Tina's Dynamic Homeschool Plus

dy•nam•ic constant change, progress, activity

My Unit Studies {Free Printables & Hands-on Ideas}

Dynamic Reader Spotlight Life in The Rainforest Project

| Leave a Comment
This post may contain affiliate links. For more information, please see my full disclosure policy.

I love getting your emails and hearing about your projects whether they are learning or organizing related. And, I am never too busy in my blogging schedule to pause and share when I get one from my dynamic readers. I recently got these beautiful pictures from Chayaan’s mom in (Colombo, Sri Lanka) and I just had to show you what a beautiful job Chayaan did.

Life in the Rainforest by Chayaan Perera (Colombo, Sri Lanka)

Vrai, Chayaan’s mother said:The cover images are all cut outs, and the other pictures of animals, birds, reptiles etc are also all cut outs pasted on to the backgrounds.

I love it because it shows how intricate children can be when learning comes alive or when you find the spark that ignites them.

You have to love the fact that when something interests a child, they will write. The key is to finding something that interests them.

Vrai also said: The pages of pictures on Mammals, Birds, Reptiles, People and Flowers have been done in 3D!

Each key page has a ‘Fact Box’ into which he made and placed ‘Flash Cards’.

I know he will not get tired of reviewing or going back over this. This is the kind of tool to use for assessment of knowledge instead of boring tests.

Vrai also told me: This was all his idea and plan and knowledge is all his own.

I also love the fact that he mixed and matched printables from our site and others to get something unique.

I love the end where he made a call to save the planet. Overall, you can tell how much time was spent on this project. I put Chayann’s work as a slide presentation on our Amazon page. If you get a chance and have time, go on over  to our page and show this little guy some love by commenting in the box at the bottom of our website.

Chayaan, you did a GREAT job and hope you enjoyed the dynamic reader spotlight today. Thank you to your mom for sending in your hard work. She is doing a great job with you.  You made my day today.

Hugs and you know I love ya,

Ancient Maya Unit Study + {Notebooking Pages printable}

| 2 Comments
This post may contain affiliate links. For more information, please see my full disclosure policy.

Today I have some Ancient Maya unit study ideas, free lapbook, and notebooking pages. Also, here is my page Meso-America for more ideas.

This week was a little busier for us as we try to get back into the swing of things. It was busier partly because I have now switched back to following the public school schedule of starting school in August.  It has been a longgg time since I followed it.

For the last four or five years, I have started my school year in January and really liked it because I have a break from workshops during the winter. It was just natural for our family to start a new year and new school year.

Now, I feel like a new kid starting my school year in August. Where is my book? Where is my pen? Where is my planner? Because we are still in the middle of our books, like math, it has made the transition easier this week. On top of that, hubby had more tests this week and some more scheduled next week, but all is good so far.

Slowly each day as we begin a new school year I add a little more to the day. Because we don’t completely stop schooling in the summer, it really is just a matter of getting the kids to school longer for the day. You can see how excited my middle guy is who so looks forward {not} to math.

Ancient Maya Unit Study + {Notebooking Pages printable}

It is nice when you have homeschooled long enough that the oldest son “tutors’ the next one. {love it}

Ancient Maya Unit Study + {Notebooking Pages printable}

A fruit smoothie for the fruit smoothie-holic and a few days later in the week got better as we started our unit study of the Mesoamerica world. This would include some of the countries of Belize, Guatemala, Mexico and the area of the Yucatan Peninsula. I explained in an early post about our how unit study unfolds. This one is no different. LOTS of information on the surface. We have three cultures we are reviewing: Maya, Aztec and Incas.

But before I go on though, I wanted to share a little bit from my heart because this unit study has sentimental meaning for me.  In my pre LBK {life before kids} I was am an adventurous soul. This area is one of the areas I visited and stayed for a while in. Here are just a few pictures of some of the gorgeous rainforest, that the natives call “bush”. You think my sons would recognize me in this picture? The jungles of Belize.

