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Online Homeschool High School Poetry (No Teaching Involved)

November 19, 2018 | Leave a Comment
This post may contain affiliate links. For more information, please see my full disclosure policy.

I have an awesome online homeschool high school poetry movie or class to tell you about. Also, look at my page How to Homeschool High School for more great tips and resources!

When my boys entered the high school years I admit feeling intimidated to teach poetry.

An online homeschool high school poetry class with no teaching involved sounded pretty good.

Online Homeschool High School Poetry (No Teaching Involved)

Besides fighting my sons’ perception that poetry is too emotional and for girls only, I struggled with the humdrum way I was taught poetry in high school.

I was given this product for free. All opinions are my own and for sure I will always tell you what is on my mind. When I do accept a product it’s because I’m giddy to tell you about it. Read my full disclosure here. Now on to the fun!

High School Poetry

When I saw that Literary Adventures for Kids had an online homeschool high school Poetry & a Movie literature course, I couldn’t wait to get started on it with my third teen.

Movies, an online self-paced course, and a hands-off approach to teaching the Poetry & a Movie literature course piqued my interest. My son not so much.

However, by using this course I’m so tickled that I’ve been able to ignite my son’s interest in poetry.

This course has easily become one of my favorites and must-haves for teaching high school teens poetry.

Online Homeschool High School Poetry (No Teaching Involved). When I saw that Literary Adventures for Kids had an online homeschool high school Poetry & a Movie literature course, I couldn't wait to get started on it with my third teen. Click here for this fun high school course!

Overview of Poetry & a Movie

Let me back up first and give you a bird’s-eye view of this super course:

  • it’s self-paced and online
  • there is no physical product and my high school teen loved to pick up and go at his leisure
  • the literature course has 10 units
  • it is a study of the master poets and their poetry
  • it is a study of the poetic devices or literary elements
  • videos are scattered throughout
  • it has a grammar component
  • it’s designed to give your teen the broad strokes of literary elements so there is no overwhelm
  • you can purchase the books used in the course or borrow them from your local library
  • a movie suggestion is included for a unit end celebration
  • there is flexibility to use this course as a full high school credit, one-half of a language arts course, or enrichment

Although studying literary elements is the foundation of poetry over prose, I couldn’t take that usual approach with my son. 

Another roadblock of high school programs is that most use a textbook method.

My son is an auditory learner.

Online Literature Course for Homeschooled Teens

You know my struggle through the years with him because taking notes doesn’t work well with him.

I need to blend different styles of teaching to fit his need to learn in a way that appeals to him and make this course a challenge. 

Taking information in through audio works extremely well.

The Poetry and a Movie course uses an eclectic method of teaching by combining video, text, and real books. Win!

Besides searching for courses that match his learning style, I had to overcome his perception that poetry is not manly.

If you have boys you know what I mean. Challenge on.

Online Homeschool High School Poetry (No Teaching Involved)

Instead of picking up another boring textbook about literary devices and beginning there, the course begins with a series of videos about what is poetry.

I won’t ruin the videos for your kids, but I heard a chuckle or two from my son.

Poetry and Living Books for Teens

Using the living book in the course that is suggested as a spine or frame for this course is what my son loved.

Remember, a spine is normally a living book that is the foundation on which a course is built.

That is another win for the course because real books should still be used in high school.

Online Homeschool High School Poetry (No Teaching Involved)

Now that I had my son hooked on the course, the next step was to choose a master poet that would help my son let go of his negative perception of poetry.

Before I tell you what I did, it’s important for your teen to cover the master poets in order.

If this is your middle or high school teen’s first introduction to the beauty of poetry, don’t skip ahead like I had to do.

I was tickled to see Edgar Allan Poe listed as one of the master poets.

We moved right to his poems first because my son needed to understand that poetry is not just about love; poetry is about real things in the world like cruelty, war, nature, despair, and friendship.

Because the powerful words of Poe were the first ones that inspired me, I was almost sure his words would not make my teen yawn. It worked.

Online Homeschool High School Poetry (No Teaching Involved). When I saw that Literary Adventures for Kids had an online homeschool high school Poetry & a Movie literature course, I couldn't wait to get started on it with my third teen. Click here for this fun high school course!
 #homeschool #homeschoolhighschool #poetry #onlinehomeschool #highschoolteens

Next the unit moves on to helping your teen define literary devices by using video to teach them and giving examples.

At this point, your teen will set up his poetry notebook.

Online Homeschool High School Poetry (No Teaching Involved)

Poetry, Literary Elements, and Trivia are the tabbed sections in the notebook.

Teaching Teens about Literary Elements

Guide your teen to help him set up the tabbed sections because they give your learner a way to break down learning into meaningful and fun parts.

After all, learning poetry should have an organized approach so as to not miss one tiny detail.

The teacher in me needs to be sure my son comes away from high school with a foundation in literature and appreciation for figurative language and not just analytical writing.

The trivia section in the notebook helped my teen to see that poetry is lively, upbeat, and challenging.

I mentioned before that this course uses many different teaching styles, but it equally incorporates different homeschool approaches.

