Window Frame Art with an Equestrian Flair

See her two stuffed animal pups peeking out?

My daughter is an equestrian. She's ridden since she was five years old and has competed at the local level for quite a few years now. At Christmas, both girls get a calendar for the new year, and Tiny Girl's has always been horse related. She's collected quite a few by now. So I bought a window frame for a few dollars several months ago, and she selected and cut out some favorite calendar photos and paintings to make a piece of art for her bedroom.

 First, we cleaned the window frame and glass. Then we adhered the pictures to the back of the glass using Scotch Photo Mount adhesive spray. I tested a cutout we didn't plan to use to make certain the adhesive would not smear the ink. Success!

Himself is going to add hooks to the top of the frame so we can safely hang it on the wall. For now, it's propped against her chest of drawers.

For a few dollars and a few minutes, we have individually designed artwork!

Have you tried the whole window frame art idea?



Linking up with:
A Delightsome Life
Share Your Style
The Dedicated House
Make it Pretty Monday
A Return to Loveliness
The Scoop
Wow Us Wednesdays

Medieval Illuminated Manuscripts -- Online

Photo credit

I'm always on the lookout for wonderful online resources that enrich our lives, particularly in the artistic or historic sense. I found two marvelous resources to share with you.

I have a fascination with illuminated manuscripts. On my first visit to London, I was crushed to find out that the Lindisfarne Gospels, a must-see on my trip, was off display at the British Library. A polite sign invited me to return in the fall, when it would be back on display. I wasn't going to be in London in the fall! Aaarrrgh!

So on my second trip to London four years later, a visit less than 24 hours in duration, I hightailed it for the library to feast my eyes. I admit I gazed (probably longer than necessary) upon the revered pages, marveling at the detail, the care, and the beauty of this amazing work.

Here is some information from the British Library website about this manuscript:

The Lindisfarne Gospels, one of the most magnificent manuscripts of the early Middle Ages, was written and decorated at the end of the 7th century by the monk Eadfrith, who became Bishop of Lindisfarne in 698 and died in 721. Its original leather binding, long since lost, was made by Ethelwald, who succeeded Eadfrith as bishop, and was decorated with jewels and precious metals later in the 8th century by Billfrith the Anchorite. The Latin text of the Gospels is translated word by word in an Old English gloss, the earliest surviving example of the Gospel text in any form of the English language, it was added between the lines in the mid 10th century by Aldred, Provost of Chester-le-Street. Today the manuscript is once again bound in silver and jewels, in covers made in 1852 at the expense of Edward Maltby, Bishop of Durham. The design is based on motifs drawn from the decoration of the manuscript itself.

On the off-chance you are not planning to be in London any time soon, you, too, can feast your eyes on this gorgeous work of art (and history and art history) by visiting the British Library's website and its amazing "Turn the Pages" online gallery. This gallery utilizes Adobe Shockwave, so you'll need to download that free application beforehand. But it is SO worth it. "Turn the Pages" features a Magnify function for an up-close look at the details. Another fabulous element is the Audio option, which offers interesting information on the manuscript. Or you can click the Text option to read the same information. Not every page of the manuscript is part of the "Turn the Pages" gallery, but the cross-carpet and opening pages of each gospel are on view.

However, if you don't have Shockwave, you can also view the pages here. For a quick view of the art pages only (no text), Wikimedia Commons offers these nine images.

For more information on the Lindisfarne Gospels, visit the British Library website and run a search for "Lindisfarne Gospels" to hit the motherlode. Here is a quick link to a bit of background. Also, Wikipedia offers an informative entry.

And, in case you ARE planning a visit to London this summer, don't look for the Gospels at the British Library; they'll be at Palace Green Library in Durham, to be displayed alongside the St. Cuthbert Gospel. So plan a jaunt to Durham. I've been there, and it is worth the trip. The cathedral alone (the final resting place of the Venerable Bede) is worth the trip.

