Fun Learning: History

Showing posts with label History. Show all posts

Wednesday, July 16, 2008

The Benefits of Volunteering

Being a volunteer can help you explore a career field of interest. Volunteering helps other people and organizations. It is also very beneficial to you:

You will become comfortable in serving others.
Develop and use your talents and skills to benefit other people.
Make a real, positive difference in the world.
Make new friends.
Expose yourself to a variety of people.
Gain confidence in yourself.
Earn a letter of recommendation for college or a job.
Connect with professionals in the workplace.
Find out if you want to pursue a particular career or field of interest.
Learn job skills like: responsibility, time management, work ethics, accountability, and working with others.

Here are some volunteer ideas to get you started:

Hospital, nursing home, pregnancy care center, nursing homes, serving widows and the elderly, state park, nature center, hiking trails, animal shelter, pet hospital, animal foster care, horse care and stable worker, wildlife preserve, food or clothing drives, soup kitchens, homeless shelters, tutoring, ESL programs, library, prison ministry, orphanage, festivals, fairs, parades, hospice companion, Red Cross, language translator, waiting room reader, speaker to kids, deliver meals, disaster relief, kids recreation center, host a foreign student, teen hotline, bell ringer, after-school mentor, thrift store worker, immigrant and refugee ministry, housekeeping for elderly, concession stand worker, working farm for disabled people, maintenance and preservation projects, science museum, living history museum, computer tutor or consultant, evangelistic organizations, prison ministry, trash clean-up, construction and remodeling, political campaign volunteers, voter registration drives, help at the polls, administrative and clerical assistance at church, technical assistance at church, music ministry at church, nursery and children’s ministry worker, wedding coordinator, church photography, summer camp counselor, VBS, event planner or worker, short-term mission trip, Jr. High Youth group helper, or go to any business or organization that you are interested in and ask if you can volunteer.

Saturday, May 3, 2008

Our Favorite Read Aloud Books

Heart of the Matter Meme

The Mouse and the Motorcycle
By Beverly Cleary, Paul O. Zelinsky, Louis Darling / HarperTrophy
Ralph the mouse ventures out from behind the piney knothole in the wall of his hotel - room home, scrambles up the telephone wire to the end table, and climbs aboard the toy motorcycle left there by a young guest. His thrill ride does not last long. The ringing telephone startles Ralph, and he and the motorcycle take a terrible fall - right to the bottom of a metal wastebasket. Luckily, Keith, the owner of the motorcycle, returns to find his toy. Keith rescues Ralph and teaches him how to ride the bike.

The Bronze Bow, Paperback
By Elizabeth George Speare / Houghton-mifflin
Winner of the Newbery Medal! After witnessing his father's crucifixion by the Romans, Daniel bar Jamin wants only one thing---vengeance. In neighboring Capernaum, an itinerant rabbi teaches a different way---love. Will Daniel be able to reject hatred and embrace Jesus' message of forgiveness? 254 pages, softcover from Houghton Mifflin.

Caddie Woodlawn, Softcover
By Carol Ryrie Brink / Simon & Schuster Trade Sales
Caddie Woodlawn loves adventure and she refuses to be a "lady". She'd rather hunt than sew, plow than bake and she beats her brothers' dares every chance she gets. Caddie and her six brothers and sisters have many exciting experiences on the Wisconsin frontier of the 1860s-from a schoolhouse fire, to pranks played on a city-slicker cousin, to an amazing discovery in an old trunk. And when the Indians threaten to massacre the settlers, it is Caddie's courage and quick thinking that save her family and their neighbors. Recommended for ages 8 to 12. The 1936 Newbery Medal winner.

84913: Dear America: The Diary of Patsy, a Freed Girl, Mars Bluff, South Carolina, 1865

Dear America: The Diary of Patsy, a Freed Girl, Mars Bluff, South Carolina, 1865
By Joyce Hansen / Scholastic Trade
In this latest addition to the Dear America series, Coretta Scott King Honor-winning author Joyce Hansen presents the inspiring story of Patsy, a freed girl who becomes a great teacher. Historical fiction for ages 8 to 12.

