US Elections Unit Study

 

Back in July, I shared our our 2020-21 Homeschool Curriculum Choices with all of you. Unfortunately, I forgot to tell you about the lap book curriculum we bought to work on with the girls this school year. Oops!! As a result, I’ve decided to share how I intend to use this US Elections Lap Book as a “mini” unity study.

Without further ado, our main curriculum for this mini unit study will be the US Elections Lap Book from Sonlight. Lap books are hands-on activities, which give children a fun and creative way to learn about the US Election process. In case you don’t know, Sonlight is a curriculum, whose focus is heavy on books and reading. Several years back, Sonlight debuted a variety of lap books, which pair very well with their curriculums providing more of a well-rounded and balanced teaching for children with a variety of learning styles. 

In total, there are 21 projects for you to finish, so we will be doing these 3 times a week for the next 7 weeks, so we can finish the week after the election. The lap book kit comes with everything you need to complete the lap book project, an instructor booklet, and even the double sided tape. At the beginning of each project, you read an excerpt from the US Elections text booklet and then work on the specific activity.

My girls had fun working on our first few projects together!!

Additionally, there are a lot of ways, I plan to bulk up this lap book curriculum. First, I went on YouTube to find some fun videos for my girls to watch, which will reiterate what I’ve already taught them. So, I searched “elections for kids” into the YouTube search engine and saved some videos for us to watch together like, “Voting for Kids”.

Another way I want to teach my girls about the election process, is by coming together as a family to watch the presidential debates. I’m not here to just tell my kids who to vote for, but I want to let them learn about the process and foster a love for our country in my girls hearts.

Finally, we’re also going to read a book from the Heroes of History series called, “George Washington: True Patriot” by Janet & Geoff Benge. My girls had a lot of questions about voting and our country. I thought it would be helpful to start where it all began with our very first president. 

I hope and pray as we work through this unit study, my girls will see the privilege and responsibility placed on each of us as US citizens. We know so many people around the world who have never been given the opportunity to vote. All that being said, I don’t want my girls to ever take our freedoms for granted.

7 Things I Learned This Summer

I’m so excited to take part in “What I Learned” hosted every quarter by, Emily P Freeman: an author, podcaster, and co-founder of Hope*Writers an online community for writers. Honestly, our summer was busier than I expected with a mini vacation aka our camping trip, starting our new 2020-21 school year, and attending my brother-in-law’s wedding in East Texas. All things considered, it’s been good to reflect over my summer as a new season is just around the corner.

7 Things I Learned this Summer

1. Covid-19 has become personal. 

Throughout the summer, this global pandemic has gradually became much more personal, because lots of people I love have had Covid-19. This disease continues to rage with little sign of letting up. As I said, some of my own family and friends have been sick with this virus. It’s been hard to be thousands of miles away feeling helpless watching those I love struggling through the challenges presented as a result of this sickness. It’s just been heartbreaking. As a result, I’ve been on bended knee on their behalf asking for healing and God’s grace to rain down on them during this time. I know God hears each and every one of my prayers and I will continue to lift them up in constant prayer. 

2. My Mom came to visit!! 

Before we started our new 2020-21 homeschool year, my Mom flew to Colorado for a week long visit!! I hadn’t seen my Mom in almost a year and I was so thankful to be able to spend time with her this summer. We played board games, ate delicious food, went shopping, and my Mom even taught the girls how to sew a pillow. They each got to pick their own fabric and Mom helped each of them make their very own small pillow. Even though it was so hot, we had an incredible visit and can’t wait to see you again. We love you to the moon an back Mom!!

3. I’ve been reading lots of books.

Do you remember my blog post last month? It was called, “Cultivating a Love for Reading” where I shared my own reading struggles. It’s been good to see how God is helping me overcome my reading struggles in some amazing ways. One of them being, I’ve read and listened to more books this summer, than any other time in my life!! I’m so thankful with God’s help, I have been able to make reading books a priority this summer. Seriously, if I can do this...anyone can!! All that being said, here are some of my very favorite non-fiction books I read this summer.

1. “Cozy Minimalist Home: More Style, Less Stuff” by, Myquillyn Smith

2. “Susie: The Life and Legacy of Susannah Spurgeon“ by, Ray Rhodes Jr

3. “The Lazy Genius Way: Embrace What Matters, Ditch What Doesn’t, and Get Stuff Done” by, Kendra Adachi

4. “Educated: A Memoir” by, Tara Westover

5. “A Woman of No Importance: The Untold Story of the American Spy Who Helped Win World War II” by, Sonia Purnell 

4. Camping with small kids, meant no one got any sleep.

 Back in July, after being in lockdown for several months, we thought it would be fun to take the kids camping for a few days. We all needed a break from being at home non-stop, so camping seemed like a good way to let the kids have a break while still social distancing ourselves from others. Even though we were all in one tent and up at the crack of dawn, it was fun to get away. To my surprise, the girls can’t wait to go camping again next year!!

5. My twins reached some big milestones!!

This summer, my twins turned 2 years old!! Additionally, over the past few months, they have each reached some big milestones. The twins are now in their own big girl bed and they said, “Goodbye” to their pacifiers. It’s been an exciting few months and I am so proud of them. Honestly, it’s been hard on my heart, because I still want to pretend they’re my little babies FOREVER!! Pray I can enjoy each stage of life with them, not wishing us to be too far ahead or behind. 

6. Summer haircuts are the best.

After several months of the salons being closed, things have slowly started to open up again in Colorado. As soon as they began to open up again, my sister-in-law, Hannah and I had a fun girls day going out to get out hair done. It’s been so hot here and we were each excited for a little change. My hairdresser was so kind and gave me one of the best haircuts I’ve ever experienced!! It was such a fun way to celebrate the new summer season. 

7. Josh and Katya’s Wedding!

As summer began to wind down, we got to go to Josh (my brother-in-law) and Katya’s wedding in Longview, Texas. I was nervous about the current pandemic, but so thankful we were able to go see our family and friends during this time. Of course their were challenges, but at the end of the day we’re praising the Lord for His protection over us as we traveled to and from the wedding. It was a joy to watch all my girls walk down the aisle as flower girls!! We’re thankful to be apart of Josh’s big day and so excited Katya is officially apart of our family.

Now it’s your turn, what have you learned this Summer?