The meeting this month was a quiet one, but I wanted to share a few ideas for games that you and your family might enjoy.
First up is ThinkFun's Chocolate Fix. It's a logic game of trying to arrange the chocolates on the tray when given some visual hints as to where the pieces go. Think simplified Sudoku with chocolate candies instead of numbers. My boys love playing with the candy game pieces, and there's no reading required. The puzzles start out very simple but by the end get easily complex enough for logic-puzzle loving adults.
Another great strategy game is Blokus. Up to four players try to arrange their geometric shapes on the board, blocking other players while trying to keep space open for their own pieces. The rules are simple, but the strategy is complex! There's no reading required, so this one can be played by the children amongst themselves, but the strategy is engaging enough for adults to love.
Just recently, I introduced Quarto to my boys. It has some similarities with tic-tac-toe, but you are trying to get four game pieces in a row that share a characteristic, like height (tall or short), color (dark or light), shape (round or square). The kids love that you choose the piece that your opponent will play next. Another non-reading game that has enough strategy to it for adults to play!
Finally, don't forget old classics like Mastermind or Battleship. And there's always something great about getting outside and playing bocce, croquet, or just tag!
Have a great Holiday season. There's no meeting in December, but do join us in January for a discussion of mid-year burnout!
Friday, November 18, 2011
Thursday, October 20, 2011
Fall and Winter Activities
As the weather starts to cool down, Utah has many great activities for families! At the meeting we tossed around lots of ideas, ranging from outdoor winter fun to great indoor places to play to seasonal events to marking the season at home. I've tried to include info about as many as possible below. I'm sure I've missed lots of your favorites - please make this post even better by adding them in the comments below!
Seasonal Events
Cornbelly's corn maze and pumpkin fest in Lehi is a great Fall tradition. They have tons of activities, and field trips are easy to arrange. They specifically allow homeschoolers, and you can get a field trip rate of $4 with only 10 students in your group.
During the month of October, Gardner Village decorates with lots of fun full-size witches around the grounds. This year they seem to have added to the festivities with Witchfest, and it's been drawing big crowds! Even when no organized events are going on, it's great fun to walk around and look at the witches, so check the calendar and decide when you want to go.
November 11-13, there's a model train show at the Utah State Fair grounds. Put on by Wasatch Rails, the event features lots of awesome model trains for you to watch, including LEGO trains.
Starting in mid November, Gardner Village decorates with Elves for the holidays. You can print an elf scavenger hunt on their website to help you find all the elves when you visit.
November 30th - December 3rd is the Festival of Trees. It's a benefit for Primary Children's Medical Center, and it's a great way to kick-off your holiday season. Volunteers decorate and donate trees, from small and simple to huge and elaborate. The displays are auctioned and other items are for sale as a part of the benefit.
The Discovery Gateway Children's Museum has special events for both Halloween and Christmas! The "scare free" Halloween party (Oct 29) sounds fun, and breakfast with Santa (Dec 3, 10, 17) is a great way to see St. Nick in a relaxed setting with time for little ones to get used to him.
Thanksgiving point has a number of holiday events, including "Barnyard Boo," "Eat Like a Pilgrim," a breakfast with Santa, and their amazing drive-through light display. In the past they've hosted a Gingerbread House festival but I can't find any info about it online this year.
The Olympic Oval is having a Holiday Festival, but I can't find info about it online. I got a flier in the mail, so I'll just put all the important info here. Saturday, December 3rd, 5:30-10pm at the Oval (5662 S. Cougar Lane in Kearns). Cost: $2 per person or $1 per person with a canned food donation. $2 skate rental. They'll be having ice sculpting, Mr. & Mrs. Claus, a figure skating show, hockey game, horse carriage rides, funny face photo booth, pizza & drink for $1. Sounds like good family fun to me, and a great way to kick-off the December festivities.
Family Traditions
Some traditions we talked about were...
Light candles and sing Christmas carols.
Read special books that you only bring out in winter.
(suggestions: Snowflake Bentley and Ken Libbrecht's books on snowflakes)
Make a "Family Fun" box where you stash mementos of fun things you've done through the year, and read them together over Thanksgiving.
When the snow falls, use it to make cool stuff in your yard. Pack snow into a slide, create a "snow house" complete with an oven to "bake snow cookies" and chairs to sit in, whatever you can dream up!
Great Indoor Places to Play
My family always like to have a membership to somewhere indoors for winter (and when it's super hot in summer!). Here are some of the places we talked about at the meeting:
Thanksgiving Point Dinosaur Museum The a huge sand-and-water table and a dry sand pit for uncovering fossils would be enough, but this place also has a museum full of dinosaur exhibits, too!
Thanks to Zoo Arts & Parks funding, there are free days at lots of interesting Utah venues. You can find out about all of them here. The Utah Museum of Natural History and the Utah Museum of Fine Arts are indoor and have regular free days. The Living Planet Aquarium will be having a free day November 28th. (that page also has info about free days at outdoor locations like the aviary, zoo, botanical gardens)
The exhibits at the Clark Planetarium are always free, you only pay for movies and laser shows. They've got a great ball-run kinetic sculpture that kids can watch for hours!
