All ready on Week 6

Wow, it's been a whirlwind of activity around here. Driving two times a week to Eau Claire gets very tiring for us or at least me. I feel like the weeks of school have just blurred into each other. We've been spending the majority of our time focusing on World War I for history. The younger kids have been learning about trench warfare, weapons including the use of gas, how soldiers spent the Christmas holiday during the war and we will move on to specific battles next week. I'm trying to finish up our lapbook pieces so I can throw in some weeks of studying the holocaust before jumping right into World War II.

The older kids have a more indepth study of the people and events of World War I. I don't really supervise their work -they do pretty well getting it done on their own.

We've been enjoying using Institute for Excellence in Writing that helps to teach the skills of key word outlining, paragraph structure, story writing and will eventually deal with essays and research papers. So far that is going really well for us. It takes the burden off of me to remember everything. It's funny how sometimes you can write yourself but not be able to explain the process very well. At least as a young adult, I was told I could write well but now that I am having to teach the process I thought I better get some additional help.

The younger three are learning about Europe for a little bit of geography. We have covered Spain and Portugal with a few details to finish. Then we will move onto France. Today I gave them a blank outline map of Europe to see which countries they could label either from what we've studied before or just somehow they pick up information that I didn't even know they had. This went really well. I expected alot of complaining but we broke it down into small sections, had a few incorrect guesses but that's okay, but they named as many as they could. We will do this a few times a week starting each time with a blank map to label. I bet in know time at all they will know all the relative locations of the countries that make up the continent of Europe. I'm hoping we can incorporate a few projects and recipes as we go.

Our apple picking field trip was rained out. We have had nothing but rain, clouds and cold around here for a while. I'm hoping we find one warm day before the apples are all gone.

We've started planning Gabrielle's 16th birthday party. It's hard to believe she is 16 now. She is having an English garden theme -hopefully I can pull that off. I'll post some pictures if it comes out the way I envision it. I keep trying to find a few minutes to post pictures from our summer vacation but I keep forgetting.

The Weeks are Flying By

It's hard to believe it is fall already. Our weeks are going by quickly. Last week we were learning about the Panama Canal, Albert Einstein, President Taft and Wilson. We are beginning a study of World War 1 following Tapestry of Grace (loosely for my younger 3) and incorporating lapbook projects from Hands of a Child. They are a unit based type company that produces lapbook study guides that are very easy to follow.

In addition to that we finally found time to start up our study of Shakespeare. We haven't gotten to far along but have talked about where he was born but that we have to use his baptism date for a general idea of when he was born because no one knows for sure about that. Here is a list of the books we are using for our study of Shakespeare.

We started the first lesson in Institute for Excellence in Writing level A for the younger two girls and level C for the older. This went really well. I wasn't sure if Annaliese would be able to follow the video and concept but she came through with flying colors.

1 Down and 35 to Go

We completed our first week of school for the 2009-2010 school year. Among our regular subjects the kids will be learning about poetry and Shakespeare. For the older two girls we will be studying Hamlet, Romeo and Juliet, and Mid Summer's Night Dream using Parallel Text from the Perfection Learning Company. I'll do those same plays with the younger three but using the Shakespeare Can Be Fun Series that most libraries carry. I haven't decided on our composer or artist studies yet this year because our weeks will be busy now that we added an extra trip to Eau Claire (an hour away) for the kids to participate in a co-op. The older two will be getting drama and writing while the younger kids are enjoying PE, a science craft, and a class on the human body.

We are in the 20th century for history. So this week the kids learned about the Wright Brothers, Teddy Roosevelt, and Henry Ford.






Some of the things were learned about Orville and Wilbur was they were from Dayton, Ohio but also lived in Iowa and Indiana. Wilbur was the oldest. They opened a bicycle shop first before trying their hand at building an airplane. They tested their gliders in Kitty Hawk, North Carolina and in 1903 they have the first controlled, engine powered glider the "Flyer".



Teddy Roosevelt was married twice. His first wife died after the birth of their daughter. We also learned he attended Harvard (our home state). Then we learned a fun fact that the the toy, a teddy bear, was named after him.

We also learned about Henry Ford and the Model T car. I was trying to post Natania's writing about Ford but I can't seem to get it to copy and paste correctly. Any other bloggers out there who can help me???

Now only 35 weeks to go! Happy Homeschool journey to all you fellow homeschoolers.

