Unschooling and Observing Learning in An Unlikely Classroom

I have a confession to make, I am a reluctant unschooler.  Am I really too repressed to let go and allow authentic learning to happen without my careful orchestration of the environment and my controlled laid out scope and sequences of a thoughtfully constructed lesson plan?  I try and allow for unschooling elements or moments, but I have a hard time in letting go... allowing that authentic things to happen where a learner is in control of their own learning. I honestly do not trust the concept of unschooling and the concept of free range learning enough to let go of the edge of my own control of direction. I know "IT" happens, Authentic Learning. I also know chaos ensues and is part of the process. I see that it is good to let go and allow authentic learning too just happen but I am nervous  to let it.  Some of it is about my ego and my dog and pony show, some of it is about the chaos and mess of letting kids go feral causes me to have to clean up. Controlling from behind the curtain is my forte.  I do create a wonderful environment to learn and create from.  I am good at setting that stage. I had yet to just let go other than staging these little maker movements and stepping back during my orchestrated lessons is never hard for me, but allowing a learner to do what ever he wants and all that, that implies is uncomfortable to me.

Recently I have been taking courses online and my carefully planned year of subject units outlined at the beginning of the year has fallen by the wayside. It has allowed for more unschooling moments.
 I have been teaching biology and geology this year.  Earth science had its own agenda this semester with the perfect Arizona winter days my son gravitated to outdoor activities and began digging a hole in the dirt in our back yard.. While I taught Conor astro biology of Mars lessons along with studying extremophiles life forms( Link to free nomenclature cards and MARS Ed Lessons ) and the five kingdoms work of Montessori he had his own idea about applications. He read nomenclature cards of the five kingdoms, the NASA cards on Extremeophiles and used the new information to created and idea for a submersible spherical robots on paper. This robots is a camera drone for the methane lakes of the moon Titan. We have been writing story boards this year and from digging and finding rollie-pollie bugs in the dirt he created several conceptual storyline ideas for Dr. Who episodes with characters created by ideas found in dirt.

Concept of a spherical subversive robot with cameras to probe the methane lakes under the frozen ice of the Moon of Titan.

Board Game and Cards for Mars game called ASTORBIOBOUND

The link above is invaluable for finding STEAM's lessons

"Digging in"  The Arizona soil looks Martian

Studying Fossils

Examining each fossil and looking it up by label.  He classified them by geography and by chronological order on the timeline

Timeline of Life on Earth and Fossils

Filling up the hole with water.

Making Mud

So what happens when I let go of the lesson plan and just let my son go.  He created a project and it turned out to be all about earth science and biology.  From the dirt piles Conor made mud and then began flinging it on the wall.  We had a lot of fun and got dirty then we began to play with designing landscapes with mud using the wall as a canvas and observing how the mud dried and cracked.  We added layers upon layers to create ridges and mountains making a model of a biosphere surface out of our materials.  The wall art showed me some interesting information for my own studies in geology and the the history of the Earth and Mars. We can easily see with real soil models how chemical reactions  and erosion happen.  We learned what is predictable, what is possible in outcomes, what other experiences can we pull from and out of all this knowledge and our experiences and how to form a working and authentic hypothesis and practical experience for problem solving.  For example what to do with the all dirt was solved by creating models of Mars on the cinder block walls and making mud sculptures.  Lots of natural learning from playing in the mud. I did some more reinforcements with my Montessori nomenclature cards on Prokaryotaes and Portista examples.  This 5 Kingdom Charts and Cards gives some great information.

                                             here for 5 Kingdoms charts and nomenclature.

Montessori Nomenclature and Chart work

The art of making a model

Crater forming

Conor experiments with the Archetype of the Spiral

The mud hole 24 hours after flooding it. 
All kinds of observable occurrences and wonder happening.

So Conor's work keeps evolving and the hole may become a cave or a lab.

The Resistant Learner-Tricking the Cat

It may be something I do but all my kids have been resistant learners to the scheduled lesson plans, both academic and life ones.  As an educator, many of my learners, at times, have made me felt dismissed and ignored.  Since homeschooling my youngest with autism I have learned a whole new depth and scope to being tuned out.  I thought my adult children as teenagers had schooled me in this phenomenon and I was desensitize, but the autistic teenage mind brings a whole new dimension of skill sets to "I am ignoring you Mom".  So this post is going to focus on tricks to motivate and reel in learners.
So firstly let me say I spend a lot of time figuring out what my learner is passionate about and is drawn too in a his interest.

