Land Animals, Astronomy and Swimming Creatures - these are all amongst our favorites from Apologia's
Young Explorer
Series. We look forward to reading the text, doing the experiments, making projects and sketching in our notebooking journals.
We especially love the notebooking journal prompts. Simple experiments, words games, activities and 'unit' type projects extend the learning. Coloring pages are our favorite because they are ready to go and add fun to the learning.
Speaking of coloring, we've learned even more about each of these Apologia science subjects with art. Mixing in just a little art blesses the
whole
homeschool day. Opening up that creative side of the brain helps reinforce learning. Plus, art simply brings a smile to a child's face. Art might help your child enjoy science even more!
Please know your art time does not need to be elaborate. Us? We use chalk. Chalk is familiar. It's what children start out with. A big, chunky piece of chalk. Plus chalk is frugal. It's an affordable medium for the whole family.
My mother, Lucia Hames (a.k.a., Nana) has been teaching us and the homeschool community her motto: "You ARE an Artist!" She
says, "All of us are born with talent....an inbred wiring to create. As parents, grandparents and teachers, tapping this talent and helping students reach a rich satisfaction with creation of art is our goal! If you pick up a brush, pen, pastel chalk...or use your finger for glorious finger painting, you become an artist."
Ok, so you might ask, how does our science and art time go? I'll give you a peek.
Recently we read a lesson from Astronomy and imagined the big solar system God made.
We pulled out the chalk pas
tels and sketched the cover of our Astronomy book.
The ske
tching made us notice even more. Look at the light reflecting and the craters on the surface of the moon! Look at the swirls of white in the atmosphere of earth. And look how you can smooth a milky way with just your finger and a bit of white chalk!
So, do you see?
First our eyes were open to the photo of the solar system, then we dug a little deeper into the textbook to investigate. Finally, our sketching helped us appreciate the details and notice even more. It's an extension, an expansion, an in depth learning of science that is pure FUN!
When we were studying Land Animals, we loved learning about rep
til
es. Especially about bearde
d dragons like our family pet. So,
we d
ecided to paint our pet! We noticed the frills on hi
s
bea
rd and just how many scales he has!
I encourag
e
you to get some s
imple, inexpensive sketch books.
U
se th
e fantastic Apologia Notebooking Journals.
Pick something and learn even more science - with art!
This, of course can apply to any of the Apologia Young Explorer Series. Here are a few to get you started:
Astronomy
- Astronomy art tutorial
Land Animals
- Bearded Dragon http://www.hodgepodge.me/2014/11/artist-paint-pet/
And we invite you to browse our art offerings at
www.chalkpastel.com
- We have books full of art topics for you!
Now in her 15th year of homeschooling, Tricia faces a daily dose of chaos with five children. She and her mother co-author a series of
art curriculum
for all ages. You can find those 100+ free art tutorial and helpful hom
eschool habits at
Hodgepodge
. Sh
e and her husband, Steve, are also owners of
The Curriculum Choice
, a review website making homeschool decisions easy.
