The researchers at The Jason Project are working on a new curriculum entitled Terminal Velocity. While the ultimate goal is to investigate the major forces in our universe, the only unit they have completed so far is A Universe of Motion: Motion, Velocity, and Momentum. This section looks at the concepts in the title, particularly through the use of test crash dummies to determine vehicular safety.
While I haven't tried this curriculum myself, because that is not what we are doing in science these days, I have done a number of the other The Jason Project curricula and found them all to be useful. So if you have a middle school who is interested in cars, racing, crash safety, and the like--or if you are studying velocity and momentum--I would check out this FREE online curriculum
Showing posts with label curriculum. Show all posts
Showing posts with label curriculum. Show all posts
Friday, August 5, 2011
Saturday, July 23, 2011
Curriculum Resource: Discovering Music with Carol Reynolds
Today my son and I broke out some new curriculum I bought recently for this academic year. It is a 13-hour DVD course entitled Discovering Music: 300 Years of Interaction in Western Music, Arts, History, and Culture. It is a middle school/high school level course that relates music history to the political, religious, scientific, artistic, technological, and other cultural developments that shaped the composers and musicians of each succeeding era.
This is exactly how I like to study subjects. I don't believe in examining each discipline in isolation; rather, I think you can understand them best when you cover them in relation to the other developments going on at the same time that effected them. However, music history is one of my personal weaker points--I can do a much better job explaining literature and art, for example, in terms of what was going on in other realms at that historical period than I can do with music. So I am glad to have this opportunity to fill in some of my ignorance as I take this course along with my son.
We did the first unit, which I think is a lot more "talky" and theoretical than the bulk of the course, because it is laying the foundations and explaining why we should study history via music and study music via history, etc. But my son enjoyed it enough that he wanted to move onto the second unit right away. This one also was setting up the big picture, rather than getting into the music itself too much, but we both learned quite a bit and are looking forward to the next session.
The course was developed by, and features, Dr. Carol Reynolds, an enthusiastic and experienced music history educator from Southern Methodist University in Dallas, TX. She does a good job as a lively but easy to follow narrator of the course material, as well as playing a grand organ herself to demonstrate a piece of music written by Martin Luther (I never knew he wrote music along with all the other stuff he was up to in revolutionizing European Christianity).
This class is also perfect for us because it begins in the 15th century, but really focuses on Western history from the early 1600s to World War 1. We have already studied World history up to that date, so I'm hoping we will have at least touched on all the major political, scientific, and large artistic movements covered in the DVDs. That will allow him to concentrate on the new information about the music and hang that onto what we have already covered, as well as helping him get a better understanding of that history.
The curriculum isn't cheap, but you get a lot for it. In addition to eight DVDs that contain over 13 hours of instruction, you receive a 236 page workbook and three professional quality CDs that contain the works discussed in the course to listen to on their own.
We've only gotten started, but I'm impressed with the quality of the materials we've looked at so far. My son is enjoying it, and I'm already learning stuff I never knew....so what else could you ask for from a curriculum? But I'll give a more informed review of the curriculum in a future blog post once we have completed more of it.
This is exactly how I like to study subjects. I don't believe in examining each discipline in isolation; rather, I think you can understand them best when you cover them in relation to the other developments going on at the same time that effected them. However, music history is one of my personal weaker points--I can do a much better job explaining literature and art, for example, in terms of what was going on in other realms at that historical period than I can do with music. So I am glad to have this opportunity to fill in some of my ignorance as I take this course along with my son.
We did the first unit, which I think is a lot more "talky" and theoretical than the bulk of the course, because it is laying the foundations and explaining why we should study history via music and study music via history, etc. But my son enjoyed it enough that he wanted to move onto the second unit right away. This one also was setting up the big picture, rather than getting into the music itself too much, but we both learned quite a bit and are looking forward to the next session.
The course was developed by, and features, Dr. Carol Reynolds, an enthusiastic and experienced music history educator from Southern Methodist University in Dallas, TX. She does a good job as a lively but easy to follow narrator of the course material, as well as playing a grand organ herself to demonstrate a piece of music written by Martin Luther (I never knew he wrote music along with all the other stuff he was up to in revolutionizing European Christianity).
This class is also perfect for us because it begins in the 15th century, but really focuses on Western history from the early 1600s to World War 1. We have already studied World history up to that date, so I'm hoping we will have at least touched on all the major political, scientific, and large artistic movements covered in the DVDs. That will allow him to concentrate on the new information about the music and hang that onto what we have already covered, as well as helping him get a better understanding of that history.
The curriculum isn't cheap, but you get a lot for it. In addition to eight DVDs that contain over 13 hours of instruction, you receive a 236 page workbook and three professional quality CDs that contain the works discussed in the course to listen to on their own.
We've only gotten started, but I'm impressed with the quality of the materials we've looked at so far. My son is enjoying it, and I'm already learning stuff I never knew....so what else could you ask for from a curriculum? But I'll give a more informed review of the curriculum in a future blog post once we have completed more of it.
Monday, June 13, 2011
Should Your Middle Schooler Be Studying a Foreign Language?
Last week, I posted about a FREE online Spanish curriculum available to middle school foreign language teachers. But that raises the question--should your middle schooler be taking Spanish, or some other foreign language?
If your child is planning to go to college, then some years of a foreign language study are usually a requirement for most colleges beyond the community college level. But should that study take place in middle schools? Middle schools seem to fall into that gap between (a) the young elastic brain that is supposed to be able to pick up different languages naturally (usually maxing out somewhere between 6 and 8 years old) and (b) the high school transcript, where colleges look for evidence of foreign language study.
There is another issue about learning languages in middle schools, at least if your child is attending public school. From the latest figures I could find (from a not-very-extensive data search), the primary languages taught in American schools continue to be Spanish and French. Many students, parents, and educators, however, press for other languages in the forefront of international relations, such as Chinese (generally Mandarin), Arabic, Japanese, or Russian. If you and/or your students are interested in such languages, in most cases they may have to wait until high school for any hope of such languages being offered in school.
On the other hand, foreign language educators argue that language mastery is a function of longevity (which, frankly, I think is the case for almost any subject, but I can particularly see the need for that in terms of speaking a language).
Here is an interesting article I found in the Washington Post about this issue:
The Foreign Language Dilemma: Si or Oui?
And here, not related particularly to middle schools but to the topic in general, is NC State's reasons why it is still valuable to take French.
