Teaching Current Events to Kids: Prop 8 and DOMA

Have you seen versions of this symbol on Facebook this week? It’s likely that you have – and your kids have too. This little red box with the equal sign is popping up all over social media as a sign of gay marriage support, and if your kids have seen it or heard people talking about it, they probably have some questions about what’s going on.

The news lately has been flooded with debates, legislature and court decisions concerning marriage in regards to same-sex couples. It can be heady stuff for kids (and frankly the finer details are frequently getting lost on adults). But it’s here – we’re experiencing history in the making – and no matter how you feel about the issue, your children are picking up bits and pieces about it.

It’s the bits and pieces that can be concerning, because they are often incomplete representations of the real picture, skewed by the opinions of whoever is sharing the information. Regardless of your personal viewpoints, as educators and parents we should strive to present our kids an accurate picture of these current events. In this post, I hope to provide a jumping off point to encourage honest and well-informed discussion for you and your kids. I was inspired to blog about this after trying to answer the many questions of my own inquisitive son.

To make sure my facts are correct, I consulted with Amber Jordan, a clerk on the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit who has been closely following the proceedings.

Let’s start with Prop 8, considered on March 26th by the Supreme Court.

Proposition 8

• What is Prop 8? In 2008, California passed this proposition as an amendment to their state constitution, defining marriage as a union only between a man and a woman.

• What does this mean? By passing Prop 8, California is denying marital rights to same-sex couples after 2008 (those couples who were married before the proposition are still legally recognized). Right now, there are nine states plus the District of Columbia that have legalized same-sex marriage; 31 states have laws that specifically prohibit it. This wiki page (if you scroll down a ways) will give you a pretty detailed map of how each state breaks down. The United States is pretty divided as to how it should define marriage.

• Why do people care if they’re legally married? What are marital rights? There are many tax benefits to being married. Married couples often save money on their annual taxes, and if someone dies and leaves an inheritance to his or her spouse, the inheritance is passed without the federal government taking out any taxes. Taxes can be taken if the inheritance is passed to someone who isn’t the legal spouse of the deceased. The federal government also rolls over Social Security benefits from a deceased person to his or her spouse; this benefit isn’t available to unmarried people. Additionally, marital rights ensure that spouses may visit each other in the hospital. If a marriage is not recognized legally, the family of hospitalized individual gets to decide whether the spouse may visit. This can be an issue for couples who are not legally married if there is tension between the family and the hospitalized’s partner.

• Why is it being discussed by the Supreme Court? Many people in California feel that denying marital rights to same-sex couples in unconstitutional. If the Supreme Court agrees that Prop 8 is in violation of the Constitution, it will uphold what they perceive to be the Constitution’s intentions to protect the rights of American individuals and will force California to drop the proposition. If the Supreme Court decides that Prop 8 is not in violation of the Constitution, the proposition will stay in effect.

• Who is in the Supreme Court, and what is its function? The Supreme Court is the highest court in the nation, and has the ultimate say over all other federal and state courts. It’s main role is to ensure that the nation and its individual states abide by the United States Constitution. The Supreme Court is comprised of nine individuals, who serve for life. Often when it makes a ruling that concerns one state, the Court’s decision can be considered a precedent and applied to similar cases in other states without those cases being taken to the Supreme Court.

• What could the Supreme Court decide on this matter, and how will their decisions impact California and the U.S.? The New York Times recently released a wonderfully informative chart detailing all the possible outcomes. Check it out here.

And now for DOMA, considered by the Supreme Court on March 27.

DOMA

• What is DOMA? DOMA stands for the Defense of Marriage Act, signed into law in 1996 by then President Bill Clinton. Whereas Prop 8 is about people getting married, DOMA addresses same-sex couples who are already married. Don’t forget: nine states plus Washington, D.C. currently offer legal same-sex marriages. Section 2 of DOMA says that states that prohibit same-sex marriages don’t have to recognize married same-sex couples who move in from out of state. Section 3 officially defines marriage as a union between a man and a woman.

