Our Journey Westward » Notebooking

Traveling Seeds

Cindy — Mon, 21 Sep 2009 15:43:38 +0000

Have you ever noticed that God made seeds with adaptations that give them the best opportunity to make it to fertile land and grow into new plants? Hooks, wings, feather, rolling shells, floating bodies and yummy fruit whose seed will be pooped out are several examples. We took time last week during our nature walk to observe seed adaptations using the notebooking page found in the NaturExplorer Fruit and Nut study.

Here’s just a sampling of the seeds we found. This time of year is wonderful for finding fruits, nuts and seeds!

Okay, not a seed, fruit or nut, but I couldn’t resist this picture! This friendly little Fritillary spent several minutes fluttering between this Queen Anne’s Lace and a stalk of Yellow Ironweed.

Wildflower Studies

Cindy — Wed, 19 Aug 2009 13:58:52 +0000

This month’s nature study is focusing on wildflowers. Our farm is just abundant with wildflowers this time of year! During last week’s study, we placed a blanket among a field full of wildflowers to read books and praise the Lord for His magnificent beauty.

Afterward, I sent the kids off on a scavenger hunt. They had a ball running around the field trying to check off each and every item.

Mahayla on the wildflower scavenger hunt.

Caleb checking off his scavenger hunt list.

Eli scavenging wildflowers to hit with a stick.

After the scavenger hunt, each of the big kids had to go in search of one flower that was new to them to bring back to the blanket. They had to identify it and write down various characteristics and information on a notebooking page.

Filling out a notebooking page for the flower of their choice.

Caleb's flower = Heal-All

Mahayla's flower = Evening Primrose

As usual, we had such a lovely time basking in God’s creation! You can find the notebooking pages we used (and more), plus TONS of wildflower activity ideas in the NaturExplorers unit Wonderful Wildflowers.

Settling the New World and Colonial Life Unit

Cindy — Tue, 04 Nov 2008 14:05:00 +0000

I love Colonial History and, after this unit, I think my children do, too. We covered everything from the first colonies of Roanoke, Jamestown and Plymouth to the settlement of all 13 original colonies to life in colonial times. Thanks to our “spine” books, the unit was packed full of great notebooking/lapbooking activities and tons of hands on experiences.

Some of the hands-on activities included making butter, playing leapfrog, bb gun target practice, sewing, embroidery, knot tying, writing with a homemade quill pen and ink, making candles, knitting, decoupage, making hasty pudding and so much more.

Mahayla’s assigned reading for the unit turned into the TWO books below. I only asked her to complete a “report” on one. I gave her a book called Better Than Book Reports: More Than 40 Creative Responses to Literature which gave her many ideas for fun book reports (mobiles, dioramas, timelines, etc.) She chose to write a book report and give an oral presentation.

Caleb’s assigned reading was:

Among many picture books, we also listened to:

I was able to find lots of fun freebies online for this unit, too…..

Jamestown Online is a fun game that allows you to make decisions like the original settlers would’ve had to make. In the end (it only takes a few minutes), you see how well your colony survived based on your choices. My kids loved it!

Colonial Williamsburg Kids Zone has all sorts of historical online games that also reinforces academic skills. They are short, sweet and fun!

PBS’s Colonial House site has several fun interactive games and quizzes. Would you have survived the colony?

Quia has a fun colonial quiz.

This Salem Witch Trial Site has a neat video about the trials.

The Colonial America 1600-1775 site is FULL of great links!

I’ll be sharing a few of our favorite projects from this unit in other posts later this week. Right now, we’re off to the Revolutionary War!

13 Colonies Lapbook/Notebook

Cindy — Fri, 31 Oct 2008 13:42:00 +0000

We’re finishing up our Thirteen Colonies & Colonial Life Unit this week! I’ll be posting soon about the biggest chunk of the unit, but I wanted to take a minute to highlight the 13 Colonies lapbook/notebook we put together using:

I had to do the legwork of locating library books about each of the Thirteen Colonies, as well as Roanoke, Jamestown and Plymouth. But the wonderful activity ideas were ready and waiting in the book. It turned out to be a lovely way to document a bit of info on each of the colonies we learned about.

Horses Lapbook

Take a Walk in Your Socks??

Cindy — Wed, 08 Oct 2008 18:15:00 +0000

That’s what we did yesterday! All in the name of nature study, of course. With some of Dad’s older socks (one white pair and one dark pair) the kids were instructed to run through as many fields, patches of weeds, fence rows – whatever they could find – and then come back home in ten minutes time.

Before

After

They took some time to remove as many different seeds and such that they could find and observed each one of them under a magnifying glass. After talking a bit about this method of seed dispersal, they completed a notebooking page on their finds.

Art time was so much fun as Mrs. Kim had several sensory centers set up for experimenting with various art techniques.

1st Day of Summer Wildflower Walk

Fine Arts Tuesday #4

Cindy — Wed, 10 Sep 2008 15:40:00 +0000

The walnut trees are beginning to change colors and drop leaves in Kentucky already. While they’re still full of nuts, I wanted our nature study time this week to focus on these trees. We used one of the nature notebooking pages from the Delightful Deciduous Trees NaturExplorers study to focus our attention.

