Khan Academy update - use it for math

I did math this evening.... for fun.

I am brushing up my math skills to eventually get the nerve to go take college Algebra and maybe do some college-ing myself.  I figure working the old noggin will put of senility.  I was much sharper when we were homeschooling.  Why not homeschool myself?

In the meantime, I started at arithmetic.  The photo shows how much I have done in two sittings.  An hour a month ago and two hours today.

If I remember to keep at it, I should be through all the high school maths, or at least through Algebra in a month.

I think this is a Free math program that parents should consider for their homeschooled kids. I've always loved this site, even back when it was just very quietly  spoken videos.  I loved it when it had a weird way of tracking progress, but now they've really got it together.

While my kids hated videos, they would stop and use them if they got stuck, so this math program now offers the best of two worlds... even if a student is not going to use it as the main curriculum, I highly recommend it for tutoring and review (which is pretty much what public and private school students use it for.)

learning by playing

free learning games for grade 3

For early elementary school kids, I favor unschooling as a method of teaching, but not the kind of unschooling where the kids vegetate and don't want to do much of anything, so you leave them alone, kind of unschooling... instead the kind of unschooling where you don't really let them know you are teaching them, but you are.

 Apps like the kind I mentioned in my last post would go a long way in doing that, but so would all the same games we played as children, counting games, calling our car colors, watching school house rock, and lots of reading and storytelling.

Something I came across today would also fit into this, but it is for older kids.  Playing battleship using the periodic table. I wish I'd had this as a kid. Check it out!

What is appschooling?

I was watching a commercial this morning on ABC Mouse reading program and I heard the mention that the parent had tons of learning apps.  The word APPSCHOOLING  popped into my brain. Eureka! I thought, I just came up with a new homeschooling term.

NOPE.

I googled it and it already exists.

Here are some links for you to enjoy.

The Wired Homeschool

Ben and Me

appschooling (on pinterest)

If I had another kid to homeschool, I would definitely take advantage of this way of homeschooling!  I would probably mount an iPad to the wall and load it up with educational apps and let the kid "play all day".  I think this would work great up until about 4th grade when kids start needing more structured instruction (in my opinion).

Giving away my homeschool books

I picked up the phone today and told a friend to come over with some file boxes this weekend and pick up any homeschool books she wanted.  I'd been giving her all my books one at a time anyway, and since I won't be living here full time,  I decided to turn my home office back into a guest room.

It's kind of bitter-sweet parting with the homeschool books I have accumulated over the years... a few I even purchased after I stopped homeschooling... (hard habit to break). It is bitter because I am done homeschooling my kids.  It is also sweet because I am done homeschooling my kids!

And what books exactly am I giving away?  Mostly standard high school textbooks.  In the end, they are what I enjoyed the most.  They tend to get to the point quickly and they don't cost much second-hand on Amazon.com.  We mostly used them as a spine or resource anyway as most of the kids education centered around research and educational websites.

I really preferred teacher
wraparound editions!

I will also be going through all the saved homeschool paperwork and tossing 99% of it away.  I have made portfolios for both of them, and that is plenty of documentation to prove that they did in fact homeschool through high school... plus they are both well into their college careers so aside from a  few nostalgic essays and drawings al the rest is garbage!

It feels really good to do this...  and to be talking about homeschooling in the past-tense... but I can't help but shed a proverbial tear.

I don't GET designer purses, and I don't GET boxed curriculum either

In shifting my mindset for living (even if only part time) in NYC, I have inventoried my belongings and am considering what I am bringing with me and what I am leaving here.  I looked at my purses, and then I threw some away... maybe I should just get a money clip and skip the purses, I thought, but perhaps, just for special occasions, maybe my old Coach purses will do.

Burberry bags $500-$3000 +

So I took them out, and polished them, and ordered new hang tags, and wrapped them lovingly.  But then I asked, what is the big deal with designer purses? Sure hubby purchased them for me as a gift because women he worked with insisted his wife should have these purses... and I used them for a couple of years, and then put them in the closet, because they cost too much to throw away even though I was tired of them, and because they were still in excellent condition.

I started researching designer purses, and if my old Coach bags still even qualify as such.  I found that they are lower cost designer, and vintage at that (since I've had them over 10 years), so ... cool.  But while these purses probably cost a couple hundred dollars each, other purses that classify as designer start at 400 and go up to thousands of dollars.

