*** Homeschool List ***

[house_of_princesses]

I PM'd our mod (Beth E (NJ)).

I will later PM the team.


I requested a homeschool sub-forum--and if that was too specific--then a general education subforum. i feel that would be a compromise and appeal to all DISers on the family board especially since the topic of pulling kids out of school, making disney trips educational, and all around educational topics. Maybe the mods will feel the warm fuzzies on that suggestion.

The idea just came to me when typing the message since WM Alex and WM Kathy suggested that many things factor into having a new board.

I don't disagree w/ this logic at all. However, I do know that a less specific sub-forum may bring a lot of heated debates. And there's nothing like a good, thoughtful debate, IMHumbleO. But there may be a bit of the throwing of the flames if it's open to education in general.

If I were given a vote, I'd say keep it to a homeschool sub-forum. Those interested in education can always share there. Those w/ a passing interest on whether or not to take the kids out will go where they've been going... Community Board/Family Board, etc. It will cut down on the heated exchanges and still provide a well organized place, easily accessible place for us homeschoolers.

 

[Lisa loves Pooh]

I just offered it up as an alternative instead of just telling us no. That's all.

 

[laceemouse]

Lisa, I agree that an educational forum would be better than nothing, but I do worry that the homeschoolers vs. public schoolers thing might get hot We could always go off and start our own yahoo group or something for hsers who love WDW, but that would be a lot of work and it would be easier for other folks to find if we stayed here on the DIS ....

 

[disneymom3]

I PM'd Beth yesterday too about a homeschool subforum and she said she would be talking to the WMs about it. I too would prefer a homeschool subforum but I totally understand where Lisa is coming from. I know there have been threads other places, particularly the Comm Board where homeschooling threads have all devolved into trash homeschoolers, however, there have always been very respectful discussions on this board about it and I think overall Beth does a great job of keeping things nice.

And remember that in the meantime, we can start new threads/thoughts on homeschooling or ask questions on the main Family Board. Showing the need that we already have sounds like the most possible way to get this done.

 

[Denine]

I guess I will PM the mods. I know there were topics discussed in the thread somewhere that I would like to look at again, but I am not going to wade through all the pages just to find them.

 

[Denine]

Just know that you are not alone with that one! But,the very fact that you are aware, you homeschool, and you are willing to invest the time and energy on your child, he/she will grow to become a wonderful human being! I truly believe this in my heart!!! Sometimes I look at my little Jordan (i.e. challenging child) and I want to just scream at the top of my lungs!! Then, I sit back, relax, and focus on all of his wonderful qualities. It isn't always easy. But, momma always said "raisin' kids was the hardest job you'll ever have!" Boy, was momma right

He is going to be so overwhelmed with Disney. Speaking of which, any suggestions on how you can possibly "ease" a child into Disney??? Which park to visit first/last??? Any good books on Disney for kids?

Chris

I know I am not alone and that helps!

Disney: We like to start at Epcot. Is is low key and interesting. DD has been going since she was 3 months old and she is 3-1/2 now. This will be her 9 trip and our 24th trip. Plus we have several Disney cruises, DD 2, under our belt and 1 trip to Disneyland. WDW is great for DD, it offers her all the stimualtion she needs and a chance to run everywhere. She is worn out by bedtime.

 

[Lora]

My head is in Mickey-shaped clouds today. Between planning for our trip next fall (talking to my sister about possibly joining us got me going again) and writing my trip report (finally) from last fall, I am SO not motivated to do anything else right now. I need a good jump start or a good kick in the pants.

After some thought, maybe it's just that my sinuses are clogged. Oh well, Mickey-shaped cloulds sounded better.

I hope everyone else is getting lots of stuff done today.

 

[THESCHULTZFIVE]

Does anyone use the books "What your X grader needs to know", by E.D. Hirsch? If so, how do you use them and what do you think of them?

 

[disneymom3]

Lora--I know the feeling! I keep coming back in here to the office to check the board today! In the meantime, my kids have not done any formal schooling today--DD has been writing comics and finger painting and doing Mathmania, DS6 has been playing powertouch and creating a carnival in the basement for his stuffed animals, DS4 has been doing the carnival--he is the stuffed animal "guide" or something--and putting together puzzles I bought at the used curriculum sale this weekend. Now, they are out playing in the rain. I kid you not! We got a new Rainbow playsystem installed on Thursday and Friday it started to rain. Hasn't stopped and they were just going nuts, so out in the rain they went. Hey, it's only sprinkling......

I think I am suffering from burnout. Might be time to do testing so I can feel better and stop doing school for awhile!

