Homeschooling at Walt Disney World

We’ve returned from our African safari!  What an amazing variety of animals call the jungles and savannas of Africa home.

Our travels at Disney’s Animal Kingdom gave us an opportunity to see many interesting and unique animals “up close and personal”.  We did our homework before we went to learn about the habitats/biomes of Africa and what animals need to be able to live in the different areas.  Here is what we were able to see and learn when we visited the animals in their own habitats:

The Pangani Forest Trail includes areas with lush vegetation and waterfalls which are home to animals such as the colobus monkeys, the okapi (imagine giraffe that has a zebra body) and beautiful birds and ducks (too many to mention but there is a wonderful guide available to help identify the various types).  An indoor “research station” has displays with naked mole rats (not as cute as in the Kim Possible show), a pancake tortoise, a scorpion, frogs, snakes and more.  As our journey continued we saw hippos enjoying a swim and meerkats on the savanna (on the day we were visiting the guide claims they were keeping a look out for a pesky hawk that was in the area).  As the trail winds toward the end there are two groups of gorillas to see (one was a family group and the other was a group of male gorillas).

Along The Kilimanjaro Safari we found hippos, elephants, giraffes, rhinos, flamingos (their private little island is in the shape of a hidden Mickey), lions, warthogs, gazelle, impala, a cheetah and crocodiles.  The Safari is designed to be more of an entertaining attraction than a science lesson (so it was nice that we did some research before we set out on our safari), but the guides do a nice job of including a few interesting facts along the way.  There is also a large sign posted inside of each Safari vehicle that shows a picture and the name of each animal on the safari to help everyone identify their favorites.

To cap off our African adventure we attended The Festival of the Lion King.  We have been to Animal Kingdom more times that I can count, but for some reason we had never taken the time to visit this amazing show…I had no idea what we were missing!!  This is a beautiful show that is fun for the kids (their favorite characters from the Lion King are front and center) but also a wonderful celebration of African music, dance and costumes.

We enjoyed our studies of African habitats and animals.  Now we can get our passports ready as we head to Asia!

Lego Store at Downtown Disney, FL

Join in the LEGO^® Store Monthly Mini Model Build!
Visit your local LEGO Store on the first Tuesday of every month and you can learn how to build a cool mini model, and take it home – for free! Quantities are limited and offer is good while supplies last only. A new model will be available every month and will be specially themed to that month – ask a Store Associate for details! Models are not for sale and cannot be purchased. One free per child. Event is open to children ages 6 to 14 only. See store for more details.

Upcoming Mini Model Build:
LEGO Groundhog: Tuesday, February 2, begins at 5:00pm until supplies last

LEGO Store Mini Heart Speed Building Event!
Saturday, February 13
Visit your local LEGO Store on Saturday, February 13 from 1:00pm – 3:00pm to participate in a LEGO heart speed building event!  Builds start promptly every 10 minutes and the fastest builder will win a special prize to take home!  Everyone who participates will receive a mini heart of their own.  See additional contest rules, terms & conditions at the LEGO Store.  No purchase necessary.

We’ve wrapped up our learning activities for our January book club selection of “The Jungle Book”.  The kids’ reaction to our new book club format exceeded all of our expectations!

Here are a few additional things we did and learned on our journey –

We allowed each family to select a version of the book that worked for them — some read illustrated classics while others read the unabridged version.  This was a great way to allow everyone to read at a level that was appropriate for their family.

We had each child conduct their own research about the author and about the time period in which the story was written.  Our children are at an age where they are interested in putting everything on a timeline as this helps them to better visualize the time period and events that may have impacted the author and his story telling.

We included a writing assignment, for this lesson we had the children write a newspaper article about a scene in one of the stories.  They learned about the various elements of a newspaper article, selected the scene they wanted to write about and created their own dramatic and fact filled stories.  It was fun to see their interests and personalities come through as they described their favorite scenes.

One of the children’s favorite activities was experiencing different versions of the stories on CDs and as movies.  Of course we watched the Disney version of the Jungle Book (who doesn’t love the fun songs!) and we found the Chuck Jones Collection, an animated version of Mowgli’s Brothers and Rikki-Tikki-Tavi.  We also enjoyed an audio CD version of the book by storyteller Jim Weiss.  We listed to the different versions of the stories and had great conversations about the similarities and differences of each presentation.

