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science

4 Ways to Keep Learning All Summer

by Ashley Mullen Leave a Comment

Summer weather in Saskatchewan tends to be hot and dry. It means we can count on getting outside everyday to have fun and keep learning at the same time. We like to go outside as much as possible after being stuck in the house all winter, so we enjoy everything from reading to taking our history lessons outside in the warm weather.

4 Ways to Keep Learning All Summer

4 Ways to Keep Learning All Summer

*This post contains affiliate links, see my disclosure policy for more information. *

1. Get Outside

We like to make lessons a little more fun and messy when we’re outside because I’m not as worried about clean up or spills. History this year was one of those subjects this year made me wish we didn’t live in the freezing cold. Otherwise, we could have gone outside for the messier hands-on projects that my kids love. This summer we have plans to dig site in a section of our garden. Don’t forget just how much you can learn from gardening with your kids during the summer, too.

2. Museum Trips

If you are going on a family vacation this summer check out the museums in the area. We’re heading to the East Coast of Canada and will be going to fishery museums and cannot wait! You don’t have to go anywhere new to check out museums though, just head to your local one.

No matter how many times we go, they always come away with something new. Besides new exhibits being held each new season, the children seem to take a special interested in a different display each time. But even if we do spend most of our time at their favorite human body display.

Check to see if your museums have educational materials on their website. Before you head out, you can print off scavenger hunts or other learning guides to extend the experience. This tip is especially useful for going back to a locale you’ve visited several times before. Having a goal in mind for your visit can bring renewed interest.

4 Ways to Keep Learning All Summer-science center

3. Catch Up Time

Did you run out of time during the school year on some topics? Catch up on them now. Head to the library and pick out some engaging titles your kids would like. Choose topics that you skipped during the year or topics that you know your child is crazy about.

Lay great books around the house at reading level for your child, books that might grab their attention. While they are browsing the books, they are working on their reading skills.

There are things that I left out of our homeschool lessons that we will be doing during the summer For example our Book of World History has a number of hands-on crafts that we are going to continue to learn through, similar to our hieroglyphs.

Did you do every science activity from your Science kit? Redo them. Let your kids create their own science experiments, explore and learn.

4. Reading

Reading is one of the best ways to keep your child learning this summer. Don’t try to force them to read, but have books out for them. Last summer we got our BookShark curriculum early in the summer and my oldest had read a couple of the read aloud chapter books from the History curriculum, I had simply put them on our bookshelf and didn’t limit her reading choices. That meant she started the school year a bit ahead!

The BookShark schedule is not case in stone. Letting my daughter get a bit ahead on one subject means that she’ll have time to explore her own interests more, or she can listen in when I am reading to her siblings. There is no rule that you can only read a book once.

A summer reading challenge  might also be something to try this summer. We take part in a summer reading program at our library for all school aged children. The kids are challenged to read as many books as they can during the summer and to report back each week. At the end of the summer those that have read the most get a little something special, usually a book. If you are interested in doing one on your home, I have one you may want to look at.

Similar posts that you may be interested in:

Summer Brain Gain

Summer Brain Gain

The Perfect Summer Reading List for Toddlers

The Perfect Summer Reading List for Toddlers

Filed Under: Homeschool, Natural Homeschooling Tagged With: catch up on homeschooling, homeschool summer, keep learning, Math, Museum Trips, Reading, science, summer learning

Benefits of Gardening with Kids

by Ashley Mullen Leave a Comment

Have you tried gardening with your kids? While my kids don’t love the hard work that comes with getting a garden planted, they sure enjoy the fruits, or vegetables, of the labor. Some of the biggest benefits of gardening with kids for us is that there aren’t many vegetables that they won’t eat and they are always willing to try something new now.

Benefits of Gardening with Kids

Benefits of Gardening with Kids

*This post contains affiliate links, see my disclosure policy for more information.*

Watching a plant grow from the seed you planted is quite the experience. And if you can start some seeds in a clear container you can teach your kids all about root systems and sun light, all those science things.

