"Caveman Concentration"

Figuring out when and how to start the homeschooling process was a bit overwhelming. I started my research on homeschooling the previous year and have read more than a dozen books on the subject. I've read numerous posts, blogs and websites dedicated to homeschooling or gifted education. 

I love to gather information and sift through it. But when it comes to actually starting a new endeavor, I suffer from what my husband, Jacob, says is “action paralysis”. He also tells me that I research too much. I pass the point of diminishing returns where every extra hour spent researching delivers less benefit. I just can't seem to help myself. I like to have a solid plan; to figure out the best way to do something. I'm a self-proclaimed dissatisfied perfectionist. I want everything to be just right, but it's an unobtainable goal and I often suffer disappointment at what I could have done better. The problem is that it isn't realistic. Sometimes you just have to jump in; take action. Sometimes the best way to learn is to do. I'm trying to embrace this philosophy but it goes against my natural grain.

So I decided that over the summer, in between vacations and family fun, I would start small. I picked one of Casia's favorite subjects; history. But where to begin? Her 4^th grade class last year covered some New York State history including Native Americans, colonial times and and the American Revolution. Should I pick up where that left off? Or maybe modern history would hold more appeal because she can relate to it more and it has greater bearing on our present day lives? In the end, I just decided to start at the beginning. So our first topic of study was Early Humans.

Since we're on a limited budget and I've always been a huge fan of the library, we started there. We checked out all the books on Early Humans I could find.  I've found that I really like the way the DK Eyewitness Books present the material. They use lots of pictures and present it in a kid-friendly way. It's a really good way to cover the basics and I think I will turn to their books first as we broach new topics. We also picked up a couple of books on archeology to give her some background on how we learn about ancient people. 

After reading the books we checked out, Casia decided she wanted to create a game she calls “Caveman Concentration”. On a series of index cards, she wrote the name of an early hominid. On a separate card she wrote what approximate years they existed. On yet another, the geographic area in which they existed. And on a final card, she wrote what their major unique characteristics were. She did this for each of the major hominids going back to the Australopithecines. Once done with the index cards, she shuffled them together and laid them face down in rows and columns. The game is played similarly to concentration where you flip two cards on your turn. If the cards correspond to the same hominid (four cards per hominid, so two possible matches to make), you get to keep them and go again. If they don't match, you flip them back and it's the next player's turn. It was fun, but it meant that I had to memorize all their names and corresponding facts as well. I have a feeling I will be learning a lot while homeschooling Casia!