North Wind Homeschool: July 2017

Friday 28 July 2017

All about physics.....Part I

That was what my Sweet Pea suggested for science last year... all physics! I have to admit this one was tricky... there are so many topics and lots to potentially cover! Sweet pea was 10 and Goober was 7 when we did this unit.

Sweet Pea did a physics interactive notebook (our first!)... see below for pictures. Goober did an activity here and there, mostly he listened to the books, watched the videos and did the experiments, definitely not as much writing as Sweet Pea... but he learned tons!

Here is how we broke it down....

Part I

Big Bang

Forces and Motion

Light

Sound

Part II - separate post!

Magnets

Electricity

Simple machines

Flight

Engineering

We used Usborne's book What's Physics All About? as a spine...

I love this book also from Usborne, 365 Science Activities many an experiment was taken directly from this book!

We also used Brainpop Junior and Brainpop videos/activities/quizzes. *Note* Brainpop is a subscription based website.. several DL schools will have a subscription you can access... if not I highly recommend adding it to your homeschooling budget, it is worth every penny!!

I also used a number of printables from TeachersPayTeachers.... Sweet Pea wanted some notebooking elements that I was too lazy to make!

The Big Bang was as good a spot as any to start the study of matter and its motion and behaviour through space and time...

We read through our spine book and watched some great videos....

Brainpop- Big Bang

The Big Bang- Crash Course Astronomy

The Beginning of Everything - In a nutshell

There are a few picture books about the Big Bang... I didn't delve into too much detail.. you could probably spend awhile on this topic... maybe a future unit when my kidlets are a bit older!

I do love this book however..The Magic of Reality by Richard Dawkins it has a chapter titled, When and how did everything begin? A perfect reference for some of those tough questions!

Forces and Motion

We read the corresponding section in What's Physics all About? and then I ended up buying these notebooking pages from TeachersPayTeachers... Force and Motion Interactive Notebook..

Great videos....

Brainpop Jr- Pushes and Pulls

Brainpop- Forces

Goober loved this book... lots of discussion about friction!

Magic School Bus- Plays Ball

I overheard the kidlets at the park... pushing each other down the slide and talking about balanced vs unbalanced forces.... then some talk about friction! The playground is the perfect place for physics experiments and demonstrations!

Thursday 20 July 2017

Learning all summer....

We home school year round.. because after all life is learning right?! I must admit our spring/summer learning looks a lot different than our fall/winter. In the spring and summer we take a break from our usual routine... there is much more outdoor time and exploring!

We also work through Summer Bridge activity books (a different company than our usual workbooks). I really love these.. the kidlets get a chance to review concepts, they are also introduced to some new or different ways of doing things and they like that there is only 2 pages to do per day!

My daily mantra of read something, write something and do some math remains the same!

Sweet Pea, who is 11, likes to make her own schedule and her summer learning looks like this....

"Can I bake something?"

"Mom, check out this dishcloth I knitted!"

"Can I look on Pinterest for something to sew?"

She also has at least two novels on the go.... This summer she is really enjoying the Artemis Fowl series. There is also a graphic novels of the first few books!

Her latest selections from the library look like this....

I am loving The Daring Book for Girls... it has a little of everything in it.. from knots to skipping rope rhymes to how to make a willow whistle and stories about daring girls!

Her science choice of Women in Science: 50 Fearless Pioneers Who Changed the World looked so good, I may be stealing it after she goes to sleep to read it myself!!

And I may be a bit biased since I do sell Usborne Books.... but The Usborne Book of Art might be added into our curriculum rotation!

Goober, who is 8, is a bit more eclectic in his choice of activities.... there is plenty of lego on my floor and frequent requests to play Minecraft or Prodigy (which I don't mind because it is a great math game)....

When those Minecraft requests are denied he will turn to paper and start planning his next building!

Goober is currently working his way through Book One of The Elementia Chronicles... it is definitely the most challenging of the books he has read so far but he is enjoying it!

His latest library selections also center around his current obsession....

As far as I'm concerned he can read these Minecraft Handbooks all day... and I must say he doesn't waste his minecraft time when he gets it, between the planning and reading he knows exactly what he needs to do!

For the rainy days when Goober chooses a board game..

this is usually his go to... Minecraft Card Game

What does your summer learning look like?

Tuesday 4 July 2017

First Nations People of Canada unit

We have finished up with our virtual quick geography trip across Canada

and now we are ready to dive into Canadian history!

The book I'm using a spine is The Story of Canada.

This will be a long trip down memory lane, so I will be separating it out into smaller units

and we will be working chronologically...

Our first unit is the First Nations People of Canada prior to European contact.

Here is how we did it.....

1. Read about a specific group and region.

2. Label the region/group on a map of Canada.

3. Pick one group for a more in depth study.

4. Do a mini book for unit lapbook or notebook.

5. Watch relevant video.

6. Add in some great reads!

We used The Kids Book of Aboriginal Peoples of Canada as our main source

as well as The First Peoples of Canada website.

Here is a website for free printable maps.

