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ARTistic Pursuits, Middle School 6-8: Book One -The Elements of Art and Composition. {New} 3rd Edition.

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

At the beginning of the school year I shared with you how I was determined to add more fine arts to our school day. So when the call when out to review Middle School 6-8, Book One: The Elements of Art and Composition – 3rd Edition by ARTistic Pursuits, I was all over that.  Also, look at my page homeschool middle school for more fun tips.

Secretly, I would rather pine over studying anything related to history or geography than to teach my kids fine arts.

I have often wondered why I dread teaching art and I think I have figured it out. It is all related to having the right tools. Also, because Mr. Senior 2013 and Mr. Awesome had a private art teacher that was so inspirational when they were younger, I really felt the need to be sure that Tiny gets the best art instruction possible too.

All of this swirled around in my head as I anticipated receiving Middle School 6-8, Book One: The Elements of Art and Composition – 3rd Edition.

My test for ARTistic Pursuits was to see if they could deliver an art teacher in a book. I wanted something that didn’t just tell me to focus on the process and not the product. That may be fine if you are artfully inclined but for the rest of that are artfully challenged we wonder what the process is and where to start.

Tiny wasn’t convinced either if learning about art and drawing was for him. His arms went inside his shirt as I showed him what we were going to attempt. Poor thing, he has his momma’s apptitude for art.  ARTistic Pursuits, I feared met their match with Tiny.

When I got the book, I was first impressed with its appearance. I knew the book was quality because I had seen it before at homeschool conventions. It has comb binding so it lays flat which is always a huge deal to me when teaching. Each page is filled with drawing and sketching examples in pencil as well as color art when I flipped through it.  I was not disappointed. Then did I mention this is a BRAND SPANKING new edition – the 3rd edition? Things started off good and they just got better.

I focused on allowing the book to do the teaching. The getting started section to the students named:What Students Want to Know perked up Tiny. Out came one arm and then

the other arm as the book literally explained in a 1, 2, 3 approach about art. He figured out this may actually be an enjoyable and delightful process, and not the gut wrenching agonizing tortuous event he had conjured up in his head. He went from not wanting to do any lessons in the first week to spending several hours in one day doing multiple lessons.

Right away, I saw in the unit there was a  lesson for geography or history. Oh Yipppee for me. Give me some background so I can connect it to something I know too. For example, Lesson 2 explains about art in India. Some of the other cultures are Japan, China and Europe. I could see this book being used for a geography co-op. Discovering or exploring geography through studying world art would make a wonderful title for your co-op.

Here is a peek at the table of contents. It has 16 units with each unit having 4 lesson plans. You are encouraged to not rush each step as you learn and we didn’t. We savored each step.

Besides having our rapt attention with the background information and learning the elements of art, another favorite part about the book is that it has such a warm conversational tone. The explanations about each element of art are detailed in bite sized pieces but it also inspired Tiny to not compare his work with others. To explore his own creativity is encouraged. There are just enough guidelines to not overwhelm him but to give him  clear instructions on what to expect. That was another concern of mine because of his non-art background. He needed some guidance. Receiving guidance instead of being told to just create this or draw something in your imagination rates this as an A+1 program. He needs models and examples and that is what ARTistic Pursuits did in each lesson. Afterward, the freedom to choose something he loved and then to draw it made for a very happy beginning artist

If you need to assign grades, it comes with an evaluation sheet too. For me, because we had such mental hurdles to overcome and because Tiny has set a standard of near perfection for his art, we didn’t focus on grades. We do need to focus on the process now that we know what it is. Now, it takes even longer to observe and look closely at each object he wants to draw.

I wasn’t sure when I started this review if Tiny would let me share any pictures with you.  However, he is so proud of himself and hand-picked these masterpieces to share with you.

I am so pleased with this book and I just can’t think of anything that needs to be changed. From the way I received the book with shipping care to the timely arrival of it and presentation of the material, I would highly recommend any book in this series. My art teacher in a book is a keeper. Thanks to  ARTtistic Pursuits for this excellent product to serve the homeschool community.

Here are some facts for you in one spot so you can find them easily.

Product Name: Middle School 6-8 Book One: The Elements of Art and Composition

Website: ARTistic Pursuits:The Curriculum for Creativity

List Price: $47.95

Grades/Ages to use it for:  Ages 11 and up.