Mahayla made some Apple Cinnamon Muffins that we took on the road for a modified tea time. After notebooking pages were filled out using info from the Tree Fandex Field Guide; I read Claude Monet: Sunshine and Waterlilies about our current artist; and read Ludwig Van Beethoven about our current composer.

Back at home, the kids tried their hands at Monet’s Impressionist-style outdoor art. They both found interesting places to sit and paint.

Beethoven’s Symphony #3 is our listening piece of the week. Something about classical music playing during work time really keeps them focused and peaceful. Hmmm….I may pipe classical music through the house at all hours of the day!

Creation Club – Ponds

Cindy — Wed, 21 May 2008 16:26:00 +0000

So here’s what I had envisioned. A peaceful day at the pond with children who ever-so-quietly and diligently explored life in and around the pond. Children who would pull out their nature journals at every interesting find, writing lovely poems and prayers. A day of discovery and awe.

Here’s what happened. Children racing around the pond, boys jumping in, muddy water, lots of laughing, and yet lots of exploring still. I’m not sure much nature journaling was accomplished, but most of the children went home with a cup full of nature to continue exploring. Their plan was WAY BETTER than mine! (Oh, and Colleene, SO sorry about the shoes!! )

The day started in my house with prayer, a little pond talk and the making of our underwater viewfinders. (These are easy. Cut the bottom out of an old container – milk, 2-liter, large yogurt. If needed, cut a bit of the top out, too, so you can easily look down through the container. Cover the bottom with plastic wrap, securing with a rubber band or duct tape. Submerge the plastic side into water and see what you can find under the water!)

Then, off to the pond we went. The kids had to first walk all the way around the pond, observing life on the edges. They were supposed to journal something they found. (Notice these are all girls!)

Then, they used the viewfinders to look down into the water. Again, they were supposed to journal something they found.

Finally, they used jars tied to poles to scoop water and life out for observation. Again, they were supposed to journal something they found.

Talk about hands-on learning. I think we might even be able to call this body-on learning. They had so much fun and I’m sure learned a thing or two in the process. At least that’s what I’m still envisioning.

We brought home a bit of moss and pond water. This morning, we were able to identify at least SIX different forms of life in about a cup’s worth of water!! For sure we have some tadpoles, water bugs and tiny snails. There are also tiny, tiny, tiny specks swimming around, tiny, tiny, tiny snake-like creatures and some oblong clear eggs with no observable animals inside. I can’t wait to see what grows!

Song of the Water Boatman and Other Pond Poems is a book full of pond poetry. Yes, I had even carted this to the pond thinking some sweet child would just love to write poetry in their nature journal. It wasn’t cracked open until later in the house! HaHa!

_______________________________________Would YOU like to have wonderful pond studies? You can! Peaceful Ponds gives you all you need – except the pond.

Our First Creation Club

Astronomy Final Projects and Notebooks

Cindy — Fri, 14 Dec 2007 12:30:00 +0000

We finished our astronomy unit this week! The kids spent a couple of days preparing final projects and presented them in front of the video camera on Thursday. They were able to choose whatever astronomy topic most interested them. It’s no surprise that Caleb chose astronauts as his topic. Mahayla focused on stars.

Caleb’s presentation included a talk about astronaut suits (see his helmet and jet pack?), space shuttles, rockets, Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin, dehydrated food and thrust.

Mahayla’s presentation included information about the sun, other notable stars, constellations, how to use an astronometer to tell the brightness of stars and some information about light years.

We used Exploring Creation With Astronomy as our main text, and also added in a few lapbooking activities and lots of hands on projects. I put what we had into modified lapbooks. The lapbooking activities were glued on the first flap, while the notebooking pages were simply stapled together at the top of the other side.

Our trip to the Answers In Geneis Creation Museum’s Planetarium earlier this year was a great addition to this unit!

Here are a few of the fun website games the kids enjoyed during the unit.

Solar System Trading Cards

Problems in Space

Make Your Own Solar System

Ancient History Final Projects

Cindy — Tue, 23 Oct 2007 17:09:00 +0000

Last week we wrapped up a very fun Ancient History unit. After learning what history is, we spent about a week on each of the following civilizations: Ancient Mesopotamia, Ancient Egypt, Ancient Israel, Ancient Greece, Ancient Rome, Ancient China and Ancient Aztecs.

This past week, I asked them each to choose the civilization that was their favorite and create a presentation about it. They could choose to present their information any way they liked and we video taped them.

Mahayla created a poster with information about various aspects of the Ancient Greek lifestyle. She made a discus, drew a wonderful picture of a horse and chariot, set up a book for a visual and dressed in a Greek fashion of the time. She really took this project seriously and made a great presentation. ) (Sorry for the dark pictures. I keep saying we need a new camera and I really mean it!)

Caleb also created a poster, but his was mostly pictures he (we) found on the internet that he labeled. He made a clay model of the Geat Wall of China, dressed in a robe and served us hot tea. I thought it was excellent for his first-ever presentation like this.

I really liked doing an end of the unit project and I think the kids did, too. I think we’ll make these part of each unit this year. Here are a few pictures of the notebooks we worked on throughout the unit.

Next stop: Space!