Need Advice for Schooling a Hands-on, Creative Child

[IHaveNoIdeawhatIAmDoing]

The more I do school with my daughter, the more I realize how different from me she is!! The problem is that I have no idea how to cater to a hands-on, creative personality. She's got a couple months left of kindergarten (We do it differently. Her school year changes after her birthday) and I'm not sure if my first grade plan is right for her anymore. So, I have a bunch of questions.

 

If you have a child that's like this, what do you do for them? Are there particular curricula that you have found helpful? Should I just try to make science and art as hands-on as possible and just let the other subjects be? Any suggestions/personal experiences would be helpful. Thanks!

[...................]

Buy stock in Starbuck's, 8 O'clock Bean, and Peet's Coffee.

 

Honestly, I am not hands on or creative either. I write creatively and well, but that's about it. 

 

ThE BEST curriculum ever for my dd was Five in a Row.  And NOT with lapbooks.  SHe LOVED all of the wonderful ideas and hands on enrichment that was suggested by the author in the volumes, and she enjoyed doing a few lapbooks, but after that it just becomes cut and paste, fill in the blank, busy work!  So I really don't recommend using lapbooks with FIAR if your child is super creative.

 

My dd thrived with the suggestions by the author, because Jane Claire Lambert has such a lovely way of giving open-ended ideas that can turn into other projects and other ideas.  It was truly a wonderful experience.  We used B4, Volume 1, and Volume 2.

 

Now, we don't use a specific hands-on curriculum, but I try to never skip ANYTHING hands on.  We are using Calvert and there is an art project every week.  Never skip.  THere are something like 50 Science experiments. I sat down painstakingly with the materials list and made sure to order every single tiny thing we need for every single lesson.  There are enrichments in the back of CHOW.  Today it suggested to make purple cloth with blueberries.  So the blueberries are on the counter, defrosting.

 

It makes her so happy and excited and things stick with her more when it's related to art and creativity and hands-on.  

 

But I really do suggest FIAR.

[Ellie]

KONOS is quite good for children who like more hands-on activities. It covers Bible, history, geography, science, arts and crafts, drama, literature while learning about godly character traits such as obedience, attentiveness, and orderliness.

[HS Mom in NC]

We combine lapbooking for crafts and projects related to The Story of the World (SOTW) vol.1-4 by Susan Bauer and for Science.  Using the Activity Guides by Susan Bauer that go with each SOTW book  makes it very easy.  In addition, I use my local library to find activity books related to whatever we're studying in History and Science by using the library catalog search engine.  We either put in the activity itself, or if it can't be put into a lapbook (or notebook if you prefer that simpler format) we take a photo of it and add the photos to the lapbook/notebook.  We also put in narrations based on the SOTW chapter readings. 

We make lapbooks out of the activities we've been doing but there are lapbooks online that are print outs someone else has designed for people who prefer them done that way. They're mostly coloring, cutting and pasting images someone else selected.  Not my preference, but some people like it.

[marylandhsmom]

For math: add in Cuisenaire rods with www.educationunboxed.com videos to the MM1.  That adds a kinesthetic, creative component to an abstract subject... (and play the games!)  I find that adding in math journaling helps as well, like drawing out word problems on paper..assuming of course she likes to draw!  And if she does, try using "Draw, Write, Now" books for handwriting.  For phonics, add in phonics games to practice new phonograms - (Peggy Kaye's games for reading, or the games in Happy Phonics).  My DD (now in 1st grade) is exactly the same as yours.  Does she like music?  Singing?  Utilize learning through songs to the max -- learning number bonds through songs, geography to songs, etc (  http://www.amazon.com/Geography-Songs/dp/B002CB3KPM_

 

Make things.  If you're studying animal habitats, make a diorama for your hibernating creatures with a shoe box and toys and construction paper.  Check out Pinterest for tons of ideas related to a certain topic.  

 

I also agree with Five in a Row being super fun and hands-on for learning through literature!

 

Of course, add in tons of crafts if she's into that!  :)

 

HTH!

[IHaveNoIdeawhatIAmDoing]

Thanks so much, guys! I will definitely consider all of this. I really like the idea of lapbooking with history and science and just tackling every activity that's included in the curricula we use.

 

 

marylandhsmom, we have our blocks from using math-u-see last year and I plan on watching every one of those videos!! She's definitely going to love the games. Also, I've been debating over whether to try Draw Write Now for handwriting because handwriting is the only subject that she dreads doing.

