Catching Up

My online friend Rhonda over at Imagine reminded me through her blog today that I (GASP!) have not taken much time over the summer to scrapbook. Looking at my summer photos, I like this one of my dd on the lake. I used free items from Digital Scrapbook Search Engine and Scrapbook Designer to create this page in about 5 minutes!

I'd love to carve out a half an hour per day to scrapbook. Hmmm. I am going to have to think about this. Keeping up is really the key. Step by step, little by little, rather than waiting until I have a memory card of 200 photos (and no, this is not a theoretical number!) waiting to be scrapped.

How about you? Are you finding a little time each day for something fun? When was the last time you pulled out your crochet basket or your scrapbook supplies? It is a GOOD thing to schedule a little time for hobbies each day, even if it is only a half hour. I can't believe it, but I completed my page and this post in about 15 minutes total. I may not have hours and hours of free time per day, but I think thirty minutes per day is something I'm going to try.

Anatomy of a Notebook Page

Today Miss M decided to create her first notebook page of the (5th grade!) year. She would like to present it here!

Together we would like to show you show how she put together her page. We'll try to go step by step and show pictures – I am a visual person, as you can see by all my posts! : )

Step 1:
Learn about a history, science, or other topic. That should be a no-brainer, we do it all the time, right? Here's the clincher: schedule in a couple of hours to notebook about it. Include any writing or copywork you have done and create a beautiful page or pages to enhance it.

Step 2:
Mommy Prep. : )
Mom's involvement will depend on the ages and abilities of your children. If your child is younger, you do more prep, and as they get older they take the reigns and do almost everything themselves. Miss M is a new 5^th grader this year, and here is what I did to get ready for a smooth notebooking session:

• Chose and printed out decorative paper. I tend to scrounge around for mine at sites like Shabby Princess Free Digital Page Kit Downloads
  

• Provided copied directions for the notebook project, using a page from Country Report Projects for Any Country by Scholastic. Another good place where your child can see directions for pages is ScrapbookingtoLearn.com.
  

• Provided questions (we have previously gone over) from our Sonlight 5 curriculum. Textbook questions work well too. Miss M uses them to create Question and Answer matchbook mini-booklets. (Another option is a written paragraph or sentences about the topic.)
  

Step 3:

Using Google, books, digital encyclopedia, or purchased software, acquire 1 or more images for your page. (Miss M is using the World Book recommended in Sonlight 5)

Step 4:
Cut images out and arrange on page. Don't glue yet!!!

Step 5:
Add writing. This week we didn't do any, so Miss M made question and answer match books using some Sonlight 5 discussion questions. Arrange writing with images until you are satisfied. Don't glue yet!!!

Step 6:
Add title, and any optional decorative embellishments such as photo corners, stickers, buttons, etc. Ours was pretty simple. When you are happy with how it looks you can finally glue it down!

When your beautiful new page is dry, add to your notebook (we use a binder full of blank page protectors) and you'll have something you can be proudly show off to family and friends. Kids love notebooking most when some of the (boring!) prep is done and they get to do the creative part. Moms love notebooking because it serves as a systematic record and review of what has been learned! Love, love, love looking back at our notebooks over the years. If you've never tried it, have a go at it this week. Maybe the notebooking bug will bite you, too!

P.S. --Miss M says she hopes you liked her 'Pacific Islands' page!

Our Messy Art Cart

How do we make hands-on learning accessible to our children even when we are not available? How do we store all those artsy odds and ends? An art cart!

I am going to post pics of how my art cart looks at this very moment, resisting the urge to 'staighten up' before the photo. It is a bit embarrasing, but I am a self-admitted Messie. This a honest to goodness look at an art cart that gets used almost daily by a 10 year old! While not lovely to look at, our art cart is working for us. Hands-on learning is happening nearly daily during productive free time with or without Mom's involvement, and we are content!

Basically this was a cart I got from Office Max and it was, at one time, organized. : ) Instead of fixing it all up all the time and driving myself crazy, I just make sure all the hands-on materials get in, or on top of, the cart! It is in no way organized or neat...LOL!

