Homeschooling ADD Kids

                                                

 

We chose sheep for our unit study this week because kids seem to love them and also because there are people who still rely on sheep as their livelihood. In view of today’s economy many people are looking into ways to live of the land and owning sheep and/or goats really can help. They provide food (milk) and clothing (wool) and they are super-interesting creatures. Did you know that there are over 200 different kinds of sheep?

 

Lets begin our unit study and see what else we can learn!

 

Reading, Spelling, History, Art, Animal Science

If you’ve been using my unit studies for a while, you probably are already familiar with my advice on how to teach children with ADD or other learning differences how to read. If not, read our post " Tips to Teach Your Child How to Read Better ". 

 

First, find a book about sheep that fits your child’s reading level.  You might wish to purchase one from Amazon.  Here’s a list of books about sheep that you can buy online and have delivered to you.

 

If your child is very young, you might want to read the free online version of Baa Baa Blacksheep (originally written in 1880!).  Or try this other free online children’s book (1840) called The Flock of Sheep, or Familiar Explanations of Simple Facts.

 

Read one of the books that you ordered or downloaded and then talk about it. If it was a book that was just a cute story about a sheep ask your child what they thought it says about the personalities of sheep. Do they like sheep? Would they want to own a sheep?

 

Well, if you are really into the idea, you can actually adopt a sheep .  Please let us know if you do this and how it works out!

There is a lot of variety among sheep.  Here are pics of some different kinds of sheep:

 

 

 

These are some of the pictures we found online, but you may want to search for more. However never leave your child unattended to scout out pictures of anything online. When Googling something, be sure to add “for kids” or something like that. When you do find your pictures go through them and ask your child to determine what sheep he thinks best pictures the sheep you read about. Now go find your sheep! See where it lives and where it came from. Wikipedia has a section all about the different breeds. Use Pronto.com to get a printable map of the world if you don’t already have one and find the country that the sheep comes from. What is the climate in that country and how would that affect the sheep and farmers of that area?

 

Have your child draw a picture of some of the different sheep you find and have them write the type of sheep it is under each picture and the country of origin. When writing the name of the sheep have him say the name out loud and then spell the word also out load as he writes. This process allows for visual and mental recognition of the words.

 

A few more sheep facts

Female sheep are called ewes, baby sheep are called lambs, and male sheep are called rams. A group of sheep is called a flock.

 

 

They normally live to be about 8 years old, but can sometimes live to be as old as 20. Sheep usually give birth once a year and have 1-3 lambs. Lambs form strong bonds with their mothers. They can identify their mother by her bleat. Can you tell the difference? This site has some sounds that your child might find funny. Our dog loves it!

http://www.sheep.com/sheep_sounds.cfm

 

Depending on how old your child is you can teach your child the classic songs “Baa Baa Black Sheep” and “Mary Had a Little Lamb.”

 

Math, Making a Living, Reasoning

Sheep Farming (also known as Sheep husbandry)

 

Go to this article on Wikipedia for a great description of what is involved in raising sheep to sell either the sheep or their milk or fleece for a living. There is also a section on sheep shearing or clipping.  Typically each adult sheep is shorn once a year (a sheep may be said to have been "shorn" or "sheared").  Depending on the size of the farm some farmers shear up to 3000 sheep in a day!

 

 

The assignment for this section is to figure the cost of raising, owning & shearing sheep.  Now figure out how much money is made by selling the wool, or the profit in making a sweater or a blanket to sell. Write these down and get the cost and profit totals. You can add the profits of selling the milk or cheese to make this a bit more challenging as well.

 

 

 

Example:

Cost 1 sheep $20

Shearers $5

1 sheep 6 pds of wool

$ per pd $5

 

With one shearing a year how much money would you make?

 

Add the selling of milk or cheese:

1 sheep produces 1 gal milk

1 gal milk worth $6

 

Now lets say you want to just raise and sell the sheep:

1 female sheep (ewe) $20

1 male sheep (Ram) $20

1 baby sheep (Lamb) $25

 

If a female sheep has one to two sometimes even three lambs at a time, what could your profit be for the year?

 

Depending on your child’s age you can make this easy by figuring this with one sheep or for older children making it a flock of 10 etc…

 

Sheep in daily life

Do you have any wool sweaters or blankets in the house? Have your child feel it. Compare the wool to something made of cotton. Discuss the values of wool and how it keeps the sheep warm in the winter and even cool in the summer. Ask your child what they think of the texture, the purpose and the value of wool.

 

Go outside and look at grass, the main food source for sheep. Take your shoes off and walk barefoot to get a feel for it. Discuss what that is like for the sheep how they would chew it and maybe even talk about “chewing cud” (Wikipedia has some interesting information on this) This is why humans and dogs can not live on grass like cud chewers (sheep, goats, horses) do. If your child is very young, just have her run around making noise like a sheep might do.

 

 

Writing, Science, Nature

 

No true sheep farmer could live without the help of his trusty ol’ sheepdog. A sheepdog is a type of dog whose original purpose was to herd or guard the sheep. They were first trained thousands of years ago and the herder was able to get them to act on the sound of a whistle or by voice command. Many sheep dogs are now kept as domestic pets these dogs are very active and intelligent so they require both physical and mental exercise.

 

Watch the following video together:

 

 

Now ask your child how would he train a dog to do this.  Ask him or her what commands might you need to train a sheep dog?

 

Have your child write an essay about 200 words in length to describe either all that you would do with your sheepdog or an essay as if you were the sheepdog. What would a day in the life of a sheepdog be like? The essay does not have to be perfect since, after all, your child may be pretending to be a dog. Take the words that your child has trouble spelling and make them into spelling words. Rewrite them and then play catch outside while you help your child to spell these words out load again say the word spell the word. Now go back inside and have your child try to write and spell these words on his own.

 

Here’s a fun video to watch about "extreme" sheep herding:

 

 

Arts & Crafts

Many people have a potential "sheep" right in their house. People have been spinning dog hair into yarn long before the Spaniards introduced sheep to North America. Chiengora (she-an-gora), or dog yarn, is up to 80% warmer than wool, very soft, similar in appearance to Angora, and sheds water well. All you have to do is save the brushings from your dog!

 

Here’s a site with instructions on how to make dog yarn.

 

 

Art, History, Science, Math

 

Try making sheep milk cheese (feta) with your child! (click on the words "sheep milk cheese" in the previous sentences for instructions.  Make sure to use this occasion to teach measurements to your child.  Have him or her measure the ingredients.  Ask him to figure out how much of each ingredient you would have to use if you needed to double or triple the recipe (or perhaps divide it in half).  If your child doesn’t know fractions or is not skilled at adding, multiplying or dividing them, this is a great time to teach him!

 

You might prefer making pecorino cheese (similar to Romano, that you use on pasta with tomato sauce):

 

 

OR

 

…try making sheep or goat milk soap:

www.ehow.com/how_4551864_milk-soap-cold-process-method.html

 

Next unit study

The next unit study will be in two weeks, on the topic of space!  See you then!