What is the decision in your house? Are your middle schoolers taking language classes? Add your opinions or experiences in the comments below.
If your child is planning to go to college, then some years of a foreign language study are usually a requirement for most colleges beyond the community college level. But should that study take place in middle schools? Middle schools seem to fall into that gap between (a) the young elastic brain that is supposed to be able to pick up different languages naturally (usually maxing out somewhere between 6 and 8 years old) and (b) the high school transcript, where colleges look for evidence of foreign language study.
There is another issue about learning languages in middle schools, at least if your child is attending public school. From the latest figures I could find (from a not-very-extensive data search), the primary languages taught in American schools continue to be Spanish and French. Many students, parents, and educators, however, press for other languages in the forefront of international relations, such as Chinese (generally Mandarin), Arabic, Japanese, or Russian. If you and/or your students are interested in such languages, in most cases they may have to wait until high school for any hope of such languages being offered in school.
On the other hand, foreign language educators argue that language mastery is a function of longevity (which, frankly, I think is the case for almost any subject, but I can particularly see the need for that in terms of speaking a language).
Here is an interesting article I found in the Washington Post about this issue:
The Foreign Language Dilemma: Si or Oui?
And here, not related particularly to middle schools but to the topic in general, is NC State's reasons why it is still valuable to take French.
What is the decision in your house? Are your middle schoolers taking language classes? Add your opinions or experiences in the comments below.
Sunday, March 20, 2011
World Religion: Experiencing Paganism
Our World Religions class has concluded our unit on Christianity, and has moved on to Earth-based Religions. So today we had a wonderful experience: we got to experience the celebration of Ostara with leaders of a modern-day Pagan group.
Our guest teachers today were Miss Carissa and Mister James. Both of them had been practicing Paganism over over 20 years, and both of them were very clear in explaining a spiritual tradition that was new to most of us, as well as wonderful about working with young people.
The class began with the building (and explaining) of a Pagan altar. In the particular Pagan tradition of these teachers (Reclaiming tradition), the alter begins with the North--the place of Winter and Earth. It then moves to the East (or Spring and Air), then South (Summer and Fire), and then West (Fall and Water). In the center is Spirit.
Miss Carissa and Mister James then went through the "Wheel of the Year," or the calendar of the major Pagan celebrations. They explained the significance of each one, and related them to other holidays celebrated around the same time by other religions. They presented a really interesting perspective that the different holidays were times for us to use for our own planning and manifestation purposes. Thus, for example, the Spring Equinox, or Ostara, is a time for setting intentions for the new year; Mabon, or the Fall Equinox, is a time of taking inventory and assessing what you have achieved; Imbolic, which takes place at the beginning of February, is a time of wonder and transformation, and for getting ready to set the intentions that will be given in a few weeks at Ostara once again. I love the idea of religious holidays that are not marking what has happened in the past with a significant figure, but for our personal use for driving our own lives.
The last section of the class was spent in experiencing an actual Ostara ritual. We began drawing our own intentions for the coming period on a piece of material that was to become our seed packet. For example, the first picture is the one my son drew; the second one is mine.
We wrapped dill seeds in our packages, and placed them on the altar.
Then we went through an Ostara ritual, which included cleansing, grounding, setting a sacred circle, honoring the directions, calling in the ancestors, calling in allies, a guided meditation to help us get clear on our intentions and our power...and then breaking everything down by going through the whole process in reverse.
And I may have messed up the process somewhat, because the entire experience was just so energizing that is is hard to remember and explain using our traditional brain. I think we all experienced a change in consciousness and a change in the energy as we experienced and participated in this ritual. But our guest teachers explained that what we had experienced was what Paganism was all about. Or, that is, they said that "magic" (I think many Pagans spell it as "magick," but they were speaking, not writing, so I don't know if that is how I should be writing it) is really just about a change in consciousness. That, I believe, is the goal of many, if not all, religions.
So we experienced a great energy in Paganism, while discovering another universal thread that ties almost all spiritual practices together.
I had read quite a bit about modern Paganism (also called Neo-Paganism, or sometime Wicca or Witchcraft), but it became a lot clearer hearing about it from actual Pagan teachers. Plus, I think we all had a fabulous experience in the ritual. So if you are studying World Religions, I really recommend finding a local Pagan group and seeing if you, too, can experience some Pagan practices.
Our guest teachers today were Miss Carissa and Mister James. Both of them had been practicing Paganism over over 20 years, and both of them were very clear in explaining a spiritual tradition that was new to most of us, as well as wonderful about working with young people.
The class began with the building (and explaining) of a Pagan altar. In the particular Pagan tradition of these teachers (Reclaiming tradition), the alter begins with the North--the place of Winter and Earth. It then moves to the East (or Spring and Air), then South (Summer and Fire), and then West (Fall and Water). In the center is Spirit.
Miss Carissa and Mister James then went through the "Wheel of the Year," or the calendar of the major Pagan celebrations. They explained the significance of each one, and related them to other holidays celebrated around the same time by other religions. They presented a really interesting perspective that the different holidays were times for us to use for our own planning and manifestation purposes. Thus, for example, the Spring Equinox, or Ostara, is a time for setting intentions for the new year; Mabon, or the Fall Equinox, is a time of taking inventory and assessing what you have achieved; Imbolic, which takes place at the beginning of February, is a time of wonder and transformation, and for getting ready to set the intentions that will be given in a few weeks at Ostara once again. I love the idea of religious holidays that are not marking what has happened in the past with a significant figure, but for our personal use for driving our own lives.
The last section of the class was spent in experiencing an actual Ostara ritual. We began drawing our own intentions for the coming period on a piece of material that was to become our seed packet. For example, the first picture is the one my son drew; the second one is mine.
We wrapped dill seeds in our packages, and placed them on the altar.
Then we went through an Ostara ritual, which included cleansing, grounding, setting a sacred circle, honoring the directions, calling in the ancestors, calling in allies, a guided meditation to help us get clear on our intentions and our power...and then breaking everything down by going through the whole process in reverse.
And I may have messed up the process somewhat, because the entire experience was just so energizing that is is hard to remember and explain using our traditional brain. I think we all experienced a change in consciousness and a change in the energy as we experienced and participated in this ritual. But our guest teachers explained that what we had experienced was what Paganism was all about. Or, that is, they said that "magic" (I think many Pagans spell it as "magick," but they were speaking, not writing, so I don't know if that is how I should be writing it) is really just about a change in consciousness. That, I believe, is the goal of many, if not all, religions.
