Will You Be Mine? – Resources for February

I cannot believe that Valentine’s Day is just around the corner! Who said life could move this fast?

In light of that realization, I figured I had better get some resources together so that we can have a fun Valentine’s day, talk about Groundhog Day, and review what we know about some of our presidents. February is packed full of learning opportunities and when you throw in the fact that the 2014 Winter Olympics are going on this month, it is hard to decide what to cover and where to spend your energies.

2014 Sochi Winter Olympics

We will be doing a large unit on the Sochi Winter Olympics. They are not an every day occurrence and there is so much to be learned that we cannot squander this opportunity. For more on the plans we have made for the Winter Olympics unit, see my posts about the resources we will be using and the Opening Ceremony scavenger hunt.

Groundhog Day

I don’t think we will spend much time on Groundhog Day but we will definitely talk about it. Our resources and activities for it include:

• Ranger Rick Jr. magazine, February 2014, page 32 – short article on groundhogs
• book Groundhog Day! by Gail Gibbons
• video of a groundhog at Activity Village – at the bottom of the page
• poems and songs to familiar tunes
• free lapbook from Homeschoolshare
• official site for Punxsutawney Phil

After these activities and books, we will doing some writing. I will be giving the girls the choice to write either a poem or a story about groundhogs the includes some of the facts they learn about groundhogs and Groundhog Day.

President’s Day

President’s Day, Lincoln’s birthday, and Washington’s birthday all occur during the month. We are somewhat fascinated with Abraham Lincoln in our house (or at least I am). We will do a short unit on the presidents and it will be about more than Washington and Lincoln.

• book Mr. Lincoln’s Whiskers  by Karen B. Winnick
• book George Washington’s World by Genevieve Foster
• book Abe Lincoln’s Hat by Martha Brenner
• book Where Lincoln Walked by Raymond Bial – we’ll be using the parts related to the different presidents
• view pictures and information on the presidential monuments in Washington DC (both personal photos and at the National Park Service)
• Animaniacs video on the presidents
• photo of the presidential stamps that we have in the girls’ hallway
• information on Mount Rushmore from the National Park Service, including the kids’ information sheets that can be downloaded

We will be doing some different activities, including timelines, biography readings, writing a “Did you know…” about a president, and a math project with Mount Rushmore and geometry. Also, we will do lots of geography with these, marking our 50 states maps each time we come across a site related to a president.

Valentine’s Day

Valentine’s Day is going to be fun. We are participating in a Valentine swap with other homeschoolers across the country. The girls will be making their valentines so I have been collecting all sorts of crafty items for them to create with. We love jokes so the girls will be using jokes in their valentines this year. We will use this opportunity to reinforce the geography of the United States, which we have been studying in our 50 States project (a post on this is coming later). They can mark the addresses of the other kids they are sending valentines to on our large map that they made. They can label the part of the country the address is in and then graph it, too.

Other resources include

• This Is How I Know God Love Me free printable
• I want to create something like this sign for our house that emphasizes God’s love for us
• I will be using the idea from Not Consumed to do a heart search, each printed with a scripture focusing on God’s love
• We will be creating these Paper Bag Valentines blogged at Or So She Says for the copywork the girls will be doing related to our study of God’s love
• I really like the idea found at Afterschool for Smarty Pants that has to do with drawing the parts of your heart. I was thinking we could use the idea and put in the things that we know God loves about us.
• There is also the possibility of doing the same sort of thing with torn paper and calling it the Pieces of My Heart.
• I plan on putting something like this printable (7 Things I Love About You) by Buttoned Up out for each of the girls on Valentine’s Day.

Here are the majority of the resources and ideas that we will be referencing during the units we are planning for the month of February. Enjoy and then come back and let me know what you are planning for the month of February. At Home.

Wanting even more ideas? Visit my fellow members of the Review Crew and find out what resources they are using this month. Just click on the photo below to head over to the list of the participating bloggers. (This link will be live on February 5, 2014.)

 

Tagged: art, Bible, books, craft, creative writing, curriculum, DIY, homeschool, poetry, reading, science, Valentine's Day