Here is an outline of his interest.
Science - chemistry-biology-earth- physical-botany-geology
Roller Coaster -building and design
Snakes-Reptiles
Dr. Who
Gaming- Minecraft- Roller-Coaster-Tycoon Three
Watching video's of cartoons- "Ed and Eddie" - "Adventure Time"
Maker Movement
Engineering- Lego anything- Zome Tools-Vex Robotics
ART
Cooking
Math

Here is what he doesn't like.
Writing
Transitioning to anything that isn't his idea.
Language Arts
Reading
Spelling

 Likes Dr. Who TARDIS at local Library

 Tolerates Geometry Lesson

Here is what he will tolerate
Geography and Culture
Vocabulary
History

Thinking about Geometry in how it relates to his Interest

His Strengths
Hyper Focus
Spatial intelligence and memory
Tenacity
Obsessive tendencies
The ability to tune out distractions

His Weakness
Auditory processing disorder
Reading and comprehension difficulties
Language Delays
The ability to tune out distractions
Difficulty in transitioning to certain task.
Delayed reaction times

As far as meta cognitive taxonomy processing my learner is able to comprehend, recognizes, compare, analyze, use stratagems and synthesize new concepts and ideas, however he lacks the language skills to explain and defend his arguments.  He can show me by drawing it out in story board form or building it but is often not able to tell me what he has learned with language fluency or writing.  So my goal is how do I adapt any curriculum to his weakness in those areas, and how to build upon how his brain is wired to learn.

Work books

Teaching any learner who is resistant is challenging. How do we captivate interest and motivate?  I don't know of anyway to force learning.  I do know that if I find what motivates him and adapt that subject to include his weakness, like language skills, but without focusing on that exclusively I can get him to go deeper into subject mater he is interested in and use the skills he doesn't like by doing something I call "Tricking the Cat."

Here is an example of using alternative ways to learn about calculus concepts with fractals manipulative.  I took a online course with Natural Math educator Dr. Maria Droujkova at Moebius Noodle. Here are some of our ideas of using her concepts of making math fun. link to it Here

Ever try and get a cat to come to you when it doesn't want too?  Did you resort to food and have the cat ignore you?  Ever put your hand under a newspaper or blanket and move it?  The cat's interest is peaked by it's primal need to hunt.  Make a game out of getting the cat to come and it will pounce. This is psychological tool is what I call "Tricking the Cat".  You have to make your learn think he wants what you are selling them.
This process rooted in behavior science, using incentives and finding out what drives the student's interest are key in motivating resistant learners.

It is a lot of work to prepare any unit of study and when the students fails to engage it feels pretty bad for educators.  So without using intrinsic rewards getting from point A to point B in a lesson plan is difficult without a passion based individual learning plan.  Hard to do this in a classroom as each student is compelled by their own interest.  However many learners direct themselves in a classroom and stay on task.  I am focusing here on one on one prescient- resistant learners.

Keep it Simple
Don't choose a hard complex unit with wildly complex concepts and vocabulary to get a mastery of how to do this style of education right off the bat. Start off with something you know your student will like and hopefully self direct with.  Prepare a list of links or materials that will interest them.  My son connects to videos so if I am teaching astrobiology I find Ted Ed video lessons on the subject and let him go to other links that follow on You Tube about the subject.  I may use a lesson plan like MARS ED -stem-lesson-plans but I am not tied down to it.  Real learning for my student may happen between the lines of the lesson plan.  We may use it for base and go far way from it's plan.  As an educator I must observe all learning and see with an open mind what the student connects with and try to objectively see how the learner learns and have the wisdom to allow him to go there. The child is the curriculum.  Still a good firm base of information like the above link is excellent and keeps us grounded to a precises plan that is aligned to global standards and tested by other educators.  I am not going to be able to guide my learner in Astrobiology with out the help of real science and tapping into a professionally written curriculum plan is going to give my learner resources in scope and sequence.

Going with the Flow
This is the area of education where I as a teacher need to quit the dog and pony show and allow my learner to self direct his own education.  I have to allow him to go deeper into to subject matter he is interested in.  I have to direct him from the side by feeding him bits of information to peak his interest and let him to go further without forcing him to follow me.  Allowing him to think "he thinks" up where to go and how to do it.  A good educator knows when to let a child struggle and even fail.  A great educator teaches how to fail and the importance of bouncing back from failing.  Resilience in life is an important lesson and we are actually learning more when we are getting the answers wrong and self-correcting than we we get it right the 1st time with little effort.   Model learning persistence as a life long learning power life skill. Show by example how to get the answer right after failing too.  This is super important life lessons for all of us.

