A Net In Time Schooling
Follow me on Social Media
  • Home
  • A Net In Time Blog
  • Reviews
  • Homeschooling Organizations
  • Freebies
    • Free Education Sites
    • Curriculum Reviews
    • Blogs
    • Canadian Content
  • Art, the arts
    • On-line Art Instruction
    • Crafts and More
    • Music
    • Just drawing pictures
    • Paper Crafts
  • Bible
  • Geography
    • Social Studies
    • Continents
    • Countries
  • History
  • Language Arts
    • Books
    • Reading
    • Writing
  • Math
  • Science
    • Plant/Animal Science
    • Chemisty
    • Physical Science/Physics
    • Earth Science
  • Links
    • Puzzle and Page Makers
    • Christian Studies
    • Special Needs
  • Specific Grade Level
    • Kindergarten
    • Elementary 1-4
    • Middle School 5-8
    • Highschool
  • Curriculum sources
  • A Net In Time Store

Be Creative Every Day

2/20/2016

 
Picture
I love this quote from Art Before Breakfast, by Danny Gregory.
Aha!   Calling All Kids.   When you were little, you made art all the time.  Remember?   Crayons, finger paint, poster paint, chalk, papier-mache, playdoh.You sang, you danced, you dressed up.   Your imagination was your constant companion.   And all your friends shared in your art.   You lived in an artist's cooperative.

Everyone around you was supportive.   Mom, Dad, teachers celebrated your work, saved it, pinned it up, stuck it on the fridge.  You were a star.

Why does that have to be just a distant memory?   Why can't you have that same spirit of creativity, brave exploration, open-eyed wonder... even for just 10 minutes a day?

That little artist is still in there, inside you.  Get that kid some crayons.

This book was my inspiration for a change in our schooling days.   Having a creative lad, who plays and builds paper craft toys regularly, who uses them to help learn math and play games, who extensively borrows my tablet to use different drawing apps made the change all the easier.

Tuesday, Wednesdays and Thursdays I set the timer for 15 minutes and we "do art".   We get our inspiration from a number of different sources, but predominately from the books below.
Picture
My son doesn't like to write in books (or draw for that matter).   So all we use these books for is ideas.    Using art sketch paper gives us more room to draw and and detail.  My boy using a full sheet and me using a half sheet.
Picture
from 642 Places To Draw
My son's favourite Idea book is the 642 places to draw book.   It is simply a bunch of blank pages with ideas printed in the upper corner of each section.    We simply leaf through the pages until we hit one that intrigues.   This one was "draw a greenhouse with exotic plants"
Picture
my son's exotic specimens
Picture
a more conventional greenhouse
My son had a whole lot of fun with this and drew on it over the course of 45 minutes.  (he just couldn't stop after 15 minutes so continued to draw while I read out-loud to him).
I have to admit, some of the idea presented to us make my lad scoff.   The idea of drawing what he had for lunch... he just really can't see the point of it.     Whereas a windy day has the lad grinning at the possibilities...
Picture
from doodle your day
Other ideas intrigue him... but "they don't leave enough room for me to draw what I want mom!"   This is why using a sketchbook is so handy.   Inspiration doesn't have to be limited by lack of room.  :)
Picture
from pocketdoodles for Christmas
I have to admit, it's simply fun to draw.   I don't much care WHAT I draw, as long as I have an idea of what to do.   (I know.. sometimes I'm limited)    It's actually rather neat some of the ideas presented to us.   LIke the fun of drawing the home of a hobbit. :)
Picture
my efforts
I love how we inspire each other to try new things.   I love the stories he comes up with to go with his drawings... because being creative in one way helps us be creative in other ways as well.  :)
Picture
my son's efforts
The Art Before Breakfast is a rather neat book.   It talks about all the different ways you can do art, as well as talking about different art techniques.   It shows options for how to encourage doing art spontaneously ... draw your children, draw your pet, draw your morning coffee, draw the stranger or a friend, draw the animals that you see and more.   Just draw, and draw some more.      Then to make sure you don't get stuck in a rut draw with something unusual like lipstick, mud or a paintbrush.
Picture
There are so many ways to draw, so many things to see and do and recreate.

For 15 minutes every day... just draw.

I have found it makes for a more settled boy if I give him time to just create, and because we have these lovely books for inspiration it takes the pressure off of having to come up with ideas on our own.