 

4 Comments | In: math, reading, science, sheep, spelling, writing | | #

 

I had to skip posting a unit study last week.  My aunt passed away, so I had to take a flight up to Rhode Island for the funeral.  I’m still in RI right now, but didn’t want to skip posting another lesson, so here it is!

 

Two weeks ago we did Part 1 of the international unit study on Japan.  This week we’re going to focus on the history and sports of Japan.  We’ll just look into a few main aspects of Japan’s history and sports, leaving it up to you to decide how much further you want to investigate (depending on the age and ability of your child).

 

Keep in mind that although you’ll be incorporating some reading, writing and math in this unit study, the main purpose of my international unit studies is to help children understand and appreciate other cultures.

 

 

YOUR CHILD’S NAME IN JAPANESE

SKILLS TAUGHT:  HANDWRITING, CULTURAL DIFFERENCES

 

In last week’s unit study on Japan, your child learned how to write a few letters of the Japanese alphabet.  Now he’ll learn how to write his name in Japanese.

 

Go to: Japanese-Name-Translation.com and type in your child’s first and last name.  Then hit the Go button.  After it gives you the Japanese characters (Katakana), have your child write them on a whiteboard or sheet of paper.  Try writing names of other members of your family.

 

A LOOK AT JAPAN’S HISTORY

SKILL’S TAUGHT: WORLD HISTORY, READING, WRITING, ART, SCIENCE

 

SAMURAI

Samurai, or warrior clans were very powerful in Japan between the years 1192 though 1868.

Here is what the samurai warrior outfits looked like (actually, the last one was a ceremonial outfit, not used for fighting):

 

 

Get some paper and crayons and have your child create his own version of a samurai uniform.  Or go to Artpad’s Painter to have him create a digital painting.  After he finishes it, you can save it and send it to me at kbroccoli@homeschoolingADDkids.com .  I’ll then put a link to it on one of my upcoming blog posts so all our subscribers and visitors can see it!

 

GEISHA

Geisha were also an important part of Japanese history.  These female entertainers were skilled in dancing, singing and the art of conversation.  There have been Geisha in Japan since the 1600’s and you can still see them there.

 

Here’s a picture of a modern-day Geisha:

 

 

The Geisha wear Kimonos which are beautiful silk dresses. The Geisha were not the only ones to wear kimonos.  Here is a site with pics of children wearing traditional Japanese clothing:

 

http://www.japanesekimono.com/childrens_kimono.htm

 

EARTHQUAKES

 

The Great Kanto Earthquake was one of the largest earthquakes recording in history.  It destroyed the cities of Tokyo and Yokohama.  Over 140,000 people lost their lives.

 

Here are some pictures of what it looked like (don’t worry, they are not too graphic):

http://www.japan-guide.com/a/earthquake/

 

Try this experiment to teach your child why earthquakes occur:

http://www.geo.mtu.edu/UPSeis/why.html

 

POLITICS

 

In 1926, Hirohito became the emperor of Japan.  Japan pushed to expand their empire and invaded Manchuria, China.

 

In 1941, Japan attacked Pearl Harbor, Hawaii.  This led to the United States becoming involved in World War II.

Four years later, the United States dropped atom bombs on the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

 

After the war, power was taken away from the emperor and given to the people.

 

 

 

SPORTS AND GAMES IN JAPAN

SKILLS TAUGHT:  CULTURAL DIFFERENCES

 

One of the most popluar of Japanese sports is sumo wrestling. This website explains how it is fought and the rules of the game:

 

Sumo Wrestling at the Los Angeles 2008 Grand Sumo Tour - Funny home videos are a click away

 

They also love soccer, baseball and karate.

 

The Japanese have a sense of humor that might seem odd to us. Here’s an example of one of their game shows:

Human Tetris

 

How about some "binocular soccer"?

Japanese Binocular Soccer

 

JAPANESE FOOD

SKILLS TAUGHT: CULTURAL DIFFERENCES

 

Japanese eat very differently then we do. Their food is tasty but takes time to get accustomed to. Even though some Japanese use chairs when they eat, others families don’t use chairs like we do. Instead, they sit on cushions on the floor, like in this photo:

 

 

Here’s what some of their food looks like:

 

 

This are two different ways that they make noodles:

 

 

In Japan there are rules about how to eat: http://www.allsands.com/food/japaneseeating_nr_gn.htm

 

Chop sticks are often used in Japan.  Try teaching your child how to use them.  If he has trouble getting the hang of it, you can make chopsticks easy to use by following these directions.

 

 

JAPANESE NIGHT

SKILLS LEARNED:  CULTURAL DIFFERENCES, COOKING, MATH

 

Now that your child has learned a little about the Japanese culture, a fun thing to do is to spend a night pretending you live in Japan. Start by making a menu with your children. Here are some easy Japanese recipes:

 

Hibachi Chicken & Vegetables

Simple Sushi

 

If you don’t have a sushi mat you can use a cloth napkin. The nice thing about sushi is that you can replace the filling with anything your kids may like.

 

…and finish with some dessert:

 

Kushidango Recipe - Japanese Sweet Recipe

…or

Daigakuimo Recipe - Japanese Sweet Recipe

 

After making an easy Japanese menu with your child, head out to the store. This is a great time to have your child do math and find all of the ingredients just like we did in the dog unit study. After getting to the store, look for the international section and you will find most of what you are looking for.  Don’t forget the chopsticks!  If we don’t find something on one of the recipes, try to improvise or look for a local Asian store.

 

When you get home, set your living room up by putting your coffee table in the middle the room. Then collect pillows to sit on.

 

Now head to the kitchen and start cooking. This is a great time to work on fractions by having your child cook with you, measuring the ingredients.  If you are making double the amount of food, show him how to multiply all the ingredients by two.

 

Once dinner is ready get the room ready. We like to put on some soft Japanese music such as this (or other Japanese music that you can find on youtube):

 

 

Next get the kids ready. If you have a little girl have her dress like a Geisha.  While I couldn’t find a website that shows you how to make a Kimono, you might be able to use this site that shows you how to wear a Kimono.  Try using a robe instead.

 

After the kids are dressed you can start eating your Japanese meal with your chopsticks.

 

When dinner is over, enjoy some Japanese entertainment by having a sumo wrestle. We use our carpet in the living room as the "wrestling mat".  Steven and Kevin put belts over their clothes and then follow the directions in the sumo video. It is great fun and it will give your child a little taste of Japan.

 

NEXT WEEK

 

It’s time for working on memorization again.  As usual we’ll be doing it by means of physical exercises and games.  Please be sure to leave a comment to let us know what you thought of this week’s unit study!  And make sure to click on the Share button, below, to send this unit study by e-mail to a friend.  You can also use the Share button to post this unit study on your Facebook account or other social media sites.

2 Comments | In: international unit studies | | #

 

This week my unit study focuses on Japan.  By studying about a foreign country you will be teaching your child social studies, history, math, computer skills and geography. He will also learn about the fascinating differences between cultures. 