• What does this mean? Section 2 of DOMA can play out this way: say a gay couple gets married in Connecticut (one of the states that have legalized gay marriage), and then move to the state of Nebraska (one of the states that doesn’t have legalized gay marriage). Though the couple had full marital rights in Connecticut, Nebraska can choose not to recognize their marriage. As a result of Section 3 of DOMA, even if the couple had remained in Connecticut, the federal government doesn’t have to provide marital benefits and rights either.

• Why is it being discussed by the Supreme Court? Many people, including President Clinton, feel now that the law should be repealed. They feel that it goes against the nation’s constitution and doesn’t give equal rights to its citizens. President Obama has instructed the government not to defend the law before the Supreme Court. There are many people who defend DOMA too; they feel that marriage should simply be reserved for heterosexual couples.

• What could the Supreme Court decide on this matter, and how will their decisions the U.S.? I’m going to refer you to the same New York Times chart. Check it out here.

How have you helped your children understand all this? Let me know in the comments, or drop me an email-

Eva’s Take on Minecraft as History Class

Eva recently began blogging on her website, and this week talked about her experiences using Minecraft to create her history timeline. To read the post, click here!

Minecraft in the Classroom

Blogging Note: If you don’t know what the video game Minecraft is, check out this link and watch the little demo.

Over the last couple of weeks, Minecraft, gaming, and personal devices have continued to surface as topics related to education. Ian shared the following link with me on facebook. He thought that maybe – just maybe – I would finally see the light and let him have as much Minecraft time as his little heart desires. I had to laugh, and it took me a couple of days to get around to watching it, but then I did. And it was quirky and fun. Give it a watch.

This little video led to other threads of conversation, including this TED talk about making education exclusively a gaming format. Now I simply just can’t get into that. At one point in the presentation, TED talker Zichermann describes the days of his grandfather in which a person might sit down on a Sunday afternoon with a good book and a cup of tea and then says with a laugh, “I don’t think that today’s kids are ever gonna do that.” Oooooh. Bad form. Totally lost me there, Zichermann.

But then, as if the stars were aligning, by friend and fellow blogger The Suburban Matron posted about her kindergartener’s school asking its students to bring in their own personal tech devices for use in the classroom. She was struggling with what it meant to use these types of tools at so young an age. (You should read the post, and others of hers too. She’s ridiculously funny). Lots to think about.

But back to Minecraft, to which both of my children are slightly addicted. Eva, who also watched Ian’s little video find, has also been at me to include Minecraft in school. But I just couldn’t get my mind around it. Until today. She, wise child that she is, finally figured out that she needed to be specific to get me to take her seriously. She suggested that she make a history timeline in Minecraft. This caught my attention. “What do you mean?” I asked. “I would make a huge wall out of wool,” she said, “and then post signs along it to create the timeline.”

I agreed to grant one hour a day to Minecraft for this purpose. Because I am so very stingy with video game time (both kids get only up to 1 and 1/2 hours each week, and only on the weekends), this was like saying tomorrow was going to be Christmas, part 2. She started immediately, and as I watched, she created the wall, divided it up into centuries, color coded different cultures (light blue is China, brown is England, etc.), and pulled up some internet resources to help her plot major world events.

At this point, Ian discovered us. He wasn’t going to have this new delight unshared, especially since it was all started by the video that he found and posted to my wall. So I agreed to additional Minecraft time for him for history timeline purposes (if possible – he’s a bit busier than Eva is right now). He took a different approach, digging down into the recesses of the earth, in which he would plot out early human history. As written history begins and the story gets more complicated, he plans on building up out of the earth and creating branches that stretch upward with different and parallel story lines.

Really? Sometimes school planning is so difficult – coming up with creative things to keep the kids engaged in learning is frankly a challenge. And sometimes, it’s like this. The kids create something new and awesome, and I kick back while they teach me about what they’ve discovered. I can’t see anything bad in this. And though I will always always be an eclectic homeschooler (meaning a wide and varied combination of methods), I am happy to include Minecraft in our repertoire, at least for now.

What do you think? Pros and cons? I’d love to hear of your experiences and opinions about gaming in the classroom.

