Bodies - A Homeschool Field Trip Your Kids Won't Soon Forget!

Lord Willing, we are going on a field trip to the South Street Seaport in New York City to see Bodies.

If you have never heard of it, Bodies is a exhibition of 19 actual bodies, (cadavers) and 260 organs that have been preserved by usual methods, then dissected to show the various organs and then placed in a bath of polymer or silicone.

You are even able to view the entire circulatory system. This exhibit offers thousands of unique teaching possibilities! Free teacher's guides are also available for the exhibit. I'm a bit curious as to how it will be to look so closely at the human body. I can't wait to see God's awesome design! The exhibit will be in several other major cities soon, so if you can't make it to NY, then you may have another chance to go. What an awesome opportunity for your family, if you can stomach it!

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Montessori Home Schooling By Diane Crawford

The Montessori home schooling method was developed by Dr. Maria Montessori in the early 1900s to educate children from poor families in San Lorenzo Rome. Dr. Montessori developed a method of teaching children as children, rather than smaller adults. Instead of pigeonholing children into the common institutionalized methods such as grading and testing, the Montessori home schooling method allows children develop their talents, takes note of weaknesses, and encourages children to develop both their weaknesses, and natural talents in their own time.

The Montessori home schooling method is taught to children from as early as birth, and can go as high as year 12 education. Rather than grading, feedback and analysis is usually provided in the form of a list or narration of the child's talents, and weaknesses. An emphasis on and an approach to improving the child's weaknesses are then taken, as education progresses.

The wonderful thing that the Montessori home schooling method offers a child is a focus on what the child needs as an individual, rather than pre-set needs for the class as a whole. Learning is done at the child's own pace, and teachers take the role of a guide rather than a lecturer. One of the main goals that this method uses is to encourage children to keep their natural joy of learning, without pressuring them to compete with each other and learn when they are not yet ready, or mature enough.

Through this method of teaching, children are encouraged to be independent, and are given freedom with some set limits and responsibilities that come with having freedom.

The entire approach used in Montessori home schooling method is that children learn in an entirely different way than adults. Lessons are specially structured to children's needs, and the natural way that they learn to give children the best advantage in both an academic, and social learning environment.

Montessori Method Lessons

The Montessori method ensures that a child is never given an activity without being shown how it is of use to them. After the activity has been demonstrated, the child is then given the freedom to use this newly acquired knowledge with no limits, other than their own imagination, or when the materials or child has a risk of being a danger to themselves or those around them.

Each activity is carefully selected, and will pave the way for later activities, and concepts. Children are encouraged to repeat an activity as many times as they want to, until they become bored with it. At this stage, it is a sign that the child is ready to start the next activity.

There is never a prescribed time table, or period in which children are meant to learn certain concepts, or lessons, the speed that these are learned will depend entirely on the child, and when they feel ready to move on. However, there is a set sequence of learning activities that are used for lessons. The Montessori home schooling method was originally designed as a schooling system, but it is a very popular method that is often scaled down and used by parents for home schooling.

For more info on Montessori Home Schooling? Head on over to http://www.homeschooling4you.com/

Article Source:http://EzineArticles.com/?Montessori-Home-Schooling&id=455085

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