Don't be afraid to take breaks and put projects down.
Learning is a process and not so much an event. Allow ourselves to move on and start over doesn't mean we did not learn anything when a project is dis-guarded.  It's all learning.  We just have to change our mindset to recognize and value all the steps of this process.


Other links and subjects that relate.
Dr Judy Willis work at RAD.Teach.com
http://www.education.com/reference/article/theories-of-intelligence/
http://www.parentcorticalmass.com/2011/05/what-is-incremental-intelligence.html
http://gocognitive.net/interviews/robert-bjork-long-term-memory
http://www.mindstepsinc.com/motivation/

Relationships in Learning

The Importance of Relationships in Learning: Mentors and Supports

This is our 4th year of homeschooling.  It has been very interesting to see how others educate their children.  I have met some other homeschoolers who use Montessori's method of pedagogy on social media sights like Facebook.  Because in a Montessori homeschool situation few of us have the space in our homes to set up a full classroom not to mention the money to buy every material that would be in a classroom many people fade out of Montessori by upper elementary.  Most of the social media groups for Montessori are new Mothers who have the best intentions but are forced to fade out of the method once they see the cost of albums and materials.
I have met some very resourceful Mom's on social media, very clever ladies who make bead materials and get their husbands and fathers to make beautiful cabinets and sensorial material. I have seen some excellent homemade materials for items like  the Stamp Game, bead materials and the Checker Board materials.  The cost of a entire bead cabinet, geometry and fraction materials force a lot of families out of doing Montessori and following the scope a sequence is very hard with out the materials that cost so much. It is unfortunate as many of these ladies who can't afford to buy the materials are wonderful educators and parents who bring so much to the table of learning on social media.  I am constantly in awe of how resourceful and inventive families are.
Many of the upper grade's of Montessori materials are hard for parents to teach with as they must have more experience with accredited consultants/teachers who can show them the lesson and families must own albums of instruction to do the upper elementary work such as algebra, geometry and cubing.  It is very hard to read an album on math for a lesson on binomial cubing and teach it with out some instruction by a actual Montessori educator who has been trained to teach a lesson with it.   I know many educators who have Montessori training who can't teach these upper math lessons of squaring, cubing roots, mainly because you have to practice these lesson to retain the steps and many times in a classroom for upper elementary the students just aren't there yet, and those lesson get foggy for the educators.  How many 6th graders can do trinomial and binomial cubing?  Even the best albums with the clearest lesson instructions are difficult when you are trying to learn them.  Of course  turning around with out mastery and teaching them isn't any easier.

Mentors become very important when you the teacher are learning.  Finding someone to consult with and mentor you in your journey is crucial to your own development as an educator.

Most of the time networking with other Mom's has been a great experience.  People are for the most part respectful and supportive and encouraging.  Finding the homeschooling group's parents who are doing the upper elementary lesson is very difficult.  I have created my own social media group to draw out some of these parents but keep running into families who are not there yet as their children are preschooler or just starting off.  It has been frustrating to pour hours into creating a group sight, offering up information and resources for free and getting scolded by parents for posting something that does pertain to an infants needs.  Support and encouragement is crucial for educators.  It saddens me when people can take all you have to give, but not give back with even a kind word of thanks.
I am finding as we progress that the the upper elementary homeschoolers are far and few between. I have found a supportive small group of Montessori homeschoolers who have encouraged me and supported me but given my son's special needs and the fact that he may not progress academically past these upper elementary lesson, I feel very alone on our journey.  Finding a mentor is so important, just as finding a group is.

 I met a wonderful educator when I was working at a Montessori school who has helped me along the way.  She is AMI trained and teaches upper elementary and I use her as a consultant/tutor.   She is super busy with work and family but always finds time to encourage and support me.  Thank you Liza.  I love you and appreciate what you have brought to our lives with your skills and education.