Here are some items on top of the cart:

• Air dry clay
• colored pencils in pencil boxes
• Hands and Hearts kits
• Home Sciene Tools science kit

Some items in the drawers:

• glitter glue
• scrapbook paper
• decorative scissors
• tempera paint
• watercolor paint
• fabric paints
• watercolor pencils
• oil pastels
• watercolor paper
• pastel paper
• glue sticks
• craft glue
• construction paper
• colored Primo clay
• sequins and other embellishments
• different fabrics and odds and ends
• fabric scissors
• sewing kit
• different types of yarns
• ribbons
• crochet hooks
• colored beads and hemp
• stamp pads
• stickers
• spray sealant
• egg carton (for some project dd is planning?) - if there are cans, cartons etc to be saved for a future project, dd throws them in the art cart so she can retrieve them later.

The gallon bag hanging on the wall holds Dinah Zike-style mini-books and 3-D reports in progress.

I'm sure there are many other things I don't even know about that dd has collected in there!

It isn't pretty and organized, but it gets the job done. Somehow, by God's grace, dd can find anything she needs in our messy art cart. Someday, I will get around to organizing it.... Sigh.

So there it is, my 'real life' not-so-pretty art cart!

: )
Tami

Fine Arts "Center" Idea

Fine Arts are an important part of any liberal arts education. And yet, they are always the FIRST thing to go in a busy week, aren't they! My dd loves to be able to work semi-independently, so I decided I wanted a Fine Arts Center this year. Great idea! But, alas and alack, we have no room for a dedicated space for a center.

To solve my problem, I created a Fine Arts "Center" in a Folder. It contains:

1. Schedule (See Start Exploring Masterpieces post below if you want to see it)
   
2. Custom CD of Classical, Folk, and Sacred music for the term
3. 'Start Exploring Masterpieces' Posters and Cards for the term
4. 'Start Exploring Masterpieces' Guide Book and Timeline Game
5. Edupress Activity Book Covers and Table of Contents copies with project choices highlighted

With our "Center," dd will be able to access her Fine Arts materials independently on days they are scheduled and also use them when she wishes. It takes almost no extra room and everything needed for the term is in one convenient space.

The Fine Arts folder gets tucked neatly away with her other daily school materials in a dish pan.

Fine Arts Schedule (PDF)

Start Exploring Masterpieces Kit

After finding the Masterpieces Deluxe Start Exploring Kit for $5.99 at our local Borders store, I decided to use it as our Western Art spine. Of course, the next step was to create a schedule so that it will actually get done! This kit has a card game, art timeline kit, full-color guide book, and posters/cards to paint. Since we have always studied one artist for an extended period of time, this should be a fun 'overview' year! Call your local Borders to see if they have any kits left -- these are steal. If you can't find them at Borders, I think this kit is well-worth the $15.99 price at CBD!

Here's my schedule:

Western Masterpieces

Resources: Start Exploring Masterpieces (SEM); Internet

Term 1 * SEM Poster: 'The Battle of Constantine' by Piero Della Francesca, 1466-Early Ren. http://www.wga.hu/frames-e.html?/html/p/piero/francesc/croce/battle_c/battle_c.html

* SEM Card: 'Queen of Sheba' by Piero Della Francesca (Early Ren) See also 'Duke of Urbino' http://www.artchive.com/artchive/P/piero.html#images

* SEM Poster: 'The Birth of Venus' by Sandro Boticelli, 1489-(Early Ren.) Ren. See also 'Primavera' http://www.artchive.com/artchive/B/botticelli.html#images

* SEM Poster & card: 'Mona Lisa' by Leonardo daVinci, 1503-(High Ren.) See also 'The Last Supper' http://www.artchive.com/artchive/L/leonardo.html#image

* SEM Card: Erasmus of Rotterdam by Hans Holbein the Younger-(Northern Ren.) http://www.artchive.com/artchive/H/holbein.html#images

