Nutcracker Unit Study

I'm happy to be able to give you a Christmas gift:  A Free Nutcracker Unit Study.

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How To Fuel Your Child's Obsession - How We Designed an Interest Based Unit Study

Doesn't the word OBSESSION have a negative connotation?  

In general, an obsession is not a good thing, but in homeschooling it can be wonderful! 

My youngest is six.   He LOVES facts.   I know this is common for this age ~ and this is why I feel the Classical model of education is working so well for us.   We are just filling this little guy with facts and he loves it!  He embodies the meaning of "The Grammar Phase"!  He cannot get enough, whether it be about baseball, space, math, or animals.  It seems that we have been obsessed with several things this past year.

I want to tell you about my son's obsession with orangutans and how I facilitated his learning about this cute animal.

It all started when we took a visit to Zoo Atlanta last year. 

I told the children I wanted them each to pick one animal they liked best and we would study it in depth after our zoo trip.  

My son chose the orangutan and my daughter chose the giant panda.  This included me getting them a book about this animal, and GMan suckered me into this adorable stuffed animal, whom he dubbed "Sylvester".    (A friend of ours is a member of the zoo and we got in for free, so I thought I could buy the stuffed animal! I can justify just about anything! ha!)

The first thing we noticed (at the orangutan habitat) was how it was spelled.  You would think (by the way people say it) that it would be spelled with a "g" on the end, but it wasn't. 

I challenged my son to memorize the spelling, and he had it down flat before we left the zoo that day.  He also remember several of the facts we read at the habitat.    The book he chose from the zoo shop was a DK Watch Me Grow book.  They are GREAT for young readers.... just enough information they can read on their own, and the books do not talk down to them.   Would you believe you can read this book for free online at We Give Books?    Not only is it a cool site (take some time to explore it!) but it shows you what the series of books look like. 
 

I can't tell you how many times my little guy read this book and he STILL sleeps with Sylvester.   All of his learning about the Orangutan is cemented in his steel trap of a brain.    We didn't do much written work at all - maybe a little coloring and a word search with orangutan words.   Most of our learning was reading and watching on the computer.   

Some additional extensions on the subject I also found include:  

National Geographic Animals - lots of videos, pictures, and interesting facts

National Geographic Coloring Book - I never knew this existed - it's a great resource!

Animal Planet Animals - while this article is entitled "Surprisingly Human", it provided a good chance for me to talk a little about evolution and creation with my six (and nine!) year olds.

The Sumatran Orangutan Society - a great page with lots of other links for exploration - we talked about WHERE Sumatra is, what continent it is on, etc... Lots of geography here!

As you can see, we developed this into a full fledged unit study for my six year old, all based on an animal he found at the zoo.   Now, how's that for fueling an obsession?   

I'm sure your children have obsessed on something recently.  What was it?  And, what did you do to encourage their obsession?  

What Is An Interest Led Education?

The whole idea of an interest led education is very intriguing to me.  


What exactly is an Interest Led Education, anyway?   Dare I say it is similar to UNSCHOOLING?     


In our family, interest led education means letting my children take charge of their learning.  

  Before you start getting excited and thinking I let my children make all of their educational decisions, let me tell you that as their parents their father and I decided the CORE of what they will learn.   We realize, however, that there are times when they will be passionate about something.   During these times it is my job to facilitate their interests and provide the tools to learn more.   


I don't want my children to have to wait until college to pursue what it is that really interests them!    Maybe some tangent that we take now when they are young will turn into a life-long passion.    

I read a great post the other day at Interest-Led Learning, called 8 Ways to Provide An Interest-Led Learning Home.    When I think about the environment I want to provide for my children, this is it.   It's a great resource, so please click over (I have some time to wait while you read....)

I had a lot of fun helping my children create their own unit studies, if you will, to explore what interested them.   As I look back on our year, some examples of interest led education are (click on all the links to see my posts from these times, too!):

• We started off the year (to get my little guy excited) by designing a huge unit study about baseball... it turned into a family project and we all learned SO MUCH.     (It has spanned this entire year!)  

• My daughter wanted to learn to knit and machine sew/quilt.... we incorporated this with a book we read for a local homeschool literature fair.    We spent A LOT of time learning these skills.    I didn't know how to do either of these things, but found people who could help my daughter... I was merely the facilitator! This wasn't in my "plan" for the year, but I'm so glad we went off on the tangent! 

• We went on vacation to the beach and my children found lots of shells.  When we returned home, instead of continuing with our "plan" for science, we stopped for a couple of weeks and immersed ourselves in seashells, using a Download 'N Go Unit Study.    This study led to the children wanting a Hermit Crab, so we spent lots of time learning about Hermit Crabs!   

• We were all interested in space (after a big study in the fall) and on our vacation decided (spur of the moment, which really isn't what we usually do!) to go and see a Space Shuttle Launch at Cape Canaveral.   Wow - is all I can say! I love what Christina said in the above-referenced article:   "Instead of getting the latest TV or upgrading your car every few years, why not use that money to travel more?" 

Image Courtesy United States Air Force

• Most recently my son was OBSESSED with dinosaurs -- we took off with that and created a dinosaur lapbook and went on a spectacular field trip!   

It seems like we provide our children a framework for learning.   Many things are NOT up to my children to decide.  I choose the math program, history program, etc...     I want to, however, seize the opportunity to let my children explore what interests them.  Isn't this why we do what we do in the first place?

Do you believe in interest led education?    Do you have some examples you can share with me?