Posted by Cindy on January 12, 2012
Jimmie of Jimmie’s Collage and Notebooking Fairy has just released her first e-book and I had the pleasure of reviewing it for her!! What a gem it is!
Clear. Concise. Full of practical ideas. Easy to implement. Very motivating! Those are phrases that perfectly describe Notebooking Success by my blogging friend, Jimmie.
I’m not new to notebooking. My children have used this method of narration and writing for years in our homeschool . But, after reading Jimmie’s e-book, I felt a renewed passion for this excellent method of teaching and learning – and this old dog even learned a few new tricks!
Jimmie’s writing style is so smooth and succinct that you’ll find yourself easily reading all the way through the book in less than 30 minutes. More importantly, at the end of the 30 minutes, you’ll have all the tools you need to get started (or refreshed) with notebooking right away.
Why incorporate notebooking into your homeschool? Jimmie answers that. How is notebooking with a 1st grader different than a 6th grader or 10th grader? Jimmie answers that. Doesn’t notebooking get boring for children? Jimmie answers that. She covers everything you need to know about notebooking from start to finish, including plenty of grade-specific ideas to get you and your children rolling.
As explained in the book, notebooking works well with just about any type of homeschooler – even those who use a strictly textbook curriculum. I have often mentioned notebooking to friends who are looking for a “better” way to help their children retain information or for children who need extra motivation for writing. Now, I’ll be sure to point those people toward Notebooking Success!
Posted by Cindy on January 9, 2012
I just sent out the quarterly Shining Dawn Books newsletter. I thought some of you who aren’t on my contact list might like to see the latest news and specials, too.
What’s Up at Shining Dawn Books?
NEW!
Homeschooling Gifted and Advanced Learners
My first book with Prufrock Press was released Nov 2011!! Anyone who hopes to homeschool creatively will find the book full of useful and encouraging information – it’s not just for those who know they have gifted or talented kids! Check out reviews written by Jimmie of Jimmies Collage and Tricia of The Curriculum Choice.
NEW!
Nature By the Season for Preschool and Kindergarten: Winter
For only $5.95, keep your little ones engaged in winter nature studies that are just their size! Watch for Nature By the Season: Spring to be released in March!
Winter Nature Studies
Which NaturExplorers studies are best to use during the winter? More than you might think! Try:
Animal Signs
Beautiful Birds
Captivating Clouds
Constant Conifers
Coping with the Cold
Delightful Deciduous Trees
Everchanging Erosion
Hard as a Rock
Snow and Ice
Winter Bundle
I’ve bundled three of our most popular winter NaturExplorers studies for only $21.00!
Quarterly Special
The new quarterly NaturExplorers special (from now through March) is Everchanging Erosion. For only $6.00 you can enjoy learning about erosion – a less likely, but fascinating nature topic good to use any season of the year.
Loving Living Math
Loving Living Math was our top seller in 2011 as many parents were ready to learn how to “do” living math. It’s already been a great seller this year, too! If you’ve been on the fence about purchasing it, would it change your mind to know you can get it for 25% off between now and Jan 31st?? Use the code WinterMath upon checkout and pay only $6.71!
Affiliate Program
Shining Dawn Books launched an affiliate program in 2011! It’s super easy to sign up and begin earning 20% commission on all sales referred by you!
Facebook and Pinterest
Join Shining Dawn Books on Facebook to find out about special offers and take part in occasional giveaways. And, visit me on Pinterest to see all the wonderful supplementary ideas I’m pinning to go along with the NaturExplorers series, Loving Living Math and more.
Happy New Year and Enjoy Your Winter Nature Studies!
Posted by Cindy on January 7, 2012
Remember my local efforts to clean up the magazine racks? I started by taking the offending magazines up to the customer service desk, then got in trouble for trying to protect my children so I answered back with a letter to the editor and a meeting with the manager of my local Walmart. Changes were made in my little community! It’s not perfect, but better. At least a little.
Apparently, I’m not the only one who’s frustrated in the check-out lines. WooHoo!! A nationwide petition has been started to either clean up or cover up Cosmopolitan! When I signed the petition this morning, over 18,000 people had already added their names! Will you??
Let’s see what a difference our voices can make!!
Posted by Cindy on January 6, 2012
Pinterest has opened my little online world so much! I’ve come across some seriously wonderful treasures, and Ellen McHenry’s Basement Workshop is one of those treasures! You will find fun, free, printable games and lessons that reach deep into real learning on all sorts of subjects. I literally pinned and downloaded almost everything on the site this week and have already used three of the resources with my children!
Viking Voyage is a simple game that reinforces mapping as your children discover Viking trade routes. We just happened to be studing Vikings this week as part of our Medieval studies!
This mapping activity doubles as a crayon resist art lesson, too! Again, we just happened to be studying the differences between knights and samurai this week, making a little mapping activity of Japan the perfect tie-in!
Eli (K4) wanted me to read The Milk Makers
to him today. I remembered downloading this game on rumination and pulled the bigger kids in on the book (turned lesson), too.
You REALLY need to see if anything on Ellen’s site floats your fancy!
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Filed Under: Games
Posted by Cindy on January 3, 2012
Remember the candy classification post from a couple months ago? My logic classes at co-op did a similar activity with 15-bean soup mix.
Before jumping into the activity, we talked about plant and animal classification. I showed them a pictorial example of how animals are classified and then further classified until each animal is eventually in it’s own category.
Each student was given a small pile of beans – approximately 50-60 beans with at least one of every variety in the pile. (I allowed my middle school group to work in teams of two or three students.)
I challenged them to create a classification system for their beans, making sure each bean ended up in its own category in the end. They were asked to use any characteristics they wished to separate the beans, with only two rules:
- use creative characteristics (not simply colors)
- don’t break every bean down into its own group in the first step
With each new separation based on a new characteristic, they were expected to note it on a chart so that, in the end, they could tell me the full “taxonomy” of each bean.
Ex: Bean -> small -> round -> flat -> green -> split pea
Each classification chart was unique because each student (or group of students) began with different characteristics of separation. So, when one person first separated the beans into large and small groups, another student might have used the categories of dark and light or oval and round.
I used this opportunity to discuss how Carolus Linnaeus “invented” the modern classification system of plants and animals in the 1700′s, but scientists even today don’t always agree about exact placements in the taxonomy.
We decided to create a “scientists roundtable”. Everyone went around the table and told the first characteristic they chose to separate the beans. If four out of five people (or groups) all used the characteristic of shape, we voted to make that the “official” first level of characterization. If two people used one characteristic and three people used another, each person had to “argue” their case for using that characteristic and then we all voted as to the “official” characterization. We continued through each level of the taxonomy in this manner until we came up with an “official scientist certified bean taxonomy”.
The kids all loved this activity! Besides science and logic, it was a great lesson in chart making, debate and cooperation!
