Tina's Dynamic Homeschool Plus

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Free Art Notebooking Pack – Grade 4 (Other Grades too)

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This post may contain affiliate links. For more information, please see my full disclosure policy.

I have been trying to focus this month on finishing up some of those partly done units that I used one year.  My art notebooking pages are part of those items on my to-do list.  My goal is to have all 7 grades done.

Art is one of those subjective subjects meaning sometimes grades don’t matter.  So having all of them done, I hope to use the rest of them as I go along.

Free Art Notebooking Pack {Set 4}

I have completed grades 5, 6, and 7.  You can find them on my art unit page.

Today, I have completed grade 4 or Packet 4.

How to Use Art Notebooking Pages

Just to remind you of how to use them, I added the picture above to show you.

Both notebooking sets are almost the same except for one minor detail or one box.

One set has a sketch box at the bottom right and the other set has a text box at the bottom right. 

You decide how much writing/research or sketching your child needs to do.  Too, you can mix and match the sets.  Download both and decide what you need that year.

For example, you can print one page for one piece of art work to sketch and print another page from the other set to write more facts on another art piece.

For each page, have your child record

  • the artist’s name
  • a few facts about the artist which you can find in the download on my site
  • the title of the art where the parenthesis are and
  • a few facts about the art

Then depending on which set you chose, your child will either sketch a small picture or write more interesting facts.

HOW TO GET THE FREE HOMESCHOOL ART CURRICULUM FOR GRADES 1 TO 8 AND NOTEBOOKING PAGES

Now, how to grab the free art curriculum. This is a subscriber freebie..

 1) Sign up on my list.
 2) Grab the freebie instantly.
 3) Glad to have you following me by email!

French Revolution Unit Study + Beheaded. The Guillotine Mini Book

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This post may contain affiliate links. For more information, please see my full disclosure policy.

French Guillotine 1 French Guillotine| The French Revolution| Tina's Dynamic Homeschool Plus

Tiny was all ears or is that all heads up (ha ha corny, I know I am a geek) when we studied the next sub-topic in our unit study.  When it comes to gore, why are our kids so heads up about topics like this?

Well it’s no doubt this topic was fascinating, but at the same time it would make quite the essay for a high school topic on capital punishment.  We touched on some of that in our school day, but mainly we focused on some of the science and history behind the guillotine because of Tiny’s age.

A lot of our facts and reading came from the Learning Through History magazine which is not printed anymore, but you can still buy the cds.  We have the issue on the French Revolution and it had some note worthy facts about the guillotine.

Here are a few:

  • The machine weighed around 1300 pounds or about the weight of a small car.
  • The guillotine metal blade weighed 88 pounds.
  • The height of the guillotine was around 14 feet tall or about the top of a basketball goal.
  • The falling blade had a rate of speed of about 21 feet/second, faster than a fastball thrown in a baseball game.
  • The beheading took 2/100 of a second, quicker than you blink.
  • The time for the guillotine blade to fall down to the victim took 1/70 of a second, quicker than you can say guillotine.

Because the guillotine remained the official French form of execution until 1981, when the death penalty was abolished, there is some footage about guillotines on YouTube.  At least one of them is real.

I really did not see the learning value of allowing Tiny to watch them, so I am not listing any here.

I focused more on the facts stated above.  There is a book that is for ages 12+ that was recommended in the magazine if you want to look at it.  We had enough information with the magazine, but it certainly is worth a look at the history of it and if you want something more age appropriate.

The guillotine is a noteworthy invention by the France to a terrible problem of how people were executed.  Prior to the guillotine, people were burned at the stake, drawn and quartered or pulled apart by horse or oxen.

I think that is enough to introduce at Tiny’s age and since I wanted him to focus on some of the science or facts behind it, it allowed us to study this topic and it not be all about the French terror.

Download the The French Guillotine minibook here.

Soon, I will be showing you the placement of the minibooks on the file folder.

Are you caught up with us yet?

