Free Homesteading Journal Activity Pack
Published:
September 10, 2020
Contributor:
Sarita Harbour
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It’s a new school year for many homeschooling families, and autumn is in the air.
Like many, we’re staying close to home. However, we’re still busy with our homesteading activities, so I created a homesteading journal for my two youngest children.
Read on to learn how to get your hands on your own free homesteading journal, plus a few simple ways to study homesteading in your homeschool too.
Try Your Hand at a Homestead Skill
In years past we’ve welcomed the homeschool and harvest season with trips to apple orchards or pumpkin patches, but this year looks a little different. First of all, now that we live in Canada’s far north the closest apple trees and pumpkin patches are at least a day’s drive south.
Second of all, we’re busy harvesting all the vegetables we planted in the spring. With everything that transpired earlier this year, I decided to do what we could to secure our food supply for ourselves.
So during our homeschool science time, we planted beans indoors. We sprouted vegetable seeds on paper towels. And we even got chickens! Using farm animals to teach science has been a huge hit with my two youngest kids – and even the older ones are fascinated.
You don’t need to live on a farm, or even in the country to try your hand at a homesteading skill. Even if you’re smack-dab in the middle of the city, you could do all sorts of things.
Some of the hands-on homesteading activities to try with your children include
- baking bread
- plant vegetables for indoor gardening
- weaving, quilting, or other pioneer crafts
- sewing
- woodworking
- learning about farm animals like chickens or rabbits
- making butter
The thing we love most about homesteading and homeschooling is that our whole family gets involved. Even those members that are thousands of miles away. Grandparents, aunts, uncles, and older siblings love seeing pictures of our latest homesteading adventures. They also love sharing their memories of farming, gardening, and simple family times.
Why We Love Journaling in Our Homeschool
As we begin our eighth year of homeschooling with our favorite Christian curriculum, Sonlight, we’ve settled into a solid homeschool routine that includes unit studies. We homeschool year round, focusing on forest schooling and outdoor learning in the summer.
Since so much of homeschooling off the grid occurs outdoors, a few years ago I started including notebooking and journaling as a homeschooling activity.
The girls love journaling as part of our homeschool day because they have the freedom to draw and write about what they learned or enjoyed during the activity. I love seeing their creativity and finding out what it was that caught their interest. They especially love their homesteading journal packs.
Aside from the obvious writing practice that happens, journaling also creates precious keepsakes for the future.
How to Use The Homestead Journal
If you’re ready to try something new in your homeschool day or supplement your studies of pioneer life, you’ll love the homestead journal activity pack.
Print off one copy for each child. If you plan to do several different homestead activities, print off a few copies for each of your homeschoolers. I usually plan our homesteading activity first and carry out the activity in the morning.
After clean up and lunch, I’ll bring out the journals and show the kids how to complete them. We talk about what they liked, what they didn’t like, what they learned, what surprised them, what they want to learn more about, where else they might have heard, seen, or read about the homesteading activity, and what we want to try next time.
Ready to give it a try?
