Fall is a great time for so many different subjects and lesson plans as well as thematic units. With a change of the weather comes a sense of wonder and discovery that is wonderful if it is fostered in a students mind.
Where a homeschool parent may not teach this lesson repeatedly or yearly it is good to refresh your facts and truly understand a concept before presenting it to your students.
According to Webster’s Dictionary online photosynthesis is “synthesis of chemical compounds with the aid of radiant energy and especially light; especially : formation of carbohydrates from carbon dioxide and a source of hydrogen (as water) in the chlorophyll-containing tissues of plants exposed to light”.
This probably jogs your memory from Earth Science in middle school when you were growing up. The Internet is a great source of information for photosynthesis. This is a great opportunity to let you the student use the computer and learn how to search for topics. There are many websites with diagrams, pictures and nationalgeographic.com even has a full lesson plan with videos on their website.
You can have students make their own diagram and pictures of the photosynthesis process and this counts as an art lesson. You can also have them write the process down to display with their pictures.
You can explain to students that the leaves change colors in our eyes but that the trees always have those colors in them. The trees just produce so much chlorophyll that it turns the leaves bright green. Trees that change color in this manner are called “deciduous”. You may point out that the dentist will refer to a child’s baby teeth as being deciduous. Ask the student why they would use that term.
This is a perfect time for a field trip. You can get out and rake up leaves or you can go on a little trip to see the fall colors on the trees as summer bids farewell. You can also collect the leaves and do a number of different art projects with them. The beauty of homeschooling is that you can go on these field trips anytime you would like unlike public school or private school students.
If you take into account all of the fun you can have with a subject like photosynthesis you will see that it can take in many subjects such as science, geography, art, writing, grammar and more.