Online Homeschool High School Poetry (No Teaching Involved)

The study of poetry is both a classical and Charlotte Mason feature.

Charlotte Mason touts studying one artist or composer for a while.

Studying one master poet thoroughly is the same approach in this course.

Instead of quickly shifting focus, poetry requires lingering on words and digging deep for the intentions of wordplay by master poets.

After my initial fast forwarding to a point in the course to hook my kid on poetry, we benefited from staying focused on one poet for a considerable length of time.

Mastery is also a unit study feature and that was one huge benefit for us in this course.

Living Books and Online Poetry Study

Online Homeschool High School Poetry (No Teaching Involved)

Having a culminating activity like watching a movie together or having teatime with your teen keeps it fun. 

Of course I didn’t dare mention teatime to my boy, but popping some popcorn and lighting the fireplace before a movie made it memorable.

Although the course is designed so that your teen can learn independently, don’t miss out by not reading the poems together. Poetry is supposed to be read out loud.

Mentoring your teen doesn’t stop in high school.

If you want him to appreciate figurative language and rhyme, then he needs to hear your voice.

I enjoyed reading the poems out loud with my teen, but you don’t have to.

Another benefit of the program is that he can read it along side the narrator on each video.

I have to admit, my voice was no substitute for the narrator reading “The Tyger” by William Blake. Your teen will love listening closely as the poem is read to him.

Although you can use the course for writing lessons, my goal was to use the time to kindle my son’s appreciation for poetry.

 5 More Things You Should Know About Poetry & a Movie

One/  The specifics of the course are the introduction, the master poets which are Samuel Taylor Coleridge, William Blake, Edgar Allan Poe, Walt Whitman, Lord Alfred Tennyson, Langston Hughes, William Wordsworth, William Butler Yeats, Dylan Thomas, and Robert Frost.

The last section is a Final Project writing essays.

Two/  You will need to determine beforehand how much credit you will assign to your teen.

Of course this depends on how extensive you want to use this online language arts course.

Third/ Each poet has been planned for a month-long study. Because I wanted to get the flavor of the course, we initially skipped around as I explained earlier.

Now, my son prefers to cover one master poet in-depth.

Four/ There is unlimited access to the course and I see this as a huge savings. 

If you don’t know by now, curriculum for older kids is more expensive.

We’re preparing teens for adulthood and curriculum shouldn’t just impart knowledge or rote facts; it should stir a teen’s mind to be included in the bigger picture of life after high school.

Teaching a teen how to think using poetry as an analysis cements beautiful thoughts in our kid’s mind and reciting poetry is a memory aid to use into adulthood.

You don’t want to miss covering poetry and it’s especially fun when there is no stress planning.

In addition, this course can be used in a few different ways to get your money’s worth.

The master poets and literary elements can be introduced in middle school.

In high school, use the course again, but fold in the grammar and essay components for high school credit. It’s a two-fer.

The best part is that you can use this with all of your younger kids. What a deal for a course that is prepped and ready to go.

Five/ Literary Adventures for Kids is owned by a homeschooling family. Y

ou know how much I prefer curriculum prepared by a homeschooling family because they get it when we need curriculum easy to teach and that appeals to a variety of learners. Another win for me.

Poetry Study for Homeschool High School

Poetry & a Movie may be a good fit for your family:

  • if your child needs multiple approaches to learning
  • if your child prefers using real books instead of a textbook
  • if you want to foster independence with your middle or high school teen, but want your child to have a framework to follow
  • if you fear teaching poetry and want to learn alongside your teen
  • if you prefer an online self-paced course over a physical product
  • if you need a course prepped and ready to go with minimal teacher planning

Bottom Line: I’m extremely delighted with Poetry & a Movie and any apprehensions I had that my teen son may find poetry only a girl’s subjects has been put to rest. Hearing him repeat part of the poems he learned as he goes through his day is a proud mama moment.

I am so pleased with this course and I just can’t think of anything that needs to be changed.

I would highly recommend it if you have a teen that needs to learn outside the box, but don’t have time to prepare a unit study.

Poetry & a Movie is a keeper in my home and I plan on going over it again both as a standalone course and to use as a review tool. 

I look forward to seeing my son build on the foundational skills he learned in this poetry course. This has been a rewarding experience and has helped my son enjoy learning to write and read poetry!

Thanks to Literary Adventures for Kids for this excellent product to serve the homeschool community!

Go on over and give it a look see. I’ll know you love it as much as I do!

How to Purchase It.

Product Name: Literary Adventures for Kids – Poetry and a Movie

Website: Literary Adventure for Kids/Hide the Chocolate
Grade Level: 7th grade and up Note: There are products for your younger kids too.
Type of product: These is an online course. No physical product will be shipped to you.

Online Homeschool High School Poetry (No Teaching Involved). When I saw that Literary Adventures for Kids had an online homeschool high school Poetry & a Movie literature course, I couldn't wait to get started on it with my third teen. Click here for this fun high school course!

