Our week with Ben Franklin...

Ben Franklin was in the house this week… and boy, did we ever learn tons about what a great man he truly was…

I myself never realized all the great inventions he had made and the wisdom he possessed… WOW!!! It was as much a learning experience for me as for the kids.

We used the BEN FRANKLIN Download N’ Go unit study from Amanda Bennett as spine for our week. I love these units. They are easily adaptable to any style of learning and are so easy to use for even the busiest homeschool family.

The week was laid out for us like this:

 

• Day 1: Who Was Ben Franklin?


• Day 2: People and Places in Ben Franklin’s Life


• Day 3: The Accomplishments of Ben Franklin


• Day 4: Lessons to Learn From Ben Franklin


• Day 5: Remembering Ben Franklin

I have to admit, my favorite day was Day 3... I learned so much myself on this day.

Our week started with my usual preparation for a Download N' Go unit study ~ mainly looking over the weekly schedule and reviewing the suggested book list. Then I took a look at the “FUN FAMILY IDEAS”. These are little extras that are thrown in to the unit that can really enhance the study and increase the learning through fun.

We used books that we already owned and were lucky that a few of them were on the suggested reading list.

Here’s a few of the books that we used this week in our study.

                           

 

 Download N'Go units always have great video and informational links, so that work is done for me ~ I just looked for a few more things to satisfy the gamer in my son ~ who loves playing learning games on the computer…

I found these sites for him to play for fun review.   You can check out both of the games at the links below...

Ben Franklin games    and this one also  Ben Franklin: True or False  and then there is this Online Treasure Hunt...

We love using the lapbook/notebook elements of the Download N' Go units and the  Ben Franklin  unit had some great minibooks and graphics to choose from. My kids love making folders using these. ?

 
    

        

Ben Franklin was a great person on which to study character traits ~ He was honest, intelligent, wise, frugal, and a hard worker. All traits that I want my kids to possess and appreciate in others.

And speaking of being a hard worker, he appreciated time to enjoy his hobbies as well. Not only was inventing a passion of his, but he also loved music and played several instruments. One of which being the glass armonica (which he also invented) ~ my daughter was fascinated when she learned that the armonica is played during the “Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairies” in the Nutcracker (her favorite ballet).

We were able to add math into the week, using money with his image (the $100 bill and the 50cent piece)…

   

To finish off our week with Ben, the kids took in a class offered at our local Discovery Center on “ELECTRICITY” … The 2 hr. class introduced the kids to electricity where they not only had some cool experiments but also go the opportunity to be “SHOCKED” (which they both loved and couldn’t stop talking about)…

This great unit study and other Download N'Go products can be purchased here at The Old Schoolhouse. Each unit is extremely affordable at only $7.95 each and the ease of use is wonderful for the busy homeschool family. All the research is done for you and the included links make it a tremendous educational tool. And right now you can buy the Ben Franklin DNG unit for only $6.25 (that's only $1.25 a day for a week of learning and fun!!! WHAT A GREAT DEAL!!)

This unit was provided for my family to use in exchange for our personal thoughts and honest opinions in this review.