In our house this is it – our last month of the school year.  My kindergartener and fourth grader are rounding the bend into summer.  But we’re not quite done.  There’s still time to introduce them to some experiential, time-tested projects that I loved when I was a kid.  And if the teacher is excited, the students will be enthralled.  Last month I outlined 8 “old-school” projects.  This month I’m finishing my list of 15 with 7 more.  See if you remember doing these and make time for one or two in your final school days.

1. The Mobile.  Every child has probably made one, but maybe it’s time for another.  For your hanging structure you can cross two wooden sticks, two wooden spoons, or two knitting needles.  Similarly a needlework hoop, paper plate, coat hanger, or a spiral would work.  You can hang anything from them from types of aircrafts for your little ones to types of butterflies for your high-school lepidopterologists.

2. The Book Jacket.  This was some of the most fun I ever had while simultaneously doing a book report.  On the front cover your child will get to create an eye-catching graphic design and title.  On the back cover they’ll summarize the exciting parts of the book without giving away the ending.  And then there’s the inside flaps with their favorite scene and information about the author.  Artsy kids will want to do it all by hand, but this site lets them do one online.

3. The Potato Battery/Egg Drop/Volcano/Slime Project.  I have a teacher friend who spends the last two weeks of the year just doing science experiments with his class.  He says it keeps their attention in those final and very squirrelly days.  Right about now I’m thinking he’s really onto something.  Choose one (or several) of the science projects you’ve always “meant” to do and go for it.  These projects are all demonstrated on the internet ad nauseum.  But have you done them?

4. The Homemade Game.  Your kids have learned a ton this year.  Prove it to yourself and them by having them develop trivia questions from the year (write the answers upside down in small print at the bottom of the question card).  Cut out the back of a pizza box and have them design it into a game board with craft supplies.  Make a spinner or find some dice.  I chose to do this in eighth grade for a culminating book project and I stumped my whole study group with, “How do you spell medieval?”

5. The Paper Mache Globe.  Is your study of the ocean really complete without this?  Blow up a big punch ball balloon, mix some flour and water (or dilute some Elmer’s glue until it’s runny), cut strips of newsprint and you’re off.  Yes, it is messy – that’s why you may never have done this before — but the weather is nice so take it outside.  If you don’t want to draw the continents of the earth you can make a different planet, a piñata, or the Death Star.  Cut the dried sphere in half and make it into a bowl painted with Native American markings.  Or branch out from the spherical shape entirely and try paper mache mummies or animals.

6. The Make-Your-Own Book.  Writing my own story and illustrating it into my own bound book was always a favorite project for me.  You can make and staple together your own booklet, or buy blank bound books with 24-28 pages in them online for around $2 apiece at this site   (note that they also carry blank board games, comic books, and book jackets!)  Let the kids finish the year with a final project they’ll love long past the unit study.

7.  The Collage.  The collage finishes my list because I hold this art form in very high esteem.  This is old-school at its finest.  Patiently thumbing through old magazines, cutting and pasting might seem childish to your older kids, but inspire them with a quick google search and discover the amazing pieces of art that use this technique.  Collage is versatile for all ages and subjects, can be both utilitarian and beautiful and it epitomizes the sentiment, “Don’t miss the forest for the trees.”  Like our lives, collage allows us to take ordinary things and give them life.

These final days don’t have to be full of checklists (“Did we finish all the math?  Can we conjugate all the verbs?  Did we write enough reports?”).  We can infuse some of our past experiences in with our current days and watch our kids blossom through the same methods we once did.  New ideas are fun, but scouring the internet for something new may be more distracting than simply sitting back and thinking through the projects that once inspired you.

Now, finish up with some fun and go enjoy summer.  I’ve got some old-school ideas for that too.  And, I bet, so do you.

Debra Anderson has three sons ages 11 and younger. Her passions are education, mentoring, her husband, writing, church ministry and missional living — not in that order. She has her seminary Masters degree in Christian Education, is married to her pastor-husband of 16 years, and resides in their newish home in Denver, CO. In spite of moves between four different states, she has always home educated her boys — even on the hard days. She maintains a blog at www.emergent-homeschool.blogspot.com.