Ancient Maya Unit Study + {Notebooking Pages printable}
Ancient Maya Unit Study + {Notebooking Pages printable}

The bird of paradise flower just grew all around and the friends I stayed with would even chop it down to get it out of our way as we trekked through the jungle.

Ancient Maya Unit Study + {Notebooking Pages printable}

My friends even kept a toucan as a “pet”.

Ancient Maya Unit Study + {Notebooking Pages printable}

But it was the monkey that I enjoyed each day while I was there.

Ancient Maya Unit Study + {Notebooking Pages printable}

Taking pictures of the native surroundings that were off the “tourism” beat is where I spent my time. I wanted to get to know the people and culture not make the tourist rounds.

Ancient Maya Unit Study + {Notebooking Pages printable}

Just the “normal” every day things like the lady coming down to the river to wash fascinated me.

I still like to travel and hope to make a connection of what I learned about some of these countries and make it special to my sons now. Maybe I should dig out the rest of the pictures.

The countries we are studying about are yes, very hot and humid with lots of insects but the culture, people, wild flowers, blue waters, lush rainforest and history of the area are full of life.

Ancient Maya Unit Study + {Notebooking Pages printable}

{reproduction of a Maya Codex – brilliant at math and astronomy}

Ancient Maya Unit Study + {Notebooking Pages printable}

{Chichen Inza on the Yucatan peninsula.} This is a beautiful place to visit. I will have to share more pictures of my visit to these pyramids too some time later.

Ancient Maya Unit Study + {Notebooking Pages printable}

Because I don’t put time limits on how long we learn or what we want to learn, we just roll with it until we are satisfied. There are three cultures to study here so I like to start off with some general comparisons and then narrow it down somewhat. We focused on the ancient Maya this week. Guess what that means for you? You know I love ya. I have some notebooking pages for you that we worked on and are still working on. I think  this unit just feels like it may need a lapbook too.

Ancient Maya Unit Study + {Notebooking Pages printable}

My notebooking pages for you today are about Hernan Cortes, one about the general comparisons of the three cultures, one about John Lloyd Stephens – the Father of Maya archaeology, and a geography page and one page that you could print off two copies of on the Ancient World of Maya to tell what your child finds interesting.

Also, I want to point out one thing about the culture of the Aztec and Maya and that is their religion included human sacrifices and well — lots of blood. I have one notebooking sheet that talks about that but I have my teens compare the valuelessness of shedding that human blood and the valuable blood of Jesus Christ.

This certainly could be overlooked with a younger set of kids. Because I have two teens I wanted them to understand or at least be introduced to that culture’s world views. My youngest guy was sensitive to their brutality and I wanted you to know. So with him I will focus just on the sacrifice of Jesus. Just giving you the heads up.

I was inspired by this poetry today as we delight in the study of the Mesoamerica.

“And then they said as they left, “We are going there to the sunrise, Whence our fathers came…”

From Popol Vuh, the most famous of the Maya Chronicles

How to Get the Free Maya Lapbook Free Notebooking Pages

Now, how to grab the free maya lapbook. This is a subscriber freebie.

That means when you sign up to follow me, you get access to my subscribers library and this freebie.

However, not all my freebies are in the library (wink).

I like to keep up to date with what is valuable to you so I can give you more, some freebies you must sign up again on the form below even if you are already a follower.

And it’s the only way I have of freely delivering them to you. Just follow the steps below.

► 1) Sign up on my list.
► 2) Go to your inbox and confirm your email from the automatic reply I sent you. If you’re already a confirmed subscriber, you will not have to do this. You’ll receive the freebie instantly.
 ►3) Last step. look for my reply AFTER you’ve confirmed your email.

Ancient Maya Lapbook (Free Homeschool Unit Study)

| 10 Comments
This post may contain affiliate links. For more information, please see my full disclosure policy.

We have been putting the final touches on our unit study for the ancient Maya. We started off our discussion on Meso-America and narrowed our interest down to the ancient Maya.

