Welcome back to the second week of Practical Project-Based Learning! Today’s topic: Long Term Project Ideas. A long term project, although similar to real-life projects, would be considered something that takes at least three weeks to complete. Because of the time investment, though, real-life skills are inevitably included. This means real-life projects and long-term projects are tad difficult to distinguish – but it doesn’t really matter in the long run. 😉
Long-Term Project Ideas
- Garden to Make Recipes – Or, better yet, garden to sell or preserve the produce.
- Construction Project – Big or little, it doesn’t really matter.
- Learn and Perform and Instrument – This could even be under the instruction of a music teacher.
- Write and/or Perform in a Play, Musical, etc. – Again, under the instruction of a drama or music teacher is perfectly fine.
- Work Toward Sports Goals – Coaches and/or trainers can help.
- Design and/or Complete Science Projects that Involve Long-Term Documentation – The good, old standy-by science report and tri-fold board display is perfect for this.
- Collect and Analyze Data – anything really…Ex. Research the number of house fires in your town each month over the last three years. Create at least one type of graph to illustrate your research. So you find any trends? What could be the contributing factors to the trends?
- Research and Communicate Ideas or Information with Others Through a Speech, YouTube Video, Power Point Presentation, Novel, Non-Fiction Book, Advertising Campaign, etc. – My son is currently working on researching the Revolutionary War and designing an educational Power Point presentation that he will link to YouTube.
- Prepare For and Teach a Class – This could be as simple as your 6th grader teaching one PK Sunday School class, or as difficult as your high school student preparing to teach an entire semester course for a 4-H club.
- Plan, Organize and Implement an Art Fair, Science Fair, Geography Fair, etc. – Not just participate in the fair, but organize it from start to finish
- Create a Movie
- Design and Maintain a Website – Consider the website for personal purposes, to run a small business, or even design and/or maintain websites for others.
- Plan and Implement a Small Business – What is your child passionate about or really good at? Come up with a plan to make a little (or a lot of) money from it.
- Maintain a Checking Account – Having a checking account by middle or high school is wise in order to learn to manage money efficiently before leaving home.
- Dabble in the Stock Market – We haven’t done this yet, but my husband has this in the plans for my two older children.
- Learn a New Handicraft – Learn it for the sake of becoming an expert and maybe even using it as part of a small business venture.
- Nature Study and Documentation Over Several Months or Seasons with a Final Analysis of the Observations – The final project could be in the form of anything…artwork, a report, a chart or graph, a poem…
- Prepare for a Speech or Take Part in a Debate – Co-op classes and 4-H clubs are good places to find these opportunities.
Here’s a Quick Half-Way Through the Series Hint: In order to develop ownership and responsibility in project-based learning, it’s always best to allow your child to be part of the project decision-making process. Don’t simply dole out assignments.
Tomorrow we’ll talk about Show-What-You-Know Projects!
Learn More About Project-Based Learning
This Homeschool Masterclass can give you a great overview of why and how to use project-based learning in your homeschool!