We used graduated/layer books for our lapbook/notebook elements

but the Enchanted learning website has some great graphic organizer worksheets as well!

I also love adding in some historical fiction, picture books and legends!

Goober (age 8) had these on his list....

A Whale Tale (Canadian Flyer Adventure) by Frieda Wishinsky
This one is a favourite for this age group... and Canadian!

From the cover:

"Since discovering the Canadian Flyer, a magical time-traveling sled, in Emily's attic, Matt and Emily have outrun dinosaurs in the Alberta badlands, seen the Silver Dart fly high in Nova Scotia's skies, and evaded slave catchers on the Underground Railroad. In A Whale Tale, the sled lands on Canada’s West Coast in 1778. Emily and Matt meet a Nootka chief, and his young nephew, Tuta. It’s a busy time in the Nootka village, where a whale hunt and potlatch ceremony are about to take place. What’s more, explorer Captain James Cook and his fleet of ships have arrived just offshore. Tuta wants to join the whale hunt, but the chief thinks he is too young and sends him to help his mother prepare for the potlatch. Determined to prove his bravery, Tuta sneaks off in a canoe with Emily and Matt. Out on the open water, the kids find themselves face to face with a protective mother whale and her baby. Can Emily and Matt keep their heads above water and help Tuta realize his goal?"

Buffalo Before Breakfast (Magic Treehouse Adventure) by Mary Pope Osborne

From the cover:

"Hello, buffalo! That's what Jack and Annie say when the Magic Tree House whisks them and Teddy, the enchanted dog, back almost 200 years to the Great Plains. There they meet a Lakota boy who shows them how to hunt buffalo. But something goes wrong! Now they need to stop a thousand buffalo from stampeding!"

Sweet Pea's (age 11) list included.....

Indian Captive: The Story of Mary Jemison by Lois Lenski
Sweet Pea really enjoyed this book... not Canadian or pre-European contact
but based on a true story and well written for the age group!

From the cover:

"In this classic frontier adventure, Lois Lenskireconstructs the real life story of Mary Jemison, who was captured in a raid as young girl and raised amongst the Seneca Indians. Meticulously researched and illustrated with many detailed drawings, this novel offers an exceptionally vivid and personal portrait of Native American life and customs."

Royal Diaries: Weetamoo by Patricia Clark-Smith

From the cover:

"It is 1654 in New England, native land of Algonquin tribes, among them the Pocasset, Wampanoag, and Narrangansett people. The pilgrims -- called Coat-men by the Wampanoag -- have settled here in the natives' territory at Patuxit, a place that the Pilgrims have renamed Plymouth. Weetamoo's father, Corbitant, is sachem, or chief, of the Pocassets. He is mistrustful of the colonists and imparts his beliefs about them to his daughter, who is next in line to become chief. Weetamoo must learn the fundamental values and disciplines of a true Pocasset chief."

The Mouse Woman Trilogy by Christine Harris
I've mentioned this book before... and probably will again... a fantastic collection of Haida legends! I also read a few aloud for Goober.... Sweet Pea loved them and read them all!

From the cover:
"In the late 1970s, celebrated children's author Christie Harris published three books known as the Mouse Woman Trilogy, fascinating retellings of legends of the Haida people of British Columbia. Raincoast re-issued each book in the trilogy and is now publishing an omnibus edition that contains all of the Mouse Woman stories, together with the striking original artwork by Douglas Tait."

I always choose a good read aloud to share together... we really enjoyed this one, not pre-European but Canadian and well written! There were some great discussions in this house after reading this book about small pox and the lives of the Ojibwa people.

The Birchbark House by Louise Erdrich

From the cover:

"[In this] story of a young Ojibwa girl, Omakayas, living on an island in Lake Superior around 1847, Louise Erdrich is reversing the narrative perspective used in most children's stories about nineteenth-century Native Americans. Instead of looking out at 'them' as dangers or curiosities, Erdrich, drawing on her family's history, wants to tell about 'us', from the inside."

There are also some great picture books out there...
check out this website for a great selection- Strong Nations.com

Here are a few I had lying around for the kidlets to pick up...

Mwakwa talks to the loon

A Promise is a Promise

The Salmon Twins

There are a variety of wonderful videos to watch on youtube, everything to virtual tours of historic sites, drum dances and throat singing. I also drew from our experiences in the north and pulled out some home videos and pictures :)

Here are a few pictures of Goober's completed lapbook......

and Sweet Pea's notebook....

A trip to Head-Smashed in Buffalo Jump in southern Alberta with a couple of homeschool families....

Perfect end to a fantastic unit!

About me

Hi! My name is Megan, I am a biologist, wife, book lover, and a homeschooling mom of 2. We have been learning at home together for over 5 years and I love to pull together awesome units to foster our learning!

If I had to label my home learning style it would be structured unschooling.... I think it is a thing :)

I started this blog to help other homeschoolers use all the great resources out there... and learn at home without spending a fortune on curriculum!

If you are looking for a unit on a specific topic, drop me a message or comment!