Keeping the Right Focus on Homeschooling

This was sent to me from a fellow homeschool mom. I find it very appropriate for these days. I'd like to share it with all of you who home school and kindly follow my blog. I know this is often a hard road to follow with all the demands of home and trying to provide a good education. I know all too well of my short comings in this area. But with support from others we can all manage to home educate our children and send them off to college confident in what they learned.


The Love Passage for Home school Moms

Though I teach my children how to multiply, divide and diagram a sentence,

But fail to show them love, I have taught them nothing.

And though I take them on numerous field trips, to swim practice and flute lessons;

And though I involve them in every church activity, but fail to give them love, I profit nothing.

And though I scrub my house relentlessly, run countless errands, and serve three nutritious meals every day but fail to be an example of love, I have done nothing.



Love is patient with misspelled words and is kind to young interrupters.

Love does not envy high SAT scores of other homeschool families.

Love does not claim to have better teaching methods than anyone else,

It is not rude to the fourth telephone caller during a science lesson,

Does not seek perfectly behaved geniuses,

Does not turn into a drill sergeant,

Thinks no evil about friends' educational choices.



Love bears all my children's challenges,

Believes all my children are God's precious gifts,

Hopes all my children establish permanent relationships with Christ,

And endures all things to demonstrate God's love.

Love never fails.



Where there are college degrees, they will fail;

Where there is knowledge, it will vanish away..

For we know in part and we teach in part.

But when the trials of life come to our children,

The history, math and science will be done away

And faith, hope and love will remain;

But the greatest of these is love.



We need to keep it all in perspective of what is ultimately most important.

Monday's a Comin'

Well Monday's a comin' here and I don't feel nearly ready to start back up with school after our Christmas break. But I do have some ideas rolling around in my head about things I'd like to incorporate more of in 2009. First I'd like to give my kids a love of poetry. I think I'll start out by reading some really simple childhood poems (trying for daily - maybe at lunchtime) and then work our way up to others. I also have a book in the style of "the One Year Bible" but with poems. They also provide a brief author bio which is nice. All those poems focus on christian themes. I also think it would be nice for them to memorize some poems too. I'm not sure my oldest two, 15 and 13, will really appreciate that. But I'm hoping they will join in on that part also.

Another goal I have is to read out loud to my youngest, Micah, more often. I also think it would be good to pick a family read aloud book. My DH has tried this and it went well but he is a pastor and life can be very hectic for him. Often this has fallen to the wayside. Maybe we can pick it up again.

I site I like for a list of books is www.amblesideonline.org. They also provide a nice list of hymns for hymn study plus artists and composers.

God's richest blessings on your 2009 homeschool year.

Third Anniversary of the Carnival of Homeschooling

This carnival is celebrating it's third year of blogging. I want to encourage all you homeschoolers out there to participate in posting about your experiences. It's great to hear from other homeschoolers, what they are learning, how they establish routines in their homes, or just some general mom encouragement as we try to teach our children.

You can send your submission to here:


http://whyhomeschool.blogspot.com/2005/12/where-to-send-your-submission-for-next.html

Submissions are due by Monday night at 6pm.

Go check out the link.

How Do You Stay Motivated??

I get tired just thinking about going back to school with the kids after our Christmas vacation. I think our break was a little longer than normal due to the kids Christmas concert and some sickness.

I thought I'd get your thoughts on "how do you stay motivated" during these winter months, where school just seems to drag on, and on, and on.

One thing that has helped me is to attend the local homeschool conventions that will start happening. I find it motivates me to carry on and gets me excited about school again.

Another thing that you might find helpful is to attend some "mom" support groups usually offered through local homeschool groups. It's a great time for fellowship and to share our burdens with one another.

So if you want to participate and tell us how you stay motived. Make your post on your blog, paste your link into Mr. Linky and then sign/comment here.

Van Gogh

Van Gogh was our first artist studied this year. We are spending 2-3 weeks on each artist looking through books about their paintings. Then on a following week they are trying to re-create their version of one of the artists paitings. Here are my 4 youngest kids attempts at some of Van Gogh's famous works.


This is my 5 year old son's version of Van Gogh's Sunflowers.


Here is Natania's version of Starry Night, she is 10 years old.


Another version of Starry Night done by my almost 13 year old daughter, Arianna.


This is Van Gogh's portrait of Dr. Felix Rey 1889. I'm not sure why she picked such a hard picture to try to re-create but she did a great in job. In my humble opinion. Annaliese is only 8 years old.