So we experienced a great energy in Paganism, while discovering another universal thread that ties almost all spiritual practices together.
I had read quite a bit about modern Paganism (also called Neo-Paganism, or sometime Wicca or Witchcraft), but it became a lot clearer hearing about it from actual Pagan teachers. Plus, I think we all had a fabulous experience in the ritual. So if you are studying World Religions, I really recommend finding a local Pagan group and seeing if you, too, can experience some Pagan practices.
Thursday, February 24, 2011
Donate to New Zealand Earthquake Relief and Get Free Curriculum from CurrClick
I've written previously about CurrClick, a prime electronic source for downloadable curriculum. They, and some of the curriculum developers they represent, are running a new giveaway to raise money for relief efforts for the recent earthquake in New Zealand. For a donation of $20 (100% of which goes to the New Zealand Red Cross), they will allow you to download a bundle of curricula that normally sells for $230. Or if you don't want that, you can make a $5 donation through their site, with, again, all money going to the victims in New Zealand.
There are 27 different curricula in the bundle. Of course, not all are at the middle school level, but many of you teaching middle schoolers also have other children of different ages. There is a lapbook about New Zealand Flags and Symbols, which could be useful for discussing this disaster with children of any age. There are some generic tools, like field trip notebooks pages and a meal planner, along with some interesting-looking resources on Shakespeare and Da Vinci. But one resource I can recommend specifically for middle school students is the Bite-Size Physics book by Science Jim. This 271-page ebook, which by itself normally sells for $35, contains 25 lesson plans and over 70 experiments on such topics as mechanics, energy, thermal dynamics, and static electricity. We own this book, and have been fortunate enough to have taken both online and face-to-face classes with Science Jim (Mueller), and I can tell you that he is fantastic! So if all you download from your donation is this book, you've already gotten a deal on a great educational resource and helped some people in distress. What can be better than that?
Click here to see the details on the $20 New Zealand Charity bundle.
Or, click here to donate $5.00 to the New Zealand Red Cross via CurrClick.
There are 27 different curricula in the bundle. Of course, not all are at the middle school level, but many of you teaching middle schoolers also have other children of different ages. There is a lapbook about New Zealand Flags and Symbols, which could be useful for discussing this disaster with children of any age. There are some generic tools, like field trip notebooks pages and a meal planner, along with some interesting-looking resources on Shakespeare and Da Vinci. But one resource I can recommend specifically for middle school students is the Bite-Size Physics book by Science Jim. This 271-page ebook, which by itself normally sells for $35, contains 25 lesson plans and over 70 experiments on such topics as mechanics, energy, thermal dynamics, and static electricity. We own this book, and have been fortunate enough to have taken both online and face-to-face classes with Science Jim (Mueller), and I can tell you that he is fantastic! So if all you download from your donation is this book, you've already gotten a deal on a great educational resource and helped some people in distress. What can be better than that?
Click here to see the details on the $20 New Zealand Charity bundle.
Or, click here to donate $5.00 to the New Zealand Red Cross via CurrClick.
Tuesday, February 15, 2011
Free Presidents' Day Package and Other American History Curricula at CurrClick
I've noticed that my most popular posts have been about a free curriculum, so here is one for our upcoming Presidents' Day holiday.
CurrClick, one of the most abundant resources for commercial (but low-cost) downloadable curricula, is having a Presidents' Day sale where most of their American history resources are 40% off regular prices. However, they are also offering a few packages for free.
One of the free resources is Living Books Curriculum Holiday Helper for Presidents' Weekend. It contains some stories, quotes, and famous pictures related to George Washington and Abraham Lincoln. LBC is a company that sells Charlotte Mason educational materials, which emphasis classic literature, oral expression, copy work, and inspiring art (among other things). So if you are looking for some quotes, some artwork, or some stories about the lives of Washington or Lincoln, this resources might be what you are looking for.
There are a number of other free curricula during the sale, which ends February 24. Some of the other free resources are:
American Revolution: Time Line Game
Declaration of Independence Copywork Notebook
History Scribes-Bio-Presidents
Independence Day Skip Counting Cards
United States of America Notebook Pages
Not all of them are geared towards the middle school level, but I know some of you have younger children as well.
The catch is that the free titles are scattered among the titles for sale, so you have to page through the sale items to find them. But I thought I would give you a list of the free ones so you would know whether or not it was worth your time. And, of course, if you need some American history materials, this is a good time to buy them.
You can access the sale pages here.
CurrClick, one of the most abundant resources for commercial (but low-cost) downloadable curricula, is having a Presidents' Day sale where most of their American history resources are 40% off regular prices. However, they are also offering a few packages for free.
One of the free resources is Living Books Curriculum Holiday Helper for Presidents' Weekend. It contains some stories, quotes, and famous pictures related to George Washington and Abraham Lincoln. LBC is a company that sells Charlotte Mason educational materials, which emphasis classic literature, oral expression, copy work, and inspiring art (among other things). So if you are looking for some quotes, some artwork, or some stories about the lives of Washington or Lincoln, this resources might be what you are looking for.
There are a number of other free curricula during the sale, which ends February 24. Some of the other free resources are:
American Revolution: Time Line Game
Declaration of Independence Copywork Notebook
History Scribes-Bio-Presidents
Independence Day Skip Counting Cards
United States of America Notebook Pages
Not all of them are geared towards the middle school level, but I know some of you have younger children as well.
The catch is that the free titles are scattered among the titles for sale, so you have to page through the sale items to find them. But I thought I would give you a list of the free ones so you would know whether or not it was worth your time. And, of course, if you need some American history materials, this is a good time to buy them.
You can access the sale pages here.
Tuesday, January 11, 2011
FREE and Half-Priced Curricula at CurrClick Secret Sale
Shhhhhh CurrClick has a secret...
CurrClick, one of the largest providers of e-book and other online curricula for all levels and disciplines of undergraduate study, is having a Winter Whisper sale. The deal is that they have a "secret" page of FREE and half-price curricula that you can't find just by going to their normal website (like the links above), but only by having access to the special sale links. However, they encourage those who have access to the links to share them with their networks....it's kind of a "word of social networks" kind of sale.
The good news is that for those of you who didn't win the Hands of A Child give-away I had on my blog at the end of the year, you can get a free HOAC lapbook unit on Snakes by going to this page. There is another free lapbook unit on Amphibians from A Journey Through Learning, so you can combine them into a nice herpetology lesson. But my favorite on the Freebie page is a comprehensive set of forms that you can use for homeschooling record keeping....attendance, book lists, lesson plans, even high school transcript forms! Once again, click here to get to the special Freebies page.