Reading

Your children can be reading to find which vegetables are the best for your growing zone and what type variety fits best for your area. Then there is the reading about how to plant them: germination, planting and spacing, harvesting, etc. Let them do some research on the plants they want to grow.


Math

There are a lot of teachable math moments when gardening with kids: how deep to plant a seed, how far apart to plant seedlings, how tall plants get, and how to arrange them in a garden to provide for maximum growth.

Science

Gardening provides a fantastic introduction into the world of natural science. From planting a seed to watching seedlings grow and mature, flower formation, fruit formation, insect and plant life cycles, and the importance of sunlight and water; these are all the beginnings of botany, biology and chemistry!


Health

One of the many benefits of gardening with kids is that they begin to appreciate the hard work it takes to grow and harvest food. They learn patience, confidence, and that it can be great to get messy! If you don’t have space for a garden, then try container gardening with kids. You’ll get the same benefits but you need less space!

Do you do any gardening together as a family?

 

Benefits of Gardening with Kids

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DIY Soil Testing Garden Science Experiment

Soil Testing Science for Gardening

Growing a Snack Garden with Your Kids

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Greenhouse Gardening with Kids

Filed Under: Homeschool, Natural Homeschooling Tagged With: Garden, gardening with kids, growing a garden, homeschool garden, Math, Reading, science

We’re Using BookShark Curriculum

by Ashley Mullen Leave a Comment

If you are are a secular homeschooler then chances are you have heard of BookShark curriculum. They are a secular homeschool curriculum resource, with a book based approached… and if you have followed along with us on our homeschool journey you know that we are big book fans here, so I think this is going to be a great fit.

BookShark Curriculum

Curriculum We’re Using this Year – BookShark

*This is a sponsored posted. I received curriculum in exchange for BookShark reviews. All opinions are 100% my own, the good and the bad.*

You can find our 2018-2019 choices here. Hint, there’s more BookShark.

When you open a box of BookShark the first thing(s) you see are books. As a literature based curriculum this is to be expected. We received Reading with History 1 and it includes a huge pile of books! Plus the books that go along with Science 1.

If looking at the pile of books that we received in one box wasn’t enough to make me happy then the weekly planner was more enough to put me over the top.

How We Do Read Aloud in Your Homeschool

They have a four day, one day “leftover” a week for sports, field trips or other extracurricular activities, or in our case, for taking a day off in the middle of the week.

The weekly schedule is laid out with printable worksheets to do, and when to do them, when to read which stories and such. This makes my wanna be planner, routine heart leap for joy. Even if I struggle to stick to a routine. Who knows, maybe this will be the year we follow a plan and routine.

BookShark tells you that you aren’t stuck to their schedule, make things work for you, think of the schedule as a guide, the instructor guide if you will.

BookShark Package

I am going to admit that I just want to dig into the work right now. In fact, just this morning I was going looking through the parent binder, just itching to get started.

My girls (and Gauge too) have been openly enjoying the books that came with the Reading with History 1 books. Keeping books away from my kids is impossible, I would have to hide them, and I just can’t do that.

BookShark Curriculum Offers:

All Subjects Packages

All-Subject Packages are for those aged 4 through to 14. Though not all levels have all of those, it depending on the level you choose.  What can be include:

  • History
  • Read-Alouds
  • Readers
  • Language Arts
  • Science
  • Math
  • Handwriting.

Secular History

There are nine different history options for those aged 5-16. There is:

Intro to the World: Cultures
Intro to the World: Year 1 &2
Intro to American History Year 1 & 2
Eastern Hemisphere
World History Year 1 & 2
History of Science
History & Literature

BookShark Curriculum – Secular Language Arts

There are eight different language arts that you can chose from, from ages 5-13. There are also three different level 2 options: Regular, Intermediate, and Advanced.

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BookShark Math Options

There are multiple math program options to choose from through BookShark, including Math U See, Saxon Math, Spinapore Math, and Teaching Textbooks.

