Big Bird Watch

The last weekend in January (25th to 27th) is the Big Garden Birdwatch run every year by the RSPB. If you visit the RSPB website, you'll find lots of free downloadable educational resources on the schools page including survey sheets for different abilities, bird feeder recipes, crafts, games and printables. All well worth a look at, especially if you have primary age children. You'll find different information on the Big Garden Birdwatch page itself. 🐦

I love national surveys that anyone can take part in. They're such a great way for families to engage with nature in a meaningful way, regardless of age and ability. In fact, I've found that working together as a family often means that my children are more keen to get involved, at least during the primary years. I'm afraid teenagers can be a little more difficult to convince, at least in my house. Although, I tend to find that if I start doing activities like this by myself, Boykin will at least pop along and lend a hand, even if only for few minutes and he's usually interested in the results. 😊

We're quite lucky in that we get a variety of birds in our garden throughout the year, although at the minute, I only ever seem to see the robin. In the summer, we've had woodpeckers, collared doves, magpies, jays, various tits and finches, magpies, blackbirds and once, I even saw a peregrine falcon.

The RSPB has a lot of useful information on their website about bird watching and what kit you need.There are pages for identifying birds that even have sound clips of birdsong and maps of

 distribution.

There are bird related activities in the following Picture Book Explorers, if you want to take your studies a little further:
Granny Sarah & the Last Red Kite - learn about red kites;
Katie Morag & the New Pier - learn about sea ducks;
The Tale of Jemima Puddle-duck - learn about ducks;
Black Dog - learn about garden birds.

Of course, each of these packs has a lot more to learn about than just birds and Black Dog is particularly good for this time of year, being set on a snowy day.



My favourite non-fiction books about birds include:



What are your favourite books about birds? Do you prefer fiction or non-fiction? I'd love to know. Please drop me a line or pop along to the Facebook group to join in the conversation

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Hunkering Down for Winter

Winter is here, at least geographically. The winter solstice and the start of astronomical winter is yet to come in the northern hemisphere.

The change in season brings a change of pace in our learning day. We have more time at home and spend more time indoors. In this house, we're at the stage of studying for exams, that last leg of Home Education before they strike out into the world of college and Further Ed. While exam study has affected our routine a little, it has affected flexibility a lot. Days out have to be more carefully planned, study means setting targets based around a set syllabus and we are beginning to feel the pressure 😓

All this makes me so glad for the years that we spent home schooling with Picture Book Explorers. Reading beautiful books, enjoying playful learning, having time to time to digress and take impromptu days out made for a more relaxed and effective education. There are so many happy memories to look back on 😍

As winter sets in, I'm reminded of the lovely books we explored to fit this season.

The Mousehole Cat & Greyfriars Bobby

Most favourite activity ever - Greyfriars Bobby

Field Trip - Greyfriars Bobby

The Best Christmas Present in the World & Black Dog

More about The Best Christmas Present in the World

More about Black Dog

Fog Island is another good book for this time of year as it tells the story of the Fog Man who makes fog with his Fog Machine on an island inspired by the real-life Skellig Michael. Learn how fog really occurs with the Picture Book Explorers pack. Boykin really enjoyed exploring with this pack, not least because of the connection to a Star Wars film 😉

If you prefer a lapbook, there is a perfect one for the Yuletide season - Linked Lapbook ~ Christmas in Europe. Recently revised to fix all broken links, you'll find everything you need to study a selection of European countries with blank mini-books so that you can add more countries of your choice. There's also a page of links to crafts, recipes and more to create a full unit study for your family 🎄🎅🤶

Happy Exploring!

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Autumn

I love autumn. The colours on the trees, walking through fallen leaves, a myriad of crafts, new books, cosy evenings in front of the fire and bonfires, of course. It has to be one of the most repeated topics in all my years of home education 😊

This year my favourite craft has been making corn dollies. I made this simple one with a local children's group. I found the instructions on NurtureStore. You can find more complex designs on my Harvest Pinterest board 🍁🍂🍁

I bought some stalks of wheat from Daisyshop. Delivery was very quick and all the stalks were a good length for crafting. 

You have to soak the stalks overnight before you can use them for weaving & plaiting, otherwise they'll snap. Keep them wrapped in a damp towel until you've finished with them. I'll warn you though, they do smell a bit so you might want to soak a few at a time unless you're going in for mass production in one sitting 🌾



There are so many autumn festivals, not just harvest. Other traditional British festivals we celebrate include Halloween and Bonfire Night. I know these days, many people celebrate Bonfire Night at the nearest weekend, but I'm a bit of a stickler for tradition sometimes, and we celebrate on November 5th every year, come rain or more rain....

