we're almost wrapped up with our robert fulton unit study... it's been very interesting and we've pulled in quite a few rabbit trails. i think i'll share a few non-traditional techniques we've implemented to make learning fun:

i had tommie plan and organize narration using a video camera. well, it was looking like he was having so much fun, i thought i'd join in. he was robert fulton and i was robert livingston, signer of the declaration of independence.

for one chapter of reading comp, he had to compile a newspaper headline and details.

a mind-map outline, which i learned at the writing workshop.

i pulled out our physics workshop set and for a half an hour each day (he wishes longer) he works with building and designing different machines. this is the same package that my high school nephew used for physics. so, i don't feel guilty whatsoever, having tommie plunked down on the living room floor creating.

i created a river treasure hunt: for geography, since we learned about Robert Fulton.

i set aside one day and we learned about napoleon boneparte.... since this was part of the era. it's true, i didn't know a thing about him. except he was some french guy. now, i know 5 fast facts! yeah, me.

a chapter in the robert fulton book, touched on profits and losses. and other common sense math... which i think public and parochial schools don't offer.

instead of the traditional schooly-type vocabulary lessons, you know, the kind where you look up words, write them down, study them and get quizzed on them, i thought with this unit, we'd do "hand's-on vocabulary." where, he explains a word to me, or i to him and we either discuss or act it out... or both. very fun and much easier to retain.