* SEM Poster: 'Henry VIII' by Hans Holbein the Younger, 1539-(Northern Ren.) http://www.artchive.com/artchive/H/holbein.html#images

Term 2 ** SEM Card 'Hunters in the Snow' by Pieter Bruegel, the Elder 1565 (Northern Land.) http://www.artchive.com/artchive/B/bruegel.html#images

** SEM Card 'The Wedding Dance' by Pieter Bruegel, the Elder, 1568 (Northern Land.) http://www.artchive.com/artchive/B/bruegel.html#images

** The Laughing Cavalier by Frans Halls, 1624 (Flemish Baroque) http://www.artchive.com/artchive/H/hals/laughing_cavalier.jpg.html

** SEM Cards 'The Syndics of Drapers Guild' and 'Jacob Blessing the Sons of Joseph' by Rembrandt (Baroque)http://www.artchive.com/artchive/R/rembrandt.html#images

** SEM Card 'Maidservant Pouring Milk' by Jan Vermeer, 1657 (Flemish Baroque) See also 'A Woman Asleep' http://artchive.com/artchive/V/vermeer.html#images

** SEM Card 'The Artist in his Studio' by Jan Vermeer, 1673 (Flemish Baroque) See also 'Girl with a Pearl Earring' http://artchive.com/artchive/V/vermeer.html#images

Term 3 *** SEM Poster 'The Oath of the Horatii' by Jacques-Louis David, 1784 (Neo-Classical) http://www.artchive.com/artchive/D/david.html#images See also 'Death of Scorates' and 'Napoleon Crossing the Alps'

*** SEM Poster 'Don Manuel Osorio de Zuniga' by de Goya, 1792 (Romantic) http://www.artchive.com/artchive/G/goya.html#images See also 'Execution of the Defenders of Madrid'

*** SEM Poster 'Snowy Heron' by John James Audobon, 1835 (Naturalist) See also Cardinal Grosbeak

*** SEM Cards 'Third Class Carriage' and 'The Laundress' by Honore Daumier, 1865 (Caricaturist) http://www.artchive.com/artchive/D/daumier.html

*** SEM Poster 'La Grande Jatte' and SEM Card 'Bathers at Asnieres' by Georges-Pierre Seurat, 1886 (Post-Impressionist) http://www.artchive.com/artchive/S/seurat.html#images

*** SEM Poster 'Starry Night' and SEM Card 'Sunflowers' by Vincent VanGogh, 1889 (Post-Impressionist) http://www.artchive.com/artchive/V/vangogh_arles.html

Sonlight 5 Art Schedule

I am so excited that we will be doing Sonlight Core 5 : Eastern Hemisphere this fall!!! Ever since I first saw it in that glossy catalogue four or five years ago, I knew we wanted to use this core someday. This will be our 6th year HSing, first year of Sonlight. Since we need some hands-on to supplement our reading, I will try to post any hands-on supplemental schedules as they are made.

This is my SL 5 art schedule using Global Art: Activities, Projects, and Inventions from Around the World by MaryAnn F. Kohl and Jean Potter. Most of the projects I chose are of the higher difficulty level for my rising 5th grade, but there are many simpler projects inluded in the book. I think some of them could even be done by preschoolers with a little help from Mom.

Here is the Global Arts schedule:

Weeks 1-2 (Pacific Islands)

Stuffy Cod Hanging (Fiji) p 144
Soft Coral Watercolor (Fiji) p 145
Siapo Cloth (Samoa) p 147

Weeks 3-5 (Australia & New Zealand)

Yumbulul Story T-shirt (Aboriginal) p 139
Mimi Rug (Aboriginal) p 140
Dreamtime Painting (Aboriginal) p 141

Week 6 (Antarctica)

Snowy, Blowy Stencil p 41

Weeks 10-15 (China)

Eraser Signature p 49

Weeks 17-19 (Russia)

Jeweled Eggs p 101

Week 21 (Southeast Asia)

