A Creative Curriculum for 5th Grade

We are doing so many things this year in our homeschool! Many of the topics don’t take long to complete, usually less than a half-hour. This is good for Ian because he gets bored pretty easily. About the only thing taking us any longer than that is all of the reading we are doing together. And, since we’re doing that together, Ian actually enjoys it! Here are a few of the things we are doing:

Reading living history books. My favorite so far has been one about the life of Squanto – why isn’t there a good movie out there somewhere about his life? The dude has a phenomenal story.

Law & Government. We just started this one as a family. It basically consists of a textbook, two CDs and a DVD. The textbook has a two- or three- page introduction and an outline for each lesson, along with questions and suggestions for further reading. This is going to be an interesting course. Unfortunately, we can only do it on Wednesdays when Jesse is home with us.

Reading. This subject has been the biggest surprise this year. Ian has been a good reader for a long time, albeit a slow and reluctant one. This year alone, he has tripled his reading speed (thanks to watching movies in Spanish with English subtitles), and has gone from dreading the subject to loving it. I honestly didn’t think it was ever going to happen for him, but we finally found a book series that he enjoys, and now, he reads anywhere from one to two-and-a-half hours every single day. He only has two books left in the series (Diary of a Wimpy Kid), and I am starting to search for more books he may enjoy.

Math. Ian’s math skills have developed in leaps and bounds this year. We have been using the Memrise app for multiplication and Spanish. I no longer have to drill him anymore, yet I almost always remember to casually quiz him throughout the day on one or two math facts. I was amazed at how well this works! His math book is almost fun for us now that he is better at facts.

Art. Ian has been drawing lots of MineCraft-related pictures on graph paper. It’s perfect for someone who isn’t confident in their skills as an artist because you only have to draw one block at a time. Last night, he began working on a Mario-based art project. He drew a whole level, complete with secrets and switches and pipes – the whole nine yards! And the level was fresh from his own imagination. I was blown away because he created an engaging, challenging world that I would enjoy playing. I have been sending him to his room at 9:30, at which time he does something quiet, so he has been drawing. Then at 10:30, he can either read for an hour or go to bed. He’s been reading, and that makes me happy. 🙂

Python. We have been learning the Python programming language together using a book that I found at a computer store. The program allows you to make small changes to the MineCraft code and alter the game in fun ways. We are having a blast! I have been wanting to teach Python to Ian for a couple of years now, but the first time we tried it, it was above his head. (It was okay until we got into integers.) But now is the perfect time for teaching him, especially since we can use MineCraft as a starting point!

Well, those are a few of the things we are doing. We don’t do them all everyday. Our everyday subjects are reading, Bible, guitar, drums, dictation, typing, and Memrise (Spanish and multiplication). If you would like to read some ideas for language arts or science, you can find those in previous posts.

I hope you find some of these subjects and ideas helpful as you explore your own adventure in homeschooling!

Book Planning, days 1 and 2

I am helping my 10-year-old write an ebook, and this post describes our progress so far. I talk more about day one and how we got started, etc. on my post New Writing Idea for Visual Thinkers. That post didn’t get very much traffic, which is a shame, because I really think it’s one of the most helpful homeschool/writing posts I’ve added in a while. It could actually help non-writers get off the ground. I know it was a great boost for Ian’s creativity, so it’s a proven method, lol.

Day One

• Play MineCraft for ideas
• Brainstorm setting and settle on one (or two, in this case)
• Come up with an overall plot (what the story is about)
• Think of a few unique/surprising story aspects
• Come up with a few of the character’s preconceived ideas
• Decide main conflict and five smaller conflicts
• Write a few key sentences and dialogue that we liked the sound of

Day two

• Think of resolutions for all of the conflicts
• Have a few surprises/twists in the resolutions
• Tie some of the story components together in interesting ways
• Come up with three supporting characters and name everyone
• Think of some weaknesses for the characters and ways they will develop throughout the course of the book
• Draw a picture of his main building, labeling some of the floors
• Write a paragraph depicting what will happen in chapters 1 and 2
• Think of a good tagline (it was an accident, but we’re keeping it)
• Build a 3D model of the main building out of a box, duct tape, etc (this was done throughout the entire process to give him something to do with his hands while thinking)

We didn’t have a plan of how much to accomplish each day when we started. We actually don’t have a plan at all. We just start working on it when we have a lot of time, decide what we need to do next, and keep going until we get bored and want to quit. (Actually, even after we quit on day 2, Ian spent almost 4 more hours working on his 3D models.)