Also, you’ll love these other helps for high school:

  • 54+ Fun Books Turned Movies to Spark a Love For Reading
  • Best Homeschool High School Literature Suggestions For Teens
  • How to Choose the Best Middle School Literature And Favorite Resources
  • How to Choose the BEST Homeschool Middle and High School Language Arts Curriculum & Options
  • Modern U.S. and World History High School Literature
  • 3 Beginner’s Tips: Homeschool High School Literature
  • Homeschool High School Literature Guides
  • The Ultimate Guide to Poetry for Multiple Ages (For the Intimidated)
  • How to Easily Add Poetry to Your Homeschool Subjects

Hugs and love ya,

Leave a CommentFiled Under: Graduate a Homeschooler, Homeschool Curriculum Review, Homeschool Teens _ From Teen to Graduation, How To - - -, Product Review, Teach Homeschool Language Arts Tagged With: high school, high school literature, homeschoolanguagearts, language arts, languagearts, livingbooks, middleschool, poetry, product review, review, teens

Modern U.S. and World History High School Literature

May 2, 2018 | 48 Comments
This post may contain affiliate links. For more information, please see my full disclosure policy.

Let’s face it! Whether you’ve homeschooled your kids from the beginning or started part way through, choosing high school literature can be intimidating. Until I started using Beautiful Feet Books a few years back, I made the high school years unnecessarily stressful. You want the peace of mind knowing you prepared your teen well by using great books whether he chooses a career or college track.

So using modern U.S. and world history literature by Beautiful Feet Books not only filled a general literature credit Tiny needs, but also allowed us to meet a modern world history credit.

I stalked the mailman waiting for these books. I was given this product for free and I was compensated for my time. However, paid for my time does not mean paid off or that a company will receive a glowing review. I don’t roll that way. ALL opinions are my own and for sure I will always tell you what is on my mind. When I do accept a product it’s because I’m giddy to tell you about it. Read my full disclosure here. Now on to the fun stuff!

How to Narrow Down Your High School Literature Scope

Understanding that you have to have goals or reasons other than needing literature in high school makes it easier to narrow down your choices for literature and curriculum providers.

That may be an obvious statement, but there are many factors that you want to consider when choosing a program for your junior or senior teen.

Let's face it! Whether you've homeschooled your kids from the beginning or started part way through, choosing high school literature can be intimidating. You want the peace of mind knowing you prepared your teen well by using great books whether he chooses a career or college track. You’ll love these high school literature books along with the literary analysis. CLICK HERE to read about this curriculum!

I have several reasons for using and believing in Beautiful Feet Books:

  • foremost is our love for literature-based history to avoid a boring and blah approach to history,
  • thought-provoking books which may conflict with our world view or tug at my teen’s emotions are part of my job in preparing him for adulthood,
  • the role of the teacher is valued, respected, and encouraged with this curriculum to shape the teen’s understanding,
  • as the supervising teacher, I need to be the one to decide when and how we will deal with sensitive adult themes,
  • all of my sons need to be exposed to literature which may be covered in higher education,
  • a passion for history of any time period is awakened and appreciated through the use of living books, and
  • although non-fiction is important for a framework of facts, advanced literary criticism happens when a teen selects from excellent fiction literature to analyze.

My reasons may or may not include classic books, but they always include good books or living literature.

Too, having the opportunity to cover modern world history was not something I even thought about covering with my first high school graduate.

Sticking to the commonly held belief that high school teens need to have an emphasis on American history or U.S. government, I over emphasized those time periods with my first graduate.

Of course, hindsight gives you perfect vision. So I knew with my second and now third high school teen that I could tailor and tweak to suit their needs because Beautiful Feet Books  is flexible when it comes to covering history.

Most of the middle school and high school curriculum includes two history eras. I never appreciated this fact until I switched from a strictly classical approach to a more eclectic approach with an emphasis on unit studies.

At first notion, this dual history period approach may seem hodgepodge. However it’s quite the opposite for a true historian. And there are two main reasons.

1.  Past history and today’s current events always have multiple world powers and key players in action at the same time. 
While it’s true that an in-depth study of any civilization would make a fascinating study, my goal for high school is for my sons to have a framework of key events in a time period.

2. Being able to pull back and look at events happening in the world at the same time helped my teens to make a meaningful connection to what they’re learning.

Juniors and seniors especially have the maturity now to see that one area of history is part of a much larger piece of the history puzzle. Being able to pull back and see the broad strokes of history like the events in the U.S. and world history simultaneously works well for both a history lover and history hater.

For my history lovers, it gives them additional topics for rabbit trails. For my one history hater, (yes I can’t believe I had a child that came from me that wasn’t wild about history) he got an overview of key events without overwhelming him about details which didn’t interest him.

That is exactly why I love the way Beautiful Feet Books designs their courses. All of the benefits of teaching it to adjust to each of my teens likes and dislikes along with my need for minimal teacher prep makes it a superior high school literature program.

