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I have just set up a Twitter account for Hearts and Trees. (I am new to Twitter so I am still trying to figure out how it all works!) This will be just another way I will share with you all things related to Hearts and Trees. Be sure to follow me if you are on Twitter!

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Hearts and Trees Volume 1

Introducing
Hearts and Trees 
Volume 1
All About Colors!

24 pages filled with fun and interesting art, handicraft and nature study projects for you and your child to complete!

Welcome to a new experiment from Hearts and Trees! I have put together an online magazine filled with fun and interesting art, handicraft and nature study projects to share with your children.

My goal for this magazine is the same as it was for my kits. It is my aim to encourage art, handicrafts and nature study in your homeschool by providing interesting and affordable ideas and products. This magazine is designed for children ages 6-12. Younger children will need more hands-on help from parents, while older children will be able to complete more of the projects on their own. It is my plan to offer a new volume of this magazine each month.

These volumes are going to be more topic/theme oriented than seasonal, so each volume will always be for sale on my blog and will provide fun and engaging projects no matter what the time of year.

Each volume will include notebooking pages and projects similar to what were included in my kits. The main difference is you will need to provide all the materials yourself. The last page of this magazine will always include a Supply List for you to consult as well as the link to an online Amazon store filled with all the things you will need to have on-hand to complete all of the projects in this volume of Hearts and Trees. It is my goal to include projects that will use materials that you most likely already have in your house or that can easily and affordably be obtained locally or online.

I would like to help you introduce your children to new art, handicraft and nature study projects that they can then take and make their own. Feel free to adapt and recreate this projects in your own way.

The theme for this volume is "All About Colors!"

 

Hearts and Trees Volume 1 Includes:

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Learn all about the color wheel!

Your child will learn about primary, secondary and tertiary colors using the color wheel flashcards. He will then make his own color wheel by mixing primary colors to make the secondary and then tertiary colors.

Does your child know what color is indigo? Or mauve? In the Color Names Vocabulary project he will be introduced to 20 new colors!

The feautired artist for this volume is the Fauvist artist Andre Derain. Your child will study his painting Charring Cross Bridge, London and then complete his own landscape imitating the style of the Fauvist artists.

What makes a rainbow? Your child will learn the answer to this question and then make his own rainbow indoors using water, a small mirror and sunlight!

Colors have an affect on our emotions and with the "How Colors Make us Feel" notebooking page your child will study two art prints and compare how the colors in the paintings make him feel.
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Make a digital photo collage with Picnik.

Your child will use a digital camera to photograph interesting colors and will then learn how to make a digital photo collage online using the FREE (no registration required) website Picnik. This is a really fun project your child is sure to love.

One of the handicraft projects in this kit is learn how to make beads out of recycled paper. This is a very fun and easy project your child is sure to enjoy. The color of the beads will depend entirely on what color of recycled paper you use!


Another handicraft project your child will complete in this volume of Hearts and Trees is a decorative embroidery project. Your child will embroider his name using two decorative stitches. He will learn how to backstitch and split stitch.

The nature study portion of this volume focuses on parrots. Your child will learn some facts about parrots and then choose a parrot to research more in-depth. He will also complete an art project using oil pastels (or whatever other medium you choose) to draw a tropical bird.

There is also a feature about colorful clothing around the world. Your child will learn a little about kimonos, saris and Mexican embroidery and then color his own kimono.

This magazine is jam-packed with fun and exciting projects for you in include in your homeschool. I am very excited to share this new product with you all.

The introductory price for

Hearts and Trees Volume 1 is just $3!

To purchase Volume 1 use the PayPal link in my sidebar.

Additionally, if you purchase one of my remaing Hearts and Trees Fall/Winter Kits I will send you Volume 1 FREE!!

Here are the details:

Volume 1 will be emailed to you as a PDF file attachment within 72 hours after I receive payment, usually sooner. (I currently do not have Internet access at my house.) The PDF will be emailed to the email account associated with the PayPal payment I receive.

*Please note if you purchase these pages they are for your own personal use and are not to be distributed or sold. *

If you have any questions, feel free to email me at: heartsandtrees@yahoo.com.
Thank you!

