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Hands on at Home

Silence may be golden, but not necessarily when learning is taking place. A study showed, not surprisingly, that hands-on activities increased students' learning from pre-test to post-test (Gardner). Erik Jensen has done extensive research on how the brain learns, finding that activity, whether in music, art, or physical education, actually enhances the brain to learn academics more successfully. Making a little racquet might just be what the brain ordered.

Home schooling generally allows more opportunities for hands-on activities, since the number of students is smaller, not as many resources are needed, and schedules are most likely not dictating movement. Therefore, let's look at some great ways you can move those homeschoolers to the beat of education.

Writing*

Students' writing can often be a dull story or essay that is told. The key is to teach students to show the reader, rather than tell, taking the reader on the experience with the writer. In order to do this, however, a student must learn to express emotions and senses in his work. Here are some hands on activities I use to accomplish this.

+How to teach students to write about the sense of taste.

Buy and prepare several different foods with different textures and flavors. (I chose blue cheese, red pasta sauce, chocolate pudding, raspberries, and oatmeal.)

For each child, spoon a small portion of each food into a small cup. Give him a separate spoon for each cup. Give the foods one at a time to the child.

Ask the child, "What does the food look like?" (You may want to give the child vocabulary such as messy, disgusting, sloppy, smooth, lumpy, etc.)

Have the child smell the food. Ask the child, "What does it smell like? (Have a sheet with the type of foods and the questions under each type.) [You may want to provide the child with vocabulary such as stinky, disgusting, smoky, sweet, sour, etc.]

Have the child take a bite of the food but not swallow quickly. Ask the child, "What did it feel like on your tongue or in your mouth?" (You may want to provide the child with vocabulary such as rough, gooey, sticky, moist, slippery, slimy, etc.)

Ask the child, "What sound did it make in your mouth or when you swallowed it?" (You may want to provide the child with vocabulary such as squish, gulp, slurp, etc.)

Ask the child, "What did the taste remind you of?"

Repeat the steps above for each food.

Have the child use the new sense of taste words in his writing.

+How to teach students to write about the sense

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