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Photo credit

I was beyond excited to learn that Trinity College Library Dublin now has the Book of Kells available for viewing online. While all pages are uploaded, there are no scholarly comments as of yet. Here's an excerpt from the library's website on the Book of Kells exhibition:

The Book of Kells (Trinity College Dublin MS 58) is celebrated for its lavish decoration. The manuscript contains the four Gospels in Latin based on a Vulgate text, written on vellum (prepared calfskin), in a bold and expert version of the script known as "insular majuscule". 

The place of origin of the Book of Kells is generally attributed to the scriptorium of the monastery founded around 561 by St Colum Cille on Iona, an island off the west coast of Scotland. In 806, following a Viking raid on the island which left 68 of the community dead, the Columban monks took refuge in a new monastery at Kells, County Meath. It must have been close to the year 800 that the Book of Kells was written, although there is no way of knowing if the book was produced wholly at Iona or at Kells, or partially at each location. 

It has been on display in the Old Library at Trinity College Dublin from the mid 19th century, and attracts over 500,000 visitors a year. Since 1953 it has been bound in four volumes. Two volumes are on public view, one opened to display a major decorated page, and one to show two pages of script. The volumes are changed at regular intervals.

For some quick views of pages from the Book of Kells, check out this Wikimedia Commons page of images. And for a thorough (and excessively glowing, IMHO) exposition, read this article from Wikipedia.

Since I have no firm plans to visit Dublin, the online exhibit of the Book of Kells is really a blessing. It's not quite the same as viewing the real thing in person, but it's the next best thing. I look forward to the addition of scholarly explanations added to the website!

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Online resources for museum pieces are invaluable for history study and art study. Not only do they give us access to items thousands of miles away, they also give us means to compare similar objects. For example, a worthwhile project for older students would be to compare the Lindisfarne Gospels and the Book of Kells. How are they similar? How do they differ? Why were they created? Do their disparate ages have something to do with any differences? Do their respective histories have any bearing on their condition today? These are just a few areas of inquiry that pop to my mind (before I've had my coffee).

Of course, seeing these priceless artifacts in person is the peak experience. I imagine the hands that have touches the pages, now protected under glass and low lighting. Hands that worked quietly and surely, hands that smoothed pages before a sacred service, hands that seized roughly in a desperate effort to flee from raiders, hands that worked to restore the ravages of age. . . . 

Perhaps an online study will whet your family's appetite to plan a trip!

Weekly Happenings: A Week of Quiet

 We took it easy this week. The last two weeks were a flurry of activity, mainly due to Miss Priss's theater production. This week, she was hit with a bad cold (and actually napped twice one day -- unheard of!), and I have the winter blahs. It seemed a good time to take a little break.

But we weren't slugs by any means. Unless you count the fact that we stayed in our jammies until we absolutely HAD to get dressed.

On Tuesday, we celebrated National Pancake Day at our closest IHOP. Who can beat a free short stack of pancakes? While we were there, we talked about the positive identification of Richard III's skeleton in Leicester.

We listened to the chatter of the cedar waxwings, stopping for a few days on their annual visit. They and the robins stripped our large holly tree of its berries. I loved watching them swoop to and fro outside the picture window in my study. They were easy to distinguish from the robins because they are smaller and, when they fly, their tails flash yellow. They've now moved on, and we won't see them again until next February.

Photo courtesy Wikimedia Commons

We listened to Bach and explored a new art project, which I wrote about in detail yesterday:

The girls did quite a few art projects. They both worked on friendship bracelets. And Tiny Girl drew a picture in pastels for the upcoming Sketch Tuesday event hosted by Barb, something she hadn't done in a while.

We read nice books and drank lots of tea. I read The Tutor's Daughter, by Julie Klassen. Miss Priss read Anne of Windy Poplars, Anne's House of Dreams, and Anne of Ingleside, all by L.M. Montgomery. Tiny Girl read Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, by Lewis Carroll, and, for even more fun, Tongue Twisters for Kids. One of the gifts she received at her birthday party last Saturday (her actual birthday is yet to come) was a Kindle! She adores it.

We're also reading The Riddle of the Rosetta Stone: Key to Ancient Egypt, by James Cross Giblin. AO's Year 6 history is light on ancient Egypt, so I added in a few resources. This is one. I want the girls to be properly informed in preparation for our trip to England. We're in the nascent stages of planning it. I've seen the stone on a previous trip and can't wait for them to have that opportunity, too.