I am giving him a lot of ideas, but the main ones have come from him. Also, I completely throw out anything he doesn’t like; I haven’t made any “executive decisions” to keep good material or throw out something I think may be problematic. And everything is working out just fine, so far! The problematic things that we have kept have all worked themselves out. Mostly by me asking questions about how it will work within the story, and Ian coming up with good answers. Also, on the second day, Ian wanted to nix the main conflict of the book. “What?” I asked. “That’s what the second book is gonna be about,” he said. And now that we are looking at chapters and chapters of ideas for the first book, I believe he made a very wise decision.

 

A New Writing Idea for Visual Thinkers

(Or a Prompt Disguised as Playing Games)

Ok, so this post is mainly for children who play MineCraft, but it would also work with Legos, clay models, or other types of artwork.

Ian and I are on a mission to write an eBook together so he can publish it on Amazon and earn a small amount of money. I told him I was sure he would sell at least ten copies of the book. (If not, I’ll make it happen. Moms are magical like that, lol.) If we charge $1.99 and he earns 70%, then he will make at least $14.

Fourteen dollars is a lot of money in his world, and even though he doesn’t like the whole physical aspect of writing, he still enjoys brainstorming, coming up with a plot, and even composing sentences – as long as I’m the one doing the actual writing. Although, when we get down to it, we will take turns writing the sentences down. So expect a novella where every other sentence is much shorter than the rest, lol.

We spent Sunday afternoon coming up with a setting, a main character, the major conflict, and a few minor conflicts. We did a little bit of world building and story set-up as well. As soon as we think of a good resolution, we’ll be ready to start writing. (We did write a couple of story sentences along the way, when we happened to think of a good way to get our point across.)

Here’s where the fun begins. Right after we started brainstorming, Ian ran into the living room and switched on the television and Xbox. What? I thought we were going to write a story? It turns out, he had every intention to help me, but while doing so, he wanted to be crafting his story in 3D. Not just his story world, but he used some of the events of the game to help him brainstorm events in his story as well. For instance, he suffered from an explosion (via creeper), and decided that the villagers would nurse him back to health.

Now, I know there are TONS of children (and adults) who play MineCraft, so this could be a fun project for them. And if not, perhaps you or your child like to draw, paint, or make 3D models from construction paper, tin foil, what have you. The idea is to do whatever it takes to open up creative pathways in your thinking patterns while you brainstorm story components.

One little caveat with Ian’s idea: He will have to change the names of his monsters and main characters and other little details to mask the fact that he is really writing fan fiction. I’m sorry, but I don’t think he can get by with publishing a book that contains creepers, Steve the adventurer, and mining for redstone. Oh, and let’s not forget villagers that barter with emeralds…

While Kindle Worlds does have a few licenses with a few companies to enable people to publish fan fiction and get paid for it, MineCraft is not yet one of those options. We are following them on Twitter though, so if it ever does happen, we’ll know, lol.

A Not-So-Liberal Education?

I have been researching famous home-schoolers for a couple of years now – you know, like George Washington Carver, Alexander Graham Bell, and the Wright brothers. One thing that I keep finding over and over: very few of these people had a liberal education. Most of them became intensely focused on one thing – and that’s usually what they became famous for. While we are still doing all of our core subjects, I am learning to feel less guilty when I allow my son an afternoon playing with clay models or building something in Google Sketchup. Who knows? He may be the next Frank Lloyd Wright! BTW, Do you think Mr. Wright would have enjoyed playing Minecraft?