Here are a few sentences from the kids narration pages.

Van Gogh shot himself because he was so depressed because of Paul Gaugin leaving him. He got so angry that he cut off part of his ear. by Annaliese.

Van Gogh was a great artist. He started out painting with dark colors and made alot of dark and sad paintings. Van Gogh used oil paints. Van Gogh shot himself and died two days later. My favorite paintings by Van Gogh are Starry Night and Sunflowers. by Arianna

Vincent Van Gogh was a famous painter. He had one brother. Vincent went to Paris to paint. He invited Paul Gaugin to paint with him but they had a big fight and Paul left. He was very angry that he cut part of his ear off. Vincent never got over this. When he painted it was so thick that he would run out of paint, so he had to stop buying food. And he was not healthy. Vincent shot himself and he died two days later. by Natania

Something New

The assignment for the week from Homeschool Memoirs is to share something new that we added to our school this year. We added several new things this year. The kids have been enjoying art through Artistic Pursuits http://www.artisticpursuits.com/. We've only done a few lessons but we are getting our feet wet, the more challenging stuff comes later. We also have been trying to stick to a schedule of learning about great artists. We did Van Gogh so far for about two weeks. I will be posting more on that in different post with some pics.

New this year also is A Young Scholar's Guide to Composers by Craig and Hogan. I found it at http://www.brightideaspress.com This is a year long unit study about composers that includes listening selections, map and timeline work, a biography to read aloud and a question/answer page to go with the bio, plus a coloring page for youngsters. So far we have enjoyed this, although we aren't far along. I've decided to take two years to complete this verses just the one year schedule. It opens with some history of music during different time periods in history plus a section on music within the liturgical church which I just loved. So I think we will spend some extra time here because we are Lutheran and love our liturgy. I plan to also add a little bit about the orchestra and the instruments that make up the orchestra so they have a little more background knowledge before delving into Vilvaldi's Four Seasons.

Finding What Works

Blogger Friend School Assignment - Plop, Plop, Fizz, Fizz

Assignment: This would be a good week to tell about your worst struggles with a lifestyle of homeschooling. Tell about something you’ve struggled with and how God’s mercies gave us the strength to get past it. Also, share any curriculum/homeschool methods that have been a relief to you, i.e., a particular Teacher’s Manual or Homeschooling method that’s been easier for your family. Talk about how you felt when the burden was lifted and Oh, What a Relief it is!

This wasn't as easy of an assignment as the others for me. My mind went in so many different directions with this. First I have a constant struggle with keeping up with the laundry and household stuff, but I'd probably have that problem regardless of homeschooling. I'm not a neat freak and someone once told me that "crafty people" which I am are people who can work among chaos or clutter. Then a few years later, a very Godly woman, Tammis, told me that she has the same problem and now referrs to "clutter" as her "organization system".. This was a relief to me to know first that it could just be part of my crafty nature and second that other women struggle this way too.

I found in the beginning of homeschooling that I really didn't know what I was doing. I was so worried about academics, the kids falling behind, the pressure of having them keep up with public school mentality really clouded my approach and I wasn't very patient or understanding. I was so worried about those things that it never occurred to me that maybe my child really didn't understand something, maybe he or she was not trying to be obstinant on purpose. Again, some Godly women who had been homeschooling longer gave me some good advice on how to relax and enjoy the freedoms found in homeschooling. They shared with me how some kids don't grasp certain things until their brains are a little more mature. This was a huge sigh of relief for me.

When I had failed in these things I could pick up again the next day and start fresh. These two verses came to mind for this Lametations 2:22-23 The steadfast love of the LORD never ceases; his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness. And also, Psalm 46:5 God is in the midst of her; she shall not be moved; God will help her when morning dawns.

Since then a few curriculum choices have also added some relief. One of those is Teaching Textbooks. This is helping my oldest daughter with algebra because she is weak in math. The program provides a "tutor" for her with a phone number for additional help should she need it. We also just this year started using their 5th grade level also with Natania. It is helping to keep her interest because it is all done by a computer lesson and a workbook. Plus, it frees up my time to work with my younger two Micah and Annaliese.

In addition to this, we have been using Tapestry of Grace for 3 years now. It covers the grade range of K-12 plus mom. I'm finding that I don't have to juggle so many different time periods of history like I was doing in previous years. I was finding that I couldn't keep up with it all and facing burn out. They have a huge on-line support system that helps too.