Top 10 homeschool resources for 2014-15

Unfortunately, one of the sites I have relied on heavily (Hippocampus) to provide my kids with free, high quality education is has lost it's contract with NROC but I have found a couple new sites for you to try.  Keep in mind that most of my picks are for high school students, as that is hardest to find, and that you need to check these out thoroughly. My kids no longer try out these sites as they are in college, so I rely on reviews, poking around, and a couple hours of trial access.

10.  MIT Open Courseware is a great way to challenge advanced students who aren't quite ready for the college classroom environment.  Most specifically, I recommend the Audio Video Lecture based courses as they are easier to follow.

9.  Spanish Hour has helped a couple of young people I know with this very important foreign language. You can start with the basic free membership, and then move to Premium membership for the extra tools later. It helps to prepare for the CLEP exam which means your kid won't have to tangle with Spanish in college.

Top 10 homeschool resources for 2013-14

I am not actively homeschooling my own children this year because both of them will be in ♫♪COLLEGE♫♪  

 However, I still spend a lot of time researching, talking about, and planning out curriculum with other parents.  My top 10 list still includes many of my old favorites from previous years, but my opinions have also changed about others.  With that said, here is my top 10 list for homeschool resources for 2013-14.  As it is very easy to find online resources for elementary students, most of my picks  are for high school students.  (All but number 1 is free)

10.  Let's face it.  Grammar is boring, boring, boring, so my pick for this subject spices it up a bit. Grammar Bytes! presents grammar in bite-size pieces with an urban flair that will attract teens to pay attention long enough to learn the concept.  You will find handouts, videos, and exercises to test knowledge.

9. Learning languages outside of a classroom or immersion experience is difficult, but if you must learn it at home, I recommend starting with BBC languages website.  They offer beginning foreign language courses in many languages.

8.  Sparknotes is especially valuable for avid readers, which all homeschool students should be.  You are presented with character analysis, plot summary, and provocative questions that make you think.  You can even find quizzes for many novels a homeschool student might read.  Sparknotes will also explain other subjects in a textbook online type of format.  It would be higher on my list, but It is kind of dry reading, no real interactive component.

7.  I love Learner.org or Annenberg Learner website, but teens can be a bit snobbish about it.  The videos are a bit retro, most being filmed at least 10 years ago, but the knowledge imparted is very relevant and information.  The biggest problem I have with it is that more of the videos are for teachers than students.

6 Khan Academy has been much higher on my list in the past, but it has moved down because while there are a lot of great tutorials, it is much more of a review resource, for tests and such, than a curriculum.  It's close, but not quite there.  But for a free resource, you can certainly make it work.  I feel like a workbook is needed for more drills.  This is where I believe it falls short. 5-10 practice problems for a concept is often not enough.

5. MIT Open Courseware is great for kids who are ready for college level work.  There are many courses available for students to use.  If you follow the syllabus and readings, you will have the same material offered to college students, including lectures, but you will not have interaction with the teacher. There are other colleges and resources that also offer open courseware, and some are even offering certificates, but MIT offers the most at this juncture.

4. I am a big fan of Yay Math! videos.  This is especially good for kids who find math videos boring.  This online educator kicks it up a notch making it a bit more entertaining without condescending to the students.  I wish his videos followed a specific textbook so we could follow along, but there are some online worksheets and quizzes for Algebra 1 & 2 and Geometry.

3.  Time4learning has always been, and will probably always be my favorite curriculum delivery system for elementary students...  I am not quite sure yet, but with the addition of the high school program, it may even move up my list.  The only thing I am unhappy about is that it was not available sooner.

2.  Hippocampus remains at the top of my list, but his has fallen from the top spot because there is some confusion inherent in the site. Instead of delivering curriculum via the NROC format, it now also includes Khan Academy, and PhET curriculum.  The NROC information is stellar.  The rest can be more difficult to follow.

1. I wish I had found ALEKS earlier, but I feel like it is a stellar resource for students who want to accelerate through curriculum. For $20 a month or less (for a longer commitment) a student can take complicated subjects as fast or slow as they please.  Subjects include all levels of math, as well as some sciences.  You will find textbook integration, and some colleges will accept some of the earned courses as college credit.

Free Biology Resources

Free Video Lectures

http://www.learnerstv.com

This site eliminates the need to search the entire internet for videos.