The girls are now practicing their piano pieces for the recital in May. Each has one piece that's a bit of a challenge, so we're working through the angst of "I'll never be able to play this!" But of course they will. I'm often called to the piano during their practice time to work out a measure or two so they can hear what it should (ostensibly) sound like. And that's the extent of my piano prowess, I assure you.

It's almost time to say good-bye to Max, one of our ponies. Our lease is up, and his owners plan to send him to Kentucky to sell. We are hoping and praying that he gets another little girl who will love him as much as we have.

The girls and I both needed this week of quiet. Also, it gave me some time to research and plan some other materials we're about to pick up. In our "regular" weeks, I don't have much time to do this.

How was your week?





I'm linking up with:
Weird, Unsocialized Homeschoolers
No Ordinary Blog Hop
HammockTracks
Collage Friday
The Homeschool Mother's Journal

Spend some time perusing the blogs on these wonderful link-ups for some new ideas, encouragement, and fun!

A Day for Art!

This week, we decided to devote most of one day to educational pursuits we sometimes neglect or often can't fit in. An art project was one of these.

Inspired by Tricia at Hodgepodge's Mixed Media Valentine project, the girls created their own canvases. Only Tiny Girl's is actually mixed media; Miss Priss opted to stick with paper. Also the girls wanted to make the creations non-holiday specific. While we worked, Bach played in the background.

Just like Tricia, we selected verses from 1 Corinthians 13 (Msg). I copied their verses from BibleGateway into Word, and then the girls played around with different fonts. I printed these out and the girls cut them into strips. You could select different verses to go along with your own collage theme, if you'd like.

We have a large stash of decorative papers. The girls picked a few sheets and then tore pieces for their collages. Then they played around with placement on their canvases. You could also use cardstock, construction paper, cardboard, etc., in place of a canvas. Our Michaels had a sale around Christmas, and I stocked up on some canvases then (70% off!).

Once they found a pleasing arrangement, the girls glued everything in place with Tacky Glue. Tiny Girl also Modge Podged hers.

Miss Priss chose to cover her canvas in paper. When the glue dried, she sprayed it with high-gloss acrylic sealer. She's going to give it to one of her close friends.

Tiny Girl liked the idea of using paint as well. She used a teal paint to go over the bare areas of canvas. When that dried, she spatted a few drops of gold metallic paint over the entire thing.

Aren't they nice? We are very pleased with the way they turned out. And I was happy to carve out some time for such an enjoyable activity. Thanks, Tricia!

Weekly Happenings: Powering Through, Pastels, and Poetry

We were all sick this week. Himself even worked from home, so he was here with us. The malaise was oddly up and down: we'd be poorly one day, and the next only stuffy and cough-y. Then back to poorly the next day. We drank gallons of tea and ate a lot of soup, both storebought and homemade. I doctored up a minestrone mix and the results were super delish. I also made some basic chicken noodle soup with chicken Better than Bouillon lower sodium paste, water, spaghetti noodles, and carrots (I doctored my servings with Italian seasoning). I threw it together because I didn't have any ready-made noodle soup. Turns out my homemade version was millions better. Good to know!

Most of our activities were waylaid, but we managed to get in a good week's worth of lessons.

Here's a rundown:

• Bible study: Psalm 84 with Young Hearts Longing for God
• Grammar: Pronouns, Daily Grammar
• Spelling
• Poetry: continue reading Frost
• Math: yet more fractions
• Composition with Writing with Skill
• Story of the World: the Cold War, the Space Race, Civil Rights Movement, and Vietnam (whew!)
• It Couldn't Just Happen: continental drift
• Exploring the Holy Land: Israel
• Queen Victoria: her adventures continue
• School of the Woods: continue with the great blue heron. This is a long chapter, and I broke it into chunks over three weeks.
• Piano practice
• Assigned readings: Snow Treasure (an AO selection) for Miss Priss, and Cheaper by the Dozen for Tiny Girl

Mind Benders and hot tea -- a winning combo.