 

I’ve chosen Japan because most of our subscribers and visitors are from the United States and Japan’s culture is so different than ours. 

 

So let’s go on a trip to Japan together without leaving our homes!

 

STORIES ABOUT JAPAN

Skills taught: reading, spelling, social studies

 

As in my past unit studies, we’ll start by reading some books.  If you live near a library, you could spend some time there looking for children’s books about Japan.  Or if are just looking over this unit study and plan on using it next week or so, you could go to Swaptree, which is a website you can join to trade books with people around the country.  You end up only paying around $3.00 in shipping costs, and get rid of your old books at the same time.

 

Or you might want to take a look at a few of these books having to do with Japan, which you can order from Amazon.  I especially like the last one since it’s a fun and interesting way to teach kids about all the products, food and other items that come from Japan:

 

                     

 

On the other hand, if you want to get started right away, here are links to three stories which focus on Japan.  Two of the stories are very short, so you can probably read through all three of them.  Have your child read one or two of the stories to you.  Then read the remaining story or stories to him. 

 

When he makes a mistake on a word, write down the word on a pad or sheet of paper, so you can save it for spelling practice by means of physical games and exercises, which we’ll do in a couple of weeks. 

 

If he only mispronounces a few words, it is best to have him try to sound them out.  If you automatically tell him the right way to say it, his brain will get lazy and every time he sees a hard word, he’ll just mumble it, knowing that you’ll jump in.  Or he’ll just wait for you to say it.  However, if there are too many words like this and he has to sound out words in every sentence, he won’t enjoy the reading experience.  In that case, have him sound out the words you think are somewhat easier, and read the difficult ones for him.  Simply say "I’ll read this word" for some of words, or "try sounding this one out" for other words.  There’s a balance you need to reach here between teaching him to not be mentally lazy and making sure he doesn’t become exasperated.

 

OK, enough instruction on how to do it….here are the books you can read online for free:

  Matsuyama kagami

     

The Face in the Barrel (fairy tale)

Two Sisters’ Dowries

 

 

PLANNING A TRIP TO JAPAN!

Skills taught: geography, computer/Internet use and math

 

This section will be both fun and educational.  Your child will learn how to book a flight online and learn more about time and distance.

 

Get out your globe or world map if you have one or go to this online world map .  Show your child where you live on the map and then show him were Japan is. 

 

Now you’ll help your child to get an idea of how far they would have to travel to get to Japan and how long it would take.  Go to this online City Distance Calculator and type in the town where you live or the city that is closest to where you live.  If you don’t have a large computer monitor, you may need to scroll down in order to see the red NEXT button.  After confirming the two cities, click on the FIND DISTANCE button.  You’ll now see the distance in miles and kilometers "as the crow flies".  Explain that this expression means that the distance shown is the number of miles if you could travel there in a straight line.  However, even airplanes don’t travel in a completely straight line, and they often make a stop or two in other cities or countries, so the distance one would have to travel would actually be longer than what was calculated.

 

Go to Travelocity (an online travel website).  You’ll see a box like the one below.  Have your child type in the name of the city closest to where you live in the From box and "Tokyo" in the To box.

 

Click on the Flexible dates option so that you don’t have to pick exact travel dates and then click on the Search Flights button. 

 

Select one of the trips it offers.  Don’t worry, you’re not actually booking the trip. 

 

 

 

You will also have to pick a departure and return date.  This is a good time to improve your child’s skills at using a calendar.  Pick one of the dates that is marked in blue, as in the picture to the right, that you would start your trip if you were to go.  Then click on the return date.

 

 

 

After choosing your return date, you must select your departure flight.  Then you’ll see a screen like this…

…which shows your chosen departure date and gives you choices for your return flight.  All of this might seem like a lot of tedious steps, especially for a kid with ADD, but if you’ve booked flights online before then you know that this goes rather quickly.  But make don’t just click away.  Instead, have your child do the clicking and explain to him what he is doing with each step.  Have him practice reading names of places and times.

 

Now here’s where the math comes in:

 

Formulate some subtraction equations based on the start and stop times of each leg of each flight.  Depending on the age and ability of your child, you might ask him to come up with the subtraction problems based on the scheduling info.

 

Next, figure out how many miles away you live from the airport, perhaps by using Mapquest.  Then create a division problem to figure out how long it should take to get to the airport.

 

In order to help your child understand how long a certain number of hours are, use an example of somewhere relatively far from where you that you travel to on occasion.  For example, from where we live in North Carolina it is 6928 miles to get to Japan.  We go back and forth to New York from time to time, so I explain to Steven that to travel to NY it takes us 12 hours and it is about 620 miles.  Then I make him figure out how many times it would take us to go back and forth over and over from NY to NC to equal 6928miles.  He then figures out how many hours it would take.  It makes him realize how far Japan is from the U.S. and how long it would take to get there if we had to travel to Tokyo by car. 

 

You could also compare something he does regularly to the amount of hours it would take to travel to Japan.  For example, you might explain how on certain days he gets up in the morning, has breakfast, homeschools, plays, eats lunch, etc., and during all that time and on through evening he would still be traveling to Japan had he started the trip in the morning.  Having something to compare it to makes a big difference in helping a child to relate to time and distance.

 

If anyone actually gets so enthused by this that you plan a trip to Tokyo let us all know!

 

 

LEARNING ABOUT THE JAPANESE PEOPLE

Skills taught: social studies, inter-racial understanding

 

Explain to your child that differences between cultures are fun and fascinating.  Start him early on being interested in people, not just things.

 

You can start with the way Japanese people look.  Go to the Japan Window web site.  Make sure to scroll down in order to see the pictures.  It’s a nice site  because it shows kids playing just like our kids do, showing that although we are all different, we’re a lot alike, too.  Explain that the Japanese people have wonderful black straight hair and their eyes are shaped different than ours.  Show him a picture of himself and make him pick out the differences.  Point out that although they are different than us in ways, the differences between races and nationalities are  what makes for variety and beauty.

 

Now talk to him about the way we understand each other and our language.  Depending upon his age, he might understand this concept already.  If not, explain how Japanese people talk to each other and understand each other even though when we listen to them we don’t know what they are saying.  Explain that we also write differently. 

 

If your child is very young ask him say his alphabet and then say the alphabet song.  Even if he is not very young, take him to this alphabet song in Japanese:

 

 

 

….which also shows how Japanese letters are written.  Have him write one or two (or more if he enjoys it) on the white board.   Explain that is how they always write and to them our writing seems weird and difficult.  

 

Take him to this Japanese Beauty web page.  It has pictures of Japanese houses, formal clothes, instruments, cities, and landscape.  When your child gets bored looking at the pictures move on.  

 

Next, show him a video about traditional Japanese music and dance .  This video is a little long, but watch it for a bit and ask him how it is different from music and dance that he has listened to or watched:

 

 

NEXT WEEK’S UNIT STUDY

Next week we are going to continue with the Japanese theme and study Japanese sports, food, and history.  And we’ll finish with something we call international night.