The Nitty-Gritty of Modern U.S. and World History Literature

I know you want the nitty-gritty like I do. Look at what this level includes and the details:

  • it’s designed for Junior and Senior levels of high school,
  • it covers American and modern world history from the 1850s into the 2000s,
  • you can award one American history or modern world history credit and one general literature credit,
  • it’s a one year study, but we go a bit longer because we school into the summer and we like to spread it out,
  • it is Christian-based, but as with all of their literature and questions, it’s easier than some other providers to tweak to what I want my sons to know,
  • these beautiful books: Uncle Tom’s Cabin, Rifles for Watie, The Red Badge of Courage, Virginia’s General, Up From Slavery, Around the World in Eighty Days, A History of the Twentieth Century, The Jungle, All Quiet on the Western Front, The Yanks are Coming, Stalin: Russia’s Man of Steel, No Promises in the Wind, To Kill a Mockingbird, Hitler, Churchill, The Hiding Place, Night, Unbroken, Victory in the Pacific, Hiroshima, Lost Names, America and Vietnam: The Elephant and the Tiger, Red Scarf Girl and The Kite Runner, 
  • and it has a general literary analysis study. My goal was to be sure that Tiny had a general grasp on literary concepts. We used another language arts resource to enhance this one. Although literary analysis is very important to me at this age, it can be fun. For us that means learning it from books we love.

My emphasis on literary analysis leads me into another valued part of this curriculum which deserves the spotlight and it’s the Study Guide or teacher’s guide.

Modern U.S. and World History Literature Study Guide

I hesitate to call it just the teacher’s guide because at this age your teen needs to be independently delving into the Study Guide. Of course, it’s a teacher guide too.

Because the Study Guide is jam-packed full of teaching tidbits, supplements, and background information, you’ll want to take your time understanding how it’s set up.

The Study Guide is divided into five history periods:

  • Part I. Antebellum and the Civil War
  • Part II. Reconstruction, the Industrial Revolution, and the Turn of the Century
  • Part III. The First World War, the Depression, and Segregation
  • Part IV. Building Towards War, the Second World War, and the Atomic Age
  • Part V. The Struggle for Freedom in the Twentieth and Twenty-First Centuries

To help your student hone his ideology and principles there are themes in each section.  Some of them are:

  • A Study in Freedom and Responsibility,
  • A Study in Conviction and Triumph,
  • A Study in Fortitude and Forgiveness,
  • A Study in Ambition and Courage,
  • and a Study in Conscience and Fairness.

In addition to the extensive notes in the Study Guide with background information, points in each lesson guided us on each discussion.

After reading the books like Stalin: Russia’s Man of Steel or Virginia’s General: Robert E. Lee and the Civil War it made for some great discussions about topics like freedom and prejudice. I loved having the themes to guide my teen to comprehend the theme in each book which is a part he has struggled with in the past.

Because my high school kid worked on his own on part of this, I have to rely heavily on the Study Guide for the answers, questions, and some of the background information. Although it’s not easy to flip back and forth between time periods and books, you can easily with the way this is laid out.

Also, some of the books my son read right away and wanted to delve deeper into those topics. World War II is one topic that my son knows well and never gets tired of talking about. Besides reading the books in the curriculum by Albert Marrin, one of our favorite history authors, the Study Guide has more recommended books and videos in the back to feed my son’s love for the Second World War.

Yet another reason I loved using this is that we needed more help in literary analysis. I’ve never been keen on assigning book reports although I know they have a practical purpose which is to train a child to write critically in the older grades.

Because I’ve never forced Tiny to do a formal book report, but have worked on reading a lot of good books I needed to be sure he has a good grasp on literary concepts.

There are six books highlighted to use for literary analysis:

  • Uncle Tom’s Cabin,
  • The Red Badge of Courage,
  • To Kill a Mockingbird,
  • Night,
  • Hiroshima,
  • and Lost Names: Scenes from a Korean Boyhood.

Learning literary analysis should be repeated like grammar and it’s best taught in context or while using examples from literature. As an example, earlier I mentioned ideologies listed in each section. The reason this was important is because even at this grade level students can still get confused between the plot of the story and its theme.

Exposing my sons to the basic elements of fiction like plot, setting, character, point of view, mood, and theme are the foundation of literary analysis, but I wanted to be sure we touched advanced concepts as well.

In addition, there are some literary concepts that can’t be recognized until your child is older.  Some figures of speech and poetry devices confuses my teen. So the books used gave him a good overall grasp of basic and advanced concepts.

It’s not necessary to break down every novel, but it’s important to choose a few to do. I try to be balanced when teaching literature analysis because I don’t want to suck the joy out of reading, but it’s important for our teens to become critical thinkers too.

Simply requiring my son to write down the term, define it, and explain it to me is a simple method, but it’s the same one I’ve used since I first taught him to read. Too, we wrote a few on index cards for review because just writing it down once didn’t mean he remembered it. Making a notebook like we have as we’ve used Beautiful Feet Books work best for us.

In addition to the literary concepts we focused on, we also chose a few of the essay topics. Essay writing was not my exact focus for him because we’ve done a lot of writing. When we wanted to, however, the Study Guide made it easy for us to choose writing topics.

The Study Guide is much more than an question and answer guide. It is the backbone at this level and it’s all-inclusive.

Our Experience with Modern U.S. and World History Literature by Beautiful Feet Books

Even at the high school level, there is no one-size-fits-all curriculum. As the parents, we still have to be involved when choosing the right curriculum for our teen.