The beginnings of a Christmas tree.

On Friday, we enjoyed another pastels tutorial from Hodgepodge. This Sunday being the first in Advent, we opted for a Christmas theme. Miss Priss and I drew the Christmas Tree in Snow, and Tiny Girl felt drawn to Fireplace. Another wonderful Advent pastels tutorial is Christmas Star.

We had a wonderful time last week at my folks' house in the country for Thanksgiving. We arrived Wednesday and didn't leave for home until Sunday. The food was sublime and so was visiting with family. Bliss!

Miss Priss reading The Upstairs Room on the way to her grandparents' house for Thanksgiving.

In homekeeping, I made a few things other than soup this week. I replenished my freezer stash of homemade baking mix, and I also tried my hand at homemade dishwasher detergent. The first load is washing now, so I'll let you know how that goes.

Baking mix.

Several Frost poems engaged our rapt attentions this week. The girls especially connected with "A Tuft of Flowers" and "Mending Wall." Those are of course absolutely wonderful, but the one that spoke the most to me was "Revelation," today's selection. I think perhaps the girls are still too young to be as moved as I. They've not yet mastered the art of dissembling, hiding behind words that have lost their meaning, hiding their hearts, yet longing for true connection.


Revelation, by Robert Frost

We make ourselves a place apart
     Behind light words that tease and flout,
But oh, the agitated heart
     Till someone find us really out.

'Tis pity if the case require
     (Or so we say) that in the end
We speak the literal to inspire
     The understanding of a friend.

But so with all, from babes that play
     at hide-and-seek to God afar,
So all who hide too well away
     Must speak and tell us where they are.


Have a lovely weekend!

I'm linking up with:
Hammock Tracks
Friday Photo Collage @ Homegrown Learners
The Homeschool Mother's Journal
Weird, Unsocialized Homeschoolers
No Ordinary Blog Hop

Curl up with your computer and a cup of tea and hop a while!

Weekly Happenings: Promises to Keep

This week was a bit different from normal (I'm wondering if there's such a thing as a normal week, anyway), what with dreary, chilly weather for a few days; The Elections and a friend of the girls hanging out with us most of the day; a day meeting at church, some theatre excitement; and horse show preparations.

I made a few amendments to our schedule, bypassing spelling, grammar, and memory work for the week. I also stretched out our composition assignments and Miss Priss's Critical Thinking workbook lesson.

Hot chai and composition on a wet day

A breakdown of some things we learned:

• Ordinary Genius, a biography of Albert Einstein and AO Year 6 selection. They've been notebooking each chapter, and I was pleased overall with their initial attempts.
• In history, we read about events following World War II, such as the Marshall Plan and the building of the Berlin Wall; South Africa and apartheid; and the Communist victory in China.
• Dion and Dionysius battle it out in Syracusa in "Dion," one of Plutarch's Lives.
• Newton's law of universal gravitation was the focus of our Secrets of the Universe: Objects chapter. I'm telling you, the way natural phenomena can be reduced (if you will) to mathematical equations simply blows my mind!
• In It Couldn't Just Happen, we read about the ozone layer of the atmosphere and the greenhouse effect and how termites (!!) greatly contribute to it.
• Ulysses (Odysseus) and his men are taking their own sweet time getting back to Ithaca in The Odyssey for Boys and Girls. This week, they lounged and feasted with Circe (after she changed half of the men into pigs and back again) for a year or so until one of them said, "Hey, shouldn't we be thinking about heading home?" (I'm paraphrasing.)
• We regularly catch sight of a blue heron at our lake cabin and sometimes one flies overhead here in the South, so School of the Woods delighted us.
• On Friday, we enjoyed another Hodgepodge pastels tutorial: Harvest Moon Nocturne. The girls were less panicky this week than they were last week and loosened up a bit.

Tiny Girl's on left; Miss Priss's on right.

One of our Frost poem's this week was "Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening," one of the best-known poems of the twentieth century. And no wonder. The calm, quiet pastoral scene beckons us in and then surprises us with an unexpected depth. Here is an unmissable link: a video of Robert Frost reciting this simple yet magnificent poem.