For those of us who take breaks from school in the summer months, those weeks can be wonderful times of relaxation from the regular hectic schedule.  Because of the extra time, the lazy days of summer can also be perfect for learning or practicing new skills known as handicrafts.

What are handicrafts?  Things you create which prove to be useful.  A very small list of possible handicrafts includes:

• Sewing
• Quilting
• Knitting
• Crocheting
• Embroidery
• Woodworking
• Wood Burning
• Whittling
• Model Making
• Jewelry making
• Pottery
• Photography
• Videography
• Gardening
• Flower Arranging

Rather than waste away summer days allowing your children to sit in front of the TV for hours, encourage handicrafts!  Rather than listen to one more, “I’m bored, there’s nothing to do,” encourage handicrafts!

In our house, I ask the children to consider one or two handicrafts each that they would find interesting to learn or practice over the summer months.  I make sure they have the appropriate supplies, including how-to books from the library if necessary.  I also tend to throw in supplies and how-to books for one or two additional handicrafts of my choosing.

Oftentimes, I join into the handicraft learning in the beginning to encourage my children’s excitement and to make sure they understand where to start.  Because of my involvement, I’ve even found myself finding a new passion once in a while, too!  After the initial time alongside me, I encourage the kids to go for it on their own (or with each other) while I spend time doing mom stuff.  (Oh, how I wish that translated to sitting on the hammock reading books.  But, more often, “my” time finds me catching up on long overdue household chores and planning for the upcoming school year.)

I love that my children are actively engaged in meaningful activities through the summer – activities that make them happy and relaxed. When they come away from the summer with practical skills to boot, I can’t ask for more!

Cindy West is an eclectically Charlotte Mason mom of three who loves learning alongside her children. You can find her blogging at Our Journey Westward  and find her nature study curriculum at Shining Dawn Books.

Sounded practical. And it is.

Benefits:

• A handy ‘scratch’ surface for math problems, doodling spot for the easily distracted.
• A fun play area for the younger crowd.
• Painting the desk became a family project.
• A simple way to add everyday fun to your homeschool.

So, with the end of the school year approaching for most of us, I’m sharing the how to of a chalkboard desk. Maybe you’d like one too? Painting with chalkboard paint is the perfect summer project!

Chalkboard paint comes in these smallish cans. You’d be surprised at how much surface area you can cover with this amount. Follow this link to the Rust-oleum site with more details on finding the paint near you plus proper paint surfaces for chalkboard paint.

Our homeschool desk my brother custom built for us. The surface was ready to receive chalkboard paint. Even so, be sure you research what is best for the surface you intend to make into a chalkboard. It may be that you need to prime your desk before painting with chalkboard paint.

Two coats of paint is all it took for our desk.

I share more ideas here on Heart of the Matter in School Books on the Mantel and Maps as Window Treatments. Plus more homeschool makeovers in the continuing series on Hodgepodge.

Don’t have a desk to paint with chalkboard paint? Maybe you’ll get inspired to paint something else by visiting my All Things Chalkboard pinterest board.

So, what will you paint first?

Tricia has homeschooled for over a decade now, facing a daily dose of chaos with five children. She shares a mixture of free art lessons, recipes and the practical at Hodgepodge. She and her husband are also authors and owners at The Curriculum Choice. 

I’ve wistfully contemplated nature journaling – beautiful, romantic, sweet, beyond my grasp. Life is too busy to just sit, relax, observe, be? Whenever I head outside, I grab my gardening tools. Or furtively check emails on my iPod while pushing my daughter’s swing.

And my little girl? She’s too young to enslave with a pencil and paper, I’ve thought. She needs to be free to run, roam, explore, discover.

No longer. I’m tired of coveting others’ journals. And I’ve been reading how nature journaling, rather than restricting freedom, can be an avenue for focused exploration, discovery, and expression. A way to be amazed by the littlest details of this world God has made.

So this summer, as the weather improves, we’re changing things up. I’ve bought a couple of notebooks – one for each of us – small, easy to carry, with a little pocket to store the scraps and snippets of our adventures.

And I’ve stocked up ideas to fill my little beginner’s journal. Here are a few:

Five Senses Journaling: Stop. Breathe. Describe what you’re taking in through each of your senses. Maybe just a word, maybe a paragraph. I’ll write my daughter’s dictation if she’s not in a writing mood.

