Tina's Dynamic Homeschool Plus

dy•nam•ic constant change, progress, activity

1. My FREE Learning Printables {Any Topic}

Geoscavenge – A Rock and Mineral Hunt: Day 6 Hands-on Learning

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Geoscavenge Hunt. Grab this free printable and get the kids outdoors while learning about products made by rocks and minerals. Click here to grab the free printable over @ Tina's Dynamic Homeschool Plus

I think we’ve skipped winter here in Texas and are going straight to spring. So to celebrate spring, I’ve prepared this geoscavenge or a scavenger hunt list for a rock and mineral hunt. I geared it toward middle school, but younger kids can join in too. Just print how many copies you need.

Hands-On Geology

I put a slight twist on it for middle school which is to not only find the items while your kids are out and about but to also identify which items are petroleum, mineral, coal and rock products.

This can also be fun done as a team if you’re doing a co-op. But the point is that it gets your kids outside while learning.

Too, I have another fun hands-on idea if you’re studying rocks. Look here at my yummy recipe for metamorphic edible rocks and notebooking pages.

To help you out with the geoscavenge, look at this list of items I made of where products come from. This is just a quick list to help your kids. You probably can think of more to add to it.

Petroleum Products: plastic food bag, nylon stocking, plastic eyeglass frames, plastic garbage bag, petroleum jelly, plastic fork or spoon and even lipstick.

Mineral Products: pottery, windows because most glass is from sand, dish washing detergent, toothpaste, chalk, pencil lead, clock or watch, metal scissors (steel),

Coal Product: shoe polish. My dad still uses this.

Rock Products: cement, stone building and rock tombstones.

DOWNLOAD THIS FREE PRINTABLE GEOSCAVENGE HUNT HERE.

Also, if you’re on a hands-on activity roll like we are, grab some other ideas.

Day 1: Make a Hair Hygrometer, Day 2: Desert Sand Art, Day 3: Make Zopf (Swiss Style Bread), Day 4: Exploring Edible Cactus (Learning about the Desert), 365 Days Hands-On Homeschool Activities – One for EVERY Day of the Year and How to Build the Alamo: Day 5 Hands-on Learning (Free Texas Unit Study).

Hugs and love ya,

Signature T

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How to Build the Alamo: Day 5 Hands-on Learning (Free Texas Unit Study)

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

Learning how to build the Alamo was another fun change to our schedule as we have continued in our series of hands-on homeschooling learning.

We thought it would be fun to sketch a quick layout of the Alamo as we read about it.

Having studied about the Alamo before, we pulled out The Alamo, An Illustrated History, book by George Nelson and the other book, The Alamo, an Illustrated History by Edwin Hoyt to study a bit of the architecture.

We also looked at how to build the Alamo on ehow and Tiny liked that model.

We gathered a few supplies and needed some more:

  • 4 sugar cube boxes and we only did the outline of the wall. If you decide to do the interior walls as well, you will need double or triple that depending how thick you want the walls on your model.
  • we used an old pizza box
  • glue gun and glue
  • marker
  • ruler
  • spray paint of your choice
  • couple of straws

Again, though this project looks easy like simply gluing a bunch of sugar cubes together, but it really did require planning, calculating and deciphering to understand the bell shaped parapet.

Looking at the pictures The Alamo, An Illustrated History to view old drawings of the Alamo to learning its history helped to get an idea of how to build it.

Tiny really had fun making this. We grabbed some Spanish moss and miniature cactus after Tiny painted it and otherwise he really loved the break in our schedule while focusing on understanding the history of the Alamo.

I created a Texas lapbook with my older set of boys and it is a subscriber only freebie.

I luv my followers and make it special for them here when I can.

This Texas lapbook is a subscriber only freebie! This means you get access to the exclusive area for subscribers and can download this printable there.

I would love for you to follow me and give me the opportunity to help you along in your homeschool journey.

Important: IF you are already an email reader meaning you are receiving my newsletters, please read this below instead of emailing me right away.

Though I love your emails, it can take a while for me to answer you.

Please find the link to the current follower only freebies at the BOTTOM of the most current newsletter to get this freebie. Click that link in the newsletter and you will be directed to the follower only section.

Look at these other hands-on activities.

Day 1: Make a Hair Hygrometer,

Day 2: Desert Sand Art,

Day 3: Make Zopf (Swiss Style Bread),

Day 4: Exploring Edible Cactus (Learning about the Desert) and

365 Days Hands-On Homeschool Activities – One for EVERY Day of the Year

How to Build the Alamo. Learning about Texas. Grab your free unit study and lapbook @ Tina's Dynamic Homeschool Plus

Hugs and love ya

Homeschool History Copywork – William B. Travis Quote

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Homeschool History Quote by William B. Travis for studying Texas or The Alamo Unit Study @ Tina's Dynamic Homeschool Plus

Today, I have the first activity to go with our Texas theme which is homeschool history copywork, a William B. Travis quote.