 

SUBSCRIBE TO THIS BLOG TO RECEIVE THESE UNIT STUDIES REGULARLY

 

If you don’t already subscribe to this blog, why not do so in order to receive unit studies like these regularly?   Just scroll up to the top, right-hand corner of this web page and look for this section, shown in the picture below:

If you know what RSS feeds are you might want to subscribe to my blog via RSS.  To do so, click on the Entries (RSS) link, indicated by the red arrow in the picture to the left.

 

If you don’t know what RSS feeds are, but would like to know, here’s the skinny:

 

RSS feeds are ways to receive blog content via Outlook 2007 or RSS feed readers such as Google Reader or FeedDemon.  It’s a cool system in the sense that you don’t have to remember to actually visit my site to see if there is new content.  It will download the newest content when it’s ready. 

 

The other option is just to subscribe via email, which you can do by filling in your email address where indicated by the blue arrow in the picture.  Obviously there’s no arrows in the actual box at the top of this page, but I wanted to make everything nice and clear.  Then click on the subscribe button.  Don’t worry, I don’t share, sell or otherwise distribute email addresses.  Again, you need to scroll to the top, right-hand corner of this web page in order to subscribe.

 

Oh, and if you are interested in sharing some unit studies that you’ve written, or writing other posts for this blog, please e-mail me here: kbroccoli@homeschoolingADDkids.com  I’d love to hear from you!

2 Comments | In: math, reading, unit studies | | #

 

                                                                  

 

For the past two weeks the unit studies that appear on this blog each Monday have been about dinosaurs.  Weekly Unit Study: Dinosaurs Part 1 taught reading, writing, computer skills, graph usage, science, and art.  Weekly Unit Study: Dinosaurs Part 2 focused on teaching more reading, writing, science, and art as well as math.

 

Today we’re going to work on your child’s Internet research skills.  As we’ve mentioned before, memorization of facts is important for certain things such as multiplication tables, spelling and general knowledge of topics.  And we have physical exercises and games on this blog to help children with ADD to improve their memory.  However, even more important than memorization is that of teaching your child how to research.

 

Researching information can also help you child to develop his own ideas about things after having read over information in which there are sometimes differing opinions.  As Emerson wrote "Do not go where the path leads; rather, go where there is no path and leave a trail."

Nowadays most research is done online.  That can be a good or a bad thing, depending on whether your child knows how to use the Internet to do research.  It’s also important to keep in mind that if your child has Attention Deficit Disorder, it’s very easy for him to wander about from link to link instead of keeping focused on the subject that he is searching.

 

CAUTION: Don’t allow your child to use the Internet without your supervision.  As you well know, the Internet is full of great info, but it also has a lot of nasty sites.  Keeping the computer in a public area is highly advisable.

 

Searching for dinosaur info online

 

Rather than just looking for any information at all about dinosaurs, let’s make the research more specific by having your child look for information that answers the following questions:

 

1. What did dinosaurs eat?
2. What were some of the strangest dinosaurs?
3. What other animals were alive at the same time as dinosaurs?
4. What are the different ideas as to how dinosaurs disappeared? (We saw one theory in Weekly Unit Study: Dinosaurs Part 2, but there are others.)
5. What was the Earth like when dinosaurs lived?

 

The search engine that we are going to use is Ask.com, since it’s a search engine designed to work with full questions like the ones we have above. 

 

Once you’ve gone to the Ask.com site, show your child how to type the first question into the search engine box, and click the Search button or the Enter key on the keyboard.

 

Retrieval results can change from hour to hour, so I don’t know exactly what you will see, but generally the first results will be from paid sponsors.  Here’s what I got when I did the search on this question:

 

 

You’ll quickly notice that many of the sponsored links are not very relevant to your search.  It’s important that your child understand that usually the more relevant results (just tell him the "better" ones) appear below the sponsored links.  For example, when I scrolled down past the sponsored links, here’s what I got:

 

 

You can tell right away that the answers to the five questions we posed can be found at these links.  Like I said before, it might be that you have different websites retrieved than when I did the search.  However, the results you get should be quite relevant to your search. 

 

Ask your child to read the paragraph summaries below the first three or four links and then ask him which site he would like to visit to find more information about what dinosaurs ate.  Explain to him that even though he might find the answer right within the paragraph below the link, there is usually more information on the site itself, so it would be helpful to click on the link.

 

Once he has clicked on the link, show him how to find the answer to the question on the web page.  Sometimes the answer is right there with no other info.  Other times it’s buried within paragraphs of other information not directly related to the question which you are trying to answer. 

 

Teach your student how to scan through the paragraphs, looking for the information related to what dinosaurs eat, but without reading each word of each paragraph.  Scanning through info does not come easily to many kids, so one way to teach them how to do this is to tell them to move his eyes along the lines of text, but without reading the words.  Instead, just look for the words "eat", "eats", "ate" of "food".  Once he finds the word, ask him to read the sentence in which it appears as well as a few sentences after it until the discussion changes from talking about what dinosaurs eat to something else.

 

Now take out a notebook and dedicate a page or two to dinosaur research (just use a blank sheet of paper if you don’t have a notebook handy).  Have your child write the question "What do dinosaurs eat? at the top of the page.  Ask him to write the first answer below the question.  Tell him he cannot look at the website while doing it.  This is an excellent way to teach your child how to put info that they have researched into their own words. 

 

Since you’re not working on memory skills right now, if you’re child can’t recall what he read, tell him to read it again, but then turn the monitor away from him as he writes his answer.  If he has a very good memory, it might be that the sentences he writes don’t sound like his own and mirrors the site’s phrases too much.  If that’s the case, ask him what the sentence means, or to tell it to you "using different words".  His response should sound more like himself.  Then have him write down what he said.

 

Repeat these basic steps using each of the five questions we started with.  However, this time instead of having him scan the lines of text on the web page visually, teach him how to use Ctrl-F on the keyboard to find words on the page related to the question he is trying to answer.  This is, of course, a faster, more-logical way to research online, but having him scan the text visually will help him understand the principle behind what the browser’s Find tool does.

 

If this researching the answers to the questions takes too long or he becomes impatient, take an exercise break, a walk, or just do less questions. 

 

Writing a summary of the research

 

Teaching your child how to write a simple research paper, even if he is still very young and has strong ADD symptoms, will prove to be a valuable aid to him in many aspects of his life as he grows older, such as while pursuing further education or preparing presentations for secular work.

 

Have him read through his answers at least twice.  Now take his answers away from him, have him start with a clean sheet of paper and ask him to write an introductory paragraph that will explaining the topics that will be covered in this research paper. 

 

Next, have him write one paragraph answering each of the questions, but ask him which question he thinks should be answered first.  Tell him that he can add other paragraphs about other things he learned about dinosaurs when doing the unit studies during the two previous weeks. 