There are also HUNDREDS of other curricular packages that are discounted to half price or so on this special sale page. For example, one that I just purchased was by A Journey Through Learning called "An Overview of the 19th Century (A Unit Study with Correlating Copy Work and Games)." Geared for upper elementary through middle school, it is the spine of American history in the 1800's. While I think it needs some supplementing for the middle school level, it has some great visuals and timelines and such that help the students link together the various aspects of this busy time in American history. This is exactly the kind of curriculum that I wouldn't necessarily buy at the full price of $17.00, but since we are studying 19th century history this year, it is worth the sale price of $8.50 to me not to have to go find all these timeline images and such on my own. But you have to go through the sale page to get it for this price (which I why I can't give you a link to go directly to this particular package).
Anyway, there is lots of good curricula at a really good price, so go check it out. But the sale is only running until January 19, 2011, so you only have about one week to download the freebies or buy the others at a discount. And feel free to forward this information to your friends, colleagues, or other networks. I know we can all use some bargains at this time of the year!
CurrClick, one of the largest providers of e-book and other online curricula for all levels and disciplines of undergraduate study, is having a Winter Whisper sale. The deal is that they have a "secret" page of FREE and half-price curricula that you can't find just by going to their normal website (like the links above), but only by having access to the special sale links. However, they encourage those who have access to the links to share them with their networks....it's kind of a "word of social networks" kind of sale.
The good news is that for those of you who didn't win the Hands of A Child give-away I had on my blog at the end of the year, you can get a free HOAC lapbook unit on Snakes by going to this page. There is another free lapbook unit on Amphibians from A Journey Through Learning, so you can combine them into a nice herpetology lesson. But my favorite on the Freebie page is a comprehensive set of forms that you can use for homeschooling record keeping....attendance, book lists, lesson plans, even high school transcript forms! Once again, click here to get to the special Freebies page.
There are also HUNDREDS of other curricular packages that are discounted to half price or so on this special sale page. For example, one that I just purchased was by A Journey Through Learning called "An Overview of the 19th Century (A Unit Study with Correlating Copy Work and Games)." Geared for upper elementary through middle school, it is the spine of American history in the 1800's. While I think it needs some supplementing for the middle school level, it has some great visuals and timelines and such that help the students link together the various aspects of this busy time in American history. This is exactly the kind of curriculum that I wouldn't necessarily buy at the full price of $17.00, but since we are studying 19th century history this year, it is worth the sale price of $8.50 to me not to have to go find all these timeline images and such on my own. But you have to go through the sale page to get it for this price (which I why I can't give you a link to go directly to this particular package).
Anyway, there is lots of good curricula at a really good price, so go check it out. But the sale is only running until January 19, 2011, so you only have about one week to download the freebies or buy the others at a discount. And feel free to forward this information to your friends, colleagues, or other networks. I know we can all use some bargains at this time of the year!
Tuesday, December 28, 2010
Lapbook Curriculum Give-Away: Only Four More Days to Enter
I'm heading up to Washington DC today to see my father and other members of the Cross family, so I don't have time for a long post. But I did want to remind people that the last day to enter the drawing for a FREE lapbook curriculum package from In the Hands of a Child is Friday, December 31. To enter, read my earlier blog post announcing the give-away. To see the MANY different subjects that HOAC has prepared lapbook or notebook curricular packages on, visit their website.
Finally, if you aren't familiar with lapbooks, Squidoo has a wonderfully visual resource on lapbooking. A homeschooling mom who goes by the name of Jamin also has a good list of links about lapbooks. (Actually, if you are homeschooling, she has a lot of good links on a bunch of topics, including an America Girl Club, a Boys Reading Club, and Mad Science, so I recommend you check her blog out.)
Finally, if you aren't familiar with lapbooks, Squidoo has a wonderfully visual resource on lapbooking. A homeschooling mom who goes by the name of Jamin also has a good list of links about lapbooks. (Actually, if you are homeschooling, she has a lot of good links on a bunch of topics, including an America Girl Club, a Boys Reading Club, and Mad Science, so I recommend you check her blog out.)
Monday, December 20, 2010
Christmas 2010 Blog: Win a Free Curriculum Package!
While, of course, I always try to emphasize the spiritual qualities of Hanukkah and Christmas, I have to admit that I like the presents as well. And now I have the opportunity to pass on a present to one lucky reader to this blog, thanks to a blogging giveaway program being offered by In the Hands of a Child, a renowned lapbook curriculum developer. HOAC will give a free bundle pack* (which includes a printed project pack, kit pack, and answer key if available, and is valued at $40) to a randomly-selected person who enters their HOAC wish list below.
In the Hands of a Child is a partnership between a few homeschooling families who have turned unit studies they developed for their own children or homeschooling communities into complete lapbook curriculum packages. If you are not familiar with lapbooks, they are a hands-on way to record information on any topic. Students complete "mini-books" on various aspects of that topic and paste them all into a framework made by pasting two or more file folders together. It usually depicts information in a visual way, with space for students to write relevant information, in small chunks on papers that fold or flap or open up or are enclosed in a small envelope, etc. This makes it a great tool for visual and/or kinesthetic learners, as well as for students who get overwhelmed by a large topic and prefer working on manageable bits within the larger subject matter.
I have used a number of their packages, and can attest to their high quality. To be honest, we usually don't do the entire lapbook, but I often use some of their mini-books for a hands-on activity to accompany a topic we are studying. So while they are designed to be stand-alone studies, they can also be useful for supplemental materials to accompany another curriculum you might be using. And, particularly for older students, they also offer much of their curriculum in a notebooking (that is, doing a lot of guided writing on designated notebook pages for specific items within the topic) format as well as for creating a lapbook. Finally, their prices are reasonable, their customer service is good, and they are generous to the educational community. They are often giving things away (like this promotion), and always have at least one unit on their site available for free download (right now it is "Study Any Great Painter") at: http://dev.handsofachild.com/index.phpoption=com_jdownloads&Itemid=3&task=viewcategory&catid=3 Finally, their materials cover the gamut of disciplines and age ranges. While they have hundreds of units at the elementary level, they have 250 items that are suitable for middle schoolers, 128 for early high school, and 80 for upper high school.
