this is actually from january but i'm just now compiling our lessons into a format that i can share. i hope our experiences in homeschooling will be useful to others, whether it offers ideas for lines of inquiry, or inspiration for the journey.
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ella built a town using her train set. i say "built a town" but in actual fact she created an entire world:
there is a farm, where a family raises animals and plants:
in the house down the road from the farm there is a lady who is always asleep.
there is a large airport near the farm, and three other airports at one end of town.
at the other end of the town is a temple to worship god. the people who live on the farm walk to the temple with their animals. the wild bear comes out of the woods to protect the farm animals.
the town is called tree town. ella is the president of tree town, and i am the mayor.
the motto of tree town is "the best land that we know".
ella drew the map and dictated the details for me to record:
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subjects covered in this one activity, which lasted about an hour:
science: orienting the train cars so the magnets on each end attract rather than repel. ella calls the property of repelling "the bubble" that keeps them apart. explaining the current season and what this meant to the activities of the townspeople, the airport, the animals.
civic planning: planning where the residential areas should be and why--deciding how close the airports can be to the residential areas--deciding whether or not, and how close, a farm can be situated next to a home--deciding the schedule for the train, the temple services, and the airplanes, and explaining why these decisions made sense--deciding whether the airplanes could fly over the homes, farm, and/or temple--planning future expansion of tree town
storytelling: describing the people who live in tree town--explaining what they do, how they got here, their relationship to each other--inventing a means for the animals to participate in the lives of the people--inventing a relationship between the wild animals and the farm animals other than predator/prey--explaining why the people attend services at a temple (rather than a church which is where we worship)--describing the kinds of services that take place at the temple
cartography: mapping tree town--deciding the directions of the compass--making notations on the map that others can understand.
geography: inventing the lay of the land and deciding why one section is better for a given purpose than another--describing the world beyond tree town and how the town relates to/with that world--assigning value to the land based on its use
civics/history: developing an authority to oversee tree town--describing how tree town was founded and how it got its name--creating a motto to bind the townspeople together with a shared interest
math/geometry: shaping the train track in such a way that all the parts were used with none left over--planning the schedule for the train, the airplanes, and the temple services--figuring out how many animals can ride on the train at one time, and then how many trips it will take to get them all to the airport or temple.
let's see--what's missing? oh, only this: tree town is a tremendously fun place to play, to work, to worship, and to live. and as the town motto tells us, it is "the best land that we know".
