Hands-on Learning Archives - Page 13 of 19

Mendelssohn, Brahms, Bach?

June 7, 2012Tracy

I’ve been all over the place deciding what composer to study this summer. It’s been really bad. But I did finally decide, and everything fell together really nicely after all.

I had originally thought we would be studying Mendelssohn because I had a free set of plans for Monet and Mendelssohn. Then one day it dawned on me that I didn’t have to study Mendelssohn just because we were studying Monet. It dawned on me because I’d just picked up another free set of plans to study Brahms, and Brahms sounded so much more appealing than Mendelssohn. So, Brahms it was.

Until I listened to one of my kids LeapPad books and realized that our artists up to this point (Handel and Vivaldi) have been in the Baroque period. I hadn’t given much teaching time to the music periods; we simply listened to the music and read biographies. But suddenly it seemed that I ought to teach the music period, and I ought to teach Bach since he was in our Baroque period of music.

So, after much indecision, Bach it is.

I have plenty of materials, which is one reason the decision has been so hard to make. But I have stumbled upon some really excellent music fun that I thought I’d pass along.

First, I found over 60 pages of music lapbooking bliss for FREE at Living Life Intentionally blog. Next, I ran across The Story of the Orchestra at our library (complete with CD) and wondered, “Where have you been all this time?” This book is absolutely fabulous. Very kid-friendly, very “non-music person” friendly. The first half of the book introduces composers by period and includes a note about which track to play on the CD; the second half of the book introduces the orchestra and specific instruments of the orchestra, with accompanying tracks on the CD. I’ve learned so much from this book! Lastly, I picked up Erica’s World’s Greatest Composers study for $5.50. I love her lapbooking materials; I love her notebooking pages; I love the layout of her study.

And yes, I am going to attempt some lapbooks this summer. It is summer after all.

Read-Aloud Raves: The Turn-Around Upside-Down Alphabet Book

June 1, 2012Tracy

The other day, I actually had the rare privilege of a library trip all by myself (well, sort of all by myself; the littlest tagged along, of course.) Naturally, I planned on picking up a few books for the kids. Once I got there, however, I had this overwhelming sense of—being overwhelmed! Where was I going to start? How on earth was I going to choose?

In the end, I stumbled upon some really cool finds, and I wanted to share my treasures with each of you, then let you comment with a few suggestions for me!

My first book to rave about is The Turn-Around Upside Down Alphabet Book that I picked up for Middle-est. It totally appealed to her artistic, kinesthetic learning style. Each letter of the alphabet is captioned on all four sides, describing a different picture that the letter makes. Hard to describe, which is why I took pictures.

This book is an absolute blast! It won’t be replacing her all time favorite (Chicka Chicka Boom Boom), but it was a fun alternative for our preschool learning.

Testing the Waters

May 30, 2012Tracy

I have a confession to make: nature study absolutely terrifies me. I love the idea of having my children explore the outdoors and learn about science as they observe and ask questions. But truthfully, it also makes me a little uncomfortable because I often don’t know the answers.

Last summer, our nature study consisted of using our senses. I was okay with that. All I was really doing was moderating their experiences of taste, touch, sight, sound, and smell. But this summer, as we tip-toe toward REAL nature study, I feel a little hesitant. So as I relate our summer to all of you, I’ll really be sharing how I am overcoming my nature study insecurities. Hopefully, some of you will chime in with your own experiences and cheer me on a little.

(That was my disclaimer. Now for your first installment of my rather insecure start to this summer’s nature study.)

The other day, my oldest asked me if he could do a craft outside. Inside, I panicked. I saw scissors on my sidewalk, melted crayons in the grass, and tiny bits of paper floating on the breeze. Then, I snapped out of my nightmare and offered my son a more mom-friendly alternative: nature study. I pulled out his nature journal from last year and his box of colored pencils. He happily trotted off to sketch the great outdoors. He came back in a few minutes later with this.

This, folks, is a picture of a mushroom; and, of course, he wanted to know the name of this creation so that he could write it in his journal. I could feel the anxiety surfacing, but instead, I led him to the computer where I typed into google the name of our state and the word “mushrooms.” A university website came up in the search, and we scrolled down through the photos until we found the one that matched his picture: purple-spored puffball.

He copied the name onto his page and went back outside. A few minutes later, he dashed back inside with a new sketch and a new question. Once again, we headed to the internet and discovered the white clover flower. (Sad, friends, isn’t it? that I didn’t know the name of that flower without the aid of the internet? I am ashamed. But I’m hoping my honest confession will inspire someone else who feels totally inadequate when it comes to nature study.)

My first day of nature study, and it was all that I feared it would be: lots of questions that I didn’t have answers for. But I realized that through my ignorance, I’m teaching my children a lesson even more valuable than mushroom and flower identification. I’m showing them how to learn and how to find the answers they are seeking. And, Praise the Lord! Google is coming through for me.

Visiting Australia

May 25, 2012Tracy

Slowly but surely we’re getting back into a routine, and I’ve gradually added our geography back into the mix. And what a fun country to start back with: Australia!

In addition to our usual activities (notebooking the country map and the flag, Children Just Like Me, etc.), I was able to throw in a few fun extras.

We read a Magic Treehouse book.