If you've got a train enthusiast, check out the Utah State Railroad Museum in Ogden.
The Leonardo is a new Science/Tech/Art museum in Salt Lake City . From their "about" page: " Our mission: to inspire creativity and innovation. Our tools: a transdisciplinary fusion of art, science and technology." I can't wait to go!
There are lots of great indoor playgrounds, like Classic Fun Center (be sure to check their website for coupons before you go!), Jungle Jim's Playground, and Fat Cats Bowling.
Outdoor Winter Fun
Don't forget to get outside and have some winter fun!
Sledding - there are lots of great little sledding hills around. Please leave your favorite locations in the comments!
When it comes to skiing, Brighton offers great classes for beginners and children ski for free (under 7) and reduced rates (8-12).
If you're looking for an incredible tubing experience, check out Soldier Hollow. They have a lift so you ride up the hill in your tube, enjoying amazing views, and then get to come sliding back down the hill. Tickets aren't cheap ($10 for ages 3-7, $20 for 8 and up), but it makes a great special event. Soldier Hollow also has cross-country skiing.
Snow-shoeing is a sport that can be enjoyed by very young children. If you snow-shoe with your kids, post your favorite locations in the comments!
Writing this post has been a great way to jump-start my plans for the next few months - I often miss several of these events because once the holidays start rolling, it's easy to get lost in the shuffle! I hope it helps you find and keep track of your own must-do events for the next few months. And please put events in the comments that I've missed!
Seasonal Events
Cornbelly's corn maze and pumpkin fest in Lehi is a great Fall tradition. They have tons of activities, and field trips are easy to arrange. They specifically allow homeschoolers, and you can get a field trip rate of $4 with only 10 students in your group.
During the month of October, Gardner Village decorates with lots of fun full-size witches around the grounds. This year they seem to have added to the festivities with Witchfest, and it's been drawing big crowds! Even when no organized events are going on, it's great fun to walk around and look at the witches, so check the calendar and decide when you want to go.
November 11-13, there's a model train show at the Utah State Fair grounds. Put on by Wasatch Rails, the event features lots of awesome model trains for you to watch, including LEGO trains.
Starting in mid November, Gardner Village decorates with Elves for the holidays. You can print an elf scavenger hunt on their website to help you find all the elves when you visit.
November 30th - December 3rd is the Festival of Trees. It's a benefit for Primary Children's Medical Center, and it's a great way to kick-off your holiday season. Volunteers decorate and donate trees, from small and simple to huge and elaborate. The displays are auctioned and other items are for sale as a part of the benefit.
The Discovery Gateway Children's Museum has special events for both Halloween and Christmas! The "scare free" Halloween party (Oct 29) sounds fun, and breakfast with Santa (Dec 3, 10, 17) is a great way to see St. Nick in a relaxed setting with time for little ones to get used to him.
Thanksgiving point has a number of holiday events, including "Barnyard Boo," "Eat Like a Pilgrim," a breakfast with Santa, and their amazing drive-through light display. In the past they've hosted a Gingerbread House festival but I can't find any info about it online this year.
The Olympic Oval is having a Holiday Festival, but I can't find info about it online. I got a flier in the mail, so I'll just put all the important info here. Saturday, December 3rd, 5:30-10pm at the Oval (5662 S. Cougar Lane in Kearns). Cost: $2 per person or $1 per person with a canned food donation. $2 skate rental. They'll be having ice sculpting, Mr. & Mrs. Claus, a figure skating show, hockey game, horse carriage rides, funny face photo booth, pizza & drink for $1. Sounds like good family fun to me, and a great way to kick-off the December festivities.
Family Traditions
Some traditions we talked about were...
Light candles and sing Christmas carols.
Read special books that you only bring out in winter.
(suggestions: Snowflake Bentley and Ken Libbrecht's books on snowflakes)
Make a "Family Fun" box where you stash mementos of fun things you've done through the year, and read them together over Thanksgiving.
When the snow falls, use it to make cool stuff in your yard. Pack snow into a slide, create a "snow house" complete with an oven to "bake snow cookies" and chairs to sit in, whatever you can dream up!
Great Indoor Places to Play
My family always like to have a membership to somewhere indoors for winter (and when it's super hot in summer!). Here are some of the places we talked about at the meeting:
Thanksgiving Point Dinosaur Museum The a huge sand-and-water table and a dry sand pit for uncovering fossils would be enough, but this place also has a museum full of dinosaur exhibits, too!
Thanks to Zoo Arts & Parks funding, there are free days at lots of interesting Utah venues. You can find out about all of them here. The Utah Museum of Natural History and the Utah Museum of Fine Arts are indoor and have regular free days. The Living Planet Aquarium will be having a free day November 28th. (that page also has info about free days at outdoor locations like the aviary, zoo, botanical gardens)
The exhibits at the Clark Planetarium are always free, you only pay for movies and laser shows. They've got a great ball-run kinetic sculpture that kids can watch for hours!
