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Get Ready for Spring - Nature Notebooking Sale

Spring is just around the corner! Get outside and seize the most from your day . . . with Nature Notebooking!    Notebooking is a powerful tool that captures what your children have learned, turning it into a concise, artful piece of work. Visit NotebookingPages.com for free and affordable templates to help you get started today! Simply print out a selection of free notebooking templates or choose pages from one of their themed sets.   Now is a great time to try some of NotebookingPages.com's nature products during their Get Ready for Spring Sale Event! See below: a great list of ways to use their popular "Nature Notebooking Pages".

Check out all of the sale details here: NotebookingPages.com Spring Sale Event   Save even more with these special coupons! Use coupon code: spring15p to save an additional 15%. Use coupon code: spring5 to save $5 off any purchase of $10 or more.   * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * Some Ideas for Using Your NotebookingPages.com Nature Pages by Debra @ NotebookingPages.com   These are some of the ideas behind why I created each of these pages. Maybe they will help spark an idea for your use of them as well.   7 Days of Creation Draw &/or write captions & narrations for each day of creation.   All About Animals “Cover Pages” Print these pages on cardstock and laminate/put in sheet protectors to make divisions for your notebook.   “Animal Tracks” Use these to draw the paw (foot) prints of the animals you study and record their name on the line provided. You could draw one print or a set of front/back prints.   “General Pages” Use these pages to draw or paste a picture of the animal being observed/studied. Allow children to use the Word Bank to help them write a detailed entry about the animal’s characteristics. Use the “Special Characteristic” box to draw the animal’s special beak, feet, paw print or other feature that has a uniquely designed purpose.   “Observation Jar” The only difference between these two pages are the pictures at the top—boy/girl. Allow children to catch their critters and bring back home to observe. Use this page to draw/write about their observations.   Animal Pages Print out several of these pages and file them in the appropriate section of your notebook—ready for your nature studies! Or just print out several pages of each and keep them handy! Use the side box on these pages to jot down details to remember about the critter you’re observing or reading about. Then write a summary below your drawing.   “Frogs and Toads” Fill in the life cycle of frogs/toads using pictures or words. The first page gives a caption for each box and the 2nd page leaves this blank.   “Beaks & Feet” Observe the special beaks and feet of birds. Draw a picture of those you observe/study and jot down their purposes.   “Arthropods, Insects, Spiders” Several pages are given for drawing the arthropods you are studying by their segments. Space is given to write the details about each segment. The next pages can be used to draw/write about arthropods. Word banks are given to help children remember what to look for when drawing/writing. There are several pages for the life cycle of insects—some for complete and incomplete metamorphosis. Some have details, some do not. There are 2 pages given for drawing the web of a particular spider. Use the smaller box to draw a picture of the spider and the larger box for the web. One page gives a box for any details you would like your child to write about. Habitats Use these pages to record what you find in a variety of habitats or to draw a picture of the landscape. Have children take a magnifying glass when observing tiny creatures, a jar for any catches they want to bring home, and a digital camera to take pictures of those fast-moving creatures.   Nature Log & Journaling Pages “Log Pages” Use the nature log pages to record all your finds—especially the dates of the birds arriving in spring and the first flowers opening in spring—first day of snow—???? Keep this simple and keep it handy! There are pages for each season.   “Vine Bordered Journal Pages” Use these for journaling/drawing about your nature studies. Use the divided four boxes (with/without lines) to compare different animals or plants—like all the different black-colored birds in your backyard or poison ivy and other *imposters*. Use the boxes with lines to record four different topics about a particular animal/plant.   Plants, Flowers & Trees Pages Use the first page as a divider for your notebook. Use the first tree page to draw detailed sketches (or add pictures) of a specific tree/shrub. Use “Leaf of a Tree” & “Bark of a Tree” to add samples of your tree. Use “Plant & Flower Parts” to draw detailed sketches of the parts of a plant/flower. Let children use the Word Bank to help them remember which parts are needed (and how to spell them). Use the last page to draw detailed sketches of the leaves/flowers or to add samples.   Rocks & Minerals Use these pages to draw & glue photographs of collected rocks. Use the space provided to describe your finds or to narrate what has been learned about the types of rocks & minerals.   Seasons Pages Use one of the first couple of pages for a division in your notebook. You could use the empty boxes to record your observations of a certain animal, plant, tree through the four seasons or to draw the locations of the sun/moon for each season. Use the rest of the pages for journaling/drawing about seasonal studies. Weather Pages Use the first page as a divider for your notebook.   “Week of Weather” - use the pictures to draw the day’s weather. “Precipitation” - Fill in the small boxes with the dates for the month and then record the amount of rainfall for the day—by collecting it yourself, watching the news, looking it up online…   100 Fun Frames & Borders—Great for nature copywork, narrations, drawings, journaling, etc.!