 

If he cannot remember some of the answers to the questions he researched, give him some hints without reading his sentences to him.  The purpose of this "rewrite" is so that he rearranges the sentences and paragraphs, continuing to reword his thoughts.  This is great exercise for the brain and encourages creativity.

 

When he is finished writing the paragraphs containing answers to the questions he researched and other facts that he learned while doing the dinosaur unit lesson, show him how to write a concluding paragraph that summaries what has been learned.

 

This can be a rather long, mentally exhausting process, especially for a child with Attention Deficit Disorder.  Don’t push him too hard if he is having a too tough of a time getting through it.  Instead, have him write only one paragraph and then switch to a different homeschooling task or give him a break.  Then after 15 to 20 minutes have him write another paragraph, etc.  Some kids with ADD can only handle certain tasks such as writing a page full of researched information if they constantly switch between tasks.  This is okay, as long as he eventually finishes the research project.

 

What do you think?

 

Let me know how you liked this week’s lesson.  Share some ideas on how you might have done it differently or ways we can improve future lessons!

 

Next week

 

Next Monday we’ll be using the unit study on dinosaurs to do some physical exercises and games to help improve your child’s memory in math and spelling.  See you then!

 

 

3 Comments | In: dinosaurs, reading, research skills, unit studies, writing | | #

 

                                                        

 

Welcome to Part 2 of our unit study on dinosaurs!  Last Monday your child read a short book to you which had a dinosaur as the main character, then you read some info from websites which taught basic science facts about dinosaurs.  After that your child learned some computer skills while writing a few paragraphs about what he learned.  You and your child also did a little math, learning about coordinates and grids in a game called Dinosaur Dig.  And he finished the unit lesson by drawing a dinosaur on the computer.

 

This week we’re continuing our dinosaur theme.  The subjects covered are writing, math, science, art, and memorization.

 

If you haven’t used our unit studies before, then first please read our previous post on How to Use Unit Studies on This Blog.

 

This unit study is different than some of our past studies in that it is extremely "link-heavy".  However, it’s not just a list of links like the results you get from Google if you type in "dinosaurs".  I visited tons of sites related to dinosaurs before deciding on these based on the the following criteria:

 

• Cool.  Yeah…not just interesting, but cool.  Most of the sites linked to here are the type I think most kids would think are cool.  They should do a good job of holding the attention of kids with ADD.
• Educational.  Of course!  Just because a site is fun doesn’t mean it can’t teach your child scientific facts or theories. 
• Flexible.  As we’ve mentioned before, our unit lessons are not for specific grades.  So we chose sites that can be used at different levels.  Explain just the basics to young children or kids with very short attention spans or go deeper if they are older or have longer attention spans.

 

DINOSAURS WERE REAL

 

Kids can sometimes get fiction confused with fact.  If you teach them about dinosaurs, they might just think you’re telling a story about make-believe "monsters".  Or that you’re talking about Barney. :-) 

 

Help them to understand that dinosaurs really existed and that this has been proven by fossils.  Explain that fossils are parts of animals or impressions in stone made from the animals.  Show him how this works by using Playdo or clay and have him press his hand or a few fingers into it.

 

Use the following link to show how dinosaur fossils were found and how they’ve built models based on those fossils.  Don’t bother reading through the info (unless you think your kid is the type that would be very interested in this type of info).  Scroll to the bottom of the page once you click on the link, then click on one of the links to one the museums listed.  Show your child the pictures of the dinosaur exhibits and talk about them a bit together.  Go back to the first page and click on a few more links to the other museums.  Don’t go to crazy with this or it will start to bore him.  This site is not as cool as some of the others, but is has the pics to prove the point:

 

photos of dinosaur exhibits and fossil mounts

 

Here’s a really cute video you can watch together about kids who go fossil hunting:

 

 

 

DIFFERENT KINDS OF DINOSAURS AND HOW THEY MOVED

 

Look through some pics of dinosaurs to see how there were so many different varieties of dinosaurs.  The "DETAILED TOUR" button shows you the different parts of dinosaurs.  If you click on the name of the part, it shows you a close up of it.  The "360 DEGREE" button lets your child rotate the dinosaur to view it from all sides.  The "SIZE COMPARISION" button shows the dinosaur size compared with that of a person.  But the coolest one is the "MOTION" button, which shows how it moved:

 

Dino Viewer

 

 

ANATOMY OF DINOSAURS

 

Go inside the body of a T-REX:

 

Tyrannosaurus: Airhead

 

 

HOW DINOSAURS DISAPPEARED

 

Ask your child if he or she wonders why dinosaurs aren’t around today.  Explain that no one is sure exactly how they died off, but scientist have a number of different ideas about how it happened.  View this video together about one theory:

 

The End of the Dinosaurs

 

 

DINOSAUR MATH

 

Time to practice a little math, while sticking to the dinosaur theme.  Here’s a dinosaur that your child can color with the appropriate colors after doing the math problems in the various sections.  It won’t print well if you don’t belong to the site, but you can create your own together by copying the idea here.  Change the math problems to make them more difficult if needed or to practice multiplication:

 

Color the Dinosaur

 

DINOSAUR ORIGAMI

 

Download and cut out a few of these dinosaur drawings and follow the directions to create little paper, 3D dinosaurs that your child can play with later.

 

Download-a-Dinosaur

 

DINOSAUR CONCENTRATION

 

Play this fun game of dinosaur concentration to help your child improve his memory:

 

Dinosaur Memory

 

DINOSAUR ONLINE JIGSAW PUZZLE

 

This online dinosaur jigsaw puzzle is lots of fun.  Help him with if needed.  I had fun with this one myself!:

 

Dinosaur Puzzle

 

WRITING ABOUT DINOSAURS

 

Have your child write a story about a dinosaur.  Instead of using the computer, this time have him do it by hand.  Help him to improve his handwriting while he works on it.  He might also want to draw some pictures in the story and make a little book out of it.

 

DINOSAUR MUSEUMS

 

If you can spend a day going to a museum featuring dinosaurs, you and your child will have a blast while learning a lot.  Here’s a link to a site with a list of states and where dinosaur museums are near you:

 

Dinosaur Museums and Parks

 

Here’s a video how you can search for fossils at the Dinosaur Walk Museum in Pigeon Forge, Tennessee:

 

 

 

PLEASE GIVE ME FEEDBACK!

 

If you enjoyed this lesson, please pay me with a simple comment on what you liked and let me know if you modified parts of this unit study.   Happy homeschooling!

 

 

 

3 Comments | In: math, reading, science, unit studies | | #

 

                                                                

 

Can you believe it’s Monday again?  Sometimes it comes too quick, don’t you think?

 

Anyway, it’s time for our Monday unit study.  Last week we focused on memorization by using physical exercise and games.  The weeks before that our unit study had dogs as its theme. 

 

This time we’re going to study about a topic that interests most kids: dinosaurs!

 

READ THIS FIRST

 

If you haven’t used our unit studies before, then first please read our previous post on How to Use Unit Studies on This Blog.