Plant Rubbings, Stamps, and Stencils: Bring out the peeled crayons and have your child collect interesting leaves and flowers, creating crayon rubbings in her journal. Dip flowers, rocks, and pine cones into paint to make stamps. Paint over a fern or leaf for a stencil effect.

Photo Journaling: Set the camera on auto and hand it over. My daughter comes up with some amazing angled photos. Drawing is often too stressful for her perfectionistic personality, but she’ll happily cut and paste her photos instead.

Poetry Journaling: Bookmark nature poetry to read in the shade of your big trees. Photocopy favorite quotations to glue in the journal, and bring out the markers to illustrate the words with doodles or drawings. A perfect fit for our country yard is this verse by Richard Le Gallienne.

Pressed Flowers (and twigs and leaves): We don’t have much of a garden, but we do have lots of flowering weeds! We’ve made some gorgeous art with pressed petals, and I’m thinking they’ll add a lovely touch to our journals this summer.

Scavenger Hunts: Esmé is always up to a scavenger hunt, and some lists go well in a journal; e.g. a photo color/shape hunt or a pressed flower/leaf hunt.

Lists: Suggest a topic for lists. My daughter isn’t a big fan of writing yet, but she does enjoy making shopping lists, so I’ve been thinking a bird or insect list might be up her alley.

Recipe Pages: We often have some amazing mud pies and flower petal salads in our yard. Have your child dictate the ingredients and document them in “official” recipe format.

Bug Observations: Capture a bug or other creepy crawly in a glass jar and observe it for a while. Encourage illustrations and offer to take dictation of your child’s “pet” observations.

Above all, it’ll be not stressful, not a task to accomplish, but a time to share observations, to create memories both tangible and intangible, to be still and see God.

“For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made.” Romans 1:20 NIV

When she’s not battling too-sticky play dough and untangling herself from the hot-glue webs surrounding her too-cute felt ladybugs, Jane contemplates how to instill in her four-year-old daughter a heart to change the world for Jesus. Her family has circled the globe and landed in rural Oregon where the grass is green and the sky is blue, though not usually at the same time. Their eclectic homeschool adventures are chronicled at Mozi Esmé.

Maps as window treatments! Nana bought these roll up maps on eBay for us a few years ago. She says they weren’t but about $25 for both. Sold when they were no longer needed in a sixth grade classroom.

You will need to assess your window frames to determine the best way to attach roll up maps. My husband found some mirror hangers at the local hardware shop and attached them to the wall.

These hangers were perfect for sliding the roll up maps in position. But, if you don’t have roll up maps handy, you can just use paper maps, folded the way you like it, as a window treatment. This window topper could even be just folded over a curtain rod.

• You could laminate a map and fashion a valence similar to this tutorial.
• This is a fancier version with instructions for making a wooden valence with a map.

Globes are also an easy way to keep geography within eyesight. Keep an eye out for globes at yard sales. You might even find an inexpensive globe at a teacher supply store. Collect them and place them together as a display.

Need more inspiration? I:

• use the family room mantle for school books.
• collect more ideas for maps and globes on my Marvelous Maps Pinterest board.
• share how to spruce up your learning from workboxes to bookcases in my homeschool makeover series.

Enjoy learning. Use what you have. Use maps and globes as decoration. Have your visual within sight or reach.

The earth is the LORD’s, and everything in it,
the world, and all who live in it; Psalm 24:1

Tricia gave up life in the drive thru lane for the joy-filled road home. She homeschools five children from preschool to middle school. You can find her facing that daily dose of chaos at Hodgepodge. There she writes about practical schooling strategies and shares how she is saving bucks and her sanity with the frugal recipes of her Southern roots. Tricia is also known as Hodgepodgemom.

One day this fall my son, Søren, decided to copy a Van Gogh drawing. He pulled out a sketchbook, sharpened some pencils and spent an hour studying line and texture, shape and value.

The stunning result added a project to our year plan.

My friend Sandra recently set her son on wonderful creative journey, more a challenge really, “Draw 100 faces.”