We still have our struggles each year but now they are mostly with finding the time to fit everything into our daily schedule, figuring out how to juggle outside activities, and still trying to keep up with the never ending laundry pile that goes with a family of 7.

Agendas, Plans, and What Becomes of Them

This weeks asignment was to write about your curriculum plans and your curriculum choices. We use a kind of eclectic approach to some things during the school year. I tend to mix "traditional" textbooks with unit studies along the way - either made by myself or from other fellow homeschoolers.

You can read my post here titled "The Best Laid Plans" http://houseofmanyblessings.blogspot.com/2008/08/best-laid-plans.html and that will give you some indication as to what I think about planning, the follow through on those plans, and what happens when "life" gets in the way.

Now for some of the what and why?

We have been using for 3 years now Tapestry of Grace for our basic foundation in history. This curriculumn covers all ages K-Mom. I have to add mom because that is how they advertise their program which is good because many of us moms, myself included, need some real guidance in teaching sometimes. I chose this program because of two things first it was oriented to the classical model of learning and then because I could teach all five of my children the same thing but at their own learning level. I do tweek it a bit because they provide you with so much to choose from that you really can't use it all unless you only have 1-2 children. We use this program to cover our history, literature readings and writing assignments. I really do love this program but at the high school level, where I just ventured into with my first 9th grader, is quite heavy in reading and in scope. Thankfully I have a husband who is an avid reader, who loves classic literature, and can keep up with some of it for me.

For some of the simplier things we use Rod and Staff for English, Spelling Power, Teaching Textbooks for math grade 5, Pre-Algebra and Algebra 1. The younger two are still in Saxons. Then we throw in a few workbooks to cover phonics and handwriting.

My older two are using Apologia Biology this year. I struggled for several years on what to use for my younger three for science when I finally found the Christian Kids Explore series. This year we are focusing on Earth and Space. I like this program to because it is so user friendly. You can use it as a way to cover topics or you can have your student memorize lots of facts. I use it as a guide, a tool to plan what to cover and how to lay it out in their notebooks.

Every year I always want to incorporate the study of great art and great music but I would fall short and my plans, well you know. So this year I bought the Young Scholars Guide to Composers. You can cover this in one year but I think I will take two so we can really enjoy the works of Vilvaldi, Bach, Handel to name a few. In regards to exposure to great artists I am doing my own thing and have scheduled artists throughout the year for two weeks at a time. I will be incorporting books on the artist, notebooking pages from http://www.notebookingpages.com/ and some drawing and/or painting. We will talk about the dates with each artist, maybe do a small timeline, talk about their style or technique, try to jot down a few details about each artists life, and then study their paintings. We will talk about what we like and what we don't like, the colors, the mood the painting reflects; then we will try to re-create our own version of that artist's work.

Here are a few additions to the general framework of our school year - artistic pursuits art curriculum and from Harmony Fine Arts my oldest will be following her plan for music appreciation and art appreciation. We will follow her plan loosely but similar to the above paragraph with the exception that she will be reading more and doing some research so she can write an essay on each artist and composer plus a short opinion piece.

My youngest is Micah and is almost 6 years old. I found last year that he is much more of a hands on learning but I myself didn't learn that til about the end of the year. I stumbled upon this website http://www.homeschoolshare.com/ which uses lapbooks as a learning tool. So for my son we are also doing some of those. The funny thing about this is he was having so much fun that two of his sisters wanted to also work on lapbooks. Those two are working through the templates using the American Girl series which really wasn't part of the original "plan."

As far as plans and agendas, well yesterday I forgot all about the English lesson and spelling words for my 3rd grader, Annaliese, because she was having so much fun working on her lapbook. So that might give you a clue as to what really happens with my plans.

I think I've learned over the years to relax more, have fun, not worry about grades so much but about real learning. My kids tell me all kinds of things that they learned that I personally did not cover with them. So much of learning comes from exposure to many different things. I hope from being homeschooled that they will develop a love of learning for a lifetime not just to fulfill graduation requirements.

You requested a Bible verse - Jer. 29:11 For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for good and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope.

I chose that verse because we can only accomplish so much in our children's educational goals with the time we are given whether that is through textbooks or unit studies or some where in between. We have to rest in the assurance that if we truly feel led by God to homeschool that he will take care of the rest. For some, homeschooling isn't just about academics but more about training our children in their faith and in instilling them with Christian values.

