Category Archives: Homeschooling

WW1, Albert Einstein, and Europe

01/19/2018 Danielle Huddleston Leave a comment

I like to link my science, history, geography, handwriting, and soon grammar by timeline.

What this means is that I look for scientific discoveries that go with the time period we are studying for history.

In this case we were in the early 1900’s.

So World War 1(history), Albert Einstein(science), and Europe(geography).

The boys write sentences of poetry that were written during that time, something from one of their history books, or they write reports on what they are learning.

I am going to be trying out Brave Writer for handwriting and grammar when we study WW2 next month.

Sometimes they use our Draw and Write through History book for handwriting.

I am really liking these workbooks for an overview.

I bought the same kind for our study of World War 2 also.

Sometimes they just answer questions about the paragraphs they just read but my favorite thing is when they ask for their opinions.

I like reading what my 11 & 9yr olds thoughts about war are.

Definitely something I plan on keeping and looking back on.

These book above are the ones I own for WW1.

I bought the Flying Aces of World War 1 for the study but owned the others already.

I also bought a few ebooks.

Spies of World War 1, One of Ours, and Sergeant York.

I included many books about animals for my second oldest.

He really likes animals.

I read the really easy picture books out loud to my three youngest.

It was actually pretty difficult to find recourse on the Red Baron.

I thought that was odd considering it is the RED BARON.

Thankfully our library had a few things the boys could use though.

Warning; Silver Threads will make you cry…

It was a beautiful but sad book that shows a side of the war not talked about often.

I used Robert Frost for the boys copywork and to make the girls handwriting practice pages.

I thought I would use the World War 1 Speeches book also but did not end up liking it very much.

I always include some historical fiction in our study.

My oldest seems to read more of these then my second oldest though.

We have been learning about a president to go with each time period.

These “Getting to Know the US Presidents” books have been an awesome way to learn about the presidents.

These books like “World War 1 for kids” have great activities.

At this point I am not able to pick them out and set them up though.

I keep getting them and pushing the boys to do a project each week but they don’t always choose it from these books.

Maybe one day I will be able to do more projects with the kids again.

They do read the information in them though.

I did get the Albert Einstein for Kids book and we did several of those activities.

Like making towers with a deck of cards and finding magnets around the house using a compass.

My boys poured over these Usborne books.

They are great reference books.

I like the “I am” series for my younger three.

It gives a little bit of information that is easy to understand.

I have really been liking books made into movies like “On a beam of light(the link is just for the book)” also.

Sometimes it is really nice to put a movie in on a drive somewhere and cover more of what we are learning.

And for some reason some of my kids will listen to a book being read on a movie more than if I read in real life.

As always my kids really like to listen to the Magic Tree House books.

This one was on Florence Nightingale.

History, Homeschooling, Museums/Events

Prairie Grove Battlefield State Park ~Prairie Grove, AR

12/11/2017 Danielle Huddleston Leave a comment

While at Devil’s Den State Park, I picked up some brochures on other state parks nearby.

I had wanted to go to the Prairie Grove Battlefield for a little while so I was happy it was pretty close to where we were staying.

The museum was small but had a lot of hands-on and interactive displays!

The battle of Prairie Grove was a large Civil War battle and would be a perfect stop if you are studying that era or just find that time interesting.

When you touched a cannon ball(what my oldest daughter is doing) it would show you a animation of how far it would shoot.

My oldest liked looking at all the different weapons.

Little bit trying to lift a cannonball!

She did not succeed…

The grounds were so pretty!

So many old buildings!

There is a 1 mile walking tour but also a driving tour!

We did both and it was an easy way to learn some interesting history.

And really sad history.

Be prepared that it does talk about the ground being soaked in blood and other facts like that.

The first part of the walk was my favorite.

Lots of beautiful historic buildings to see and give the kids a glimpse of what it was like back then.

It looks so peaceful.

Such a contrast to what it must have looked like during the battle.

I can’t help but think of the families who lost everything just because their house ended up being in the middle of a battle.

They find the Osage Orange’s so interesting.

I can’t blame them so do I!

I really like to visit these kinds of places when they have reenactments going or other historical events.

If you are planning a trip just to see it, go to their website first and see if they have anything coming up.

It really helps history come to life!

Homeschooling

Curriculum 2017-2018

10/24/2017 Danielle Huddleston Leave a comment

Since we are doing year-round school now grades are a little less clear-cut than normal.

So this is the curriculum I will be using for my twins that are in 1st-2nd grade.

RightStart Math Level C (we are actually still finishing up level B right now)

All About Spelling Level 1

For Handwriting, I am making my own worksheets for the twins.