Type of Product:  Comb-binding book, 92 pages, 68 lessons, 176 illustrations. ISBN: 978-1-939394-06-4, January 1, 2013 3rd Edition

Art Supply Packs:  The art supply packs are a nice plus when you don’t know enough about top notch art supplies to purchase them on your own but you know using the right art materials makes an immense difference in the end product.  ARTistic Pursuits art supply packs come with all the art supplies you need for each book.

Customer Service: My book arrived in secure shipping order and was received at the time it was promised.

Hugs and love ya,

Disclaimer:  I received a free copy of this product in exchange for my honest review. I was not required to write a positive review nor was I compensated in any other way. All opinions I have expressed are my own or those of my family. I am disclosing this in accordance with the FTC Regulations.

All product information is correct and accurate as of the date of this review.

Homeschool Review: Lone Star Learning: Science Vocabulary Pictures, Set 1 & Free Notebook Cover

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

Curriculum collecting junkie that I am, I thought I knew just about all of the homeschool friendly vendors that hail from my home state, the Lone Star state.

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So I was plain giddy to review Set 1 of the Science Vocabulary Pictures from Lone Star Learning because I had not heard of them. I know this is not suppose to be a review of all the products they have, but you’ll have to take a peek at their other products.  They are so swoon worthy.

Look at this Create-A-Folder. Can you say digital lapbook? I just had to take my time looking at everything on their site while I waited for them to ship me the Science Vocabulary Pictures.

When the vocabulary word cards arrived, the first thing I did was to try to get as many of the Science Vocabulary Pictures, Set 1 cards in a picture for you as I could. There are 40 cards in each set and they are not small either. They are 5.5″ x 8.5″ and in full color.  I am so pleased with the quality of the paper and how durable they are because I know they will hold up after much use.  We could not put them down as we wanted to go over each one and study the pictures.

I think the biggest reason I was so tickled to review these cards was because I wanted to say: FINALLY!

Finally, somebody gets the way that a lot of children learn and that is visually.  I feel teaching vocabulary is not just about writing tons of sentences over and over again as if only using it in a sentence is going to demonstrate mastery of the word and the definition. It makes me think of an example I share a lot in my workshop about teaching a foreign language. If a person does not understand a foreign language, then will showing them more words by flashing them faster in a flashcard set make them learn quicker? Will just displaying a word on a page with the definition make them suddenly “get it”. It’s crazy, but even seasoned veterans do this when we teach our children vocabulary. We write a word on a page along with a definition but provide no visual association. So the point I make in my workshop is that the age old method of learning a foreign language is picture association. I believe that learning vocabulary is like teaching a foreign language. Picture/word association makes the connection for a learner.

Then my praise for this product doesn’t stop here as I recall another struggle in my journey when I taught Mr. Awesome to read. Showing him the “A” flash card, explaining the short a sound and pointing to the “apple” was so much for him to take in. It is like he had too many mental steps to take to get the letter/sound association. Until I switched to alphabet letter people that were “objects or pictures” as one unit, he didn’t make progress.

So what I noticed immediately about the Science Vocabulary Pictures was that the word and definition are “one” in picture form. The word is not on the front and the definition on the back. You can decipher the meaning of the word from the shape or picture form of the word. I was elated and kuddos to Lone Star Learning for promoting products that our children can actually learn from.

I think it’s important for you to know too that the definitions come with the package but they are all on one card size page. It is more like a list or reference tool for you. If you are thinking about your child copying the definition, the text is not real big on that one page.

If you want your children to have the definition strips and work with matching them up to the word, you can purchase them separately like I did. They are shown here above with the vinyl pockets that I did not get.

The definitions come on a page style with 6 strips per page. I appreciate that because then I can decide if I want them laminated or not.  I will show you in a minute though what I did with these sweeties because you know I have to organize and store them.

We started using the cards right away. Because we were studying the Inuit and about the Arctic, the vocabulary cards worked right into our unit study.  The activities we focused on at the beginning was to sort the words and understand their definition in how they related to the Inuit and the Arctic. So Tiny sorted through the cards, grouping them into two piles.