Hugs and love ya,

2012Tinasignature How To Shop For History Curriculum at a Homeschool Convention + Printable Cheat Sheet

See more of our posts about the French Revolution!

How To Shop For History Curriculum at a Homeschool Convention + Printable Cheat Sheet

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This post may contain affiliate links. For more information, please see my full disclosure policy.

This is a sponsored post and I am proud to be partnering with Great Homeschool Conventions this year because I LOVE their convention philosophy.

Homeschool History How to Shop For Curriculum at a Convention

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Convention season is just around the corner.  I like to plan early so I have time to mull over my choices, but especially my choices for my favorite subjects like history and geography.

Today, I am focusing on giving you a few things that I look for in a history program.  Instead of listing them in importance to me, I just listed them so you can decide which ones are important to you and which ones can take a backseat this next year.

Homeschool History Cheat Sheet

Too, I have prepared a cheat sheet for you by helping to separate the history vendors into different approaches.  This saves valuable time at a convention because you can spend time with the vendors that fit your approach.

choosing a homeschool history program free cheat sheet

You can download the Vendor Cheat Sheet here.

1.) Time Period Covered Quandary.   Before I purchase, I have to have an idea of what time period I want to focus on.  Do I want to cover history chronologically beginning with the ancients or do I want to hone in on one particular time period?  Look at my post here 8 Ways to Teach Homeschool History Other Than Chronologically if you are undecided.  For example if you want to cover one time period then look at the companies like My Father’s World or Knowledge Box Central.

2.) Children’s Abilities Quandary.  Instead of focusing on your children’s age which may be different than their ability, look for history curriculum that will either quench their thirst for history or scale it back into bite size pieces.  Be sure you are looking at levels above and below your child’s level to be sure you are making a good fit.

3.) History & Bible Together. I am always up for covering more than one subject at a time, but I always like choosing my own Bible reference material too.  Some history curriculum is lighter on Bible content, others not.  You decide what works for you this year.  For example, Story of the World at Rainbow Resource would be lighter on Bible content whereas Mystery Of History has more Bible coverage.  The most important thing to me is that I cover Bible along with history.

4.) Hands-on/Hands-off Learner.  If your child is not interested in crafts and wants to pick up and read and be done with it, then look at some of the text book providers or classical approach providers like Classical Conversations or Bob Jones.   If you’re like me and you would prefer that your children didn’t want to do any hands-on things, but that won’t ever happen (just kidding, I love doing these with my boys and NO I am not a crafty person, I just know it works) then look at the unit study approach and some of the books in the Variety category.  Look at BooksBloom, Great Hall Productions and Usborne books that can be used for hands-on ideas and for living books or audios.

5.) Business Matters.  Look over copyright usage for multiple children or how you are suppose to use it for your personal use.  Can you copy the material? Can you use it with more than one child?  Determine the actual price for you.

For example, though a history program that covers several time periods may be more expensive, it may allow usage for multiple children.

Do your math to compare apples to apples.

Look at this sample: If the cost of the history program is $80.00, then divide that by 3 (or number of children you have) = $26.66.

Then, if it can be used for multiple years, then divide that number again by the number of years.   If it’s a 4 year program, then it’s $6.66 per year per child.

Wow, what a deal, what a steal now.  Use both your business mind-set and teacher mind-set when you are shopping.

Shopping for homeschool history and supplements at a homeschool convention is one of my very favorite luvs and one of the best parts about being a home educator.  I love the smell of all the new books in the convention and the frenzy of shopping at each vendor’s booth.  Even at big conventions I always run into somebody I know too and visiting with each other is such a huge part of the fellowship felt when you go in person.

What about you? What is your favorite part about shopping for curriculum?

Have you decided which convention/s you are going to? Remember to register with Great Homeschool Conventions! Click on the graphic above to register.

I have some more posts on how to choose curriculum and some more free printable checklists to add to your arsenal.  Check it out below!

Free Checklists.

