An Interdisciplinary Approach To Science and Nutrition

Have you ever heard of an "interdisciplinary" curriculum?   It's one of the latest catch-phrases in the world of public school education, kind of the latest fad, if you will.   Interdisciplinary instruction simply means to coordinate resources and materials from multiple subject areas to cover a particular topic.  Many of us homeschoolers have been doing this for years, in the form of unit studies.  Even if your main curriculum isn't structured this way, you've probably at some point done a unit study or theme unit, right?

There are entire curriculum aligned on this basis.  Konos comes to mind.  Five in a Row is one I've used personally with my own kids and absolutely LOVED.  I'm sure there are others, but the point is that the concept of interdisciplinary study is hardly anything new.   Marketing teams can put a new spin on it and try to sell it to you, for sure, but the bottom line is that kids learn the subject matter especially well when it is covered in multiple disciplines.   

So instead of a boring math textbook with pages and pages of math problems, a child who also learns how math applies to music will have a greater appreciation of both.  Or more simply, a child who learns about China in a Social Studies book will gain more depth of understanding if the teacher plans a celebration of Chinese New Year too.  Another example of interdisciplinary learning would be a unit study about rivers....the geography of the land, how rivers are created, what creatures live there and their life cycles, the heat energy or chemical contamination of rivers, and all of this interspersed with poetry, art, or works of literature relating to rivers too.  See how it all comes together?  Instead of just learning A, B, and C, teach your kids about A, B, and C and their relation to the rest of the alphabet too!

This is how I approach homeschooling and education.  Nutrition should not be a subject unto its own.  It should be taught as bits and pieces of a much bigger picture.  We can learn about the science of nutrition, and the calculations and math behind it too.  But there are less obvious tie-ins to social studies, history, and many other fields.  Often, the interdisciplinary topics are where the real learning and understanding takes place.

Have your kids learn by doing.  Teach them to garden, and to cook, and to calculate, and to THINK about nutrition, not to regurgitate information. It's about learning about materials, and then DOING something with them!   But shake things up too, and do a little of the unexpected.   Creating and doing helps kids to learn across a wide spectrum of disciplines.

Homeschooling - When To Ask For Help

Most homeschooling parents feel pretty confident. They know they made a great decision to homeschool their kids, are they're making it work for them. The kids are doing well, the parents love the outcome, and all is well. But trouble does arise sometimes, even in the most dedicated and well-organized homeschooling households. If you need homeschool help, you're not alone!  We all need help sometime, but how do you know when it's time to ask for some assistance?

When You're New
Obviously, newbies are going to have some questions. Don't be afraid to ask! Are you wondering about the homeschooling laws in your state? Or how to arrange a Drivers' Ed class for your teenager? How do you teach phonics to a kindergartener, anyway? And what's the best math curriculum out there? If you're new to homeschooling, you aren't going to automatically know these answers, so you'll need to find someone who does. The internet is helpful, but it's a smart move to find other homeschoolers in your local area and join a support group to meet other families who've been through the same thing and can guide you. Homeschoolers are a really helpful bunch, so if you have a question....ASK!

When Something Isn't Working
Is your child just not getting those multiplication tables memorized, no matter what you do? Are they having trouble with handwriting, or reading skills? Maybe you're frustrated by the amount of "busy work" in the curriculum you've chosen not challenging your child enough? There are a thousand reasons you may be dissatisfied with how things are going.

You might consider shopping around for a different curriculum that fits your child's needs better. You might also seek professional guidance, as in the case of suspected dyslexia or seeking occupational therapy for serious handwriting concerns. It could be helpful for you speak with other parents in your support group and and ask how their own kids did with learning math facts and multiplication tables.

When You're Out Of Your League
I have no idea how to teach my daughter Calculus, and I'm not much for Art or Music class, either. So I have my kids taking some co-op classes where other homeschool moms who do know Art and Music are doing a great job at imparting that knowledge to my children. And my daughter is getting help with Calculus there too! The same principle holds for foreign langauges - if you don't happen to speak Spanish or have French immigrants living next door, teaching your kids a foreign language is going to be difficult, even with the most well-intentioned curriculum. Get some help!

Don't keep beating a dead horse. If you don't understand how to accomplish the goal you've set for your kids, or you run into roadblocks along the way, don't be afraid to ask for help. We've all been there, and if you ask for help when you need it, you'll be more confident in helping someone else someday too!

Why Join a Homeschool Support Group?

Whether you're a veteran homeschooler or starting a new homeschool, belonging to a support group of other homeschoolers in your area can be hugely beneficial.

Support groups can be just casual gatherings of families meeting for play dates or educational field trips.  Lots of places where public school classes attend field trips are willing to accomodate homeschoolers if they can get a group together to attend.

Support groups could also take the form of a co-op, where the group meets periodically and parents take turns teaching some particular subject to the kids.  This is an advantage because another parent might know more about art or geology, for example, based on their own education or career, and you child will be learning from someone with expertise in the subject.

Whatever you're looking for in a support group, you're probably wondering where to look!  Using the internet, you can find plenty of secular homeschool support groups and Christian homeschooling groups as well.  You could also ask around and find out from local homeschoolers you know.  Fellow homeschoolers in your local area are often the very ones you need to connect with.