One pile we focused on immediately because it was related to our Inuit and Arctic study and the second pile I saved later because it was not as relevant to our immediate topic.

Another day we focused on including all of the cards to learn but we used them to try to form acrostics as they related to our unit study. He was tickled to get the word I C E from the cards. If you have not worked with your children a lot on teaching vocabulary words or are coming to that in your journey, then check out the free section that is called Conference Handouts . It has several free downloads but the one titled Vocabulary gives you some tips on how to teach vocabulary.

Before I show you how I am storing the Science Vocabulary Pictures, I need to mention to you that because of a shipping mistake we received the Target Vocabulary Set 1 originally instead of the Science Vocabulary Pictures. Though we both know that any vendor is not required to let you keep a product when a mistake is made, Lone Star Learning did let me keep this second set of vocabulary cards.  It is rare when I am speechless but I was because of the generosity of Lone Star Learning. It sets a tone for customer service that means a lot to me if I do business with somebody.

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I was as equally impressed with the Target Vocabulary Pictures, Set 1 as I am with the Science Vocabulary Pictures. The Target Vocabulary Pictures are math vocabulary words presented visually like the Science Vocabulary Pictures. You know I told you we use Math U See for part of our math program and all of my boys, including my high schoolers, had to play with these math cards when we got them. Both sets of cards lends themselves to games like matching. We took 7 of the cards turned them face down along with the definition and then Tiny tried to see if he could match the definitions. Learning is suppose to be fun, hands-on and interactive and Lone Star Learning makes that possible.

We focused on learning the Science Vocabulary Pictures and their definition since there are 40 in the set and we will be working more with the Target Vocabulary Pictures for math more because they are 57 cards in the set we got. I have a complete unit for both math and science with these two sets.

If I could change some things about this product or should I say the description of the products I think I would focus on using the term visual learner. The website says in several places for their digital products that they help with students of special needs.  Maybe so. However, I feel we live in a very visual world and technology is catching up with that because of how many of us use an iPad in our school and use more online resources than ever before.  I don’t feel we should ever do away with print or paper as I have always said I am a paper girl living in a digital world. But using a term like visual learner to explain their products, instead of focusing on special needs only, encompasses a lot more us who have strong visual modes as part of our learning style. I think it is best to learn through many modes and visual needs to be seen as more than just for special needs.

Also, I had emailed them a question I had about my product and they informed me that they have been doing some website revisions but I feel, it would be easier to navigate the products if they had more uniform product names. I wasn’t sure if that was being worked on or not. Maybe because of my need to organize but I feel the Target Vocabulary Pictures should match in product name to the Science Vocabulary Pictures. Target Vocabulary makes me think of words in general and not math concepts. I may have overlooked the Target Vocabulary Pictures about math just because of the title. A term like Math Vocabulary Pictures makes it easier to remember. Though each math card may not have pictures on them, each word is presented in a visual manner, so the term is pretty consistent with the Science Vocabulary Pictures.

Now if I get to dream of new products on the site, I would wish for sets of cards that would be theme or unit based. I love, love, love the fact that the cards are not grouped by age level or grade but by needs. Would it be a stretch to wish for a “rain forest theme only” set, a “chemistry theme only” set or “plant theme only” set?

Because these two products are keepers in my home and because we will be using all of the cards for a while longer, I needed a place to organize my newest babies. I thought about Avery’s Protect and Store Mini 1 inch binder that is 5.5 by 8.5 inches . You mean not everybody  keeps binder sizes in their heads and dreams about what they can store next in a binder? Weird.

Organization heaven. The math cards fit right into the storage pocket on the left side of the binder. Then, I purchased some Avery sheet protectors and added two Science Vocabulary Pictures to each page, front and back. It is the perfect tool for storing these beauties.

The definition strips I purchased separately fit in the pocket and we can concentrate on the ones we want to learn each day by matching them up, taking them out of the pocket or leaving them in so they can be memorized. LOVE IT!!!

Then I had to make a pretty cover so it matches my school room decor. Would you like a free pretty cover for your notebook? I used the title Science Vocabulary Pictures since our focus is on the science.

Download here a front cover, a binder side insert, and a back cover for your mini notebook.

I hope you love the cover. Here are some quick facts at a glance in one spot about the Science Vocabulary Pictures so you can locate them easily.