Basically BookShark have everything you could want or are looking for to teach your child up until about the age of 14. With the different options that they have, what more could you want in a secular homeschool site?

Similar posts that you may be interested in:

BookShark is Secular Homeschool Curriculum

Unboxing BookShark Not Getting overwhelmed

Our 2018-2019 Homeschool Curriculum Picks: Grades K, 2, and 4

Filed Under: Curriculum, Homeschool Tagged With: all in one, BookShark, Box curriculum, curriculum, reading with history, science, secular, secular curriculum

10 Science YouTube Channels for Kids

by Ashley Mullen Leave a Comment

There are some things that I just can’t explain to my kids. Like what happens when you spill something in space, yup there is a science YouTube video to show us what happens. Just like there are great experiments that I want to do with them, but maybe I just can’t get my hands on xyz to do, so we can at least someone else do it, learn from that video. Make sure that you check out the science experiments that we’ve done, and you can easily do at home too, these are great in addition to your science curriculum.

10 Science YouTube Channels for Kids

10 Science YouTube Channels for Your Kids

*No affiliate links here, just some fun online learning for your kids and mine.*

These are our favorite ones to watch and learn from, and these science Youtube videos are available in Canada, because there is nothing I dislike more than going to watch a video and it not being available in “my country”.

Canadian Space Agency – Do I need to explain this one? Kids are always interested in space, and this one answers some great questions.

WhizKidScience – This is one is a kid doing science experiments that you can do at home. You know we enjoy this one.

Mr. DeMaio – Here is a little bit of everything, math science, history. It is full of educational fun. And after watching the Table Songs, you’ll be singing them in your head all day.

HooplaKidz Lab – Science experiments provide hours of fun and on this channel they believe in keeping it simple and awesome at the same time. Easy experiments that can be done at home.

Crash Course Kids – This series is beginning with 5th grade science, so we’ll be delving into Earth Science, Physical Science, Biology, Geography, Engineering, and Astronomy. Have a look at our playlists on each subject!

The Spangler Effect and Spangler Science TV and Sick Science  – these are all Steve Spangler, all amazing!

Make Me Genius – This channel has a lot videos (over 100) and they are great for all ages.

Bill Nye – The newest videos are from 7 years ago, but it doesn’t make this channel any less awesome.

Do you have some favorite channels that we should check out?

Similar posts that you may be interested in:

How to Use YouTube in Your Homeschool

How to Use YouTube in your Homeschool

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Filed Under: Homeschool, Homeschool Helps Tagged With: science, Science Youtube, youtube, youtube channels for kids

Hands on Science Experiments for Kids

by Ashley Mullen Leave a Comment

I am a hands on person, and while I love reading, I love doing too, experiments that is. My kids also love doing too, they in particular love for hands on science experiments. They are all about reactions, preferring the bigger ones.

Hands on Science Experiments

Hands on Science Experiments for Kids

We have been having  lot of fun over the years doing different science experiments, from those that are great for toddlers to those more appropriate for older children.

Baking Soda Eruption – This is a simple, fun for toddlers experiment.

Elephant Toothpaste – My toddler loved this one too, he was easily able to pour the in

Walking Water – Fun for everyone, but not a fast paced entertaining one.

Mento Eruption – This is a fast paced one. Everyone, toddlers to adults will enjoy it!

Making a Cloud in a Jar – The one is for older kids, say 5+.

Making it Rain in a Jar – Again for older kids, this is a great way to learn about rain on a rainy day.

Looking for them all in one place? I have a printable PDF you can download. In the download you will get all of these written out with the ingredients required, and instructions, one sheet for each experiment.



Hands on Science Experiments for Kids

Filed Under: Experiments, Kids Activities Tagged With: hands on, science, science experiment, science for kids, scientist, summer science

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A Little About Me

I'm Ashley, a Canadian secular homeschool mom of 3, living in Nova Scotia.

I share our adventures in homeschooling and parenting.

You can usually find us at the library surrounded by books.
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