Mohr Adventures in World Schooling

The world right now is a confusing and scary place.  Our kids have had their schedules completely changed and they can't even depend on home to be a normal place as many parents have had to turn to working from home, declaring certain areas or times to be work zones.  They may suddenly have to have video classes and are may be hearing new words like pandemic.  For those interested in teaching about germs, we have tested two different products. Magic School Bus The World of Germs I grew up with the Magic School Bus, both the show and the books.  Its been fun sharing the Magic School Bus with my kids.  They have many of the books, from bees to the waterworks and we own the complete original series.  The Magic School Bus also has a number of science kits and they are some of my kids favorite kits.  We keep the cards or booklet to repeat the experiments as we like.  My kids loved using the kits to study flight, weather and space.  We have the ...

Many parents are facing a struggling reality during corona virus lockdowns.  They suddenly have been put in charge of their children's education and day to day, 24 hour well being and entertainment.  This is a daunting challenge to have thrown on us.  Many are tempted to label it as homeschooling, but it doesn't really fit any label as we know them, because this is an entirely different experience.  Parents didn't make this decision for themselves or with the child.  Parents have not been given time to prepare.  Some school systems are using video conferencing, while others have resorted to homework packets.  When parents aren't faced with homework they may not understand and setting their child up for a video conference, they have another challenge.  Do I schedule everything and try to keep everyone busy?  And what do I do when my schedule falls apart, and my kids inevitably tell me "I'm bored." What do you say?  Some parents would be...

Objective:   My daughter requested a tour of the ancient world, starting in Greece.  While exploring the ancient world, we wanted to examine some myths, and learn about some of their contributions to science, math and the arts.  I create daily worksheets dealing with the days topic and a daily chore.  My daughter gets five or six questions while my son gets three or four.  I include questions about the activity of the day and if there is room, either math (simple equations or word problems) or language arts questions (like rhyme, syllables, synonyms). Spelling List and Sentence of the Week for K/1st grader : Language Arts lessons include some simple questions about the spelling list, like finding the nouns, making rhymes or counting syllables.  We read and write our sentence of the week every weekday. Greece, stars, triangle, volume, hope, fear, olive, boat, space, horse Athena is wise. Hermes is fast. Ares is mad. Zeus is strong. Iris loves rainbo...

Almost daily, my kids ask me why we can't go to the beach, or the park, or the zoo.  We love outings, but as with many others, Covid-19 has turned us into homebodies.  But just because we are stuck inside, doesn't mean we can't visit other places virtually.  Many zoos have zoo cams or videos of animals available online, while museums are setting up virtual tours and lectures. We started with the penguins on the loose in the Shedd Aquarium in Chicago.  Not to be outdone, Sue wandered around the Field Museum in Chicago and Abraham Lincoln found his portrait and rode a penny farthing in the Chicago History Museum.  These mini tours were a lot of fun and inspired us to see what else is out there. Google Art and Culture has hooked up with many museums to share their collections online.  When it comes to art museums, my kids found this kind of disappointing.  They love exploring through the Crocker Art Museum on their way to the play area, stopping by...