It sit has compiled video lessons from all over the internet.

You will find: every subject imaginable

LearnersTV offers free learning resources for students on various subject categories. Following is the current list of subjects available as on Monday, August 22, 2011. We will be adding more subjects in future.
Subject Categories

Biology | Physics | Chemistry | Maths-Statistics | Computer-Science | Medical-Science | Dentistry |Engineering | Accounting | Management 

McGraw Hill Biology

Mc Graw Hill Biology has an website that can be used in conjunction with the textbook (7 edition).  You will find an outline of each chapter, tests, labs, and other activities.  This can be used as an outline for teaching biology, or it can be used with the textbook that you can purchase new or used. 

A Guide to Online Homeschool Biology Programs

Thanks to generous public and private school teachers and free online curriculum providers, there are a handful of homeschool biology programs online that can be used with or without a textbook.

Read more:http://www.brighthub.com/education/homeschooling/articles/103525.aspx#ixzz1BdJmMgOn

Human Body Unit Study and Lapbook project

This lesson page will help you teach all about the human body in great detail.  It is probably most appropriate for elementary and middle school age and is a great precursor to high school biology.

From the site:

We all have one! We use it every moment of every day-- your incredible human body! What a personal and relevant topic of study for any child!

For the younger students, your study may focus primarily on anatomy, so you will explore the body's organs and body's systems. For older students you may extend the study into physiology and add in thefunctioning of the human body, including its systems, tissues, and cells.

Browse the ideas and links here to plan your human body lapbook, notebook, or unit study.

Anatomy of the Human Body

Anatomy is a sub set of Biology, but a perfectly acceptable course for ahomeschooler.

More specifically, Anatomy is "branch of biology concerned with the study of body structure of various organisms, including humans"

This is an online book provided by Bartelby.com. You could create tests yourself to go along with this text, or have the student write essays to explain what they have learned or to discuss theories.  This online book has excellent illustrations.

^ Here's an anatomy coloring book you can use alongside the free online book.

BioInteractive Virtual Science Labs

"The Virtual Labs Series produced by the Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI) has won top honors in the Pirelli INTERNETional Award competition. More than 1,200 multimedia entries competed for the Top Pirelli Prize, which recognizes the best multimedia products designed to use the Internet to educate about science and technology"

The Transgenic Fly Virtual Lab
The Bacterial Identification Lab
The Cardiology Lab
The Neurophysiology Lab
The Immunology Lab 

List of Virtual Biology Dissections:

I listed a virtual dissection of a cow's eye the other day... Thought you might enjoy this full list:  

 Net Frog :http://frog.edschool.virginia.edu/

Sheep Brain Dissection: The Anatomy of Memory:http://www.exploratorium.edu./memory/braindissection/index.html

 Virtual eye Dissection: The Anatomy of an Eye:http://www.eschoolonline.com/company/examples/eye/eyedissect.html

 Virtual Pig Dissection: http://www.whitman.edu/biology/vpd/main.html

Salmon Dissection Game: http://library.thinkquest.org/05aug/00548/DissectionGame.html

Virtual Earthworm Dissection

If you remember dissecting earthworms in science class, then you'll remember that it did nothing to help you learn the anatomy of the earthworm.  It was more of an exercise in YUCK!

You can still do the hand's on dissection to learn how to cut and look inside a once living worm, but this virtual earthworm dissection  will also give you a more clear view of the parts of the worm and what is inside.

Dissect a cow eye virtually

Courtesy of exploratorium.edu learning studios, you student can watch the dissection of a cow's eye... if they can stomach it. If they want to give it a try themselves (you supply the eye and tools) they can follow along with downloaded step by step instructions.

Enjoy these links to dissection tools and simulated frog dissection kit.

Biology Lab Activities

Here are some more biology lab activities for Biology students.

There should probably be a couple of hands-on labs done, but having virtual options will save you alot of time, money, and heartache.

The following labs are available.

Lab 1: Diffusion & Osmosis


Lab 2: Enzyme Catalysis

Lab 3: Mitosis & Meiosis

Lab 4: Plant Pigments & Photosynthesis

Lab 5: Cell Respiration

Lab 6: Molecular Biology

Lab 7: Genetics of Organisms

Lab 8: Population Genetics

Lab 9: Transpiration

Lab 10: Circulatory Physiology

Lab 11: Animal Behavior

Lab 12: Dissolved Oxygen

Human Anatomy

http://www.visiblebody.com/

The Visible Body is produced by Argosy Publishing. Its diverse groups make Argosy Publishing an award-winning provider of content and technology to the medical, pharmaceutical, scientific, consumer products, television, and educational communities. Visit www.argosypublishing.com and www.argosymedical.com for more information.