 

[Praise2Him]

if anyone has put together or found a WDW related lesson plan, or perhaps educational highlights pamphlet/unit study? Anyone? I wonder if WDW has one of their own? It would make sense.

Perhaps if I have an educational excuse, we can go more often!!

So far the only thing we've done is take a tour at AK (Wild by Design) and then when we got home I had DD write a report on it - and we counted that day as a school day.

When she was in private school she wrote a book report on Walt Disney's life - maybe have them read a biography of him, then go through the One Man's Dream exhibit at MGM and write or draw what they learned.

I'm sure there's lots more ideas out there...anyone?

 

[house_of_princesses]

So far the only thing we've done is take a tour at AK (Wild by Design) and then when we got home I had DD write a report on it - and we counted that day as a school day.

When she was in private school she wrote a book report on Walt Disney's life - maybe have them read a biography of him, then go through the One Man's Dream exhibit at MGM and write or draw what they learned.

I'm sure there's lots more ideas out there...anyone?

Thank you, P2H. I really enjoy the One Man's Dream exhibit. Very reflective.

 

[jaycns]

Does anyone use the books "What your X grader needs to know", by E.D. Hirsch? If so, how do you use them and what do you think of them?

I have used them (we are now on "What your 4th Grader Needs to Know" with my eldest) since K. My boys really like them. We use them after we have finished our "real" texts in order to fill in the whatever is left of the school year and the summer. We use them as a stepping stone for further exploration into topics that interest us. For us, they are just "extra".

However, I do have a friend who uses them as the spine of her curriculum and just develops lessons to go along with each topic, gathers activities, plans field trips and assigns lots of books that go along with each topic.

Also, make sure to check out this website...it's full of GREAT information about core knowledge theory of teaching and also TONS of AWESOME lesson plans that go along with the topics in his books.
http://www.coreknowledge.org/CK/resrcs/lessons/index.htm

I really do like the books! I hope you enjoy them too!

 

[THESCHULTZFIVE]

I have used them (we are now on "What your 4th Grader Needs to Know" with my eldest) since K. My boys really like them. We use them after we have finished our "real" texts in order to fill in the whatever is left of the school year and the summer. We use them as a stepping stone for further exploration into topics that interest us. For us, they are just "extra".

However, I do have a friend who uses them as the spine of her curriculum and just develops lessons to go along with each topic, gathers activities, plans field trips and assigns lots of books that go along with each topic.

Also, make sure to check out this website...it's full of GREAT information about core knowledge theory of teaching and also TONS of AWESOME lesson plans that go along with the topics in his books.
http://www.coreknowledge.org/CK/resrcs/lessons/index.htm

I really do like the books! I hope you enjoy them too!

Thanks for the review and the website. I just stumbled onto the books this past Saturday. I didn't buy them, but I think I will. I'll probably use it more like you than your friend. Thanks again

 

[Brier Rose]

Have any of you put together any lesson plans featuring any of the Disney parks?

So...long question short, have any of you ever heard of a Disney unit study or developed one you would be willing to share yourselves?

Also, any and all ideas for learning activities while at WDW would be appreciated. Thanks!!

I have been thinking about this for so long now, but haven't actually put the work into finding all of the resources to put together and do it.

I wanted to get us in the mood for our upcoming trips, and what could make school more fun than Disney!!

We really love Magic Kingdom, so I was thinking of things based on each Land.

Maybe read some books, and do some projects dealing with space for Tomorrowland....

read a classic fairytale, maybe write one of our own, learn Hello and Goodbye in several languages all for Fantasyland....

there are tons of things to do with Liberty Square...things dealing with the Revolution, Ben Franklin, Paul Revere...maybe learn about the Liberty Bell, learn about the territories and have lunch at LTT (they announce what "territory you're from when they seat you)...

for Fronteirland you could read about Davey Crockett, the settling of the West and the gold rush, legend of Pecos Bill (and maybe watch Tall Tale), and of course cowboys and Indians!

For Adventureland maybe some things dealing with the jungle..native plants and animals, rivers, etc.. maybe read some about real pirates???

Of course there is also Main Street, and for that we could learn all about steam trains, and how people lived during the time period that Main Street is based on.

Oh, and almost forgot..Toontown! I guess maybe...learn about when and how the first cartoons were made, maybe have them do there own cartoon by drawing on a note pad, and then flipping through it really fast! ( I used to love to do this)

There are soooo many more things to do just with MK!

 

[jaycns]

I have been thinking about this for so long now, but haven't actually put the work into finding all of the resources to put together and do it.

I wanted to get us in the mood for our upcoming trips, and what could make school more fun than Disney!!

We really love Magic Kingdom, so I was thinking of things based on each Land.

