I’m delighted to get the chance to share our experience with the Hearts & Trees Digital Magazines. We purchased both editions, but I’m going to detail what we loved about Hearts and Trees Volume 2. Amanda’s online magazine is designed to help homeschooling families with art, handicrafts, and nature study. Targeting ages 6-12, those on the younger end will need some assistance while the older kids will enjoy the freedom of working through the projects on their own.
Some of the topics and projects included in Volume 2 include:
- Russian Stacking Dolls
- The artist Nikolai Galakhov
- Pattern Art/Doodle Art
- The composer Prokofiev
- Saint Basil’s Architecture & Drawing Project
- Drawstring Treasure Pouch
- Siberian Animals & Habitat
- Digital Word Cloud Project
What we love: We really enjoyed the projects in the magazine. My daughter’s favorites were the word cloud and the Saint Basil’s Architecture Project. She also loved making the doodle design. The word cloud is fun to fiddle around with and ultimately my daughter decided to try and transfer her design to a t-shirt. It was a clover shape with words relating to 4-H. She earned a blue at both the county and state fair. It’s fun to play around with medium! (Step by step instructions on Blog She Wrote.)
As a parent, I loved the online format and the fact that my kids could pull up the magazine whenever they had a moment to try something new and it allowed them to enjoy being creative on their own. If one started a project, others inevitably joined in.
The projects are easy to follow and have easy materials for the most part. For a busy homeschooling family, the online format means you can access it anytime and you can go back to it if you want to try a technique again. In addition, I love the variety of projects.
The only downside to the online magazine is that there are only two so far. I would love to see more editions to be released regularly!
Editor’s Notes:
You may be interested in knowing the difference between a Hearts and Trees Kit and the Hearts and Trees Digital Magazine. Amanda has written a concise comparison on her blog: Hearts and Trees Kits Vs. Hearts and Trees Digital Magazines.
The Hearts and Trees Kits have been reviewed here on The Curriculum Choice by Brenda: Hearts and Trees Kits. The latest kit includes a quilting project, a woodworking project, picture study, prairie animal lapbook, and more: Hearts and Trees Prairie Kit.
Find this Hearts and Trees Magazine, handicrafts kits and more at the Hearts and Trees site.
Now for the giveaway!
I have five (5) Hearts and Trees Vol. 2 Ezines to giveaway. Each valued at $4.00:
a Rafflecopter giveaway
I’m a homeschooling mom to our fantastic four– two teens at home and two graduates off to university. I’m a former middle and high school biology teacher who has embraced the independent nature of homeschooling and I mentor my children through authentic, student driven projects and learning adventures. You can get practical homeschooling advice and take courses related to homeschooling high school at Blog, She Wrote.
Art is an area I struggle to teach my kids. It’s nice to hear reviews on such curriculum.
I need to do a better job incorporating arts into our homeschooling. This looks like a great way to start!
I try, but I need to do a better job 🙂
We do incorporate art in our homeschool 🙂
I try to incorporate art, but we have not really done handicrafts in our homeschool.
Yes! But I don’t always teach it … 🙂 My 7 yr old is learning to hand sew from grandma and knit from a friend. We do a ton of art and have started learning poetry one poet a semester. (by that I mean we read some poetry and see who can memorize 2 lines)
I do include handicrafts and I recently purchased the Vol. 1 magazine and can’t wait to dive in.
I struggle with handicrafts. I really want to include them but sometimes out schedule doesn’t allow. I really would like to be more consistent.
What a lovely magazine! I love that it’s in digital format. And the projects look wonderful. Thanks for the review!
I’ve had my eye on the Hearts and Trees new craft kit, but would love to take a look at the magazine too!
Art and artist studies we do fairly regularly. Handicrafts thus far have been lacking. We do work on small hand sewing projects from time to time and some projects from those loom/loop sets. We hope to learn to knit and/or crochet this winter. The “we” being my 3 eldest daughters and I. I’d love to win and add more handicrafts to our repertoire.
I don’t do a very good job including crafts. I want so much to do better and my children would like it too!
We love doing crafts and usually incorporate them into all our other subjects. And Hearts and Trees is so excellent for that!
I am awful at handicrafts. I try to include them but more often than not arts and crafts around here is only arts. 🙂
I think I do tons better than I did a few years ago but hey I always need to improve!
We do some arts and crafts, but can always use some new inspiration! Thanks for this giveaway opp:)