Jul. 13, 2007 - Nature Notebooking
HomeSchool Hints - Nature Journals
Someone in my local group asked what people do for Nature Journals, and I started to e-mail this long, LONG, L.O.N.G, thing to her, but changed my mind. Because if I just write it up here and link her, it's available to WAY more people, right? And it's been a while since I posted about home educational shtuff on my site. So today...? NATURE JOURNALS!! But one *small* preface: I'm a Charlotte Mason (via Ambleside Online) home educator. This is important to note because it means that nature journals are PIVITOL to our learning curriculum. It also will explain why I use the things I use. ((Excepting that it doesn't explain the other *small* preface: I'm cheeeeeep. Dirt cheap. So most of what I have/do is free.) Anyhow, if you're interested in nature journaling ideas, read on!
First, I went to RiteAid and got clearance 3-ring binders. The white type you can make your own slip-in cover for. I got six of them - one for Brian, me, Lydia, Isaac, Ethan, and pending child #4. Then I made matching covers, each with each person's name on it, and little paw prints... use your search engine for graphics n' such. Or...!! Ironically, THIS WEEK ONLY, eHomeschool Store is offering free journaling pages for Nature Notebooks. They're free, but you have to sign-up for a password. ((They have weekly freebies, so it's worth it. This week just happens to be journal page templates.))
Then I made sections for our notebook, and for ease of explanation, I'll go thru this section by section, k?
6 DAYS OF CREATION
I actually don't know how I'm going to do this, yet... finding free coloring pages on-line, or what. I'm thinking a two-page layout for each one, with the Bible verses, the list of what would've fit into that day's creation... and then a coloring page or hand-drawing or something. But I think every nature journal should start at the very beginning: Genesis. Personal opinion, of course. ((UPDATE: Found two resources/ideas that might be good.))
#1 - http://www.storyit.com/maps/creationsmap.pdf
Gorgeous Creation 'plates' - free printables
#2 - http://www.daniellesplace.com/html/bible_themes_creation.html
((Number 7. Creation Book - Sent in by Natalie)) ... I made creation books.
The first Day/page was just a sheet of white card stock, the kids cut a sheet of black construction paper in half & glued it to the page.
On the 2nd day/page, the kids took blue saran wrap & glued it to the bottom for the waters below; cotton balls on the top half of the page for waters/clouds above.
On the 3rd day, using my software I printed out various trees, plants, & flowers; the kids cut them out & glued them to the page, they also glued sand to the bottom of the page for the dry land.
On the 4th day, they cut out a sun, moon, and stars & glued them on.
For the 5th day, they cut out birds & fish & glued them to the page, they also glued some more of the blue saran-wrap to the bottom so it looked like the fish were in water.
For the 6th day, I used my digital camera to take pictures of each of the kids & printed it out on white card stock, they them cut out animals & glued them around their pictures. This makes it more personal & helps them to realize that God created them too!
For the last page I printed out the earth with the verse 'And God saw that what he had created was good, so... God Rested. The kids had a lot of fun doing this book, especially the sand & saran wrap parts. They were surprised when we got to the last day & they had a picture of themselves too. I find that the kids prefer cutting & pasting to coloring, so I try to tailor their crafts to that. Thanks for all of the great ideas & lessons.
BIRDS
I printed off the identification pages and coloring sheets (free) from this site for us to use in identifying birds. Then we put up a birdfeeder (it's a pole with four cross poles to hang stuff from... on top we mounted a feeder that is filled with black seed (brings in house sparrows, titmouse, nuthatch, cardinals, sparrows, grosbeak, and the goldfinch eat it in the summer). Hanging is a hummingbird feeder (four cups water boiled to 2 cups sugar dissolved - DON'T add red food coloring, it harms the birds digestive tracts)... we have three - two males, one female. Then two finch feeders (winter only) and a suet holder (brings in downys, red-bellied woodpeckers, and Nutty (nuthatch) will eat it, too.
In conjunction we use Burgess Bird Book (I read the stories) LINK HERE
and North American Wildlife (Lydia looks up/at the birds we're reading about) LINK HERE
CREATURE LOG
I got hold of free pages for this, too, and we'll use the North Am Wildlife book and take pictures (or copy them from on-line) for this, too... unfortunately, I can't find it on-line (it was a .pdf I downloaded to my PC, and I can e-mail it to you, if you'd like).
In conjunction, we'll be using Burgess Animal Book (in Year 2): LINK HERE
and North American Wildlife (see link above).
TREES & WILDFLOWERS
I didn't have pages for this, so I made some. ((grins)) Pretty much what I did was put lines across the bottom half of a page (for journaling) and left the top blank (for sketches, or to tape dried, pressed, laminated, or photo examples to. I'm sure the freebie pages at HomeSchool e-store are prettier, and would work just as well.