If you've got a train enthusiast, check out the Utah State Railroad Museum in Ogden.
The Leonardo is a new Science/Tech/Art museum in Salt Lake City . From their "about" page: " Our mission: to inspire creativity and innovation. Our tools: a transdisciplinary fusion of art, science and technology." I can't wait to go!
There are lots of great indoor playgrounds, like Classic Fun Center (be sure to check their website for coupons before you go!), Jungle Jim's Playground, and Fat Cats Bowling.
Outdoor Winter Fun
Don't forget to get outside and have some winter fun!
Sledding - there are lots of great little sledding hills around. Please leave your favorite locations in the comments!
When it comes to skiing, Brighton offers great classes for beginners and children ski for free (under 7) and reduced rates (8-12).
If you're looking for an incredible tubing experience, check out Soldier Hollow. They have a lift so you ride up the hill in your tube, enjoying amazing views, and then get to come sliding back down the hill. Tickets aren't cheap ($10 for ages 3-7, $20 for 8 and up), but it makes a great special event. Soldier Hollow also has cross-country skiing.
Snow-shoeing is a sport that can be enjoyed by very young children. If you snow-shoe with your kids, post your favorite locations in the comments!
Writing this post has been a great way to jump-start my plans for the next few months - I often miss several of these events because once the holidays start rolling, it's easy to get lost in the shuffle! I hope it helps you find and keep track of your own must-do events for the next few months. And please put events in the comments that I've missed!
Monday, September 26, 2011
Homeschooling Styles
At our September meeting we discussed a variety of homeschooling styles. Perhaps the greatest strength of homeschooling is that you can change what you're doing when something isn't working! For a good introduction to homeschooling styles, check out this "Homeschooling 101" page at about.com. If you scroll down, you'll see an introduction to a variety of homeschooling styles, including Montessori, Waldorf, Eclectic, Classical, and Charlotte Mason. We also discussed Thomas Jefferson Education for a bit, a method that provides some structure and a lot of child-led learning. And never forget unschooling, which may defy easy definition but has lots of proponents. One of the most popular websites for finding more about unschooling is run by Sandra Dodd.
The local libraries have lots of books about homeschooling, and that is a great place to get more detailed information after you've done some research online. Remember - you don't have to plan 12 years at once! You just need to have an idea of what to do for the next few weeks or months, and you can change your plans at any time. If you really feel lost, spend some time just going to the library frequently with your child, and see what kinds of books they're most interested in while you figure out what you want your learning environment to look like.
The local libraries have lots of books about homeschooling, and that is a great place to get more detailed information after you've done some research online. Remember - you don't have to plan 12 years at once! You just need to have an idea of what to do for the next few weeks or months, and you can change your plans at any time. If you really feel lost, spend some time just going to the library frequently with your child, and see what kinds of books they're most interested in while you figure out what you want your learning environment to look like.
Saturday, August 20, 2011
Living Math
"Living Math" is an approach that uses real books (not textbooks), to build or supplement a math curriculum. The best resource for doing this is the Living Math website. There's a fantastic yahoo group associated with the site, called the Living Math Forum. It's a pretty high traffic group with tons of friendly and knowledgeable members who respond eagerly to questions. If you have a particular problem you're trying to solve or a more general question comparing various approaches, you will get detailed responses from that group!
If you click on "reader lists" you'll find hundreds of living math books, arranged by math topic. Unless you have the money and space for a huge library at home, you'll want to check most of these books out of the library. I do buy a lot of books, but I try to only purchase books that I can see having a long useful life, usually they have a lot of math content presented through an engaging story, and often they can be enjoyed by young children without touching on the math content at all.
For the youngest children, there are zillions of picture books that illustrate math concepts for young children. Some are designed just to get a math-concept across to kids with a little sugar-coating, like the Stuart Murphy MathStart books. Others are really stories, like One Grain of Rice and Math Curse, where the math comes along for the ride. There are some nice ones for teaching children about big numbers, like How Much is a Million, and Big Numbers. Most of these books have engaging pictures and stories with a bit of math slipped in. Some can easily be read to toddlers, and they'll begin to understand the math part over time.
For elementary age children, I love the Sir Cumference series. These books have great stories, set in the time of knights, and feature ridiculous wordplay, like Sir Cumference and the Sword in the Cone, or Sir Cumference and the Dragon of Pi. If it's not obvious from the titles, these books have quite a bit of real geometry going on, and it's well integrated into the storylines. Another favorite at my house is The Cat in Numberland, a story about Hotel Infinity where all the counting numbers live (one to a room) and how they find space for Zero when he shows up one day. The video "The Story of One" is a fun introduction to how humans started using numbers in the first place (it's available from Netflix).
Once your child enjoys reading novels (or if you'd like to read some novel-length books aloud), the Number Devil is a great story that introduces lots of interesting math concepts. I forgot to mention them at the meeting, but over the past few days my 8 year old has been devouring Murderous Maths, a series about math "with all the mean and ugly bits left in" that is published for audiences in the UK. You can order them from Horrible Books (along with Horrible Histories and Horrible Science - it's a British sense of humour thing, I guess). If you'd like to look at them first, let me know and you can come see mine.
