A Teachable Month - Teachable Moments and a Daily Student Journal!

If you're an "Unschooler", or you're developing your own lessons for your children out of the world around you, you know how difficult a job this can be!  Here is a fantastic new tool just for you!  TEACHABLE MONTHS are each a full month of teachable moments.  In each month, we've looked at holidays and observances, historical occurrences, births, deaths, scientific developments and art masterworks that were unveiled in that month in history, sporting events taking place during the month - all sorts of activities directly from our experience with the world, and we've turned each one into a fully detailed teachable moment!

This isn't a mere list of things you can turn into teachable moments.  Each event (and there are two or more per day, for every day of the month) is fully described, often with accompanying photos and film.  Words are defined, as in all Steps courses, before the student reads about that event, so that the student's vocabulary increases every day and they are able to understand what is read the first time they read it.  Locations mentioned as a part of the event are located on a map, globe or the Internet, developing a better sense of the reality of what's being studied, as well as the student's understanding of geography.  The student is often asked to do further research, and aided in that effort with just enough direction, developing their study and research skills.  And the student is always asked key questions to assist their investigation into how they feel about each event, each sport or work of art or historic event or holiday.  Critical thinking skills are sharpened every day.

There's more.  Each day, the student develops their own private journal, filled with their observations, ideas, and reactions to teachable moments as well as questions put directly to them meant to stimulate critical thinking.  They also keep a running "weather report", a daily observation of weather basics which allows them to observe the change in the seasons for themselves.

Of course, you can and should use only what you want to use.  But if you're looking for a half-way point between an established curriculum (like the rest of Steps) and you doing all the work - then you've found it!  For ages 9-up who read well, and extraordinarily precocious 7-8 year-olds who also read well.  Over 180 pages of activities!

For the month of June, here is the table of contents, IDEALLY TO BE STARTED BY THE STUDENT ON June 1:

TABLE OF CONTENTS
General Info:         
Before Starting  

May Events That Are Not On A Set Date

The U.S. Open                                                                                                     
The World Cup     
Father’s Day         
Summer Solstice         

DAY BY DAY                                                             

June 1           Brigham Young born; Hurricane season                    
June 2           Lou Gehrig dies; Take Me Out To The Ballgame” is written
June 3          Bizet and Carmen; Johann Strauss, the Waltz King   
June 4          The Six Day War; Pancho Villa
June 5          O’ Henry and The Ransom Of Red Chief|
June 6          D-Day; YMCA founded
June 7          Louis XIV
June 8          Muhammad dies; Robert Schumann
June 9          Peter The Great; Cole Porter; Secretariat wins the Triple Crown      
June 10        Judy Garland
June 11          Ben Jonson; Jacques Cousteau; Vince Lombardi
June 12         Anne Frank, Diaries
June 13         Alexander The Great; Pioneer 10 leaves the solar system
June 14         First Superman Comic; Univac 1
June 15         Magna Carta Signed; Royal Ascot Races start
June 16         Stan Laurel’s Birthday; Lincoln’s “A House Divided” speech
June 17         Igor Stravinsky; Statue of Liberty arrives in NYC
June 18         Paul McCartney; U.N. Universal Declaration of Human Rights
June 19         Moe Howard; Valentina Tereshkova, the first woman in space
June 20        Queen Victoria; First U.S. Life Saving Medal, the Coast Guard           
June 21         U.S. Constitution Ratified;    
June 22        The First Doughnut; Billy Wilder; Meryl Streep
June 23        Jonas Salk and the Polio Vaccine
June 24        Mary Pickford; Picasso’s First Exhibition
June 25        The First Bicycle; Michael Jackson
June 26        Battle of Little Big Horn; Babe Zaharias
June 27        Helen Keller; 1st Newberry Prize
June 28        Jean-Jacque Rousseau; Richard Rodgers; WW I Starts and Ends
June 29        Elizabeth Barrett Browning; Edison and the First recorded Music
June 30        Lena Horne