Free Ancient Maya Lapbook and homeschool unit study @ Tina's Dynamic Homeschool Plus

I want to focus more on the Aztecs but Mr. Awesome and Mr. Senior 2013 are throwing out other topics for our next unit study topic.

Ancient Maya Lapbook (Free Homeschool Unit Study)

Tiny still likes this topic so we haven’t settled on our next unit study. Too, I think we may focus some on our new curriculum we just got. It’s hard for us to stay away from a good unit study for long so maybe the change to cooler weather will make them decide on a topic.

Ancient Maya Lapbook (Free Homeschool Unit Study)

In most unit studies we find an abundance of hands-on things to do but for this topic they really were focused on reading. However, we did find some hands-on things in the book Amazing Maya Inventions You Can Build Yourself that we liked.

We spent quite a few days learning about the tzolk’in calendar, also called the Sacred Round. It wasn’t as easy as the Maya made it look to line up the two circles for the calendars side by side.

Ancient Maya Lapbook (Free Homeschool Unit Study)

{tzolk’in calendar. pic att and link to learn about it.}

But we did manage to make two circles like the book said and followed the directions but I am not so sure we managed to use it like they did. It made us appreciate the advancements they made in math, building and a written language.

I added this calendar circle as a minibook in the lapbook. So here it is, the next lapbook for you. It has 9 minibooks.

Ancient Maya Lapbook (Free Homeschool Unit Study)

Then of course you know I have to make something for you to  put on the outside of your lapbook for a cover in case you don’t have wild hair and want to create one. So here are two cover choices.

Remember too all of my minibooks or downloads are usually kept separate and not one big HUGE download. I do this because it helps to keep organized when you can pick/choose what you want to download or keep on your computer.

Also, I do it this way because you may prefer to notebook and you can use individual minibooks and decorative pieces from the front cover to create your own notebooking pages. It is rare that I do one huge download. Just letting you know there is a method to my madness.

I made a few organizational changes to our school area this year and am ready to share that with you next. Here is a glimpse of one area I had to redo. I FINALLY got my teacher’s manuals for history and other subjects in a notebooking system I heart. I will have my pictures to share on the small but meaningful changes made to our area.

organization homeschool binders

You know I heart quotes each day. I find this one inspirational today as I think about you and the countless other educators as we daily give to our kids. Also, I was talking in my workshop Monday night how you do give up some things to homeschool but they seem so insignificant now when you see the blessing of your children. {sappy moment thought}. It just made me think of this today.

The things you do for yourself are gone when you are gone, but the things you do for others remain as your legacy.”

~ Kalu Kalu~

How to Get the Free Lapbook Maya and Free Notebooking Pages

Now, how to grab the free maya lapbook. This is a subscriber freebie.

That means when you sign up to follow me, you get access to my subscribers library and this freebie.

However, not all my freebies are in the library (wink).

I like to keep up to date with what is valuable to you so I can give you more, some freebies you must sign up again on the form below even if you are already a follower.

And it’s the only way I have of freely delivering them to you. Just follow the steps below.

► 1) Sign up on my list.
► 2) Go to your inbox and confirm your email from the automatic reply I sent you. If you’re already a confirmed subscriber, you will not have to do this. You’ll receive the freebie instantly.
 ►3) Last step. look for my reply AFTER you’ve confirmed your email.

Mini Unit Study: Geography Quest about The Country of Turkey

| Leave a Comment
This post may contain affiliate links. For more information, please see my full disclosure policy.

Did you guess which country my boys chose at the Geography Quest? Yep it was Turkey. To be honest, I was a tad shocked but happy at the same time that they chose that country. You’ll love these ideas for a mini unit study about Turkey.

Country of Turkey Quick and Fun Unit Study at Tina's Dynamic Homeschool Plus

Easy Homeschool Unit Study Turkey

My oldest son, Mr. Senior 2013, got the final say on country choice since this is his last year to school {sniffle}. Somewhere along your homeschool journey you wonder if “too much history” is too much. {mmmm does that sense?} You pray most of what you teach your sons sticks with them.