For something completely different, check out James Tanton's Math Without Words. It's a series of visual math puzzles presented, well, without any words. It's hard to describe, but there is a review here, and it includes a few of the puzzles. James' books are available on Lulu.com, and there are many that I'd like to own someday. I bought the PDF of Math Without Words and had the whole thing printed so I could hang a few puzzles in the house for my kids to look at, and then get them down and work on them when we think we've figured them out. The first step for each puzzle is figuring out what you're trying to figure out!
If you're looking for something just a little more, well, "mathy," Living Math won't let you down! Ed Zacarro has many books that were designed for supplemental use in the classroom. Last year we used Primary Grade Challenge Math as the spine for our math explorations. It consists entirely of word problems, presented by a funny cartoon Einstein and a little mouse. Einstein and the mouse walk you through each type of problem, and then present four sets of five problems, increasing in difficulty. It worked great for us.
Life of Fred Math will provide you with a complete curriculum in story form. The author is a former teacher, and every math concept that he presents is motivated by the story he is telling. His books now start in elementary school and go through Calculus. The main critique of Life of Fred is that it doesn't have enough practice problems for kids to really get the concepts, but it would be easy to supplement that if your children enjoy the story.
I keep thinking this post should be over, then I remember some other resource that I shouldn't leave out. Math clubs or math circles can be a great way to get your kids talking about math and solving problems with their peers. A couple of books to help you set up a group math experience, even just with all of your kids, are Family Math and Get it Together, Math Problems for Groups.
I hope you have gotten a taste of just how wide ranging the resources are for doing math in a non-traditional way. Whether you want to use Living Math as your entire math program or just pull in the most interesting bits to supplement what you've chosen, Living Math can liven up your math routine.
If you click on "reader lists" you'll find hundreds of living math books, arranged by math topic. Unless you have the money and space for a huge library at home, you'll want to check most of these books out of the library. I do buy a lot of books, but I try to only purchase books that I can see having a long useful life, usually they have a lot of math content presented through an engaging story, and often they can be enjoyed by young children without touching on the math content at all.
For the youngest children, there are zillions of picture books that illustrate math concepts for young children. Some are designed just to get a math-concept across to kids with a little sugar-coating, like the Stuart Murphy MathStart books. Others are really stories, like One Grain of Rice and Math Curse, where the math comes along for the ride. There are some nice ones for teaching children about big numbers, like How Much is a Million, and Big Numbers. Most of these books have engaging pictures and stories with a bit of math slipped in. Some can easily be read to toddlers, and they'll begin to understand the math part over time.
For elementary age children, I love the Sir Cumference series. These books have great stories, set in the time of knights, and feature ridiculous wordplay, like Sir Cumference and the Sword in the Cone, or Sir Cumference and the Dragon of Pi. If it's not obvious from the titles, these books have quite a bit of real geometry going on, and it's well integrated into the storylines. Another favorite at my house is The Cat in Numberland, a story about Hotel Infinity where all the counting numbers live (one to a room) and how they find space for Zero when he shows up one day. The video "The Story of One" is a fun introduction to how humans started using numbers in the first place (it's available from Netflix).
Once your child enjoys reading novels (or if you'd like to read some novel-length books aloud), the Number Devil is a great story that introduces lots of interesting math concepts. I forgot to mention them at the meeting, but over the past few days my 8 year old has been devouring Murderous Maths, a series about math "with all the mean and ugly bits left in" that is published for audiences in the UK. You can order them from Horrible Books (along with Horrible Histories and Horrible Science - it's a British sense of humour thing, I guess). If you'd like to look at them first, let me know and you can come see mine.
For something completely different, check out James Tanton's Math Without Words. It's a series of visual math puzzles presented, well, without any words. It's hard to describe, but there is a review here, and it includes a few of the puzzles. James' books are available on Lulu.com, and there are many that I'd like to own someday. I bought the PDF of Math Without Words and had the whole thing printed so I could hang a few puzzles in the house for my kids to look at, and then get them down and work on them when we think we've figured them out. The first step for each puzzle is figuring out what you're trying to figure out!
If you're looking for something just a little more, well, "mathy," Living Math won't let you down! Ed Zacarro has many books that were designed for supplemental use in the classroom. Last year we used Primary Grade Challenge Math as the spine for our math explorations. It consists entirely of word problems, presented by a funny cartoon Einstein and a little mouse. Einstein and the mouse walk you through each type of problem, and then present four sets of five problems, increasing in difficulty. It worked great for us.
Life of Fred Math will provide you with a complete curriculum in story form. The author is a former teacher, and every math concept that he presents is motivated by the story he is telling. His books now start in elementary school and go through Calculus. The main critique of Life of Fred is that it doesn't have enough practice problems for kids to really get the concepts, but it would be easy to supplement that if your children enjoy the story.
