By now, most people are familiar with the hit song "The Fox (What Does the Fox Say?)" by Norwegian artist Ylvis, who went viral when his video debuted in 2013.
And if not, have a listen.
Aidyn loved it at first listen and has since played the song a gajillion times and even recorded his own lip-syncing video of "What Does the Fox Say?". And like any good homeschooling parent, when my child is obsessed with something, I turn it into a unit study. Ha, ha.
I scoured the internet for a pre-made WDtFS unit study and only found cutesy ones for younger children, so I scraped some ideas together and created a fun, age-appropriate study for Aidyn.
Language Arts: Introduction to Satire
In case you weren't aware, Ylvis released a children's book based on his YouTube viral video, but recreating all the silly fox sounds rests all on your shoulders.
So I asked Aidyn to read it to me.
We talked about how goofy the song and the lyrics are...
...and that the song is a satire of pop songs with insanely stupid lyrics somehow topping the charts. I gave Aidyn a very simple definition of satire: something that makes fun of something else to make a point. In this case, it's a song that makes fun of other popular songs to prove that society gravitates toward silly songs based on how catchy they are.
For fun, we read other children's satires like:
The True Story of the 3 Little Pigs is a fractured fairy tale of "The Three Little Pigs." Author Jon Scieszka could be satirizing victim mentality, as the wolf blames his harmless cold and the pigs' rudeness for their own demise. Aidyn loved hearing the other side of this familiar story.
We also read another of Scieszka's books, The Stinky Cheese Man and other Fairly Stupid Tales.
Now this is a FUN read. Familiar fairy tales are not only distorted but laugh-out-loud funny to read.
We also watched Spaceballs because it's hilarious and why not? to learn more about satire and parody.
Language Arts: Read-Alouds:
We read more serious fox stories like Red Fox Running by Eve Bunting.
Wendell Minor's paintings in the book are truly beautiful.
We also read a chapter book called Ereth's Birthday (by Avi), a poignant story of a grumpy porcupine who cares for three fox kits when their mother dies.
Language Arts/Vocabulary: Morse
"But if you meet a friendly horse, will you communicate by Morse?"
Aidyn wasn't sure what "morse" meant, so we read Radio Rescue by Lynne Barasch. The story follows a young boy who, at the age of 10, became the youngest licensed amateur wireless radio operator in 1923.
In a world of tablets, smart phones, and computers, we don't usually hear about Morse code and "ham" radios, but Aidyn found it fascinating.
He even practiced "tapping" his name in Morse code with a guide at the back of the book.
Social Studies/Geography: Norway
Because Ylvis is Norwegian, we learned a bit about Norway with this book:
We talked about the geography of Norway, its mountains and fjords, the weather, its rich history and royal family, the Sami ethic group that lives there, the food, and their languages. Aidyn was especially interested in the Sami people and did some copywork about them.
Science: Fox study and What Do Foxes Really Say?
We used Foxes by Sandra Markle to learn about foxes.
Aidyn picked his favorite fox fact for copywork.
He worked on handwriting with fox facts.
And then, we answered the question: what do foxes really say?
We learned that foxes actually make a lot of different sounds from barks to purrs, mating calls, and gekkering. Aidyn busted a gut when we heard a fox "scream" in the video.
Art: Drawing foxes
We spent an afternoon learning to draw foxes with the help of a couple YouTube videos:
Makin' Memories: Baking fox food (aka Blueberry Muffins)
In our studies, we learned that foxes love eating berries, so we made some yummy blueberry muffins.
Even Jack got in on the fox fun--even if all he did was dress up!
We had a blast turning Ylvis's song into a fun and foxy unit study! We're guaranteed to remember all we did whenever we hear that silly song (which I'm sure will be at least 547 times a week until Aidyn finds something else to annoy me with share with me!)
We rowed Jane Yolen's calm and wintry story, Owl Moon, the story of a young girl and her father who go owling late one snowy night. The young girl, entranced by the outing, follows her father and applies all the skills he taught her about owling--the importance of patience, quiet, and bravery.
Aidyn loved the understated adventure in Owl Moon and requested an owling trip of our own!
Language Arts: Setting
On the first day, we discussed the setting of the story. Aidyn listed off various answers: winter, nighttime, in the snow, in the forest. I also suggested other stories we have read and movies we have seen and asked him to name the settings until I was sure he understood.
Language Arts: Similes and Metaphors
On the next day, we read Skin Like Milk, Hair of Silk: What Are Similes and Metaphors by Brian P. Cleary and learned about similes and metaphors.
We had fun performing some metaphors like "icy glare" and "frozen stare." When we read Owl Moon again, Aidyn spotted all the similes and metaphors and yelled them out:
"...a train whistle blew, long and low, like a sad, sad song."
"And when their voices faded away it was as quiet as a dream."
"But I was a shadow as we walked home."