And so, the challenge is on. Only for Søren, the challenge verbiage has been tweaked slightly, “Make a book. Not just any book. Make a book of 100 heads.”

I am a firm believer in longitudinal projects, especially when it comes to the arts. I am also a firm believer that everyone can draw, they just have to learn to slow down and engage in the work of active observation. Artists are good at looking.

Before he began, we decided that the heads in Søren’s books would be studies of famous artist’s drawings—Van Gogh, Paul Klee, Da Vinci. Eventually some of the heads might be straight from Søren’s imagination. These are the drawings I am especially looking forward to.

But when I called Sandra to thank her for the inspiration, and to ask for advice before Søren began, she reminded me, “Some of the heads should be drawings from life.”

So Søren began the project by drawing himself.

The goal is 100 drawings this year.

This past week Søren added JFK to his Book of 100 Heads. This time I noticed that he drew in two sessions instead of one. He told me that after he set it aside the first time and looked back at the drawing, he noticed that he needed to add more range of value. As luck would have it, I had photographed the drawing after the first session of drawing.

At the end of the Kennedy drawing, Søren was inspired to read a book about the man he had spent a couple hours drawing. He even decided to write a little report. Creativity develops discipline that inspires the mind. But if you ask me, the book in and of itself is reward enough, well worth the effort.

Kimberly has been a homeschool mom for 16 years and is an advocate for reform in education. Her book, Habits of Being: Artifacts from the Classroom Guild, is a collection of snapshots from this experience woven to a philosophy of education. She is a founding partner of Blackbird & Company Educational Press, which develops and publishes innovative literature, writing, and poetry curriculum, plus collectivebanter.com, an online opportunity for young writers, visual artists, and musicians to compete and publish their work. She is also a regular contributor to fourandtwenty.typepad.com. Her writing and visual art students have received numerous awards including regional and national recognition by the Scholastic Alliance for Young Artists & Writers and have been published in online and in-print journals. Long ago the California resident, mother of four, received her Bachelor of Arts degree in biological psychology and fine art, graduate training in clinical art therapy, and more recently earned her MFA in creative writing from Antioch University in Los Angeles.

Feeling a little blue?  A little cooped up?  Are the kids stir-crazy?  Is anyone (or everyone) complaining about school work?  Yep.  It’s February in the life of a homeschooler.  There’s no need to feel defeated, though!  Adding a little spice to the schedule is sure to perk up the homeschool spirit!

Rather than “talk” a lot, I’m going to be short, sweet and practical.  This is an emergency and I know you need nothing less than wordiness!  Try one, two or all of the ideas below and find attitudes refreshed fast.

Warning: Adding spice to your homeschool may mean shaking up the regular schedule.  That means (gasp) you might have to replace a grammar lesson or two with something different… or even fun.  It might even mean that your children will demand that these new and exciting things become part of the “new regular”.  You have been forewarned that creative schooling is addictive!

• Take field trips.  Get out of the house to visit museums, community businesses, plays, musicals, indoor historical sites, or to participate in special classes.

• Plan homeschool group events.  Get together once every week or two with homeschooling friends to go bowling, play basketball at a church’s gym, swim at the YMCA, bake cookies together, or learn a new skill together (like sewing or woodworking.)

• Take nature walks.  Getting outside for exercise, sunshine and fresh air invigorate the mind, body and soul.

• Do a unit study.  Take a break from the textbooks to complete a family unit study.  Be sure to include lots of family reading time, art, crafts, cooking, science experiments and other motivating learning activities.

• Let your kids watch TV.  That one got your attention, didn’t it?  I have all sorts of documentaries and other educational shows on DVD and on my DVR.  We never get around to watching them other times of the year.  When it’s too cold to get outside, I allow a little more TV time in order to catch up on these educational programs.

• Celebrate theme nights.  Spend the day (or week) learning about a particular holiday, culture, or historical event.  Everyone in the family can help prepare food, decorations, music and maybe even costumes appropriate for a family theme night.

• Learn a handicraft or two.  Winter is a great time for your child to learn a new handicraft like sewing, knitting, painting, decoupage, scrapbooking, woodworking, wood burning, or photography.  Library books make great teachers if you don’t know how to teach something yourself.

