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John Muir Spring Unit Study (and Hands-on Geography Ideas)

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

I have a fun John Muir spring unit study. Too, look at my pages Best Homeschool Unit Studies and Homeschool Geography for hands-on and simple ideas and tips.

No matter the age, most children still have a love for picture books. Recently, we read John Muir, America’s First Environmentalist and loved that book.

It looks like you could use it for about middle school down to elementary. It’s just a great book no matter which ages you use it for. Not only are the pictures beautiful but a short biography read gives us a needed break in our day.

John Muir Spring Homeschool Unit Study. Include all of your children by doing this free hands-on spring homeschool unit study to kick off spring while learning about John Muir's love for the great outdoors. Click here to grab it! | Tina's Dynamic Homeschool Plus

Today, I decided to do a quick John Muir spring unit study as a way to celebrate spring and our love of reading picture books.

Look at this roundup and ideas for a multi-age unit study. Don’t you love including all of your children?

John Muir  – the Inventor, Environmentalist and Explorer

Muir and his inventions @ Tina's Dynamic Homeschool Plus. A machine which helps you to rise from bed.

After reading the short biography, you find out that John Muir was not only an adventurer and nature lover, but an inventor. What a great way for a young person to spend his time.

Download this 2 page pdf to learn about a few of his inventions.

LANGUAGE ARTS

Grab some quotes for this 2 page pdf for copywork or write a persuasive essay about John Muir’s stance on preserving nature for generations.

SCIENCE

Nature Journals

John Muir had a love for nature journaling! See some ideas @ Tina's Dynamic Homeschool Plus

For the younger kids, about first or second grade, grab this free 3 page pdf John Muir Made a Difference with a free printable to jump start their nature journal.

Also, look at this hub page by my friend Barb for nature journal ideas and tips. You’ll love this round up.

And if you haven’t already downloaded this free WHOPPING 968 pages of Anna Comstock’s Handbook of Nature Study, it’s a must have for studying about science and nature.

Muir's dream of Yosemite becoming a national park comes true | Tina's Dynamic Homeschool Plus

For your high school kids grab this free 8 page pdf lesson about Campsite Conversation which teaches about different points of view regarding how the environment should be cared for.

Glaciers

This is a helpful one page worksheet with questions and answers for key to learn about glaciers.

GEOGRAPHY

In California

For about third or fourth grade, grab this free 4 page pdf John Muir in California to study about California landmarks.

For your high school kids, grab this free 6 page pdf John Muir’s Vision Lives On which is about land issues and how to preserve the natural beauty and issues surrounding that.

Muir off to explore Florida @ Tina's Dynamic Homeschool Plus

Around the World

You’ll love this free printable board game for learning about the places John Muir traveled.  Around the World in 76 Years.

Backpacking and hiking

The reason John Muir knew that the wilderness needed to be preserved was not only because he spent time outdoors, but he spent time hiking and exploring.

Grab this free 245 page unit study about backpacking and hiking.

Muir had a love for ice, the mountains and exploring glaciers. Look at some hands-on ideas @ Tina's Dynamic Homeschool Plus

Hands-on Activities and Ideas

Learn about the power of ice.

John Muir had a love for snow and blizzards and soon his obsession turned to glaciers. Look at this easy hands-on idea of how ice shapes mountains.

Make an easy sand clock.

Also, he loved his inventions and was interested locks, water wheels and clocks. Look at this easy hands-on sand clock.

►Make a yummy metamorphic edible rock recipe.

Spending much of his time outdoors as he investigated mountains and cliffs, look at this easy Metamorphic Edible Rocks & Notebooking Pages.

More John Muir Unit Study Activities

Muir Unit Study

►Make a simple compass out of things around the house.

And then learn how to make an easy homemade compass.

►Do this easy hands on activity with an egg to see how a plant digests their prey.

Also, Muir had a love for plants. Look at this easy hands-on activity to see how carnivorous plants digest their prey and grab the free notebooking pages.

►Make an easy pendulum clock.

Muir made a machine that helped him to rise from bed because he was focused on time. Make this easy pendulum clock.