Language Arts: Hyperbole
We also discussed hyperbole when we read how they stared at the owl for "maybe even a hundred minutes." We came up with more examples like, "Aidyn took a million years to get ready" and "I waited forever for the rain to stop."
Social Studies: Relationships- Father and Child
Looking at the close relationship of the father and daughter in the story, we discussed Aidyn's relationship to his father and things he's learned from him. We continued working on a thank-you letter to Daddy from earlier this month.
Science: Owl Study
We read Gail Gibbon's Owls and learned about different species of owls, how they hunt, what they eat, where they nest, how they raise their young, among other interesting facts. I asked Aidyn to find his favorite fact for copywork and here's what he chose:
We also read Jim Arnosky's All About Owls for more owl facts.
On YouTube, we watched a National Geographic special called Owls: Silent Hunters.
Although we enjoyed rowing Owl Moon, we didn't do as much as I would have liked. We're still adjusting to having a new baby in the house, but check out the links below for more ideas for learning about owls:
Homeschool bloggers, at one time or another, write a day-in-the-life post, even though most days look nothing alike. I guess I should finally show what a day-in-the-life looks like around here, even though we, too, always change our days.
Current stats:
Aidyn: 8 years old, 3rd grade, and currently obsessed with Minecraft
Me: 8 months huge pregnant and really just trying to make it to 3:30pm every day (when the husband gets home and cooks dinner and FORCES me to rest)
Homeschool style: Mostly classical, eclectic, with a dash of FIAR
Homeschool philosophy: Set up a strong foundation (enjoyably!), literature-rich, get messy, facilitate learning, support a healthy relationship, and have fun (!)
What we're using (basically): Saxon Math, Brave Writer (Partnership Writing) and BWL (Poetry Teatime Tuesdays, Wednesday Afternoon Movies, Friday Freewrites and all the other stuff) Spelling Power, Story of the World: Volume One (ancient history), Adventures with Atoms and Molecules (chemistry), Song School Latin, Typing Pal Online, and mountains of books from the library.
Classes: Recorder (music) class (1x a week), character class (1x a month), Grade 3-6 science class (1x a week), Pre-engineering Lego class (1x a week), K-8 fun study hall club (biweekly).
Let's do this.
5am~ Rise and shine (for me). I usually get up between 4am and 5am because I'm crazy like that I'm a morning person. I enjoy a severely watered-down teacup of coffee (and dream of the non-pregnant day I will drink a jug of coffee) and traipse around in internetland. I check Facebook, email, secular homeschool forums, Pinterest (if the mood so strikes), and any random Goggle search prompted by a leftover wonder (how do you ease devastating mid-night leg cramps during pregnancy again?).
Sometimes I have a window for catching up on all my terrible shows, and other times I sit in the rocking chair and read a nice book in beautiful silence, or I might do some creative writing.
I need mornings to recharge and ground myself before a homeschool day.
7am-ish~
Aidyn staggered downstairs early today and flopped on the couch. He had breakfast while we watched "Mythic Warriors: Theseus and the Minotaur." Then Aidyn watched a Muppet Babies episode of Greek myths while I took a shower.
Around 8:30, Aidyn dashed upstairs to play some Batman video game (modern mythic warriors, right? We'll go with that.)
9am~
We start math. I usually make a quick snack to share (today it was cinnamon and honey apple slices)
.
Aidyn:
writes the date, answers some questions ("what date will it be in eight days?" "what day of the week is it?" "how many days in one week? two? three? four?" "what are the months of the year" etc.), makes three number sentences for the number-of-the-day, counts a random collection of money and records it, solves a problem-of-the-day, answer some clock questions, and counts by 5s, 10s, 100s, and odd and even numbers forward and backward.
Today's lesson reintroduced him to sums of ten. He drew two large circles on a piece of paper. I gave him ten counters, and he placed them in the circles in different combinations. I wrote out each combo on the chalkboard. Then I wrote out all eleven combinations and purposefully left one addend blank for him to solve.
He then did a 45-second timed addition sheet before doing his math page for the day.
10am~ Break
Aidyn ran around the house, playing with an Indiana Jones mini-gun, and had some kind of epic imaginary war.
10:20am~
Spelling Power!
I retested Aidyn on words he had previously misspelled and studied. He only missed one! Then we studied the one word (nice). With each missed word, I write it on the board, he reads it, we break it into parts (by syllable or sounds or some other pattern), he recites the letters in the word (twice), he spells it aloud with his eyes closed, he traces the word on the board, and then finally he respells the word without looking at it.
Then we moved on to our spelling activity (it changes every day). Today, we made a huge list of words that rhyme with "nice." I was expecting simple words, but he blurted out words like "slice," "thrice," and "vice" among others.
THEN, he had the best idea (totally on his own). He suggested I hide the word "nice" somewhere in the house for him to find, and if he finds it he gets a prize. So I took him up on the offer...
I made twenty "nice" decoys, words that rhymed/resembled "nice" and Aidyn's misspelling "nise" to throw him off. I hid the real "nice" on our globe over Nice, France.