Back to School Week #1

We started back to school last week with a few of our subjects. I found a few years back that it was always easier on the kids and myself if we started back slowly. We focused on some core subjects like English, Math, Science and History. I will add the other "elective" type subjects this coming week. Here is a basic run down of the kids and their courses for study.

Gabrielle is in her first year of highschool. She is doing the following:
Biology and lab
English
Algebra 1
Tapestry of Grace for history
Literature and writing currently reading Pride and Prejudice
Music appreciation from Harmony Fine Arts - to include listening selections and a report on each musician covered, plus an opinion piece
Art appreciation from Harmony Fine arts
Artistic Pursuits for hands on art
gym class (at home for now)

Arianna is in 7th grade and doing the following:
Pre-algebra
English and spelling
Biology with Gabrielle
Tapestry of Grace for history, literature and writing
Artistic Pursuits
Young Scholar's guide to Composers

Natania is in 5th grade and doing the following:
Math
English and spelling
Christian Kids Explore Earth and Space
Tapestry of Grace for history, some literature and some writing
Artistic Pursuits
Young scholar's guide to Composers

Annaliese is in 3rd grade and doing the following:
Math
English and spelling
Christian Kids Explore Earth and Space
Tapestry of Grace for history, some literature and some writing
Artistic Pursuits
Young Scholar's Guide to Composers

Micah is in 1st grade (approx) and is doing the following:
Math
Reading - using Alpha Phonics
Literature - lapbook projects based on a book
Christian Kids Explore Earth and Space
Artistic Pursuits
Young Scholar's Guide to Composers

The younger three also have some workbooks for handwriting and phonics practice.

In addition to some of these classes I like to incorporate unit studies for geography and famous artists this year. We have started with Van Gogh for our artist and the countries in Europe for geography. We find it much more interesting than the regular "textbook" method of schooling. It gives an opportunity to explore other areas of study with books, listening to music, nature walks or nature journals. Less of sitting at a "desk" and more of actual learning through observation and discussion.

Micah started his first lapbook with a unit on Pirates. He was having so much fun that it prompted Annaliese and Natania to work on lapbooks too using the American Girl series. Natania started with the books on Kirsten and Annaliese is using the Molly books. I will post some pictures of these when they are done. Our lapbook templates are from Homeschoolshare.com a wonderful website that provides everything you need to get your lapbooks done.


Check back often and see what our family is learning. I will post pictures on a regular basis.

Homeschool Memoirs

I just joined this group called Homeschool Memoirs - it is was created to connect mom's with each other through blogging. This is the first week and the first assignment is to write about yourself. So here it goes . . .

*I am a city girl but for now have to live in the country
*I am a scrapper and lover of all things that have pretty patterns- so that would
include fabric and dishes
*I'm a born and raised NEW ENGLANDER, so I love the Red Sox, Patriots, Celtics but I am not a sports fanatic - just have to cheer for the home team
*I love of the smell of the salty sea
*I have 5 beautiful children
*I've been married for 20 years (this Friday 8/22)
*I'm a pastor's wife

I think I fell into homeschooling. I had never heard of homeschooling before. When I was pregnant with my first daughter, I remember sitting at a dinner table with some friends, and my husband mentioned we were going to homeschool. My response was "What is that?" I then starting running into people at church and around town who also homeschooled. They encouraged us to start this journey.

The journey - has been long, some where around 10-11 years if you include preschool and kindergarten. It has been often bumpy, trying to learn your way in new territory. I've made mistakes along the way. It has been filled with laughter and discovery.

The best part of the journey - spending as much time with my children as I possibly can without going crazy (every mom still needs a little time away) but yes, spending all my time with my daughters and my son is priceless.

The Best Laid Plans

I've spent the past couple of weeks planning out our school schedule for this coming year. Figuring out when we will cover which subjects, when to fit in activities outside the home, at what time will the computer be used for their math lessons, how my freshman daughter's high school schedule will mesh with her younger siblings, and how to make the best use of our time each day. But you know what they say, the best laid plans . . . will be replaced by vacation, by unexpected field trips, by sickness; replaced by daily life. Those best laid plans. . . will be replaced with how to juggle everyone's English lesson, with cooking meals and doing laundry, with answering the many calls for "Help, I'm stuck!" We might have days where it seems like we are falling behind; where our plans seem non-existant. And once again our best laid plans . . . will be replaced with the day to day life of our family.

