Rocks & Minerals Unit Study

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One of the topics Rosie and Ladybug wanted to study was rocks and minerals. At first I honestly wasn’t sure how much I could pull together for it after covering the basics. As you’ll see on my Pinterest board {Learning Rocks & Minerals}, I found plenty of ideas to keep us busy!

 

Today I’m going to share with you the outline I put together for this unit. Bare in 

mind, some days will look pretty lean but those were days where we had obligations that took us out of the house for a large chunk of time and the one or two activities were all we could squeeze in. {Be sure to check back because I’m going to share our activities in the next few days so you can do them too!}

Morning Circle Time

 

Yesterday I talked about what is in our morning basket. I am definitely looking forward to starting this and I know the girls are too (they saw the Mad Libs and Aesop’s Fables sitting in it). This is only half of our morning routine, though.

Ready for circle time.

The other half of our new morning routine caters more to my toddler to help him feel like he is more of a part of our school. Especially since he is a sponge and completely soaks up everything that goes on around him. He is already able to recognize and recall a handful of things (such as his name, the letter B, count to 5, and colors). I want to take advantage of his curiosity [he can seriously ask ‘why’ for 20 minutes before he is willing to accept your answer] and help him build on it. While he is still young and too much “schooling” can have negative effects, I plan on introducing him to new things through our new circle time with songs and do it gradually. And when his attention wanes, we’ll move on.

What’s in Our Morning Basket?

 

*While this post contains affiliate links, all opinions are my own. Read my disclosure policy here and thanks for supporting my blog!*

I have high hopes for the next 6 weeks. I want to be more intentional with the way we start our days and our morning time. The last six weeks have been a struggle. Our good days usually started out with time with Jesus Calling for Kids. Our other days, well, didn’t. They ended up being a little more chaotic.

After taking a hard look at our daily habits, the answer was clear: We are going to go back to starting our day with more structure and spending time with God.

I want to use our time together to touch on other subjects that tend to get pushed out for other *more important* things (while I agree these other things are important, I don’t think they are more important). Things that I’ve wanted to include are poetry, art, read alouds, etc. How to do this in a more cohesive way?

Top 10 Instagram Accounts

It’s Friday! Hallelujah we made it to Friday!

While our week wasn’t quite that bad, it was interesting. We started school back up this week and, well, let’s just say it takes us a little bit to get back in the routine of it all. Totally understandable. Now if you’ll excuse me, I need moment. 😉

Sassy side-eye from my Little Man.

Do you use Instagram? I started using it a couple of years ago. I like it because it’s all about the pictures. I love photography and taking pictures of my kids, the sunset, the beach, the way that rock looks, or of that random thing over there in that tree. [Really, I’m being serious. My mom used to have a ton of pictures on her camera of the leaves on a massive tree she had in her front yard.] So for me, I love that Instagram showcases pictures rather than focusing on your latest status like on Facebook. It seems that I have passed this trait on to my kids. They love grabbing my phone to take pictures of anything and everything. And yes, they do have their own cameras.

A picture of how cool that random rock in the lake looks.

 

 

Which all leads me to this week’s Friday Favorites: Our Favorite Instagram Accounts to Follow!

1.   natgeotravel — While we may not be able to go out and explore every nook of the world, there are those who get to do it for a living. Nowadays, thanks to the Internet and social media, we can travel with them. The photographers for National Geographic Travel really put themselves in the middle of what’s going on to get these photos to share. We’ve watched a photographer be mere feet away on his hands and knees from two wild stallions as they were rearing up and testing each other’s strength in the Netherlands. They’ve captured the northern lights to share, which made my day since seeing them in person is on my bucket list. Needless to say, National Geographic Travel is a must-follow.
2.    natgeo — If we’re following National Geographic Travel, we can’t not follow the original National Geographic! While the previous account is about travelling the world, this is more about the stories behind the pictures. We love watching and learning about mama monkeys and their baby monkeys. We also learn about elephant conservation and what is being done to help the pandas come back from being endangered.
3.     travellingthroughtheworld  — Have I mentioned I would LOVE to travel?? The pictures they are able to capture from all over the world are breathtaking. I like that the kids are able to see first-hand pictures from around the globe.
4.    foodnetwork — In this house, we love food. We all love to be in the kitchen baking yummy treats and cooking up tasty food. Thanks to the short food demo videos, this is a must-follow for us!
5.    nasa — Since being a kid, I’ve had my head in the stars. I’m trying to pass that on to my kids and the pictures NASA shares really don’t hurt. I love the pictures they share along with learning something new with each share.
6.   ncartmuseum — We are fortunate enough to live in an area with an abundance of museums. A few of those are art museums. I’ll be the first to admit that art museums aren’t my thing. My lack of interest in some of the finer arts is not something I want my kids to learn from me. So as another way to get more exposure, we follow a couple of the local art museums.
7.    nashermuseum — This is another local art museum. For some reason, Rosie wants to go to Duke University (probably because the rest of us are North Carolina State University people 😉 ). She was pleasantly surprised to find that Duke has an art museum on site. So we follow the Duke University Art Museum on Instagram too.
8.    natgeocreative — I love National Geographic and wanted to follow as many of their accounts as possible.
9.    homeschoolscientist — This is the account of another homeschooler. I really enjoy following them because it’s fun to share in the journey of others who are on the same path. It also helps that my girls LOVE science and this account highlights that particular subject.
10.    howtobeadad — This guy never fails to give me my daily laugh. In this new adventure, it’s important to laugh- if only to release tension and stress that’s been building. His posts crack me up, especially the one of the collage of “moments we hope [our kids] won’t remember”. For your comedic relief, I highly suggest following this account.

There are my top 10 Instagram accounts to follow! I love seeing the new posts everyday. Sometimes just scrolling through all of the beautiful, and funny, photos is relaxing and helps me step back from the daily grind for a minute.

And while you’re there, feel free to follow us too @TheHarned5! 🙂

Are there some good ones that I forgot about? Tell me about them! I love finding new things! 

Stay cool (’cause it’s a scorcher here) and have a good weekend y’all!