Digital Frogs for Humane Biology

Each year, thousands of students sit in biology class with a chemical-soaked frog pinned before them, wondering if there is a better way to learn about anatomy. With today’s advanced technology, there are now many humane alternatives that have been proven to teach just as well or better than dissection. PCRM is pleased to offer a free copy of one of these alternatives, Digital Frog 2, to students, parents, and teachers.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Top-Notch Science Projects. Detailed Instructions For 47 Top-Notch Elementary School Science Projects.

Free American History resources

American History for Middle School and High School

The Simple Homeschool Presents Raising Refounders "shovel ready history for the masses".

 This online program teachers all about the founding fathers of our country and has a full years American History Curriculum. 

Government Curriculum, free with shipping

 This is Choosing Our President and history curriculum is sponsored by Mike Huckabee.  It claims to teach history without bias.

Learn Our History’s latest DVD, Election Day: Choosing Our President, is a great way to get your kids excited about the upcoming presidential election.  Your kids will join a group of time traveling history students who go back in time to meet past presidents and understand how the United States election process came to be. 

History and more for Kids

Kidipede, is a site that middle school homeschoolers will enjoy. It allows you to research to your hearts content form many subjects from science, to geography, to history and even math. They currently have free subscriptions for and links for teachers.

Kidipede - History and Science for Kids is a children's encyclopedia covering mainly history and science topics. Kidipede is entirely online; there is no print version (yet).

Free elementary American History

This free history curriculum was originally written for the target age of eight to nine (3rd grade) but
can easily be used and adapted for other grades and ages. The easiest grades to adapt for and use our curriculum in are 2nd-6th grades. It is also an excellent supplement to any other history curriculum(for a variety of ages) with plenty of "gravy" like worksheets, printables, links, extra reading, crafts, activities and more.  

Teach all about westward expansion with this free History Ebook

Americans Move West: The Santa Fe Trail, is an ebook you can download, courtesy of Denver public schools.  It is recommended for middle school students with a 3 week dedication reccomendation.

Other units are available through the ALMA PROJECT

The Project has reaped numerous benefits from partnerships with various colleges and universities. We hope to continue to secure agreements with curriculum experts from various institutions and teachers to work directly with the Project. As the Project continues, these partnerships will allow us to broaden the range of topics to be developed.

Black History Month Lessons Plans

Teach your kids more about black history month with these great lesson plans, activities, coloring pages, and more.

Remember that black history does not just include the Civil Rights Movement, but includes many different time periods, including the present. African Americans have contributed a great deal to the history of America. Included below are lesson plans, activities, stories, pictures, coloring pages, and more. These materials can be used in a classroom, for homeschool, for supplemental lessons given by a parent, or just for fun.

READ MORE

Digital History: Online History Textbook

This is an online textbook focusing specifically on American History

This Web site was designed and developed to support the teaching of American History in K-12 schools and colleges and is supported by the Department of History and the College of Education at the University of Houston.
The materials on this Web site include a U.S. history textbook; over 400 annotated documents from the Gilder Lehrman Collection, courtesy of The Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History, supplemented by primary sources on slavery, Mexican American, Asian American, and Native American history, and U.S. political, social, and legal history; succinct essays on thehistory of film, ethnicity, private life, and technology;multimedia exhibitions; and reference resources that include a database of annotated links, classroom handouts, chronologies, glossaries, an audio archive including speeches and book talks by historians, and a visual archive with hundreds of historical maps and images. The site's Ask the HyperHistorian feature allows users to pose questions to professional historians.

Free ACT practice resources

ACT Website has review materials

If you are preparing to take the ACT, the ACT website has practice questions and writing prompts:

Review these practice questions to help familiarize yourself with the ACT® test.

For each question, click on your answer to see if you are correct.

Five sets of questions are available for English and Mathematics; four sets are available for Reading; and seven are available for Science.

To prepare for the Writing Test portion of the ACT Plus Writing, see a sample writing prompt and responses.

