The Thinking Tree: All About Horses Horse-Lovers Handbook

My 13 year old daughter, Mikaela, loves horses. She learned to ride with her best friend, Sarah. Sarah has a lot of horses and barrel races. Mikaela has learned so much from Sarah. Recently, we acquired 3 horses. They are being taken care of by my father-in-law and a good family friend while we are in North Carolina. Mikaela hopes to start riding them when we get home in a few months.

When Sarah Janisse Brown sent me the "All About Horses Homeschooling Journal" to review, Mikaela was ecstatic! She wanted to start using it right away! I ordered a huge lot of horse books from Ebay for Mikaela to use with this journal.

If you are familiar with Sarah's journals, you will recognize quite a few of these pages. However, there are also lots of new pages created just for this journal. You will see the usual "Reading Time", "Spelling Time", "Copy Work", and "Nature Study" pages. The new pages in this journal are all about horses! Your child will practice drawing horses, writing stories about horses, reading books about horses, and coloring horses! There are real pictures of horses in the journal, including some humorous pictures.

Mikaela uses this journal in her spare time. Your child could totally use this as a complete unit study, as they will be learning science, spelling, language arts, drawing skills, creative writing, and even history if you pick the right books.

What we love about these journals is the ability to pick our own books! When my kids choose their own books, they feel like they are taking ownership of their learning. Mikaela has learned so much from these books we bought. She is learning how to take care of horses, why horses do certain things, and the illness and injuries horses can incur. She loves reading about horses!

This journal is perfect for the horse-lover in your family. You can buy it here. Right now, it's on sale for $9.00! What a steal! Check out Sarah's other journals and do-it-yourself books on Amazon!

Do-It-Yourself Zoology {The Thinking Tree}

Sarah Janisse Brown has many "do-it-yourself" books. These books are all virtually the same on the inside, with lines for writing and boxes for drawing. The only difference is the cover. There are books for cooking tips, scientific discoveries, biology, and more. I am reviewing the zoology book today.

 

My 2nd grader, Mercie, uses this book weekly. We use Five in a Row for her main curriculum. Every week, she writes and draws about an animal featured in the book we read. She has an Encyclopedia of Animals that she uses to find information about the animal. She reads about it, then draws a picture and writes some interesting facts.

For example, when we read "The Story About Ping", she read about ducks. When we read "Grandfather's Journey", she read about song birds. And when we read "Madeline", she read about tigers.

This journal could be used in a variety of ways. Your child could use this as a once or twice a week animal science curriculum. You could have them find information about particular animals, then transfer that information into the book. You could do like we are, and keep a watch for animals mentioned in your books. You could just let your child use this whenever they felt like learning about animals.

The pages are great. They are all different, so you don't feel like you are doing the same pages over and over again. There is plenty of room for writing {and lots of lines} and blank squares for drawing.

You can find this, and the other do-it-yourself books, on Amazon!

Check out Sarah's website, Dyslexia Games!


If you want to read more about The Thinking Tree, visit Linda and her link-up!

The Teen Girl's Quiet Time Devotional Journal & Coloring Book

Mikaela, my 7th grader, has been using this Teen Girl's Quiet Time Devotional Journal for several weeks now.

 

There are lots of fun pages inside to get your teen's creative juices flowing while they study the Bible.

Here are the pages in this journal:

 

• Topic Pages {love, forgiveness, trust, purity}
• Journal Pages
• Prayer Lists and Plans
• Draw Your Dreams
• Reading Time
• Learn a New Skill
• Thinking Time
• A Hope, A Prayer, A Memory
• To Do List
• Draw a Meal Plan
• Recipe
• Pages with Titles like "Never Forget", "I Am Thankful For", and "Hopes and Prayers"
• Listening Time
• "What's On Your Mind?"
• Quotes and Verse to Remember
• And of course, tons of Coloring Pages

 

Mikaela uses a page or two each day in this journal after {or as} she is reading her Bible.

