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.

Ideas For Supplementing Your Life Science Curriculum

While most homeschooling families are generally content with the science curriculum they’ve chosen, there's always room for improvement.  Some families prefer homeschooling evolution, and others teach creationism, but whatever your stance on that controversial issue, if you're looking to make a year’s worth of Life Science bigger and better, some of these ideas may be worth considering.

Many families enjoy unit studies because they’re so flexible and can be tailored to whatever level of intensity you want.   I’m having my oldest daughter choose a few projects throughout the year that she’d like to learn more about.   So far, she’s made a poster-sized chart about taxonomy and classification of plants and animals, and she wants to try replicating some form Mendelian genetics by crossing different seedlings of green bean plants to vary their characteristics.

Hands-on activities are important when teaching kids about science, so even though it isn’t specifically recommended in our science text, we’re going to dissect a frog.  I’m waiting until my daughter has finished the unit on body systems, and then I plan to order a frog and dissecting kit from a science supply store online.   Stores like that are chock full of great ideas, experiments, and supplies to help round out your curriculum.

There are sometimes resources available in the local community too.  The children’s museum in my city offers monthly classes for homeschoolers, and while they don’t always pertain to Life Science, I made sure to sign up my daughter for the ones I thought would be helpful.  She’ll be learning how to use a microscope and get some hands-on experience learning about ecosystems and habitat, among other things.   One of the farms in our area rents out small incubators each spring that kids can take home and watch a chicken egg hatch.   These kinds of opportunities are everywhere, if you know where to look.

Overall, the year is going well and, I have to admit, I’m learning right along with my daughter.  She’s enjoying the projects, local classes, an online homeschool science curriculum, and other supplemental things I’ve come up with for Life Science, and adding something extra to a traditional science curriculum has really helped us both stay excited about schoolwork.

Science and Celery

GUEST POST

Back when I was a new homeschooler I thought everything we learned had to be part of the curriculum.  Fortunately, I have a very “science hungry” child who finished her science curriculum long before I had planned for her to finish.  This meant I had to be creative with things to keep her science hungry brain occupied!

One of the activities that we have tried lately is a “grow again” garden.  Let me explain.  There are a number of fresh vegetables that will regrow from the pieces left over when you cut them up.  Not quite like starfish, but still fun to explore. 

Right now we are growing our own celery.  Did you know that if you cut the root end of the celery off and care for it properly you can grow your own celery?  Here is how you do it.

1.      Wash, then cut the celery stalks off of the root end a couple of inches from the end.

2.      Use the stalks as you would normally.

3.      Take the root end and place it root end down in a shallow saucer/bowl.

4.      Add tap water to the bowl, deep enough to just cover the end where the roots would grow.

5.      Place in a sunny window.

6.      Wait!

Within about a week you will see new leaf growth out of the bundle.  To keep the celery growing you will need to change the water regularly and trim off any pieces of the celery that becomes soft and mushy.  Eventually, roots will grow from the root end.  Once that happens you can plant it in soil.  Know that celery requires a lot of water to grow so keep the soil moist but not soggy.

The one thing we have found so far is that the stalks growing from our regrown celery plant do not produce the thick, firm stalks that you are used to purchasing commercially.  The stalks from our regrown celery are more tender and slim.  They are also very celery flavored.  One other thing that I like about our regrown celery is that we control the chemicals, additives, and fertilizers used in the growth meaning we can make it as organic friendly as we choose. 

There are other foods that work this way.  Onions, shallots, green onions, and fennel will all regrow by the same method.  If you have garlic cloves that begin to sprout you can also have your children regrow garlic, just plant the clove-green end up!  Interestingly enough you can also plant the end of a carrot it if has leafy growth.  The carrot will not regrow but it will produce carrot leaves which can be used as garnish and greens in salads.

I’ve even met a lady who keeps an oak barrel planter outside her kitchen door and tosses seeds from fruits into it as well as the vegetables I’ve mentioned.  She said that she never knows what her mini kitchen garden might be growing!

Learning how their food grows and growing some of their own food can be a very educational experience for children.  Hands-on science for kids should be fun and engaging, and in this case it can be pretty tasty as well!

 

Linda Warren is a writer and homeschooling parent of an only child who is just now beginning some high school courses.  They began their homeschooling journey using Time4Learning and Spelling City.  They are continuing their homeschooling journey with the new Time4Learning Interactive High School curriculum.

Homeschooling With a Learning Disability

When you're considering your options, there are plenty of pros and cons of homeschooling to think about. If you're homeschooling with PDD, dyslexia, autism, or any number of other learning disorders, your methods of homeschooling need to be tailored to the needs of your child.   One way to look at this is to first determine how your child learns best.  Are they are visual, auditory, or kinesthetic learner?  Traditional educational approaches are geared toward visual learners, but not all kids learn the same way.  You may even need to teach the same material in different ways if you have more than one child and their needs are different too.  The biggest benefit to homeschooling is the flexibility it provides.  You can give each child what they need to succeed, with an individual approach you know will work! 

Nutrition Analogies To Learn Vocabulary

Worm is to apple as cow is to___________.

Anyone know the answer to the analogy?  GRASS! (Because we all know that happy, healthy cows eat grass, right?  Not corn or grain or whatever else!)

Try this one.

vitamin C : oranges

_______ :  milk

Oranges contain vitamin C.  What important nutrient is found in milk?  Calcium!

Yea!  You're on a roll!  How about one more?

red, shiny : apple

yellow, curved : __________

Banana!  Analogies aren't just for the SAT test anymore.  Homeschooling kids can really enjoy analogies, and if you start when your kids are young, they'll have lots of time to master them before SAT-time.

It might be something fun and different to pass the time this winter.  If you send me your nutrition analogies, I'll compile a list of them to post on the blog.  Give it a try!