So for a chance to win a free printed lapbook/notebook package* (NOT just a downloadable ebook, which is what I usually get), what you have to do is to visit the website of In the Hands of a Child and/or to download their 2010 catalog at http://dev.handsofa
Then chose five HOAC units for your wishlist and enter them using the link below by December 31, 2010. I will randomly select one name and forward it to HOAC, who will mail that person their bundle pack* the first week of January.
HOAC is having this giveway in honor of the fast-approaching release of their 400th curriculum package in early 2011. There will be even more prizes during that event, so you might want to get on their email list to catch all the buzz at that time.
Enter your wishlist and contact information below by December 31, 2010, and good luck to all contestants!
*Fine print--Due to the high postage costs, if my randomly-selected winner lives outside the United States, HOAC will instead give them a free download of one of their ebook packages (which is still a good deal, because that is what I usually buy). But I love my many international readers, so please enter as well, and I'm sure you will enjoy the ebook if you win.
Also, entering your contact information is only for the purpose of contacting the winner. I will not be giving the other email addresses to HOAC, nor will I be using them. So entering the contest will not get you on any email list or anything else that will be generating even more spam for you to deal with.
In the Hands of a Child is a partnership between a few homeschooling families who have turned unit studies they developed for their own children or homeschooling communities into complete lapbook curriculum packages. If you are not familiar with lapbooks, they are a hands-on way to record information on any topic. Students complete "mini-books" on various aspects of that topic and paste them all into a framework made by pasting two or more file folders together. It usually depicts information in a visual way, with space for students to write relevant information, in small chunks on papers that fold or flap or open up or are enclosed in a small envelope, etc. This makes it a great tool for visual and/or kinesthetic learners, as well as for students who get overwhelmed by a large topic and prefer working on manageable bits within the larger subject matter.
I have used a number of their packages, and can attest to their high quality. To be honest, we usually don't do the entire lapbook, but I often use some of their mini-books for a hands-on activity to accompany a topic we are studying. So while they are designed to be stand-alone studies, they can also be useful for supplemental materials to accompany another curriculum you might be using. And, particularly for older students, they also offer much of their curriculum in a notebooking (that is, doing a lot of guided writing on designated notebook pages for specific items within the topic) format as well as for creating a lapbook. Finally, their prices are reasonable, their customer service is good, and they are generous to the educational community. They are often giving things away (like this promotion), and always have at least one unit on their site available for free download (right now it is "Study Any Great Painter") at: http://dev.handsofachild.com/index.phpoption=com_jdownloads&Itemid=3&task=viewcategory&catid=3 Finally, their materials cover the gamut of disciplines and age ranges. While they have hundreds of units at the elementary level, they have 250 items that are suitable for middle schoolers, 128 for early high school, and 80 for upper high school.
So for a chance to win a free printed lapbook/notebook package* (NOT just a downloadable ebook, which is what I usually get), what you have to do is to visit the website of In the Hands of a Child and/or to download their 2010 catalog at http://dev.handsofa
Then chose five HOAC units for your wishlist and enter them using the link below by December 31, 2010. I will randomly select one name and forward it to HOAC, who will mail that person their bundle pack* the first week of January.
HOAC is having this giveway in honor of the fast-approaching release of their 400th curriculum package in early 2011. There will be even more prizes during that event, so you might want to get on their email list to catch all the buzz at that time.
Enter your wishlist and contact information below by December 31, 2010, and good luck to all contestants!
*Fine print--Due to the high postage costs, if my randomly-selected winner lives outside the United States, HOAC will instead give them a free download of one of their ebook packages (which is still a good deal, because that is what I usually buy). But I love my many international readers, so please enter as well, and I'm sure you will enjoy the ebook if you win.
Also, entering your contact information is only for the purpose of contacting the winner. I will not be giving the other email addresses to HOAC, nor will I be using them. So entering the contest will not get you on any email list or anything else that will be generating even more spam for you to deal with.
Thursday, November 4, 2010
Curriculum Resource: Story-Rich Math Game for Middle Schoolers
Last night I attended a Math 2.0 webinar that I heard about from my friend, Maria D. of Natural Math. It was about an online math game that was developed by a middle school teacher for his own classes. Entitled Ko’s Journey, the special thing about this math game is that the math is embedded within a compelling story--the tale of a 12-year-old Native American girl who has been separated from her family and is trying to return to her clan.
What is so nice about this program, at least in what I’ve seen of it, is that the math isn’t the POINT of the story--getting reconnected to family is. But doing the math is the means that makes it possible for Ko to reach her family, and in a very real way. Each morning begins with gathering enough food to survive. Given how much time is left, Ko’s daily progress is determined by how much weight she is carrying (so, for example, if you gather extra food, you can carry it for tomorrow, but it will slow your progress) and what environment she is traveling through (so traveling through the desert drains more energy than traveling through the forest). Plus, of course, she needs to interpret maps, understand astral navigation, prepare proportional folk remedies for injuries or diseases, and use other applied mathematical concepts. However, the math is all a means to the desired ends of reaching her family.
I haven’t used this with my son, but I’m impressed by the concept. The author of the program, Scott Laidlaw, developed and used this with his own middle school students, who improved over 80% in their state math test scores after using the program. But I think the thing he values more than that (since I believe that, in general, teachers are less enamored with just test scores than politicians and other non-educators) is the change in his students in their feelings towards math. Before this program, Laidlaw cites a study that says 84% of middle school students have something negative to say about the subject of math (no specifics about where that statistic came from, but unless you have been blessed enough to be around a math educator as wonderful as Miss Maria or others of the Math 2.0 community, I wouldn’t be surprised by that figure). However, through playing this game, Laidlaw’s students finally grasped the application of math to real-life situations, and their opinions about the value of math raised significantly (just like their test scores).
Although Laidlaw has concentrated on putting the story first, there are 25 national standard middle school math skills that are needed to navigate through Ko’s Journey. So while it is not a comprehensive curriculum, it is a supplemental program that should appeal to most middle schoolers, but particularly the right-brained, non-sequential, global and applied thinkers. And it is particularly geared towards those students who think math is boring and a waste of time!
I really think this is something that I will try with my son. If I do, I’ll report back about my experience.
For more information about the program, check it out at http://www.kosjourney.com/ .
