Artwork

What's so great about art ,you ask?

Well, for one, it gives me  an hour and a half break every week to exercise with a fellow homeschool friend.

But that's not the real reason. It's because, aside from being taught by an instructor from the Art Institute who happens to adore my kids, it's also producing some great frame- worthy pieces for my walls. Not just finger-painting, my friend.

Mackenzie has been taking the art classes for several years and has been advancing through the curriculum pretty quickly. She is working on still life right now and enjoying that process of arrranging and getting the shadows just right.  Below is a piece from the last few week. She took a break and worked on this realistic chalk pastel cub. I particularly love the background and all the detail and shadow.

Kibru joined the class in Sept and jumped right into crayons, markers and colored pencils. He has had a steady stream of creatures, animals and cartoon characters but I like this one for it's simplicity. The colors are vibrant and they match my kitchen really well.  

As for the best part,  the kids spend innumerable hours drawing at home and building on the skills they learn in this class.  

The workout it great too!

Rosetta Stone......... Up and running again

Spanish

 We found the old discs again to discover that the program I bought years ago still works on the MAC computers when I thought it was outdated and PC compatible only. What a bonus.
I now have SPanish Level 1 and 11 for all the children to do once or twice a week as our foreign language. We have been learning  Latin all year but in addition, I will start the two younger 1st and 3rd graders on Spanish Level 1 and my 5th grader, who has already had two years of this program, will start at Level 11 after a few weeks of review.

www.rosettastone.com

Story of the World Pages

I love supplementing!

MFW is fantastic but I love the flexibility that I have to add some exercises that I deem worthy for my students. I love the Story of the World - Book I took us to through the fall of Rome and now we are heading into Book II- Medieval Age. It's the extra downloadable pages that are so worth the $13.00 price tag. I need four copies of everything, they are the perfect pages to solidify the reading and my students love to color ........bonus!

Here is an example of the worksheets that we are working on today about the Byzantine Empire. Paper dolls, who doesn't love paper dolls?  I remember when we toured the Lincoln Museum in Springfield, IL and Mackenzie picked out paper dolls of the Lincoln family, historical figures and home.  She still plays with them and she remembers everything she learned.

After reading that Empress Theodora came from a humble beginnings as a circus performer, yep, she was a MIME for her parents circus, Harper just had to draw an additional outfit for her.

 Here she is dressed in her best clown costume for those quiet times in the palace when she is nostalgic about her childhood.

 Great maps are essential to understanding the ever-changing kingdoms and empires of this region.

Science Curriculum

Young Explorers Series is making science hands-on, God centered and enjoyable for all the ages I teach.
We are using the guidelines and some of the books for the MFW science but I have started a new one for the new year. The book is Apologia's Exploring Creation with Human Anatomy and Physiology by Jeannie Fulbright amnd Brooke Ryan.

The first few lessons have been so fun and interactive that my students are asking for more.
We have cut out models amd built jello cells. We have the workbooks as well and they help with memorization and hold all the drawings and projects. The Personal Person project is helpful and engaging to illustrate the body systems and how they work together. Every other week, we add a system to the body cut-out, layering them on top of the other.

 Here is the cell structure wheel that we made in the first week.

I love the creationist worldview most of all for we are fearfully amd wonderfully made!

What happens to chicken in a homeschool?

Our science experiment for the week was to decalcify some bones.

We roasted a chicken one night, covered the bones with vinegar in a jar and waited.

  5 days later- the bones were inspected for changes. Besides darkening, they were rubbery and easily breakable. The acid in the vinegar changes the hardness of the bones and we could easily break them and see the marrow inside. 

 Harper wouldn't touch it with her bare hands

Pretty exciting stuff