Little Do-Dads

For most of us, we like to home school on a budget. This means scouring second hand stores for treasured books, popping into Dollar Stores for construction paper and pencils and finding a multitude of uses for everyday items - Who knew a cookie sheet was really a magnet board, a foundation for a rock and water world and a musical instrument???

Recently, I purchased a couple of inexpensive schooling supplies that have me and my kids a little bit giddy.

The first item is a clipboard. We love the clipboard for taking our work on the road i.e. field trips, car rides, and nature walks. We tie a pencil through the clip at the top and the kids are good to go.

The second item is a magnifying glass. With a magnifying glass my kids are able to get "close-up" to bugs under a rock, the veins in a leaf or the 6 points of a snowflake that has fallen on their mitten.

Below is a photo of my daughter exploring the needles from a pine tree. With her magnifying glass she was able to better see the shape and texture of the needles. We cut a needle open and she was able to see the texture inside the needle as well. Oh look - she's using her clipboard too! :)


What are your favourite homeschooling supplies. I would love to read about them in the comment area. :)

Eco Kids

Recently I was introduced to a new favourite website: Eco Kids.

There is a kids area and a teachers area when you first arrive at the website. As a homeschooling parent, you can register as a "teacher" and get access to all of the neat resources available. You just need to provide an email address to use as your log in.

One of the resources that I am enjoying with my kids is the calendars. Each month has a different Eco theme, and each day has a little fact, riddle or activity related to the theme.

For example:
January - Winter Wonderlands
February - Global Village
March - Water
April - Earth Day
May - 3 R's - Recycling, Reusing, Reducing
June - Looking At What We Eat

The calendars are easy to print off, hang on the fridge, and use as a new way of learning about environmental ideas.

There is much more available on the site, so take a moment to look around at Eco Kids

Winter Links

Animal Tracks
Snowflake Photography
Snowflake Bentley

A Wonderful Winter Nature Study

I recently purchased a delightful winter unit from the Five in a Row digital store. The unique thing about this unit is that it is digital. As a customer, I purchased the unit online and received it within a few moments as an attachment in an email. It was quick and easy to download and once opened, it was jammed packed with tons of great ideas. Some of the ideas included tips and printables for winter nature studies (including animal studies), read alouds, poems, songs, quotations, art ideas, etc. The cost of the unit is $16 and is well worth every penny. It can be used across grade levels and can be easily integrated along with any curriculum. It is definitely something that I will go back to year after year during the chilly winter months.

Nature Walk Extravaganza

Instilling a LOVE of nature in my children is a priority since nature is a reflection of God's awesomeness. I like to take time to be awed at His creation and I like to bring my kids alongside in this experience.

Tomorrow I have an autumn nature walk planned. To help with our discoveries, I am going to have the girls use this picture checklist from abcteach : Nature Walk Checklist

Recently I came across some other neat ideas to use while exploring nature:
Painted Egg Carton Discovery Chest

Using your 5 Senses

Top 10 Things to Do on a Nature Walk


Awe-Tumn
When summer's seams
Have come undone,
Then greens to reds
And purples run.
A palette falls
To forest floor,
And autumn leaves
Leave me in awe.

~ Douglas Florian ~ "Autumnblings"

A Forest Scavenger Hunt

This is a fun little scavenger hunt that I came across in a local environmental magazine:

~ a mushroom
~ lichen (like hanging hair)
~ a cedar tree
~ a seed
~ a feather
~ a non-native species
~ a sign of the season
~ a sign of humans
~ a branch or stick shaped like a letter
~ a squirrel or chipmunk chattering
~ something red
~ something round
~ a conifer cone (like a pine or fir cone)
~ a scat (animal droppings)
~ somebody's home
~ a bird song
~ a stream or creek
~ a nurse log (a log with plants growing on it)
~ a wildflower
~ a sign of a woodpecker
~ a rotten log
~ a worm or an insect
~ something yellow
~ a river worn rock (smooth and round)
~ moss on a tree trunk or log
~ an old growth tree (takes 3 kids arms to wrap around the trunk!)