 

I do have to say though, I told my husband that the only thing I would never do for homeschooling is Unit Studies. But you know what they say, never say never.

 

 

[HS Mom in NC]

This is a copy of a post on adding to SOTW earlier this year.

This is a step-be-step walk through how I do SOTW as a regional unit study. (I'm working on developing a workshop.) We did the Ancients the last year and a half. My daughter was 7 when we did this part of the Ancients-we started when she was 6 but moved more slowly at first.  SOTW is my spine but I'm very CM oriented and we make a lapbook for each unit out of all the activities we did. Another option is to buy the Activity Book for the Ancients by Bauer and use her suggested reading and activities.


Ancient China Unit Study: Living Books from the Library

Easy Section (E)
E + Author’s last or only name (Usually only the first part of it.)
These are picture/story books in the children’s section of the library. They’re usually meant to be read aloud to preschool-early or possibly mid elementary aged children in some cases. They typically take about 5-10 minutes to read aloud. Others are longer at about 20 min. maximum in rare cases.

These were found by using the local library’s online catalog’s search engine. I typed in “Ancient China,†“China,†“Dragons,†“Kites,†“Silkworms,†“Silk,†â€Tangrams,†“Great Wall of China,†“Chinese Zodiac,†and “Ancient Chinese Inventions.†More books than the ones listed here showed up. These are most of the books I actually checked out and used.

E BOUCHARD
Dragon New Year by David Bouchard
E CASANOVA
The Hunter: A Chinese Folktale retold by Mary Cassanova
E CHIN
China’s Bravest Girl: The Legend of Hua Mu Lan by Charlie Chin
E COMPESTINE
Crouching Tiger by Ying Chang Compestine
E COMPESTINE
The Story of Kites by Ying Chang Compestine
E CZERNECKI
The Cricket’s Cage: A Chinese Folktale retold by Stefan Czernecki
E DEMI
The Greatest Treasure by Demi
E DEMI
Kites: Wishes that Fly Up to the Sky by Demi (Directions for making a simple kite in the back.)
E DEMI
Liang and the Magic Paintbrush by Demi
E DEMI
The Magic Boat by Demi
E DEMI
The Stonecutter by Demi
E GREENE
The Phoenix Fairy by Greene
E HONG
The Empress and the Silkworm by Lily Toy Hong
E LIN
Fortune Cookie Fortunes by Grace Lin
E LOBEL
Ming Lo Moves the Mountain by Arnold Lobel
E NIEMAN
The Pet Dragon: A Story about Adventure, Friendship, and Chinese Characters by Christoph Nieman (Copy many of the Chinese characters neatly onto a page either in pen or with a paintbrush and ink to be included in a lapbook.)
E NOYES
Red Butterfly: How a Princess Smuggled the Secret of Silk Out of China by Deborah Noyes
E TOMPERT
Grandfather Tang’s Story: A Tale told with Tangrams by Ann Tompert (Directions for making tangram art in the back.)
E TOMPERT
The Jade Horse, The Cricket, and the Peach Stone by Ann Tompert
E YOUNG
Lon Po Po: A Red Riding Hood Story from China by Ed Young (Caldecott Medal Winner)


Children’s Non-fiction section ©
These are fact books written at an elementary aged level. This section is usually separated from the Junior non-fiction section and the adult non-fiction section. Look for the C next to the number.

C+ Dewey Decimal Number+ Author’s last name (usually the first part of it) + Year of publication

C 595.78 SCHAFFER 1995
Silkworms: Lifecycles Series by Donna Schaffer

Junior Fiction Section (JF)
These books are for mid or late elementary to about Jr. High aged children. They can be read aloud by an adult or they can be read by the child depending on your child’s needs. They are organized by author’s last name.

None were used in this unit study.

Junior Non-Fiction Section (J) In larger libraries junior non-fiction and adult non-fiction are in separate areas. In smaller libraries junior non-fiction and adult non-fiction are mixed in together. Look for the J before the number. The adult non-fiction books have no J. They only have the number.
The Dewey decimal system organizes these books. Take a look at your copy of the Dewey Decimal system chart and notice how these books related to Ancient China are placed.