I keep thinking this post should be over, then I remember some other resource that I shouldn't leave out. Math clubs or math circles can be a great way to get your kids talking about math and solving problems with their peers. A couple of books to help you set up a group math experience, even just with all of your kids, are Family Math and Get it Together, Math Problems for Groups.
I hope you have gotten a taste of just how wide ranging the resources are for doing math in a non-traditional way. Whether you want to use Living Math as your entire math program or just pull in the most interesting bits to supplement what you've chosen, Living Math can liven up your math routine.
Saturday, July 23, 2011
Summer Schooling
Our July meeting featured a great discussion of "summer schooling." Although not tied to a regular school calendar, many homeschoolers do change things up a bit in the summer. Here are some of the ideas shared at the meeting:
- Go on walks and collect things to look at under magnification
- Do a weather unit - the reception room at Red Butte Gardens has a great view of the whole valley and you can watch storms roll in across the valley or just observe how the weather is changing when you're there.
- Go to the Zoo! Check out the educational resources on their website. Some are activities that you can do at home, others are in their "Investigations at the Zoo" series to be used while you're visiting the zoo.
- Star gazing is a great way to spend a warm summer evening. The Salt Lake Astronomical Society has lots of public star parties. You can also visit the Clark Planetarium in Salt Lake. Be sure to check out their educational resources for before, during, and after your visit.
- NASA has a program called "Sun-Earth Day." If you register on their website, they'll send you a packet of educational materials themed for this years activities.
- Get outside and do something fun! Nature walks, road trips, camping out (or camping out in your yard).
- Try something you don't have time for during the rest of the year - sports, art, dance, cooking...
Monday, June 6, 2011
June 15 Potluck!
Join us at Canyon Rim Park at 5:30pm on June 15th for our summer potluck! Bring a main dish for yourself and a side or dessert to share. There is lots of grass for playing on as well as a great playground area near the pavilion with tables. We'll be at the pavilion near the parking lot that is to the South side of the park, just off of 3100 East (check the map above).
See you there!
See you there!
Wednesday, April 20, 2011
Jr. FIRST LEGO League
FIRST (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology) is a non-profit organization with a mission to inspire young people's interest and participation in science and technology. In pursuit of that goal, FIRST has developed a series of programs that introduce kids to research, robotics, and teamwork.
The University of Utah held the first State Championship for FLL (the 9-14 year old robot game) in Utah this past January, and will be holding multiple events next year. There will be space for some teams to participate in a Jr.FLL Expo at the State Championship event in 2012, so this year your team may be able to be a part of that exciting day!
The Jr. FIRST LEGO League is for kids ages 6-8, with up to 6 members on each team. Teams meet for about 1.5 hours a week for 6-8 weeks. The team works together on a themed challenge, last year it was Body Forward (focusing on biotechnology). After choosing a specific topic within the challenge area, the team does research on their chosen topic, and makes a LEGO model and poster to demonstrate what they learned. For example, my team chose a "hospital" as their topic. The research poster had sections with information about the history and use of various tools in the hospital (like x-ray machines, wheelchairs, and ambulances), and the model was of a hospital with a helicopter, MRI machine, x-ray machine, and other hospital stuff. Another team chose to research a stomach pump, made a LEGO model of a simple stomach pump (really!), and their poster talked about the history of the stomach pump and what the team learned about it.
Running a Jr.FLL team is easy and hard at the same time. The coach resources that you get when you register a team lay out general meeting agendas that you can use to build your season. You can probably imagine what it's like trying to direct the energy of 6 kids with LEGO bricks in the room. Here are some things I learned:
1. Don't try to talk to the kids with LEGOs around. We started our meetings with a snack while I told them what we planned to do during that meeting. Sometimes we'd spend this time brainstorming or making decisions.
2. It's easiest for the kids to work in groups of 2 or 3. I'd try to have two things going on at each meeting and split the kids into groups. We'd have two "work periods" in a meeting so that each group could work on their task and then switch. Everyone would get a build session and a poster session, for example, or work on two different parts of the model.
3. Have an assistant coach. Even though the kids are working in small groups, they probably need an adult to help keep them on task.
4. Consider having some mini-building challenges in reserve. Near the end when we were almost done, it was hard to keep some of the kids from being disruptive because there wasn't much to do, and what was left to be done didn't interest them. I tried to engage them in mini-building challenges, with mixed success.
If you decide to register a team ($25) you will have the option to buy a Jr.FLL "base LEGO kit" for $150. It has lots of really cool LEGO gears, beams, studded beams (they look like regular LEGO beams with holes in them), etc. This kit is cool, but it comes with absolutely no instructions so unless you are skilled at creating Technic models, I don't recommend that you buy it. If you'd like to see what's in the kit, e-mail me and you can come see mine. (stephanie at ozenne.com) There's also a WeDo robotics kit that you can buy for $170. According to the website, you may need more LEGOs in addition to what comes in the kit (I've heard bulk LEGOs on ebay go for around $10 a pound - as always, be careful who you buy from!). Unfortunately, I don't have any experience with this kit so I can't tell you whether it would be good for your team or not. I'm interested in getting one so I can try out robotics and programming with the younger kids! You can see both of these options on the FIRST website.