What is so nice about this program, at least in what I’ve seen of it, is that the math isn’t the POINT of the story--getting reconnected to family is. But doing the math is the means that makes it possible for Ko to reach her family, and in a very real way. Each morning begins with gathering enough food to survive. Given how much time is left, Ko’s daily progress is determined by how much weight she is carrying (so, for example, if you gather extra food, you can carry it for tomorrow, but it will slow your progress) and what environment she is traveling through (so traveling through the desert drains more energy than traveling through the forest). Plus, of course, she needs to interpret maps, understand astral navigation, prepare proportional folk remedies for injuries or diseases, and use other applied mathematical concepts. However, the math is all a means to the desired ends of reaching her family.
I haven’t used this with my son, but I’m impressed by the concept. The author of the program, Scott Laidlaw, developed and used this with his own middle school students, who improved over 80% in their state math test scores after using the program. But I think the thing he values more than that (since I believe that, in general, teachers are less enamored with just test scores than politicians and other non-educators) is the change in his students in their feelings towards math. Before this program, Laidlaw cites a study that says 84% of middle school students have something negative to say about the subject of math (no specifics about where that statistic came from, but unless you have been blessed enough to be around a math educator as wonderful as Miss Maria or others of the Math 2.0 community, I wouldn’t be surprised by that figure). However, through playing this game, Laidlaw’s students finally grasped the application of math to real-life situations, and their opinions about the value of math raised significantly (just like their test scores).
Although Laidlaw has concentrated on putting the story first, there are 25 national standard middle school math skills that are needed to navigate through Ko’s Journey. So while it is not a comprehensive curriculum, it is a supplemental program that should appeal to most middle schoolers, but particularly the right-brained, non-sequential, global and applied thinkers. And it is particularly geared towards those students who think math is boring and a waste of time!
I really think this is something that I will try with my son. If I do, I’ll report back about my experience.
For more information about the program, check it out at http://www.kosjourney.com/ .
Wednesday, October 27, 2010
Curriculum Resource: Introducing Personality Testing to Middle Schoolers
A friend and I are co-teaching a class at our coop on Psychology for middle schoolers/early high schoolers. Today I was introducing the topic of Personality Testing; to be specific, I was starting to discuss the use of the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI), which is generally regarded as the most widely-used personality assessment test. The official figures say that two million people take the test each year, and that number is probably increased multiple times by those who take non-official assessments out of books or websites.
In my professional life, I have done a lot of work with adults in using MBTI. However, I must confess I have never used it with such a young age group. However, I decided to start with the same quote I hav always used to introduce personality assessment to adults. It is an edited quoted from Fyodor Dostoevsky's very thought-provoking work, Notes from the Underground:
The tweens/teens read it through with a good bit of giggling, as they were amused by the idea of eating nothing but cakes (quite a different nutritional message then they usually hear...but, of course, Dostoevsky was not refering to nutrition) and somewhat scintillated by the phrase "busy himself with the continuation of the species." Several claimed that they had no idea what the quote meant, but some others rephrased it as stating that people will do anything to avoid being manipulated (which is a pretty good distillation of the passage). This generated a good discussion about how people hate to be controlled or put into boxes, and the sometimes extreme measures we will go to in order to avoid that happening (this could be one interpretation of why Adam and Eve chose to eat the apple that expelled them from paradise).
Several students volunteered examples of things they or someone they had done simply to defy expectations. I offered a story from my childhood memories. One time when my family and I were going to that great Washington DC area ice cream establishment, Giffords Ice Cream, my brothers were teasing me about how I was going to get Swiss Chocolate ice cream because that was what I ALWAYS got. And that might have been bad enough, but one brother said, "Well, she has to get chocolate, because girls ALWAYS choose chocolate." Well, that was it! No way I could get chocolate now--I had to take a feminist stand! So I got coconut ice cream instead. Now, Gifford's coconut ice cream is really, really good--but honestly, I really wanted the Swiss Chocolate instead.
So this story illustrates several valuable points about personality work:
1. We have recurring personality patterns
2. Other people pick up those personality patterns
3. People make predictions based on those personality patterns
4. Even though we have a tendency towards a recurring pattern, we can always make a different choice.
5. If we feel we are being too boxed in by other people (or even by ourselves) by our past patterns, we may strike out and do something completely different, even if we end up suffering from that decision. But we would rather give up our good than, as Dostoevsky says, think of ourselves as a piano key being played by some outside power.
So even thought the crowd was young, this quote sparked a good discussion. It was particularly important for these young people, I thought, because last week most of the said they wanted to take the class so that they could control, manipulate, or predict other people in their lives. I suggested that a more powerful way to look at this was as a means to understand ourselves and others, rather than to control or predict them. I'm not sure we've convinced them of the value of understanding yet. But I think we've begun to expose them to the inherent difficulties in trying to control others.
In my professional life, I have done a lot of work with adults in using MBTI. However, I must confess I have never used it with such a young age group. However, I decided to start with the same quote I hav always used to introduce personality assessment to adults. It is an edited quoted from Fyodor Dostoevsky's very thought-provoking work, Notes from the Underground:
Now I ask you: what can be expected of man...? Shower upon him every earthly blessing, drown him in a sea of happiness, so that nothing but bubbles of bliss can be seen on the surface; give him economic prosperity, such that he should have nothing else to do but sleep, eat cakes and busy himself with the continuation of his species, and even then out of sheer ingratitude, sheer spite, man would play you some nasty trick. He would even risk his cakes and would deliberately desire the most fatal rubbish, the most uneconomical absurdity,... simply in order to prove to himself...that men still are men and not the keys of a piano.... And that is not all: even if man really were nothing but a piano-key, even if this were proved to him by natural science and mathematics, even then he would not become reasonable, but would purposely do something perverse out of simple ingratitude, simply to gain his point. ... If you say that all this, too, can be calculated and tabulated--chaos and darkness and curses, so that the mere possibility of calculating it all beforehand would stop it all, and reason would reassert itself, then man would purposely go mad in order to be rid of reason and gain his point! I believe in it, I answer for it, for the whole work of man really seems to consist in nothing but proving to himself every minute that he is a man and not a piano-key!This quote, like most of Notes from the Underground, is quite dense, so it make take several times of reading it through to really get what he is saying.
The tweens/teens read it through with a good bit of giggling, as they were amused by the idea of eating nothing but cakes (quite a different nutritional message then they usually hear...but, of course, Dostoevsky was not refering to nutrition) and somewhat scintillated by the phrase "busy himself with the continuation of the species." Several claimed that they had no idea what the quote meant, but some others rephrased it as stating that people will do anything to avoid being manipulated (which is a pretty good distillation of the passage). This generated a good discussion about how people hate to be controlled or put into boxes, and the sometimes extreme measures we will go to in order to avoid that happening (this could be one interpretation of why Adam and Eve chose to eat the apple that expelled them from paradise).