 

On the Topic Pages, she looks up verses on that particular topic using her concordance. I love that she is getting practice in this skill.

 

 

She writes her memory verse on the Drawing Time pages sometimes. She loves to draw and doodle.

 

 

Here are some pages she has completed.

 

 

Here are a few more examples of the inside pages.

 

 Mikaela loves using this journal because it allows her plenty of creativity while giving her some direction in her Bible study. This journal would  be perfect for any girl who loves to draw and doodle and read her Bible!

 

Check out some more of Sarah Janisse Brown's journals on Amazon! Just search "Sarah Janisse Brown Journals" and a ton will pop up! Or visit her website, Dyslexia Games.

 

If you want to read more posts about these awesome journals and how to implement them in your homeschool, visit the link up below:

 

 

 

 



The Thinking Tree Thursday: Bible Time Kids

 

Today, I'm going to give a short review on this Bible Time Kids Devotional Journal & Coloring Book by Sarah Janisse Brown.

 

Mercie {7} and Eli {10} each have one of these journals they use every day for their quiet time with God.

 

There are pages with room to list the book, chapter and verses read that day. Then there is space to write "Today's Special Bible Verse" {something important from the passage they read}, "I Am Thankful For", "Prayer List" and "Plans & Goals".

 

 

Next to these pages are coloring pages with a scripture passage and a thought-provoking question from that passage. Mercie uses these pages a guide that shows her what to read each day. Then, she fills out the Bible Passage page from those scriptures. Eli has his own reading plan, so he just colors these pictures.

 

 

There are also these pages:

 

There is are things to write in these shapes, such as "Memories to Keep", "I want to change", and "I am thankful for".

 

These Bible Time Kids Devotions are great for younger kids to keep a daily journal and keep them accountable to read scripture. They are good to take to church to help keep your kids focused.

 

They are priced at $12.50 on Amazon, which is a great price!

 

Linking up with Linda:

 

 

 

 





Combining the Thinking Tree Journals with Our Curriculum

We have been using The Thinking Tree's Fun-Schooling Journals {among several other journals} since October of last year. We dove right into the journals, abandoning our curriculum choices all together. The journals are wonderful, and they are absolutely enough on their own. However, we picked up Bigger Hearts for His Glory a few weeks ago {per my children's request!} and started using Bigger with the journals.

How does that work? I'll tell you how we are doing it, and maybe it will give you ideas on how you can do it, too!

This is how Mercie and Eli are doing this: We follow Bigger Hearts mostly as written {sometimes we leave out a silly activity or modify it for the journals}. We are using the science and history portions of Bigger Hearts with our journals. The science is very light {in my opinion} in Bigger Hearts, so there is no problem adding in the journals. And we omit some of the activities to make a journal page.

For example, we are reading "One Small Square: Woods" for science. On the days that all we are instructed to do is read a few pages and narrate, I will have the kids draw something from those pages - the lifecycle of an insect, the tracks of animals, or even some copy-work from the pages. Eli even had a "Meal Plan" page, and I had him look up the diet of a bear and write what he thinks the bear would eat for breakfast, lunch, dinner and dessert.

I also assign the kids a few extra pages each day {Thinking Time, Math Time, Story Time, Bible Time, etc}, plus I have them reading one page in "Don't Know Much About the 50 States" and drawing the state bird, flower, and some interesting facts. So instead of doing 6-10 pages a day in the journals {which is what they were doing when they did the journals alone}, they are doing 1-3 pages a day in addition to their curriculum. 

Mercie also uses the Fun-Schooling Spelling Journal daily and the Bible Time Kids Devotional Journal several times a week. I have ordered Eli the Bible Time Journal and he will use it several times a week, too.

This is how Mikaela is doing this: She uses her Fun-Schooling journal in addition to science and math. She uses the math time pages on Fridays for fun games and activities {see this post}. She reads her science book {It Couldn't Just Happen!} and draws and writes various things from her book. Here are some examples:

She also does 1-2 extra pages a day {Thinking Time, Story Time, Coloring, etc}.