This is my third high school teen to use Beautiful Feet Books because I love their literature and easy approach to teaching. I’ve never been disappointed with the high quality literature, guides, and help for the teacher. This level is no exception.

As the teacher, I don’t think you ever stop worrying if you’ve prepared you teen enough for whatever track you ultimately decide.  However, I do know that my first two sons are doing well in college after using Beautiful Feet Book. I know my third teen is equally well-prepared.

You’ll love reading these other posts for how I used

  • Read about Medieval History for Middle School
  • Read about How to Teach Science Through A Story – Middle & High School
  • Read about When We Used Beautiful Feet Books as our History Spine

How to Purchase It.

►Product Name: Modern U.S. and World History pack
►Website: Beautiful Feet Books – BFBooks

 

Let's face it! Whether you've homeschooled your kids from the beginning or started part way through, choosing high school literature can be intimidating. You want the peace of mind knowing you prepared your teen well by using great books whether he chooses a career or college track. You’ll love these high school literature books along with the literary analysis. CLICK HERE to read about this curriculum!

 

48 CommentsFiled Under: Build Character in Homeschooled Kids, Do Unit Studies, Giveaways, Graduate a Homeschooler, Hands-On Activities, History Resources, Homeschool Curriculum Review, Product Review Tagged With: high school, high school literature, homeschool highschool, literary analyis, literature, livingbooks

How to Teach Science Through A Story – Middle & High School

August 7, 2017 | 120 Comments
This post may contain affiliate links. For more information, please see my full disclosure policy.

When you teach science through a story that is powerful. Using storytelling as a powerful teacher is not a new concept to homeschoolers. Also, look at my page homeschool middle school and how to homeschool high school page for more fun tips

Not only do we love reading stories but we understand their power to captivate and convince readers.

However, until I started using Beautiful Feet Books I wasn’t so confident that teaching science through a story or through biographies would benefit my kids all the way through to high school.

Using storytelling as a powerful teacher is not a new concept to homeschoolers. Not only do we love reading stories but we understand their power to captivate and convince readers. However, until I wasn’t so confident that teaching science through stories works for all ages of my kids. Click here to read 7 creative ways to teach older kids!

I stalked the mailman waiting for these books from Beautiful Feet Books. I was given this product free and I was compensated for my time. However, paid for my time does not mean paid off or that a company will receive a glowing review. I don’t roll that way. ALL opinions are my own and for sure I will always tell you what is on my mind. When I do accept a product it’s because I’m giddy to tell you about it. Read my full disclosure here. Now on to the fun stuff!

First, I need to back up and explain what curriculum we’ve been poring over.

For the past couple of months, it has been a delight to use the History of Science.

I knew it was geared toward the 3rd to 7th grade level.

But we were over the top excited to ditch the science textbook and learn the history of science through living literature.

Besides, science biographies can be used for older kids.

And when you have a guide any study can be fleshed out for older grades. It was a great guide.

History of Science Living Literature

In addition, I had already figured out that my worksheet approach, as academic and bookish as it sounds, didn’t work because my boys retained lessons better using a learn-by-doing approach.

Next, early on in my homeschooling journey, I had stumbled upon Early American History with my then first kindergartner.

After using it with him, I learned that other equally important elements which stir a child’s thinking are living literature and absorbing history through a story.

There has not been a more enriching way to teach him or my other sons to high school than a literature-based approach.

What I’m saying is that storytelling, learning-by-doing, and living literature are inextricably linked.

Using those same elements while teaching science are the same ones used in teaching the History of Science and used for teaching an older child.

7 Creative Ways to Adapt Curriculum for Older Homeschooled Kids

Learning how to adapt a multiple age curriculum for upper grades can be challenging, but look at some ways I did this with the features of History of Science.

They are the same tips I used with my sons all the way through middle school and into high school.