All these lovely books were sent out to me by Raincoast books.  
Product Details:
PocketDoodles for Christmas.  By Anita Wood.  
642 Places to draw.  Published by Chronicle books.
Art Before Breakfast.   by Danny Gregory.
Doodle Your Day.   By Anita Wood.
Picture

Review: Hands Of A Child

8/18/2013

 
Ponds...just what do we know about ponds?   Before doing this study we knew some things about Ponds, but now we know a whole lot more.  :)   Thanks to a review we did for In the Hands of a Child and their lapbook Pond Life.
 photo handsofachildlogo_zps7221e2e2.jpg
Vendor information

Vendor: In the Hands of a child
Product:Pond Life.
Price: Normally $12, currently $5.
Age/Grade Level: Kindergarden, 1st Grade, 2nd Grade
With this unit study you will be able to teach your early elementary classroom about life in and around a pond.  Ponds may be small, but they are important ecosystems that are home to many plants and animals that support one another. Make your lesson planning easy with Pond Life Curriculum from In the Hands of a Child. This pack includes a 5-day Planning Guide, Related Reading List, 11 Hands-On Activities PLUS 1 Fun Extension Activity, and a 7-page Research Guide.  Students will be introduced to how ponds form, how ponds are different from lakes, pond areas, plants and animals that live in pond areas, pond dipping, and more!
Picture
On the way up to camping I took the time (since it was an eight hour van ride) to read the text for "Pond Life".    This gave us a good foundation to talk about the ponds that we saw while we were camping.  :)   It was easy to see and talk about the animals and plants you could find a various levels of the small ponds that surrounded us and then compare them to the lakes we saw.
Picture
emergent and floating plants. :)
We had a couple of rainy days so we used those to work on the lapbook.   I had put the lapbook on my tablet for ease of references and had printed out all the activities before we left.   We had lots of small pieces of paper to help us light our campfire.  :)   I did not print out all 70 pages, only the ones with the activities on that we were going to complete.
Picture
when we did this exercise the lad did all the ones he knew first, and then we went back to read about the ones he was uncertain about. As he listened he was able to finish it. :)
Most of the ponds we saw were quite small compared to the lakes we had.  Some were so small they made for EXCELLENT frog catching areas. :)
Picture
small pond. the lad is just about to try scooping up a frog.
Picture
he ended up making a frog living area, it held 14 frogs. He caught about 18 frogs all together. He worked hard trying to catch a big bullfrog but that one was just too smart for him to manage.
I appreciated having this study to do, especially to read on my tablet on the way up.  It gave me good words to use with my lad as we walked around enjoying the bounty of God's creation.  Was he always interested?  not really...frogs are much more exciting than examining the environment that they live in, but when it came to building a frog habitat it came it quite useful. 

"Mom, frogs need plants the stick out right?"
"Mom, frogs like water that's all the same right?
"Mom, frogs like plants or things they can sit on or hide under right?"

And all those questions I could answer while giving him information about ponds.   We enjoyed having this study right at our fingers tips to do something with.  :)   It was an excellent rainy day activity for us since it fit so well with where we were and what we like to do when on vacation.
Picture
most of the frogs he caught were green frogs, but he managed to catch one wood frog and two other kinds of frogs which names are eluding me at the moment. He learned alot about ponds just by catching frogs.
Suggestions I would have for change.

1. I personally find it easier to have lesson material, immediately combine with activity material.  In the Hands of a Child puts all the activities at the end and then you need to figure out which part of the lesson material they belong with.  I would rather it be connected immediately.
2. Some of the lapbook materials I had no clue how they were to be put together and could not find any instructions on how to do so.    So that I would like to have a small diagram for each activity showing what it's supposed to look like when it is completed.
You can either click to read more reviews from the Schoolhouse Review Crew or click the banner below, whichever is more convenient for you.   There were a variety of lapbooks reviewed, so it really is worth your while to check them out.   In the Hands of a Child makes some GOOD lapbooks.
Photobucket
 photo DisclaimerGraphic1_zpsf612f371.gif

Review and Giveaway: Insects by Hands Of A Child

5/2/2013

 
Picture
For the past month we've been reviewing Insects, a lapbook on Insects.
Vendor: In the Hands of A Child.
Product: Insects.
Price: Currently available for $9 (normally $15)
Geared for : K-6
Picture

What this is...

I started out homeschooling doing lapbooks.  I love scrapbooking and this seemed a natural fit for me.   What I quickly learned was that I very much DISLIKE making lapbooks using file folders.  Can't stand it.   So I decided as much as I like the concept of file folders doing them as such isn't a good fit.  Therefore, we make books on cardstock and normal paper.  We cut, we glue, we make up our own minds about where we want to put things, and we don't fiddle with creating elaborate lapbooks out of file folders.

