One of the curriculums I used during the days of homeschooling my children was Advanced Training Institutes – Wisdom Books. I still supplemented with some core curriculums such as Math and Language Arts. I loved Saxon Math… but that’s another topic.
Wisdom Books were laid out in various resources. There was a language arts, math, history, science, health, character quality, and a Bible Study resource. After we read through each resource as a family – the kids were assigned one or two projects to accomplish for the week, along with their core curriculum studies. A project could consist of drawing a picture, writing an essay, writing a paragraph, reading a book and writing a summary about what they read, doing a science experiment, making a timeline during a period of history. We got creative with it. My youngest son once built a trebuchet in the backyard, from materials laying around the house, as part of a medieval history project. It worked too… they used it for water balloon fights!
I miss the homeschooling years…. (random thought)
One of the first thing we studied was the eyes and the different kinds of visions. We studied a diagram of the eye – learned about the retina, the cornea and the muscles of the eyes. We learned that are six eye muscles which need to be developed after we are born. If some of those eye muscles don’t develop properly then we have problems in focusing on what we are looking at. We learned that there are different types of vision errors:
- Myopia – nearsightedness (I am nearsighted)
- Hyperopia – farsightedness
- Strabismus – lazy eye
- Presbyopia – loss of ability to focus with age… (my eyes are having that trouble)
If you want to you can add another layer to your homeschool – if you want. Add a spiritual perception to your lesson by looking for analogies. Myopia would be like looking at yourself all the time and being selfish. Hyperopia – would be overlooking the needs of others especially people you are close to. Strabismus – would be trying to focus on too many things at once. Cataracts would be a blocked vision.
Just something interesting to try.
One of the best things about a unit study – is that everyone studies the same topic then projects are assigned according to the ability and interests of the child. Knowing how best your child learns is very helpful. Some project ideas are:
- Draw a diagram of the eye and label all its parts (science)
- Read a biography about Helen Keller who was blind and deaf. (History and Literature and if they write a summary of the book that’s Langauge Arts)
- Study the eye and the causes and characteristics of visual disorders in their biology textbook and answer the questions (science)
- Research seeing eye dogs – and figure out the cost of training and having one (mathematics)
- Learn about the five senses – touch, taste, sight, smell and hearing (for a beginner student)
- Do an in home eye exam. Print out an eye chart and see if you have 20/20 vision (health)
- Start a scrapbook about what you have learned about the eye – for supplies check out http://www.positivelydebbie.stampinup.net (art)
- Learn about the character quality of Alertness
Quotes about vision:
I was created to see God, and I have not yet accomplished that for which I was made – Anselm
Where there is no vision, the people cast off restraint, but blessed is who keeps the law – Proverbs 29:18 – NIV
No man that does not see visions will ever realize any high hope or undertake any high enterprise – Woodrow Wilson
A vision without a task is a dream; A task without a vision is drudgery, A vision and a task is the hope of the world. – Anonymous
It is never safe to look in the future with eyes of fear. – Edward H. Harriman
Give us clear vision that we may know where to stand and what to stand for, because unless we stand for something, we shall fall for anything – Peter Marshall
Academics are everywhere… learning is seldom linear but always on spiral, upward curve.
Stay Safe – Stay Healthy
Positively, Debbie
Positive Journeys 