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Product Name: Science Vocabulary Pictures, Set 1

Website:  Lone Star Learning

Price: From $29.99

Grades/Ages to use it for:  They are not arranged by grades but by sets. Again, I love this part. Look over each set to determine what your needs are. So you have an idea though about grade level they are intended Grades 3-8.

Type of Product:  Available in 5.5″ x 8.5″ full color, coated cards that show the word and its meaning in picture form. Digital products available too.

Accessories you will love:  Vinyl pockets, Vocabulary Definition Strips, and Vocabulary Spanish Word Strips.

Customer Service: My question emailed to them was answered quickly and thoroughly the next day.  My experience in customer service was excellent.

I already purchased the definition strips and know that I will be purchasing more items from Lone Star Learning. Overall, I was delighted with both of the products I received and would highly recommend them to you if are struggling to teach your children science or math or if you don’t want to begin to struggle. Again, be sure to look over all of their products. I have my wish list going already and I can’t help but say that I am proud to give you a shout out about this vendor from my home state.

Hugs and love ya,

{Disclaimer:  I received a free copy of this product in exchange for my honest review. I was not required to write a positive review nor was I compensated in any other way. All opinions I have expressed are my own or those of my family. I am disclosing this in accordance with the FTC Regulations.}

 

The Inuit & Arctic Wrap up + Free Lapbook Cover Pages

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

I just realized as we had put the final touches on our Arctic & The Inuit Unit study that I did not ever send you the cover pages. I normally try to make these first if I make some, but usually send them last or toward the end of the unit since they go on the outside flaps of our lapbook. Too, if you choose to notebook and just use part of the minibooks, the covers can be used to divide sections or as decorative pieces.

Both of the covers are in color and as always I normally add more later that are black and white. When I put this unit on the website, I will probably add more black and white coloring pages then as well as links.  You received a good portion of the links as you followed me along in this unit study, but I will still have more to share on the site.

Download Cover 1 above here.

Download Cover 2 above here.

Okay, NOW, I think I am ready to move on to our Ancient Civilizations Unit and the Home Management Binder update.  Keeping it organized for you me.

You have to love the Dr. and all his inspirational quotes. Thinking about this today…..

“We are all a little weird and life’s a little weird, and when we find someone whose weirdness is compatible with ours, we join up with them and fall in mutual weirdness and call it love.”

~ Dr. Seuss~

Hugs and love ya,

 

 

The Inuit & Arctic Circle FREE Lapbook

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

Using a lapbook is not just for real young children. I am not sure why that thinking permeates in the homeschool world and I have often wondered why it does. I think sometimes we might feel that middle school or high school is suppose to be only about serious learning. My thinking has changed and has been molded by many homeschool experiences but one thing that has not changed is the need to add a bit of fun to our every day subjects. Easy lapbooking is a way to do this and to curb negative attitudes about middle school and high school.

High school for sure is preparation for adulthood and a livelihood.  For example, in our business we have had to prepare visually appealing brochures. Our very livelihood has depended on the visual appeal of both our business website and our trifold brochures. The layout of a lapbook models for my children the different graphic layouts for any project that they may encounter as adults. The emphasis too is not just on the content or material to be researched but on presentation of the lapbook. I guess that is why I say I use my lapbooks for enrichment. We do unit studies, write some each day and like you, do math. So I am not interested in presenting to my children or anybody else for that matter a bunch of blank uninspiring mini books.

I try to strike a balance on having some information available to guide them and model for them but leaving some of it blank so they can explore and add what interests them. I keep that in mind as I prepare each lapbook.

Not all of my children will do a lapbook and sometimes my older guys will choose only like 3 or 4 of the books to position on a notebooking page of their choice. That is fine with me too as long as they enjoy the process and make it their own. Knowledge is just acquired information, facts and experiences and it is hard to assign grade level to those experiences. My lapbooks are similar because they can be as easy or as comprehensive  as you want them to be based on your experiences and because you ultimately decide content.

I just wanted you to know my heart behind my work and how I use the lapbooks to reach my goals with my sons. I hope you enjoy them as much I enjoy creating each one. I especially enjoyed creating this lapbook for the Inuit and Arctic as I mixed up some of the clip art so it can be enjoyed by all ages.