 

READING & SCIENCE

 

First, have your child read a story, or part of a story that involves dinosaurs.  If you child cannot read at all yet, then simply read to him.  As I mentioned in the unit study on dogs, we will soon write some blog posts that discuss how to teach a child with ADD how to read.

 

Sources of books (skip this subsection if you use our unit studies regularly since it will be repeat info for you):

Several weeks ago, I suggested using SwapTree, which is an online community for trading books you that you no longer want for books that you are would like to have.  Since then I’ve traded two of my own books that I didn’t want any more for two books from the Swaptree community.  They arrived in great condition.  You do have to pay shipping cost, which are a little under $3.00.  Plus I had to pay for a box to ship it in at the post office which cost about $1.50.  So it’s not like you can get the books completely free because of shipping costs.  But still, $4.50 for a book is pretty good.  Even used books on Amazon usually cost more than that (although you can qualify for free shipping from Amazon if you order enough books at once, totaling $25.00 or over).  So I think SwapTree is a great option.

 

If you choose to get a book or use one that you already have,  before starting, read through our post entitled "Tips on Teaching Your ADD Child How to Read Better".

 

Free online books about dinosaurs:

If you’d rather start reading right away and want access to lots of books completely for free, try these links below.  Which book you choose will depend on the reading level of your child.  Take a look through them and find one that he feels comfortable with.

 

Tyrone the Horrible (fairly easy reading)

Tyrone and the Swamp Gang (more about the same dinosaur)

The Lost Dinosaur (This link leads to a site where you type in your child’s name and the name of some of his friends, and then their names are included in the book.  It’s kind of cool. If the dinosaur book doesn’t appear as a link, it’s because each week two different books are featured.)

I’m Tyrannosaurus! A Book of Dinosaur Rhymes 

 

Reading to you:

Have your child read one of the books above (or one you have at home about dinosaurs) out loud for about 15 to 25 minutes, depending on his age and ability to concentrate. As with the books on dogs in the unit studies a few weeks ago, ask him what he liked and didn’t like about that book or the chapter that he read.  Ask him why he thinks the dinosaur or other characters acted the way that they did.

 

Reading to your child:

Next, read some online information about dinosaurs to your child.  Most of it will be above his reading level, but not necessarily above his level of comprehension.  If you’ve been following our weekly unit studies, you might still be reading The Call of the Wild or another book about dogs.  If so, continue on.  Don’t worry so much about the topic of each unit study that you stop reading a book that you find he is really enjoying.  But also try to dedicate some time to reading information from the sites below to him since it will teach him scientific facts and theories about dinosaurs.

 

Dinosaur Tracks  (Make sure to click the "next" button at the bottom, right-hand side of the page.)

Short ThinkQuest articles about T-Rex’s, fossils and extinction theories.  Don’t forget to click on the links in the left-hand navigation pane.

 

BREAK

 

Take a 10 to 15 minute break.  Try doing some vigorous exercises together like jumping jacks, pushups and jogging in place.  Click here to see why it’s good to take exercise breaks like this.

 

WRITING & COMPUTER SKILLS

 

Now have your child use your computer to type a few paragraphs about what he learned in the sites you visited together. 

 

Show him how to change the size and color of fonts in Microsoft Word or whichever word processing application you use.

 

Then show him how to save the file, find where he saved it on the computer and reopen it.  Have him do this several times until he can do it easily.

 

If he is used to using the computer and already knows how to do the above tasks, try teaching him something a little more difficult such as changing the spacing between lines of text and creating a list of numbered or bulleted items.  It’s amazing to me how many young adults know how to send instant messages, e-mail and so forth, but don’t know how to use many useful word processing features.  Teaching him these skills now will make it easier for him to use not only a word processing program, but other computer programs that work in similar ways.  In the future, we’ll have some unit studies devoted to computer use, teaching such skills as graphic editing, audio editing and even a little web page design.

 

GRAPHS

 

Teach your child about coordinates on a graph while he plays this Dinosaur Dig game.  You might have to wait for the ad to run before it shows the game.  Also, for some reason it first shows a race car game, then that goes away after a second or two and the dig game appears.

 

ART

 

If he enjoys drawing, have him paint a dinosaur online at: Artpad’s Painter.  After he finishes it, you can save it and send it to me at kbroccoli@homeschoolingADDkids.com .  I’ll then put a link to it on one of my upcoming blog posts so all our subscribers and visitors can see it!

 

 

JUST FOR FUN

 

Watch this cool video (below) of a puppet dinosaur that looks very real at the Los Angeles Natural History Museum.  If you live near Los Angeles, it would be great to take your kid to see this.  (Very young children might be frightened.)

 

 

COMING NEXT WEEK

 

Next Monday we’ll post Part 2 of the Dinosaurs Unit Study.  Meanwhile, let us know how you enjoyed this week’s lesson.  Also, let me know if you have any ideas on topics for future unit studies.

 

3 Comments | In: math, reading, science, unit studies | | #

 

                                                                     

 

Last Monday, in part 1 of our unit study on dogs, your child read a book (or part of a book) about dogs to you.  And then you read a more difficult story, also about dogs, to him (I suggested Jack London’s The Call of the Wild.)  You also went grocery shopping together and practiced math while doing so.  Then you baked dog treats and learned about fractions while doing so. 

 

Today your child will work on his or her writing skills, learn how to be a responsible dog owner, work on some math problems, and learn a little about geography, finishing the day with a brain game.

 

HOW TO CARE FOR A DOG

SKILLS: READING, WRITING, TYPING, RESPONSIBILITY, MATH

 

If you don’t own a dog, but you’re thinking about getting one, go to the Planning for Your New Dog page on Janet Wall’s How to Love Your Dog site.  As you read through the information there, have your child write down answers to the questions in the red box.  Then follow the instructions below the box which explain what your child should write next.  If he doesn’t know what the word "responsibility" means, have him click on the link to read the page that explains what it means.  This site is written in a very easy-to-read style so have your child read most of the questions and explanations out loud.

 

If you already own a dog, go to the page entitled I Have My Dog Now What?  Read through the info there together and have your student write out the answers.  If you’re working on improving handwriting, have him print the answers by hand or write them in cursive. 

 

If you’re trying to teach him how to type, have him type the answers out on the computer.  Don’t just let him use two fingers.  Instead, position his fingers with his two index fingers on the letters "f" and "j", and his middle fingers on "k" and "d", his ring fingers on "l" and "s" and his pinky fingers on "s" and the semicolon.  Make sure that when he reaches for other keys, above and below the middle row of keys, he uses the finger placed closest to it.  This is a slow process with kids, but even ADD kids can do this without freaking out if you explain to them that there is no rush and even say "let’s do this nice and slowly" Some kids find this interesting.  Steven seemed to pick this up rather quickly.  If he is bored by it, just have him do a sentence or two each time he writes while he handwrites the rest of the sentences.