I know all your kids will love this short picture book. Be sure to add  John Muir, America’s First Environmentalist to your collection and use it for a fun nature unit study.

Are you still in a spring sort of mood?

I have a couple more free unit studies you can do which have lapbooks.

Click here to grab my North American Robin Unit Study and Lapbook, then strawberries are the very first spring fruit, so grab my Free Strawberry Unit Study and Lapbook and if that is still not enough, grab this Toads and Amphibians Lapbook and Unit Study.

Happy Spring!

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Desert Sand Art: Day 2 Hands-on Learning (Colors of the Desert)

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Doing sand art gave us a huge appreciation and admiration for those doing professional sand art because it’s not as easy to work with as it looks.

Have fun with sand art for studying about the desert. Day 2 of Hands-on Learning Activities. @ Tina's Dynamic Homeschool PlusContinuing on with our hands-on learning activities adventure, we did what we thought was going to be an easy art lesson, which is to study and learn about the colors of the desert. Well that part was easy, but we got so tickled doing this easy art activity that we laughed most of the morning.

Look at the supplies Tiny gathered up to do this activity.

►box or two of salt. I normally have a box or two of cheap Morton salt stored.
►food coloring. I have the basic colors and some neon ones too.
►several ziploc bags
►sandpaper. I used the small sheets we had, but this could be done on bigger sheets. I just used what we had, so I didn’t have to haul in anymore stuff to my house. But, the bigger pieces of paper would look fantastic for this lesson.
►pencil for light sketching and drawing, several paint brushes and plain Elmer’s liquid glue
►tempera paint for the colors of the desert

Instead of buying sand, we made it cheaply by combining just two ingredients, which are salt and food coloring.

Depending on how deep you want your color, you can add up to 8 drops or as few as 4 or less. We made several different colors and shades and put each color in a ziploc bag. We did this the night before, so it had time to dry.

Simply mix salt and food dye to make desert sand.

Lay out your bags flat on the kitchen counter or in a hot area like the garage so the salt can dry.

The next morning, we had a bag or two still damp, but we proceeded forth. We’re not very patient people. If we had placed the baggies in the garage, they would have dried faster since the kitchen counter was a bit cool.

Next, we lightly sketched out some desert scenes on the sand paper.

You want simple lines and not complicated detailed ones to keep this easy if you use more of the sand than the paint.  Or, at least that is what we experienced. If you want to use equal parts paint and sand, then choose a more detailed scene.

We found a couple of desert scenes we like on the internet and sketched them out quickly. Then we applied liquid glue on the areas we wanted sand.

Chose a color, snipped a corner of the baggie and poured the sand over the area. It is hard to keep the colors separated and it gave us a real appreciation for the detailed work required on professional sand art.
Add some paint to your scenes and remember since you’re using sand paper, it’s a natural textured background for the areas you want to leave blank.

We had a huge mess today between some of the wet dye and paint and trying to get the right colors in the right spots, but we had a ton of fun as we read more about the desert.

Hope your kids like this as much as we liked getting messy!

Grab Day 1: Make a Hair Hygrometer here, look at 365 Days Hands-On Homeschool Activities – One for EVERY Day of the Year for more ideas and look at my category for hands-on ideas for your unit studies.


Hugs and love ya,

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Free Art Notebooking Pack – Grade 2 (Other Grades too)

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This art series I began a few years ago to fill a need in my homeschool year and today I’m so TICKLED because I have the last grade, which is the 2nd grade finished.

Free 2nd Grade Art Curriculum and notebooking pages. Pssst, there are grades 1 -8 too. Grab them over @ Tina's Dynamic Homeschool Plus
Homeschool Art Curriculum Notebooking

You will need two things to get started.

 Homeschool Art Curriculum & Notebooking Pages

Then choose a grade level or several depending on how many kids you have.

Yep, I have free printables for all the grades offered, which are Grades 1 – 8.

Free Homeschool Art Curriculum and Notebooking Pages. Grades 1 to 8 @ Tina's Dynamic Homeschool Plus

And don’t forget that you can use just one packet with ALL of your kids (print one copy for each child) and save your sanity by teaching them all together. Or, print one copy for your older child and do another level with your younger children. You decide, you’re the teacher.