They have been doing Handwriting Without Tears but they need more repetition and practice.

So I made my own worksheets that still follow the same approach as the program.

For Grammar, I am trying to work on a Montessori approach.

I bought these stencils and made the shapes out of felt.

I am hoping that this more hands-on approach will make it easier for them.

For History, I get picture books that are in the same time period the boys are learning.

I am using easy readers like Bob books and other phonics based books for the twins reading.

Science is similar to the boys, I just get books that cover the time period or place we are learning about.

I do try to get hands on things to go with it if possible though.

The boys are both in 6th grade.

The boy’s math is not pictured here because it is all online.

They do VideoText.com and Khan Acadamy for math.

We have been doing both of those since last year and like it so far.

They also do;

All About Spelling Level 6(we started at level 1 and still really like it).

I am having them work through Spectrum Language Arts workbook this year for grammar.

I suppliment their history with Draw and Write through history and World Empires, World Missions, World Wars Activity Book with History Revealed.

We use the Draw and Write through History more than the other.

This is what the inside of the two books look like.

The History Revealed book has activity and books suggestions.

I mean to use it more than I do.

I just don’t seem to get around to it.

I have really liked the Draw and Write through History series.

It is a little too advanced for the girls yet though.

I liked the series called Draw Write Now for them but only have one book so far.

This is the inside of the Language Arts book and Spelling book.

I found this book filled with fact sheets on World War 1 for a really good deal and have really liked it.

I usually find free quizzes or crosswords online for the boys but this was so cheap and easy I could not pass it up.

I have some of these Professor Noggins quiz games to help the boys review what they have learned.

This is an example of how many books I bought for our current study.

I rely heavily on library books for the boy’s History, Science, and Geography.

I also bought a few ebooks to go with our current study.

For handwriting practice, I have the boys do copywork from our current study.

For example, speeches from World War 1 or poetry from that time period.

I tie the different subjects together by timeline and keep track of it on a spreadsheet.

September	The Industrial Revolution , Cotton Gin	USA	French and Indian Wars, and American Revolution	The Runaway’s Revenge, The Chimney Sweep’s Ransom(ebooks). G.A Henty Novels	1700’s Mid-Late	Beethovan	US Supreme court
October	The Locomotive, Steam Engines		Napoleon, French Revolution, William Carey, Lewis and Clark	Alexandre Dumas		Beethovan
November	Steam Boat, Erie canal		War of 1812, Francis Scott Key, Peter Cartwright, William Carey	The Broken Blade and The Wintering ~The Sign of the Beaver, Mark Twain, Abandoned on the Wild Frontier, “William Wordsworth ” ,Cooper	Early 1800’s	Beethovan
December	James Audubon, Samuel F. B. Morse	Africa	Battle of the Alamo, David Livingston, Davy Crockett, Daniel Boone	Jules Verne	Mid 1800’s
January	Gold, Thomas Edison, Joseph Lister, Ferdinand Cohn, Microbes		California Gold Rush, Oregon Trail
February	Cells		Irish Potato Famine
March	Bacteria
April
May	Alfred Nobel(Dynamite), Louis Pasteur, Robert Koch, Viruses		Clara Barton, Pre-Civil War, Lincoln, Crimean War		Mid 1800’s
	Elevator, Transcontinental Railroad	Eastern USA, Mexico	Civil War, Clara Barton, Cinco de Mayo
	Gregor Mendel, Genetics	Western USA	Oregon Trail, Westward Expansion
June	Nikola Tesla, Bell, Electricty	Germany, France	Franco-Prussian War, the statue of liberty, Eiffel tower	The Young Franc Tireurs And Their Adventures in the Franco-Prussian War, Lamplighter	1870
	George Washington Carver, Marie Curie		William Booth, Van Gough, Paris Expo	Sherlock Holmes,	1880
August	Wright Brothers, Flying	Antarctica	Russo-Japanese War, Entente Cordiale, Leading up to WW1, Roosevelt, Panama Canal, Antarctic Exped.	Brighty	1900’s
September	Albert Einstein	Europe	WW1	The west point story(ebook), Spies of World War 1(ebook), one of ours (ebook). Sergeant York (ebook)	1914
			Amelia Earhart, The Great Depression,
	Atomic bomb		WW2, Winston Churchill, Chuck Yeager	Sound of Music, Winged Watchman(ebook), Lost Squardron	1939

This is what we covered over the last year.

It is constantly changing.

If I see something interesting I would like to cover than I find a place to add it in.

I like that I can just add in things we maybe missed to catch the next time around.

I don’t stick to a set schedule on how long each study will take.

It mostly depends on interest level and amount of materials to cover.