See something: Say something: Homeschool Lesson: 2.5 hrs non-core

Today's lesson plan can serve to reinforce some of the aspects of the one I presented in "Internet Safety Lesson Plan." Today's website of choice is the Missouri Information Analysis Center. Upon loading this page a video will begin playing regarding terrorism and the role citizens can play in being aware and reporting. The message driving home by the video is, "if you see something, say something." This echoes very nicely the advice to be found from watching the Faux Paws videos in the previous lesson on Internet Safety.

The video will take about 10 minutes to run and should be reasonably entertaining to any child demonstrating a passing interest in shows such as Bones, Criminal Minds, Law & Order, or any of the various CSI programs. When I walk with my daughter, I try to remind her about the difference between public and private spaces. In public, I ask her to keep her eyes and ears open to what is happening around her. In private, in the safety of our home, one can daydream. In open spaces, one must watch for vehicles and people behaving strangely. I reminder her that it is her job to remain in line of sight to me at all times. When she wanders, as children are prone to doing, she gets a talking to about the rules.. again.

"Do you know," I might ask, "if there is an ogre that eats children hiding behind that tree?" She might quip that ogres aren't real. "Just because you haven't seen any monsters yet doesn't mean there aren't any monsters out there." She then might reference that an ogre would be too big to hide behind a tree. To this, my retort might be, "Ok, a small ogre, a baby ogre.."

Having fun is well and good, but there is a serious message behind this. Children do go missing. Sometimes they even go missing from their own house, such as in the case of Elizabeth Smart. Yet even in that case, the awareness, observation, and self control of the sister, Mary, should be seen as quite commendable. The man who abducted her sister spoke softly but with some effort and time Mary was able to identify the voice as that of a man she had met a year before. Truly impressive to identify "Emanuel." Although the police did not think it a reliable lead, a drawing of the face of "Emanuel" on America's Most Wanted proved instrumental to Elizabeth's rescue.

The details of the abduction of Elizabeth Smart were made into a movie, "The Elizabeth Smart Story," with a running time of 120 minutes. It may be a stretch to call this Social Studies and assign "Core" credit hours. A book, however, was also printed Bringing Elizabeth Home (ISBN 978-0385512145) and, as previously indicated, reading is Language Arts and can be treated as "Core" hours. 

I want to teach my daughter the value of being observant and saying something about things she sees or hears which strike her as unusual. I want her to act the way the people at the Missouri Information Analysis Center advice citizens to be as they go about their everyday life in their Video, "See something, say something." All very valuable advice, I believe, I need more time to make this into a lesson.

A second video on the page entitled, "Run. Hide. Fight. Surviving and Active Shooter Event," may be more frightening for children. In this video, a shooter is firing a weapon. There's no blood or bodies, but the focus is different. In the first video, people are planning something bad. In this one, something bad is actually happening. In light of the recent shooting in California by Elliot Rodger in the "2014 Isla Vista Killings," it may seem worthwhile to expose them to some fearful imagery.  It might also be prudent to recall to mind the Aurora Colorado shootings by James Eagan Holmes. The video, "Run. Hide. Fight..." runs for an additional 6 minutes. This extends our lesson to 15 minutes of video.

It would seem reasonable to direct the child's attention at this point to the FBI's most wanted list.  A few minutes could be sent looking at the faces there. From here, one could segue (an irritating word I like to say, but can never seem to remember how to spell)  into looking at a list more worrisome, the kidnap victims. This could bring us around to discussing the show, America's Most Wanted. Once we are on that topic, it would make sense to discuss the case of Adam Walsh, who's father John Walsh afterwards served as the host of the show, America's Most Wanted. From there, we could easily transition to the story of Elizabeth Smart (bio) and how the observations of her sister (see above) when aired on America's Most Wanted aided in the recovery of Elizabeth. A child may be more than a little scared at this point, but we can then explain that bad things do sometimes happen. Despite this, it can be showed, that a person can be motivated like John Walsh to make the world just a little better. We can also reference the Elizabeth Smart Foundation, (Facebook) which she founded in 2011.