 

The answers to the questions don’t need to be long, but make sure that your child is putting some real thought into it.  If you find he is just writing them down quickly without thinking, you might have to say "Let’s plan out what you’re gong to write.  Tell me some of your ideas."  Then help him to brainstorm before he writes.  However, don’t think for him.  Make sure that he realizes that writing is a way to say how he feels and that there are no exact, correct answers.

 

Now go to the What Dogs Cost page of the same site.   Read through the page together, then click on the button on the bottom of the page to do some math together to figure out how much it costs to own a dog. 

 

If your child does not yet know how to add or multiply, we’ll be posting some addition and multiplication memorization exercises combined with physical exercises and games next week.  Meanwhile, just use some of the numbers on the What Dogs Cost page to teach him how simple addition works, such as adding 7  + 7 to discover that buying both a food and water dish will cost a total of $14.00.

 

BREAK

 

If you own a dog, take him on a 10-minute walk along with your child.  If your child is old enough, show him how to hold the leash tight and how he can control the dog so that he walks on one side.  Alternatively, toss the ball around with your dog in the back yard.  If you don’t own a dog, toss a ball around together.  If the weather doesn’t permit going outside, play with the dog and your child together inside or play an indoor game like hacky-sack.   The idea is to give your kid’s brain a break and get him to move around.

 

 

WHERE DIFFERENT DOG BREEDS ARE FROM

SKILLS: GEOGRAPHY, TYPING, COMPUTER SKILLS

 

Go to Wikipedia read a list of dog breeds and where they originate from.  Have your child pick a country that he has heard of, click on it to view a list of dog breeds from that country, then click on the dog breed name to see a picture of it. 

 

Now, in a separate tab on our Web browser (or you could open another instance of your browser so that it appears in a new window), go to Pin In the Map.   Use the Hand tool to move the map around and put the country you chose in the middle of the screen.  Then use the Zoom tool on the left of the screen to zoom into the country.

 

Have your child click on the country to put a pin in it.  Then have him type in the name of the dog breed in the box. 

 

Do this with 5 to 10 breeds and then print the map and hang it somewhere in his room.

 

BRAIN EXERCISE

SKILLS: PROBLEM-SOLVING

 

Go to Zipper Kennel Chaos on the National Geographic Kids site.  Talk to your child about why it’s important to read instructions before doing things.  Then click on the "How to Play" link and read the game instructions together.  Next, play the game.  It’s super-easy at first but gets harder as you progress to higher levels.  I actually found this one fun to do myself!

 

COMING NEXT WEEK

Next Monday we’ll take a break from the unit study format and do some memorization exercises combined with physical exercise.  Until then, please leave your thoughts and experiences with this lesson here.

 

2 Comments | In: unit studies | | #

 

I thought I’d take a moment and write about how this past Monday’s unit study, "Dogs, Part 1" went for Steven and I.

 

I decided to have him read "Nobody’s Dog" at the Children’s Library, which is an online reading site.  Unfortunately, the link wasn’t working, which was odd since it worked when I first created the unit study.  Anyway, I fixed it and it works now.  I hate broken links, especially on this blog.  Please do let me know if any of you ever encounter any links on our blog that aren’t working and I’ll fix them right away.

 

Once I fixed the link and we found the online book, he had a great time reading it.  It was somewhat below Steven’s reading level, but I think that helped to reinforce his confidence in reading.  He read at a quick pace and seemed rather proud of himself.

 

After that I looked for an online book that I could read to him.  I wanted one that was beyond his reading ability, with words he might not understand, but interesting enough that he would want to understand them.  I picked Jack London’s Call of the Wild, available at Literature.org. 

 

Despite Steven’s ADD, he paid rapt attention during 25 minutes of reading.  That was amazing.  There were many words he wasn’t familiar with, but still he listened.  I didn’t want to stop over and over to define terms, but three or four times he stopped me and asked me "what does that mean?"  Now for those of you who homeschool a kid with ADD, you know that it’s a rare thing for an ADD child to listen so attentively that he asks what words mean. 

 

So why did it work so well?

 

Well, I did put a lot of emotion into the reading, changed my voice for the different characters, sped up during intense parts, etc., and maybe that helped a tad.  But I’ve done that before for when reading other books and didn’t see this kind of response from Steven. 

 

The more I thought about it, I realized that what really caused Steven to pay so much attention was probably the combination of these two things:

 

1. The Call of the Wild is a fantastic book, a classic.  As Robert M. Pirsig wrote, "you know what Quality is".  It seems kids recognize it, too.
2. Steven is nuts about dogs.  Like I wrote about in my post "Using Your ADD Child’s Obsession in Homeschooling," kids learn better when it’s related to something they love.

 

I just added the Call of the Wild link to the unit study since it worked so well for us.  We’ll continue reading it each week until we finish it.

 

The store trip went rather well, too.  I had him write out the shopping list for the items we needed for making the dog treats.  Then, when we got to the store, I told him I’d help him put the groceries in the cart but he had to find them.  At first he was put off by that.  He found some things right away, but had trouble with finding the cornmeal.  So I explained to him it kind of like flour.  He then realized it would be in the Baking aisle and located it.  I thought it was a good exercise in learning how things are categorized in a store.

 

Before going to the checkout, I explained to Steven that we have to pay taxes on any non-food items.  He had found a Hot Wheels truck that he wanted to buy with his own money, so (using a calculator, I’ll admit) we figured out how much tax would be charged and added it onto the price of the car.  He then went up to the cashier himself and figured out how many dollars to give him.  Afterward I had him count the change that was given to him, explaining that he could get cheated if he doesn’t count it.

 

He wasn’t crazy about the math side of things that I had him do at the store, but I talked to him about how when he is older, he won’t always have someone else to go to the store with him, and that he needs to learn how to figure out taxes, how much money to pay and what to expect back in order to buy things.  That seemed to make sense to him.  ADD kids, even more than other kids have to see the relationship between what they are learning and real life.  If they don’t, they just push the matter aside and ignore it.

 

What else?  Oh yeah: the break.  Small thing, but very needed.  We went on a 15 minute walk for our break.  It was a little chilly out, but he didn’t mind and the dogs loved it.  It wasn’t intense exercise, but at least it got him moving around a bit.

 

How about our blog visitors and subscribers?  Any of you have any interesting experiences with last Monday’s unit study?

 

4 Comments | In: unit studies | | #

                                                                      

 

Here’s the first unit study that we created that we are sharing with our subscribers and blog readers.  If you are visiting here for the first time or have forgotten what unit studies are and how than can help you with homeschooling, click here to read our previous posting about unit studies.

 

As the title of this post suggests, this unit study focuses on dogs as it’s theme.  The skills taught within either this unit study or further sections of the Unit Study on Dogs include reading, writing stories and poems, math, problem-solving, cooking, vocabulary-building, responsibility, geography and art.

 

Before starting this unit study, please read our previous post on How to Use Unit Studies on This Blog.

 

STORIES

SKILLS: READING, WRITING, ART, CONVERSATION, FORMULATING OPINIONS

 

Start by having your child read a story, or part of a story somehow related to dogs.  If you child cannot read at all yet, then simply read to him.  In the future we will write a blog post that focuses completely on how to teach a child with ADD how to read.