UPDATE - this year the Base Kit comes with instructions! This makes it a much better choice for first-year teams. I have already gotten my WeDo kit for my team this year, and it looks like a fantastic introduction to programming. Either of these kits would be great for a first-year team, though with the WeDo kit you may want to buy a base plate and you'll probably need some additional LEGOs to complete your model. Also, the suggested season of 6-8 weeks is probably short if you're going to spend time on robotics or learning to build mechanisms. From what I've seen of the WeDo kit, we could easily spend 6-8 weeks on robots alone before we start on the challenge. I'd guess that you could also spend a few weeks getting familiar with building mechanisms now that the base kit has instructions in it. A complete description of the products you can purchase for Jr.FLL this year can be found here.
If you'd like to give Jr.FLL a try without spending any money at all (and you have a LEGO collection at home already), past challenges can be found online at the FIRST site. The 2012 challenge will be released in August this year, so you have time this summer to try it out and decide if you'd like to be "official."
For more information, check out these sites:
USFIRST
FLL in Utah
The University of Utah held the first State Championship for FLL (the 9-14 year old robot game) in Utah this past January, and will be holding multiple events next year. There will be space for some teams to participate in a Jr.FLL Expo at the State Championship event in 2012, so this year your team may be able to be a part of that exciting day!
The Jr. FIRST LEGO League is for kids ages 6-8, with up to 6 members on each team. Teams meet for about 1.5 hours a week for 6-8 weeks. The team works together on a themed challenge, last year it was Body Forward (focusing on biotechnology). After choosing a specific topic within the challenge area, the team does research on their chosen topic, and makes a LEGO model and poster to demonstrate what they learned. For example, my team chose a "hospital" as their topic. The research poster had sections with information about the history and use of various tools in the hospital (like x-ray machines, wheelchairs, and ambulances), and the model was of a hospital with a helicopter, MRI machine, x-ray machine, and other hospital stuff. Another team chose to research a stomach pump, made a LEGO model of a simple stomach pump (really!), and their poster talked about the history of the stomach pump and what the team learned about it.
Running a Jr.FLL team is easy and hard at the same time. The coach resources that you get when you register a team lay out general meeting agendas that you can use to build your season. You can probably imagine what it's like trying to direct the energy of 6 kids with LEGO bricks in the room. Here are some things I learned:
1. Don't try to talk to the kids with LEGOs around. We started our meetings with a snack while I told them what we planned to do during that meeting. Sometimes we'd spend this time brainstorming or making decisions.
2. It's easiest for the kids to work in groups of 2 or 3. I'd try to have two things going on at each meeting and split the kids into groups. We'd have two "work periods" in a meeting so that each group could work on their task and then switch. Everyone would get a build session and a poster session, for example, or work on two different parts of the model.
3. Have an assistant coach. Even though the kids are working in small groups, they probably need an adult to help keep them on task.
4. Consider having some mini-building challenges in reserve. Near the end when we were almost done, it was hard to keep some of the kids from being disruptive because there wasn't much to do, and what was left to be done didn't interest them. I tried to engage them in mini-building challenges, with mixed success.
If you decide to register a team ($25) you will have the option to buy a Jr.FLL "base LEGO kit" for $150. It has lots of really cool LEGO gears, beams, studded beams (they look like regular LEGO beams with holes in them), etc. This kit is cool, but it comes with absolutely no instructions so unless you are skilled at creating Technic models, I don't recommend that you buy it. If you'd like to see what's in the kit, e-mail me and you can come see mine. (stephanie at ozenne.com) There's also a WeDo robotics kit that you can buy for $170. According to the website, you may need more LEGOs in addition to what comes in the kit (I've heard bulk LEGOs on ebay go for around $10 a pound - as always, be careful who you buy from!). Unfortunately, I don't have any experience with this kit so I can't tell you whether it would be good for your team or not. I'm interested in getting one so I can try out robotics and programming with the younger kids! You can see both of these options on the FIRST website.
UPDATE - this year the Base Kit comes with instructions! This makes it a much better choice for first-year teams. I have already gotten my WeDo kit for my team this year, and it looks like a fantastic introduction to programming. Either of these kits would be great for a first-year team, though with the WeDo kit you may want to buy a base plate and you'll probably need some additional LEGOs to complete your model. Also, the suggested season of 6-8 weeks is probably short if you're going to spend time on robotics or learning to build mechanisms. From what I've seen of the WeDo kit, we could easily spend 6-8 weeks on robots alone before we start on the challenge. I'd guess that you could also spend a few weeks getting familiar with building mechanisms now that the base kit has instructions in it. A complete description of the products you can purchase for Jr.FLL this year can be found here.
If you'd like to give Jr.FLL a try without spending any money at all (and you have a LEGO collection at home already), past challenges can be found online at the FIRST site. The 2012 challenge will be released in August this year, so you have time this summer to try it out and decide if you'd like to be "official."
