by Nancy Yos

Created on: June 09, 2009   Last Updated: July 20, 2009

Go. Take public transportation into and around your city, not just to jump off at all the right museums, but to explore. Have lunch at an ethnic restaurant or bakery. Homework: look it up. What's the heritage of the owners, how do you make their signature sweet? (The theme culture.) Visit an unusual shop, and notice what's for sale. Homework: ask questions. Where does that unusual hand-thrown pot come from? Is it expensive? Does it sell well? (Economics and trade.)

Shoot. For backyard lessons, bring the digital camera. Children can snap photos of anything, insects, flowers, patterns in a brick wall, without wasting film. Homework: investigate that insect or that flower. Upload your photos either to your hard drive or to a site like Picnik, make a collage, and learn how to make your photos better. Who are some famous photographers, especially nature photographers? (Nature, art, biography.)

Write. Teaching writing is hard, especially to children who may not read all that much. Get a big pad of paper, an easel, and markers. Let kids keep a free-form daily journal on this. Correct their grammatical mistakes on it, so they see proper writing. Discard daily, or not. Or, have them start a blog.

Camp out. Spend at least a few nights outside in a tent. The whole universe is virtually closed to many young people, especially in light-polluted cities. Look at the stars and planets. Which are which? Look at the moon. Is it rising or setting? (Astronomy, geometry.)

Surf. Use Google maps' satellite feature to spy on the planet. See the Amazon - see Paris from above, and retrace Marie Antoinette's route to the guillotine in 1793. Why did she go? (Geography, history, exploration.)

Listen. There is really no substitute for sitting down and listening to Beethoven's Ninth Symphony, or at least its fourth movement. But don't make kids think about what might be going on here. Beethoven can speak for himself. So can Mozart, Haydn, and Bach. (Music, biography.)

Play. Try French Mille Bornes, mancala from Africa, or Ludus Romanus, a reconstruction of a game from ancient Rome. Outdoors, have children try the classic children's activity, running beside a rolling hoop and keeping it upright with a stick. It's ancient, challenging, and aerobic. Assignment: find pictures of kids' games in old paintings. (Culture, fine art.)

Read. Swallow original documents in American history in small gulps. Even a small public library should own a good old encyclopedia like The Annals of America. Translate: what's that 18th-century patriot really saying? Do you agree? (History, writing.) Try yes Euclid for math. How did this old Greek guy know so much? (Mathematics, history.)

Our civilization is so complex that almost everything presents a teachable moment. Think in terms of action verbs - go catch that train - and you'll find the summer has flown by.

A few useful links:

Local homeschooling

Tourist information directory

How stuff works

Brain connection

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