History: Exposing Children to Scandal Since 1770

We’re in week three of history, and you may recall that this year we are covering the Victorian Era and in the Americas, the Westward Expansion. Week one was nice and easy: husband-Jamie, the Victorian scholar, provided plenty of lecture and discussion as an overview of the period. He brought out maps and really really old films of Victorian Londoners. The kids read Horrible History books, watched Horrible History episodes, perused our old standby, Take Me Back, and in general we had a smashing good time.

Marie Antoinette herself

Week two brought the French Revolution. My digging at the library produced a PBS documentary of Marie Antoinette, and we love good documentaries. So after the first day or so of discussion, we popped in the film. And… oh, my. See, this is when it is really funny that I am no history scholar. For those not in the know, let me enlighten. The year is 1770, and Austrian teenage princess Marie is sent to marry French teenage prince Louis XVI. As it turns out, they weren’t exactly “in” to each other. They got along fine, just not in the bedroom sort of way. This became a major problem for the French, and there was oh-so-much-discussion about the lack of sex between the royal couple. Sex, the lack thereof, and the rumors of extra-marital sex were actually major themes throughout the PBS documentary.

And I haven’t even told you about the pamphlets. As Marie Antoinette became increasingly unpopular, private illustrators began generating all sorts of R- and X-rated pamphlets featuring Marie in compromising and scandalous positions with various men; these were distributed  throughout the countryside. The story was fascinating – the full power of the press was still unfolding, and Marie had no idea for such a long time how catastrophic these images were to her position. And there were tons of these pamphlets. I know this, because PBS took great pleasure in showing us all of them.

You are probably wondering now why I didn’t stop watching the film with my 9 and 12 year old. Well, hindsight and all. But as the documentary got increasingly uncomfortable, I kept feeling like surely the worst was behind us. And this was history, and we could be mature about this, yes? We talked a lot about what we were learning, and I tried Very Hard to put the sexual themes in political context, and downplay their more racy natures. And I let the kids talk privately about how they felt about it all. But hoo-boy, had I previewed the film, let’s just say I would have chosen differently.

Ultimately we did stop it once Louis was beheaded and Marie and her children were imprisoned. The breaking point happened when they took Marie’s young son from her; reportedly Marie could hear him crying at night in another part of the tower. I mean, that almost broke me. Tender-hearted Eva simply dissolved in tears.

Wowza! That day and the next, we talked a lot about the revolution and the documentary, and after all it did lead to good discussion. We laughed at the awkwardness, posed theories about why the French Revolution ended up so differently than the American Revolution, commiserated with the French’s frustration with Marie and Louis, and felt sympathy for her suffering, despite her frivolity and general uselessness as a queen. And when it’s all said and done, neither Ian nor Eva will forget Marie and Louis and the French Revolution, I guarantee ya.

This week we have moved to the Regency era of England, and after a short discussion of the general events, we settled in to watch the BBC’s fabulous mini-series adaptation of Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice. Normally I would have the kids read our literature selections instead of watching filmed adaptations, but this one is done so beautifully; the fashions, the culture, the music, the charged interactions between classes and gender all put the audience right there in that world. The kids are already in love with Eliza, annoyed by her mother, mixed in opinion about broody Mr. Darcy. They love Mr. Bennett, and are rooting for Jane and Mr. Bingley. It is such a refreshing change from our dark and scandalous Marie Antoinette.

So that’s where we are, my friends! Imperfect and messy and little bit scandalous. Just like history.

PS: on my last post about biology, I failed to create the link for the additional resources I’m using. I’ve fixed that now, but basically, it was simply a link to my Curricula and Resources page. Sorry about that!

Entering the Victorian Era!

The Good Queen Herself.

Since my last post about narrative-driven history study, I’ve had some wonderful conversations and some questions about what we’re about to do next in our own home classroom. So I will tell you: we ended out last year with the Age of Enlightenment and the American Revolution. Being the ever loyal Anglofile, we will continue our timeline on both sides of the pond, studying the Victorian Era the first semester, and Westward Expansion in the United States the second.

