People don't realize what an asset they have in a computer. Hint: it can be used for more than posting crap on Facebook or looking at cat videos.
For example: In geography, we spent 2-months (8 weeks) studying South America and one month (4 weeks) studying Central America. Five hours (hour per day) per week were teaching, then five hours (hour per day) per week devoted to homework about a South American nation; Total 10 hours on each.
Argentina
Brazil
Venezuela
Columbia
Chile
Peru & Bolivia
Paraguay / Uruguay
Ecuador / Guyana and Suriname
During that 1 hour per day (total 5 hours on each country), we would zoom in on Google Earth to look at major cities, rivers, large lakes or deserts, volcanoes and mountains... and then look up different information about the country (foods, resources, cultural info, politics, history).
Believe it or not, by the end of the week they were ready for a quiz on each nation, which we conducted the quizzes using Google Earth.
"Find Santiago, Chile."
"Find the Atacama Desert."
"What are the prevailing wind directions in Argentina and Chile"?
"How do the Andes Mountains and the winds work to create the desert".
"Show me Lake Titicaca".
"Where is the Patagonia Region located... and why is it called that?"
Within a few months, they had a better understanding of South and Central America than 90% of adults do... and they remember it.
If you're visiting the zoo, then have lessons planned. Today, your assignment is to get a photograph of each of the following;
A nocturnal mammal
A marsupial.
A water dwelling mammal.
An amphibian
A two legged mammal
etc... . They will have to know where to go in the zoo to find those things. The assignment afterwards would be to write a short paragraph to go along with each photo, telling me three different facts about each of those 10 creatures in their photos in addition to where it lives in the wild.
Giving your kid a good education isn't hard. It just takes creativity. My kids understand street and highway maps. They understand basic history. It's not hard to find Native Americans who are willing to share their culture and history with a student. There are a LOT of resources.
If you leave your kids in public school... then at least check to see if they are actually learning anything. If not, then you are just warehousing them and the school is a convenient babysitter.
People don't realize what an asset they have in a computer. Hint: it can be used for more than posting crap on Facebook or looking at cat videos.
For example: In geography, we spent 2-months (8 weeks) studying South America and one month (4 weeks) studying Central America. Five hours (hour per day) per week were teaching, then five hours (hour per day) per week devoted to homework about a South American nation; Total 10 hours on each.
Argentina
Brazil
Venezuela
Columbia
Chile
Peru & Bolivia
Paraguay / Uruguay
Ecuador / Guyana and Suriname
During that 1 hour per day (total 5 hours on each country), we would zoom in on Google Earth to look at major cities, rivers, large lakes or deserts, volcanoes and mountains... and then look up different information about the country (foods, resources, cultural info, politics, history).
Believe it or not, by the end of the week they were ready for a quiz on each nation, which we conducted the quizzes using Google Earth.
"Find Santiago, Chile." "Find the Atacama Desert." "What are the prevailing wind directions in Argentina and Chile"? "How do the Andes Mountains and the winds work to create the desert". "Show me Lake Titicaca". "Where is the Patagonia Region located... and why is it called that?"
Within a few months, they had a better understanding of South and Central America than 90% of adults do... and they remember it.
If you're visiting the zoo, then have lessons planned. Today, your assignment is to get a photograph of each of the following;
Giving your kid a good education isn't hard. It just takes creativity. My kids understand street and highway maps. They understand basic history. It's not hard to find Native Americans who are willing to share their culture and history with a student. There are a LOT of resources.
If you leave your kids in public school... then at least check to see if they are actually learning anything. If not, then you are just warehousing them and the school is a convenient babysitter.