This Week… Discovery Directed Learning Begins

Setting a Course for Video Games

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Bible:

Continued on in Judges with Jepthah going to war with the Ammonites followed by the misunderstanding between him and the Ephraimites. I love how BSGFAA leads the child not only on a discovery of the historical events of the Bible but the application for their lives today. Little Man discovered that sometimes you have to consider both sides of the situation, ask questions without getting angry before hand and forgiveness.

By the way, I discovered that Bible Study Guide for All Ages is now selling pdf versions of their Volume 1 Student worksheets on Currclick. You can find that here: Bible Study Guide for All Ages, Currclick

Literature:

We continued reading through Tirzah. It is interesting to read the story of the Israelites grumbling and complaining over water and food from a personal perspective rather than reading solely from scripture. Doing so puts a human perspective on the situation. I wonder if I were thirsty in a desert would I stay strong in faith, like Tirzah’s father or would I grumble and complain like her uncle Shobal?

Gifted Learning:

So I’m going to be leading him in some discovery directed learning for a while. I asked him if he could choose anything to learn about what would it be and he said “Video games.” Now, I know many of you are thinking what a waste of time that would be. But I know my son. He draws video games MORE than he plays them. He makes up stories about video games. So I’m starting him into a discovery unit study.

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This week we stared with the basics. You can’t have video games without, some source of electricity. So I am using Colleen Kessler’s book Science for Smart Kids: Electricity and Magnetism. He spent several hours reading about the history of electricity, documenting what he was learning by beginning a timeline. He used internet links provided in the book as well as some internet research of his own. He made his first circuit and then took apart his first electrical item, a rotating lamp.

Discovery

You see this discovery learning will be all encompassing. We will be exploring every possible aspect of video games. From the basic structure, such as electricity which leads to electronics all the way to the artistic design and computer programming elements. If he wants to learn, then he will learn until we have exhausted the process. Best of all, in my opinion, is that Dad is excited about this too, and is lending his expertise to the subject.

Math:

Bit of a struggle in math this week as Little Man is learning some Trigonometry concepts for the first time. He has been both delighted and frustrated. Some problems he does with ease, then out of no where misses 1. So he isn’t showing consistency in learning. Sometimes he misses a step or rushes ahead. This math is becoming a lesson in restraint for him.

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Science:

Continuing on in Swimming Creatures of the 5th Day, we discovered the unicorn of the sea, the Narwhal Whale. I was as fascinated by this creature as my boy. Did you know the Narwhals horn is not on his head? Yes, it’s true, but I’m not going to spoil it for you. You will be delighted with the discovery.

Language Arts/Grammar:

We worked with sentence structure again this week. Doing so has begun to reflect in his writing. Without complaint he wrote a simple story about a fireman and a girl this week. Did you notice I said without complaint.

Socialization:

LEGO Club on Thursday
Homeschool Support Group on Friday
Lego Club
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How was your week? Anything fascinating happen this week? What scientific activities did your children explore? What books were read? What was life like around your house? Comment below and share your week with me. If you are a blogger who writes about your homeschool week in review, I would love for you to link up. Just use the inlinkz tool below. 

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7 Replies to “This Week… Discovery Directed Learning Begins

  1. Wow, busy week! I love the electrical learning! I did that in the military, so I get pretty excited when kids are learning how to do those complex, yet simple, tasks of electrical wiring. I need to get that book for my little engineering son. He would love it!!

    I love the idea of a Lego club!!! Why didn’t I think of that earlier??

  2. Kay,
    Welcome and thanks for linking up.
    My son is super excited about the electricity stuff!
    Lego club is not my idea but it is a super fun one. It is totally child led play, we open up the big bag of LEGO bricks and for 1 1/2 hours they let their imaginations fly!
    Hope to see you next week. 🙂

  3. We’re adding student interest studies for my girls each Friday afternoon, so it’s good hearing about your discovery directed learning.

    1. Becca,
      The longer I homeschool the more convinced I am that this type of learning leads a better overall education, makes for happier students and most likely leads to more success in adulthood. Thanks for linking up.

  4. Hi there! Thanks for the invite! I’ll try linking up next week! I’m having troubles with your button though so I’ll work on it. (Definitely me I’m sure as I’m not quite sure how to add them without the code.)

  5. My son is fascinated by Narwhals! He has spent hours researching and studying them on his own.
    Sounds like a great week. Thanks for sharing at the Finishing Strong LInk-up!

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