Nature journaling is the art of drawing and painting what you see in nature. I'm going to write more about it soon, but wanted to give you a few ideas on creating a nature journal or, if you don't nature journal, you can use these ideas to create a book full of your child's artwork.

At Big Lots, of all places, I found Drawing Pads (9"x12" - 50 sheets - 70 lb. paper) and Watercolor Pads (9"x12" - 12 sheets - 150 lb. coldpress watercolor paper) for I think $1.99. You can also buy similar pads of paper at Hobby Lobby or Michaels.

On nature hikes, our children carry a drawing pad each. It has a nice thick cardboard backing, so they are able to use it "out in the field."

To give them the freedom to try and occasionally fail, I told the children that they don't need to worry about messing up in this book. We are going to take out the pages that are really good, and create a book out of the drawing pages and the watercolor pages.

With those pages, we will make one of the following:

IDEA #1: A Handmade Book:

To create a book like we often make, Dick Blick's has instructions for a Natural Twig Journal: (note: in the directions, the paper is folded. You can create your book without folding the pages by ommitting just that part of the directions.)

If your drawing or painting is not as big as the book's pages, simply cut your drawing or painting out to size and glue it (or use one of the adhesive options from scrapbooking) onto a new piece of paper or cardstock. Bind that page into the book.

IDEA #2: A Quicker Way:

Buy a scrapbook with page covers (or purchase the covers separately). Cut the children's drawings/paintings out of the drawing/painting pad and paste the drawing (or use any choice of scrapbooking adhesive) onto the paper in the scrapbook. Cover the painting with a plastic page cover (if desired).

Lori Seaborg
http://www.LoriSeaborg.com

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Lori Seaborg
http://loriseaborg.com

The SchoolRoom

Earlier this year, Tim (dh) and I made a schoolroom/library/craft room out of what we already owned. This room is everyones' favorite room in the house. It is always occupied by some learning or creative soul.

We moved into this house a year and a half ago. One of the rooms was listed by the realtor as a dining room, but we are far too relaxed to need a formal dining area. For a few months after we bought the house, we used the room as a second living room, but it wasn't being used all that often (our children are young, so they are still at the stuck-like-Velcro-to-mama-and-daddy stage).

One day, I was day-dreaming about having a schoolroom (a recurring daydream), when I stopped myself. Do you ever get tired of dreaming about something over and over? I do! At some point, I say to myself, "Well stop wishing for it and do something about it!" So, the dining-room-that-was-an-unneeded-second-living-room, suddenly became the new schoolroom. Knowing our budget could not pay for a fully equipped, brand new schoolroom, we went shopping in our house...

First, we painted the room with navy blue paint and white trim with paint we had bought several months ago. We put up a chalkboard given to us. Our used furniture (a couch, love seat, and rocking chair from our old house) was put in the room. We placed a dry-erase board, child's easle, and bulletin board in the room. And we painted a wooden table that we found in the garage, under a pile of tools. Tim made benches for the table out of scrap wood that he had, and painted them with paint we had leftover from old projects. He also made a bench out of a broken bookcase and some scrap wood. I use this bench to hold the CD player and the abacus. Finally, we put a couple of posters up on the wall that we had collected over the years.

The Writer's Nook

More recently, I was trying to figure out where to write, and almost went out to buy a new desk when I remembered the schoolroom success, and decided to "shop" in our garage.

I was able to make a cozy writing space by clearing an old desk, placing it in a corner of our master bedroom, and placing an old bookcase nearby. I decorated the desk with useful baskets and pottery to hold papers and pencils. Tim attached a wire basket to the wall above my desk for picture frames and plants. I moved a rocking chair from the living room, where it wasn't used, to the corner of my new "office." For inspiration, I threw Grandma's 65-year-old handstitched quilt over the rocking chair. In a second corner, near the window, I put a comfortable-yet-kind-of-ugly recliner. With a pile of books stacked on the bookshelves, plenty of paper, pens, (all of which I also found while "shopping" in my home), and my laptop, I am now a happy writer in my little "writer's nook." But I am most happy that the bank account did not notice our home improvements (Tim is also happy about that!).

Why keep wishing for a bigger house, or a schoolroom, or a space of your own? Tell yourself to stop wishing and make it happen! Shop in your home from your own stuff. You'll be surprised at what you can find, or make, with a little ingenuity.

Let us know in the comments if you have any new ideas about this topic of shopping at home.

by Lori Seaborg

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Lori Seaborg
http://loriseaborg.com

Teaching a love of learning along with how to learn can be a lot of fun!

On Mondays, our children (ages 12, 10, and 7 - our 4yo doesn't yet participate) choose a subject to study for the week. They choose a subject of their choice, anything under the sun.

Some recent subjects: Time, Chickens, Video Game Designing, Horses, Baking.

On Friday, I want to receive from each person a paper or "notebooking" page or lapbook on the subject chosen. I don't have a lot of rules about this, but just want something to save for their notebooks (binders, with page protectors), and proof that they did indeed research.

During the week, ample time and resources are at their disposal for research: books, the internet, a library day, a camera, science supplies and anything else they need.

At our house, we always leave available many types of scissors, all of the writing implements you can imagine, paper of many types, etc. The children can use whatever they need for their research.

This doesn't take much time for me to plan. Maybe a trip to the library, or help searching on the Internet.

Any time it does take is well worth it, because it's rewarding to see the children happily learning about a subject that has caught their interest

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Lori Seaborg
http://loriseaborg.com