This first minibook in the center is a map of the Arctic Circle.

I provide two pages that are the same except one has the countries and areas labeled and the other one is blank so that your child can write them in.  Click here to download the Arctic Circle Map.

These are tiny meander books. I provide instructions on the page on how to cut them and fold them. They store in mini pockets. Click here to download all four meander books.

This next book is a 4 tab flip book and small enough so that  a few facts can be written under each tab about the things the Inuit use and thought of. Click here to download the book The Inuit thought of it.


This next shape was much pretty much fun to make. It was interesting to learn about how the Inuit used snow houses to live in as temporary homes while they hunted. Click here to download the minibook Snow House.

The Peoples of the Arctic was especially fun to do because we read in the book Inuit Glimpses of An Arctic Past about the people of the Arctic.

When it comes to learning about any country, it is the diverse style of the people living there and how each adapts to their native land that makes learning come alive. This is a fandex type of book explaining each culture. Click here to download The Peoples of the Arctic.

This mini book explains some of the everyday things in the lives of the Inuit. Click here to download the layered book.


Lastly, I have a mini pocket with vocabulary words to match and store in the pockets. Click here to download Amazing Arctic Words.

I am wrapping up this month with the Free Inuit and Arctic lapbook and I hope you enjoyed this mini unit.

You will also like Winter Season Unit Study. Free Lapbook & Hands-On Ideas and Fall Unit 2 Apple Sir Isaac Newton Art.

Hugs and you know I love ya,

The Inuit & Arctic Circle Hands-On Activities

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

I thought we were going to skate passed the icky sick season this year because we were doing so good, but it seems like we got a touch of it. Not anything though near like my poor mom. She ended up in the hospital and so as life happens, that threw off our scheduling.

The Inuit & Arctic Circle Hands-On Activities

But I happily make my chicken pot pies anytime my mom requests them if it makes her feel better. Since she is still pretty sick and I am driving back/forth out of town helping my dad to take care of her, I had to shorten this unit study a tad bit.  I wanted to share a few more hands-on ideas that I had kept and saved because we can always come back to this unit. Too, if you are still moving ahead with it, hopefully these ideas can help you.

Me? I am getting spring fever. I have been itching to get my hands on my Home Management Binder as it needs some spring updating and the kids are excited about starting on our ancient civilization unit for this next month.

Let me share these hands-on ideas I have though for this unit in case you can use them.

Look at these beautiful, simple, fun and free {did you get all of that} crafts from LearnCreateLove.

(Pic Att. LearnCreateLove)

Click here for Printable Albatross from LearnCreateLove

(Pic Att. LearnCreateLove)

Click here for Printable Polar Bear Craft from LearnCreateLove.Click on the Winter Crafts for some more easy ideas and printables.

Also, check out this next site called Polar Husky that has free movies, pictures and sound clips of the Arctic. It looks like some of the movies they took down, but there is still so much on the site. To hear the voices of the Inuit and look at their natural surroundings makes you feel like you are there.

This next site, the Donna Ward site has information on it about how to build a game played by the children of the Inuit called Iyaga. The site says: A hollow piece of bone is attached to another thin bone by a sinew cord. The thin bone is held in the hand and the hollow bone is tossed in the air. The player must catch the hollow bone on the thin bone. Click here to go there and make this game.

This next site, Beyond Penguins is so comprehensive it is hard to mention all that is on it.

But here is a snippet above so you can see you will be kept happily clicking away on resources for any topic you want to delve into deeper. Click here to go there and be sure you have lots of time when you visit.

This next free download is a fine arts lesson on how to draw a reindeer and how to show the sky in your drawing depict the aurora shift. Click here to download.

This next site on Sea World has the fun zone. It has games, mazes and puzzles. A really helpful site. Click here to go there.

This printable makes a great minibook for your lapbook or notebooking page.  Click here to download this free Animals of the Arctic Tundra wheel.

{Pic attribution: Royal Baloo}

And because we need to cover all ages when studying this unit, grab this free sweet collection from Royal Baloo for the little folks. Click here to go there and download Arctic Animals for Toddler, PreK and Kindergarten.

Also coming next is my free Inuit and Arctic lapbook.

Hugs and love ya,