On Monday evening, Tiny Girl's theatre troupe's production was announced: Peter Pan! And Tiny herself was cast as Captain Hook. Already she's in the throes of practicing at home with her lines and songs (she has a short solo). Miss Priss's troupe has been rehearsing their production of Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory. Miss Priss was cast in several ensemble parts, and she also has a brief solo for one of them.

Petal the pot-bellied pig came to visit us at the barn.

Tiny Girl has a horse show tomorrow, so we have schooling later today at the show venue. We'll also be cleaning tack, polishing boots, ironing jods, etc., tonight. She and Max are going to the show, but here she is with Tuli, who's coming along well with her training.

Not so familiar with the Great Blue Heron? Here's a fun video to watch:




I'll leave you with Frost:

Stopping By Woods on a Snowy Evening (1923)

Whose woods these are I think I know.   

His house is in the village though;   

He will not see me stopping here   

To watch his woods fill up with snow.   

My little horse must think it queer   

To stop without a farmhouse near   

Between the woods and frozen lake   

The darkest evening of the year.   

He gives his harness bells a shake   

To ask if there is some mistake.   

The only other sound’s the sweep   

Of easy wind and downy flake.   

The woods are lovely, dark and deep.   

But I have promises to keep,   

And miles to go before I sleep,   

And miles to go before I sleep.

I'm linking up with:

Weird, Unsocialized Homeschoolers
The Homeschool Mother's Journal
Hammock Tracks
Homegrown Learners
No Ordinary Blog Hop

Weekly Happenings: A Week of Delights for the Senses

Happy fall Friday! The weather today is perfect here: deep blue skies, breezes, and sunshine. Which is great for us. But so many people's lives have been thrown into disorder after the hurricane -- from discomfort to complete chaos -- that my rejoicing in our glorious days is dimmed.

While I type, a dear friend of ours, a widower gentleman in his 80s, bides his time in a power-less house in New Jersey; other friends in Pennsylvania are just now back to school after being without power all week; NYC friends are just getting back to some semblance of normal life, but just a semblance; and other folks we know in the northeast are taking stock and cleaning up.

But everyone we know is safe. So we are thankful.

The girls and I had a good week, a week of delights for the five senses. On Friday night, we visited our town's planetarium and observatory with my two sisters, one of which lives here and the other who was in town for a conference. Yay! The planetarium show was fun; I hadn't been to one of those since I was a child. Afterward, we looked through telescopes to view a few celestial bodies: the Moon, Uranus, and Alberio, a double star in the constellation Cygnus. We all had a wonderful time stargazing and seeing new-to-our-eyes sights.

Other nifty things we studied this week:

• We read about Israel's Negev Desert in Explore the Holy Land.
• Story of the World highlighted India's partitioning in to Hindu India and Muslim Pakistan; the re-creation of the ancient country of Israel; and the Suez Canal crisis in Egypt.
• We learned in It Couldn't Just Happen that Earth's oceans have rivers in them: the Black Current in the Pacific and the Gulf Stream in the Atlantic, which are both part of gyras.
• Dion marches triumphantly into Syracusa against Dionysius in Plutarch's Lives.
• We began a new book, Church's The Odyssey for Boys and Girls.
• We read about Mooween the bear in School of the Woods.
• The girls continued work on Queen Victoria and Ordinary Genius.
• Tiny Girl and I enjoyed Hodgepodge's Acrylic Fall Trees Tutorial. (Thanks, Nana!)

Himself took a business trip to Savannah, a city we all love. We requested some candy from Savannah's Candy Kitchen, and he lovingly obliged: saltwater taffy, peanut butter fudge, peanut butter and chocolate fudge, and pralines! I'm going to try my hand at making these delectable goodies this Christmas season. . . .

I made homemade pizza for supper on Halloween. Himself and I indulged in pepperoni, fresh mushroom, and fresh basil with a generous grinding of fresh Parmesan; the girls had their favorite: cheese. That is just gorgeous, even if I do say so myself.

