Tag Archives: homeschool

Otter’s Botany – a One Semester Option

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homeschool botany curriculum

I now have a 2nd option for those of you interested in studying botany – a ONE SEMESTER botany schedule. Click here for access.

This new option uses Ellen McHenry’s Botany in 8 Lessons as the main spine, while still incorporating the Botany for Dummies Book. Leave out the Dummies book and you have a 3rd option – either a shorter schedule that can be accomplished over the summer or a low key science program that will allow you to focus on other core subjects.

I’ve been working on the upcoming biology curriculum. It should be ready by the middle of August, although I will continue to tweak it as necessary over the course of the year as we use it.

A Walk-through of Otter’s Timeline

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As promised in an earlier post where I featured the free timeline printables available on my website, here is a walk-through of Otter’s timeline.

I’ve had Otter work on a timeline ever since Kindergarten. He filled up his first timeline and is currently working on the one I feature below. This second one will last him through high school. It’s not the timeline I offer on my site (my own personal timeline actually uses those printables – yes, I’ve made one too over the years with the kids!). Otter’s current timeline is one I purchased from WinterPromise years ago. I actually don’t like the WinterPromise timeline very much because the background isn’t clean and uncluttered. Also, the pages face each other, so in between each timeline spread you have blank pages. I believe WinterPromise designed their timeline this way so you can insert maps and other items in between the timeline pages in the appropriate time period. We don’t use it like that though since I put those types of papers in Otter’s history notebook, so it makes flipping through the timeline a little more difficult. I do like that the pages are sturdy card stock.

Timelines are a great way to SEE history unfolding and to be able to better understand the march of events and people through time. Our timelines are a scrapbook of memories of all the things we’ve studied and also a great way to visually review our history lessons. Otter really enjoys flipping through the pages. We usually play a little “game” when we pull it out where we verbally pick our favorite image or item studied on each page.

First I’ll show you some of Otter’s timeline pages and then I’ll dissect an individual page and point out some of the different items on it. His timeline is in a THICK notebook with really sturdy binder rings. I chose this type of timeline because it’s easier to handle, store and doesn’t take up space on the wall, etc. I’ve used wall timelines with the big kids, in the past, but found that eventually they have to come down off the wall (even if you leave it up for years) and then they aren’t really practical to store. I wanted more of a scrapbook style BOOK that could be kept and shown to Otter’s kids someday. A wall timeline, while neat for awhile, is just junk when you are finished with it.

Click on each picture to see it larger (my apologies to those of you reading this post in an RSS feed where the pictures may be featured full size). I’m not showing ALL the pages, just several examples from different time periods.

1200-1000 B.C.

As you can see on this page spread, there are a variety of items pasted in: books we’ve read, people and events we’ve studied and even pictures of “things” from that time period like Solomon’s temple and a picture of Canaan merchants. Other timeline pages from this era (not pictured) show an Egyptian home and other similar things that show not just an event or person, but how people lived.

Homeschool timeline page

600-400 B.C.

Besides people and events, we also sometimes put in inventions (such as the Chinese kite) or discoveries and advancements in science, math (Pythagorean theorem as seen below) and even art and/or artists.

Timeline example

 

500-700 A.D.

Even though we are Christians, I’ve always felt it important to cover major people and events from other religions. In the page spread below, you can see Otter’s timeline entry for Muhammad as well as the cover of a book about him that we checked out from the library.

Timeline example

700-900 A.D.

On the left-hand page on the entry for King Egbert I’ve placed a small genealogy symbol to show that we directly descended from him. Otter has enjoyed learning about famous people in our family tree and we make sure to mark them in his timeline for an extra bit of fun.

Homeschool timeline

1500-1550 A.D.

There are a lot of WinterPromise timeline figures (created by Homeschool in the Woods) on this page spread. They are the black and white ones with a bunch of text underneath. Later on I decided I liked my homemade timeline figures better as they were more customized and colorful so we switched to them after we left off using the WinterPromise curriculum.

Homeschool timeline example

 

1550-1600 A.D.

As you can see from the pages below, some parts of Otter’s timeline are not as full as others.