Maybe read some books, and do some projects dealing with space for Tomorrowland....

read a classic fairytale, maybe write one of our own, learn Hello and Goodbye in several languages all for Fantasyland....

there are tons of things to do with Liberty Square...things dealing with the Revolution, Ben Franklin, Paul Revere...maybe learn about the Liberty Bell, learn about the territories and have lunch at LTT (they announce what "territory you're from when they seat you)...

for Fronteirland you could read about Davey Crockett, the settling of the West and the gold rush, legend of Pecos Bill (and maybe watch Tall Tale), and of course cowboys and Indians!

For Adventureland maybe some things dealing with the jungle..native plants and animals, rivers, etc.. maybe read some about real pirates???

Of course there is also Main Street, and for that we could learn all about steam trains, and how people lived during the time period that Main Street is based on.

Oh, and almost forgot..Toontown! I guess maybe...learn about when and how the first cartoons were made, maybe have them do there own cartoon by drawing on a note pad, and then flipping through it really fast! ( I used to love to do this)

There are soooo many more things to do just with MK!

What GREAT ideas!!
I would love to do some sort of lesson plan exchange with the board...maybe we could start at the MK and each of us interested could take a land and develop a lesson plan(or even just a list of activities to chose from with a suggested reading list/website list to go with it...then we could exchange them. Is anybody up for that? After doing MK we could start in on another park?! Just an idea...I think that the post you made would be a great starting point!

Thanks again for the great ideas!

 

[disneymom3]

Tara--I also use those books in a way. I LOVE the literature selections in them and we use them a lot for bedtime stories. The history is also very well written and fun to listen to so we use that as a basic overview. Then I refer to the math section just to make sure we are on track and get me thinking about anything we may have missed. I have not used the science section very much because we generally don't end up following the same "itinerary" as they do.

I always find mine at Half Price Books. Have never paid full price but like I said, the literature selections are awesome!

 

[Brier Rose]

What GREAT ideas!!
I would love to do some sort of lesson plan exchange with the board...maybe we could start at the MK and each of us interested could take a land and develop a lesson plan(or even just a list of activities to chose from with a suggested reading list/website list to go with it...then we could exchange them. Is anybody up for that? After doing MK we could start in on another park?! Just an idea...I think that the post you made would be a great starting point!

Thanks again for the great ideas!

I would LOVE to do that! I think I'll start putting together some things for the Liberty Square area tomorrow! Don't know why, but that's the first thing that popped into my head, but I'd be happy to do a different land if someone else would like to take that one!
Just let me know!

Hey..thanks for giving me the push I needed to get going on this!

 

[THESCHULTZFIVE]

Tara--I also use those books in a way. I LOVE the literature selections in them and we use them a lot for bedtime stories. The history is also very well written and fun to listen to so we use that as a basic overview. Then I refer to the math section just to make sure we are on track and get me thinking about anything we may have missed. I have not used the science section very much because we generally don't end up following the same "itinerary" as they do.

I always find mine at Half Price Books. Have never paid full price but like I said, the literature selections are awesome!

Thanks Julie. Is half price books a website or a physical store? My mother said she thought she saw them at Sam's Club, but back when school started. I think it was almost $20.00 in Borders, but my mom says she thinks it was under 10. at Sam's. We used to have a discount bookstore in our mall, but it's gone now. There are 5 stores in the mall that sell sneakers & football Jerseys(footlocker type stores) and only 1 bookstore and it's a Borders Express so they barely have anything. Go figure

 

[THESCHULTZFIVE]

What GREAT ideas!!
I would love to do some sort of lesson plan exchange with the board...maybe we could start at the MK and each of us interested could take a land and develop a lesson plan(or even just a list of activities to chose from with a suggested reading list/website list to go with it...then we could exchange them. Is anybody up for that? After doing MK we could start in on another park?! Just an idea...I think that the post you made would be a great starting point!

Thanks again for the great ideas!

If you decide to do this and expand to Animal Kingdom, I would love to take the Africa section. I will warn you that I have never made a lesson plan before, but research and information gathering I know! My family loves the Africa section and I would love to have "an excuse" to examine it more closely. It's always been a place I've wanted to go to(my best friend's family is from Ghana and she just took her first trip there this past Christmas), but I hate flying so a virtual trip will have to do for me. I'm going to get started so even if you guys decide not to include AK, I will still use it for my family. Great idea!!

 

[Denine]

Those are awesome ideas. I don't have time now since we are leaving on Saturday for 2 weeks, but I'll have to think on it. I guess I will do some "field research!"

You ladies are my inspiration to start homeschooling even though there are plenty of days I wonder how I am going to have the patience to do this starting in the Fall.