The website also allows you to schedule exams, view your ACT scores, and to change your registration if necessary.

Why take the ACT?

ACT scores are accepted at all 4 year universities in the United States.
The questions are curriculum based, not aptitude or IQ based, meaning students should not be at a disadvantage. 

ACT Test Prep-Science on YouTube

Super Magnet Man on YouTube has a set of 8 videos that will help you to prepare for the Science ACT. I have heard good things about him. His accent is a little distracting to me, but he definitely knows what he is talking about. Here is the intro video:

Synopsis from video:

This is the first clip of an 8 video course aimed to help high school students understand the science portion of the ACT test. The Science section is usually the most misunderstood part of the ACT test and hopefully this video series will help students tremendously.

Most Recently Added resources found at this link

Suggested Reading Barron's ACT Math and Science Workbook (Barron's Act Math & Science Workbook)


4tests.com is a website that provides practice tests for numerous standardized exams including the ACT

Economics Done! - a review

All that my child has to finish to be done with her homeschool academics forever is health.  She finished her economics course last night while I was doing her hair.  She used a basic text book via Glencoe  and online tests to learn the basics of Economics, then we finished up with "Whatever Happened to Penny Candy", a book that I recently came upon.  It is "an Uncle Eric Book", from a series that has a matter-of-fact way to describing political and financial subjects, and I seems like homeschoolers are taking to the book series.

Anyway, after she finished the basic curriculum, I had her read the book and requested a discussion of it... she chose verbal and I was fine with that as I am anxious to finish the year.  She described the book chapter by chapter, told my how it compared and contrasted with the textbook and what insight it gave her.

She basically feels that I should have had her do this Economics course before Personal Finance because she may have felt more inclined to embrace the work.  She is the type of person who has to understand WHY before she embraces any materials, and this book I added to her Economics course mad the WHY's very clear.

She plans to keep the book forever, and make sure that her future husband reads it too.  She feels it will help her avoid the pitfalls that people often fall for that keeps our economy if a constant cycle of boom and bust.



FREE HOME EDUCATION WEBSITE ahermitt.com

Sooooo close to finished.... yet so far.

It is so hard to focus on the final academics that need to be done before graduation.  There are almost 2 months before graduation, so there is plenty of time, but a lot of that time is accounted for with the SR. Project for her arts program.  She has had to write, design, and will need to rehearse and perform a show on graduation day.  So I want the academics done.

Left to do:

2 Lifepac paces for Physical science
1 term paper for economics.
1 full .5 credit study on health.

The college she is going to also wants her to take a math test, a writing test, and a spanish test online right away.

Meanwhile, I am having problems pulling her attention from her SR. Project, as that is most exciting.

Sigh.

I'm just glad to know that I won't have to micro-manage her work anymore.  She responds much better to teachers (like the one who is mentoring her Sr. Project).  I'm not worried about college... just anxious to get 12th grade finished.


FREE HOME EDUCATION WEBSITE
ahermitt.com

Homeschool Classes and Homeschool Schools

I realize the title is a bit redundant, or perhaps more of an oxymoron, but homeschool classes and programs have been very valuable to us.

I feel  classes outside the home was the thing that we needed to give my daughter (especially) the extra boost to get into even her most far-reach college choice.  She was able to show that not only had she met the recommended academic guidelines to make her college ready, but that she had far exceeded it by taking as many elective classes as she did core classes.

Now classes outside the home are not for everyone.  There are certainly many pros and many cons.  I will list some of them for you.

Pros of outside classes:

Reference letters:  We had to find people to call on for academic and other references for college admissions and for internships and such.  The outside classes provided plenty of people to call on to help with these letters.

Mom is not the font of all knowledge.  In fact, I actually despised some of the subjects, and was glad

Defending Khan Academy

I've noticed some online murmuring about Khan Academy.  The critique is that it is imperfect and maybe not as ground breaking as we all thought.  Meh.

I have loved Khan Academy since the day I found it a few years ago, but as much as I like it, I have had problems with the videos themselves.

First, Salman Khan is a quiet speaker.  I have to strain or use earphone to hear most of the videos.

Second, there's not always enough background  in a particular subject information to move you forward.

Third, as much as homeschoolers would like it to be, for the reason listed directly above, it is not a full homeschool curriculum.  Instead it is a tool best used for review of concepts a student does not understand.

For what it is.  It is AWESOME.