97509: Little House in the Big Woods, Little House on the Prairie Series #1, Softcover Book and Charm

Little House in the Big Woods
By Laura Ingalls Wilder / HarperFestival
Wolves and panthers and bears roam the deep Wisconsin woods in the late 1870s. In those same woods, Laura lives with Pa and Ma, and her sisters, Mary and Baby Carrie, in a snug little house built of logs. Pa hunts and traps. Ma makes her own cheese and butter. All night long, the wind howls lonesomely, but Pa plays the fiddle and sings, keeping the family safe and cozy.

We have enjoyed reading many of the Dr. America Books. I love reading historical fiction to my kids.

My son read the entire series of - Lemony Snicket's: The Series of Unfortunate Events. I did not read any of them, but he said that they were the best books that he had ever read.

There is one more that I can't forget about - Double Fudge by Judy Blume. I laughed and laughed as I tried to read it out loud. We never read just one chapter at a time, because it was so hilarious. Here is a write up from Publisher's Weekly about Double Fudge.

Fans of Superfudge and Fudge-a-Mania will welcome the return of seventh-grader Peter Hatcher and his five-year-old brother, Fudge, who in this comical caper meet distant cousins from Hawaii. The two families unexpectedly encounter one another in Washington, D.C., where the New York City Hatchers have gone so that Fudge, who has developed an obsession with money, can visit the Bureau of Engraving and Printing. The Howie Hatcher clan proves an eccentric lot. Twins Fauna and Flora, unironicially nicknamed the Natural Beauties, would be in Peter's grade if they weren't home-schooled; apt to break into corny songs at any moment, they perform together as the Heavenly Hatchers. Their younger brother, who shares Fudge's real name (Farley Drexel), acts like a dog, growling and licking people. And their father won't stop calling Peter's dad "Tubby." Narrator Peter grits his teeth when the Honolulu Hatchers invite themselves to Manhattan to stay in his family's cramped apartment, where nestled in their sleeping bags on the living room floor they "slept flat on their backs, like a row of hot dogs in their rolls. All that was missing was the mustard and the relish." The boy is further appalled when the twins show up at his school and convene an assembly so that they can sing. Peter's wry reactions to the sometimes outsize goings-on, Fudge's inimitable antics and the characters' rousing repartee contribute to the sprightly clip of this cheerful read. Ages 8-12.

Saturday, March 29, 2008

Real Life Social Studies

History, Geography, Government, Civics, Economics, Sociology, and Psychology are so much a part of our daily life.

Here are some real life ways to learn about social studies:

Watch TV documentaries and DVDs.
Play Internet and board games.
Visit tourist sites.
Use maps.
Read magazines.
Church Bible lessons and sermons.
Go on a short-term mission trip.
Host an exchange student.
Attend town council meetings.
Work on election campaigns.
Visit Senate and House of Representatives while in session.
Watch the news on TV.
Read about current events in a newspaper of online.
Chat online with people in other countries.
Talk with an older relative about his life.
Read historical fiction and biographies.
Learn about a historical time period or event.
Be involved in historical reenactments or renaissance fairs.
Listen to daily radio shows.
Learn about genealogy.
Volunteer for a non-profit organization.
Start a charity or ministry.
Volunteer at church.
Baby-sit.
Travel

Field Trip Ideas: Children's Museum, field trip tours at universities, radio station, TV station, airport, ethnic food stores and restaurants, art gallery, police station, fire station, nursing homes, children's hospitals, 911 dispatch center, newspaper, hospital, bank, natural history museum, local missions, tour homeless shelter or food pantry, ride public transportation, the workplace of a homeschooling parent, behind the scenes at a church, local arts and craft fair, bus stations, train stations, native American cultural center, historical village, and the national guard armory.