Homeschool timeline

 

Timeline page

Here I’ve dissected a timeline page in a bit more detail so you can see specific things we’ve entered in. You can see how we incorporate the covers of various books we read as we move through our history studies (we use the custom made GuestHollow history curriculum I created which is available for free on my website). I get the pictures we use in our timeline from the Internet and then I paste them into a timeline template page via either Photoshop or Microsoft Word (I have templates created for both programs). You can download a  free timeline figure template from the timeline section of my website.

Timeline page

 

So there you have it! We really love our timelines! I think they are really helpful for seeing the big picture and for remembering things we studied in our history lessons. If you haven’t started a timeline with your kids, I highly recommend it. They are a fun and colorful addition to any history curriculum that your kids can look back on and remember their lessons in the years to come.

Eighth Grade Curriculum Plans

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Otter and I are looking forward to starting 8th grade. One more year and my last homeschooler will be in high school!

Here’s a peek at some of the things we’ll be using this year. Of course I tweak & customize just about everything we use to make it work perfectly for Otter but you can at least see the main framework for our 8th grade year.

History

The Awesome History Timeline Schedule

We’ve been working on this for awhile now and are enjoying our journey through history. I have lots of living books (click here if you are wondering what living books are), activities, movies and more scheduled to help history come to life. This year we’ll be studying colonial times and heading into the American Revolution with an emphasis on civics/government and a mix of world history.

We’ll also be studying lots of artists, music and scientific inventions along the way (it is a TIMELINE history program after all, and those items fit in perfectly!).

Otter will be keeping a history notebook full of narrations, notebooking pages, map work and projects. He’ll also paste in book covers, people and events into his timeline as we move through the curriculum.

Geography

Most of our geography studies are tied to history. This year we’ll be using Map Trek maps to help Otter see where history happened along with some maps from the Interactive 3-D Maps book. *I’ll be review Map Trek soon and adding in Map Trek assignments to some of my history schedules!

Otter will also get plenty of free-play in Google Earth, a favorite of his.

Language Arts

Writing

 Classical Writing for Older Beginners – This is going to be our main writing program, but I have plenty of extras to keep things from getting stale, or in case we need to spend more time on a particular concept. We’ll be using the Poetry for Older Beginners program during the 2nd semester.

Grammar

Harvey’s Revised English Grammar – This grammar program is tied to the Classical Writing program.

Vocabulary

We learn a lot of vocabulary in the context of reading as well as through our writing program, but I wanted an additional workbook as an option so I ordered this:

Words on the Vine -

“Ancient Latin and Greek live on in the words we speak every day. Introduce your students to the fun and challenge of word genealogy with Words on the Vine, a 36-unit vocabulary program based on common Latin and Greek roots that will provide you with a framework for an entire school year. Each unit introduces 10 related words and shows how their definitions can be traced back to a common meaning. Students first examine each word in context to understand its correct usage. Then they have the opportunity to put the words to work for themselves in creative and challenging assignments. Each unit provides easy-to-remember visual clues, fun-to-read usage examples, and hand-on activities.” Quote from Amazon

We’re also going to use these:

Marie’s Words SAT GRE Vocabulary Flash Cards - I LOVE these flashcards. I’m going to post a review on them soon. We’re going to use these through high school for SAT prep.

Penmanship practice

Otter is going to keep a copy book with famous quotes, etc. This is scheduled via the Classical Writing program.

Reading

I’ve scheduled in some adventure novels with these comprehension guides (chock full of optional activities). We may not do all of the activities in the guides, but it’s nice to have the option to spice things up and help retention. We’ll probably do one guide every 2 months:

(Veritas) Adventures of Tom Sawyer Comprehension Guide

I’m going to order the Kindle version of Tom Sawyer so Otter can instantly see the definitions of some of the harder words in this story with a swipe of his finger (we have the Kindle Touch).

(Veritas) Charlie and the Chocolate Factory Comprehension Guide

(Veritas) Swiss Family Robinson Comprehension Guide

I’m going to order the Kindle version of Swiss Family Robinson too.