Tet Trung Thu Lantern (Vietnam) p 72

Weeks 22-27 (India)

Clay Stone Inlay
p 57

Weeks 28-30 (Middle East)

No-Ruz Centerpiece (Iraq) p 58
Stone Mosaic (Israel) p 61

Weeks 31-36 (Africa)

Tie-Dye Top (West Africa) p 34
Clay jewelry (Egypt) p 18
Ivory Carving(Congo) p 23
Bambulina Hanging(South Africa) p 28

Finishing Up

The year has zipped by. It's hard to believe that this week's history project was our final one! Dd chose 2 projects this week: A Famous Woman of the Civil War 3-D Report and a Civil War Photo Scrapbook.

Here are some pics of the Clara Barton (Famous Woman) report from front, back, and open views.

After reading a biography of Clara Barton from the Childhood of Famous Americans series, she was amazed by all that Clara Barton did! Great job, kiddo!

Her other project was to pick out favorite Civil War photos and put them together in a home-made scrapbook. She used the Civil War Photo postcards from Dover, and it ended up being 14 pages long! It was a fun and easy project to close our history adventure with.

Here are some pics:

This Week's Project

We have been studying the Civil War for several weeks, reading a ton of good books, writing, and doing projects here and there. This week we made Civil War camp postcards. I had dd and her friend write imaginary postcards 'home.' After they were done addressing the postcards, we sealed them with an image of a Civil War era Andrew Jackson stamp we found on the internet.

Here dd is posing as Clara Barton, Civil War nurse. No smiles!

Hooray for History

Ok, I'll admit it -- I detested history when I was in school. Studying American History year after year with a dry textbook and uninspired teachers was as exciting as left-over meatloaf. In truth, I was never taught a shred of world, ancient or medieval history in all my years in schoool! Suddenly, Christopher Colubus appeared out of (apparently) nowhere each year. As far as methodology, we learned facts and dates from our textbooks and took a test to make sure we 'retained' the material. *Blech*

When we began homeschooling in 2001, the only thing I knew is that I wanted to look forward to learning each day, and not dread it. Not wanting to face a stack of workbooks each day, I poured over homeschooling method books, and was attracted to several styles: unit studies, classical and Charlotte Mason. We chose and began with Unit Studies (Five in a Row) for Preschool.

We modified FIAR to include only a single reading and expanded on daily reading with related books from the library. Both dd and I loved Five in a Row! The FIAR art, geography, and literature ideas are some of our fondest memories of HSing. We (well, actually more mommy than dd) did a bit of lapbooking with our FIAR studies, added a little phonics and math, and had a delightful year. We read many good books, learned world geography, made lots of artsy tartsy messes, and had some cute lapbooks to show friends and family. Back to my comment on our delightful year... I will clarify that while the FIAR was delightful, our phonics and reading lessons were another matter that I will save for later. Take heart if you have a reluctant reader -- it does get better! ; )

Next we delved into KONOS and did much of Volume 1. Dd still talks about our KONOS 'Horse' study to this day, and asked for a repeat study in 4th grade (a request which I gladly granted) All of the activities were fun for dd (of course!) and required some planning to make it come together each week. The pro's of KONOS, in my opinion, are the character focus, the activities to encourage a love of learning, and the flexibility. KONOS is great for active youngsters! I liked KONOS and loved our time with it, but decided that the following year we would begin a more literature, not activity, based year. Knowing my dd, I wanted to encourage a habit of reading and study, not an expectation of 'fun' and activities every minute of the day. I suspected the activity focus would be hard to train out of her in later years.

In 2003, we found the answer to our history dilemma: Story of the World by Susan Bauer. Using the activity guide, we were able to focus on the narrative story and literature, and not miss out on the activities that we were used to with KONOS/FIAR. Story of the World is the best blend of the activity approach of KONOS and the literature method! We worked through SOTW 1 and 2 over a couple of years and added in literature read-alouds, fine art, and poetry from Ambleside Online. It was a perfect fit for an active, hands-on child. My only complaint with SOTW is that a world history text jumps around from country to country so much that it is hard to get the flow of any one country's history story. Being more of a unit study family, we did rearrange the SOTW topics to go a bit more country by country. Studying China for 2-3 weeks all together gave us more time to add in literature, art, projects, and the like. I have found that we prefer to cover more depth than breadth. I would rather cover fewer topics WELL. Of course, there are pro's and con's to this too!