Several students volunteered examples of things they or someone they had done simply to defy expectations. I offered a story from my childhood memories. One time when my family and I were going to that great Washington DC area ice cream establishment, Giffords Ice Cream, my brothers were teasing me about how I was going to get Swiss Chocolate ice cream because that was what I ALWAYS got. And that might have been bad enough, but one brother said, "Well, she has to get chocolate, because girls ALWAYS choose chocolate." Well, that was it! No way I could get chocolate now--I had to take a feminist stand! So I got coconut ice cream instead. Now, Gifford's coconut ice cream is really, really good--but honestly, I really wanted the Swiss Chocolate instead.
So this story illustrates several valuable points about personality work:
1. We have recurring personality patterns
2. Other people pick up those personality patterns
3. People make predictions based on those personality patterns
4. Even though we have a tendency towards a recurring pattern, we can always make a different choice.
5. If we feel we are being too boxed in by other people (or even by ourselves) by our past patterns, we may strike out and do something completely different, even if we end up suffering from that decision. But we would rather give up our good than, as Dostoevsky says, think of ourselves as a piano key being played by some outside power.
So even thought the crowd was young, this quote sparked a good discussion. It was particularly important for these young people, I thought, because last week most of the said they wanted to take the class so that they could control, manipulate, or predict other people in their lives. I suggested that a more powerful way to look at this was as a means to understand ourselves and others, rather than to control or predict them. I'm not sure we've convinced them of the value of understanding yet. But I think we've begun to expose them to the inherent difficulties in trying to control others.
Thursday, September 30, 2010
Curriculum Resource: The Timeline of Jewish History
If there are others who are studying Judaism as part of a World Religions course, I found a website that is so helpful to me in getting myself straight about the different patriarchs and historical stories about the Jewish people. The Timeline of Jewish History traces the entire story of Jewish development, from the time of Adam and Eve (Jewish Year 1, or Civil Year 3760 BCE) down through the establishment of the state of Israel in 1948 BCE (Jewish Year 5708). It is so helpful to see who came before whom, and who descended from Abraham, and when the events occurred that are remembered today through holidays like Purim and Hanukkah.
This timeline comes from the website Akhlah, The Jewish Children's Learning Network. It is only one of many wonderful resources for people who are learning about Judaism. It has sections about major Jewish figures, holidays, prayers and blessings, lesson about Hebrew, and great introductory material to many topics in Judaism. I highly recommend it!
This timeline comes from the website Akhlah, The Jewish Children's Learning Network. It is only one of many wonderful resources for people who are learning about Judaism. It has sections about major Jewish figures, holidays, prayers and blessings, lesson about Hebrew, and great introductory material to many topics in Judaism. I highly recommend it!
Tuesday, September 28, 2010
Curriculum Resource: French Revolution Recipe--Bastille Chicken
Today in our history coop we were covering the French Revolution. We had read some books prior to the class, and then we heard various presentations and did different activities related to that time period up through the Napoleonic wars.
Since my son enjoys learning to cook, we thought we would bring the lesson home by making a related dinner tonight. However, due to our various allergies, we didn't like any of the "authentic" recipes we found. So we came up with our own dinner, based on our invention of "Chicken Bastille."
We were working on the theme of the French Revolutionary flag. Red and Blue were the traditional colors of Paris, and White was the color of France. However, since there are so few foods that are naturally colored Blue, we substituted Green in the form of Haricot Vert, or French Green Beans.
So this is what we did. Sorry, I'm not a measuring cook, so this is not an official recipe. But it gives you an idea about how we created a meal that relates to the French Revolution in our own minds, at least.
First, we mixed some of our favorite spices with flour. Then we covered chicken breasts with the flour/spice mixture. We selected 4-6 green beans and put them in the middle of our chicken breasts, then rolled the breasts around them. We did that with all the chicken breasts/green beans.
We had a bag of red creamer potatoes. We cut them into relatively equal slices, then mixed them with chunks of onions, then poured a little olive oil and salt and pepper on them. On top of that, we placed the chicken breasts rolled around haricots vert (or green beans). That gave us red (potatoes), white (chicken breasts in flour), and green (beans) instead of blue.
We also made a cream sauce to pour on top and emphasize the white/French aspect. We sauteed some garlic in olive oil, then added an equal amount of flour to make a roux. Once that browned, we added some white wine and then some cream. Voila---garlic wine cream sauce! How much more French could you get?
We served this with a salad vinaigrette and a French baguette. Bon Appetit!
PS--This meal was also inspired by my friend Doug, a master chef, who turned 50 today. Happy Birthday, Doug! We love you!
Since my son enjoys learning to cook, we thought we would bring the lesson home by making a related dinner tonight. However, due to our various allergies, we didn't like any of the "authentic" recipes we found. So we came up with our own dinner, based on our invention of "Chicken Bastille."
We were working on the theme of the French Revolutionary flag. Red and Blue were the traditional colors of Paris, and White was the color of France. However, since there are so few foods that are naturally colored Blue, we substituted Green in the form of Haricot Vert, or French Green Beans.
So this is what we did. Sorry, I'm not a measuring cook, so this is not an official recipe. But it gives you an idea about how we created a meal that relates to the French Revolution in our own minds, at least.
First, we mixed some of our favorite spices with flour. Then we covered chicken breasts with the flour/spice mixture. We selected 4-6 green beans and put them in the middle of our chicken breasts, then rolled the breasts around them. We did that with all the chicken breasts/green beans.
We had a bag of red creamer potatoes. We cut them into relatively equal slices, then mixed them with chunks of onions, then poured a little olive oil and salt and pepper on them. On top of that, we placed the chicken breasts rolled around haricots vert (or green beans). That gave us red (potatoes), white (chicken breasts in flour), and green (beans) instead of blue.
We also made a cream sauce to pour on top and emphasize the white/French aspect. We sauteed some garlic in olive oil, then added an equal amount of flour to make a roux. Once that browned, we added some white wine and then some cream. Voila---garlic wine cream sauce! How much more French could you get?
We served this with a salad vinaigrette and a French baguette. Bon Appetit!
PS--This meal was also inspired by my friend Doug, a master chef, who turned 50 today. Happy Birthday, Doug! We love you!