Hearts and Trees Fall/Winter 2011 Kit

Hearts and Trees Fall/Winter 2011 Kit

For Sale Now!!!

I am please to FINALLY announce that I have my Hearts and Trees Fall/Winter 2011 kit available for pre-order. There are some really fun and exciting projects in this kit. Each kit includes the instructions and most of the materials to complete easy and fun art, handicraft and nature study projects. (Please note you will need to supply some common art supplies to complete these projects such as scissors, paintbrush and markers.)

To start with we have a mini canvas magnet project. Your child will design an abstract painting on a miniature canvas. It's just 2" x 4"! The mini canvas and the magnetic tape are included as well as all the instructions to get you started.

The next project is a pair of finger knit flowers. These are so simple and fun to make. Your child will learn to finger knit using my video tutorials. The yarn and yarn needle needed to complete this project are included in your kit. (Yarn colors will vary.)

The next project is a newspaper butterfly garland. Your child will make a colorful butterfly garland to hang up somewhere in your house. The instructions and twine are included.

With the last handicraft project in this kit, your child will learn how to make a 3-dimensional "painting" with tissue paper pulp. Your child will really enjoy this new technique. All the tissue paper, canvas and instructions needed to complete this interesting project can be found in this kit.

The featured artist is Martin Johnson Heade and the art print is his Blue Morpho Butterfly. There is a notebooking page focusing on Heade and the included art print.

The art element being discussed in this kit is contrast. The contrast notebooking page will help your child to learn what contrast in art is and to recognize contrasts in the Blue Morpho Butterfly art print.

There is also a notebooking page focusing on textures. There is a texture rubbing project your child will complete. He will be encouraged to think of descriptive words to descibe different textures he views in works of art.

The nature study portion of this kit is a 3 page set of notebooking pages focusing on butterflies. Your child will learn about the life cycle of butterflies, how to tell a male and female monarch butterfly apart and the anatomy of a butterfly.

In all this kit includes:
2 handicraft projects, 2 art projects, 1 art print, 1 artist notebooking page,

2 art element notebooking pages and 1 set of nature study notebooking pages

These kits were gathered with children ages 6-12 in mind. Parents may need to help their students, especially younger children, with some aspects of this kit.

To purchase a kit you will just need to make a PayPal payment to my account. You can do that using the "Add to Cart" buttons in my sidebar. Just be sure to select the right number of kits you would like to purchase.

The cost per kit is $12. plus shipping. Shipping for one kit will be $3 First Class. Shipping for two kits will be $5 First Class and shipping for three kits will be $8 First Class. (Please note if you purchase 3 kits they will come in 2 envelopes.) For information about purchasing more than three kits, please email me for shipping information. Shipping prices are for the US and Canada. (For information about shipping outside of the US and Canada, please email me.)

All kits purchased before December 12 will ship December 12th!

After December 12 all kits will ship within 3 business days of payment being made. Feel free to add any of my PDFs to your cart before you purchase a kit. I have purchased materials for a limited number of kits so be sure to purchase your kit soon. This is also going to be my last "kit" I put together. I am going to be launching something new in January 2012. I am really excited to share it with you. I will still be helping parents include art, handicrafts and nature study in their homeschool...but the look of Hearts and Trees is going to change. :)

If you have any questions, feel free to email me at mailto:heartsandtrees@yahoo.com. Please note, I currently DO NOT have Internet at my house, so it may take me a day to get back to you. Sorry for any inconvenience.
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Nature Study in Your Notebook

I am pleased to share a  free tulips nature study printable for your nature notebook!

I have joined up with five other awesome bloggers for the "Nature in Your Notebook Printables" link-up. This is just the thing if you are in a winter nature study slump! Feel free to visit all 6 of our blogs and download our free printables for your nature notebook. (Links are below.)

My contribution to this link-up is a free PDF that focuses on tulips. Your child will examine tulips found in your neighborhood, learn the parts of a tulip and study two famous paintings of tulip fields.

If you enjoy this PDF be sure to check out my other art, nature study and handicraft PDFs. Links are in the sidebar.