 

You might choose to use a book that you already have at home that is about dogs or pick one up at the library.  Since books can be expensive to buy, check out SwapTree.  SwapTree is an online community you can use to trade books you that you no longer want for books that you are would like to have.

 

If you choose to get a book or use one that you already have,  before starting, read through our post entitled "Tips on Teaching Your ADD Child How to Read Better".

 

If you don’t want to go to a library, and you don’t have any books around about dogs, you can find entire children’s books online.  Which one you choose will depend on the reading level of your child.  Here are some links to books focusing on dogs from various sites:

 

Antique Books: Click on any of the books about dogs.

Mother Hubbard at Children’s Books Online

Nobody’s Dog at Children’s Library

 

Have your child read out loud for about 15 minutes.  If he has trouble concentrating for that long, cut it down to 10 minutes or less.  Ask him what he liked and didn’t like about that book or the chapter that he read.  Ask him why he thinks the dog or other characters acted the way that they did.

 

Next, choose a book that is above his reading level, but not above his level of comprehension.  This time you read the book or chapter to him.  Read for about 15 minutes if you can retain his attention for that long, less if not.  Ask him similar questions as you did with the book that he read.  Try not to ask trivia such as people’s names or dates.  Get him to focus on the why’s and how’s of things instead.  Don’t fret if he misunderstands some points in the book.

 

Now have your child write a few sentences or paragraphs about what he liked in the story, what he didn’t like, and how and why the characters did certain things.  Since he first responded orally, he should have a basic idea already of what he will write.

 

If he enjoys drawing, have him draw his favorite part and use comic book-like clouds above the characters heads to write some things that they said in the story.

 

Do not correct his spelling, but help him if he asks you how to spell certain words.  Save what he wrote and teach him the correct spelling of words he spelt wrong on another day.  You don’t need to explain that you are using those words.   If you focus too much on his misspellings he might not write so freely and willingly in the future.

 

Add the page or pages he wrote to a "reading journal".  He can help you make it by  drawing a picture for its cover and stapling it together.  Review the journal from time to time with him and talk about books he read in the past.

 

How much time it takes to verbally answer the questions and then write the answers will vary greatly from child to child.  Generally, you don’t want him to spend so long on it that he gets tired of it and becomes uninterested.  On the average it will probably take an additional 20 minutes to do the questions part.

 

BREAK

 

Take an exercise break with your child.  If the weather is nice enough, go for a brisk, 10-minute walk or do some jumping jacks, pushups, jogging-in-place, squats and similar exercises that can be done indoors.  Read more about the advantages of doing these physical exercises periodically.

 

MAKING DOG TREATS

SKILLS: MATH, WRITING, GROCERY SHOPPING, COOKING, SHARING, CARING

 

Go to the the "Treat Your Pet" page on the National Geographic Kids website to read a recipe about how to make your own dog treats.

 

You probably won’t have all of the ingredients.  This gives you the opportunity to teach him even more skills.  Make a shopping list together.  Have him write it while you help him.  Then go to the store together.  Make sure to bring cash if possible.

 

Ask him to try and figure out where the items would be in the store by looking at the signs in each aisle.  Help him to reason on why flour might be in the "BAKING" aisle and so forth.

 

When you get to the cash register, either have him figure out how many bills to give the cashier or help him if he hasn’t done it before.  Ask him to figure out how much change he will get back.  If he can’t figure it out just calmly and happily say "oh, we should go over that on the whiteboard (or chalkboard) at home".  When you get home use the whiteboard and change and help him to figure out why he was given the amount of change he was given.  Come up with a simple cash/change problem that you think he can figure out.  Do just a few and then make sure to commend him.

 

Show him how to print out the recipe, instead of just printing it out yourself.  Then make the treats together.

 

While measuring the ingredients, teach him how to use measuring cups and what is 1 cup, 1/2 cup, 1/4 cup, 1/3 cup, and how they relate to each other.  Show him how 2 half cups make 1 whole cup and 4 quarter cups make 1 whole cup, etc.  Don’t concentrate so much on getting the dog treats made that you don’t take the time to teach him how to use fractions in cooking.  Don’t worry if he doesn’t seem to understand it fully.

 

Once the treats have cooled, let him feed the treats to your dog, if you have one, or go to a friend’s or neighbor’s house and give the treats as a gift to one of them for one of their dogs.

 

Between going to the store, reviewing how to figure out change, and possibly traveling to a neighbor’s house, you could easily spend several hours on this activity.

 

JUST FOR FUN

 

Go to this online video: : Guiness Book World Record for Dog Popping Balloons.  End your day watching it and laughing together.

 

COMING NEXT WEEK

 

Next Monday we’ll continue the "dogs" theme with activities that will teach more math and writing as well as geography and problem-solving.

 

FEEDBACK

 

Please comment on this unit study.  Let us know what you liked and didn’t like about it so we can improve future unit studies.  Or let us know how you used it with your child and any variations you made in the activities.

 

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Here is a brief post with our recommendations as to how to use the unit studies that appear each Monday on this blog.

 

If you don’t know what unit studies are, please read our past posts that explain their purpose.

 

It’s important to mention that unlike a standard homeschooling curriculum, you shouldn’t feel like you have to follow unit studies we post here as though they are a set of instructions.  Instead, think of them as guidelines that add direction and perhaps some degree of structure to your homeschooling.

 

Also, I’ve made suggestions about how much time to spend on various activities.  However, you might find that your child particularly enjoys a certain activity.  In that case, it might be good to spend more time on it.  Or he might be slower at some parts of the unit study than others.  Instead of rushing him, encourage him to take his time.  If your child feels pushed or rushed, he is likely to shut down and learning will stop.

 

Our unit studies are designed for teaching kids who have Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD).  But even if your child hasn’t been officially diagnosed with ADD (and maybe he has a different learning challenge or is simply easily distracted), you’ll find that the activities in our unit studies will interest him much more than traditional  school textbooks and worksheets.

 

You will notice that I consistently refer to your child as "he".  I know that this isn’t politically correct, but I do it automatically since we homeschool my brother-in-law.  Also, more boys have ADD than girls.  And it’s not practical and readable to keep writing "he or she". 

 

We do not indicate grade levels for activities.  Instead, we propose easier and harder ways to do them.  At times this means using different web addresses and exercises in order to increase the difficulty of the tasks. 

 

All of the guidelines in this unit study are written to you as the homeschool teacher and aren’t meant to be read to your child.  Rather, we encourage natural, parent-to-child conversation in a relaxed, informal tone, yet with a balanced degree of seriousness so that your child realizes that it’s time to focus on the activities.

 

Click on "Entries (RSS)" to subscribe to this blog so that you won’t miss any unit studies that come out on Mondays or fill in your e-mail under "Enter your email address" and click the "Subscribe" button if you’d like to receive the unit studies via e-mail.

 

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