Choosing to Learn About China

We are 3 weeks into our unit studying ancient China. When we started the lesson I did a K-W-L with the kids (what do you know, what do you want to know, then we're supposed to do what did we learn at the end). Between the two of them they couldn't come up with 5 things they knew about China--present or ancient. Thus I put together a series of daily activities about China, building their knowledge about the land, customs, dynasties, government, etc. We hit the halfway mark in the unit yesterday, so I wanted to change gears from mom-directed to them directed. I figured that now they knew enough to make some choices about what really interests them about China. I was curious to see what modality they would choose: PowerPoint? Craft? Project? Research Paper?

When I popped the question to Denver, his immediate and enthusiastic statement was, "I want to study Chinese inventions!" Yes, that sounds like Denver all right! He knows exactly what he likes and is interested in. We threw things back and forth and we decided he would research 2 inventions per day for the next 10 days of school and write up a paragraph on each one. When he is done he will have a list with descriptions of 20 inventions that the Chinese developed in ancient times. Very cool. I wouldn't have thought of that!

Aurora was a little more hesitant. I threw out some ideas because she didn't seem to be "biting." I suggested cooking Chinese foods (I don't like that food), then some other ideas. Nothing stuck. Finally she suggested studying Chinese plants. With a little more prodding the topic got morphed into a study of Chinese remedies. Once again, this wouldn't have occurred to me, though it sounds fascinating and I look forward to seeing what she comes up with.

Aurora never had any interest in "Social Studies" before we began homeschooling this fall. Our studies of ancient cultures has piqued her curiousity and she now puts it right up there with math as her favorite subject! It warms my heart to know that this homeschooling "project" has developed a previously untapped area of interest. That was one of my goals. Check!