Friday, September 24, 2010
Curriculum Resource: Judaism
I found a great resource for the Judaism portion of our World Religion class today. It is a book entitled The Family Treasury of Jewish Holidays by Malka Drucker (1994). It has a really good description of the Jewish holiday, both the traditional ones, like Purim and Yom Kippur, as well as more recent ones, like Yom HaShoah (Holocaust Remembrance Day) and Yom Ha'atzmaut (Israeli Independence Day). They also have recipes and craft projects, poems, songs, and/or prayers that are traditional to or appropriate for each celebration.
Best of all, however, is that there are teaching stories to go with each holiday. Usually there is one version of a story from the Torah (or Old Testament to Christians), as well as one story from a different, more contemporary source. It is the best collection of Jewish teaching stories I've found so far that are appropriate for a middle school student.
Best of all, however, is that there are teaching stories to go with each holiday. Usually there is one version of a story from the Torah (or Old Testament to Christians), as well as one story from a different, more contemporary source. It is the best collection of Jewish teaching stories I've found so far that are appropriate for a middle school student.
Wednesday, September 15, 2010
Lesson Plan: Louisiana Purchase
Today is the first day of our large multi-family coop, where I am teaching a class for middle schoolers entitled "Could You Survive the Lewis & Clark Expedition?" The bulk of the class was spent having the students read aloud my condensed version of a play, "Pardon Me, Mr. Talleyrand, But Did You Say the WHOLE of Louisiana?" that was written by the National Park Service as part of the Lewis and Clark Bicentennial Celebration (it can be found at: http://www.nps.gov/archive/jeff/lewisclark2/education/louisianapurchase/LessonPlanActivity1.htm ).
This version is simpler than all the specific schemes, spies, and double-crosses presented in the Rhomberg book (see my post of September 14), but it does provide a transnational history perspective of how this territory was traded back and forth between various European rulers, none of whom really wanted to colonize there, but all of whom wanted to keep it so that their enemies wouldn't get it.
I'll admit that it was a tough assignment for the first day of coop--to read aloud with people that you didn't know--but the students all did a great job! I told them they had demonstrated three of the qualities that you needed to survive the Lewis & Clark Expedition:
1. Preparation (I sent the script by email, and they all had to print it out, select their characters, and bring it to class)
2. Courage (It takes courage to read aloud new material in front of a class of people you don't know)
3. Teamwork (They all helped each other stay on track, gently prompted their neighbor if it was his or her turn, and encouraged each other's readings)
I think it is valuable for them to see how volatile the ownership of the Western territory was at that time, and I think student presenting a Readers Theater version of the play is a much better way to present it than me talking.
This version is simpler than all the specific schemes, spies, and double-crosses presented in the Rhomberg book (see my post of September 14), but it does provide a transnational history perspective of how this territory was traded back and forth between various European rulers, none of whom really wanted to colonize there, but all of whom wanted to keep it so that their enemies wouldn't get it.
I'll admit that it was a tough assignment for the first day of coop--to read aloud with people that you didn't know--but the students all did a great job! I told them they had demonstrated three of the qualities that you needed to survive the Lewis & Clark Expedition:
1. Preparation (I sent the script by email, and they all had to print it out, select their characters, and bring it to class)
2. Courage (It takes courage to read aloud new material in front of a class of people you don't know)
3. Teamwork (They all helped each other stay on track, gently prompted their neighbor if it was his or her turn, and encouraged each other's readings)
I think it is valuable for them to see how volatile the ownership of the Western territory was at that time, and I think student presenting a Readers Theater version of the play is a much better way to present it than me talking.
Tuesday, September 14, 2010
Curriculum Resource: Colonial and Jeffersonian America
One issue I have with the way American history is taught is that it is so often presented in a vacuum. However, just like today, where relations with Mexico, Israel, Great Britain, Saudi Arabia, and other nations have so much impact on our decisions, both domestically and in foreign policy, so much of American history was really a response to events happening all over the globe. Fortunately, there are a growing number of resources to provide students with a broader perspective of these events in our past. Apparently the academic term for this approach is "transnational history."
Here are two books I think are appropriate for middle school readers that present the larger global perspective about things we tend to think about from just an "American" point of view:
The Real Revolution: The Global Story of American Independence by Marc Aronson (2005)
This book makes a great case for the American Revolution as merely one local reaction to the battle for global domination between England and France during the 17th and 18th century. It traces one of the most egregious complaints of the American colonists--the tax on tea--as an attempt to shore up the profits of the East Indian Trading Company in order to secure the English colonies in India in order to... well, you get the picture. It's a much bigger story than just some upset colonists in Boston.
What's the Deal? Jefferson, Napoleon, and the Louisiana Purchase by Rhoda Blumberg (1998)
Blumberg chronicles the merry-go-round intrigue between England, France, Spain, and the new nation of the United States over who would control not only the highly desirable port of New Orleans, but the territory of unknown wilderness that would eventually become 1/3 of the continental US.
Here are two books I think are appropriate for middle school readers that present the larger global perspective about things we tend to think about from just an "American" point of view:
The Real Revolution: The Global Story of American Independence by Marc Aronson (2005)
This book makes a great case for the American Revolution as merely one local reaction to the battle for global domination between England and France during the 17th and 18th century. It traces one of the most egregious complaints of the American colonists--the tax on tea--as an attempt to shore up the profits of the East Indian Trading Company in order to secure the English colonies in India in order to... well, you get the picture. It's a much bigger story than just some upset colonists in Boston.
What's the Deal? Jefferson, Napoleon, and the Louisiana Purchase by Rhoda Blumberg (1998)
Blumberg chronicles the merry-go-round intrigue between England, France, Spain, and the new nation of the United States over who would control not only the highly desirable port of New Orleans, but the territory of unknown wilderness that would eventually become 1/3 of the continental US.
Saturday, September 11, 2010
Lewis & Clark Resource
I'm teaching a middle school-aged class on Lewis and Clark this fall, and found a good resource book while working on my lesson plan. Entitled Lewis and Clark for Kids: Their Journey of Discovery with 21 Activities by Janis Herbert, it does a good job of describing the expedition's activities, challenges, and discoveries taken from journal entries for specific dates. If you've done a lot of hands-on history (like we have), the activities are not necessarily that inspiring or original. But compared to the traditional approach of read-lecture-discuss, of course, they are a good starting point for a more exciting approach to this period in American history.
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