For more information, check out these sites:
USFIRST
FLL in Utah
Wednesday, March 23, 2011
Creative Writing
Our March meeting topic was creative writing, and it was lots of fun! Besides sharing resource ideas, we all participated in a few quick creative games and had a great time. Here are some of the ideas we talked about:
***"Story starters" are just what they sound like and can be a single sentence ("The creepiest story I ever heard was told by my Uncle around the campfire...") or several paragraphs laying out the setting and starting the action of a story. Kids then get to jump in and finish the story any way they want. There are books of story starters, you can make them up yourself, and you can even use interesting pictures as story starters. (use classical paintings and you can cover two things at once!)
***Make your own mad-libs using classical literature or literature that's well known to your child. I can imagine changing a favorite story mad-libs-style could be pretty engaging!
***Prompt your child to write by choosing a classic or well known children's story and prompting them to change something, like the identity of the main characters or the setting or the point of view the story is told from. For example, you could take the Three Little Pigs and ask them to write it from the point of view of the wolf.
***Concrete Poetry is poetry where the words take up a shape, like a poem about Christmas in the shape of a Christmas tree.
***Shared Poetry is writing a poem collaboratively. The first person writes two lines but covers up the first line. The next person can only see the second line while they write the next line, and then they cover up the second line. This continues with each writer only getting to see the line that comes right before the one they're writing until you decide the poem is done. It's fun to see how they turn out, and a very low-pressure way to introduce the idea of writing creatively.
Here are a few books we looked at that you may find inspiring:
Pizza, Pigs, & Poetry: How to write a poem by Jack Prelutsky, children's Poet Laureate
A Kick in the Head, An Everyday Guide to Poetic Forms by Paul Janeczko
Animals Animals by Eric Carl
Runny Babbit by Sel Silverstein
***"Story starters" are just what they sound like and can be a single sentence ("The creepiest story I ever heard was told by my Uncle around the campfire...") or several paragraphs laying out the setting and starting the action of a story. Kids then get to jump in and finish the story any way they want. There are books of story starters, you can make them up yourself, and you can even use interesting pictures as story starters. (use classical paintings and you can cover two things at once!)
***Make your own mad-libs using classical literature or literature that's well known to your child. I can imagine changing a favorite story mad-libs-style could be pretty engaging!
***Prompt your child to write by choosing a classic or well known children's story and prompting them to change something, like the identity of the main characters or the setting or the point of view the story is told from. For example, you could take the Three Little Pigs and ask them to write it from the point of view of the wolf.
***Concrete Poetry is poetry where the words take up a shape, like a poem about Christmas in the shape of a Christmas tree.
***Shared Poetry is writing a poem collaboratively. The first person writes two lines but covers up the first line. The next person can only see the second line while they write the next line, and then they cover up the second line. This continues with each writer only getting to see the line that comes right before the one they're writing until you decide the poem is done. It's fun to see how they turn out, and a very low-pressure way to introduce the idea of writing creatively.
Here are a few books we looked at that you may find inspiring:
Pizza, Pigs, & Poetry: How to write a poem by Jack Prelutsky, children's Poet Laureate
A Kick in the Head, An Everyday Guide to Poetic Forms by Paul Janeczko
Animals Animals by Eric Carl
Runny Babbit by Sel Silverstein
Monday, February 21, 2011
Pi Day Resources
Pi Day is March 14 (pi = 3.14...) and is a great time to learn about pi and have some fun. Here are some of the resources we talked about at the meeting. Click on a few links to get some great ideas for celebrating Pi Day at your house!
First, remembering that Pi is the ratio between a circle's circumference and it's diameter (C/D), a great "discovering pi" activity is collecting various circular objects around the house, measuring their circumferences and diameters, doing the division, and seeing that you get the same number for circles of all sizes (except for measurement error, or imperfect circles). A great picture book that introduces pi is "Sir Cumference and the Dragon of Pi." (http://tinyurl.com/4c7m24h) There is a whole series of "Sir Cumference" books, and while the pictures and stories can be appreciated by young kids, the math content is rich enough for much older children.
The Exploratorium has a great page with lots of fun Pi Day information and activities:
http://www.exploratorium.edu/pi/
Here are a few fun videos about Pi on You Tube - I'm sure you can find more, too!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hJJJmQojcLM
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VqpWETqoD5Q
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HiliHq8phgE&feature=related
Education World has a nice article with plans for a Pi Day party:
http://www.educationworld.com/a_lesson/lesson/lesson335.shtml
Pi is an interesting number that shows up in lots of different types of math problems. Wikipedia has a nice article on Pi. It gets quite technical (of course!) but there is some nice info about attempts to calculate it with increasing precision throughout history. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pi
Finally, Pi Day falls on Albert Einstein's birthday, another great educational tie-in. Here are a couple of sites with resources for that:
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/einstein/
http://www.aip.org/history/einstein/
Most of all, enjoy Pi Day!