In 2005, we were torn between doing world history with Story of the World 3 and going with an American History focus with a different curriculum. Each side has merit, but in the end we decided to go with American History for this history cycle. We chose TruthQuest American History for Young Students as our base, Joy Hakim's series as our spine, and off we went! Both World and American history will be the focus when we cover it again in later years.

I am sooooo glad we ended up going the American History route. There are oodles of delicious American history books for elementary children! Rather than selecting particular titles for dd to read, we chose the “History Basket” method for the year. Using the TruthQuest Guide and checking our library system, I fill a big basket with worthy books for 2-3 weeks at a time. The KEY thing is to never put books in the basket that you, as a parent-educator, don't feel are worthy. The child seems to have a way of picking the ONE book you think is a waste of time! Choose the best books and put them in the basket. Then, schedule reading time each day and discuss informally. That's it! It is so low stress and enjoyable for all. We do read-alouds in the evenings, often from AmblesideOnline. ; )

We stayed with TruthQuest for 2006-7, and are at the end of AHYS II. The only difference from last year is that dd is less interested in doing history projects and more interested in 'real' handicrafts such as crocheting and sewing. She is getting past the activity/project phase in her schooling. Dd has also taken off in her reading ability, and will read at least an hour or two every day – which I consider to be a miracle of God's grace! (She is a former reluctant reader who hated both reading and phonics, so we did it in extremely small, regular doses, Charlotte Mason style.) I am a firm believer in short lessons in easy reading for reluctant readers, rather than dropping lessons altogether. Practicing bit by bit slowly turns reading from an exercise in laborious decoding to an enjoyable pass time!

At this present time, we are finishing up AHYS II and we look forward to completing our American History studies by continuing with TruthQuest next year. We have found the literature approach of to be extremely enjoyable and thorough. We can add in activities anytime we want, but our studies don't DEPEND on them. There is flexibility, challenge, a myriad of choices, and freedom. Truly the best of the best that homeschooling has to offer. There are so many awesome curriculums out there: My Father's World, Tapestry of Grace, Sonlight, Mystery of History, and on and on! What is really important is that we find something that works for our family, and then go forth boldly, without second-guessing our choices. Enjoy the pageant of His-story as it unfolds for your family.

History studies offer the opportunity to learn from the past, apply Biblical principles, and study villains as well as heroes. These things are recorded that we and our children might learn from them and not repeat the sins of the past. We dare not squander the opportunity to to go forward with greater wisdom learned from the lessons of antiquity!

Our prayer and hope is that you may find inspiration, wisdom and joy in one the many excellent history choices available! Thank you if you made it all the way to the end of this loooooong post....LOL!

Hooray for History!

HOT Resource -- Hands-On History: Civil War

In Praise of Projects

We have always been fans of projects, field trips, and any other legitimate reason to put aside the books for a while. Over the years, we have found that projects are the memory-makers and motivators. When our darling daughter talks about her memories of a topic, she almost always brings up something she made. "Remember when we made the sugar cube pyramids or the illuminated manuscripts?" Projects serve to cement ideas and facts in our minds, while giving an outlet for creativity.

Today's project is making a fold-out "Road to the Civil War" timeline. Below, she is planning the project layout. I was impressed that she decided to get out a ruler for accuracy.

Next, she is drawing the rough outline of the "road" and "stops" along the way. This project combines handwriting, research, drawing, history, and design. Gotta love the way projects can streamline subjects!

We are still working on this project as I write. I'll try to add a pic of the finished project when it's done, which may not be today. The weather is so warm, we plan to take a walk at a nearby duckpond. We'll see how far we get.