(Veritas) Twenty-One Balloons Comprehension Guide

Redwall Teaching Guide

Otter will also be reading tons of other books for history, science and free reading. We’ll be doing many read-alouds (one of his favorite things) as well. He’s also going to continue working through a 1970′s reading comprehension workbook series I got for free from a library book sale. They are awesome and have really helped him improve his reading comp. skills.

Spelling

We’re going to continue using Apples & Pears.

Science

Otter’s Botany

This is a totally customized botany course created just for Otter with lots of activities, experiments, notebooking, cooking projects (fitting a little home-ec in our science program!) and living books. We’re also mixing in some nature study with plenty of field trips and a bit of art using books like:

Illustrating Nature: Right-Brain Art in a Left-Brain World

and

Keeping a Nature Journal: Discover a Whole New Way of Seeing the World Around You

Foreign Language

Latin

This year we are continuing our Latin studies with a variety of resources. One of our goals is to someday participate in the National Latin Exam.

Spanish

Learnables Level 1

We plan on continuing with Spanish throughout high school. Otter wants to be a CHP officer and believes learning Spanish will help him with his future career goals.

Math

I’ve worked VERY hard to help Otter connect with some of the abstract concepts in pre-algebra using many different resources, some of which you can find in my pre-algebra schedule (scroll down the linked page to find it). This year we’re continuing to build a firm pre-algebra foundation with a variety of materials as he’s not quite ready to move on to algebra yet. You can read about some of the hands-on based items we’re going to continue to use in my recent blog post here. Otter also put in a request to use Life of Fred so I’ll probably order the set of LOF pre-algebra books soon. I’ve got Teaching Textbooks as a back-up if Life of Fred doesn’t work out for whatever reason. I’ve also been eyeballing Systematic Mathematics and my dear friend has offered to loan me a couple Practical Arithmetics books. I’m still not 100% settled on this year’s math, but as always, I’ll use a variety of things that will help Otter really understand the WHY behind what he’s doing vs. just an algorithm.

Other Stuff

Philosophy, Logic, & Bible – using a variety of resources

Art & Music – Much of our art this year is tied to history and/or botany, but sometimes we’ll be working from books like these:

Illustration School: Let’s Draw Happy People

and

Drawing Manga Animals, Chibis, and Other Creatures

Otter will also continue taking his piano lessons and will be participating in many extracurricular activities he’s expressed an interest in.

That pretty much wraps the main things we’ll be using this year! If you’d like to look at other back to school posts, check out the:
Not Back to School Blog Hop

Otter’s Botany is Ready! (BETA version)

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Botany Curriculum

I’ve finally finished a BETA version of Otter’s Botany and posted the download.

Why study botany? I think botany is an overlooked topic that gets shoved into a chapter of biology and then forgotten. Plants affect and enrich so many parts of our lives! Our houses and clothes are made of plant materials. We eat plants. We enjoy their beauty. They provide us with medicines, fuel, perfume, dyes, paper and a variety of other products. They are tied to history and even our future. They are an integral part of our lives!

I decided to study botany with my son as a sort of pre-biology course. I want Otter to understand the science behind plants as well as to take the time to appreciate the myriad contributions they make to our lives!

My main goals for this course are:

  • To understand many scientific concepts concerning plants
  • To understand and appreciate many practical applications of plants
  • To learn how to identify many different plants, flowers and trees
  • To learn some history and geography as it pertains to specific plants or plant discoveries
  • To be involved in the natural world on a more frequent basis
  • To hone Otter’s observation skills, nurture an interest in the natural world and have time to reflect on beautiful and interesting things – to see the hand of our creator in nature (although almost all of this year’s resources are secular)
  • To keep a nature journal and learn some artistic skills that will help him reproduce on paper what he observes
  • To learn how to grow, cook and use plants in a variety of ways
  • To learn about bees and worms as “side topics” (creatures that are beneficial to plants)

I’ve scheduled many different materials for this year. Otter’s Botany is full of hands-on labs, experiments, notebooking, drawing and art exercises, interactive websites, videos and more.

Check it out!