When he chose to talk about Istanbul, formerly Constantinople, and write his essay on it,  I was thrilled because of the rich history of the country.

It is absolutely fascinating to study about the beautiful buildings like the Hagia Sophia which still stand today, but also to learn of the diverse influence of the country. One could spend a lengthy unit study just on the influence of Christians on Constantinople then the Muslim influence.

However, since this was our not back to school Geography Quest with our field  trip group, we had to condense it to about a week of study.

One small point to remember about planning and doing unit studies is that when a topic lends itself to one or more subjects easily than others, don’t force a fit.

If you can’t find a topic for one subject like science or art, focus to enrich the subject/s that your topic does naturally flow with and teach. 

Emphasis should be given to learning what interests you and your kids and it should be age appropriate.

Here are some of the topics we read about in our country mini unit study.

Mini Unit Study on the Country of Turkey

Mini homeschool unit study about the Country of Turkey | Tina's Dynamic Homeschool Plus

Science:  Tiny, my youngest son, chose to do a report about the cape hyrax. The biology of any country is a good topic for younger children.

The cape  hyrax, or rock rabbit is similar to a badger and he tied in the fact that the early colonist mistook this animal for a badger. He researched this topic on his own because that is what interested him.

Social Studies: He also wanted to show money from that country. It is important when doing a unit study about countries to point out that other money is not play money.

My husband went to the foreign exchange commission and got some Turkish money for us to take and share with the group.

Mini homeschool unit study about the Country of Turkey | Tina's Dynamic Homeschool Plus

My middle son, Mr. Awesome, who is my social creature had to read about a variety of topics and influence on the people.

Social Studies:  He explained about a Turkish bazaar or the Grand Bazaar in Istanbul. He was interested in the clothing, the fascinating way they still make carpets and rugs from ancient ways.

He just couldn’t wrap his mind around the fact that after Constantinople was invaded by the Ottoman Turks they started construction on the building that is still part of the Grand Bazaar. Spices, Turkish pipes {yes he had to view Turkish pipes} clothes, and weapons he had to investigate.

Along with that he had to talk about Turkish delight which is like a confection candy.

Having never been to Turkey, we can only imagine what true homemade Turkish delight tasted like.

My oldest soon started passing out Turkish delight, that we ordered from a place in Washington, to share with the group. I told you we ate our way through the countries.

Geography of Turkey

Bible/Physical Geography: Then we focused some on the physical geography of the country. Mount Ararat is the highest point in Turkey.

The Bible speaks in Genesis 8:4 about the ark coming to rest on Mount Ararat. So we had to discuss whether the ark was discovered or not.

Studying more about the physical geography, it leads one to wonder where exactly did the ark land and Noah unload the animals.

Also, this is not the only time Mount Ararat is spoken about in the Bible. The region is referred to in the book of 2 Kings too. Mount Ararat is called by the Turks Aghri Dagh (Mount of the Ark) and by the Persians Koh-i-nuh (Noah’s Mountain). It led to quite the discussion with all of the kids.

Of course then you have to discuss that both the Tigris and Euphrates rivers in the Bible are major rivers in Turkey.

We could hardly leave the Bible part topic because Asia Minor in the Bible is mostly Turkey and that opens up all the discussions of the lives of the early Christians. Phew…..you see why I was thrilled when he first chose it but wondering uhmmm how to do this in one week.

There was more discussion about the physical geography of the country because Istanbul is the only major city that straddles both the Europe and Asian continents.

Was that an advantage or disadvantage in fighting wars?

Turkey Co-op Ideas for learning about the country at Tina's Dynamic Homeschool Plus

Then Mr. Senior 2013 wanted to focus on the history of not just the whole country but on Istanbul. Remember  I had mentioned how a unit study is like a funnel, and you want to narrow down to the subtopic that interests your family.

Country of Turkey Homeschool Unit Study

Ancient History/Art: Before he spent time talking on Istanbul, he started off with the story of the Trojan war. He showed how part is made up, part true and some speculation that surrounds the city of Troy.

