Blending Structure and Freedom

We recently switched around the organization in our homeschooling again. We are trying out something new - breaking our studies into six week "sessions", with four subjects each session, each subject being given 30 minutes per school day. The Kid and I agree that Spanish will always be one of her subjects. I choose one subject each session. The Kid chooses two subjects per session. (If she is feeling less schooly, she can choose less than two. The joy of being five years old!)

We've found before that no structure ends with The Kid frustrated, and too much structure ends with The Kid frustrated. A few years ago, I assumed that I would unschool until she was 7 or 8, but that doesn't quite fit her. We were doing daily core subjects and switching between science, history, art, music, grammar, poetry, and maybe some other stuff - it was exhausting to keep track of and plan! I wanted an option that blended heavily child-led with enough structure to keep us both happy. So far, so good!

We recently wrapped our first session, and it went great. We are now in the midst of a five week trip, so this session is all Spanish, all the time. But we've already chosen our subjects for the next session, and are excited to get underway again!

BFSU: Rocks and Crystals Unit

Prerequisites: Air Unit

Resources: Magic School Bus Episodes
                  Thames and Kosmos Crystal Creations kit
                  Rock On! Geology game

Note: We used the Thames and Kosmos Crystals kit fully, and therefore went through the BFSU sections quickly in order to do this more hands-on. If you are to skip the kit, you would likely want to devote more time to the BFSU lessons A-9 and A-10. The kit is excellent and well worth the money.

Lesson 1: BFSU A-9: Matter IV: Dissolving, Solutions, and Crystallization, part 1 and 2
Lesson 2: Thames and Kosmos Crystal Kit Experiment 1
Lesson 3: Thames and Kosmos Crystal Kit Experiment 2
Lesson 4: BFSU A-10: Rocks, Minerals, Crystals, Dirt and Soil, part 1, and introduce Rock On! geology game
Lesson 5: Thames and Kosmos Crystal Kit Experiment 3
Lesson 6: Thames and Kosmos Crystal Kit Experiment 4
Lesson 7: BFSU A-10: Rocks, Minerals, Crystals, Dirt and Soil, part 2
Lesson 8: Thames and Kosmos Crystal Kit Experiment 5
Lesson 9: Thames and Kosmos Crystal Kit Experiment 6
Lesson 10: BFSU A-10: Rocks, Minerals, Crystals, Dirt and Soil, part 3 and 4
Lesson 11: Thames and Kosmos Crystal Kit Experiment 7
Lesson 12: Thames and Kosmos Crystal Kit Experiment 8
Lesson 13: BFSU D-4: Land Forms and Major Biomes of the Earth
Lesson 14: Thames and Kosmos Crystal Kit Experiment 9
Lesson 15: Magic School Bus Blows Its Top
Lesson 16: Thames and Kosmos Crystal Kit Experiment 10
Lesson 17: BFSU D-8: Rocks and Fossils, part 1
Lesson 18: Thames and Kosmos Crystal Kit Experiment 11
Lesson 19: BFSU D-8: Rocks and Fossils, part 2
Lesson 20: Thames and Kosmos Crystal Kit Experiment 12
Lesson 21: BFSU D-8: Rocks and Fossils, part 3
Lesson 22: Thames and Kosmos Crystal Kit Experiment 13
Lesson 23: BFSU D-8: Rocks and Fossils, part 4
Lesson 24: Thames and Kosmos Crystal Kit Experiment 14
Lesson 25: Magic School Bus Busasaurus
Lesson 26: Thames and Kosmos Crystal Kit Experiment 15

This post is part of my series on using BFSU as a science unit study.

BFSU: The Human Body Unit

Prerequisites: Living Things unit and Land and Rocks unit

Resources: Magic School Bus episodes
                  Blood and Guts by Linda Allison (this book is where most the material for this unit comes in. It is an excellent resource and I highly recommend it. If you wish to do this unit without this book, it is more of a straightforward, basic overview of how animals function without much of the "human body" part.)

Lesson 1: BFSU B-6: How Animals Move I: Skeleton and Muscle (brief discussion)
Lesson 2: Blood and Guts, read pages 21-30
Lesson 3: Magic School Bus Flexes Its Muscles
Lesson 4:  Blood and Guts, pages 31-36
Lesson 5: Blood and Guts, pages 37-48
Lesson 6: B-7: How Animals Move II: Different Body Designs. Major Animal Phyla, part 1
Lesson 7: B-7: How Animals Move II: Different Body Designs. Major Animal Phyla, part 2
Lesson 8: BFSU B-8: How Animals Move III: Coordinating Body Movements: The Nervous System (brief discussion)
Lesson 9: Blood and Guts, pages 111-122
Lesson 10: Magic School Bus Works Out
Lesson 11: BFSU B-9: How Animals Move IV: Energy to Run the Body
Lesson 12: Magic School Bus For Lunch
Lesson 13: Blood and Guts, pages 75-82
Lesson 14: Blood and Guts, pages 49-58
Lesson 15: Blood and Guts, pages 59-70
Lesson 16: Blood and Guts, pages 83-86
Lesson 17: Blood and Guts, pages 87-96
Lesson 18: Blood and Guts, pages 105-110


This post is part of my series on using BFSU as a science unit study.

