Dairy Day-Why it Never Ever Hurts to Ask!

I know one of the concerns that I hear all the time under "the problem with homeschooling" is that kids will miss out on field trips and get-together's with other kids, so I decided to share a wonderful experience in the hopes that some of those misconceptions may be laid to rest!

When I went to my city fall fair this year, I met a woman (lets call her Beryl) from the Dairy Education Program. This program is run through the dairy farmers of Ontario and according to their website is a "free service to teachers and provides interactive, curriculum-connected in-class workshops for elementary schools in Ontario". My kids were naturally enthralled by the presence of a mechanical milking cow and decide on their own to become her newest students by firing questions at her in rapid pace, barely waiting for an answer before firing again. I took this opportunity to ask her if she had ever done a homeschooling workshop (she hadn't) and if she would be interested in doing one. 10 emails and one month later she was at my door, complete with blow-up cow, a mechanical milker, videos, props and displays ready to teach our city homeschooling group all about the wonders of dairy!

We choose to focus on the basic path of milk from cow to store and on the concepts of solids and liquids. She started with the habitat and diet of cows, which came complete with actually straw, hay, corn and seeds that we passed around in our little learning circle. This was followed by videos of dairy farmers that were parodies of current pop songs, including one that remained stuck in my head for about a week called "Farm it Maybe" that my daughter absolutely loved.

We then moved on to states of matter-otherwise known as solids, liquids and gases-which was wonderfully illustrated with the use of actual dairy product examples complete on a Velcro board and appealed to our wide range of ages and learning levels.



The piece de resistance though was our final activity-making butter with cream! We discussed the state of cream (liquid) and its contents (fat and water) and then through physical separation techniques-i.e. shaking the crap out of the container-we turned our fat and water liquid into solid butter in a mostly water liquid! We then separated the butter out and put in on crackers and ate it all up! It was deliciously fresh and remarkably fun and easy to do!

I guess the point of this blog post is to illustrate the concept "it never hurts to ask". There are many resources available within a city that are just waiting for someone to come along and ask. A fellow homeschooler I know organized a fire station visit, another one a Halloween party, myself a dairy day. I guess what I am trying to say is that homeschooling allows the opportunity for a wonderful educational experience-but just like anything in life, one must seize the opportunity! I encourage you to explore your city and its surroundings and ask, ask, ask! Most people love to share their knowledge, especially
with the ever-rare child who wants to learn! And if anyone has any similar experiences they would like to share, please do as I would love to seize another opportunity!

Fun With Fall Using an STEM Framework (Science, Math, Technology, Art)-STEP 1!

We started our "Fun with Fall 2013" project today with...drum roll please...step 1!

To integrate Nature of Science concepts when we out to collect our leaves, we discussed which trees the leaves fell from as well as why they fall in the fall and then took pictures of them for later research . Science Made Simple gives a great straightforward explanation for kids as to why leaves change colour and fall that I plan on using later when I ask them to do their own research-and bonus, it also has easy fall experiments!

When we got home we knew we had to bag them so they would keep, so I integrated a little bit of math by having them sort the leaves. That's all I said, just "sort the leaves" in order to let them sort in whichever way they wished. Given their ages, I expected them to sort by colour-and colour is what they did:

That's as far as we got the first day of "Fun with Fall 2013", but we could have gone one step higher and sorted by shape or size within colour as well.

The entire outline of "Fun with Fall" can be found here. Our next step will be to spend some time counting them-things like the total amount and how many colours of each and I will use that to very briefly introduce the mathematical representation of a fraction with a brief discussion with the not-so-littlest one as to what parts of a total are. The littlest one and I will discuss more and less with connections to physical and numerical representations of each. I may get her to also do some adding and introduce some "word problems" along the lines of "how many leaves are not red"? etc.

To be honest, I haven't figured out just how far I will take this yet, I plan on basing it on how they respond to each idea on a day-by-day basis. But I guess that's part of the advantages to homeschooling; that I have the option of being able to take it day by day and cater it to what and how my children learn. And yes I know, all teachers everywhere do with their students, but I don't have the same constraints they do-I am free to alter as I see fit, and my children are free to learn as they see fit!

Stay tuned for part 2-T.B.D.

Fun With Fall-Incorporating Science, Math, Technology, and Art-A Full Project Outline!

One of my favorite things about Ontario is fall-the crisp morning air, the delicious smells and the beautiful colours. I find it remarkably difficult to spend time inside once the leaves start to turn, so I tried to come up with a project that would maximize the time I could be outside. I was thinking of the kids as well, but in all selfish honesty, I was mostly thinking about me! 

I entitled my project "Fun with Fall 2013" and here's how it breaks down. 

Step 1-Collection

The first step is to, you guessed it, go outside! On a beautiful fall day spend 2-3 hours collecting leaves. Find as many different leaves as you can-different colours, different shapes, different sizes and different patterns (in the middle of changing from green to yellow versus from yellow to red for example)-and get a few of each to use for different purposes. If you put leaves flat into Ziploc freezer bags, they will stay moist enough to use for weeks! Take pictures of the trees that the leaves came from to use later on in your students research. 

Step 2-Curriculum Integration

I figured the best way to illustrate how you can use leaves and autumn in general in your teaching would be to break it up by "subject" and then leave it (hahaha, get it?) to you, the readers, to decide on which aspects would work for your students. For those of you who want to know where each particular concept fits in the Ontario curriculum  I have also included the subject, grade level(s) and specific strands so you can adapt them to your liking. So here goes:

Math:

Sorting by colour, shape and size (Grade 1:Geometry and Spatial Sense)
Counting both the total amount and amount of each group (Grade 1 Number Sense and Numeration)
Patterning (Grade 1, Patterning and Algebra)
Graphing of each leaf group made earlier when sorting-either pictorially or numerically (Grade 1 Data Management and Probability)
Percentage and fractions (Grade 2/3/4 Number Sense and Numeration)

Science:

Classification of the leaves and their corresponding trees (Grade 1/2/3/higher, Needs and Characteristics of Living Things)
Plant food production and how it relates to the colours of fall (Grade 1-8 Life Systems)
The influence of climate on plant species (Grade 2-8 Life Systems)

Research and Technology:
Using the internet as a tool to research the names/families of the trees/leaves and where else in the world they are found and why
Creating a graph with MS Excel after pictograph/handmade graph is done.
Use Ms Excel or similar software to create a pie circle to introduce/reinforce the concepts of percentage and fractions.

Art (Grades 1-8, Visual Arts):
Rubbings and tracings
Create a painting incorporating leaves
Creating leaf stampers to make a colour collage
Creating a collage in the shape of a leaf, using leaves

I think that this could by a great cross curricular project that would incorperate enough topics to make it a truly valuable "fun with fall" experience! I plan on trying everything and will write about it-the good, the bad and the ugly-as we try it!

If any of you give any of this a go, or have something similar, please comment/share with me, I would love to here about how you had "fun with fall"!