This is the Linked Lapbook ~ Bonfire Night to help you learn more about the whys and wherefores of this annual event, including the science behind the firework colours and links to crafts and recipes to make a complete unit study for families who love learning together 🎇🎆🎇

If you are having a bonfire, please remember to check it hibernating hedgehogs.

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Picture Book Explorers Books for autumn



Go-along autumn books

Books for all seasons

It's Volcano Day!

I've been involved with organising and attending one of our local home education groups for almost 15 years now. It's a monthly group with a different theme every time, alternately chosen by kids and parents. We have unusual themes over the years (toilets!) and some have proved more popular(history of sweets) than others (environmental issues). This last month's theme was chosen by the kids and it proved popular with all them - volcanoes :)

As you can imagine, I was quite happy about that because I didn't have to research the topic or spend hours looking for an activity to take. I just dipped into Let's Explore Volcanoes and I was away. The pack is aimed at ages 8 to 12, but I knew that we have children as young as 4 and as old as 14 attending so I wanted to pick an activity that they could all do. So I bought 3 blocks of plasticine (orange, white & black) and we made models of volcanoes. I also printed out one of the minibooks for them to complete and took in Boykin's version for the "Here's one I made earlier" moment 😃

It proved to be a popular activity with lots of discussion and questions to be answered. Luckily, I could answer most of them not only due to having written the unit study but because I'd hen completed the project with Boykin. For those I couldn't answer, I had books on hand and when completely stuck, Google was my friend :)



was fun to do this activity with such a wide age range. It gave a small insight into how larger Home Ed families must work. There was a certain amount of juggling, but I noticed that the oldest ones worked completely independently, using Boykin's version and the illustration as a guide. The younger ones (age 10 down) needed more explanation and  demonstration to help them build the layers, but they all had their own little tweaks. The very youngest didn't complete the lapbook and were very happy just to make the model. We ended up with a fantastic array of volcano models and pictures.

It all served to reinforce my previous experience of unit studies that different ages and different abilities are able to work together o
n the same topic. As a facilitator, for me the biggest challenge is not to interfere too much by trying to correct and direct. This is especially true when they are little - I found that doing the activity for myself alongside them really helped with this. It also gives them to observe another way of doing things that they can choose to copy or ignore. By joining in with them and working alongside them, it adds value to their learning experience and it helps to reinforce the idea that the activity is worth doing. All of which sets them up with a good attitude for the future as they begin to work independently.

What are your biggest challenges when working with your children on a unit study? How do you overcome them?

Other activities we did at the group:
Volcano splatter paintings - brown cones with vibrant splatters of red, orange yellow and white
Bicarb and vinegar volcanoes - classic volcano activity
Exploring tectonic plates with building bricks and cardboard sheets
Active, dormant, extinct volcanoes - kids act out each stage of the volcano as it is called
and we learnt the chorus of this rap song with added actions and dance moves 😉



As a family, we came home and watched Doctor Who Series 4 Episode 2 The Fires of Pompeii t finish off our short return visit to volcanoes 😂 What's your favourite fun finish to a topic?

Happy Exploring!

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Spring is in the air...

I'm really enjoying the longer days and am delighted to see the flowers beginning to bloom in my garden. I love the bright splashes of yellow daffodils on the verges that follow the white and purple mix of snowdrops and crocuses. Everything begins to feel so much brighter and we all begin to look forward to the warmer weather to come.

Many teenagers are preparing for the summer exams and quite a few will have received their results for the January sitting. We're still a year away at least from exams here, thank goodness, and I am determined to make the most of our remaining exam-free time by revisiting some of the resources on the Picture Book Explorers website and, hopefully, getting a couple of new ones in there too :)

When my kids were younger, we used Picture Book Explorers to fit the season. For spring we would choose The Tale of Jemima Puddle-duck or Granny Sarah & the Last Red Kite. We would explore Wales, the Lakes, birds, feathers, wind and trees. We would go out to look at ducks and visit places where red kites could be seen flying overhead. Happy days :)

The Boat is another spring-ish one if you want to explore rain - we've certainly had plenty of that round here the last few days :/ And of course, you may want to explore Ireland as St Patrick's Day approaches with either Fog Island or The Day the Crayons Quit - that one was a definite favourite here

Another project that's perfect for this time of year is the Linked Lapbook ~ Sowing and Planting. This is a full hands-on project with science activities as well as minibooks to record the progress of the plants you grow, be they flower, fruit or veg :) Actually, that might tie in nicely with Floss where you explore farms and farming :)

Oh, and of course, Mother's Day is fast approaching. Have you seen the My Mum Mini Lapbook that you can make on a piece of A4 card? It's a lovely little project that can be finished in a very short time. It can be completed as an interview between mother and child, or maybe another adult or older sibling can help with it to make a very personal surprise gift for Mum on Mother's Day. Why not add a photo or drawing of Mum to the cover? It will be great to look back at in years to come :)

D'you know what? Seeing as how it's Mother's Day soon, I'm going to give a FREE copy of My Mum Mini Lapbook with every purchase made through the Picture Book Explorers website throughout the rest of March.