And of course we topped off our adventure with a trip to the Magic Kingdom and a ride on the Jungle Cruise.  Yes, I understand that the Jungle Cruise isn’t exactly based on The Jungle Book, but it was a fun way to wrap-up our lesson.  Since many of the silly jokes zoomed right past our kids, the moms enjoyed a few laughs while the kids gave names to all of the animals we saw along the journey.

I’m happy to say that our adventure was fun and educational.  We were able to bring a book to life and explore it for a month and as a result we will have many great memories to share!

It’s been a chilly start to 2010 here in Central FL so it was a pleasure to recently spend a few hours inside The Land Pavilion at EPCOT.  This school year my son has been taking a science class (through Science Partners in Orlando) and for the past several weeks has been learning about plants.  We love the “Living with the Land” attraction, especially the greenhouse, so we decided to supplement his learning about plants by attending the “Behind the Seeds” tour.

This tour gave us a chance to walk through the greenhouses and learn more about some innovative farming techniques that are being used around the world.   The tour started with a discussion of the natural pest control techniques used in the greenhouse and included a video showing how some pests can easily destroy plants, and how lady bugs can be used to keep them under control.   Our kids were each given a small jar of ladybugs to carry along during the tour.  When we arrived at the strawberry plants (about half way through the tour) the lady bugs were released and put to work!

If you take the “Living with the Land” boat tour you will see some very interesting plants – many of which you would probably never otherwise see in person.  Some of our favorites include bananas, cocoa, coffee, paprika and fluted melons.  Some of the unique plants you have an opportunity to see up close and personal on the tour include 9 pound lemons (yes, we actually got to hold it and it was big and heavy), Cinderella pumpkins (the inspiration for Cinderella’s carriage), and miracle fruit (according to our guide if you put it on your tongue everything you eat after it tastes sweet…my kids thought that would be a nice way to enhance the taste of veggies!).

The tour also demonstrates many interesting growing techniques.  Many plants are grown vertically either in containers that are stacked on top of each other or plants are trained to grow up and over trellises (the tomato tree is amazing!).  They also show examples of hydroponic growing which is a system that uses little or no soil.  The tour also touches on aquaculture which on this tour includes the farming of fish (tilapia and sturgeon), prawns and eels.  Our group had a chance to feed the tilapia and feeding time for so many hungry fish is quite a site to see!  There are also some “cute” baby American alligators to see on the tour.

The Behind the Seeds tour lasted for about an hour.  It moves along quickly but offers plenty of time for guests to ask questions.  It is a walking tour so be sure to wear comfy shoes.  The tour is open to all ages but I personally think it would be most interesting to kids over the age of about 6 years old.  You can register ahead of time by calling (407) WDW-TOUR or (407) 939-8687 or if you want to plan a last minute adventure you can visit the tour desk next to the entrance to Soarin.  If you have a Disney Visa or annual pass ask if you get a tour discount (I think you do, but I forgot to ask!!)

We really had a great time on the tour.  I’m not sure if the kids were more excited learning about the plants or with the idea of actually going behind the scenes of a WDW attraction.  Either way it was well worth our time and very educational!   And don’t forget — at the end be sure to stop by the Seasons Food Fair in The Land pavilion.  Some of the veggies grown in the greenhouse are served there.

Last fall I worked with a couple of other homeschool families to start a book club.  The goals were simple – to introduce our children to classic literature and to incorporate a writing/public speaking element (with each book we would introduce a different writing activity for the children to complete and share with the group).  The kids had a wonderful time talking about the books with their friends and continuing the activities at home.

For the spring we decided to add a few more elements to make things even more interesting.  We decided to incorporate additional language arts/lapbook activities for the children to do at home as well as link the books we are reading to something at WDW.  We are just two weeks into our new and improved book club and the kids are more excited than ever (something we’re very pleased about since it’s a group of 8-10 year old boys who usually complain about reading!!).

For January we selected the “Jungle Book.”   We did online research for resources and found some great materials.   Our favorites include –  “The Jungle Book Study Guide (Saddleback Classics)” and   “Jungle Book Classroom Connections” .  We even found a film education guide for seeing the Jungle Book movie.

Our plan is for the kids to read the book at home on their own, then we will all come together twice during the month for group activities.  For the first meeting we discussed some of the basic elements of the book, participated in a cooking activity (they baked “snakes on a stick” ) and gave the kids a writing assignment to work on at home.