Dewey Decimal Number + Author’s last name (usually the first part of it) + year of publication

J 398.20951 FANG 1995
The Chi-Lin Purse: A Collection of Ancient Chinese Stories retold by Linda Fang
J 398.2454 ZHANG 2000
A Time of Dragons by Song Nan Zhang and Hao Yu Zhang (Copy the dragon song on the last page for a poetry/handwriting assignment.)
J 394.26 FIESTA 1999
Fiesta! (A Series ) China: A Portrait of the Country Through It’s Festivals and Traditions No author is listed because this series was written by various people. (Directions for making a dragon head is on pg. 12-12 and a felt fish on pg. 21 along with other project ideas.)
J 509.51 WILLIAMS 1996
Made in China: Ideas and Inventions from Ancient China by Suzanne Williams
J 931 OCONNOR
The Emperor’s Silent Army: Terracotta Warriors of Ancient China by Jane O’Connor
J 931.04 FISHER
The Great Wall of China by Leonard Everett Fisher

Young Adult Section (YA) Teenagers are the target audience for these books. More mature themes are covered in some of these books, so different parents will have different convictions about the content in these books. Books are organized by author’s last name.

Ancient China Unit Study: Online Resources

Google the same keywords as used in the online library catalog “Ancient China,†“China,†“Dragons,†“Kites,†“Silkworms,†“Silk,†“Tangrams’†“Great Wall of China,†“Chinese Zodiac,†and “Ancient Chinese Inventions.â€

 

After reading the Fiesta! Book from the library, I also googled “Dragon Boat Festival†and “Qu Yuan†because he’s the poet honored in the Dragon Boat Festival.

Coloring Pages- Google using the words “free downloadable†then a keyword. Be prepared to print out images on a smaller scale if you’re including them in a lapbook.

Live Silkworms (Plan A) Mine arrived alive but died 2 days later.
http://www.silkwormshop.com/index.html
Silkworm Life Cycle (Plan B)
http://www.enchanted.../silkworm.shtml
Silkworm Poem
http://wildrosereade...riatons-on.html
Dragon Boat Festival
http://www.familyhol...-coloring-pages
Chinese Zodiac Symbols
http://www.hellokids...-zodiac-rooster
Ancient Chinese Inventions
http://www.handipoin...nese-inventions
Selected Passages of Poetry by Qu Yuan
http://www.shigeku.c...nshi/quyuan.htm
The actual selection I had my child copy as a handwriting and poetry assignment was:
“Qu Yuan 340-278 BC
Long did I sigh and wipe away my tears,
To see my people bowed with griefs and fears…
…I marvel at the folly of the king,
So heedless of the people’s suffering…â€

Hands on Activities
Dragon Head
Directions are in Fiesta! China pg. 12-13. Take a picture and print it out so if you want it in a lapbook.
Felt Fish
Directions are in Fiesta! China pg. 21
Tangram Art
Directions are in Grandfather Tang’s Story by Tompert on the last page. I cut out the tangram shapes in black cardstock, my child arranged them following the pictures in the book, and I glued them onto Japanese (Shhh! Don’t tell anyone!) origami papers with Asian patterns. You can simplify by using black tangram blocks (if you have them) on a brightly colored paper, taking a digital photo, and printing them out so they can be labeled in a lapbook.
Kite
Directions are in Kites: Magic Wishes that Fly Up to the Sky by Demi on the last 3 pages.
Potato Prints
Cut a raw potato in half and draw or scratch out a Chinese character on the white flat part. Scoop away the white flat part of the potato that isn’t part of the character about 1/4-1/2 in deep. Dip in paint or ink and print multiple times on paper-rice paper if you’ve got it.
Chinese Watercolor Landscape
Directions are in The Usborne Book of World History pg. 76. Paint a Chinese landscape on made or purchased rice paper if you can make it or get it. Glue it to cardstock as a cover for narrations.
Coloring Pages
See the online resources section of this document. Make mini book of Chinese inventions. Make Chinese Zodiac.
Night Sky
On black paper glue stars and a moon to make a cover for a narration about the lunar calendar or Chinese Zodiac.
Confucian Chart
Make a chart of relationships according to Story of the World by Susan Wise Bauer Ch 35: China’s Wise Teacher pg. 251-253.