Master the Subjects Form – 5 Days Of The Benefits & Challenges of Teaching Mixed Ages Together – Day 4: Embrace Homeschooling Multiple Grades

Teacher’s Manual Checklist – {How To Series} How to Determine if a Teacher’s Manual is Treasure or Trash? + {printable checklist}

Hugs and love ya,

2012Tinasignature Day 1. Unit Studies Define & Redefine the Meaning. 10 Days of Diving into Unit Studies by Creating a Unit Study Together.

This is also a blog hop. This blog hop is organized by iHomeschool Network, a collaboration of outstanding homeschool bloggers who connect with each other and with family-friendly companies in mutual beneficial projects. Visit us on Pinterest, Twitter and Google Plus. And of course, click the image below to visit all the other blog articles from the homeschool moms of the iHomeschool Network.

hows-whys

Day 3. Selecting Superior Sub-Topics. 10 Days of Diving Into Unit Studies By Creating A Unit Study Together

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This post may contain affiliate links. For more information, please see my full disclosure policy.

Day 3. Selecting Superior Sub-Topics. Unit Study

Affiliate Link ElementsSlice and dice of your unit study begins with being picky about sub-topics.  One significant reason that could dampen a unit study is not selectively choosing sub-topics.  Chiseling that main topic down into manageable planning sub-topics is the key to not covering “everything” and not being overwhelmed.  Not only did I choose the topic of Oceans to do with you because it has a kazillion topics so I can illustrate a slice and dice method, but I also wanted to pull you in closer on the specific how tos of choosing a sub-topic.

Trim and Fit Unit Studies

From the beginning, it is important to brainstorm sub-topics that would fit naturally into your main theme.  In other words never force a fit to make something fit into a subject for the sake of saying you covered something in that subject.  It really makes for some awkward learning moments.  I have done it and afterwards I felt like I was having an insane homeschooling day.

For example, I mentioned in Day 2. Tips For Choosing Unit Study Topics. 10 Days of Diving Into Unit Studies By Creating A Unit Study Together I chose Oceans not just because it will be part of our big move coming up, but because it is a science topic.  I want our sub-topics to stay focused more on science.  So if I was to try to tie in history by asking the boys how do they think the Oregon Trail pioneers felt when they arrived in Oregon and viewed the Pacific Ocean would feel awkward to me.  On the other hand if I tied in the history of seafaring to our unit study, that would feel more natural.

Make sense?

Books and Guides Matter

Next, the very basic essential to planning an excellent unit study is having a hardworking spine which can be a study guide, teacher’s manual, textbook, pamphlet, living book or article on line.  Start by looking over what you already have in your home library to choose as a guide.  If you don’t have one, then make a visit to the library to find one or buy one if you think you will do this topic again and can use it with multiple children.

Though I love living books, I normally use them to include as our literature to read.  Sometimes I choose a living book, but a lot of times I do not.  Why? Because books that give me ideas for hands-on too from the very beginning sets me up for success by making the unit study easier.  I want to work less in teacher prep so I chose books filled with facts AND that have hands-on ideas for projects.  It really depends on what type of unit study also.  For example, if we were doing one a famous person then a living book would be my number one go to book.

Also if you have younger children, then choosing a living book like the ones by Holling C. Holling like I have listed below are great story readers and make a useful teacher spine.  It is easy too at times to find hands on ideas for younger learners, but not quite as easy for older students.

So as the teacher you decide what type of books keeps it easy for you and for the ages of the children you have.  No need to dread hands-on because that is the life of a great unit study.  Just be more picky about choosing the unit study guide.  Instead of going with a living book for my Ocean Unit Study, then I am going with more of a fact book which already has ideas for hands-on projects.

I have mentioned these books before and now I gathered some of them up for you to see.  Because hands on ideas are already included, they make WONDERFUL unit study starters.

