Friday, February 7, 2025

Homeschool Science: How parents help their offspring survive

We did this unit right after the Biomimicry unit for Next Generation Science Standard 1-LS1-1. This next standard focused on how parents help their offspring survive.


Standard:

1-LS1-2 Read texts and use media to determine patterns in behavior of parents and offspring that help offspring survive. [Clarification Statement: Examples of patterns of behaviors could include the signals that offspring make (such as crying, cheeping, and other vocalizations) and the responses of the parents (such as feeding, comforting, and protecting the offspring).]








Friday, January 31, 2025

One Two Many Rabbits

One Two Many Rabbits
Players: 1-4
Play Time: 10-15
Ages: 6+ (officially 7+)

Overview Video:
 

Thoughts:
This game is kind of like Shut the Box, but there are some fun bonus cards to mix it up. I also like that you draw cards for the dice you don't use, making you think about how many to roll.

I love this both as a kids game and as a gameschool game. The artwork is fun and quirky, the game moves quickly, occasionally giving you things to do on the other person's turn. There's some math involved, but nothing heavy so kids won't fight you on it. It's good practice for kids while still being fun for adults. Since you start with a lot of cards, I would suggest using some card holders for younger players.
Archer had to teach Dad right away, but Juniper wanted to join in.

*Game kindly gifted from the publisher, but thoughts are my own

Check out my board game section of the blog:


Tuesday, January 28, 2025

Tot School Winter Activities

Winter is in full swing where we are, but we recently wrapped up our winter activities
I printed some snowflake outlines onto transparency paper and gave her some transparent gems and beads to make designs.
We used some winter animal erasers with her beginning tens frames cards.
Mitten pattern matching. Still an enjoyable activity for her.
I made a "snowflake" out of pipe cleaners, intending for her to use pony beads in blues and whites. She decided she needed neon heart pony beads. 
Winter sensory bin with epsom salts, some arctic toob figurines, trees, wood slices, sticks and a butterfly (on Juniper's insistence)
Emotions matching from Natural Beach Living
I got out our snowman playdough set

 

Ancient China Homeschool Unit

This year we are using units for social studies instead of a set curriculum. This was our unit on Ancient China. We also tasted some Chinese teas, but I forgot to take a picture.
Ms Frizzles Adventures in Imperial China
Chapter Books: 
We started out planning to have Archer read Day of the Dragon King on his own and I would read Where the Mountain Meets the Moon as a read aloud. However, he ended up loving Where the Mountain Meets the Moon so much that he stole it and read it all on his own.
Ancient China Pages from Ancient Civilizations


For art we had him watch this Art Hub video and then attempt his own drawing. He really did not want to color it, though.






 

Tuesday, January 21, 2025

Ancient Rome Homeschool Mini Unit

This year we are using units for our history curriculum instead of doing one overriding theme. We did a unit on Ancient Rome, but honestly, I forgot to document most of it. Here are the only pictures I got.
How to Be a Roman Soldier
A Roman Adventure (Histronauts)
Building a Colosseum with blocks


 

Thursday, January 9, 2025

Ancient Greece Homeschool Unit

For history this year, we've been doing units on some ancient civilizations. Honestly, I forgot to document much, so these are just the books we read.
Sorry, ignore the railroad book! He just got it out
Chapter books included
Magic Treehouse Hour of the Olympics
Beasts of Olympus: Beast Keeper
We also played some Zeus on the Loose. I couldn't talk him into Santorini.



 

Monday, January 6, 2025

Biomimicry Mini Science Unit for Elementary

For homeschool science we are doing units based on the Next Generation Science Standards. For the standard 1-LS1-1, I put together a short unit on biomimicry because I thought it would both fit the standard and be interesting to my animal loving kid.

The standard says:
Use materials to design a solution to a human problem by mimicking how plants and/or animals use their external parts to help them survive, grow, and meet their needs

We started with some structure and function readings and worksheets. (I tend to write for him often, but he dictates).

We began, as usual, by reading many books:
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