What this means is we can add to our lapbooks as we gain new information OR as we find information that answers questions that the lapbook gives us, but doesn't answer as face it...you simply cannot answer every single question a child might have.   So I LOVE doing lapbooks my own way.  :)

This lapbook is designed by In the Hands of a Child.   I must say, of all the companies I have used for doing lapbooks this company is one of my favourites.  They do a thorough job.  Their lapbooking elements fit well with the material taught, and they tell me how to make the different elements.  Most can be figured out, but some... well... take some teaching. :)

This lapbook  covers the anatomy of an insect, type of insects, vocabulary, habitats, hibernation and migration and so much more. 
Picture
Insect we found, we wonder what type of moth or butterfly it will become.

Things I wish were different

I wish the lapbooking elements were placed throughout the book rather than all at the end.  I find myself needing to flip pages as I've printed off the elements I need but not the directions.  If the elements were within the study it would make it easier to simply proceed through the instruction part in an orderly fashion.

My Opinion

I like this insect study.  It is quite a good one.

I really appreciate how they give options with the unit for making the lapbooking elements age appropriate...cut and paste for children, or write in the answer, or do a simple copy over words.    Means if I had more than one child I could do this with all of them with little extra effort on my part.

I have to admit, we haven't quite finished it, we are having fun doing it and making little side trips into....I wonder about (today it was antennae, how do they help tell temperature differences) so we've been looking that up and learning more.

I love materials that not only answer lots of questions, but also encourage lots of questions that require further study.   This unit does exactly that.

I recommend you get if you have someone in your household interested in insects.   :)
Picture
carefully watching the caterpillar. Note: we brought home some moss from our insect walk to help encourage more insects into our backyard. Moss brings in small and tiny insects which my son just loves to observe.

My Son's Opinion

I like this study mom, but there is SO much gluing.
Can we do less gluing?
But I like it!   I didn't know that flies and bees were different kinds of insects.

Disclosure

I was offered a free unit in exchange for my fair and honest review.   I was not forced to have a good opinion, just merely to tell you what I thought. 

The Giveaway Portion

You too can do this study!  Woot woot!   I've got permission to do a giveaway.  :)     To get your very own copy of this study enter my giveaway and see what happens.


Entry-Form

Insects

4/25/2013

 
Picture
Today the lad and I predominately worked on the Insects Lapbook from Hands of a Child.    Our main focus was on vocab and the orders of insects.   I used the vocab words to show my son how if you know parts of the word you can often figure out the whole word EVEN IF it's a great big long word.  :)   For instance Carnivore...starts with a word the lad knows well.   And it ends with a bossy R..... so Car ?? or... so play around with it and soon he said CARNIVORE!    Precisely lad.  :)  He was happy...he figured it out.   Just ways to build his confidence. 

He also worked on his Adventus.  The goal was to have him only do a practice session but ...well...the lad fights against that.  He wants to keep doing something new.  So...I looked up some music books I had and said OKAY...I have something that you can practice WHILE you do the "new" using Children's Music Journey 2 by Adventus.
ACK MOM!!!   This is too hard, I don't like it.
Well...it gives you something to work on then doesn't it?
and look....You CAN do this too.  :)

So I showed him that he could.  Well...he got one page down, but then he let his "ackiness" get in the way and didn't really try for the second.   But... He'll practice it daily until he has it.    Good to challenge a lad a bit.

We called it a day after that since he's fighting a cold and was getting too... hmm.. "techy" for anything good to come of it.

    Who Am I?


    Loved by God and family - these things center me

    Writer, Poet, Hiker, Reader - these things make me smile

    Educating, Raising a child, Involved with Critters, Pastor's wife - These things make me grow

    Picture
    Team Member

    Subscribe to our mailing list

    * indicates required
    Blog Roll

    Enter your email address:

    Delivered by FeedBurner

    Subscribe to A Net In Time Schooling - A Net In Time Blog by Email
    My Joy-Filled Life
    Click here to sign up for SchoolhouseTeachers.com
    Visit Annette's profile on Pinterest.
    Picture

    RSS Feed

    Archives

    September 2017
    July 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    February 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014
    January 2014
    December 2013
    November 2013
    October 2013
    September 2013
    August 2013
    July 2013
    June 2013
    May 2013
    April 2013
    March 2013
    February 2013
    January 2013
    December 2012
    November 2012
    October 2012
    September 2012
    August 2012
    July 2012
    June 2012