But that's okay, because those best laid plans . . . will also be replaced with laughter and fun, with learning and creativity, with reading good books, with smiles. With recognizing the little accomplishments like learning how to write your name or learning to read for the first time. Or replaced with big accomplishments like conquering algebra.

The best laid plans . . . will be replaced with moments like these. Moments I get to spend watching my children grow and develop their own unique gifts. Moments of sibling rivalry changed into friendships between sister and sister, between brother and sister, the strengthening of that bond. Moments between a mother and a child, keeping the lines of communication open.

The best laid plans . . . will be replaced with character training, with instilling values and faith in my children. Helping them to become the person God intends for them to be.

And I wouldn't trade those moments with anyone. So to heck with schedules and those "best laid plans" life is full of surprises.

Artist Study and a Little Bit of Fun

The other day I thought I'd try out these card games that I bought many years ago and had forgotten all about. I have 3 sets from Birdcage books - Van Gogh and Friends, Impressionists, and Renaissance. The game is played just like "Go Fish" just with groups of artists and their paintings. It was a big hit with my younger three ages 10 down to 5. The kids had fun trying to figure out how to pronounce French and Italian paintings along with the names of the famous painters. They were able to recognize some of them from previous years of art study - yeah!

I'm really hoping this year to cover more ground in the way of famous artists and their great works. My thoughts are to incorporate reading library books such as the Mike Venezia series, looking through our wide collection of art books and talking about their paintings, lastly I want to implement Debra's art study pages from Notebookingpages.com I also have many of those "color your own" books from Dover. We will be spending 1-2 weeks on each artist, just giving them some of the highlights. I think I will also invest in one or two more games that feature famous artists and their works. I will have 5 students in grades 7th, 5th, 3rd and K/1st. I'll let you know how it goes.

Overwhelmed!

Life hasn't been too crazy in this little town but I am starting to feel overwhelmed. Another school year is fast approaching and I don't feel nearly ready and I don't imagine my kids feel nearly ready either. I am overwhelmed with the organizing that still needs to be done, with some of the purchases that still need to be made, overwhelmed with the time commitment we make each year to homeschooling, just plain overwhelmed some days.

This coming year will be my first student in high school. I often feel like I have gone back to school myself with just a few differences - I am the teacher (how did that happen?), we don't have to raise our hands to go to the bathroom, we can go to school in our PJ's if we choose, we can take any day off during the year - it doesn't have to be a scheduled school break, we can sit together and read all day, we can laugh and share the precious time we have together. For in the blink of an eye, they will be all grown and leaving for an adventure of their own.

I hope when they are older that they will look back with fond memories of being homeschooled, with no regrets, and with a confidence to face the world's challenges knowing how much they were loved.

The Art of Drawing

Charlotte Mason was a huge fan of drawing, specifically drawing from nature. At the time of these drawings we were living in Wisconsin which tends to get very cold during the fall and winter. I adapted her concepts and had the children draw pictures from field guides and animal books. There is one photo that doesn't pertain to those topics because my son Micah wanted to be included and has done very little nature drawing. He traces and colors in his pictures for now which isn't too bad for a 5 year old boy.

We didn't seem to do as much natural journaling as I remembered. The kids took off on their own with drawing together and creating personal notebooks full of their hard work. I hope this coming school year (2008-09) that we can expand on our art with more drawing, pen and ink, and painting.

Charlotte Mason Picture Study

When I first started reading about Charlotte Mason and her ideas on education I was so encouraged. With a large family it is often hard to implement art and music. The CM method has allowed us to study both. I'm going to write just a little bit on Charlotte's philosophy on picture study. Now I am no expert on her style of teaching but the one thing I cherish is her ease of studying art with young children. I started when my kids were about 5-7 years old. We would take an artist, read a child's biography and then find books with paintings by that artist. First we would look at the picture and discuss the colors, what we liked or didn't like, the shadows, the scenery, things like that. Then we would turn the picture over and take turns remembering the details of the painting. It was always so interesting to see who remembered what. We have implemented this style of learning off in on through our years of studying art. It is a wonderful, relaxing way to introduce your children to the finer things in life.

End of School

We are almost at the end of another homeschool year. We are earger for summer break!!! I hope to use this blog more next year to post about our school experiences, our curriculumn choices and hopefully some pictures.
Lisa