Another group I belong to is Self Design Global and this group of parents and educators holds bi-weekly virtual meetings where we all share, encourage and support each other.  Self Design is a unschooling movement and it has not provided me with Montessori help but it is invaluable to me in other ways such as in the relationship element of how we learn and seeing learning where ever it happens.  The learning consultants of SD are a precious resource to me and cultivating relationships in these circles has been one of the most fulfilling parts of my adult life.
We all feel the need to connect and belong to a group.  Even when groups exclude and expel us we yearn to belong to some collective whole.  Homeschooling has it's draw backs in that you are alone.  Raising a special learner who struggles with relationships has shown me that I too struggle with communication and often feel excluded even in groups I administrate. We are alone in our personal journeys of homeschooling and that is hard to accept.  In these groups of social media one hopes to find people who will support and encourage them.  I have tried to encourage and support people, share resources and information.  I haven't done it to show off but to cultivate a circle of encouragement and support.

This relationship piece of the education puzzle where you allow other people into your world is tricky.  I hope this blog clears the lens for people to see how my relationships and intentions in creating social media groups can be a wonderful thing and how important it is to support one another along the journey.  It is important to share, give back and not exclude people who are different than you.  I have tried to do this with my group pages with strangers and friends.
Recently one of my groups reacted harshly to my post of reminding the group of why the group was created. I did not express myself well and people felt excluded from my comment which was said in my discouraged moments of feeling alone and no longer connecting in my own group.  I am sorry for the misunderstanding of the intention of my post. I don't know what other people felt by it but it did not elicit positive feed back and I felt misunderstood and worry that the group has gotten so big that relationship component of why I started it has been loss and the group has become something new.  I have seen several social media groups grow to large and something is lost when a group goes from a tight community of encouragement to strangers who lash out at each other  in silly disaggreeements because they have no personal connections and the relationship element  of the group is gone.

We are made human by our relationship with others.   I don't know how to make people play nice and respect each other.  I think as people dive deeper into to Montessori and Waldorf Methods they may see that respect and grace are keys to a life well lived and worth living.  That these methods are more than the materials and lesson plans but are about a lifestyle of cultivating altruism and respect for all people.

Although this recent lesson has been painful I am reminded to be thankful and appreciative of my support system and the people who encourage me along the they way.  I have met some wonderful homeschooler Mom's on social media and am grateful for their support and friendship.  I choose to focus on the good ones and accept the vulnerability that administrating a social media group puts me in.  It is going to expose me to some messy moments and difficult people who often have no idea they are being difficult, but all in all those harsh moments are outweighed by the good ones where I feel connected and heard and appreciated.

DIY Math Skip Counting Manipulative Tutorial

This very easily made manipulative for skipping count that I found on pinterest  has become a favorite with many parents on some of the Facebook group pages I post on.  So  I would like to share a DIY tutorial of it here on my blog. This manipulative is taken from a traditional Waldorf math lesson that is done with colored chalk on the board by a teacher while they tell the story of the relationships of patterns to numeracy.   My husband Mike, did this project it in about an hour and since I had some of the materials on hand like the dowels and number stickers the cost was only $1.75 for the wooden circle piece at the craft store.  I find self adhesive number stickers at the scrapbooking section but you could use a sharpie or craft paint. or even a water color vegetable based paint and polish it down with bees wax to seal and finish for a natural manipulative desire.  You could do it on paper as well.  I will share ideas about cheaper methods below.

The Manipulative being used to count by threes.

WHAT YOU NEED

One Round wooden plaque  (size it for your learner's small motor needs)

10 Wooden peg dowels with the rounded nail head ends

Some kind of wooden craft glue

A drill with a bit

Number stickers 0-9 or paint or permanent marker

Small balls of colored yard

Ruler / Compass/ Protractor

Pencil/ Paper/ Scissors 

Husband that will completely take over project while you have a glass of wine (Optional)

 One of his 1st steps was to trace the circle on top of the wooden base to paper and cut out a circle as a kind of temp plate so as to get the dimensions of the fractions segments to be equal.  He did not want to draw the line segments out on the wood to get the dowels precisely right, so he did it on paper and scored through the paper onto the wood after he found the center and did the geometry of where the 0 though 9 numbers would be.