Ancient China Unit Study

Story of the World by Susan Wise Bauer
Ch. 10: The Far East: Ancient China
Lei Zu and the Silkworm 66
The Pictograms of Ancient China 70
Farming in Ancient China 73
Ch. 32: China: Writing and the Qin
Calligraphy in China 239
Warring States 243
The First Emperor & The Great Wall 244
The First Emperor’s Grave 248
Ch. 33: Confucius
China’s Wise Teacher 251

Blackline Maps of World History by Johnson (Now sold as MapTrek Atlas and Outline Maps of World History by Johnson)
China’s Shang Kingdom 1750BC-500BC pg. 27
Qin Empire of China 500BC-200BC pg. 45

The Usborne Book of World History
First Civilization in China pg. 62
Great Civilization in the East pg. 74-75
Writing and Inventions pg. 76-77

[Mavy]

This year I decided to be as Project Based as possible. My boys(7 and 5) are really thriving with that time, and can make it as hands on and creative as they desire. I still do a formal LA and math, and they do not mind because they know they will get to do their projects afterwards(though adding in Miquon with Math Mammoth has helped). I wanted them to still have science and history through read alouds so I choose Ambleside. Those read alouds, artist and composer studies, nature walks, hyms, and folksongs are being highly enjoyed by my hands on boys. But, they have both told me that project time is their favorite, and they have asked that we never stop.

[violamama]

My 5 yo is like this. 
We try to do all our math & english with LOTS of hands-on stuff: bending pipe cleaners, glueing stuff to other stuff, playing memory games with cards to reinforce letters, drawing with all sorts of salt-chalk-watercolors-etc. 

 

He loves our cc curriculum because it involves lots of songs, projects, social interaction and hand motions. We have about worn out Pinterest adding to our memory work for him. 

 

I loved the coffee comment above!

[....]

If you have a child that's like this, what do you do for them? Are there particular curricula that you have found helpful? Should I just try to make science and art as hands-on as possible and just let the other subjects be? Any suggestions/personal experiences would be helpful. Thanks!

 

I'm trying to take a break from the internet, but I saw your thread and wanted to offer some ideas.  I have two kids who have always been like this and have realized in the past year that they're VSLs.  (They're in 6th grade and 5th grade.)  Here's a link about it:   https://www.gifteddevelopment.com/Visual_Spatial_Learner/vsl.htm   Your child may not fit the VSL description at all, I just wanted to throw that out there.  If I had understood 5 years ago what I was dealing with, we probably could've saved alot of tears/frustration.  I thought my son had a learning disability (and testing showed he didn't - which was even more confusing).  EVERYTHING had to be presented in some kind of hands-on or visual format.  It was massively frustrating.

 

Here's some of my thoughts:

 

1.  For curriculum, if the reviews say stuff like "difficult to implement", "can't make sense of it", etc, MY kids will like it.  A lot.

 

2.  They need a ton of free time to explore.  My two are constantly researching topics to death, growing projects all over the house, building models with little pieces everywhere...   :glare:   We're building a model plane...now we're building a bookcase...now we're building a shoe cubby...now we're growing all these seeds...now we're raising praying mantises...  *sigh*   :svengo:  It is hard to live with. 

 

3.  Let her move around during schoolwork.  My son (the 5th grader) rolls all over a yoga ball while he does his spelling.  I also let them take their reading wherever they want to go - including outside.  The dry erase board hanging in our schoolroom is where 99% of our "sit-down" work occurs.  We've done math with sidewalk chalk on the driveway before...our friends (with similar problem) used to write the answers to math problems on stickies, post them on the wall and then the boys had to "shoot" the correct answers with Nerf guns.

 

4.  Playing outside or riding bikes/skateboards for an hour before school starts is a must, if possible.

 

5.  Printed *things* are not the only way to learn.  All of our science is hands-on.  We've used a number of the Thames & Kosmos kits, including Physics Workshop.  My kids were able to build all the physics projects in that kit last year when they were 5th and 4th graders (and that kit is marketed for older kids).  They were able to build things that *I* couldn't figure out how to build.  My son also likes to learn through documentaries.  He has The Life of Birds memorized.  He likes Drive through History.  We've watched every botany and astronomy series out there.  They do well with making models, experiments, field trips, etc.  I also have a "science bin" in our schoolroom.  There's a bunch of lab equipment in there from Home Science Tools - a microscope, tweezers, petri dishes, agar, thermometers, etc.  About a month ago, they spent hours with the microscope and pond water.  They were able to identify many microscopic animals and microscopic worms.  They would go on YouTube and watch videos of Didinium eating Paramecium, etc. (they're weirdos)  There is a college professor who has dissection videos on Youtube and my kids watched all of her videos, while doing the dissections in the dining room.  They've dissected perch, squid, crayfish, cow eyeballs, etc.  

