Mini Unit Study: Fire Safety

max standing by the "wee-ooo" (his word for any vehicle with a siren!)

Well, since we had moved into our new house quite some time ago, we were clearly overdue for some fire safety training in our new locale!  I set up a mini-unit study on fire safety and we established our place to meet, fire safety rules and floor plan.  We installed two more smoke detectors and learned about the fire escape ladder located upstairs in Janie's room.  We talked about fire safety in the kitchen and throughout the house.  We got great ideas from www.sparky.org including a checklist and a printable floor plan.  They also have games on the site that reinforce what our kids learned.  We stretched the unit study to about a week and finished with a trip to the local fire department with our local homeschool group!  Clearly unit studies don't have to be big and involved.  Pick a little subject and try it for a week.  I love it!  They're really fun!

"It's All Over Over There!"

Finally!  The end of World War Two!  Yikes!  When we began this journey, we had no idea where it would take us.  Because I took on the whole war at once, we merely scratched the surface.  If you choose to do a unit study on World War II, I suggest breaking it up.... study the homefront, rationing, a few battles, a single country... there is so much to this subject that taking it on in bits and pieces is more effective than trying to digest the whole!

props for the presentation

To do this unit study, we did a half hour activity (or active learning) first thing and then 30 more minutes of me reading aloud to the kids.  We decided to read "Anne Frank, Diary of a Young Girl" during this time.  While I read the kids worked on the timeline (more on that later) or drew pictures of what they were hearing me read.  It was tough getting a lot of reading done in that half hour with a three year old and and infant demanding attention.  We found the book to be interesting and boring all at the same time.  It was interesting how they were forced to live during their time of hiding, but naturally repetitious.  Because it became a bit of a drudge and because the kids had watched a movie based on the book, we settled for reading only half the book and then the epilogue.  We spent an hour one morning whispering to see how difficult it must've been for the residents of the Secret Annex on a daily basis to protect themselves from discovery.  In retrospect, I would've tried "The Hiding Place" by Corrie Ten Boom instead.  Actually, I've never read that book but I was disappointed that Anne Frank made little or no reference to her faith in her diary.  It was sad to me that they hid, suffered and died because of their religious beliefs and yet it did not seem to play a pivotal role in their daily life.
Alright, beyond Anne Frank, we learned a lot through a movie that we watched called "The 1940s House".  The movie was a bit of a documentary that chose a modern family to place in a house and situations fashioned exactly like one would find in England in the 1940s.  It's about a three hour movie but well worth the time.  We also watched "D-day to Berlin".  This is a much shorter documentary that moved along rather quickly and showed real and up-close footage of the war.  It certainly made an impact with the children.
Aside from movies and books, the kids did a trivia game, made yellow Stars of David out of popsicle sticks, a model of a bomb shelter and made a rather impressive timeline!  During the presentation, Mitch did a sock puppet show that was the fastest summary of the war ever given!  Janie did a detailed report on Anne Frank.  Her read aloud was excellent!  That was super exciting for me since reading aloud is really far out of her comfort zone.  Mitch figured out how to drop a "bomb" on his shelter with a straight pin and grenade shaped balloons with a couple of beans in them for weight... that was a big hit with Josiah and Hailey who were here as guests!
We learned a lot, but I have to say that I'm totally burned out!  Maybe next year we'll take on just a portion of the war, but it's gonna be awhile before I have the energy to invest in this subject again!

The Oregon Trail...

Since my kids are so far apart in age (17, 9 and 3), we've found unit studies to be the best way to educate all of them at once.  At first I was a little wary of my 17yr old doing crafts or my 9yr old doing tedious time lines and research but it has all worked out so well!  Since the point of school is to LEARN, we'll take that knowledge any way we can get it and the funner, the better!

Just imagine seeing this from your covered wagon!!

Our first unit study of the year was on the Oregon Trail.  I bought the Oregon Trail video game and that became a favorite teacher of just how many "hiccups" you could run into on the trail!  The first thing I learned is to not use your own kids' names members of your party!  It's kinda disturbing when the computer tells you that your baby just died!  Yikes!
Along the way we made a playdough model of the trail so we could get somewhat of a physical sense of rivers, mountains and plains.  We also made hard tack, miniature covered wagons and took two field trips.  We were able to walk parts of the Oregon Trail and see the ruts as well as a grave for a wagon master!  Can you imagine losing your wagon master??  While walking a bit of the trail in the woods you really got a sense of how courageous the emigrants really were!  Out there in the woods could be all manner of animal ready to eat them for a snack and I think I would begin to doubt that anyone knew where they were going!  How quiet and eerie and yet beautiful!  What adventurous souls must've traversed such unforgiving and untamed land in search of something better for their families and as a consequence, created something better for us all!  It was a humbling and awe inspiring experience.

Live oxen at the Oregon Trail Museum in Baker City

We also read books depicting life on the Trail... we did anything to make it real.  Making it real is what allows for learning.
One field trip was to the Oregon Trail Museum and Interpretive Center in Baker City.  There were a lot of hands on displays for the kids and visual displays that were interactive as well.  We were fortunate enough to visit on the day that there were live oxen on display!  These oxen weighed more than 3,000lbs and were about 6ft tall at their back!  They were amazing to look at.  One has to have a good deal of respect for an animal of that size... and a back-up plan or two!!

max painting his covered wagon... and apparently his nose as well... and his hand... and arm...

making hardtack... or beating your brother with a rolling pin... whichever works!

Here are a few pictures of projects that we did.  If you've never done a unit study before, try the book, "Unit Studies Made Easy" by Valerie Bendt to gather ideas and inspiration.  Basically, we pick a subject and find books, art projects, field trips, movies, games, whatever... anything that will help the kids learn about that particular area of study.  We love it!  It really is great fun!