Discover the Oceans is the one I will be using for this unit study from my favorite books above.   This doesn’t mean I can’t add another spine.  I had this one at home and it is a good jumping off point.  Look below at the chapters inside the book.

how to use a chapter book to prep unit study

I don’t have to fuss much because I already have a guide or direction to go with on this topic.   Quickly glancing at the chapters I can tell which ones are the direction we need to go and which ones I may need to look over.  The “maybe” chapters are ones I need to look at because I want to keep this a more science topic and I want to be sure they don’t pull us too far off that track.

Unit Study Course of Study | Tina's Dynamic Homeschool Plus

(page from my Unit Study Planner)

Choose sub-topics that pique your children’s interests and then assign them to subjects.  I will be doing this in the next post where I will have chosen all my sub-topics for the Ocean, but I have an example above from my FBI unit study to show you now.  I have 3 sub-topics shown.  Two that interested my boys which are J. Edgar Hoover and the effects of WWI and one I added, which is the U.S. Government.   So I added something I felt like they needed to study about and grouped with the sub-topics that they naturally picked.   On the right side I used a check to show which subject areas I felt those sub-topics met.

So up to this point, you  need to

  • Pick a guide or two;
  • Look over the chapters;
  • Determine which chapters will help you in your topic and which ones will not or would the book serve better as a reader or literature.
  • Choose your sub-topics

Next post I will share my sub-topics on the Ocean Unit Study and then show you how to start pulling resources together.

Are you with me still?

Hugs and love ya,

10 Days of Creating A Unit Study Together

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Teachable Moments Calendar–Are you missing out? Let’s Partyyyyyyy!!!!

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This post may contain affiliate links. For more information, please see my full disclosure policy.

This giveaway is now closed. After the winner is drawn, that information will be posted at the bottom of this post. Thanks for being here and be sure to check out my sidebar for more goodies.

Things have been entirely too serious around here as I have been in a GO-GO mood pitching out junk house items and boxing up things.  Let’s have some fun today because I want to tell you about Currclick’s Teachable Moments Calendar.

Have you seen it? If not, you’re missing out on some great help when planning your unit studies or just adding some fun to your school.

{Click on the graphic to go to that page.}

When you sign up you will receive a newsletter .pdf every month with some sweet resources that apply to that month.  Some resources are free, others are not.  The calendar helps you plan because it includes resources for notable days.  For example, I already grabbed the freebie for Attila the Hun when I went to Currclick’s facebook page.  You have to read the newsletter to be reminded about the freebie each month.  There are a few more I am eyeballing because they help when planning my unit studies.  I have been looking over the resources for the French and Indian War too because they go with my free lapbook on the French and Indian War.

Guess what? I love when my sponsors luv you and today Currclick wants to give away (1) Gift Certificate for $20.00 to one of my readers!  Can you use it?

 

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 >>>>>>> RULES. Let’s keep it easy. <<<<<<<

I don’t try to stress you out before you enter this giveaway, so I try to limit those thingamajigs and widgets for you to use to sign up with.  Sometimes I have to use them, but this time I don’t.   It’s easy here, just reply to this blog post Teachable Moments Calendar, which I even link for you.

1. Though I love you and your emails to me, you won’t be entered if you email me.  You have to reply to this blog post Teachable Moments Calendar.

2. Sign up for the Currclick Teachable Moments Newsletter. (Click on either graphic above)

3. Giveaway for the gift certificate starts today February 4, 2014 {NOW} and ends February 9, 2014 @ 10:00 a.m. CST.

4. You can have to 2 entries on this baby.   Comment here on the blog for both entries.

5. Open to everyone.

6. Lastly, because we can’t be a once in a lifetime email reader, the winner has 24 hours to claim his/her prize or I will pick another winner.

That’s it! Easy Peazzy.

Let’s get this party started! Click Teachable Moments Calendar to go to the blog post to comment or if you are here on my blog already, just comment on this blog post.

Hugs and love you, hope you win!

2012Tinasignature Hands On History Kit–South America Unit Study

Congratulations to Commenter Number 2, which is Leann.

currclick giveaway comment number 2

Leanne
Feb 06, 2014 @ 14:41:38 [Edit]

Thanks for the the contest — love currclick!