With a moo moo here, And a moo moo there, Here a moo, there a moo, Everywhere a moo moo. “Mom, will there be cows and pigs and chickens on the farm?” Home gardening isn’t quite as interesting to
Melody as the anticipation of getting up close and personal to cows and chickens and pigs. Her seven-year-old twin brother feels the same way. Waiting patiently for seeds to become yummy vegetables is not part of Mallory’s nature, and even waiting for lettuce seedlings to grow into salad material is too long. Better to dream about an adventure that’s only a week away. With an oink oink here, and an oink oink there, Here an oink…
The main focus of all BioFables children’s books is on illuminating Sciences (STEM: Science, Technology, Engineering, Math) principles through fun stories. As you probably know from experience, though, applying Sciences in the real world requires a balancing perspective of Humanities studies and one’s internal Values/Behaviors. These are the three main Core Disciplines of learning that are an important part of the BioFables books.
We’ve been asked, “Why are you including values in the Values/Behaviors category and not in the two others?” Here are some reasons:
- The Core Discipline Values represent BioFables characters’ personal, internal attributes, which are usually reflected in their Behavior and are therefore closely related;
- We believe that important lessons may be learned from one’s own behavior, or from observing the behavior of others;
- The Sciences and Humanities Core Disciplines, on the other hand, are behavior-neutral.
If you’d like to purchase E-I-E-I-Uh Oh, please click on the Buy E-I-E-I-Uh Oh icon to go directly to Barnes and Nobles’ E-I-E-I-Uh Oh page. Your purchase of E-I-E-I-Uh Oh helps support our ongoing efforts to continue expanding the wealth of this site’s resources for homeschooling and all parents who are dedicated to the intellectual growth of their children.
If you’d like to learn more about using the considerable E-I-E-I-Uh Oh resources at this site, please read on.
E-I-E-I Uh Oh Resources
The ten chapters in E-I-E-I-Uh Oh contain nearly a hundred practical mini-lessons and pop-up lessons woven throughout E-I-E-I-Uh Oh. We call these practical lessons Knowledge Nuggets. These Knowledge Nuggets contain specific information that readers can apply to their everyday lives. They may be in the form of a mini-lesson, with simple explanations of a specific concept, or as a quick, unplanned pop-up lesson.
You will find that many of these Knowledge Nugget lessons are in stealth mode. This is true especially in the Humanities and Values/Behaviors Core Disciplines, where common family experiences in E-I-E-I-Uh Oh offer lessons that might easily be missed.
Homeschooling parents often want to know where the specific Knowledge Nugget lessons fit into more general learning classifications. To address that need, we’ve designed a 5-tier structure for all BioFable books, ranging from the most general (Core Disciplines) to the most specific (Knowledge Nuggets) catgories:
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- 1. Core Disciplines: Sciences, Humanities, Values/Behaviors
- 2. Knowledge Gateways (Color-coded examples: Earth/Space Science, History, Ethics/Morals)
- 3. Discovery Paths (Example: Geography, a Discovery Path of Earth/Space Science)
- 4. Discovery Path Branches (Example: Climate zones, a Discovery Path Branch of Geography)
- 5. Knowledge Nuggets: Specific mini- or pop-up lessons (Example: World areas defined by temperature and precipitation)
- 4. Discovery Path Branches (Example: Climate zones, a Discovery Path Branch of Geography)
- 3. Discovery Paths (Example: Geography, a Discovery Path of Earth/Space Science)
- 2. Knowledge Gateways (Color-coded examples: Earth/Space Science, History, Ethics/Morals)
- 1. Core Disciplines: Sciences, Humanities, Values/Behaviors
So, starting from the “” Knowledge Nugget mini-lesson, you can follow its order back to its Core Discipline (Sciences):
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- World areas defined by temperature and precipitation (Knowledge Nugget)
- Climate zones (Discovery Path Branch)
- Geography (Discovery Path)
- Earth/Space Science (Knowledge Gateway)
- Sciences (Core Discipline)
- Earth/Space Science (Knowledge Gateway)
- Geography (Discovery Path)
- Climate zones (Discovery Path Branch)
- World areas defined by temperature and precipitation (Knowledge Nugget)
Click –> E-I-E-I-Uh Oh Knowledge Gateways <– to access four sets of tables and lists that help you to place a given Knowledge Nugget within the greater realm of learning. As shown in both two 5-tier structures above, the three Core Disciplines and their associated Knowledge Gateways share the same Red, Blue and Purple color. We’ve not added colors to the terms in the more detailed tiers because these terms can be applied in different Core Cisciplines or Knowledge Gateways. An example: Geysers may appear in the context of a History lesson (Society), rather than in a Geology (Sciences) lesson.