How to Teach Science Through A Story - Middle & High School
  • With a yearlong program geared toward 3rd to 7th grade, there is a lot of room to allow exploring topics in more depth. Using a yearlong program is key. Your time is valuable and by using a curriculum that is laid out for a year, you have more than enough ideas in place to use as a springboard for all the ages of kids you’re teaching.
  • Even though the biographies are geared toward a lower reading level, they are likable by an older child. Many essay points can be gleaned from each biography. For example, previous to studying this curriculum, we hadn’t researched much about George Washington Carver. Reading about this American Pioneer and his many uses of peanuts made for a fun rabbit trail or research project. Even though your younger kids can join in the project to list the many uses of peanuts, I had Tiny delve deeper into this since it piqued his interest. I required that he explain the history of the peanut. I had questions like what is the history of the peanut, why was Carver encouraging farmers during the American Civil War to break away from cultivating just cotton, and explain the growing process of the peanut. For example, he had to know that it wasn’t a peanut at all but a seed and understand that the boll weevil could devastate cotton crops.
  • Another fascinating point to glean from the History of Science is understanding and seeing science through the eyes of great scientists. We use this concept for history all the time. We want to learn history through the eyes of a character who lived in a particular time period. Learning science through biographies of Archimedes, Leonardo da Vinci, Galileo, Sir Isaac Newton, Marie Curie, George Washington Carver, Wright Brothers and Albert Einstein keeps kids equally inspired to learn about the wonders of science instead of dry, boring facts.
How to Teach Science Through A Story - Middle & High School
  • In addition, with many notebook pages, vocabulary words, and hands-on ideas the study guide is just that. It’s a springboard for you to use and add your own ideas. I really love how the guide is laid out because if it was totally scripted it’s hard to use that for older kids or younger kids. A guide on the other hand gives me a nudge or jump to another teaching concept that my son is interested in.
  • After I abandoned my wrong and stereotypical view that hands-on learning means no learning at all, I’ve been touting for years how hands-on learning needs to be used through to high school. The best books have been culled through and selected for easy hands-on activity that can be used for a variety of ages. Not only did we start our science portfolio notebook, but we did many hands-on learning activities like this one Day 4. Ancient Greece (Hands-on Science) 3 EASY Activities, ice cutting, and writing the Greek alphabet.
How to Teach Science Through A Story - Middle & High School
  • One more fun way to engage older kids through a story is to let them learn through a timeline. A timeline is a visual and natural way to learn. Kids can race ahead and place figures on a timeline while they read about scientific discoveries, events, and biographies. This is another key benefit to this curriculum. The timeline can stand on its own. It can be used completely separate. Instead of quickly placing the key events or scientists in order, challenge your older kids to learn about them before seeing the dates. Which significant event happened first, next and so on? Your middle school kids can memorize the events in order. It’ll give your kids foundational pegs as they fill in with more information with each time period.
  • Another tip that makes this curriculum especially useful to me is that it has scientists from different time periods. It’s organized into 3 parts that coincide with history, which are Ancient Scientists, Medieval & Renaissance Scientists, and Modern Scientists. I can easily add one section in depth this year and come back to this resource another year to focus on a different time period.
  • One last tip I do is to completely turn the teaching guide and everything over to my older kid. When you’re finished with the younger kids, let your middle or high school kid work through the lessons at their pace or at their will. For example, Tiny skipped all over the place when it came to reading and what interested him. That is such a liberating feeling for any learner and it’s the way to encourage independent learning. A lot of Beautiful Feet Books curriculum can be used that way, which is why I’ve been a user for a long time and couldn’t be more pleased.

The last thing I know you want to know about is whether it’s Christian or secular. I guess that depends on your definition of those two concepts.

It’s easier to tell you that it’s very friendly toward both type of views which I appreciate.

While it has some parts that ask your child to write a Bible verse, you can leave it, use it, or add your own. That part shows they support a Christian view.

However, their goal with their curriculum is to leave it up to you as the parent to add your worldview.

I can say it’s more easily done with this curriculum than many I use which saturate their curriculum with their Christian or secular worldview and makes it almost impossible to tweak.

If you’re wanting to use curriculum that teaches science through storytelling with a focus on hands-on learning by using a part unit study approach and part Charlotte Mason, you’ll love this curriculum like I do.

Read about the other curriculum I’ve used here at Early American and World History which is not available anymore and revamped, the Medieval History Sr. High levels and Medieval Intermediate Pack.

How to Purchase It.

►Product Name: History of Science
►Website: Beautiful Feet Books – BFBooks
► Don’t Miss: The Getting Started page. It’s been such a helpful guide for me through the years.
►Type of product: These is a physical product but the study guide is available as a digital download too. From their site: Our newly revised and updated History of Science is a popular and exciting read-aloud approach to the study of science! Rebecca’s course uses biographies to tell the life stories of famous scientists like Archimedes, Galileo, Leonardo da Vinci, Marie Curie, George Washington Carver, Einstein, and others as well as hands-on experiments to prove the scientists’ theories and test their discoveries. An enriching way to introduce biology, chemistry, and physics. For grades 3-7, this one-year study will cover basic scientific principles and the history of scientific study beginning in ancient Greece and continuing through the 1990s. Contains 85 lessons, dozens of experiments, lab reports, and much more.

120 CommentsFiled Under: Build Character in Homeschooled Kids, Choose Curriculum, Do Unit Studies, Free Homeschool Resources, Giveaways, Graduate a Homeschooler, Hands-On Activities, Homeschool Curriculum Review, Homeschool Teens _ From Teen to Graduation, Homeschooling, Middle School Homeschool, Notebooking Pages, Other Unit Studies, Product Review, Science, Sponsored Posts, Teach Homeschool Science Tagged With: freeprintables, hands-on, hands-on activities, handson, handsonhomeschooling, high school, livingbooks, middleschool, science, teens

Day 4. Ancient Greece (Hands-on Science) 3 EASY Activities

July 8, 2017 | 1 Comment
This post may contain affiliate links. For more information, please see my full disclosure policy.

These activities are geared for middle school, but a high school student that has a science aversion would be engaged too. While studying the ancient civilizations, grab these ideas for an Ancient Greece hands-on science unit study. Click here to add these ideas to your unit study!I have a secret I’ve been keeping. You already know my love for living books, unit studies, history, and hands-on activities. But you may not know that we’ve been using Beautiful Feet’s History of Science this year. Besides the excellent literature they cull through so that I don’t have to, we love the easy hands-on science activities.