First, remembering that Pi is the ratio between a circle's circumference and it's diameter (C/D), a great "discovering pi" activity is collecting various circular objects around the house, measuring their circumferences and diameters, doing the division, and seeing that you get the same number for circles of all sizes (except for measurement error, or imperfect circles). A great picture book that introduces pi is "Sir Cumference and the Dragon of Pi." (http://tinyurl.com/4c7m24h) There is a whole series of "Sir Cumference" books, and while the pictures and stories can be appreciated by young kids, the math content is rich enough for much older children.
The Exploratorium has a great page with lots of fun Pi Day information and activities:
http://www.exploratorium.edu/pi/
Here are a few fun videos about Pi on You Tube - I'm sure you can find more, too!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hJJJmQojcLM
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VqpWETqoD5Q
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HiliHq8phgE&feature=related
Education World has a nice article with plans for a Pi Day party:
http://www.educationworld.com/a_lesson/lesson/lesson335.shtml
Pi is an interesting number that shows up in lots of different types of math problems. Wikipedia has a nice article on Pi. It gets quite technical (of course!) but there is some nice info about attempts to calculate it with increasing precision throughout history. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pi
Finally, Pi Day falls on Albert Einstein's birthday, another great educational tie-in. Here are a couple of sites with resources for that:
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/einstein/
http://www.aip.org/history/einstein/
Most of all, enjoy Pi Day!
Thursday, January 20, 2011
Join us!
To join, come to a meeting!
Salt Lake Home Educators is a group for providing information and support for homeschoolers regardless of race, religion or educational styles. Our group strives to provide in-person support to one another, so we maintain our monthly meetings as one of our primary activities. The group also has a yahoo group for planning other events, clubs, field trips, and whatever else people are interested in. To keep our focus on friendship and in-person support, we ask that you come see us at a meeting and then we'll get you into the yahoo group.
See you at the meeting!
Salt Lake Home Educators is a group for providing information and support for homeschoolers regardless of race, religion or educational styles. Our group strives to provide in-person support to one another, so we maintain our monthly meetings as one of our primary activities. The group also has a yahoo group for planning other events, clubs, field trips, and whatever else people are interested in. To keep our focus on friendship and in-person support, we ask that you come see us at a meeting and then we'll get you into the yahoo group.
See you at the meeting!
Tuesday, January 18, 2011
Meeting Reminder - Wed 1/19!.
We're meeting on Wednesday this week - don't forget us!
Our topic is "Educating Teens." We'll hear from a few different homeschool parents about the options that have worked for their teens.
It seems that as children grow into their teens, many families experience a transition to a new way of educating. However, some families keep pretty much the same approach they had in the younger years; they just move it to a different level. What direction is your family headed? Come to our meeting and see if you can find some inspiration through the experience of other families.
Even if your kids are still young, probably someone has asked you the question, "But what will you for high school?" You'll likely find some ideas for the future.
Everyone is welcome.
Barnes & Noble, 5249 S. State St., Murray, UT
Wednesday, January 19, 2011 at 7:00 p.m.
Our topic is "Educating Teens." We'll hear from a few different homeschool parents about the options that have worked for their teens.
It seems that as children grow into their teens, many families experience a transition to a new way of educating. However, some families keep pretty much the same approach they had in the younger years; they just move it to a different level. What direction is your family headed? Come to our meeting and see if you can find some inspiration through the experience of other families.
Even if your kids are still young, probably someone has asked you the question, "But what will you for high school?" You'll likely find some ideas for the future.
Everyone is welcome.
Barnes & Noble, 5249 S. State St., Murray, UT
Wednesday, January 19, 2011 at 7:00 p.m.
Saturday, January 15, 2011
About SLHE
Salt Lake Home Educators is a support group created to offer support and information to all home educators, regardless of race, religion, learning and teaching styles, etc. We operate on a volunteer basis. If you don't find what you need, you are welcome to plan any event, field trip, park day, workshop, class, or whatever you're interested in! We encourage and support you to find what methods and experiences work best in your homeschooling endeavors.
Salt Lake Home Educators was born in the early 1990's when the interest in homeschooling was beginning to blossom. At that time, homeschooling families could not always turn to family, friends or government for help, they needed to create their own support systems. SLHE filled the need for an inclusive group that could provide support and information to homeschoolers regardless of race, religion or educational styles.
The goals of SLHE are:
* To be truly inclusive,
* To network with other homeschooling families,
* To build a homeschooling community,
* To discuss resources, educational philosophies, curriculum and parental issues in a supportive, non-judgemental and inclusive environment.
Salt Lake Home Educators was born in the early 1990's when the interest in homeschooling was beginning to blossom. At that time, homeschooling families could not always turn to family, friends or government for help, they needed to create their own support systems. SLHE filled the need for an inclusive group that could provide support and information to homeschoolers regardless of race, religion or educational styles.
The goals of SLHE are:
* To be truly inclusive,
* To network with other homeschooling families,
* To build a homeschooling community,
* To discuss resources, educational philosophies, curriculum and parental issues in a supportive, non-judgemental and inclusive environment.
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