An Abstract Lesson on Snow in Florida

After my post on homeschooling in Florida winter last week, this week Samantha's science lesson was about weather.  She learned about the many ways we can describe weather and the effects of weather on people, animals and plants.  She also learned that weather can be observed, measured and recorded using our senses and tools.  There are so many instruments that are used.  I think the ones she probably understood best were thermometer or thermostat because we use those on a regular basis at home, and our own senses.  Again, because we use our senses daily. 

Some of other things that were covered in the lesson may not be things that she understood or retained, like how climate varies from place to place and is influenced by factors such as the proximity to bodies of water and the equator. Some concepts that are abstract are difficult for her to grasp. But the more we talk about it and the more we watch videos and visual explanations of it, the easier it will be for her.  So we will continue to read and talk about this for the next week. I'll be looking for some videos to watch together, like videos about weather balloons. I think she'll find them interesting.  

Another part of the lesson that is hard for her to grasp is the topic of snow.  She knows what really cold weather is now that we've been camping in 36-degree weather. What's the point of having such cold weather to sleep in if we don't have the snow to go with it and enjoy, right?  Haha. That's what my kids said that weekend after sleeping in that bitter cold weather. Anyway, I did find some short video clips, in addition to the ones in our lesson, that showed snow falling and how it's formed. I even found some suggestions on how to make fake snow using a clean disposable diaper, water and a bowl.  After cutting the diaper open, we shook the contents into a bowl.  Samantha added water a bit at a time until it started to look and feel a little like snow as the material absorbed the water. The directions also said to add salt if we wanted more of a drier snow rather than slushy snow and to put the bowl in the freezer for about 10 minutes to get more of a 'snow' feel to it.  Since Samantha hasn't seen or felt snow, she had nothing to compare it to. I, on the other hand, thought it was a poor imitation. But at least Sam got to do a little bit of a hands-on project and got a little bit of an idea of what it's like.  Oh, if you try this at home, do not flush this down the toilet or the drain. Dump it in the trash!  Not that we did either, but I thought I should mention it. 

We're really enjoying this science curriculum.  Whether it's kindergarten science , first or second grade, this is a wonderful interactive program for the kids to practice science. Especially if you don't like doing messy science projects. And if you do, you can always add something simple like I did. :)  

Science at the Park....a day in the life of an unschooler

My favorite years of homeschooling are the elementary years.  Now that Amber and Noah are in high school, we have to be a little more focused on academics and completing required high school credits for their transcripts. I am a lot more flexible and carefree with Samantha who is in elementary.  I enjoy going on field trips, homeschool events, park dates, going to the library.  My high school kids still go on field trips and homeschool events sometimes. When they were all little, it was quite often we'd all be out together. My husband would sometimes ask if we were homeschooling or roadschooling.

What I didn't realize back then is that what we were doing was unschooling.  We were not at home following a schedule and working from textbooks or workbooks. That's fine for some families, but it's not a good fit for us. Even though Amber and Noah are high schoolers and have more structured curriculum, I would say we tend to lean more toward unschooling.  When they were younger we used workbooks at times, but not on a daily basis or on a schedule.  Even now they don't have a schedule for each subject they need to finish daily.  They know what they need to complete by the end of the week and they get it done.  If my son is repairing his airsoft gun, building something in his room because he likes woodwork, or working on a drawing because he likes art, I'm not going to tell him he needs to stop to do his History lesson.  He'll make time for it before the end of the week.  He's learning to manage his time.  The same with Amber.  She loves horses and there are days when she volunteers at a ranch working with horses and kids with special needs all day.  I think that's one of the beauties of homeschooling.  They have more time to pursue and develop their individual interests.  

The only set schedule that we had for a few years was going to the park every Wednesday at 2pm to meet with a group of homeschoolers and the park ranger.  For a couple of hours the park ranger would 'teach' on different subjects while taking the group on a short hike followed by a short sit-down talk/teaching.  She would talk to the kids, show them pictures or have them color or draw.  One time she brought dead bugs for the kids to study.   We learned about flowers, plants, bugs, birds, trees, animals.  Wednesdays were our day of science.  For Amber it wasn't just science, it was also photography.  I think she enjoyed taking pictures of the bugs more than studying them.  On the way home from the park, we'd stop at the library and get books.  Whenever possible, we'd find a book or an educational movie that covered the topic we'd learned about that day. When we got home from the park, we'd read our book or watch the movie on that topic we'd just learned about. The kids would talk to me about what they'd learned and what their favorite part of the day was.  This made it easier for them to then journal about their day while Samantha played preschool games.  

So unschooling doesn't mean we're not learning.  Even mom is learning new things.  As I reminisce on those science days at the park I'm thinking I'll call the park this week and ask if a park ranger would be available to do that with us again. Maybe the same park ranger is still there.  I know Samantha would enjoy it, and it would be so good for her. I think families in our homeschool support group would love to participate in Science at the Park.  We've got a very active support group with families who like to get together and learn together.  If you're an unschooler, I'd love to hear what your kids are interested in and what unschooling looks like for your family.