Magic Tree House units

We recently started reading the Magic Tree House books. My daughter seems to enjoy them, although it's in pretty tough competition as we are 8 books in to the Boxcar Children series this year as well. ;) The great part about the Magic Tree House books is that she is able to do a monthly free online book club with them, and we've been putting together lapbooks as well.

Of course she loves making lapbooks. In addition, she is really liking the video of her teacher and can answer all the questions on the book; great follow-up for comprehension and further subject details with little effort on my end. We're still continuing with various Sonlight read-alouds and other study guides in Charlotte Mason style, but these books are a quick addition, we can read one in an afternoon if we want, and the Homeschool Share has free materials to pair with it, along with the Currclick online book club. Gotta love Currclick!!

From London to Jamestown in 1609: Colonial History Lit class: A Lion to Guard Us

I taught a fun colonial history/lit class at our homeschool learning cooperative last trimester on the short historical fiction novel, "A Lion to Guard Us," by Clyde Robert Bulla. The kids all followed the book at home and then on Fridays during my class we did hands-on projects and discussion of the book.
The book follows 3 children who live in London and travel to the New World to find their father in Jamestown, Virginia on the Sea Venture in 1609 through the Virginia Company, so along with various literature elements such as similes, cliff-hangers, mood and symbolism, we were also able to cover a good deal of historical events.
Throughout the 10 weeks we examined numerous "Then and Now" comparisons while doing fun hands-on activities, including making soap, making butter, quill feather pens, oil lanterns and making small candles, and the kids had a blast packing their own travel chests and bringing them in to show and tell what essentials they would bring with them to the "New World."
The Lion's Head door knocker is a vital center to the story, and I was blessed to get an identical one (the fact that it was brass was also central to the story) from a friend in Grand Rapids who picked it up for me from an antique store for $7.






Mid-trimester I had set-up a field trip for our homeschool group to a nature center's sugar bush tour and it worked out great as they went over the history of how Native Americans and the early pioneers made maple syrup.

On the last day, we also played some games like Tic Tac Toe with ships and lion heads, which the kids enjoyed, and I gave them journal pages called "The Starving Time" with a girl's picture on it that they could continue the story from the lead character, Amanda's point of view on their own after the novel ended.


It was a great trimester and a fun unit. I drew many ideas from Laurie Carlson's Colonial Kids Activity book, too. Here are some more extremely helpful links:
On The Trail of Captain John Smith: A Jamestown Adventure from NGK
A Lion to Guard Us unit study from the Homeschool Share

And here is an awesome short video on the exact ship from the story, the Sea Venture!

If you give a mouse some cheese...

We recently made use of an afternoon with some quick, fun activities to accompany one of the kids' favorite books, "If You Give a Mouse a Cookie," which we have as a book-on-tape. Along with making some mice out of tp rolls and making homemade cookies, (of course!), we also had fun making up our own cause and effect poem-stories. "IF you give your dog a french fry, chances are she's going to want the wrapper to chew with it." ;) Fun times! The Homeschool Share (one of my top 5 favorite websites of all time), had, of course, a free unit study to go with this book: If you Give a Mouse a Cookie Lapbook.



And, just for the laugh of it, I saw this online and it cracked me up! :

"IF YOU GIVE A MOM A MUFFIN"- "If you give a mom a muffin, she'll want a cup of coffee to go with it. She'll pour herself some. Her three-year-old will spill the coffee. She'll wipe it up. Wiping the floor, she will find dirty socks. She'll remember she has to do laundry. When she puts the laundry in the washer, she'll trip over boots and bump into the freezer. Bumping into the freezer... will remind her... she has to plan supper. She will get out a pound of hamburger. She'll look for her cookbook. (101 Things To Make With A Pound Of Hamburger.) The cookbook is sitting under a pile of mail. She will see the phone bill, which is due tomorrow. She will look for her checkbook. The checkbook is in her purse that is being dumped out by her two-year-old. She'll smell something funny. She'll change the two-year-old. While she is changing the two-year-old the phone will ring. Her five-year-old will answer and hang up. She'll remember that she wants to phone a friend to come for coffee. Thinking of coffee will remind her that she was going to have a cup. She will pour herself some. And chances are, if she has a cup of coffee, her kids will have eaten the muffin that went with it." by Kathy Fictorie

For The Wizard of Oz, There's no place like home(school)

The Wizard of Oz has always been a childhood favorite of mine. My mom and I watched it every year. I cannot listen to Judy Garland's "Somewhere Over the Rainbow" without feeling the rush of nostalgia that seems to carry me like a wave right back to the vulnerable, cherished time of being a little girl. Seeing as how OZ is any unattainable place, as an adult it may just as well be the innocent center of childhood you're wishing to be sent away to, beyond the rainbow.
While I surely cannot return to my childhood, I have been blessed to re-experience and share in it through the wondrous eyes of my children.
Our most recent literature read-aloud for our homeschooling was L. Frank Baum's classic Wizard of Oz, which was already a favorite movie for my kids. We were blessed to be given the Sonlight curriculum's accompanying study guide from a friend, and also blessed to receive a gorgeous Dorothy dress from another friend earlier in the year which my daughter wore for Halloween. The blessings kept trickling in, we found a local opportunity to enjoy the Wizard of Oz musical at the Grand Rapids Civic Theatre.

It was an amazing show, my daughter and I went together, she dressed in full costume. What a magical experience, the performance and special effects (stage flight, smoke, fire, etc.) were very impressive and watching it with my daughter was priceless. Her eyes danced and her face filled with joy throughout. Everyone ooh-ed and ahh-ed her attire during intermission and after the show we even got to meet Dorothy, who graciously gushed with excitement to my daughter for looking just like her.

On the way home, my daughter initiated the conversation in which we compared and contrasted the similarities and differences between all three: the book, the movie and the musical.

Along with assorted wizard of oz coloring pages and a homemade lapbook, here are a few more related activities we've done which were not mentioned in the study guide but were fun ways to expand our studies.
Science experiments:
Water melts the Wicked Witch of the West: In Baum's book, Dorothy says the witch melts like brown sugar. Make small brown-sugar witches in shallow bowls and melt them by slowly pouring a cup of water on top. Explore what else is water soluble by attempting to dissolve different solids in water.
Exploring Emeralds and Rubies: Gemstones are common in Oz. Dig into geology lessons as you discuss what gems are, how are they made, and why are they so valuable. Could you really make a city of emeralds, or wear a pair of ruby shoes?
Weather: Make a Tornado in a jar, and experiment with rainbows and bending light.
Math Connection:
Make a Yellow Brick Road of paper for your floor. Count how many bricks it takes to make your road cross the house? Outside? Down the street? What about if the individual bricks were smaller or larger? Measure and make your way through the room, and your kids will also love skipping along their own homemade yellow brick road to continue imaginative play.
Story Retelling sheets: Follow the Yellow Brick Road
And most of all, remember, when it comes to loving and learning, there truly is no place like home.

Frog and Toad Literature Unit

My daughter is reading the Frog and Toad books by Aronold Lobel. We have The Frog and Toad Thinking Book which gives various activities and creative thinking ideas to accompany the books. They are perfect for her reading level, and the library even had some as books-on-tape which my kids love also. In the past we've compared how frogs and toads are different and similar, but here we are comparing and contrasting how the characters Frog and Toad are different, but still friends.
Here are some related literature activity ideas for this series: E-Theme Frog and Toad.