Links:
Barb from Handbook of Nature Study
Cindy from Our Journey Westward
Maureen from Spell Outloud
Jimmie from Jimmie's Collage
Lauren from Mama's Learning Corner

Please feel free to share this on your Facebook page, through Twitter, Pinterest or any other means available!

Hearts and Trees: Changes In Store

I've received some email asking about my statement that my current Fall/Winter 2011 kit will probably be the last one I put together. A couple of things have led me to this decision and I wanted to share them with you all.

First I would like to say that I have appreciated all the support I have received from my blog readers and customers over the years and want you to know first and foremost, that it is still my goal to use Hearts and Trees and the products I offer to encourage art, handicrafts and nature study in your homeschool.

When I started putting Hearts and Trees kits together I was unemployed. It was my main source of income and I was able to devote much more time to putting the kits together. I was able to offer kits on a seasonal basis (four a year). With my current work and volunteering schedule I have not been able to give Hearts and Trees as much time and attention, and my kits have slowed down to one every 6 months or so. With the changes I have in store for Hearts and Trees I am hoping to offer something to my readers/customers much more regularly.

My goal has always been to encourage art, handicrafts and nature study in your homeschool by offering affordable and interesting products, and I can still achieve this with the changes I have in store for my business.

And on a more personal note, in relation to my volunteer work, it is my goal to move to another country (at least for a few months out of every year) and I am trying to set up my business so that it can support me while I am out of the States. With this in mind, some practical changes need to be made to the way Hearts and Trees operates.

So, be sure to check back January 1st 2012 for the unveiling of a new chapter of Hearts and Trees! I am very excited about these changes and can't wait to share them all with you.

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I still have some Fall/Winter 2011 Kits left, so be sure to check it out and order yours soon. Thanks!

Advanced Fall Color Activity

"The main use of this study of leaves is to make the children appreciate the beauty of the autumn foliage. This can be done through collections, made by the children themselves of the colored leaves. These may be pressed and mounted. A simple study of the colors may accompany the work by the selection of colored papers to match the leaves. All this color work, however, is but to impress the thought of the rich beauty of the autumn woods." The Southern Education Journal, Study for November. 1899.

With the start of fall I am certainly ready to get out and enjoy the fall color. (I am actually off to New York this week where I am hoping I will see lot of fall color!) I have put together a fun activity for older children to do this fall season.

There are a lot of fall color names that children may not be familiar with. How is burgundy different from scarlet? How is goldenrod different from yellow or gold? This activity may help your children (and you!) appreciate the many different shades of fall.

I have put together a free PDF download, which is basically a grid labeled with 20 fall colors. Using crayons or colored pencils, your child will fill in the squares with the labeled fall color. Then he will take that grid outside and see if he can find all the colors. Sounds like fun, doesn't it?

Here is the link: Advanced Fall Color Activity

What is your favorite fall color?

Let me know in the comments section!

Nature Study Using Calendars Ideas

Calendars: It's a great idea to have children keep a calendar to record when and where they saw the first oak leaf, the first tadpole, the first primrose, the first ripe blackberries. Then next year they can pull out the calendar and know when to anticipate seeing these things again, and they can note new discoveries. Imagine how this will add enthusiasm for daily walks and nature hikes! A day won't go by when something isn't seen to excite them.

From Charlotte Mason Volume One, page 54

There are so many ways you can incorporate calendars in your nature study in your homeschool. Here are just a few I came up with.

• Record an observation about "firsts" like Charlotte Mason suggests. (This time of year it could be first red leaf, first yellow leaf or first acorn on the ground, etc.)
• Record the weather. (Is it sunny? Cloudy? Rainy? How much has it rained? What's the temperature?)
  
• Record the animals you see in your backyard.
  
• Record how many birds you can spot on your nature walk.
  
• Record a new plant or animal you identified.
  
• Record your favorite thing you saw on your nature walk.
• A young child could draw a picture in the square for the day to record something he saw.
  

This might help you to stay motivated if it is your goal to do something nature study related every day- because you have a space to fill for each day. It also may help children to be more observant if they start looking every day for something to record on their calendar.