Copywork is a valuable skill way beyond the elementary years and I have continued copywork for my boys all the way through middle and high school.

Even at the middle and high school years, it’s still important to model writing that stirs the emotions. So copywork is not just for struggling writers.

The value of copywork goes beyond just copying the words, but it is memory work, learning history through sayings from people of the past and comprehending important events from the past.

In other words, if I can tie in memory work, history and language arts to a topic, it makes our unit study more complete and appealing.

For an older kid, copywork shouldn’t take the place of a well-researched essay, but it can be a segue to it. For my boys, copywork can be a brainstorming session and every good writer wants an abundance of brainstorming ideas.

As long as you don’t make copywork babyish, teens normally end up still enjoying it.

Using a cursive font for older kids is another way to have them practice and read cursive.

Today, Tiny read The Travis Letter – “Victory or Death” and then did some easy copywork.

Grab this first activity for our newest homeschool history unit study – The Alamo below.

Copywork William B. Travis quote for a Texas or Alamo Unit Study

Also, grab Homeschool History The Alamo – 17 Free Resources.

Hugs and love ya,

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World War II Homeschool History Free Unit Study and Lapbook

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We finished our World War II Homeschool History Free Unit Study and now have the completed lapbook showing where we put all of the minibooks.

World War II Homeschool History

Like most all of my lapbooks, you can let your student write as much as he wants or as little. Because we do lapbooks as enrichment, I never fuss too much over what Tiny writes versus what he uses premade.

Even if he writes a little, this hands-on tool is better for reviewing than a worksheet. Also, in this unit study he got to hold a primary source, which was his grandfather’s ration card. Anytime I can make a personal connection to history for my boys it makes a unit study meaningful.

Too, there are so many subtopics to cover in this unit study that we just could not cover them all. I hope you like this study as much as we have.

Because we do our unit study and lapbooks too as we plod along, I never have lapbooks in one giant download.

I also do it this way so that you can grab just the parts you need instead of downloading minibooks you may not need.

GRAB EACH LAPBOOK MINIBOOK BELOW & THE REST OF THE UNIT STUDY.

World War II lapbook and homeschool history unit study.

Hugs and love ya,

Signature T

Don’t forget to follow BOTH of my Pinterest accounts for AWESOME pins.

Visit Tina Robertson’s profile on Pinterest.


Visit Tinas Dynamic Homeschool ‘s profile on Pinterest.

World War II Homeschool History-Manhattan Project,Vocabulary & A. Frank

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Manhattan Project, Vocabulary Words and Anne Frank Minibooks @ Tina's Dynamic Homeschool Plus

One reason we love homeschool unit studies so much is that when life happens, we can always pick up on unit studies where we left off.

I didn’t mean to wait this long to share the rest of the minibooks for our World War II homeschool history unit study, but after moving again, we just put the lapbook and unit study on hold.

World War II Homeschool History

So today, I’m sharing the last three minibooks, which are the Manhattan Project, vocabulary words with a pocket and a few facts about Anne Frank.

Manhattan Project, Vocabulary Words and Anne Frank Minibooks 1 @ Tina's Dynamic Homeschool Plus
Manhattan Project, Vocabulary Words and Anne Frank Minibooks 2 @ Tina's Dynamic Homeschool Plus

I created the words flash card style. This means that your child can just memorize the vocabulary and then for self-testing, just fold in half on the dotted line.

Manhattan Project, Vocabulary Words and Anne Frank Minibooks 3 @ Tina's Dynamic Homeschool Plus

There is so much to cover in this topic and Tiny has read more on this topic than any he has done before but I know we have to cut it off because he is almost ready to scoot onto our next topic.

Download the three free minibooks – Manhattan Project, Vocabulary Pocket and Words and Anne Frank here.

Because we do our unit study and lapbooks too as we plod along, I never have lapbooks in one giant download.

I also do it this way so that you can grab just the parts you need instead of downloading minibooks you may not need.

Grab the rest of this unit study and lapbook books below.

World War II lapbook and homeschool history unit study.


Hugs and love ya,

Signature T

Don’t forget to follow BOTH of my Pinterest accounts for more AWESOME pins.

Visit Tina Robertson’s profile on Pinterest.


Visit Tinas Dynamic Homeschool ‘s profile on Pinterest.