These activities are geared for middle school, but a high school student that has a science aversion would be engaged too. While studying the ancient civilizations, grab these ideas for an Ancient Greece hands-on science unit study.

We have been learning how far ahead of their time the Greeks really were when it came to science. We loved reading about Archimedes. I had already studied about Archimedes with my first two sons before I had discovered Beautiful Feet literature. So I was really tickled that I have it for Tiny.

Even though it is written for a middle school level, a living book is written like a story and draws in a reader of any age.

To engage your kids, look at these questions to ask and have your kids write in their notebooks.

►Who was Archimedes?
►What elements did the Ancient Greeks believed that made up the universe?
►What do we know today about the elements that make up our universe?
►What is surface tension?

Ancient Greeks and their Perception of Matter

Next, grab these simple things that you probably have lying around your house because these activities are so quick and easy that you want to include all of your kids.

  • tall glass bottle
  • gauze pad
  • rubber band
  • bowl or glass with water
  • steel paper clip
  • dishwashing liquid
  • food dye
  • a couple of droppers
  • milk at room temperature
  • shallow pan

Then move on to each activity.

ONE/ Understand what is surface tension. Then do this simple activity.

Place a steel paper clip in a glass or bowl. (Yes, I can do that.)

Why does it float? Which is more dense, the water or paper clip?

How to Teach Hands-on  Science Through Living Books

TWO/ Why is the gauze leakproof?

Fill a glass bottle with water. We added food coloring so it could be easier to be seen if it spilled.

Add the gauze over the top and secure with a rubber band. Turn it upside and see what happens.

Why won’t water pour out through a gauze enclosed top? It is held inside by the surface tension of the water.

THREE/ How to break surface tension? Understand that certain substances can break down surface tension.

This next one is a great activity to include the little ones because it has an instant ewwww and awwww moment. Grab a shallow glass pan.

Add room temperature milk.

Choose two food color dyes, get two eye droppers and some dishwashing liquid in a small container.

Then use one dropper to add two food coloring choices. You notice it stays in a circle or really doesn’t break the surface.

Then use the second dropper to add dishwashing liquid and you get immediate action. The colors start to swirl and move.

The colors spread around because the stronger surface tension around the edge of the dish pulls the milk and food coloring outward.

Try a few different colors. It really is an engaging activity. You’ll want to try it again and again.

These easy hands-on activities are a simple way to look at how scientist of the past looked at ancient discovery. Also, we have done plenty of lapbooks on Greece and we’ve added some too from Home School in the Woods that we love.

We have a few more things we have been doing with our History of Science and I can’t wait to show you more.

I’m doing an Ancient Civilizations hands-on history series and you’ll want to look at these other ideas:

Day 1. Ancient Egypt Civilization (Hands-on History): Narmer Crown.
Day 2. Ancient Mesopotamia (Hands-on History): Cook Sebetu Rolls.
Day 3. Ancient Rome (Hands-on History): Paint a Jester.

And look at these other ways we’ve used Beautiful Feet literature.

When We Used Beautiful Feet Books as our History Spine, Medieval History for Homeschool Middle School, and Medieval Chemistry and Homeschool History – Fun Hands-On Activity.

Hugs and love ya,

 

1 CommentFiled Under: Ancient Civilizations, Geography Based, Hands-On Activities, History Based, History Resources Tagged With: geography, hands on history, hands-on activities, handson, handsonhomeschooling, livingbooks, science, sciencecurriculum, unit studies

5 Steps to Choosing Geography Living Books Your Children Will Love

March 23, 2017 | 6 Comments
This post may contain affiliate links. For more information, please see my full disclosure policy.

To understand how to use a geography living books, you need to step back first and get to the nitty-gritty of what is geography and what is a living book. Both definitions need to intersect.Too, look at my page Homeschool Geography for hands-on and simple ideas and tips.

Visualizing what geography is can have some kids (and moms) moaning because they may think it means just drawing or labeling maps (snore).

Contrary to what some people think, geography is not just a study of maps. That field is cartography.

5 Steps to Choosing Geography Living Books Your Children Will Love! Grab this 5 point checklist so that you choose books that are engaging and worthwhile to read. Click here to read it!

Geography is so much more, it’s about relationships.

The relationship can be people to places, animals to land, earth to air and people to plants to name a few.

Merging Geography with Living Books

Look at expanding the definition of geography to include:

  • the science of the earth.
  • learning about oceans and any area occupied by water.
  • exploring plant life.
  • investigating animal life.
  • studying what is on the earth, up above, and under the earth like the natural resources.
  • understanding people and how they use their natural resources while highlighting their culture.

Geography is learning about our home, which means geography is a bridge to all other fields of study.

It connects math to science, science to history, math to history, and people to the place they call home.

Next, identifying the features of a living book are equally important. Capturing the definition was Charlotte Mason, a 19th century British educator.

Many of her principles are valuable and I’ve implemented them in my many years of homeschooling.

And though I do follow more of a unit study method, many Charlotte Mason methods including the use of twaddle-free living books are part of my unit studies.

What is NOT a Living Book

Pulling the definition up close and analyzing (you know I like the details), it helps sometimes to understand what is not a living book.