• Splurge on a new educational toy or kit.  A fun kit full of science experiments or other projects can often take the place of textbook lessons.

• Replace some regular assignments with projects.  Instead of assigning a test at the end of a chapter, allow your child to create a project to show what he knows.  He might create a diorama, a mobile, a poster report, a play, a 3-D model, a poem, or a song to prove he understands the material.  From experience, projects “stick” way longer than test questions any time of the year.

With a little effort, you can enjoy your children and your homeschool – even in the winter.  And just in case you still need to hear it, spring isn’t too far away!

Cindy West is an eclectically Charlotte Mason mom of three who loves learning alongside her children. You can find her blogging at Our Journey Westward
and find her nature study curriculum at Shining Dawn Books.

Homeschooling in winter can be a little dreary to say the least. Hang on mama, the weather will turn warm again, the light will shine again…but for now…make the best of those winter days and fight the blahs of January!

1. Start a gratitude journal-not just you, but one for each of your kids. Even if they can’t write words, they can draw pictures. Make it a part of each day in your schedule. We have scheduled it as part of our Bible time, which is a non-negotiable time in our day. When children (and adults) learn to be grateful, it makes the dark days seem much brighter. Older children can also pick a Bible verse to go along with their day. Have them pick one that describes being grateful, or simply any verse that appeals to them that day. Being in the Word each day is something that is so important to train our children to do. Make it a habit, and a lifestyle.

2. Take advantage of the cold dark days to get things accomplished. Once warm weather hits, you will want to be outside. So take advantage to do those jobs around the house-organizing the pantry, sorting through clothes bin, etc. Purge.

3. This goes for homeschool as well-focus on drills, focus on practicing skills, have spelling bees, geography bees, watch documentaries-extra things we may not normally have time to do. If you are snowed in, use it for educational purposes-learn about snow, do a snow unit study, etc. Don’t take off for snow because the schools do-get work done NOW, so when the warm weather hits, you can take time off to celebrate the sun!

4. Celebrate Martin Luther King Jr. Day in your homeschool. Every year on the third Monday in January, we do a special time of learning about his life and his message. We always watch the “I Have a Dream” speech, and I never fail to tear up. Focus on God’s message of love for all people.

5. Enjoy this time. Once spring hits, things always seem to speed up. Enjoy the hibernation of wintertime. Sip cocoa while you work. Enjoy being inside together. Don’t see it as being stuck indoors, but cherish it.

Winter homeschooling can be a big blessing. We don’t have to fight the snow to get places, watch the weather forecast wondering if we have school the next day, or go out in the cold. What a blessing to be cooped up for a bit with those we love.

Take advantage of the time-before we know it the weather will turn warm again. Enjoy the gift of winter!

Karen DeBeus is married to the love of her life, Steve, and a homeschooling mom of 4 children ages 10-2. She was called to homeschool when her oldest was kindergarten age after thinking, “I could never do THAT!” Now she is passionate about encouraging others on their homeschool journey. She is also working on simplifying all areas of her life,including homeschool, and putting God first in all she does. Read more about her journey to simplify at www.simplylivingforhim.com.

With the increasing amount of free resources found online, the ability to homeschool has become more affordable for many. Below is a list of 15 websites featuring free science resources. The list includes games, printables, activities, quizzes, videos, and even a complete science curriculum!

Apples4theTeacher.com Find free elementary science activities, printables, and interactive online games.

BrainPOP Science Showcases animated, engaging, curriculum-based content, much of which is completely free!

Education.com Find free science activities, games, and much more.

Easy Fun School Science Science-based lessons and activities for various ages.

EIA Energy Kids Access energy related games, activities, lesson plans and more!

Fact Monster Great kid-friendly site with all kinds of facts, games, quizzes, etc. for many different subjects.

Hooked on Science Download and print free science worksheets and lesson plans.

MSNucleus Curriculum Access a free K-12 integrating science, math, and technology curriculum.

Quiz Tree Free online quizzes and games for subjects including science, math, reading, foreign language, geography, history, spelling, music and more.

Sheppards Software Hundreds of free of educational games, activities, and articles for many different subjects.

Think Zone Print free science & math posters and charts.

TLSbooks.com Print free science worksheets.