He did point out that that area is now Turkey.

He moved quickly to focus on the Ottoman Turks conquering the city as well as talking about the Hagia Sophia. The Hagia Sophia is only one building among many that are full of the intricate Turkish artwork.

People coming from Europe called Turkey “Land of the Sunrise” and the early Christians called it “second holy land”. Istanbul is also called “Crossroads of the World” because of the meeting of cultures there.

He studied about Alexander the Great, but didn’t present this to the group as that would have been “too much”. {Whoa back Mr. Senior 2013 there are small kids too at the Geography Quest}. He did mention Sultan Mehmed II because he was the conquering invader in Constantinople.

All of this led to a discussion about Islam as well with my older two sons. Tiny was off looking at more pictures of his rock rabbit because he wasn’t interested in this subject.

That is the beauty again of unit studies. You can stay on them as long as your children’s appetite is being satisfied. The youngest ones can stop because their appetite is satisfied.

One thing I did notice was that there was not a lot of what I consider good resources on this unit study topic.

There were lots of books that told the history of Istanbul. Even after several visits to our library, the books barely mentioned this area that has thousands of years of history.

Books About Turkey the Country

I found a book by DK eyewitness travel on Istanbul that was of more value to Mr. Awesome since he likes reading about the modern day people too.

The first book was by Checkerboard Geography Library.

The second one was by Milliken A Culture Resource Guide and this last book is the DK book.

Between my passport that Tiny showed to the group, the Turkish liras or money and passing out Turkish delight we got all of this in our mini unit study.

We had to save time to savor the other countries presented at the Geography Quest by the other families.

Some of the other kids wore hats that you would think come from France to the Mexican shirts worn by the boys. We had a great time kicking off our school year and the last year for Mr. Senior 2013. {I may go into sappy mode}.

Updated: I have found some more great resources.

I hope these pages help you in your study about the countries.

These are countries the kids wanted to learn about in our not back to school Geography Quest. Yep, they got to do the choosing.

We learned about Costa Rica, France, Ireland, Japan, Mexico, New Zealand, Peru, Romania and Turkey.

These pages have a place to keep fast facts and then one part to do a mini report as you work your way through the countries. I do think we need to do this for another time or at least keep doing some more countries.

Country of Turkey Unit Study Resources

Download below.

Costa-Rica-Country-Report.pdf (479 downloads)

France-Country-Report.pdf (529 downloads)

Ireland-Country-Report.pdf (465 downloads)

Japan-Country-Report.pdf (594 downloads)

Mexico-Country-Report.pdf (476 downloads)

New-Zealand-Country-Report.pdf (520 downloads)

Peru-Country-Report.pdf (466 downloads)

Romania.pdf (455 downloads)

Turkey-Country-Report.pdf (481 downloads)

The-World-Globe-Tracking-by-Country.pdf (714 downloads)

Naturally, we covered a variety of subjects and did not force a fit.

I was inspired today by some Turkish quotes as we end this mini unit study and these make great ways to do some copywork.

“Listen a hundred times; ponder a thousand times; speak once.”

A wise man remembers his friends at all times; a fool, only when he has need of them.”

“A lion sleeps in the heart of every brave man.”

A cup of coffee commits one to forty years of friendship.”

“Man is harder than iron, stronger than stone and more fragile than a rose.”

Quick and Fun Homeschool Unit Study about the Country of Turkey. You'll love it over at Tina's Dynamic Homeschool Plus. CLICK HERE!

Also, you’ll love these other posts.

Hugs, and you know I love ya,

FBI Unit Study:Federal Reserve Bank Field Trip & Free Resources

| Leave a Comment
This post may contain affiliate links. For more information, please see my full disclosure policy.

After calling the branch office of the FBI, yep I do things like that, to see if I could plan a field trip there, I decided to take their advice and plan a field trip to the Federal Reserve Bank instead. The FBI has a local outreach community and though it sounded nice to have a special agent come and talk to our group, the outreach coordinator felt it was more beneficial to see a federal entity in action. Also, because my focus was aimed toward my highschoolers this would add to their credit for economics.

