Homeschooling at Walt Disney World

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!

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…

A couple of months ago we were introduced to the world of Mr. Fox.  While watching clips for upcoming movies we saw the trailer for the new movie based on the Roald Dahl book “Fantastic Mr. Fox.”  We are fans of Roald Dahl’s works such as James and the Giant Peach and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, but we weren’t familiar with Mr. Fox.  I was interested to learn about the book because we have all enjoyed Dahl’s other stories, but my son was very excited to learn more about because the movie was being created using stop motion animation. 

Of course the first thing we did was order a copy of “Fantastic Mr. Fox.”  It is an easy read chapter book, and the kids could have easily read it independently, but we decided to use is as a read aloud so we could enjoy it together.  As we read the book we also started to learn more about Roald Dahl and the new movie.

For background information about Roald Dahl we found some great resources at  http://www.roalddahl.com/.  Not only does this site include biographical information about this prolific writer, it also includes photo albums and audio clips from an interview with Dahl.  The site offers “Tips for Teachers” including lesson plans and ideas for classroom activities.  There are also ideas to help you celebrate Roald Dahl month (he was born on September 13^th, so apparently September is Roald Dahl month…this website has fun ideas, activity sheets, printables and an educator’s guide to help you celebrate).  There is also a lesson plan for “Fantastic Mr. Fox” that covers “Looking at Story Structure and Character.”

Now, for a glimpse of what to expect from the new film, look no further than the official movie website at http://www.fantasticmrfoxmovie.com/.  There are funny video clips in the “About the Film” section. For the past year my son has been fascinated with the art of stop motion animation.  He has even learned to make his own stop motion films.  He was particularly interested in the clip that showed how the movie’s sets, costume and models were created as they were all hand made.  Stop motion animation is not an easy process, for this film it took 24 shots for every second of film.  That’s a lot of time, patience and model making!  Another resource we’ve found useful is a new book called The Making of Fantastic Mr. Fox.  This book  is: Filled with photos, script pages, storyboards, and interviews with cast and crew, this book is a delightful and intriguing peek at the magic that happens as the filmmakers bring to life one of children’s literature’s most beloved characters: the outrageous, audacious, Fantastic Mr. Fox. This isn’t your traditional picture book based on the movie version of a story, but for those like my son who are totally interested in the nuts and bolts of the behind the scenes action, this is a great resource.

I think we’re all set.  We’ll be at the Downtown Disney theatres on November 25th, ready to explore the crazy adventures of that Fantastic Mr. Fox!

Yesterday we enjoyed a wonderful performance of “How I Became a Pirate” at the Orlando Reparatory Theatre.  The show is a funny musical adventure based on the book of the same title written by Melinda Long. 

The main character, Jeremy Jacobs, is recruited by Captain Braid Beard and his crew.  The pirates need help burying their treasure and, based on the very cool sandcastle he builds, they believe Jeremy has excellent digging skills.  Jeremy has fun learning about life as a pirate, but ultimately decides he misses his family and heads back home.  He does, however, help them bury their treasure, and he promises to keep it safe until they return.

If you are in the Central FL area be sure to get tickets and check out this fun show.  Performances run through November 8, 2009.  If you can’t make it to the show share the book with your children and create your own pirate adventure at home.    If you are looking for some fun pirate related resources there is a great “How I Became a Pirate Teacher Guide” on the Orlando REP website.  The guide offers  many suggestions for clever language arts, map and music activities.

And if you do see the show, and you are wondering…yes, there really is an official Talk Like a Pirate Day every September 19th!

Who doesn’t love Flat Stanley!?  Every time I pack to go on a trip I think about how fortunate he is to be able to slide into envelope and head out on a new adventure.

Apparently he’s ready to search for his next big adventure and he needs some help.  According to a recent press release:

Due to his peculiar ability to be mailed to different locations, Stanley is the most well-traveled character in children’s literature, traveling around the world thousands of times annually in an educational project that has become a classic of the American classroom. Now budding writers and artists are invited to create their own Flat Stanley story in “The Search for Flat Stanley’s Next BIG Adventure.” In this nationwide contest, children ages 7 to 12 can win an Adventures by Disney vacation by creating a specially themed Flat Stanley and a 150-word story about his “Next BIG Adventure.”