Today in Science History Find scientific events from any day throughout history plus lots more!

U.S. Fire Administration for Kids Lesson plans for basic fire safety.

Yucky Discovery Science website sponsored by Discovery Kids.

Jennifer is a happily married, Christian, homeschooling mama of five little ones (ages 7,5,5,3,3). Yes, two sets of twins! She has a BA degree in Mathematics and holds a masters degree in Education. A former high school math teacher, she now uses all her education to teach her own kids! In her “spare” time she enjoys scrap-booking, though blogging seems to be taking its place. She currently has five blogs. Mama Jenn is her main blog. Education Cubes features customizable learning blocks. The Homeschool Resource List is a collection of free online resources. The “Brown Like Me” Book Review showcases books featuring “brown” characters. The Living Math Book List is a collection of living math books.

The key to successful homeschooling with toddlers is preparedness. Knowing this now, as I do, all the year round I keep an eye out at garage sales, thrift stores, and craft blogs for activities, inexpensive ones, that will keep a toddler’s attention. I don’t spend much money on busy activities for my toddlers, and many of them I’m able to make at home. Part of my being prepared to homeschool with toddlers includes teaching them to be able to sit for five to ten minutes at a time, on a blanket or in a high chair, with their own activities when I need to help an older sibling. Now, let me share some of my favorite activities, which we keep set aside for lesson time, and I’d love to hear yours.

Most toddlers love fine motor activities and beading is such a great toddler activity, whether it’s large wooden beads or pasta or animal shapes with holes. As with all things, use parental wisdom – if your toddler tends to put everything in their mouths, then you might have to wait a year or so on this activity.

I remember watercolor books from my childhood but they seem to be harder to find nowadays. We especially like the ones with little dots of paint all over the picture. They also make watercolor books with the paint palette at the top of the page. I tend to find watercolor books in the most unusual places, like drug stores, and most recently, Joann’s Fabrics. Whenever we’re in the coloring book section of a store, I take a quick peak for them and stock up when I see them.

Our first lacing cards came from a garage sale, vintage ones with shoe laces to thread through. Recently I’ve seen them available on www.amazon.com and in Barnes and Noble, so their popularity is growing. If you’re pinching pennies, you can also laminate some pretty graphics or magazine cut-outs and hole punch around the border. Dollar stores carry shoe laces, which are still our favorites for lacing. We are a crafty family and these are a hit with the toddlers in our home, who get to do their own “sewing.”

Lego Duplos are also kept for lesson time. They come in a large variety of shapes and colors and I don’t have to worry about them being a choking hazard for any babies that may be crawling around.

It may seem simple, but stickers are loved by the toddlers in our home and are a great activity for building those fine motor skills. I ration out a 500 pack of stickers from the dollar store with scrap paper and let our toddlers create a masterpiece.

A metal sheet (you can use a cookie sheet) and magnet sets are also a fun toddler activity. We have animal magnets, firemen magnets, Bible story ones, and the traditional numbers and letters. I sometimes write out words so our toddlers can match their letter magnets to them on the baking sheet and they can play act out their own stories with the people and animal magnets.

Play dough in our home is reserved for lesson time too. We make it at home, add in glitter for sparkles and essential oils for scent. You can color it with coffee, kool-aid, jello, or food coloring. We keep a basket of play dough toys like cookie cutters and a small rolling pin. Here is the recipe we have always used:

In a saucepan, mix two cups of flour and two cups of water. Stir in one tablespoon of oil and one teaspoon of cream of tartar and one cup of salt. Cook over low heat, stirring, until the dough thickens. When it is cool to touch, knead in your colors, scents, and sparkles of choice. We store ours in plastic zip-lock baggies.

I’d love to hear some of your toddler’s favorite activities too – won’t you chime in?

strong>Hannah is a relaxed homeschooling mama of six. Her and her family are big on the outdoors, big on family days, and big on making memories in everyday small ways. She loves handcrafts, iced lattes, re-arranging furniture and counts falling into bed exhausted a sign of a really great day. She and her husband make a home in upstate New York with their energetic children and a menagerie of animals. Hannah blogs at Cultivating Home and you can connect with her on the facebook page, Cultivating Home.