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literature-inspired homeschooling and nature studies

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booksandwillows

🌳 Nature Studies & Homeschool Resources
🌱 Writer @harborandsprout
🔍 Chasing Curiosities with CM Inspired Adventures
🍁 Canadian Homeschooling Mama

Pine trees are tough! They have developed many ama

Pine trees are tough! They have developed many amazing adaptations that help them thrive in the cold, barren landscape of our northern Boreal forest.

The pyramid shape of a pine tree helps shed snow. Instead of piling up, the heavy snow that could break branches, slides off. This shape also reduces wind resistance, allowing a pine to stand strong and stay rooted in a storm. We’re weaving a willow-pine tree decoration to celebrate this unique shape!

Learn more about our favourite Christmas tree in our new Pine Looking Glass Study.

Follow the link in my bio for more details.

🔎Bring out your magnifying glass and delve deep

🔎Bring out your magnifying glass and delve deeper into pine tree adaptations in section III. INVESTIGATE of our Pine Looking Glass Nature Study. We’ll learn about pine medicine, count pine spirals, conduct pinecone experiments, and set up a pinecone weather station. Discover the traditional uses of pine in Indigenous communities, then explore the history of Christmas Trees and make a pinecone Snowman Ornament.

Our Black Friday sale ends tomorrow! Follow the link in my bio to learn more.

🌲Our Evergreen Identification Cards feature 16

🌲Our Evergreen Identification Cards feature 16 common evergreen species. Add them to your morning basket of activities or bring them with you on your next nature hike. How many of these trees and shrubs (or their close cousins) can you find in your area? Is there a pine tree in the forest? Did you see the squirrel scampering up the Spruce tree? Who is living in the Yew hedge? Collect a few Cedar leaves and make nature prints when you return! Use our BONUS Identification Guide to learn how to distinguish between Pine, Fir, and Spruce coniferous species.

Get them for just a few dollars in our Black Friday sale. Everything in the shop is 25% off until Sunday.

Our BLACK FRIDAY sale is on and it includes our NE

Our BLACK FRIDAY sale is on and it includes our NEW Pine Looking Glass Nature Study. Visit the shop and explore all our seasonal units such as our Nutcracker Early Learning Unit and our popular Reindeer Stories Unit. Everything in the shop is 25% off from now until Sunday. Thank you for including us in your learning adventures!

❄️NEW Winter Movement Cards Our playful, wint

❄️NEW Winter Movement Cards

Our playful, winter-themed movement cards invite your child to move their bodies and use their imagination! Use them as a quick, energizing break between activities. Take turns drawing a card and put your own twist on each action. Pretend to have a nap like the snoozing bear. What does an icicle look like dripping in the warm, winter Sun? Or be a squirrel digging up your store of acorns under the snow!

This set includes 15 printable movement cards.

Follow the link in my bio to get moving this season!

https://booksandwillows.etsy.com/listing/1609249111

🎨 Art Appreciation Earlier this year we surpri

🎨 Art Appreciation

Earlier this year we surprised the girls with a trip to the Immersive Van Gogh exhibit. The look on their faces when we pulled up to the theatre was priceless. We had been studying his works, his life, and of course had been introduced to him on an episode of Dr. Who. It is encounters like these that make art real. That wonder and amazement is why we hold a special place for Fine Arts Fridays in our home.

How do we cultivate a love and appreciation for art in our family?

- Strewing - the girls wake up to coffee table art books or cards scattered on the table. There may be a feature of one artist, a theme, a period, or technique. There is an unspoken invitation to explore. Most of the resources I pick up are from used book stores or freebies at museums.
- We connect with artists as we read their stories through picture books and documentaries.
- We ask questions. What was going on in the world when this piece was created? What is this piece doing? Does it tell a story? Give us a certain feeling? Present an idea? Record a certain event?
- We try our own hand at imitating the style of our favorite works.
- We look for ways to connect with our local artisans - at the weekend market, in our small town galleries, at the library through its monthly exhibits.

Check out what the other #truenorthhomeed mamas are sharing about art appreciation in their homes today:

@littlehomeschoolontheprairies
@thevessios
@findingourownway
@theunhurriedhomestead
@dwellinglogs
@treeless_wonder
@wonderhousecreative

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