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!

 

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