the chart and/or the Venn diagram.
2. What do you think would have happened to James if he had swallowed the little green crystals instead of the insects?
3. After Chapter 19 - Pretend you are James and you are on the peach in the ocean surrounded by sharks. What would you do to keep from getting eaten?
4. James always wanted a friend. His wish came true when he became very good friends with the creatures in the peach. Write a Friendship Recipe telling how to be a good friend.
5. Write each student’s name on a separate piece of paper. The students will take turns writing something they like about one another. They will also write an act of friendship between them.
6. Students will conduct research on the Empire State Building using encyclopedias and the Internet. Using the information they found, they will write 3 paragraphs about the Empire State Building.