While I don't love the videos themselves, I do love the format and program that allows a student to test through the levels of math, refresh their skills, and even move ahead.

So while it is imperfect.  I do believe it is groundbreaking.... and free.

The next best program, ALEKS.com costs $20.00 ($240 a year) per month, and doesn't use videos, but step-by-step examples.  It does work as a stand a lone curriculum, and my daughter preferred it over Khan Academy.


FREE HOME EDUCATION WEBSITE
ahermitt.com

Spent the whole day compiling my favorite curriculum resources

I have been asked for a homeschool high school guide a million times, so I spent the day compiling it.

You will find it on my curriculum blog or here.  It is a compilation of the last few posts I did subject by subject and free resources all over the net.

Enjoy.


FREE HOME EDUCATION WEBSITE
ahermitt.com

High School Homeschool Curriculum Recap- Foreign Language & the Arts

This is the last of a series of blog posts compiling the resources I used for my kids during the high school years.  This last installment covers foreign language and the Arts.

Foreign Language: Most states and colleges have a foreign language requirement for high school students. I have to say that this was the hardest subject for my family.  The reason is that I don't speak and foreign language, and couldn't even keep up with my kids' learning.  They ended up being on their own. Here is a brief accounting of what we used.

For my son:
Spanish 1a: My son took this in a classroom atmosphere using Bob Jones Curriculum and Rosetta Stone.  He was unhappy with his progress, so he insisted that I only award him a half credit for this class and the next year...
Spanish 1b.  He used Learner.org and Rosetta Stone again.  He did the first half of the learner.org program which is supposed to cover spanish I.  It's a pretty neat program.

High School Homeschool Curriculum Recap- History

This is part 3 of my curriculum recap series.  Please scroll to the bottom for other subjects.  This installment specifically covers history in the high school years.  Before the high school years, I feel that history should be taught chronologically.  Personally, I prefer that it also be taught chronologically in the high school years as well, but for the college bound student, that is not always possible.

To keep things interesting, and for continuity's sake, I always pair my literature choices with the history/social studies unit.  You can find my k-12 language arts plan here.

American History:
Each of my kids actually did two year of American History.  There is just so much information to cover.  We used Hippocampus.org, and studied Discovery to Civil War the first year and

High School Homeschool Curriculum Recap- Science

This is part two of my curriculum recap series.  In it I am attempting to look back at my kids high school years and give lessons learned and what we loved and hated.  Here is a review of my children's science subjects.

Neither of my children were very excited about science as they are more artsy people, so we did not go out of our way to do AP courses or take SATII's which science minded kids will want to look into.

Environmental Science:

My daughter Used Hippocampus for Environmental science.  She used it in conjunction to one of the recommended textbooks on the site, and mostly followed the hippocampus format.  I just mapped

High School Homeschool Curriculum Recap- Math

 I have done my best to list curriculums my kids have used, as they have used them.  Sometimes, though, I have changed curriculum within the first 3 months due to dissatisfaction, and may have left off that information.  For that reason, I am listing everything we used, and liked for the high school years:

Algebra:  
My son did Algebra in Middle School using Teaching Textbooks.  He got a very good understanding of Algebra and after taking this course was able to go through all following math courses pretty much without any help, so I recommend Teaching Textbooks.  It is very expensive though.

My daughter used HippoCampus.org for Algebra, and took over a year to finish the course.  Still, it was free, and she also got a very good understanding of Algebra 1, allowing her to finish Algebra 2 very quickly.   (on hippocampus, she used the course labeled Algebra 1 - 2004)  They have a new course, Algebra 1, An open Course 2011 that looks promising.


Algebra 2:
My daughter did Algebra 2, and my son did not.  We sued the following textbook:  Algebra 2 by

Slipping language arts into the other subjects

In my last post, Grading subjects that haven't been taught, I touched on integrating language arts into other subjects.  The comment that followed made it clear that I must be more specific.

Here is how I would, and in some cases, have integrated language arts into science and social studies, and art, etc, eliminating the need to do a lot of painful language arts exercises.

Lower Elementary:

Trips to the science museum, zoos, and science experiment workshops are always preceding by reading about the subject matter and the scientists or historical figures involved.  Their interests were most piqued in anticipation of the outing, and so they payed attention, and they were always ready to discuss the subject matter during the outing.  There was one circumstance when we went to an art museum, for