    Team Member

    Subscribe to A Net In Time Schooling - A Net In Time Blog

    Picture

    Categories

    All
    Adventus
    Affiliate
    A Journey Through Learning
    Animals
    Ants
    Art
    Art Books
    Atutorsoft Math
    Bible
    Biography
    Birdcage Press
    Blast From The Past
    Blog Hop Or Cruise
    Blog Hop Or Cruise
    Blog The Alphabet
    Blog The Alphabet
    Book Club
    Book Review
    Book Review
    Books For Children
    Books Read Lately
    Book Work Day
    Brainfood Learning
    Canada
    Carnival
    Chess House
    Child Led Learning
    Child Led Learning
    Christianity
    Christianity Cove
    Christmas
    Circle Time
    Cleaning
    Coding For Children
    Community Service
    Computer Work
    Contest
    Conversation Jar
    Cooking Class
    Crickets
    Critical Thinking
    Curriculum
    Day In The Life
    Days Of November
    Devotion
    Devotional Time
    Doctrine
    Earth Science
    Educents
    Email
    Encouragement
    Esl
    Essentials In Writing
    Europe
    Experiment
    Faith Issues
    Family
    Field Trip
    Five Day Blog Hop
    Five Minute Friday
    Five Minute Friday
    Five On The Fifth
    Flyby Promotions
    FoodBank
    Foreign Languages
    For Sale
    Freebies
    French Essentials
    Games
    Gardening
    General Update
    Geography
    Giveaway
    Global Art
    Guest Post
    Hands Of A Child
    Hands On Learning
    Handwriting Without Tears
    Healthy Living
    History
    Holidays
    Homemaking Skills
    Homeschooling
    Homeschooling A Singleton
    Homeschooling Essentials
    Homeschooling Helps
    Homeschool In The Woods
    Homeschool Issues
    Hope
    Human Body
    Hymn
    Insects
    International Student
    Issues In Homeschooling
    I Won It
    Joyce Herzog
    Kick
    K'Nex
    Knights And Castles
    Language Arts
    Language Arts
    Language Study
    Legal Issues
    Lego
    Letters To Pastors Wives
    Mammoth Math
    Math
    Middle School
    Miscellaneous
    Missionaries
    Missions
    Movie
    Museum
    Music
    Nature Study
    Nature-study
    On Line Learning
    Online Learning
    Ontario Science Centre
    Organization
    Outer Space
    Parenting
    People Of Faith
    Philosophy
    Phys Ed
    Pinterest
    Play Dates
    Poetry
    Preschoolers And Peace
    Printable
    Random Five
    Reading
    Reading Kingdom
    Recipe
    Resource
    Review
    Sale
    School Planning
    Science
    Scienceandmathcom
    Series
    Sight Words
    Sponsored Post
    STEM Activities
    Student
    Study Aid
    Sunday School For All Ages
    Supercharged Science
    Taking Time To Think
    Target The Question
    Thinking Out Loud
    Thinking Tuesday
    Time4learning
    Tools
    Tos Review
    Ultimate Bundles
    Vacation
    Vendor Sales
    Website News
    Week In Review
    Westminister Shorter Catechism
    Whats-in-my-browser
    Word Blog Hop
    Wordless Wednesday
    Word Prompt
    Youtube

    RSS Feed

     photo 9c2d3d39-9e5d-4351-b060-d6251ee13eaa_zpseda17cd5.jpg
    Follow on Bloglovin Follow my blog with Bloglovin

    2013 TOS Reviews

    IXL.com
    if you were me
    Chess House
    YWAM
    Seed Sowers
    Time4Learning
    Family Hope Center
    Reading Kingdom
    Bible Study Guide for all ages
    Bird Cage Press
    Christianity Cove
    Math Mammoth
    Joyce Herzog
    Homeschool in the woods
    SuperCharged Science
    Adventus
    LoneStar Learning
    A+tutorsoft Math
    Wet, Dry, Try App
    Schoolhouse Teachers
    French Essentials
    Dogwood Mudhole

    Circle Time
    Gryphon House
    Essentials in Writing
    In the Hands of a Child
    A journey through learning
    Ed Douglas
    Picaboo Yearbooks
    VocabularySpellingCity

    2014 TOS Reviews
    Science4Us.com

    Egglo Entertainment.
    ScienceandMath.com
    Supercharged Science.
    Philippians in 28 weeks.
    CTC math
    The Brinkman Adventures.

    Maestro Classics.
    Logic of English.
    Learning Breakthrough
    Go Science DVD's
    Veritas Press
    Happy Kids Songs
    Wizzy Gizmo: In his image
    UberSmart Software.
    Essential Skills Advantage:

    Other Reviews

    My Beloved ..
    Homemaker's Mentor
    Don't Miss the Boat
    Tokens of Promise
    Biff and Becka's ....
    A Child's Geography
    Homeless at Harvard
    30 Days of Bible Study...
    Topaz and the Evil Wizard
    Alone yet not alone
    Lead me Home
    I am Second
    Can't wait Willow
    Hey God....
    This is Our Time
    What I wish I knew at 18
    Classical Composers
    Seeking Christmas.
    Raising boys by design.
    The Ruby Ring.
    Knowing God By name.
    The Jesus Bible, NIV. 
    One Realm Beyond.
Powered by Create your own unique website with customizable templates.