Also, I wanted you to know that even though the free art curriculum that I am following to create printables divides the art into grade levels,  I did not create the art notebooking pages baby-ish.

This way whatever the ages of your children are, they can use any grade level guide of their choosing along with the printables I created to have a complete art program for each year.

If you cover one artist per month, then each grade level will take you one year. So free art for a year!

One last thing I need to remind you is that I also create TWO SETS of the SAME art notebooking page, but each set is slightly different.

I like things perfect workable and to have options and I love for you to have them too.

Look below at the graphic I created to show how each set is slightly different.

One set has all text boxes in case you have a kid or two like I do that doesn’t want to sketch the art.

Especially at the high school level, my oldest son just wanted to make it more about art history.

So he wasn’t interest in sketching every piece. He just wanted to read the background information about each artist, read about the artwork and move one. Oh yes, I used some of these packets for high school art credit.

The second set has one small sketch box instead of the text box because then I have another kid who wants to sketch the art that we were learning about. Too, I keep the sketch box not too big so it doesn’t become a project to sigh about.

How to Use - Art Notebooking Pages 1

So the art is the SAME for both pages.

Too, this allows you to choose from either set depending on the time you have for that month. For example, one piece my sons may want to write, so I would print off that page. The next art piece they would want to sketch so I would print off that page from the other set.

Give your child options and don’t think you have to use ALL the same pages from one set. I mixed and match depending on the mood for the day or month.

I have a more pictures from each set to show you. This is how the pages look from the set that has sketch boxes and

3rd grade Artist Study Packet 1 with 3 text and 1 sketch box 23rd grade Artist Study Packet 1 with 3 text and 1 sketch box 3

this is how the pages look from the set that has ALL text boxes.

3rd grade Artist Study Packet 1 with 4 text boxes 13rd grade Artist Study Packet 1 with 4 text boxes 2

Again, BOTH sets have the same art and are the same except for that one box.

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.
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Also, you may love to read these posts.

Hugs and you know I love ya,

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Free Art Notebooking Pack – Grade 8 (Other Grades too)

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

Free 8th Grade Art Curriculum and notebooking pages. Grab them over @ Tina's Dynamic Homeschool Plus

 

Free Art Curriculum & Notebooking Pages

I have another set done of my free art notebooking pages. You know how I feel about art. It is one of those subjects that should be enjoyed from K to gray.

First, did you miss my other sets and the free art curriculum guide to go along with it?

Download Grades 1, 3,4, 5, 6, and 7 Notebooking Pages AND the FREE Guides to go with each set on my Art Notebooking Page.

Even though the free art curriculum guide at Concordia University Chicago – Art Lessons that I am following to create printables divides the art into grade levels, I did not create the art notebooking pages baby-ish.

This way whatever the ages of your children are, they can use any grade level guide of their choosing along with the printables I created to have a complete art program for each year.

After all, if you haven’t covered an artists or art work before, then does it matter which grade you do?

Besides, you can use the guide questions in the upper grade art if you want to cover some of lower grade art and vice versa.

I know the questions in the upper grade level hone in more on artistic design, composition and principles of design. And though the lower grade guides provides the same framework, they do not do it as in depth.

Again, I hope this makes sense because you should be able to do any packet you choose by using the free curriculum guides from either an upper or lower grade depending on the ages of your children.

Keep in mind, that you need BOTH the free Curriculum Guide from Concordia University ALONG with my notebooking packets to have a complete art program for the year.

Today, the 8th grade set is ready. I have completed grades 1, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 and now 8. I only have grade 2 to do before I am completed.

If you cover one artist per month, then each grade level will take you one year. So free art for a year!

One last thing I need to remind you of because I have some new faces here is that I also create TWO SETS of the SAME art notebooking page, but each set is slightly different.

I know, I know, I like things perfect to have options and I love for you to have them too.

Look below at the graphic I created to show how each set is slightly different.

One set has all text boxes in case you have a kid or two like I do that doesn’t want to sketch the art.