METEOROLOGY
Not sure we'll do this right away, but I want to have a section for different kinds of weather. Looking at hurricanes, drought, tornadoes, blizzards, hail, snow, rain (water cycles), fog (why/how)... anything like that. We could do a whole subsection on clouds... I'm interested in what clouds mean what kind of weather, and there's actually a BOOK out on it, too!! ((But not now. I'm *really* quite busy as it is, thankyouverymuch.)) We may just start out this section by looking at the four seasons and their changes... taking pictures, etc. Start small, work into things as we go. Y'know. ((grins))
ASTRONOMY JOURNAL
Those of you who read my site know that I'm VERY into Biblical Astronomy and stargazing. Anyhow, my last home-ed blog was about Astronomy, but I'll recap very quickly and in terms of our journaling pages for ya here. ((wink!)) First, I bought two books:
Astronomy for all Ages: This is for when we do a study of the planets/stars/etc. in a later year. It's a lesson book, more in-depth and involved than what my younger students right now can handle. But it looked FANTASTIC, so I got it.
Constellations of the Night Sky: This is a coloring book with a picture of what the constellation looks like, a picture of the story behind the constellation, and a short story explaining the myth behind it. HOWEVER, I do not plan on using this book as it is.
Here's the plan: I'm putting together three pages for each constellation. The first page will be the name of the constellaion, and a picture of ALL the stars in the sky (for placement purposes - copied from front cover of CotNS), and the constellation we're focusing on will be highlighted among them, so they can 'find' it in relation to the other stars. The second page will be black construction paper taped to the top half. We'll use my scrabooking punch tool to 'punch out' what the constellation looks like in the sky from the black paper (the white paper will show thru as the 'stars' in the constellation. Under it will be the Bible verse that goes with the sign. ((In case you didn't know, each of the 'zodiak' was originally one of the signs of the 12 tribes of Israel.)) I may also include as a postnote what the 'myth' behind it was, but the focus will be on the Bible perspective of things. The next page will be blank on the top half, so we can draw the shape of the constellation (dots n' lines), and on the bottom will be the picture from CotNS of what the constellation represents. The last page will be the coloring picture from CotNS of the story behind the constellation.
In addition, there's going to be a sub-section with just lined pages for observation nights... what we saw, what we liked, how clear it was, what was unusual.... like August 12th is a MAJOR meteor shower, and we'll be star-gazing that night. That kind of thing.
We will also (in conjunction to our study) be incorporating the following:
Make your own Telescope: You can BUILD YOUR OWN TELESCOPE for a fraction of the cost... I did a little hunting and found two different builder plans for it... and we might just try it... since these scopes run $800 a piece (they're called Dobsonian reflector scopes... Dobsonian for the easily maneuverable base and mount, and reflector because of the mirror system inside of it). It's still expensive, but not nearly as expensive as buying one, I hear.
Make your own Planisphere: Make your own planisphere in order to lay under the stars and easily find the constellations. Fun little gadget you print off and laminate, it looks like.
Free computer astronomy program: Stellarium.org has a downloadable program that shows the heavens and you can freeze and move within it... VERY useful tool in helping kids locate and identify constellations and such. It's FREE, too, so that's also VERY kewl.
GARDENING LOG
Because we're only site prepping this year, I'm not organized on how to do this, yet. I know we'll graph out our garden, learn about the different plants (what foods they're in, what they look like, how long it takes to grow them, etc.)... I've yet to explore what resources (free ones, of course!) are available to help us with this section. It's blank right now... but DEFINITELY planned on for the future. Pictures, seeds, snapshots, observations... it'll all be there. I'm just not ready, yet. Still busy reading the Square Foot Garden book, erecting vertical frames, making walkways out of free pallets, considering crops, etc.
((UPDATE: Found two interesting looking ideas for this, too:))
#1 - http://www.download.com/My-Garden-Journal/3000-2130_4-6209162.html
A free trial version of a garden log, with charting ideas and tips.
#2 - http://www.suite101.com/article.cfm/urban_homestead/86995
"Journal of the Green"... the concept is to make a log that charts years side-by-side.
FARM JOURNAL
As of now, we have no farm. We have no critters (fish don't count - cold-blooded). BUT... I'm thinking seriously of rabbits (outdoors) and ducks (outdoors) and maybe even a goat or two (outdoors, silly!). Should we do so, we'll need to log about their diet, habits, growth, etc. Our bee-keeping will fall into this catagory, too - once I get the top bar hive we're planning on building (free plan) ready to go.
LANDSCAPING LOG
Yet another section only planned, not actually layed out yet. ((Hey, I do my best!)) This would be the cut flower and bush section... plants like hosta and lilies, lilacs and roses. Whatever we decide to do, where we put it, how it grows, what it looks like... pressed examples of leaves, and more. Our yard graphed out by each kid. Things like that. Maybe yardwork log sheets, showing how they helped with composting, or with the fertilizing or whatever. I don't know yet. But there are possibilities!
SKETCH PAGES
Okay, this *technically* isn't a 'section', but I think it's important to have blank pages (or pages half blank, half lined) for kids to draw on when they see something... a spider web that's unusual... a sunset, a landscape, whatever. Be prepared, as the Boy Scouts say!!
ANYHOOO.... there's the plan so far. It's going to be quite the book when we're done, but having it all in one place and semi-sorta organized sounds like the only manageable way to do this, so there's what I have so far. I can come back and add links to this post as I find more free pages n' stuff... and if you have any that you think would be helpful/useful, PLEASE comment, k? You don't have to have an account to do so. Thanks!!