 

So, you were looking for curricula ideas (sorry for rambling).  Here's what they have liked over the years:

 

1.  Unit studies (I know this isn't what you were looking for) - we have one going at all times.  They're studying birds right now.  I think my son is single-handedly going to crash the Cornell Ornithology website server.  I've done some from Homeschool Share using books we've read, like Farmer Boy.

 

2.  Konos.  I bought this in February and pull unit studies from it.  They love it.

 

3.  Miquon Math, Art of Problem Solving's math, Life of Fred

 

4.  Logic - they really like this for some reason.  They like Mind Benders, Red Herring Mysteries, The Great Chocolate Caper...  I had to tell my son to calm down the first day we did The Great Chocolate Caper.   :glare:

 

5.  Any Thames and Kosmos kit.  Any experiment-based science book, like Discovering Critical Thinking through Science (they really enjoyed that when they were in 1st/2nd grade)...  They liked the Real Science 4 Kids books.

 

6.  Ellen McHenry's Mapping the World through Art.

 

7.  MCT's Language Arts (I had to drop this, because we couldn't afford it, but my daughter really enjoyed it)

 

8.  Sequential Spelling

 

9.  Janice Van Cleave books (I forgot about these) - our library had most of these.

 

Sorry for rambling! I hope something from all that helps you! 

[Wabi Sabi]

I don't use either of them, but both Oak Meadow and Moving Beyond the Page look perfect for a hands-on, creative child. Have you looked at either of those?

[Eagle]

We recently got TOPS Lentil Science and TOPS Get a Grip (math) and ds LOVES it. It is science and math done with lentils, pill bottles of various sizes, and a lot of recyclables. It takes forever to gather the bits and then assemble the pieces, but it is worth it. Get a Grip actually comes with everything and is easy to set up. It is the a lentil science part that is time consuming to get up and running.

[Jean in Newcastle]

Evanthe - I have a girl going into 6th grade that you described to a T.  I would love it if you shared this year's plans with me - either here or in a PM.  

[....]

Evanthe - I have a girl going into 6th grade that you described to a T.  I would love it if you shared this year's plans with me - either here or in a PM.  

 

Sure!

 

Math: Life of Fred Pre-algebra, slowly working thru AOPS Pre-algebra, on Fridays, she does Hands-on Equations

English: KISS Grammar, Sequential Spelling

Writing: This varies.  If she writes alot about a topic...like yesterday she wrote a 4-page "booklet" about falconry, I won't make her do anything formal.  I try to change the writing around, so she gets a variety.  She can do dictation, write a paragraph, outline, she can write a book report (she just wrote one on Bridge to Terabithia) or do exercises from Killgallon or Classical Composition.  I'm very flexible as long as she writes something every day.

Logic: Mind Benders, The Great Chocolate Caper (we're about halfway thru this now, sadly) and I plan to start The Art of Argument this fall/winter sometime.  I might find something else from Prufrock Press after we finish TGCC and before we start AoA.

History: she has a booklist that she reads on her own (she's reading The Golden Goblet right now)...also, she is making a Book of Centuries.  I printed this from simplycharlottemason.com, put it in a binder and she chooses a century/topic to write about...or draw some sketches...she's done pictures/descriptions of the ancient Egyptian gods, etc.

Art: she's coming up with stuff on her own.  She has a sketchbook, different art markers, colored pencils, compass/protractor, etc.  She's been trying to imitate Chinese brush art/calligraphy lately.

Greek: She's finishing Greek Alphabet Code Cracker and then I'm waiting to buy the next thing.  She wants to learn Koine Greek.  I may buy Greek for Children (not sure).

Literature:  We have 3 booklists going: a middle school fiction list (like Holes, Peter and the Starcatchers), an Asian-themed Lit list (like The Cat Who Went to Heaven) and a history booklist.  She reads these on her own.  I also have a read-aloud going (that they all listen to).  Also, after the finish a book, we try to watch the movie - if it has one.  We did this for Bridge to Terabithia.  They read the book, wrote a book report and then we watched the movie.  They had a really good time.

