Fun lessons ahead!

      

We are getting ready to start a 3 week unit study on Halloween/Day of the Dead/All Saints Day/Autumn.  This is our first holiday unit and I'm REALLY excited!  I think this is a great opportunity to make school fun while taking the time to enjoy the holiday as a family.  I thought I would share some of our plans for anyone wanting to adapt them for themselves.

Literature:
The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman.  There are lesson plans for 
this book on various websites.  So far I like the ones here.        
The Legend of Sleepy Hollow by Washington Irving. This will most likely be a read aloud selection due to the difficult and arcane language. (I saw a picture book version of this at Barnes and Noble for those with younger students.)

Writing:
Writing epitaphs for various famous or fictional characters for gravestones to decorate the yard.

Art
Various Halloween decorations.
Making leaf rubbings.
Making headstone rubbings.

Music:
Listening to Danse Macabre and discussing the ideas presented in it.

Science:
Reading about bats and spiders.
Researching why leaves change color in the fall.
Doing experiments regarding fall leaves.

History/Social Studies
Watching the Haunted History of Halloween
Reading about the Day of the Dead and making food crafts.
Reading about the Celts and Druids
Reading about harvest festivals and attending a local one.
 
We will continue with our regular grammar, math, spanish, typing, and writing assignments during this time, as appropriate. (adding in fun things like Halloween Mad Libs for fun when we can.)

If anyone has any other ideas to share feel free to post them!

another change...

The The Usborne Encyclopedia of the Ancient World is a great book for the history of Mesopotamia, Egypt, Greece, and Rome. But it unfortunately doesn't have any information on the ancient megaliths in England or the Celts. In fact the only reference is one sentence about the Druids making human sacrifices.  Not exactly a great introduction. So to fill things out I purchased The Kingfisher History Encyclopedia, which covers more cultures but in a different format. Instead of focusing on one culture at a time like the Usborne book it is strictly chronological. So one page will cover the megaliths of England then the next page will discuss the ancient peoples of the Indus Valley, and then move on to the Hittite empire.  Many people use it exactly as is, and I REALLY do love the chronological approach. I'm not willing to give up the unit studies completely though, so I think we will use both books and pull what we need from them.

This week Michael was begging for Science.  This from the kid that said he hated science in school!!  If nothing else this subject has made homeschooling worthwhile. He chose a water filtration experiment that involved making a multi stage filter.  He leaned about physical and chemical filters and about drinking water safety.  He even helped clean up the mess!

Then on Thursday he chose to go to the Science Center instead of our weekly Rollerskating activity.  He got to see what he would weigh on various planets and I got to explain the relationship of gravity, mass, and weight.  He also used a green screen to create a televised weather forecast and used a real telegraph machine to send a message in Morse code.

My biggest fear this year was math, as Michael was NOT ready for a 5th grade curriculum.  I knew I wanted to spend time making sure he really understood the basics but I also wanted to catch him up.  I am happy to say that we are definitely on track and should be able to finish out very respectably by the end of the year. His other big delay was in Grammar, which apparantly is not taught in public school anymore.  Neither my son nor his friend from the same school knew what an adjective or verb were!!!! Kid Libs (Mad Libs) to the rescue!!!!  Michael loves them and in less than 48 hours had leaned the basic parts of speech.  Now we are baby stepping our way though Growing with Grammar 5 and he is doing great!