You’ll Love these Chalk Pastel Lesson by a Talented Homeschool Mom
Bird Video Art Course for All Ages
Especially at the high school level, my oldest son just wanted to make it more about art history.

So he wasn’t interest in sketching every piece. He just wanted to read the background information about each artist, read about the artwork and move one. Oh yes, I used some of these packets for high school art credit.

The second set has one small sketch box instead of the text box because then I have another kid who wants to sketch the art that we were learning about. Too, I keep the sketch box not too big so it doesn’t become a project to sigh about.

How to Use - Art Notebooking Pages 1

So the art is the SAME for both pages.

Too, this allows you to choose from either set depending on the time you have for that month. For example, one piece my sons may want to write, so I would print off that page. The next art piece they would want to sketch so I would print off that page from the other set.

Homeschool Art When You Don’t Want to Make a Mess

Give your child options and don’t think you have to use ALL the same pages from one set. I mixed and match depending on the mood for the day or month.

I have a more pictures from each set to show you. This is how the pages look from the set that has sketch boxes and

3rd grade Artist Study Packet 1 with 3 text and 1 sketch box 23rd grade Artist Study Packet 1 with 3 text and 1 sketch box 3

this is how the pages look from the set that has ALL text boxes.

3rd grade Artist Study Packet 1 with 4 text boxes 13rd grade Artist Study Packet 1 with 4 text boxes 2

Again, BOTH sets have the same art and are the same except for that one box.

Choices in any subject makes learning about it more enjoyable. We don’t feel so hemmed in.

I hope you enjoy this next grade level, which is Grade 8 according to Concordia University AND be sure to download both packets so you can decide which set best suits your needs for each art piece.

Download each notebooking packet below.

Artist Study Packet (8th grade) with 3 text – 1 sketch box

Artist Study Packet (8th grade) with 4 text boxes

Don’t you want the free art study packets for other grades? I know you do.

Click here to go to the other grades 1st through 7th Grade Free Art Curriculum.

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.

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Homeschool Art (Why Video Based Teaching Rocks)

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

Homeschool Art (Why Video Based Teaching Rocks) @ Tina's Dynamic Homeschool Plus

I was given this product free from Atelier Homeschool Art and I was compensated for my time. However, paid for my time does not mean paid off.  ALL opinions are my own and for sure I will always tell you what is on my mind. When I do accept a product it’s because I’m giddy to tell you about it. Read my full disclosure here. Now on to the fun stuff!

Teaching art has always been a struggle for me, let alone teaching a teen. And I’m not against Tiny learning art from a book, but when you can have a professional art teacher come into your home at your convenience, I just couldn’t say no to trying Atelier Homeschool Art.

We received Atelier Online – Level 7 (ages 10-15). It is designed for ages 10-15, Level 7 and it is a full year of visual art instruction. Students will build and develop a foundation of skills by learning and working through the essential elements and principles of art including: line, color, space, shape, form, texture, pattern, balance and emphasis. Level 7 also includes art-history, media exploration, creative self-expression, cultural appreciation, right-brain drawing techniques, and much more.

It’s hard for me to call this a review because we just had so much fun and will continue with it into the summer. When you get a minute, look at my other posts Homeschool Art (Art Lessons From Home)  and Video Based Homeschool Art (No Teaching Involved) so you can see more pictures.

Each lesson varies in time from ten minutes up to twenty eight minutes and we tried to cram in as many as we could before I had to tell you about it today.

Look at the lessons we did and the concepts being taught.

  • Positive and Negative Designs: Space and Composition
  • People Contours: Contour,Drawing, Line
  • Tropical Birds: Color
  • Op Art: Art History and Technique
  • Greek Olympics and Art: Art History
  • Egyptian Art:Artist Appreciation and Cultural Appreciation

3 Advantages to Video-Based Art Lessons

ONE| The gem of this product is that it is video-based and that means more to me this year than it did before.

Now that I am down to homeschooling one kid, I have had to learn to teach in different ways.

Not only are the lessons video-based, but they are created so that they can be done completely independent. Each video lesson has 3 or 4 parts, which are materials, the lesson/s, students working and examples of student artwork.

