Learning Projects

          We’ve all heard of themes unit studies or project method or learning projects. That seemingly mysterious way in which by studying one subject children learn in all the other areas also. Some homeschool families have tried it and felt that they weren’t doing enough “school.” While others gave up in discouragement because they seemed to be a lot of work for Mother to coordinate. More often than not, mother did most of the work of research and then fed information to the children. This is passive learning and children retain very little of it. Spoon feeding our children knowledge and hoping that they digest and retain a little of it isn’t True Education, it isn’t even learning.           

        Here is my favorite way to do a learning project: I begin by reading aloud with my children a story or biography, preferably one they have requested. While reading we discover a character is from another country. We go to the library and get a book or video about that country and we locate it in a globe or atlas. Often we write to the department of tourism in that country and get some maps, brochures and other information. Then we trace the character's travels on a map. As we continue to read we may discover that the character is known for an important discovery or invention. We research this and learn how it impacted the world. We may come across some different religious beliefs, so we research how those beliefs compare to ours. In our story we read about how people live and what they eat, and we decide to prepare some of the same foods together one day. We read about how historical events affected their life and plot these our time line. We discover many unfamiliar words, so we look them up in the dictionary, learn to spell them and use them in our conversations.  While doing this we have combined the skills of reading, listening, discussing, writing, spelling, researching, map reading, cooking, and time line plotting with the subjects of history, geography, science and religion--without teaching them separately, and all without the children even realizing it!

 How Do Your Children Learn? - Read, Write and Do

        The emphasis is on learning, writing and doing. Excitement from their own interests leads to child initiated projects. To study language and reading, coordinate these with your subject. Written assignments and papers cover penmanship or typing. Spelling, vocabulary is used when you learn and use the new words you find during your study. Research skills are developed by use of dictionary to learn pronunciation and word meaning. The public library and encyclopedia should also be used extensively. Mathematics is usually best covered with a separate program, but either mother or child can make up story problems from the subject. Use the Bible and concordance to find out what the Bible says about your topic of study. Remember that children learn best by discussions, projects, researching, presenting and field trips so incorporate all of these areas in your learning project. Then plan an activity, presentation, field trip, mural, or community service, etc. to bring this project to an end.

 Topics

        The topic of study may be science, social studies or history or a general topic that will be studied in all subject areas. Work with your children and get their help in planning their learning projects.

        Learning projects can be done on; health, how our body works, electricity, solar system, space and space exploration, animals, building, countries, computers, ocean life, trees, birds, fungi, weather, stars, baking, cooking, laundry, photography, music, woodworking, sewing, quilting, auto mechanics, accounting, rocks and minerals, insects, seeds the list is endless! If you want more ideas, look at the Adventurer Awards and Pathfinder Honors. By doing those, your children can earn extra Awards and Honors in their club. A learning project can be as short as a few hours or as long as several months, your child’s interests determine this.

Different Ages

        You can do Learning Projects with all your children together. What your 6-year-old does will be totally different from the requirements for your 12-year-old, but they will be studying the same subject and working together. The younger child will dictate his sentences to you, where the older will write a few pages. You or your older child will read to the younger one, the older one will look up books and check them out of the library. The younger one will color some pictures and the older one will draw a mural or make a notebook of findings. The subject will be the same, the requirements different. 

 Start Simply

        Help your children pick something of interest to them and start by reading something about it, then go to the library and get books, have them write (or dictate to you) a few paragraphs or do a whole research paper or scrapbook about what they learned. Make a poster or mural, write a report, do an experiment, and watch a video or take a field trip. While you are reading about one subject, another will come up sometimes it will tie in (and sometimes it doesn’t) then move on to that subject. Once you get started, your children won’t want to stop.

         Now, don't you have an idea for a learning project? If not, there are more ideas and lots more information in The Adventist Home Educator Handbook.   

~Judy Shewmake

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