Planners & Activity Books
The Everyday Planner for Eclectic Homeschoolers is completely undated with 376 pages of space in which to plan, record, and create the learning environment that best fits your family all year long.
The original guided planner is now available in multiple formats: an updated version of the 90-Day, plus 180-Day and Year-Round editions. Your crash-course if you are just starting out; your tool to reevaluate if you have been homeschooling for a while. This journal helps you go in-depth on how you feel about everything from ethics to extracurriculars, then offers ample planning room, a scrapbook section, and questions to reflect on as you move forward.
The Fall 90-Day Planner & Idea Book will supplement your current routine or give you the chance to change it up while also inspiring your family with project ideas and opportunities to learn and grow together.
The Winter Planner & Idea Book is chock full of activities, projects, and tips for the whole family, combined with large 5×7 planning grids, undated calendars, tracking charts, room for notes, and scrapbook pages. Ring in the season with a fresh burst of inspiration and motivation!
The 180-Day Planner & Activity Book, designed for elementary-aged children, is the first of the Eclectic Kids series, inspired by my own young learner. He helped develop the sections in this book: Superheroes, Garden to Table, Be a Wordsmith, If You Build It, For the Love of Nature, and I Am a Part of Something Bigger. As a bonus, the planner pages are bilingual.
Eclectic Learning Books
In My Nature: A Field Notebook for Kids Who Like to Explore on the Wilder Side encourages getting outside and making discoveries in nature while also promoting a spirit of mindfulness, awareness, and conservation.
Do you have an aspiring chef in the family? Extraschooling’s Experimental Kitchen: A Culinary Adventure for Eclectic Kids isn’t your average cookbook; it blends informal dish suggestions, culinary research, leading questions, and kitchen experiments together, with room for kids to whip up their own masterpieces on the side.
What should early education focus on? Playing. Exploring. Reading. Dreaming. And playing some more. My First Book of Explorations: Gently Directed Learning for Young Children is a perfect accompaniment to those essentials. Every topic and letter has room for drawing, writing, collage, or any method of expression, along with a handful of prompts and questions to get them started. It also encourages kids to consider positive characteristics in others and to celebrate their own unique qualities.
The 4 C’s Workbook is a collection of lessons based around the concept of learning while focusing on curiosity, creativity, compassion, and communication (read the post all about the 4 C’s here). There are thought-provoking questions, open-ended activities, and creative subject blends. Geared toward kids 10+.
Educational Stories
Welcome to Little Green Hill! This series is a nature-based, year-long set of educational picture books following a homeschooled child as he learns about his environment with the help of his animal friends. Each book has an accompanying PDF download featuring extension activities and resources for the whole family. Nye In January: Armadillos, Nye In February: Wood Frogs and Nye In March: Carpenter Bees are available now.
Journals & Scrapbooks
Lo & Behold! My Adventure Scrapbook has bright, full-color pages for kids to fill with art, anecdotes, souvenirs, plans, and more across a year of adventuring. It starts and ends with a page for them to celebrate who they are, then has 12 two-page spreads to document each adventure however they wish. Woven between these are an additional twelve sets of themed pages, ranging from locations visited, a budget record, stories collected, nature finds, and more.
Yes, Let’s! A Year of Time Together is a black-&-white journal to add your own color and personal touches to as you go throughout the year. There are 52 prompts for ways to spend quality time with someone you love – from cooking to crafting, going out to staying in. Pick an idea or come up with your own, then record your plans and memories across each two-page spread.
A Simply Balanced You – A Wellness Journal, published with Wellness Trails, offers inspiration and support as you blaze your own path to sustainable self-care. Daily prompts give a gentle nudge to focus on the little things, while the unique journal layout lets you compare from one month to the next and build upon your own success.
All About Horses contains all the great content from Eclectic Kids Activity and Hobby Portfolio, but rearranged into separate sections, geared entirely toward horses and riding, and featuring a whole new portion, which encourages kids to research and expand their equine knowledge, from breeds and colors to care and safety.
Extraschooling’s Nature Journal is just the right size to slip in your bag on your next hike. It contains 20 pencil sketches celebrating the outdoors, from the big to the small. A great space for trail notes, collecting thoughts, your own drawings – or as a gift for your favorite nature lover.
My Personal Road Map is an undated, travel-themed journal to help you stay on track, aim for a goal, or use in any creative way you wish.
Supplemental Books
The Activity & Hobby Portfolio, the second book in the Eclectic Kids series is the perfect accompaniment to an extracurricular activity or as part of an interest-led homeschool approach. Divided into 5 sections with customizable calendar pages, it can be used for either one long-term passion or several short-term endeavors. The portfolio areas are 4-page spreads with room for them to show what they’re working on and plan for next time. Each section ends with fun projects that can be themed accordingly, and the book includes scrapbook space to reflect on all their experiences.
Find Your Story offers terms and ideas to research related to creating books, from developing the story to arranging the book contents to publishing. It includes room to plan and think, as well as eight 10-page divided sections for creative writing of any sort. Organize by type, chapter, story, or have a continuous flow with illustrations.
This Is My Reading Log blends critical thinking about books with a chance for kids to consider how a story about their own lives would look. It features open-ended questions tha ask them to think not just about the key elements of a book, but also how it applies to their life, why the author wrote it, and how it makes them feel – while allowing them to redo any portion they feel isn’t quite up to par. Geared toward kids 8+.
The Wonderful World of Words is a build-your-own-word collection with 366 available entries for a whole year’s worth of words. Challenge yourself to learn a new word a day, build dictionary skills, add to a foreign language study, or simply compile words that make you smile. Perfect for a homeschool language arts course or as a gift for linguists of all ages.
Looking for something to use right now? Help yourself to free printables here, as well as on Eclectic Kids and Little Green Hill, including samples from some of the books listed above.
Visit JA Smith’s author page on Amazon and follow to receive updates on new books and access all the titles in one spot.
Shop designs inspired by nature and the 4 C’s on Extraschooling’s Zazzle storefront.
Extraschooling’s JA Smith has partnered with personal trainer AE Chalifour to create Wellness Trails, a realistic approach to whole-body health. We’re all on our own journey, and it encompasses far more than a current diet or new exercise program. Wellness Trails recognizes and embraces the need for holistic, sustainable, and practical ways to nourish and care for our minds and bodies.
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