Soror Posted March 31, 2019 Share Posted March 31, 2019 (edited) I don't want to have to make up my own if I don't have to if I do I'd rather keep it to a few spines and not something new every week or the chances I'll keep up with it are slim and it is too expensive to just buy a bunch of books. I'm looking for more of a hands-on and lit approach I think. DD4th wants to study: various kinds of mammals, reptiles, ocean life, and plants She likes reading and would do well with simple books to read on her own or books for us to read together. She is artsy and would like some project type things and coloring sheets/drawing. She likes it when I give her an animal to research and she has to find out facts and present it. I thought about combining MP Mammals and Botany but I think that is more worksheets than she wants to do. I think she'd rather primarily have her own notebook/main-lesson book. What is out there that I'm missing?? *Not interested in anything workbook heavy and no Abeka or BJU for personal reasons. Edited March 31, 2019 by soror Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
happypamama Posted March 31, 2019 Share Posted March 31, 2019 Maybe NaturExplorers from Our Journey Westward? Lots of ideas in them for really getting outside and learning from nature. https://ourjourneywestward.com/shop/ 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Soror Posted March 31, 2019 Author Share Posted March 31, 2019 Thank you ladies for the suggestions- I'm checking them out. I also came across an Intelligo Unit Study on The Animal World, which looks like a decent jumping off point although certainly more worksheets than we would do. It is cheap which is a bonus but reviews are mixed. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hunter Posted March 31, 2019 Share Posted March 31, 2019 Burgess Animal Book and Burgess Flower Book are popular books with homeschoolers. Googling will bring up some nice things, like these free coloring pages. https://charlottemasonmodern.com/category/ella-frances-lynch/ 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
2_girls_mommy Posted March 31, 2019 Share Posted March 31, 2019 I love the nature study notebooking journal by Dyslexia Games/Thinking Tree. (Funschoolingbooks dot com.) 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Amateur Actress Posted April 1, 2019 Share Posted April 1, 2019 I like the looks of this ... https://smile.amazon.com/Nature-Connection-Workbook-Families-Classrooms/dp/1603425314 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Soror Posted April 1, 2019 Author Share Posted April 1, 2019 (edited) 2 hours ago, 2_girls_mommy said: I love the nature study notebooking journal by Dyslexia Games/Thinking Tree. (Funschoolingbooks dot com.) So, I think this may be the winner. I showed dd2 a couple of these books and she fell in love with the one All About Animals. So, I guess will try it out. Maybe it will be just the right amount of structure or an epic fail but it is pretty cheap to try. Thank you all for your suggestions!!! Edited April 1, 2019 by soror 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Soror Posted April 1, 2019 Author Share Posted April 1, 2019 I am laughing b/c I'm leaning way more structured with my older dd and way less w/ dd2. BUT dd1 is older and thrives w/ more structure, I tried more structure with dd2 this year for science and I felt it just flopped for her. She has enjoyed looking up stuff on her own but otherwise has not been into science- so we'll try a totally different approach and if it fails she is only 4th grade. If it is a winner we'll move on to some of the other books in the series- I realllike the look of the endangered animals and forest animals and nature study. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
2_girls_mommy Posted April 1, 2019 Share Posted April 1, 2019 I started these in 7th grade with my artistic girl. She had thrived with the Apologia notebooks during elementary school, so I already knew these would be right up her alley. I still incorporate these into her high school. I just pair with appropriate materials. She's using about five of them plus the dyslexia games therapy book this year. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheAttachedMama Posted April 1, 2019 Share Posted April 1, 2019 (edited) I would use Quark Chronicles as a "guide"/spine. Then I would supplement with library books/fun movies for each topic. Edited April 1, 2019 by TheAttachedMama Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sarahrb Posted April 8, 2019 Share Posted April 8, 2019 I second the Quark Chronicles! I read Botany/Zoology aloud to my son in 1st grade and he loved them. I just wish there were more of them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
goldenecho Posted April 10, 2019 Share Posted April 10, 2019 The One Small Square books by Donald Silver cover various habitats and have kids explore one "square" of it (literally for some of his books, like Backyard, figuratively for others like Artic). They make great spines! They have activities kids can do in the sidebar, and the writing and illustrations are beautiful. We used it a little younger than 4th but I think they would still work at that age. I made a unit study out of the one on Caves. http://wacomom.blogspot.com/2018/08/inner-space-cave-unit.html 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sarahrb Posted April 10, 2019 Share Posted April 10, 2019 On 4/8/2019 at 8:01 PM, OKBud said: What did he learn and retain from them? We focused on vocabulary that was already in the books, so from Botany - photosynthesis, spores (ferns and fungi), symbiotic, and from Zoology - in/vertebrates, mammals. I think that he retained more from Botany than from Zoology and Anatomy (we used Botany/Zoology for 1st grade and Anatomy for much of 2nd grade). We also used Survive Inside the Human Body in conjunction with Anatomy, so my memories of what he learned where are foggier with that. Overall, I think he got broad strokes of information from Quark Chronicles, and that if we were to re-read them in a year or two (which we might, when his little sister is in 1st grade!), we could go back through and use the recommended resource books alongside the text to get a lot more detail out of the topics. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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