There were a few things I wanted to accomplish during this history study.

1. I wanted to have our literature study be handed to us, which it was. Poe, Dickens, Twain, Jane Austen, the Romantic poets, I mean. There’s lots of good stuff in this era, and I didn’t even have time for Bram Stoker’s Dracula, which is a tragedy given that gothic literature is my husband’s Thing.
2. I wanted to wrap up our Victorian study by December so that we could have a Victorian Christmas, incorporating all the wonderful British decor, recipes, songs, games, high tea, etc. we could pack in, and of course read (again) A Christmas Carol. It worked out perfectly.
3. I wanted to dovetail our history timeline with our biology study. Again: it was so easy! As I was creating my course outlines, I noticed that handily we got to Darwin in history just as we were getting to him in biology. Points of connection like that are so fabulous.
4. I wanted to make it fun, incorporating movies, comics, novels, activities and documentaries into our study.
5. Finally, I wanted to accomplish all of this in two short semesters: September – November, and again in January – February. In my three years of homeschooling, I have observed that we all want a long December break from normal study. We always pack that month full of practical and holiday-related activities: watching documentaries of the history of the December holidays, gift-wrapping, song-writing and performing, game playing, and general creative time. We also burn out by March and become absorbed in band concerts, public speaking, Science Olympiad, etc. The kids need more open-ended time at home during the last three months of the spring semester for creative exploration, and this year I’m determined to give it to them (and me).

Husband-Jamie and I along with the kids and dog, are in the midst of a cross-country vacation. We drove 36 hours from North Dakota to South Carolina in a 5-seater Camry so that we could visit our respective families. During those long drives, Jamie, who is a Victorian scholar, helped me create my outline for the year. Though it’s a rough draft and is still vague in some areas, I’m including it here for the folks who just want to know. Feel free to contact me here or by email if you want to talk more about it.

Pip-pip cheerio and all that sort of rot! Until next time….

A Context-Based Approach to History/Social Studies

Our wall of history, complete with student-created timeline, maps, writing space, and special posters that highlight the current period we’re studying.

As I’m dreaming of my dream school, I’m thinking about how we teach history. We start with us, thinking kids can only understand things by beginning with themselves. We talk about our neighborhoods, our cities. We move out – and it appears that we do so in no particular order – studying history and social studies without any overarching narrative. In North Dakota, in fourth grade we study North Dakota history. In sixth, we jump back and study the middle ages and build castles and forts. What??

That’s not how we engage with story. And kids do want stories – we long for them from the very beginning, toddling over to our parents, board books in sticky hands, demanding Winnie the Pooh and The Three Little Pigs. Kids have an amazing interest in narrative and context. So why not begin history with the beginning? What is better suited for 5 and 6 year olds than the almost cartoon-like images of the ancient Egyptians? What 7 or 8 year old wouldn’t want to dress up in togas and talk about ancient Greek architecture, inventions, and ideas? Instead of teaching these periods out of context and out of order, we could move through the narrative, always tying in new stories to the old, making connections as to why things unfolded as they did, and how one period of history impacts the next.

This is not a novel idea, by the way. Take a moment and google “elementary history narrative” and you’ll be flooded with research and discussion on this approach. Here’s a good place to start. I also have personal experience as I’ve enjoyed teaching my own kids with this narrative approach. Instead of social studies and history being a disconnected list of names, dates, and events, history for us is a piece of literature – our human story – that we uncover and explore together. How can we possibly study and understand the American Revolution without the context of Greek philosophy and the ideas of the Renaissance and the European Enlightenment (and all that great and sometimes chaotic stuff in between)? And what better way to learn about monarchies and democracies than to study them as they unfold and develop?

I mention history and social studies as two separate topics, the former being the study of the past, the latter focusing on our present. I’d now like to introduce you to John Hunter, a remarkable public school teacher who lets 4th grade kids explore and solve world problems through creative exploration, negotiation, strategy building, and sometimes warfare. His methods reflect another aspect of education I’d like to see brought back into the schools: hands-on, messy, exploratory learning.

