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• Nature Journaling Resources

  • Field Guides

  • Blank books

  • water color pencils

  • water color brushes

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• Botany in 8 Lessons

  • Jessamyn says:

    • We did not stick strictly to the 8 lesson framework (some of the lessons took us through several weeks in fact), but did use this book to guide us in structuring the order of our botany studies. It has a lot of great (doable and truly fun) hands-on activity suggestions that I was consistently impressed by.  We built a giant model of a plant cell out of found nature bits, had a photosynthesis themed relay race, built mossy terrariums, learned about plant classification through singing and used Latin classification patterns on ourselves, baked vascular themed cookies, and lots more. There was a good mix in this book of silliness and science that resulted in lots of fun and retention.

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• Botany in a Day

  • Jessamyn says:

    • This way of identifying plants from patterns is a great skill, but just know that it is a lifelong study and also happens to require flowers to be in bloom. So this is a book for our field guides shelf, and that will get good use in the Spring and Sumer months. The author's website includes video's where he clearly explains this method.​

  • Shanleya's Quest and Picture Cards

    • Jessamyn says:

      • This book brought the Botany in a Day information to life for my kids! It is a picture book, and a younger and easier entry into the Botany in a Day pattern recognition approach to learning the 8 most common plant families. Our kids learned these major plant families quickly with this story and in playing the memory game.

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• Elemental Science

  • Jessamyn says:​

    • ​We have used the Physics for Grammar Stage curriculum. This is a great resource for our style of homeschooling because it can be easily modified and the recommended experiments we almost always with items we already had on hand. There is a mix of the children doing their own research, mainly with the Usborne Science Encyclopedia, and then fun experiments to demonstrate the principles learned. I like their discussion questions. I like the memorization station for each unit, a poem related to the learning that they practice. I like the biography part they include, learning about famous thinkers associated with each unit. We did not use any of the student workbooks, rather made our own lesson pages, mostly of writing up / drawing our experiments and writing down new vocabulary and conclusions.

• • Amy says:

    • My 8 and 11-year old both have loved the chapter book series The Sassafras Adventure Series, which follows the journey of twins who take an invisible zip-line journey around the world to learn about science.  Rather than do the suggested worksheet work in the curriculum, we would read a chapter, then do a journal page on the subject with a drawing and fun facts.  We couldn’t put these books down! 

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• Exploration Education

  • Jessamyn says:​

    • ​The Standard Physical Science curriculum box fell into our lap, probably not one I would have found or purchased on my own, but it has been really fun. It comes with a box full of everything necessary for a hands-on experiment with each unit. My kids have build a solar powered fan and a racing car and the only thing we needed that was not included in the kit was a hot glue gun. The curriculum part of it is on-line and not the most stimulating, but it walks you through various experiments around each build in the kit. I appreciate how little planning has to go into using something like this. It’s something that we have taken out on random weekends when we needed a little something different. 

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• Real Science Odyssey from Pandia Press

  • Heather' husband says :) :​

    • The experiments take just the right amount of time, and for the most part, use common​, household supplies.  The lessons are very clear and are easily accessible, and take little planning.  

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• Raising Little Shoots​

  • Heather says​:

    • We've used the Phenology Guide for a couple years now, and the kids ​love them!  If frequent nature journaling feels overwhelming for you, this is a perfect solution.  It's really fun to look back at the nature we've explored and documented, and has created a wonderful memory for us.  Considering this is worked on once per month, it doesn't take much time, and is really worth it!  They also offer a year-round nature curricula, nature journaling guide. and free resources.

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• Steve Spangler Science

  • Heather's husband says :) :​

    • We used the Fire Bubbles and Exploding Toothpaste book​ once a week for about a year.  These experiments were so much fun, but definitely take some time to prep.  We went through the book, and purchased all the materials up front, so we had them on hand when the time came.  After the experiments, we would journal with pictures and labels to document the learning.

    • ​Steve Spangler also has a monthly subscription that we are eager to try!​

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