We drew koalas using the promotional video from Mark Kistler’s online art school. (The Homeschool Buyers Co-op is running a fantastic deal this month on a subscription to his lessons [$40/year/family].)

Koalas by Middle-est — Middle-est's rendition

Koalas by Oldest — Oldest embellished his drawing with several koalas during a thunderstorm. Notice all of their sad, frightened faces?

Sidewalk Koala — One koala even made it out to the sidewalk.

We decorated boomerangs (print out from Expedition Earth), cut them out, and pasted them to cardboard. After looking at a couple of examples of boomerang designs on the internet, we concluded that an animal goes in the middle (kangaroo or lizard) and a dot-design fills the outside ends.

boomerang 2 — He's really into drawing lately. I googled a video lesson on how to draw a lizard just for this project.

Real boomerang — Dad even contributed to the day with his REAL boomerang from Australia, given to him by a friend who had gone there on a mission trip.

Then, we finished the week by watching Coral Reef Adventure on Netflix and completing a notebooking page (I’m learning to make my own! Future post idea for sure.)

Coral Reef coloring page — coral reef coloring page from EnchantedLearning.com

The arrival of Littlest has us behind in geography, but all that means for us is we’ll be taking our adventure into the summer (and my original plans of U.S. geography will have to be postponed.) Next stop: South America!

*Disclaimer: I have included my affiliate link for Homeschool Buyers Co-op. What that means is that your membership and purchases through my links will earn points for me to use for homeschool products at the Smart Points Vendor Hall on HBC’s website. Thanks!

Summer Insect Desk Tags

May 4, 2012Tracy

I love to have desk tags for the kids, not only as a fun school decoration but also as a learning tool. The kids have both learned to write their names by tracing on their laminated desk tags. I also have them place their pencils on their desk tag when they are not using them.
Since insects will be a key part of our nature study this summer, I decided to have insects as the theme for our new desk tags. And when I couldn’t find what I wanted, I attempted to make one using public domain clip art off the internet. I’m really pleased with my first attempt!
Take a look or download it for your use.

Desk Tag Tutorial

Want to make your own? It really was not hard at all. I used an Open Office text document and created a table of three rows x one column. Then, I adjusted the size of each row. Next, I added a dashed line in the center of the second row. I did need to be sure that my borders for the table were selected and set at 1 point.

That’s it! Just add your stock photos or google for public domain clip art to find exactly what you want. It turned out to be much faster than searching the internet for pre-made desk tags. Have fun!

Learning in the Moment

April 25, 2012Tracy3 Comments

One of my goals for this summer is to embrace learning in the moment, particularly with nature study; and I had my first opportunity to do that the other morning during our school time.

We’ve been doing a lot of our school out of the school room lately—at the kitchen table, in the living room, on the couch—since I’m usually feeding the baby and since it’s so much more comfortable to do that on the couch than in the school room.

My oldest was at the table completing a worksheet, the little one was doing her Reading Eggs lesson, and the baby was getting his fill when a couple of birds flew back and forth across our porch several times. The kids immediately ran to the window to watch them, and fortunately, the lively pair paused for a breather right in front of the window. We studied them quickly. I pointed out the coloring of the birds and the unique forked tail. Then, they flew off once again.

Of course, the kids wanted to know what kind of bird they were, so I opened up my laptop. It was my first time to try to identify a bird using the internet, but I knew that it was bound to be possible. I googled birds in our state and found a site that provided pictures of a number of birds that could be found in our area. We talked through several similar birds until we found one that matched our porch friends—barn swallows.

Next, I visited AllAboutBirds.org and looked up barn swallow. We read about the bird and listened to it’s call. Then, I printed off some notebooking pages (that I’d actually just downloaded that morning). The kids were thrilled, and I felt exuberant. Not only was it the perfect opportunity to instill the wonder of God’s creation, but it was an opportunity to embrace learning that wasn’t on the lesson plan.

Barn Swallow2 — I insisted that the little one color her birds as we saw them, but as a compromise I let her color the rest of the page as she wanted. Thus, the pink barns!

Back to Renoir

April 24, 2012Tracy1 Comment

It’s been awhile since I’ve pulled out our art study. I have Renoir art flashing on my laptop all the time as a screensaver, so it’s a constant reminder to the kids of what we haven’t been doing.

My son, who absolutely loves when we color these masterpieces, has been bringing up Renoir’s absence rather frequently; and it finally occurred to me that it would be the perfect “quiet time” activity for him. I pulled out the coloring page and colored pencils for him, printed off a copy of the art original, and walked off.

Renoir Young Girls at the Piano — Young Girls at the Piano

Folks, he blissfully colored on this page for two whole hours! And the results of his labor blew me away. He mixed his colors meticulously to match as closely as he could to the original, and even when it wasn’t the perfect match, it was an outstanding job identifying the different shades of color.

Though it took us forever to get to it, this was the last Renoir piece I had scheduled for us to color. And as for biography information, I found the best book at the library. (We read it late in February, but with the arrival of the baby I hadn’t posted about it yet.) Not only did it have great kid-friendly information about the artist, but it also explained Impressionism very well and had fun pointers about what aspects characterized an artist’s work. For instance, Renoir loved to paint people having a good time and his people were typically painted with very fair, cream-colored skin and rosy cheeks.