First, fold the tape accordian-style using as long a length as needed for the project as determined by the number of years covered and your unit of measure. Each "page" or fold should be about 11 inches wide so that you can three-hole punch it. Next, make a "cover" that will open like a book, with the paper edge on the right and fold on the left. Write the title, such as "Timeline of New World Explorers" or whatever you are studying on the cover.
Turn the "cover" over like you would open the first page of a book and begin drawing the timeline by making a long straight line down the the middle of the tape. It is helpful to have a yardstick for this step.
Next, determine your unit of measure, such as one inch equals fifty years. Tick marks should then be placed every 10, 25, 50 or 100 years. Then while discussing the events or people on the timeline each child can label it appropriately. Or the timeline can be an independent project for an older child. A simple low-cost project.
Tuesday, August 4, 2009
Why We are Returning to KONOS Curriculum
Picture this. New "homeschool" mom talks husband into attending a homeschool book fair. The mom is forty. The oldest child is three. Yes. Three. She is, of course, overwhelmed by all of the choices but one speaker and booth grabs attention like no other: KONOS. KONOS is a unit study curriculum based on character traits that is like no other. It is the original Christian hands-on character curriclum. I like the authors' philosophy, which is to use science and history topics to give homeschooled students active learning as much as possible. Many of the ideas in KONOS take no preparation at all. You can just look at the activity and do it. This is what I needed but had been lacking the past few years. And we have one very "Tigger-like" child, bouncing all over the house much of any given day. Need I say more?
Does it take preparation to do it well? Yes. Is it worth it? I can say that, yes, it is. We stopped using it a few years back and went to a more eclectic/classical approach, trying different things. But during the past year I found that I was drawn back to KONOS after evaluating what had made school seem boring and more drudgery than it had once been. I remembered that I really do like teaching them, mentoring my children in Bible and character training. The time I invited other preschoolers over for a KONOS bird activity session is one memory my now 13-year old son has stamped in his brain. He retained what I taught because it was memorable to him and he did something with it himself. It was fun. When we stopped to study Lewis and Clark while the re-enactors were in town in Louisville the pictures I have of our son and daughter dressed as Meriwether Lews and Sacajawea are priceless!
Fast forward to 2009. Now we are doing a one year strictly American History study ala KONOS and this week we begin learning about the Explorers. Our little group of friends is coming over to make adding machine tape timelines of the Age of Discovery, turn the back yard into a map of the world with the routes of major New World explorers, and who knows what else I will come up with in the next few days. And the interesting thing is these two ideas are not from the Konos volumes at all. We'll be doing those later.
The adding machine tape timeline idea I found elsewhere. Can't remember the source. Of course, first you need to find the adding machine tape. It took visiting a few office supply stores before I located mine, then bought several. (Adding machine tape is a paper roll (not sticky)used to print numbers on an adding machine, prior to the hand-held calculator.
Dear daughter, who was barely three when we did Konos earlier, will finally have fun doing school again. Will post pictures later.
Does it take preparation to do it well? Yes. Is it worth it? I can say that, yes, it is. We stopped using it a few years back and went to a more eclectic/classical approach, trying different things. But during the past year I found that I was drawn back to KONOS after evaluating what had made school seem boring and more drudgery than it had once been. I remembered that I really do like teaching them, mentoring my children in Bible and character training. The time I invited other preschoolers over for a KONOS bird activity session is one memory my now 13-year old son has stamped in his brain. He retained what I taught because it was memorable to him and he did something with it himself. It was fun. When we stopped to study Lewis and Clark while the re-enactors were in town in Louisville the pictures I have of our son and daughter dressed as Meriwether Lews and Sacajawea are priceless!
Fast forward to 2009. Now we are doing a one year strictly American History study ala KONOS and this week we begin learning about the Explorers. Our little group of friends is coming over to make adding machine tape timelines of the Age of Discovery, turn the back yard into a map of the world with the routes of major New World explorers, and who knows what else I will come up with in the next few days. And the interesting thing is these two ideas are not from the Konos volumes at all. We'll be doing those later.