For our next meeting we will visit the Magic Kingdom to ride the “Jungle Cruise” together and after that we’ll find a spot to sit and give them a chance to share their writing assignments with each other.

Some of the other at-home activities will include researching the author, doing a book report, making other recipes and watching the movie of the Jungle Book (and comparing it to the book).

So far it’s been a “wild” adventure and the kids are excited that we have been so creative in pulling everything together!  We’ll keep you posted on our progress…

My youngest son LOVES animals so we are very excited to shift our science focus to animals and habitats.  Our first stop on this journey will be the animals (and their habitats) of Africa.

We are going to spend just a week or two on the subject therefore I don’t need any materials that are overly complex.  I have found a couple of wonderful resource to help us map out our adventure.

The first is Enchanted Learning which has numerous printouts on the subject.  The site’s main menu offers the ability to find information based on animal names, biomes (for Africa you could look at deserts, grasslands, etc.), or geography (select Africa).  The site offers printable books, “label me” sheets, facts and information, coloring pages, craft ideas and more.  We will probably use the animal pages as they provide information about the characteristics of the animal as well as printable sheets to color and label.  We’ll select a few animals each day that we would like to learn more about.

We will also be using a resource called “Discovering the Continents: Animals of Africa” (available through CurrClick).

Here is a description, from the author:  In this unit we will be looking at the different habitats and what animals they support. We will learn about predators, prey and scavengers and the amazing partnerships some animals have developed to survive and thrive. We will also be looking at game reserves and nature conservancies and the role they play in Africa. We will learn about different animals and tracking them.

This unit study package includes many hands-on activities like lap-n-note pages, animal alphabet cards, an African Safari game and journal pages.  This is a downloadable file that will appeal to a wide variety of ages.

All of these at-home efforts will lead up to a day of fun and learning at Animal Kingdom.  Before we head out we will be sure to learn about some of the animals we will meet as we travel the Kilimanjaro Safari and Pangani Forest Trail.

We’ll fill in the details on our “Learning” part of our trip after we return from the African safari!

The last month has been a blur!  The holidays were wonderful as we spent time with family and friends.  We took a few weeks break from our homeschool work and did a bit of traveling.  Now we are feeling fresh and renewed (at least I am…not sure the kids would agree) and ready for some interesting adventures in the new year.

During the month of December we watched the new Disney TV special called “Prep & Landing” (actually, we watched it several times because we loved it!).   In case you missed it “The half-hour holiday special reveals the never-before-told tale of an elite unit of Elves known as Prep & Landing”.  It was a funny look at all of the high-tech work that goes on behind the scenes to make everything run smoothly on the big night of Christmas Eve.

I’m not sure what it says that I found myself inspired by an animated TV special, but one morning during my daily walk with our dogs I decided that instead of calling our homeschool efforts “unit studies” it might be more fun to think of them as “prep & learning.”  In the past I have always tried to do a few activities before our visits to WDW so that we can relate our home learning to a hands-on learning opportunity.  I will still do that, but I’m also going to try to find a few simple things to help us document our learning and experiences.

I may not have all of the high-tech tools and skills that the elves have but I’ve decided to let the internet be my friend as much as possible.  My goal is to find basic materials that I can use to help guide our efforts.  I’ve realized that I am somewhat creative, but I’m actually better at finding resources and tweaking them to fit my needs.  I’ve always been a fan of the expression “don’t reinvent the wheel” (and for those that are familiar with strengths, I’m a true Maximizer) so I’m going to use my talents to find resources that already exist and make them our own.

I’ve mapped out our plans for the next few months – I’ve considered the subjects we’re going to be covering and thought about how we can tie that work in to our trips to WDW.  Here are a few of the topics we have on our agenda – a book club using books with a tie to WDW (Jungle Book, Peter Pan, etc.), plants, animals and their habitats, states, and American history, to name a few.  As we move along I’ll share some of the “prep” activities I find, and then let you know how well they support our “learning” and real life adventures.

…now, if I could just find a few “elves” to do all of my internet searches I’d be in great shape!!!

Upcoming Mini Model Build at the Lego Store at Downtown Disney –
LEGO Snowman: Tuesday, January 5, begins at 5:00pm until supplies last