What do you think? How do you want your children to learn our human story?

Philosophy of the Age of Reason: The Puppet Show!

Eva made these fabulous puppets of the Age of Reason philosophers.

The kids and I have entered our history studies again, this time exploring the Age of Reason (approximately 1600s and 1700s). We started with an overview of the timeline, both in Europe and in North America. After that overview, we spent some time with the philosophers that helped provide the framework for the advancements and revolutions to come. In the coming weeks, we’ll be moving into the scientists, arts and music, and then finish up with the American and French Revolutions.

We used a lot of resources for our study (check out my Curriculum and Resources page for the full list). My main objective was not to have the kids recite the philosophy and birthdates of each character. Instead, I wanted the kids to understand the fundamental philosophical shift that was happening during this time. Why do these people matter as a collective? I also wanted them to be able to at least recognize the names of the main players so that later on when they study this period again, they’ll have a foundation from which to begin.

After reading about some of the philosophers together, Eva began creating the beautiful puppets pictured above. Ian, not so much the visual artist, spent time watching some lectures from the Great Courses dvd series. Today, the kids joined forces to write and present their puppet plays.

After the plays, I verbally quizzed them about each philosopher. I began with Eva (the youngest), and had her tell me everything she knew about each person. I then asked Ian to expand on her responses. The kids were remarkably articulate and could distinguish between the general ideas. They also had a good grasp of the bigger picture – how these philosophers helped shape that period of history and the story yet to unfold. The one person they didn’t know as well was Immanuel Kant, so we looked him up again and discussed him further.

Here are the two puppet shows, both of which are inspired by Monty Python sketches. The first is a philosophical argument between Descartes and Locke; the second is a philosopher soccer game. There are some little philosopher jokes sprinkled in there, but mainly it’s just the kids having fun. These videos aren’t meant to be quality educational products, but hopefully they will serve as yet another example of how much more fun (and memorable) it is to perform and video and share than it is to take a fill-in-the-blank test. Enjoy!

Fabulous Gifts for the Brainy and Thoughtful Kid

Holiday shopping time is upon us, and my last year’s book recommendation post was so popular, I thought I’d put it out there again for those of you who want meaningful, enriching gift ideas for your kids. Each title is a hyperlink that will take you to the product. This time I’m going to add some games, because my family loves games, and I think that in many ways they are as important as books in nurturing a child’s development. Games teach strategy and analysis, but also cooperation and sportsmanship. And they bring the family to the table. Enough said!

Games

Settlers of Catan: Man, I love this game. It’s for 4 people, though you can buy the 5-6 player extension pack. The object is settling and developing a small island, which is comprised of various resources you use for your building projects. You settle the land, and then are able to use the resources you’ve claimed to build more settlements and cities. You can also trade with other players. It’s easy to learn, and super fun. Ages 7 or 8 and up.

Heroscape: This one isn’t my favorite, but if you ask my 11 year old son, he’ll discuss it for hours. It’s Dungeons and Dragons (characters with attributes and special skills) meets Lego (a pieced board that you can build and rebuild in an endless variety of landscapes). Ian absolutely loves it. There are a lot of different basic game sets, and though I’ve linked to one in particular, I don’t think it matters much which one you start with. Later on, you can purchase expansion packs to add characters and interesting landscape features. The basic sets are also kind of pricey, so you may want to try ebay.

Contraptions: This kit is a recent discovery for me. Basically, it’s a box full of small wooden planks, a couple of ping-pong balls and an idea book. But what a world it’s opened for the kids! You stack the planks to make all sorts of interesting mazes, staircases, trampolines and more, and then run the balls through your creation. The kids started out building the models in the book, but have quickly moved on to build their own ideas. We started with the box of 50, but Ian in particular is begging for the 200 count box.

Both kids insisted that I mention Pokemon. This fad began for them about 6 years ago, and you’d think they would have moved on by now. But no. They not only collect the cards, they also play the game again and again. Beyond that, they play “Pokemon” in their imaginative play, having virtual battles in the yard. Pokemon was the initial inspiration “Animal Attack,” the game that Ian’s been developing for almost 3 years now.