For the tech savvy who's children have cell phones, one might consider the Hero (TM) App which Elizabeth Smart has endorsed. (Video)

At this point, by way of some detouring, we have a solid reason for watching the "The Elizabeth Smart Story," (Alternately, you could opt for a 44 minute MSNBC segment) With the original videos and discussion time, we could easily have half an hour of instructional time. Adding the two hours for the movie about Elizabeth Smart would nicely count for two and a half hours. That might be a little long to bear on this topic, but I think we might be helping to drive the importance home and, with luck, perhaps our children will be more aware in public. (Although, hopefully, not agoraphobic.)) 


Elizabeth Smart's Book, "My Story" is available as a Kindle Book from the Amazon store. I also found copies in the catalog for our local library. An audiobook version of this book was available from Overdrive.

Safety: Internet Safety Lesson Plan: 1 hour core; .5 hour non-core

Internet Safety Lesson Plan: 1 hour core; .5 hour non-core

The official home-school year for my daughter has ended, but I still find things which might be useful as lessons once we get started again. Today, I encountered Surf Safely

Surf Safely seems like a simple enough site put together by the Missouri Attorney General, Chris Koster. I'm sure the Attorney General would very much like to not have to deal with cases where young people share their personal information with the wrong people on the Internet and become a crime statistic. As a site, Surf Safely consists simply of a letter from the Missouri Attorney General and a few links to get you started on your own researches.

The Parents section provides some links for further reading. These links are, of course, going to be my homework. Just peeking at a few links reveals much material to pour over. Even though I like to think I am savvy, aware, and wise; I must confront the fact that the world is a dangerous place and I should not go about blithely assuming the best in human nature. While the unsafe and unsavory may be few and far between, the Internet allows them access with which to throw a wide net. A very real danger exists for children to get caught if they are not told about online safety.

This is an important point for me to take home. Some of my friends seriously restrict their children's access to the internet and computers. As a part of my home schooling of my daughter, I have relied heavily upon internet resources. Reading some of these websites.. it helps get a more careful frame of reference into my head. While I do appreciate the ease of access to wide assortment of information; I have to also inculcate in my child a basic foundation of internet safety.

The links from the Children's section of Chris Koster's site point us in the direction of some resources more directly applicable for children. For example, one of the links takes to me to iKeepSafe Kids which contains some reasonably entertaining videos about "Faux Paws" which might both educate and entertain.

There seem to be 4 videos in this series. As educational material, the stories are available in several formats. The video format might be the most easily digested by children who are not particularly fond of reading. However, I would think that reinforcing the material might be improved by repetition.

First, ask the child watch them the videos.

1. Faux Paw's Adventures in the Internet

2. Faux Paw meets the First Lady

3. Faux Paw Goes to the Games

4. Faux Paw's Dangerous Download

Watching the Videos should take approximately half and hour.  (I believe the time spent watching the video would be considered "non-core" time in Missouri as while we might choose to call it "Computer Science" this seems a bit of a stretch.)

Next, after the child has watched the video, you can have them read the downloaded eBook. They are covering the same material and even children with learning disabilities or dyslexia should be better able to piece together the meaning of the eBook since they have just watched the video. Time spent reading the eBook is Language Arts: Reading. This is "Core" time in Missouri as I understand it. It seems reasonable to allow half an hour for the eBooks to be read.

1. Faux Paw's Adventures in the Internet - PDF
2. Faux Paw meets the First Lady - PDF
3. Faux Paw Goes to the Games - Flash
4. Faux Paw's Dangerous Download - PDF


Having gone over the material twice, now would be a good time to have the child type or hand-write a summary of the material and, optionally, point out any differences they noticed between the two.Where we run our homeschool, this seems to qualify as Language Arts: Writing. As such, you have the material watched, read, and reviewed. It seems to me the review will best let you know what the child learned from the material. Additionally, it could be used as an "Example of Work."

Although a very simple lesson plan, I would expect you can count on 1.5 hours of work. Half an hour of that time would probably be best called: "Non-Core: Internet Safety." The remaining hour of work is split between reading and writing, both falling under the heading of "Core: Language Arts."

After completing their work, if done successfully and any free time remains in the allotted 1.5 hours, perhaps some time playing a safety-related video game from AT&T is a suitable reward.

Safely using the internet,

Preakness Academy