 Then he checked his work and followed his pattern's dimensions with the five lines through the middle of the circle.  This was as hard as it looks but he did get it precisely right.  An educator could easily turn this into a practical lesson of geometry.  How to find the center of a circle and how to divide that circle up into 10 equal parts. One of my favorite exercises to do with young children is to imagine how the 1st humans discovered and recognized a circle.  Was it a animal tied by a rope to a stake in the ground that made them see the circle shape the very first time?  How would an animal make a circle like this? String and stick circle making exercises could be incorporated to introduce how people solved problems of math with simple low tech tools and "how did they figure it out" discussions make math fun.  Imagining primitive people doing this is engaging for young learns.  A wonderful book to read aloud to learners on these subjects is "String, Straight-Edge & Shadow- The Story of Geometry" by Julia E Diggins HERE

So the way he did this was to take 360 degrees ( a circle) divided it by ten (10 segments) giving him 36 degrees for each segment from the center point.

 An extension of this geometrical problem solving exercises could be created as an open-end project on this of finding the center and dividing the segments for older children. You don't even need the wood manipulative if they can make a circle and divided it into 10 equal fractions you could do the patterns with colored pencils on paper circles. Create a 36% angled template and a circle and let younger learners trace on to the circle with their templates of the small angled fraction segments. They can label the numbers and then draw all the patterns the numbers make with different colored pencils.

After the math puzzle is solved and the 10 points marked it's time for drilling out the space under the marks

Mike says to figure out which drill bit to use he matches the wooden peg base to his drill bits till he finds one that matches.  He then practiced on a piece of scrap wood to see how it would work first.  He also recommends a trick of putting a piece of tape on the drill bit to mark how deep to drill and to make each hole uniform.

 He just used a wooden glue after he drilled out the holes.   He did end of tapping in the dowels with a rubber ended hammer just to make sure they were snugly in there.

adding the 1st peg

Stick on your numbers

Make sure you have the zero on top and wait for the glue to dry.  Then get your small ball of colored yard and start skip counting.

I like the three times lesson as it shows a wonderful star pattern and the kids love to see how their answers form patterns with this manipulative. Make sure you loop the string around the peg dowels. Also be aware and show the child, as they progress, how as they take the 3 string off, if they counted all the way up to 3 x 10 = 30, that they can then go counter clockwise and do the 7 times skip counting and the last digit of the skip counting series will be the number of they are taking the string loop off.  Its a fun a ha moment for kids to discover.  I think it is easier to see these patterns with skip counting by one and then taking off the yarn to skip count nine.  Most kids know number nine has some tricks and it may help them see the pattern.  I use multiplication labeled arrays or a times tables chart on the table so if my son gets confused on the numerical language or sequencing of what he is doing he can reference it with a visual aid near by and get back on track and self correct.  Again empowering and adjusting the learning lens to abstract thinking, using rhythmical language, visual cues and both hands activity across the midline all work together working together to mastery of the process. Retention of these math facts through visual recognition of the patterns they may help students who cannot memorize their math multiplication facts in traditional ways.  The best part is, it makes math fun while showing patterns in a simple inexpensive way.  Waldorf educators do this circled skip counting on chalk boards too and it is very beautifully rendered.  Go back to my link to Pinterest to see examples of this.

 

If you use different colored yarn for different numbers you can layer patterns too and see common denominators.

The green string is on the three's and the orange sting is marking the six's times.

My son is very serious here but he does like this work

This is a extension of using a knitting loom.

My son said it is like a trampoline and bounced his hand on it.

Just a note on some of my languaging used here and why I love manipulatives.  Skip counting is the pattern of numerical order of the multiplication tables.  If I count by twos or threes or fours I am skip counting. Using a manipulative to see an abstract concept of say counting by 7's helps the child see a pattern. Why use manipulatives? They work for us.  It's that simple.  Memorizing multiplication tables is usually done by drills, worksheets and rote memorization of the facts.  It takes effort and practice and for spatial learners, such as my son. A sensorial manipulative allows him to see a abstract relationship connection to what he is memorizing and create a visual road map to "the big picture" of what it could mean is crucial to his motivation to struggle through the tedious for the reward of where math can take his brain and what he can do with those basic math facts. Cognitive research shows not everyone learns the same way.  From my own math educational experience often I had no concrete understanding of what I was memorizing.  A manipulative or material that allows the child to visually see what they are counting has obvious benefits. Montessori classrooms are filled with math and other manipulative and these tools are consider the curriculum.  This wooden item is a Waldorf method to teach children the relationships between patterns and math.  The connection the learner makes with these manipulatives forms a bridge to more complexed conceptual thinking skills and hopefully a passionate enjoyment of geometry.  I also see my son learn that thinking requires effort, effort is worth the work and it can be fun along the way.  The process of  learning math can be joyful.   Just look at his smile below.