In my blog sidebar I have had a Blank Nature Study Calendar for you to download. If you haven't already taken a look at it and used it in your nature study, feel free to do so now. Or you can easily print blank calendar pages using your word processor or by searching for them online.

(PLEASE NOTE: I have changed the link to the calendar to dropbox, and now everyone should be able to get it free with no problems. Thanks!)

Do you use calendars in your nature study?
Do you find this idea helpful?
I'd love to hear your thoughts in the comments section.

Hearts and Trees Now on Facebook!

I have set up a Facebook page for Hearts and Trees. Feel free to like me so that you can stay up to date on what's happening with Hearts and Trees. I will be offering some discounts and freebies only through Facebook.

In other news, I am putting together a Fall 2011 kit. I'll have it up for sale mid/late October. I am also working on something totally new and exciting for January 2012. I am really looking forward to sharing it with everyone.

And I still have some Spring Kits available so be sure to check that out if you haven't already. (Even though this is called my SPRING kit, it does not mean the activities are specifically spring-related.)

Why Include Handicrafts in Your Homeschool?

I used to work for a before/after-school elementary school program. I was responsible for planning "projects" for the kids. It was amazing the difference in the attitude and enthusiasm of the children when we did more hands-on crafts with a real product as a result, instead of the stand-by coloring pages, collages, or cut and paste projects. I think their favorite project was when we sewed fleece pillowcases. The whole group (K-5th graders) all got into the project. Sometimes it was a chore to get all the students to sit down and work on that day's project, but this was an exception.

As I was reading from Charlotte Mason I was struck by her points about what makes an appropriate handicraft:

"The best handicrafts for children under nine seem to be caning chairs, carton work, making baskets, weaving small rugs, Japanese curtains [?], carving cork, sewing pretty samplers, easy needlework, knitting with big needles and coarse threads, etc.

The important things to keep in mind about children's crafts are that:

a. they shouldn't waste their time making useless things like paper mats, or models constructed from softened peas and toothpicks.

b. they should receive patient, thorough instruction so they know how to do the craft correctly.

c. sloppy work should not be allowed.

d. they should be given work well within the ability of their age range so that they are able to do it well and not sloppily."

Charlotte Mason in Modern English Page 315-6

I really appreciate point a. Children don't want to make something useless. The want to learn how to sew, knit, garden, scrapbook, etc. They want to learn the skills they see us adults using.

The difficulty with teaching the children real handicrafts, and what seems to deter most parents I think is point b. It takes "patient and thorough instruction" on the parent's part. Yes, it may take more time and attention to teach a child to knit instead of having them color in a coloring book, but remember the idea is to teach a life skill. That is Charlotte Mason's whole idea behind teaching children handicrafts- teaching them life skills.

When I was probably 10 or 11, my parents bought me a sewing machine. I attended classes at the sewing shop and joined the home school sewing club. Today I sew gifts, sell crafts online and even attempt to sew clothes occasionally. What a great skill, that I never would have developed without the encouragement as a child. It is hard to explain how relaxing and satisfying it is for me when I am immersed in a project. That is something worth sharing with our children.

I think what I like the best about this idea is that parents can share whatever craft and skill they enjoy. Do you like to garden? Help your child plan, plant, and tend to his or her own little plot of land. Maybe he can just have a pot on the deck of his own to care for to start with. Do you knit? Teach your child to knit a simple scarf. Do you love photography? Share that passion with your child. It might even motivate you to get back to your favorite handicrafts.

~Amanda

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If you have trouble including handicrafts is your homeschool, I have put together kits to help you. All the materials and instructions are gathered together in one convenient kit for you to share with your children. I am actually even currently having a sale for my lastest kit. For more info see my posts here and here.

SALE! Hearts and Trees Spring 2011 Kit!

For the month of June or until I run out of kits I am offering each of my Spring 2011 Kits for just $10 plus shipping! For more information about this kit see my post here. To purchase a kit use the PayPal buttons in my sidebar. If you have any questions feel free to email me (heartsandtrees@yahoo.com). Thanks!