Picture Books (I narrowed down my list this year to include only those that are truly my favorites):

On Meadowview Street by Henry Cole. This is a fun story about a family who decides to late nature reclaim their yard, reaps the benefits of their diverse new ecosystem, and inspires their neighbors to do the same. As a result of this book, we let a large portion of yard do the same thing, and we now have a lovely meadow full of happy little critters.

Mattland by Hazel Hutchins. This beautifully illustrated book explores building community through creative endeavors. It’s about a new kid who collects friends simply by creating an imaginative city in the mud. I especially love the fact that he builds using whatever’s around him. Transforming.

Bashful Bob and Doleful Dorinda by Margaret Atwood. This is simply one of my favorites for its joyful romp through language. An alliterative masterpiece, the book is also notable for its illustrations. The artist uses color to represent the nature and transformation of each character.

The Dunderheads by Paul Fleischman. This story’s strengths are built on the fabulous characters that rule the narrative. Each kid is eccentric in his or her own way, and these eccentricities – these passions and talents – prove extremely useful in their collective mission to outsmart their Evil Teacher. I love this book for its celebration of seemingly obscure interests.

Zen Shorts by Jon Muth. The book’s plot is very simple: it’s about a panda who teaches sweet lessons to a small group of kids. I think I love him so much because he’s so patient, even when the kids aren’t behaving beautifully, and it served as a great model for me as a parent. The stories the panda tells can open up some interesting discussions about ethics as it relates to personal contentment.

Non-Fiction Choices

Please forgive me. These books aren’t in order by genre, and as librarian, this bugs me. But it’s too tricky to reformat it all to make it worth my while. You’ll find books heavy in the fantasy, science, math, and history genres here. If you want suggestions in other topics, let me know.

Horrible Histories/Murderous Maths My friend Ray runs the bookshop linked here (tell him I sent you!). You can’t buy these books just anywhere, as they are produced and available (aside from Ray’s shop),  only in the UK.  The series (there are also Horrible Science books, and some great biographies too) is written with a wonderful, slightly sick sense of humor that has huge appeal for my son. The Horrible History books highlight the truly horrible things that take place in history, but present them in such a way that the reader is laughing while being disgusted. This combo – presenting shocking information while making the reader laugh – is pure gold, kind of Monty Python-esque. Ian’s recently been diving into his Murderous Maths books too, on his own. They’re that entertaining!

Fantasy: An Artist’s Realm by Ben Boos. Fantasy is packed with beautiful artwork depicting Boos’ own fantasy world. These are character, landscape, and weapon sketches, and a general backstory of what Ian calls “an elaborately created world.” Ian has spent a lot of hours pouring over this book, creating his own stories that could unfold in the pages.

How to See Faeries by Brian Froud. This one is one of Eva’s favorites. She’s a self-proclaimed fairyologist, and loves to collect encyclopedia-type books on the topic. Froud of course is the master of the fairy world, and in this book he reopens his imagination to appeal to a slightly younger crowd than those typically drawn to Good Fairies/Bad Fairies. It’s full of interactive components – hidden messages, paper cutouts, mirrors and magical signs – that help the reader see the mysterious fey.

Brainwaves series published by Dorling Kindersley. Eva loves these books, which cry out to be explored often and at length. There’s one on space, the human body, chemistry, animals, exploration, and geography. Tiny cartoon characters called the Brainwaves lead the reader in depth through each topic. In my mind, I keep seeing the illustrations made into jigsaw puzzles – there are dozens of the little characters on every page, telling facts, having funny interactions with each other, and generally being entertaining.

Take Me Back: A Trip Through History from the Stone age to the Digital Age published by Dorling Kindersley. I stand by my recommendation for this publishing company in general – they produce beautiful books. I like this one as a rollicking journey through history with every page a different and visually stimulating theme – emperor trading cards, Barbarian Beat-em-Up, royalty as chess pieces – what’s not to love? We’ve owned it for a couple of years now, and the kids keep referring back to it.