Another variation with pattern blocks my son created

 The most important part of why I do what I do is these looks from my son.  He loves learning this way.  He uses what he learns in his own studies of art, drawing spaceships and futuristic communities in space using these shapes and patterns.  He can synthesis what he learns and make it meaningful to him in his own learning and interest.  My goal is for him to be a lifelong learner and I think that making math enjoyable, practical and sensorially engaging is working at that goal.

Conor's hexagon space station drawing.

Here are some of our reference materials and supplemental lesson materials.


A link to a WALDORF EDUCATOR TEACHING SKIP COUNTING LESSONS FOR THE COMMENTOR BELOW.
skip counting lesson

Froebel's Gifts and Open Ended Learning

Recently I have found out about Froebel's Gifts and bought them.  My son is using them in our homeschool.  We are using the manuals that were written in the late 1800's and also opening the door for other creative projects with the gifts. I have been a origami enthusiast for a long time and I think that has helped me to see the usefulness of thinking outside the box, to teach geometrical and spatial intelligence.  Froebel's followers used origami too and but lessons are considered the Occupations of Froebel and are not part of the 10 Gift's

I have some architectural lessons from Odyssey of the Mind Curriculum and these work very well  to create a unit on designing of sustainable communities or whatever open ended lesson plan you want to use them for.  

The 10 Gifts Arrive

From Biomes to Real World issues of Sustainability: Teaching 21st Century Skills to Children.

I see a buzz in education that really excites me in STEAMs (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts and Math) and the movement on the National and State's department's of education call 21st Century Science skills.  There is a focus in the fields of science and technology on looking toward the children as future solvers of our world's problems of energy, sustainability, communication and economic progress.  This scientific group of educators and community gets that teaching children these skills will mean the success of our entire world.  I see more and more courses offered to educators to empower young people into STEAMs programs and learning modalities, such as maker camps, or after school programs that focus of group projects, problem solving, creativity and critical thinking skills.  Some of these organizations like are 1st Lego League, Odyssey of the Mind Events and Intel's Computer Club House Network have been up and going for a long time.

click here for Intel's Clubhouse

Recently I attend a conference for Next Generation Science Skills put on by NASA and my local University Arizona State University.  I was loaded down with lessons, curriculums all aligned to Common Core, binders full of science lessons and materials from NASA and ASU to make me feel  like a movie star with SWAG BAGS at an event in Hollywood.  It was a great opportunity to network with other educators too.  I fine the science teachers to be very accepting toward me being part of the group as a homeschooler.  Sometime it's like dropping a dirty word to tell a group of educators at a conference I am a homeschooling parent.  I feel very grateful to be included into these community programs for educators.  ASU NASA LESSONS

I am very interested in starting a local  informal non competitive small group for a Maker's Camp.  A group that can work together on projects using Zome Tools, Lego's, K'Nex's or Scratch programing. Play, create, share and have fun being the main focus and learning is always happening on some level.

How Teaching STEAMs Looks to US

Every year we do a unit study on sustainability in environmental study and architectural study.  This year my son and I went to Arcosanti for several days.  arcosanti  We had a great time and research deeper into the how it looks, what if's and how can we make it better for living.  More on Pablo Soleri's concept of  Arcology HERE.  Conor loves the architecture elements of this study.  We will keep going back to this subject as my son is passionate about building and he self directs to it based on his interest. 

BIOMES AND ECOLOGY STUDIES

We also found a curriculum through Waseca Montessori Products that teach Biomes. click HEREl for link to Waseca websight.  These materials are beautiful and I love them.  My son enjoys the work too.  We have used the whole line and will for a long time.  I can see the knowledge of learning about the biomes and their own special needs crossing over to any study on sustainability in the communities and environments of the biomes.

 The research and reading materials that came with this curriculum are very nice too. From primary through elementary although for us we will keep using it as a concrete model and supplement it with more research and activities using these materials as the foundation.

Waseca Veneer Stencil of North America's Biomes

Readers and 3 part cards and  on People, Plants and Animals of North America Biomes.  I try and keep a bucket of books out for self-directed research.  

Organizing the cards to a rotation schedule.  This work all came with lessons and albums of ideas for implementing.  the languaging of the cards can be a bit difficult for learners with language issues.  We adapt to it like always.