The adding machine tape timeline idea I found elsewhere. Can't remember the source. Of course, first you need to find the adding machine tape. It took visiting a few office supply stores before I located mine, then bought several. (Adding machine tape is a paper roll (not sticky)used to print numbers on an adding machine, prior to the hand-held calculator.
Dear daughter, who was barely three when we did Konos earlier, will finally have fun doing school again. Will post pictures later.
Sunday, May 17, 2009
Food for Creative Thought
What is creative family life? It describes a home that is a sanctuary from the modern chaos around us. How do we keep our children protected from the violence on television and video games ? This is the dilemma of concerned parents these days. Playing board or card games together, working on hobbies, storytelling, playing music, or just talking used to be the normal agenda for family evenings in simpler times. Our challenge is to accept technology intelligently, not to fall into the trap of letting it replace real family time or actual parenting.
The brain of a developing child is complex, yet across our popular culture many parents put more care and concern into how they feed and train their animals than how they nourish, train and develop tender and impressionable young minds.
It seems to be common knowledge that even a puppy's early experiences will stamp a behavior or response into their psyche. But this concept is widely ignored in rearing human children these days. One historical and literary example that comes to mind is from Laura Ingalls Wilder's Farmer Boy where Almonzo was not even to go near the young colt while his father was training him. The development of that colt's understanding of human interaction was so important to Almonzo's father that the young Almonzo, inexperienced in how to treat the animal, had to wait until he had earned the right to even go near it and participate in the colt's trainin g. Exposure is training when it comes to the very young.
AD/HD is one controversial condition that has been blamed on watching too much television by some, but other studies prove that it is likely a genetic trait. Either way, too much "screen time" can't be good for any child given that one of the needs of the AD/HD child is for an orderly, quiet, structured, environment with plenty of patient adult interaction and consequences for misbehavior. Sounds like a prescription for everyone, really.
The antonym for the word "creative" would be "destructive." So would it stand to reason that we cannot be standing still long in this creative ---destructive continuum? If we are not moving forward and being creative and purposeful with our time, which is the stuff of life, are we then destroying something that God put in us to develop and not squander?
What do you think? How do you encourage creativity and good behavior in your family? What is your favorite way of keeping peace and harmony in your home? How do you develop an appetite in your children for "real" life vs. "virtual" life?
The brain of a developing child is complex, yet across our popular culture many parents put more care and concern into how they feed and train their animals than how they nourish, train and develop tender and impressionable young minds.
It seems to be common knowledge that even a puppy's early experiences will stamp a behavior or response into their psyche. But this concept is widely ignored in rearing human children these days. One historical and literary example that comes to mind is from Laura Ingalls Wilder's Farmer Boy where Almonzo was not even to go near the young colt while his father was training him. The development of that colt's understanding of human interaction was so important to Almonzo's father that the young Almonzo, inexperienced in how to treat the animal, had to wait until he had earned the right to even go near it and participate in the colt's trainin g. Exposure is training when it comes to the very young.
AD/HD is one controversial condition that has been blamed on watching too much television by some, but other studies prove that it is likely a genetic trait. Either way, too much "screen time" can't be good for any child given that one of the needs of the AD/HD child is for an orderly, quiet, structured, environment with plenty of patient adult interaction and consequences for misbehavior. Sounds like a prescription for everyone, really.
The antonym for the word "creative" would be "destructive." So would it stand to reason that we cannot be standing still long in this creative ---destructive continuum? If we are not moving forward and being creative and purposeful with our time, which is the stuff of life, are we then destroying something that God put in us to develop and not squander?
What do you think? How do you encourage creativity and good behavior in your family? What is your favorite way of keeping peace and harmony in your home? How do you develop an appetite in your children for "real" life vs. "virtual" life?
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