Philosophy for Kids: 40 Questions That Help You Wonder About Everything! by David White. Philosophy for Kids is organized in short chapters that explore famous philosophers. The narratives are followed up by discussion-provoking questions; it provides great opportunities to spice up your dinner time conversations! And if you love it, he also wrote a sequel.

Why Pi? by Dorling Kindersley. Great fun for math fans; visually and verbally stimulating; my son devoured this book again and again. Combine this with a few Murderous Maths books, and you’ll have a happy number-crunching kid. While you’re at it, make sure your math lover knows about Arthur Benjamin and his Mathemagics show. Well worth a watch!

Can You Feel the Force? Putting the Fizz Back Into Physics by Dorling Kindersley. Another winner from DK. Its format is similar to Why Pi?: full of bright illustrations, and fun explorations of physics fundamentals. These books invite kids to peruse on their own. They make fabulous car companions. The library’s copy is currently floating around our house, being picked up by one kid and then the other.

Raucous Royals: Test Your Royal Wits – Crack Codes, Solve Mysteries, and Deduce Which Royal Rumors Are True by Carlyn Beccia. A superbly fun book that explores the royals in a slightly irreverent manner. Each royal is presented with his or her dominate rumor or mystery. The pages that follow provide the evidence and the verdict. Kind of like Mythbuster meets history.

I know I will curse myself in the coming weeks for forgetting this or that wonderful item. But I hope you will enjoy this list and can find some gems in it to share this holiday season!

Leonardo Wrap-Up

Yesterday, we continued our reading of Beautiful Dreamer. Really, it’s such a fun, exploratory book about da Vinci. It leaves open lots of opportunities for pointing at things on the page and discussing interesting tidbits and themes.

The history-laden learning wall

Once we finished reading, I challenged the kids to write a short essay about da Vinci. I told them that they could either write about how da Vinci was the perfect Renaissance man, or they could choose to simply talk about the aspects of his life that they felt were most compelling. They both chose the former topic.

Artist Eva is handwriting her essay in blue colored pencil. Ian, ever the tech-guy, is typing his out. They’re working on it now. Both kids groaned a bit at the assignment, but I firmly believe that articulate writing is perhaps the most important skill they’ll take away from their “formal” education. We’ve talked a lot about that – how being a good communicator will be valuable in all aspects of their lives, no matter what profession they choose. Funny thing is, they’re both wonderful writers. They just would rather build da Vinci models. And I get that!

A close-up of their history timeline

In this unit, we’ve watched a documentary, read biographies, built models and talked about the physics that made them possible, and practiced writing skills. Next week, we’ll cover the Reformation and the explorers of the time. I’m feeling the need to shift things a bit – maybe have them act out a debate between Martin Luther and the Catholic church. I don’t know. But today is the first day of fall, and I feel inspired to make next week’s history lessons pure play.

Days 2 and 3 of da Vinci!

Elenco da Vinci model kits

We had a great time yesterday building our da Vinci models. Eva chose the paddle boat, and Ian of course chose the mechanical drum. Both were gear-oriented, so we talked a lot about simple machines and how gears work to transfer energy. By the end, both kids were pretty impressed with Leonardo.

The mechanical drum was a pretty fascinating idea. It plays as you pull the drum along behind you; the wheels of the cart turn a music box type of mechanism that cause the mallets to spring back and hit the drum head. Ian kept pulling out the pegs and rearranging them so that he could make different rhythms.

And Eva took her paddle boat to the bath tub to see if it would float. This model didn’t give us as good of an idea as to how the invention actually worked, as the foot pedals that operated the paddles were only for show on the model. But once you load a boat with lego mini-figs and set it afloat in a tub, well, all is happy.

Studying da Vinci’s inventions has led to a lot of discussion about simple machines and how they work. I brought home some books last night on levers, screws, gears, etc. that I’m sure we’ll be exploring soon.

…

Today, we all snuggled up in bed together and began reading Beautiful Dreamer by Robert Byrd. It’s a lovely walk through da Vinci’s life. We’ll be reading it throughout the week.