Easy Earth Day Fun!
It's Earth Day on April 22, and the beauty of creation has been a great comfort to us in this season of quarantine. We want to share five simple activities to help you celebrate with your children.
Read a Poem
“Hope” Is The Thing With Feathers
by Emily Dickinson
“Hope” is the thing with feathers -
That perches in the soul -
And sings the tune without the words -
And never stops - at all -
And sweetest - in the Gale - is heard -
And sore must be the storm -
That could abash the little Bird
That kept so many warm -
I’ve heard it in the chillest land -
And on the strangest Sea -
Yet - never - in Extremity,
It asked a crumb - of me
Sing a Song
Click for a link to a lovely version of "For the Beauty of the Earth"
Watch a Book
Watch a book about time in nature (we like reading books best, but without a library, we take what we can get, click the title to get to the Youtube read aloud).
The Raft by Jim LaMarche
Purchase The Raft here
Miss Rumphius by Barbara Cooney
Purchase Miss Rumphius here
A Rock is Lively by Dianna Hutts Aston
Purchase A Rock is Lively here
Play in Nature
Once you have read a few books, spend some time enjoying nature.
You could take a wildflower walk and make a bouquet.
You could look for rocks and start a collection.
You could look under rocks for bugs and other creatures (watch out for snakes!)
When you return, arrange your wildflowers into a bouquet, or test the hardness of your rocks by scratching them with each other, or create a bug habitat with a mason jar covered in a porous cloth.
Make an Earthy Snack
Dirt Cups
Carrot Sticks and Veggie Dip
Birds Nest Treats
If you need more ideas for learning in nature, check out our Nature Guides! Each guide includes activities to develop literacy and math skills, art and practical living, along with fine and large motor skills for a well-rounded preparation for elementary learning.
You can get the Summer Bundle: Garden, Freshwater, and Ocean for just $27!
Are you starting to plan your 2020/2021 school year? Here are our learning recommendations.
Kindergarten
Many families are combining our one-month nature-based guides with some supplemental math and phonics for an engaging, hands-on approach to kindergarten. You can read more about these guides here.
Check out our month-long nature-based guides for young learners.
Elementary school
We follow a three-year history cycle with our resources to correspond with the Classical Conversations Foundations memory work. This means that our coming year will be spent studying American history with The Playful Pioneers after we finish our European history with The Kind Kingdom. In two years we will be studying world history again with The Precious People.
We add in math and phonics, spelling or a writing curriculum along with The Peaceful Press resources, in order to provide grade-specific instruction in those subjects. You can read more about our favorite resources for homeschooling older children here, and favorite math resources, or phonics resources as well.
As you wrap up your school year and plan for the next one, what are your biggest questions? We would love to help answer them.
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