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Bye Bye Barbara!

Barbara is the name our kids chose for the pig we bought to raise for slaughter. (I have no idea why.) Today she went to the great barn in the sky and by next week we'll be enjoying bacon complements of Barbara. Mmmmm...data:post.body

Musings of a Sinful Mother

Sometimes I am ashamed of myself. As I lay in bed last night contemplating the day, I realized my eleven year old son has more patience with his brother than I do. When a situation gets tense, he is more likely to bring humor to the situation than to get angry. With me, it is just the opposite.

Not surprisingly, my boys' relationship with one another is thriving, while I struggle to connect with my middle son. I suppose it's confession time, eh?

Usually, when this starts happening I know it's time to spend more of my day on my knees and less of it doing all the million things that seem so urgent in the moment. Sigh... My hope lies in the Lord of the universe, otherwise I may just ignore my issues and trip merrily on my way. In the moment, that would be easier but ultimately, my son would suffer even more than he already has.data:post.body

Staying Cool in the Snow

Can you get any cuter than this?data:post.body

Enterprizing and Thoughtful Boy

Ezra is my little entrepreneur. The great thing is that he is also thoughtful, and he combines the two well. He went door to door, shoveling walks in our small neighborhood but didn't ask for money from anyone. If they offered to pay him, he told them he didn't have to have money for his work. Some insisted on paying him, while others didn't. In the end, he made $45. Not bad for an eleven year old! Great job, Ezra!data:post.body

Have We Created a House of Cards?

As January speeds to a close I am starting to get into the swing
of things again for the second half of the school year. The
holidays are behind us (whew!) and we are finally back into our
normal routine. This is the time of year when I look back over
the fall semester and start panicking about what I haven't
accomplished yet this year. I have to reign in my emotions and
focus again on what I have determined is my philosophy of
education.

The longer I home educate the more strongly I believe that our
public school system has missed the mark horribly when it comes
to timing. In an effort to ease the discomfort of millions of
parents who have either chosen to work outside the home or have
to out of necessity, our school system has forced younger and
younger children into formal education. After all, it makes
sense that early exposure to reading and math would make better
students--right? Unfortunately, in spite of the valiant efforts
of thousands of teachers and administrators, the evidence points
to the contrary. Never before has the United States seen so many
illiterate students and such a high drop-out rate. Our current
system has built a house of cards that is falling quickly.

I believe that part of the failure of the system is due to the
fact that children's brains are not physically ready for the
level of thinking required by formal education until they are
much older. There are many examples of this in history. For
instance, Patrick Henry, who was the instigator of the Bill of
Rights and the famous lawyer during Revolutionary times,
literally could not be kept in a school building and had to be
home educated by his father. (He kept escaping into the woods!)
This education didn't start in earnest until Patrick was nine
years old. Incidentally, he also didn't wear shoes until then!
Most children up until the early 1900's didn't attend formal
schooling until they were around nine years old, and most of them
only managed about five months of schooling out of every year,
and yet, the literacy rate was much higher at the turn of the
20th century than it is now!

How does this relate to my philosophy of education? I have come
to the conclusion that my children can be taught in the home
school everything they need to be successful without foisting
formal education on them until their brains have time to develop.
How freeing it is to realize my children don't have to plod along
on a public school schedule (extinguishing their love of learning
the while) and that I can truly be the one who decides what is
best for them. I have made this choice because with my adopted
children especially, relationship is more important than the
three R's. I have focused on relationship first and have only
pressed formal education after a positive relationship was
intact. The irony in this is that I'm sure I would not be able
to teach them effectively had I not started with the
relationship.

So, if this is your first year teaching at home, or if you have
the opportunity to keep your little ones home an extra year if
you are sending them away to school, take my advice and focus on
relationship first. Let your child explore and learn naturally
and concentrate on connecting with him. My prediction is that
both you and your child will be more successful in the long run
and you will avoid much frustration, both in learning and in
loving.data:post.body

One Horse Open Sled?

The Colles family graciously invited the kids for an overnighter where they frolicked in the snow with Basksko the horse on a sled. Wow, did they have fun!data:post.body