Happy Exploring!

What is an insect?

It's Snow Use....

We've been enjoying freezing temperatures and some long awaited snow here this week. It's been great for cosying up in the house in pyjamas with hot chocolate in between dashing out to measure the thickness of the ice and the depth of the snow.

We've watched the birds and observed their footprints in the garden as well as spotting the different size prints of all the neighbours' dogs as we walk up and down the street. I love these simple winter pleasures 😊

We've not had enough snow quite just yet for sledging, but my kids live in hope. I think I'll stay home and make sure the fire is lit and the kettle is on for when they get back 😉

There are so many ways to make good use of the snow. Freezing water-filled balloons is one Boykin wants to try again tonight and I'm thinking of hanging my towels out overnight to dry (or not) to find out whether or not it's true that frost softens them. I also want to try putting leaves and berries in water filled bowls to make ice hangings for my garden. I've seen them on pinterest and they look so pretty :)

I'd love to hear about your favourite snow activities. Please leave a comment below or drop me a line 🙋

There are Picture Book Explorers just perfect for this time of year and this kind of weather. You can have fun with the art activity in Greyfriars Bobby, or enjoy exploring frost with The Best Christmas Present in the World. Or take full advantage of the weather and explore snow in a very hands-on way with Picture Book Explorers ~ Black Dog.

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Lapbook Tutorial #2

Have you ever wanted to make lapbooks that are different sizes?

This video demonstrates how to make a mini-lapbook base. They're used for the mini-lapbook packs I have on TeachersPayTeachers and Currclick and we've also used them for quick projects than can be completed in a day.
For instance, we made a quick Denmark one for book group - it had a flag, map, a layered minibook with information about the country and a minibook about Hans Christian Anderson. All the minibooks were made from scratch. The covers had written titles for the most part, but The Girl drew a picture of the little mermaid on the front of the Hans Christian Anderson minibook.

We've also used this method to make bigger lapbook bases to use as a display board when we have done geography fairs at our local Home Ed group. We used stiffer card from a cardboard box for that and covered it in coloured paper :)

I hope you enjoy this sort video. I will be making more, so subscribe to my YouTube channel to make sure you don't miss them :)

Happy Exploring!

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Lapbook Tutorial #1

How to make a lapbook base from an A4 document wallet

This is my favourite way to make a lapbook base. It's very quick and easy.



Make sure to buy good quality document wallets. The stronger, the better. Avoid the ones from the pound shop. They tend to be grey inside and VERY flimsy. It's worth paying a bit extra, believe me. Our lapbooks have been taken out so often to be admired, re-explored and re-read and I've found that the cheap wallets just don't hold up to so much handling, much to Boykin's disappointment.

I'm so glad that we found lapbooks. They encouraged him to take a real pride in his work  👩

Happy Exploring!

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Woohoo! I won an award!

Have you spotted the lovely bright Blue Ribbon in the sidebar? -------->

I'm so excited to be able to tell you that I have received this Blue Ribbon for Favourite Elementary Product 2018 as voted by The Old Schoolhouse Review Crew for Picture Book Explorers ~ Paddington.

This means so much to me because the voting was done by other home educating parents. These are people who use  a lot of different resources and are very discerning about quality and value. I don't mean simply monetary value, but real, educational value. I feel very honoured and humbled to receive this 👩

Oh my goodness! Is this post turning into an Oscar speech? I am just so grateful that these family took the time to learn and explore with this pack. Thank you, thank you all 😍

You can find links to all the different reviews here.

My own favourite memories of exploring Paddington with my own children have to be all the foam activities - meringues, elephants toothpaste, foam painting Paddington...

… and shaving foam fun 😂

There was a good dose of academic learning went on too with maps, maths, creative writing, architecture and science 📚

You may be interested to know that Michael Bond, the author of Paddington Bear was born on 13th January 1926, making this a perfect tome to  explore the book 👩

You can find Picture Book Explorers ~ Paddington on the Branch Out World website, on Teachers Pay Teachers and Currclick.

I'd love to know what messy fun your kids get up to. Leave a comment below :)

Happy Exploring!

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