Look at these things that are not traits of a living book:

  • A textbook.
  • A dry factual book.
  • Any book created for the sole purpose of meeting today’s educational standards.
  • A book that is dumbed-down meaning that it was intentionally simplified to appeal to more people.
  • It means an unabridged version, but not always. It’s  something I look at, however, when judging the value of a book.
  • It doesn’t always mean it’s a classic, but a lot of times it does.
  • And contrary to some popular beliefs, it’s not always a book where a child feels like he can escape to another place. A romance novel can do that, but that doesn’t mean one that exploits sexual fantasy is a good choice for reading.

The Power of Geography Living Books

Look at these things that are tell-tale signs of a living book.

  • Opposite a textbook is a book written by an author that is passionate about the subject. He either is knowledgeable about the subject because it could be his lifework or it’s personal experience.
  • Instead of presenting dry hard facts, a reader is drawn in through a story, which is always the best way of remembering any set of facts.
  • Instead of writing to meet national standards, a writer may unintentionally offend the politically correct view or standard. Not that we are looking for shock value in a book when we allow our kids to read books that do. But we are opening windows in their mind and stimulating their imagination. This can’t be done when all the thinking is done for a child. However, one common weave is the power to influence children in a positive way.
  • Too, it’s not that we don’t want to embrace the modern world, but older books were written at a time when stunning imagery engages the memory and makes the words memorable.

5-Point Checklist: Geography Living Books

Armed with these two sets of ideals, merging them is essential before you can evaluate if a book is a geography living book.

Look at this 5-point checklist, which gives you a beginning point.

ONE. It should be written in a narrative format.

Like history, which should be written in a narrative format about the people and places your child wants to learn about.

Geography should also be written by a good story-teller who unfolds his plot.

TWO. Emphasis is on the author’s knowledge and enthusiasm.

Instead of textbooks written based on a survey of monetary gain and approved by review committees because they meet standards, a geography living book is written based on enthusiasm, passion and  personal experiences.

Look for clues in the summary or passage.

For example, V.M. Hillyer wrote one of our favorite geography living books for young children, A Child’s Geography of the World and he states: “As I had been a traveler for many years, had visited most of the countries of the Globe, and in actual mileage had been five times the distance around the World, I thought I would write a geography myself.”

THREE. It should encourage your child to make good choices in life.

In addition, geography living books should encourage a child to think not only about the subject at hand, but to make good choices in his life.

Choosing excellence and goodness should become a practice. Is that a lot to ask for from a geography living book?

Look at this passage from the same book, “There is a saying that “Good fences make good neighbors,” but that depends on the neighbors.” Statements like this leads your child to make conclusions as to the type of person or neighbor he wants to be.

FOUR. Dry and boring repeated abstractions and stats are absent.

Learning dry and boring statistics and repeating abstractions instead of events are things that are absent in a geography living book.

Look again at another passage from A Child’s Geography of the World, “To me, as a child, geography was a bugbear of repellent names – Climate and Commerce, Manufactures and Industries, and products, products, PRODUCTS. Geography was a “stomach” geography; the “head” and “heart” were left out.”

How did geography become just a study of export, import, coloring flags and memorizing barley, rye and wheat as the crops produced by a country? (snooze)

FIVE. It lays a foundation of interest in the world around us and a thirst for knowledge.

Similar to any living book, a geography living book, no matter when it was written is one that is alive and relevant today.

The world changes; facts in an old book, which are not true today doesn’t mean the rest of it is useless.

Instead of viewing that as a roadblock, I view it as an opportunity to probe and investigate. Laying a foundation of interest in the world around us and a thirst for knowledge that a child wants to quench in his lifetime should be the goal of a living book.

Classics have an enduring quality that lasts generations. Think about classics that you read in your childhood or that your parent’s read. I couldn’t wait to share with my children classics like Heidi, Raggedy Ann & Andy and The Story of Ferdinand.

Further, we have an inborn need to communicate and converse with conviction through our words and our vocabulary.

For example, the book, Study Is A Hard Work, which I love, the author remarks, “Mental laziness and limited vocabulary are usually bedfellows in the same brain.”

Rich and colorful vocabulary found in older books adds meaning not only to a study of geography, but makes an impression in a child’s mind.

Encapsulating the definition of a geography living book helps me to not forget what my educational standards are as I continue to homeschool and I hope it helps you too.

More Homeschool Geography Activities

  • 11 AWESOME Ways to Learn Geography (Other Than Labeling a Map)
  • 18+ Fun and Interactive Ways to Learn Geography With Kids
  • 22 Homeschool Geography Go To Resources
  • Fun Outdoor Activities For Middle Schoolers Geocaching and Nature Study

Do you have any favorite geography living books?

Don’t forget to follow BOTH of my Pinterest accounts for AWESOME pins.

Visit Tina Robertson’s profile on Pinterest.


Visit Tinas Dynamic Homeschool ‘s profile on Pinterest.

6 CommentsFiled Under: Choose Curriculum, Free Homeschool Resources, Geography Tagged With: geography, homeschool, homeschool subjects, homeschoolgeography, livingbooks

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