Idaho History

I originally given 10 weeks to sum up Idaho into one neat little package. So I am working on coming up with a lesson plan, I used the Book called A Rendezvous With Idaho History. (This book is also used in public schools here in Idaho–I found my copy at my local library) So I have come up with a workable solution. I THINK! We are just going to do a research project, much like what we did when we first started homeschooling. My oldest did a state report on Mississippi, and my 10 year old (then age 7 did a quick study on Illinois.) I’m just not quite sure how to go about it for a class though. It was a wonderful display board when we got done with it.  (This was my original plan and if I had the full 10 weeks I would have gone with this)

A couple of notes on my co-op plan. I originally read that there was a 10 week schedule, but later realized that because of the lateness getting started after the holiday season–we only had 8 weeks for the session. So this is now actually a 8 week plan instead of a 10 week plan. However weeks 2 and 3 can easily be stretched into 2 weeks. And so could some of the later weeks. So play with it if you need a longer schedule.   Also that plan was a rough draft and should be used as such. I lot of my original plans didn’t work out so I had to come up with some new ideas.

Downloads
I needed to create my outline to put up for our Co-op lesson plan, you can get both my original rough 10 week plan using the display board and my actual working plan that I used requiring only the 8 weeks available.

10 Week Outline: http://www.mediafire.com/?2zzujnueqlw
8 Week Outline: http://www.mediafire.com/?himoyw4zzzi

I created a check list sheet. This was more for my benefit to get ready, but could easily be used as a check list for the students to be sure that they have accomplished everything.

Checklist for both 10 week schedule and 8 week schedule; http://www.mediafire.com/?n1ozyyzfmyz

I changed our display board into the Project Folder. This turned out to be a great end project. They were great to take home and show off the  kid’s work. You’ll see pictures of a project folder (my 10 Year old DD’s) on the appropriate week’s page and in the gallery to the right. You will notice that not all things are accomplished in this folder as we were not always given the time to finish our daily work.  I just sent home a note that the kids could finish the work at the end of the session. Instructions for the Project Folder can be found here:  http://homeschoolblogger.com/shiveracademy/lesson-plans/the-project-folder/

A couple of FAQ’s

#1: What materials did you need?

Besides the 2 files for each child, I used 4 brads each, 4-5 page protectors, various items for some of the craft projects (listed on their week page), paper/mini-books printed out, and LOTS OF RUBBER CEMENT!  I went through a good 5-6 jars of rubber cement as the adhesive for holding the mini-book in the folders.

#2: I’m a teacher in a classroom, can I use this?

ABSOLUTELY! I’m sure your class would have as much fun doing this as my class did. And I doubt that you would run into the same lack of time constraints that I ran up against. You would probably need to adapt the study to be a 5 day a week study unless you only worked on it once a week as well.