I have to admit at first that visiting the Federal Reserve Bank hadn’t even crossed my mind and I wasn’t even sure it sounded so appealing. I would have to decide first where I stood on monetary policy before I could ask my teens.  Economics, beyond budgeting was not my favorite subject in school either.

However, this field trip did not disappoint and stacked up high against others we have taken. You see those gates in front of the eagle? Nobody can get in unless the security guard lets you in. Because we are talking literally about 9 billion dollars that could be sitting in the bank at one time, we had to pass security checks much like the ones at airport screenings.

Did I mention our seniors who just turned 18 enjoyed savoring their new found adulthood by show off their driver’s license for identification?

Too, we were told ahead of time that there was no photography in a lot of places because it is the actual operations of the money handling. I managed to get as many pictures as were allowed.

So we snapped a few pictures early morning in front of the secured building before we went inside to find out exactly what is the function of the Federal Reserve Bank.

The first floor had the money separating machines. We learned how money was shredded after it no longer was able to be read by machines and how other money was counted and stored on robot pallets. Then, we went upstairs to this room. By the way, did you know they use the term note and not dollars in the bank? It makes sense though to me because in my legal background, we use the terms promissory note to represent money.  I found that interesting but apparently my boys didn’t.  Whatever.

They were asking more questions like what is the bank’s greatest national security threat and did they have bullet proof glass. The boys apparently have seen too many movies and are thinking the bank is prepared for a “bank heist”.  They assured them that a bank heist was not on their list of threats but that their greatest threat is a terrorist attack. A blow to the bank would threaten the stability of the economy.

The room pictured above is used by consulates or other important heads of companies as they meet together to discuss their interest in either doing business in the area or if they are out of country, they may want to make connections here in the states. So the room serves as a place to work and collaborate.

I never knew that the Federal Reserve Bank did so much more than cover loans for banks.

Then we were taken to another large conference room where consulates and businessmen meet too. We all got to sit around the table and thankfully Tiny asked what the button was under the table as he thought about pushing it. It was a panic button. If it was pushed, security would be on us in few seconds. Did I mention this field trip is probably best for older kids?

We were shown a short film presentation on what the Federal Reserve Bank actually does because a  lot of us were still foggy about it. Did you know that the employees are not federal? It was set up by Congress in 1913 but the employees are bank employees even though it’s overseen by Congress. It is quasi-governmental and tax dollars do not pay for them. Instead, they return money to the treasury.

One cool thing the kids enjoyed learning is where their money traveled from. Looking at this bill above and the left is the alphabet letter and number of the Federal Reserve Bank that put it into operation. Try it with your kids. Take out some money and find out which branch it started out at and how think how did it get to you.

I bet not many people know who these folks are either but they make all the decisions for the economy, including setting interest rates here in the United States.

Lastly, we were given more free resources and packages than we could hardly carry out of the building. Guess what? You can order them for free too. (Click Classroom Resources and Order Form for the blank form) I am telling you, there are enough free resources here for your home or classroom that you could teach about economics, the federal government, monetary policy and threats to security that would keep you busy for weeks.

A nice surprise to round out our experience was when everybody received a tube of old shredded money.

We especially loved learning how to tell apart counterfeits or fakes from good money.  When they told us that the counterfeit money was sent to the Secret Service, the boys decided that may be another topic they have to read about. I wish I could have taken more photographs inside because it was such an enriching and rewarding field trip. Learning about the money operation and function of the Federal Reserve Bank that serves as a quasi-governmental agency was so much more than I knew.

Another idea for a field trip on this topic besides visiting any federal office is to visit the U.S. Bureau of Engraving & Printing. There are only 2  locations though in the United States. One is in Washington, D.C. and the other one is here in Texas in Forth Worth. It is a great place for a field trip if you are ever close.

Hugs and love ya,

 

Save