WHAT ARE CORE CONNECTIONS?

CORE CONNECTIONS – WHAT ARE THEY?

Within our units are BONUS Core Connections (aka interdisciplinary or cross-curricular studies).  We began adding these for free as a courtesy, since 2021. 

Were you looking for how to count this toward high school credits?  Go HERE instead.  Otherwise, read on and we will explain our entire approach.

REAL LIFE EXAMPLE:

In With the Skills of | A Professional Chef, your family is naturally learning all about molecular gastronomy and chemistry by nature of the topic (cooking science, the chemical properties of food, Maillard reactions, emulsification properties, etc etc…).  We go over it all within the unit.  The unit can be classified as a science unit all on its own (a fun one where they kids didn’t even know they’d be learning all about chemistry, haha!).  BUT here’s what is also included for those who want it:

CORE CONNECTIONS: 

• Math: We teach throughout all 12 lessons about what the professional chef ACTUALLY needs to learn for the profession and in culinary school.  We teach about units and conversion, recipe scaling, yield percentages, purchasing the right portions… AND, we give math problems for them to figure it out with the formulas chefs use (APC, APC per unit, APQ, EPQ, Yield percent, etc).  This is the same kind of math taught in culinary school.

 

• History/geography/social studies: From the history of butter to Chinese involvement with the invention of cast-iron cookware, our historical connections aren’t just “boring history in a textbook.”  We are able to bring in lessons from all over the world with history that connect to aspiring chefs in the most incredible ways.   We also focus on how history impacts the present.  IE: How is our modern-day professional chef or family cuisine different BECAUSE of the events that happened in history (including details of historical famines, etc)? What a better way to connect to history/geography/social studies and retain learning like this?! Our “History Connection” approach, in general, is to tie history to what matters to the student.  We connect to parts of history that most textbooks overlook, while also tying connections to US and World History in chronological order.  We may use a lesson to connect to an important war or time period and challenge the student to think critically about how it impacts present day.  Or, we may connect the lesson to something that the student may have never learned about before (such as the invention of cast iron and how that ties to our modern-day bridges).  Both are just as important.  Or, (using other unit examples) we might be going down the path of the history of medicine, or the history of meteorology and how it intertwines with American history and wars….  It all matters and connects, and it also ties to a bigger picture.
  We also started including Modular History Spotlights as of Spring 2022!  We take the major pieces of history and build them into a wonderful masterpiece, in a way that will be meaningful and retained.  In each lesson’s history Core Connections, we spotlight a module of that time in America or that part of the world–in chronological order–so that it builds together into something beautiful.  This will essentially hold your child’s hand as they walk throughout history.  Now, dates will be even more meaningful and make even more sense.  They will be learning, “Wait… this was invented in the middle of the Civil War?!” or “That was created because of the Great Depressions?!”  AND THEN, we also may give additional links for those who want to go even deeper down the trail.  So keep an eye out for these new Modular History Spotlights (beginning Spring 2022)!  Whether you are only doing one unit or many, your child will be able to pick out amazing moments in the world and in America, building them into an entire timeline in their mind.

   

• Language Arts: we use all 12 lessons to take the student’s hand and lead them through the “language arts” skills specific to a professional chef (although the skills can be used in any and every part of life!).  Adjectives, word choices, menu items, communication to staff, making their food sound better than their competitor next door (with nothing more than WORDS).  Many children hate learning “language arts” (not many enjoy sitting down and diagramming sentences), but when you connect language arts to something they love, it just clicks.  They’ll start sharing new adjectives and better ways of writing or communicating! The lessons emphasize creative writing, writer’s voice, speech, picture studies, word choice, communication skills, adjectives, literary techniques, literature, etc.  Units will often overlap with language arts skills that are taught, so the student gets repetitive concepts in very unique ways.  We also place a focus on the language arts skills needed for that career field (as mentioned above). 

• Bible: We include a Faith Talk devotional in every lesson, so Christ can be brought to the center of your family’s experience with these units (optional).

 

• Critical Thinking: We include a Think Tank/ethics conversations to challenge critical thinking in almost every lesson.

 

• Spelling: We incorporate a spelling list based on the exact words that are in this unit and that chefs frequently use

 

DIFFERENT AGE GROUPS: All of the different ages (elementary – high) have Core Connections that look similar to the example above, except it is all age-appropriate.  There will be more advanced or deeper learning for older students and less for younger students.  Same basic concept, maneuvered to match your student’s development.

We do not have Core Connections for pre-readers, nor do we have a phonics program.