BFSU: Plants Unit

All right, I'm going to be honest. My daughter asked for a VERY in depth look at botany, so I'm ditching this plan. I'm going to post this for anyone wanting to see how I *intended* to do this unit before she asked me to do something else. In May, when we're done with what we actually ended up doing, I'll post that one, too - even though it doesn't use BFSU.

Prerequisites: Living Things unit and Rocks and Crystals unit

Resources: Magic School Bus episodes
                  ASK Kit: Seeds

Lesson 1: BFSU B-10: Plant Science I: Basic Plant Structure, part 1
Lesson 2: BFSU B-10: Plant Science I: Basic Plant Structure, part 2
Lesson 3: Magic School Bus Gets Planted
Lesson 4: Magic School Bus Goes to Seed
Lesson 5: BFSU B-11: Plant Science II: Seed Germination and Seedling Growth
Lesson 6: ASK kit: Seeds, activity 1
Lesson 7: ASK kit: Seeds, activity 2
Lesson 8: ASK kit: Seeds, activity 3
Lesson 9: ASK kit: Seeds, activity 4
Lesson 10: ASK kit: Seeds, activity 5
Lesson 11: ASK kit: Seeds, activity 6
Lesson 12: ASK kit: Seeds, activity 7
Lesson 13: ASK kit: Seeds, activity 8
Lesson 14: ASK kit: Seeds, activity 9
Lesson 15: ASK kit: Seeds, activity 10
Lesson 16: ASK kit: Seeds, activity 11
Lesson 17: ASK kit: Seeds, activity 12
Lesson 18: BFSU B-12: Plants, Soil, and Water, part 1
Lesson 19: BFSU B-12: Plants, Soil, and Water, part 2
Lesson 20: Magic School Bus Meets the Rot Squad


This post is part of my series on using BFSU as a science unit study.

BFSU: Air Unit

Prerequisites: Energy Unit and Matter and Magnets Unit

Resources: Magic School Bus episodes

Lesson 1: BFSU A-6: Matter II: Air Pressure, Vacuums, and Earth’s Atmosphere, part 1
Lesson 2: BFSU A-6: Matter II: Air Pressure, Vacuums, and Earth’s Atmosphere, part 2
Lesson 3: BFSU A-6: Matter II: Air Pressure, Vacuums, and Earth’s Atmosphere, part 3
Lesson 4: BFSU A-6: Matter II: Air Pressure, Vacuums, and Earth’s Atmosphere, part 4
Lesson 5: BFSU A-6: Matter II: Air Pressure, Vacuums, and Earth’s Atmosphere, part 5
Lesson 6: Magic School Bus Goes On Air
Lesson 7: BFSU A-7: Air: A Mixture of Gases, part 1
Lesson 8: BFSU A-7: Air: A Mixture of Gases, part 2
Lesson 9: BFSU A-7: Air: A Mixture of Gases, part 3
Lesson 10: BFSU A-7: Air: A Mixture of Gases, part 4
Lesson 11: Magic School Bus Kicks Up a Storm
Lesson 12: BFSU A-8: Matter III: Evaporation and Condensation, part 1
Lesson 13: BFSU A-8: Matter III: Evaporation and Condensation, part 2
Lesson 14: Magic School Bus Wet All Over


This post is part of my series on using BFSU as a science unit study.

Alliterative Action

We had a very alliterative to do list one day:

The stupendous surprise? A new (used) Wii with a small stack of motion-oriented games. Need to beat those winter doldrums!

Rebalancing

The last couple months have been a bit of a struggle in trying to balance The Kid's desire for more, more, more learning and input with her struggles with perfectionism and tendency to get stressed out.


I don't talk a whole lot on here about her intensity or her giftedness. They're parts of who she is, and we're constantly trying to figure out how to manage the intensity.

If something is too easy, she has no interest. If something is too hard, it can cause full scale meltdowns.

She wants much of her time filled with structured activities, but really needs downtime or she burns out quickly. She wants to learn everything, and she wants to learn it all right now.

She is five years old. She would be in kindergarten by age, but her academics aren't. If we covered all the subjects she wants in a day, we'd have 3-4 hours of academics daily. I aim for 2 hours.

We've tried very relaxed school days. We've tried very structured school days. They were both disasters. We're now back to our previous routines - math, handwriting, and Spanish daily in the morning, with other subjects generally once a week or wrapped into our project time.