"....Your children shall be like olive plants all around your table." Psalm 128:3

Tuesday, December 8, 2015

Keeping - Our Science Journals

Hi friends,

It's been way too long since I shared a Keeping post with Celeste at Joyous Lessons.
But as I said in a previous post, I have been a little short on time lately, just trying to get everything to mesh with 5 children in 5 different levels of AO. I will give y'all an update on that post later this week - hopefully...if I have time.  ;)

Back to the Keeping link-up....this is our first year of doing Science notebooks, and I have been wanting to share how we do them since my children are loving this method so much more than just reading and narrating. They are enjoying sketching and jotting down important facts. And I can tell by our dinner table discussions that they are retaining so much of what we are studying. They can't wait to tell their Dad all the great interesting things they learned that day. :)

With the 4 youngers, we are doing Apologia's Swimming Creatures of the 5th Day.
Here's how we do it: I read a section from the book. They narrate it back to me, we discuss it together, then we sketch and jot down some interesting facts in our notebooks. What's not to love about that?!  :)

Now, here's a peek at some of what's in their notebooks...

we have studied jellyfish...(they did such a great job of sketching these!)



animals that live on the abyssal plain...


whales and dolphins...


and we are currently studying primeval reptiles...



 Love Mimi's entry.. :)



Ian, my 16-yr-old, is taking a Human Anatomy course. And he is doing a Science notebook as well. He reads a section, orally narrates to me, then writes and sketches.
Here are some of his entries..
different joints of the body..

and different types of muscles..
He always has something interesting to share with his Dad, too. 

This is working so well for us, friends, and I just had to share it. :)

Sharing (finally!) with Celeste's Keeping link-up.


14 comments:

  1. I know. I've been wanting to link up with Keeping too, but ugh...part of it is that my camera device is broken for unloading photos. :P Loved looking at these science journal entries! Do they narrate to you what they have drawn? Or narrate and draw? :) Thanks for sharing! :)

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    1. Hi Amy,
      I hear ya about the broken camera device. Mine is on the verge of croaking, too, but it is amazing what a lit bit of packing tape will do. ;)
      The children sometimes write and sketch, then narrate. Sometimes it's the other way around. Just whatever they want to do first. :)

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    2. Ok! Thanks! Gorgeous sketches! :)

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    3. Thanks for stopping by. :)

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  2. Thank you for sharing this! We have been knee-deep in history studies and I need to get back into some science journaling. We did something similar with the Jean-Henri Fabre science series and really loved it!

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    1. Thanks for stopping by, JES. Jean-Henri Fabre is a fave here at our house. And being knee-deep in History studies sounds divine to me. :)

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  3. As a former science teacher turned homeschool mom, rock on! Apologia is awesome.

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    1. I agree, Kendra - Apologia is the best! :)

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  4. Tis the season for camera problems. I think the problem is actually me. I keep losing photos after I've transferred them to the computer. Lovely work by all your children.

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    1. Thank you, Carol. Hope you can solve your camera problem soon. :)

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  5. I plan to have my older kids start a science notebook next year, so it is very helpful to see how it's working in your home and how much your children are liking it. Your kids' work is great! I really appreciate seeing the span of ages too--so neat what they choose to include and how they present it.

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    1. I agree, Celeste..seeing what each child decides to add to their notebook is something I eagerly wait to see each week. :)

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  6. These are wonderful! Thanks for sharing.

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  7. Thanks for your kind words, and for stopping by, Christi. :)

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Thanks so much for stopping by. I love to hear from my readers, and your thoughts are welcome. And I try my best to respond to each and every comment. :)