In case your student gets lost in all the words or prefers to watch a video like Tiny does, then he simply makes a list of all the materials he needs for the upcoming lesson, does the lesson and can even see examples of student artwork to see the outcome.

I can’t say enough about that part of the art lessons for us.

It has been hard to impress on Tiny to let go of the product and enjoy the process. When he gets to see samples of student works, it made him feel comfortable with his creativity.

When you have a kid that expects perfection in everything he does, no matter how much you tout the fact that you want him to ‘let go’, I admit I was skeptical about him looking at other student’s work.

You know I am a big advocate of models when it comes to teaching subjects like writing or even math but I learned a lesson by Tiny seeing models or student artwork even when doing art lessons.

I had always thought of only the negative effects of comparing his work to others and not the model or ideas he could use from them. The examples of student artwork gave Tiny a concrete way of measuring his work to see that he was right on target.

Instead of stifling his creativity, looking ahead at student samples of artwork ignited it. Allowing himself to ‘let go’, Tiny was able to gauge his own progress, but add his own flair to each art piece.

TWO| For me, the teacher in me was so happy that this curriculum was organized and detailed.

Everything needed to do the art lesson is contained right there in the lesson.

For example, the student hand outs are included as downloads along with the lesson plan. In addition, there is a parents manual, a supply list, helpful tips about art elements and principles and a glossary of terms.

Everything the non-loving art teacher (me) needs to feel empowered. After a few lessons, I could easily turn the lesson over to Tiny.

THREE| Did I mention that I could watch the lessons on my laptop while Tiny did them on his iPad?

Whether you live overseas like I did, travel or are limited on room, you’ll love the fact that the lessons are completely mobile.

Too, I had a problem the first time I downloaded the product, so I emailed them. The customer service was super fast in getting back to me and helping me to find what was not working.

Homeschool Art (No Teaching Involved)

Though we really lapped up these art lessons we did have a rocky start when Tiny noticed right away the classroom setting. Tiny has never been to public or private school and at first didn’t connect with the classroom setting.

He has taken other homeschool classes where the ages were mixed and obviously feels more comfortable in that setting.

However, because he has never been exposed to a classroom setting, I know that whether he takes a workshop for his career or college, he will need to be familiar with a classroom setting.

That part wasn’t a deal breaker for us but I had to let him go slower in the beginning as he got use to it.

However, if you have a kid coming from a public or private school setting, he may not even blink an eye at that setting.

Also, I want you to know that this is a pricey curriculum or so it seems at first glance. The cost for this level is 140.00, but it is for a family subscription and it is for 3 years.

If you have three kids like me then you would divide that cost of 140.00 by three, which is about $47.00 for the year. Then there are twenty lessons. Twenty lessons divided by 47.00 is about $2.35 for each child for each lesson.

Comparing curriculum is sometimes not easy to do, but comparing actual costs should be.

Looking at the actual cost per child, this curriculum is a super deal for all the lessons, downloads and tips.

I think your kids will love doing art this way and I think you’ll love turning the teaching reins over to somebody else.

Pssst! No one has to know if you do the lessons right alongside your kids because it is a family subscription.

Look at these other facts that you don’t want to miss.

updated products facts at a glance

Product Name: Atelier Online – Level 7 (ages 10-15) Levels 1 through 8 are available, which are from ages 4 to 16.
Website: Atelier Homeschool Art
Try it for Free: Click here for free sample lessons.
About the product: All Atelier art lessons are presented on video, and reinforced by lesson plans. Not only are the videos a rich source of creative ideas and inspiration, it also clarifies the objectives, materials, techniques and procedures of each lesson. Abundant instructional coverage, as well as that of students in a virtual art class performing the lesson and displaying their finished artwork, consistently produces exceptional student results and learning, regardless of the art background of the parent-teacher.
Formats: This program is not only available online, but the same materials can be purchased in dvd format too.
Type of product: Online video-based.
Art Supply Kits: We had many of these art materials, but did have to purchase some of them. If you’re like me and want things easily laid out, then you may like the Atelier Art Supply Kit which includes approximately 80% of the supplies needed for a complete level.
Price: 140.00 for each grade level.

 Hugs and love ya,

Signature T