10:45am~
We're using the Partnership Writing program through Brave Writer, and this month's writing project is Secret Codes. During this first week, we've been playing with picto-words. We had made a key of picto-words, and yesterday I wrote him a letter using our code words.
Today, Aidyn wrote a picto-coded letter to his grandma and, from what I heard, hid it somewhere in her room.
11:00am~
While he was occupied, I hid all my "nice" decoys through the living room and kitchen. Only one hidden slip of paper had the real word written on it. When I called him, he charged down the stairs and searched endlessly for the real "nice" card.
He eventually found it, and now I owe him a toy next time we go shopping. :)
11:15am~
Word games.
We played with a MagnePoem set to create some original poetry, just for fun.
Aidyn's poem. He insisted "sea" meant "to see."
My poem.
11:30am~
Chemistry!
Today we did chemistry experiment #3: do hot molecules move faster than cold molecules?
I posed the question, and while we debated it out, Aidyn wrote the question in his chemistry notebook. At first, he guessed that cold molecules would move faster because they're cold (he reenacted how his body shakes in cold weather).
He labeled one glass "hot" and another "cold" before I filled them up with hot and cold water, respectively. At the same time, he plopped one drop of red food dye in the hot water while I squirted one drop of blue dye in the cold water.
We watched the blue dye immediately sink to the bottom while the red dye spread all over pretty evenly. Aidyn concluded that the hot molecules spread faster than the cold. We talked about how if you're near a bakery, you can smell the warm deliciousness baking inside, and you can always smell a warm dinner coming out of the oven, but you never pass an ice cream shop and say, "Mmm, that ice cream smells delicious!" (unless they're baking waffle cones). And now we know it's because hot molecules travel and spread faster than cold molecules.
Afterward, we used a spoon to stir each glass. The hot water barely needed any stirring. We talked about how hot tea spreads in the cup more quickly than iced tea.
Aidyn recorded his findings and included illustrations in his chemistry notebook.
12:00-12:30~
Lunch
We both had chicken and cheese sandwiches before loading up in the car for his afternoon science class.
1:00-2:00pm~
Aidyn attended a science class with 3rd-6th graders. From what he told me, they each received a packet of questions and needed to visit different science stations to answer the questions (on insects, ants, bees, and metamorphosis). Then they divided into teams and played a Jeopardy-style quiz game based on the questions.
2:00-2:30pm~
On the way home, Aidyn read a book about piranhas (he's been interested in them lately), and the backseat was filled with "oooh"s and "ahhh"s.
We also listened to some good ole Harry Nilsson songs, particularly these three:
"Me and My Arrow"
"Are You Sleeping?"
"Think about Your Troubles"
2:30pm and onward~
Once we got home, I crashed on the rocking chair to recover. Aidyn zoomed upstairs and, from what I can only imagine, played in his room. Once 4:30 came around, Aidyn went outside, scooter in hand, to play with his neighborhood friends.
4:30p-ish-7:45pm~
When the husband got home, he cooked dinner (salmon, rice and veggies). While he was cooking, I watched a Not-Back-to-School lecture online by Julie Bogart (creator of Brave Writer). The husband overheard most of the presentation, and I'd pause every once in a while to talk with him about it.
As per usual on Wednesday evenings, the husband and I watched "Face Off," a Syfy show about special effects makeup artists. Aidyn played outside with his friends and checked in every ten minutes or so. There's a gaggle of about three to seven kids out at a time, and they all ride bikes and scooters, play with oversized yoga balls, run around like crazy and get sweaty and dirty. Typical stuff.
8pm~
Once it's dark-dark, Aidyn comes in from playing and does the back part of his math sheet from earlier (takes him about five to ten minutes). Because the husband gets up early for work and I get up early cuz I'm crazy like that, we both go to bed. Aidyn stayed up and watched "Goosebumps" on Netflix for a while before he fell asleep.
And that was our day!
I'm not sure I would say it was typical, except that we typically do different things every day. Most days we practice Latin, copywork, and dictation, but I followed Aidyn's interests this day to play his "spelling word hide-n-seek game." We also had an afternoon class; otherwise, we would have read a chapter from Story of the World.
But all in all, this is a normal day (in our current lives).
Random run-ins with family, friends, and acquaintances have led to questions like, "So are you still homeschooling? I could never do that" and "How do you have the patience for that?"
I hear stuff about public school. I went there. I remember. And I think the same thing: I could never do that. Why? Because I'm too lazy.
I recently semi-ditched our English curriculum. Why?
As a writing tutor, writer, and lover of all things English myself, I felt like the clunky textbook too closely resembled something from school. It was dry, uninspiring, and way too methodical. Writing should be messy, experiential, and alive! Shouldn't it?
Knocking on wood, but these first three weeks of third grade have been amazing. We both transitioned into our new routine pretty effortlessly. Our first day of third grade went well; the Minecraft shultute, pancakes and gifts were a huge hit.