Mikaela has the Teen Girls Quiet Time Journal that she works in each day. This journal has room for Bible Journaling, topic pages like love, faith, truth, and room for doodling.

Mikaela also has the Spelling Time Journal and the "Are You a Math Genius?" math and logic book that she uses almost daily.

So, it has been really easy to combine the journals with a regular curriculum. I really love the extra creativity elements added by the journals. My kids are drawing and doodling more, and it helps them remember information once they draw it or write it down. If you don't want to use a curriculum, but if you aren't sure you are ready to dive into "unschooling", you could always choose a few books {even textbooks} to read to your child and help him choose activities to complete in the journal. It is so easy to adapt the journal pages to fit any book or activity! I am so glad we chose to do this.

Linking up with Linda!

Count and Color for Boys Review and Give Away

 

 

 

My son, Silas, had the chance to review this Count and Color for Boys math book from the Thinking Tree. He is 5 years old and doing a mix of preschool and kindergarten work.

This is such a cute book! The pages are beautifully drawn, just asking your child to color them! This book focuses on the numbers 1-10. Your child will color the numbers, write the numbers, draw pictures to represent the numbers, and more!

Silas loves working in this book. In fact, it's the first workbook he pulls off of the shelf in the morning. I allow him to do one or two pages a day, although he would gladly do more!

I believe this workbook has helped him with recognizing the numbers. He has had so much trouble recognizing the numbers 6, 7, 8 and 9, but I have seen some small improvement since using this book.

As he colors the number 6, I ask him, "What number is this?" several times to reinforce it.

He enjoys counting the birds and coloring the correct number.

Silas loves to color! If your child loves to color, they will love this book.

The pages are simple, but the concept is solid.

I am going to give away the Count and Color for Girls workbook to one lucky reader! The workbook is virtually the same, but with more girly drawing to color.

To enter:
Leave me a comment! {1 entry}
Subscribe by email! {2 entries}

I will choose the winner on Tuesday, January 12, 2016!

Fun-School Spelling Journal by the Thinking Tree {Review}

It's no secret that my family loves the journals available through the Thinking Tree. Sarah Janisse Brown has created some amazing resources for homeschooling. While we have decided to return to our homeschool curriculum, we are still going to be utilizing a lot of these journals.

One of the journals my 2nd grader, Mercie, will be using daily is the Fun-Schooling Spelling Journal. This journal is for children ages 5 and up, but I would use it for a child who is writing and reading on at least a 1st grade level.

There are 180 pages of fun activities in this journal. Here is an example of each activity:

 

 

On this page, Mercie colors the picture on the left, and on the right side she has to find 10 words with a certain number of letters. She can look at cereal boxes, movie cases, books, magazines, anything to find the words. Then she was instructed to draw something. There are many pages like this with different pictures.

On this page, she had to write one word for each letter on the left page. I instructed her to use words she could find in the Bible. She wrote angel, Bethlehem, camel, donkey, Esther, fishing, God, heaven and injured.

There are several pages to draw your own comics. She hasn't gotten to these yet.

On these pages, she had to spell five words that could describe the picture on the left. Then, she colored the picture.

I plan to use some of these with grammar concepts. For example, on this page I will have her write five adjectives that could describe the mittens {soft, striped, fluffy, etc}.

There are several pages like this. She will write a short story about the pictures. She hasn't completed one of these, yet, either.

On this page, she will have to use every letter in the alphabet in only ten words. I'm sure I will have to help her with this, but it looks fun.

This Fun-Schooling Spelling Journal is a great way to learn how to spell. Mercie wants to work in this journal first thing every morning. I let her choose her own page for the day, which she likes. It's such a fun addition to school, and it doesn't feel like "school work".

This journal is only $24 on Amazon! It's a full year of daily spelling practice, not to mention some writing, coloring and drawing, as well. We plan to continue to use this every day.