 Parents, kids and educators can check out http://www.flatstanleybooks.com/AdventuresbyDisney/for Official Rules and complete information on the Contest; fun, interactive games; and fascinating informational resources. The Contest runs through November 30, 2009 and no purchase is necessary to enter or win.

My name in lights…books

I guess that’s everyone’s big dream…to see their name up in lights.  Well, since I’m such a fan of books I’ve realized my dream because this week I’ve seen my name included in two new books.  These are two very different books, but both are books I’m very happy about.

The first (one that is WDW related) is the “Hidden Mickeys : A Field Guide to Walt Disney Worlds’ Best Kept Secrets 4^th Edition.”  Does your family like to hunt for Hidden Mickeys?  I’m talking about the Mickey outlines (usually the three circles that make up Mickey’s head and ears) that are hidden around WDW.  We love making an adventure out of searching for these familiar shapes.

Earlier this year my cousin and her family were visiting from out of town.  After a great week at the parks they treated us to dinner at the new T-Rex restaurant.  My cousin’s 7 yr old daughter Katie is a huge Hidden Mickey fan.  As we were leaving T-Rex we stopped near the bar area to look at the décor. Katie looked up and spotted a hidden Mickey on the body of an octopus.  She was so excited about her find that I decided to take a picture for her.  Since T-Rex had just recently opened I decided to look on the Hidden Mickeys Guide website to see if anyone else had spotted this one yet.  I didn’t see it listed so I emailed the photo and description to the site.  A couple of days later I received a very nice email from Steven Barrett, thanking me for the information.  He said he would check out the sighting and if it was a Hidden Mickey he would include it in his official listing.  Sure enough, when the 4^th edition of the field guide was published about a month ago this Hidden Mickey was included in Chapter 7 as Clue 85 and Katie’s name and my name appear in the “Acknowledgements” section!

 The second book is one that I highly recommend for every mom to read.  It is written by my friend Kristin Maschka and it is called “This is Not How I Thought It Would Be: Remodeling Motherhood to Get the Lives We Want Today.”

From the book’s cover:

“… goes below the surface of mothers’ everyday challenges to reveal the invisible, outdated assumptions about mothers, fathers, money, marriage, and work that are completely out of sync with today’s families.   Maschka weaves together her own story, anecdotes from mothers all over the country, and a deep knowledge of history and society to offer mothers a comforting, often funny read that helps them see themselves and the world around them in a whole new way.  This book inspires mothers with the simple, concrete tools they need to remodel motherhood for themselves, their families, and their future.”

I have known Kristin for more than 7 years and I know her new book is a labor of love.  She has so much to share with other mothers and I’m very proud of the work she has done.  I was happy to help her prepare some group discussion and publicity materials for her RemodelingMotherhood website and for that she included me in her “Acknowledgement” pages as well. 

 I, in no way, take credit for these books, but I’m thrilled to see them published and I’m happy to recommend them to you!

One of our favorite children’s books has made its way to movie theatres.  All summer my kids have been anxiously awaiting the release of “Cloudy With a Chance to Meatballs.” 

This fall we started a book club co-op with two other families.  We decided to read books that we could then go and see.  We started by reading Charlotte’s Web and attending a live performance of the show at the Orlando REP (a wonderful performance!)

Our next book was Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs.  We had all read the book to our children when they were younger, and we were wondering how they might respond to a picture book (since they are all in the 7-10 age range), but they loved the book!  They picked up on so many details that they had missed when they were younger. 

We met for a group discussion.  During our discussion we talked about what things really fall from the sky and what would happen if food actually fell from the sky instead of water.  We talked about how people in the story planned their meals and what they did with the leftovers and how that is different from how we plan our meals.  We considered what the world would be like without grocery stores and how important it would be for the weather reports to be accurate!

We then sent them home with a few writing assignments.  One assignment was to write a book report about, but to make it a bit more fun we asked them to use the “Book Report Sandwich Station” on the Scholastic website.   For kids (like mine) that like to complain about writing, this is a fun alternative to the traditional book report.  Each element of the story is represented by a part of a sandwich (bread = title & author, lettuce = plot summary, cheese = setting, etc.)  After the kids enter the information into the sandwich maker on the computer they can print their report and draw a picture to go along with it.

Later this week we’ll all meet at the movie theatre at Downtown Disney to enjoy the Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs movie in 3D.  Let’s just hope the only food we encounter is what we buy from the concession stand!