 

I have them spend about 2 hours on seatwork in the morning (I'm trying to limit it to a couple of hours) and then we work on their unit studies or they read outside.  She spent hours yesterday researching falconry, watching YouTube videos of falconry competitions or clubs, and writing that booklet about falconry.  I also had to drive over to the library to pick up Audubon's Birds of America (it's 500 pages and has prints of all of his original art plates) and my son spent a long time with that book.  Today, I think they plan to look for feathers outside and explore them under the microscope.  I'll probably have them make some sketches of what they see so I can put those in their binders.  They're also going to work on a worksheet that shows the skeletons of a bird and human and they need to locate the homologous structures between the two skeletons and identify the different bones.

 

I hope that helps!

[....]

OP, have you seen the book and website Project Based Homeschooling?  http://project-based-homeschooling.com/camp-creek-blog/  That book has alot of ideas for creative learners.  Also, there is a yahoo group called Homeschooling Creatively.  http://groups.yahoo.com/neo/groups/homeschoolingcreatively/info  I'm not sure how active it is...or anything like that (I'm not on it).  Not even sure if any of that helps, just wanted to throw that out there, too.

[Jilly]

My very creative hands-on daughter loved Winter Promise's American Story curriculum when she was younger. It had many hands-on projects that she enjoyed. 

[kristi26]

My DD is also very hands-on.  We just finished first grade this past school year and her favorites included:

 

1. History projects like making a paper, 3D castle and even coloring maps

2. Math-U-See with the activity book and blocks.  She enjoyed building things with the blocks and doing the activities in the book (not so much the student pages)

3. Reading games from this book: http://www.amazon.com/Games-Reading-Playful-Ways-Child/dp/0394721497/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1378912494&sr=8-3&keywords=reading+games

4. Science doing experiments from the Magic School Bus website and watching the matching video

5. Lapbooks for favorite animals

6. Drawing books/websites

7. Rory's Story Cubes for writing (and then illustrating) her own stories

[jer2911mom]

Other suggestions: Heart of Dakota, RightStart math, Atelier Art, Magic School Bus science kits, Snap Circuits kits

[IHaveNoIdeawhatIAmDoing]

Thank you all so much. I've been googling/reading up on everything that was mentioned. I started using our old math-u-see blocks for math yesterday and it really helped my daughter grasp a concept she's been stuck on. 

 

 

OP, have you seen the book and website Project Based Homeschooling?  http://project-based-homeschooling.com/camp-creek-blog/  That book has alot of ideas for creative learners.  Also, there is a yahoo group called Homeschooling Creatively.  http://groups.yahoo.com/neo/groups/homeschoolingcreatively/info  I'm not sure how active it is...or anything like that (I'm not on it).  Not even sure if any of that helps, just wanted to throw that out there, too.

 

Thanks, I'm looking into it. I've heard it mentioned before, but I've always avoided anything with the word "project" in it. I'm starting to realize that I can't, because that's exactly what my daughter needs.

 

My very creative hands-on daughter loved Winter Promise's American Story curriculum when she was younger. It had many hands-on projects that she enjoyed. 

 

 

I've read a lot of negative Winter Promise reviews based on people never receiving their items are only receiving some. Did you have a positive ordering experience?

 

 

 

[Soror]

This is my dd6/1st as well so I'm reading for future ideas, my ds is the complete opposite so I've long avoided such things but I'm realizing she thrives on a different approach. I already had Mapping the World w/ Art on my list. I think she will LOVE unit studies- so I'm considering Prairie Primer, KONOS, MBTP and others for the future. I bought a used set of Atelier 3 this year and she does it on her own all the time. I hope next year to find HAS for her as well. We use RS Math right now and it works fine, although I think MIF would be great as well.

[lea_lpz]

We used mfw k last year for k and was great with lots of hands on stuff.

 

We are doing mfw 1st this year and enjoy the hands on science & math, though less crafts this year, although you can find tons on line. We added in Wee Folk Art homeschool companion guides, which are free online. The curriculum follows the seasons and does hands on crafts, field trips, etc, based on a primary book each week. I have found all the books at my library so keeps costs down. Lots of fun. We have visited an apple orchard, made apple bread and apple sauce, visited a farmers market, sculpted fall produce with clay, and made some fall vegetable dishes, and learned about how dairy animals make milk and other dairy products and made butter. We'll make candles and a pot holder. Might be up your child's alley. Mine is into hands on learning, too.

 

I would try to do a field trip or park day or something to get out each week.

 

FIAR is also something I have eyed before. We've done BFIAR but not the FIAR volumes.

 

Kids learned a lot with doing the hands on stuff.