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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!

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

Visit Tina Robertson’s profile on Pinterest.


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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.

Click the image below to visit all the other blog articles from the homeschool moms of the iHomeschool Network.

How a Pendulum Clock Measures Time: Day 9 Hands-on Learning Activities

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A swinging pendulum is a good way of marking time. You can make one with a few ingredients you probably have around the house. Click here to see how to easily make this pendulum.

The great Italian scientist, Galileo Galilei sat in the cathedral in Pisa watching a lantern swinging back and forth. Soon he realized that the lantern was a pendulum and that each swing took exactly the same amount of time. Making our pendulum clock we decided to try it too.

Here are the simple supplies Tiny gathered around our house.

►a couple of paperclips. One larger one for the pendulum and one smaller one for the hook at the top.
►cardboard to make an easel
►scissors
►spool
►modeling clay
►sharpie or marker

Tiny made an easel out of the card board.

He cut one long piece and folded it back and used some modeling clay to hold it together. I guess you could have easily glued the pieces, but we have tons of modeling clay in our school area. So we used what we have.

Then he added one paper clip at the top and made a long pendulum out of the other paperclip.

Then he added the spool (with thread, okay, we didn’t have an empty one) onto the pendulum and used some more modeling clay to keep it on the pendulum.

He moved the spool up and down the pendulum and tested it to see if it swung the same amount of time  wherever the spool was placed on the pendulum.

Surprisingly, unlike the sand clock, the pendulum was more accurate.

Spending our time doing these easy inventions has not only been fun but a great way to investigate some of our guesses about time.

If you want to make some more easy hands on things to go with your homeschool unit studies, look at one of these.

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), How to Build the Alamo: Day 5 Hands-on Learning (Free Texas Unit Study) and Geoscavenge – A Rock and Mineral Hunt: Day 6 Hands-on Learning, How Does the Power of Ice Shape Mountains? Day 7: Hands-on Learning,How Accurate is a Sand Clock? Day 8: Hands-on Learning and 365 Days Hands-On Homeschool Activities – One for EVERY Day of the Year

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.

How Accurate is a Sand Clock? Day 8: Hands-on Learning

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How Accurate is a Sand Clock? Man has always been fascinated with time, so how accurate were crude clocks? Check out this fun hands-on activity to do whether you're studying inventions, the desert or just time? Click here to go @ Tina's Dynamic Homeschool Plus

Moving on in our hands-on series, we focused on reading about all kinds of crude clocks. Today, we wondered how accurate is a sand clock.

This is a fun hands-on idea whether you’re studying the desert, about time or just learning about crude inventions. Man has always been fascinated with time and so we thought today we would see if our crude sand clock would keep time accurately.

Look at these simple things Tiny gathered up.

►Probably not use my olive oil container, but in the name of investigation, I guess I can live with it having some permanent sharpie marks on it. But grab a tall container, whether you have glass or plastic which has a spout big enough to put a funnel in.
►At least two different colored sharpies to compare accurateness of each timed test. Another color if you want to keep testing.
►A funnel or homemade one made from construction paper or card stock.
►Sand, of course. Also if you want to made some home made sand look here at Desert Sand Art if you want to make your own.
►watch with a second hand.

Then using a funnel, I poured the sand and Tiny measured and mark when I shouted every ten seconds.

As you can tell from the different sides of the bottles, we tested it over and over again to see if we could get it to be accurate. 

We learned so many factors affect how accurate time was on crude clocks. Things like the size of the funnel and for sure the size of the sand grains and his reaction time in marking the line on the bottle.

This was a fun way to help us appreciate how accurate clocks and watches are which we have today. Besides we laughed so hard on this as Tiny try to react within the same amount of time each time while he marked on the glass. This was a fun way to spend our morning and have an easy school day.

Here are some ideas for the other days of hands-on homeschooling fun!

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), How to Build the Alamo: Day 5 Hands-on Learning (Free Texas Unit Study) and Geoscavenge – A Rock and Mineral Hunt: Day 6 Hands-on Learning, How Does the Power of Ice Shape Mountains? Day 7: Hands-on Learning and 365 Days Hands-On Homeschool Activities – One for EVERY Day of the Year

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.

How Does the Power of Ice Shape Mountains

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

How does the power of ice shape mountains? We’re wondering because we’re studying how weather shapes the land.

To test ice power, we did a fun and simple hands-on activity.

How Does the Power of Ice Shape Mountains? Click here to do this fun and easy hands-on geography and science activity to learn how mountains are shaped by ice. | Tina's Dynamic Homeschool Plus

TEST ICE POWER

Look at this short list of things you probably have around the house:

►egg
►wooden skewer
►a pinch of modeling clay
►small beaker
►dye to color water. We used blue, but choose your color.

First thing Tiny did was to tap the top of the egg on the table to make a small hole in the egg.

Then Tiny stuck in a wooden skewer to poke the yoke and drain the egg.

After that he used blue dyed water to fill the egg up with water. It’s important to be sure that the egg is completely filled with water.

Then, I have these cutest mini beakers (okay, okay) for measuring small amounts of liquid and Tiny grabbed them. I’ve found out that though they are perfect for our science around the house.



He used a mini beaker to fill the egg with colored water. The colored water makes it easier to see the cracks in the egg.

Then he used a pinch of modeling clay to place gently on top and plug up the hole.

By the way, the beaker made the perfect stand to keep the egg upright too.

He put the egg in the freezer for a couple of hours and it’s a fun reminder to see what happens when water sweeps into the cracks of rocks and freezes at night.

We know ice takes up more space, so it pushes against the rock forcing cracks wider.

HOW DOES THE WEATHER SHAPE THE LAND

Then during the day when it’s warmer, ice thaws and becomes water only to freeze again if it gets colder.

Over time bits of rock may fall off and this causes piles of broken rocks called scree gather at the foot of rocky cliffs.

This powerful force is observed in the egg. When the water expanded, it cracks the egg.

Mountain slopes are constantly changing and shaped by the thawing and freezing of water and I think your kids will love learning about how weather affects the land.

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

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.

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

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

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.

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 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.

Hands-On Geology

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.

How to Get the Freebie

Now, how to grab the freebie. It’s a subscriber freebie.

That means when you sign up to follow me, you get my emails in your inbox and you get this freebie.

1)  CLICK HERE ON THIS LINK TO SIGN UP ON MY EMAIL LIST & TO GET THIS FREEBIE.

2) Grab the freebie now.

3) Last, look for all my emails in your inbox. Glad to have you following me!

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

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.