Speaking of Halloween, if you have gobs of leftover candy, I wrote a blog post of ideas for getting rid of it (or stretching it out). We're donating ours to the troops.

More culinary sensations: I made a wonderfully delicious beef stew for supper earlier this week. Click here for the recipe and then make it this weekend. You'll be so glad you did! I also made another batch of homemade yogurt. I can't imagine being without it nowadays. And I made a double batch of homemade laundry detergent. I know it's not culinary, but I did make it in the kitchen.

Tiny Girl and I are spending lots of time at the barn. In case you didn't know, we now have two ponies: Max, whom we lease; and Tuli, whom we bought. Tiny works with both of them, and this takes a lot of time. I persuaded Himself to take her to the barn this afternoon so I could have time to write this wrap-up. Here she is on Max. It was an especially gorgeous day.

We bookworms have been reading a lot, too. Miss Priss finished Jack and Jill, by Louisa May Alcott (read my post on that here) and continues Cheaper by the Dozen and Summer of My German Soldier; Tiny Girl continues The Fellowship of the Ring and finished The Upstairs Room, by Johanna Reiss; I finished Mary Stewart's The Moon-Spinners and have almost finished The Upstairs Room.

One of our Frost poem's this week was "After Apple-picking." Here are a few lines:

My long two-pointed ladder's sticking through a tree
Toward heaven still,
And there's a barrel that I didn't fill
Beside it, and there may be two or three
Apples I didn't pick upon some bough.
But I am done with apple-picking now.
Essence of winter sleep is on the night,
The scent of apples: I am drowsing off.

I enjoyed the few Frost poems I recognized for many years, but now that I've read him more widely, I wonder at his insight, his turn of a phrase, his ear for perfect words, his immense gift for poetry.

I'll leave you with a tip:

Everything goes better with chocolate -- especially fractions.

Not only am I linking up with some fantastic blog hops (see below), I'm also having a fabulous time listening to bossa nova music on Pandora internet radio. You can, too! Visit Pandora, and then type in "Astrud Gilberto" as an artist. You'll hear her and others like her. "Tall and tan and young and lovely, the girl from Ipanema goes walking, and when she passes, each one she passes goes aahhhh. . . ."

Link ups:
Mary at Collage Friday
Kris at Weekly Wrap-Up
The Homeschool Mother's Journal
Savannah at It's a Wrap
No Ordinary Blog Hop

She Is Too Fond of Books: Review of Beatrix Potter: A Life in Nature

"Thank goodness I was never sent to school; it would have rubbed off some of the originality."

-- Beatrix Potter

 I am reading a most wonderful book, and I wanted to share it with you. Beatrix Potter: A Life in Nature, by Linda Lear, is an in-depth biography for older teens and adults -- one might say tome -- of that most gifted naturalist, author, illustrator, and countrywoman. For me, the name Beatrix Potter brings to mind delightful children's stories of anthropomorphized animals accompanied by equally delightful watercolor illustrations. That alone was enough to interest me in her life. I'm only one-third of the way into the book, and her complexities continue to astound me.

Possessed of an inquisitive nature, an indomitable spirit, and a keen interest in natural history, Potter delved into many areas of intellectual inquiry, a samplng of which includes geology, archaeology, and mycology. Her research into mushrooms and lichens actually broke new ground, a fact not recognized in her lifetime, as she herself tried to break into the increasingly specialized arenas of the professional scientists, who were often skeptical of the amateur.

Fettered as she was with the familial obligations and social pressures of most Victorian ladies of her class, Potter declined to languish within stifling the confines of the era. But her strong desire to be useful in life was often at odds with her parents' -- particularly her mother's -- expectations. Miraculously, Potter was able to balance her position as dutiful and respectful daughter with her own personal interests most of the time.

Immensely readable and engaging, Lear's biography is peppered with wel-chosen excerpts from Potter's journal, faithfully kept for many years, and her correspondence, enabling me to "hear" Potter through her own words. Although shy and somewhat reserved, Potter was no shrinking violet and stood her ground firmly when she felt she must. She also had an acerbic wit, which I find amusing.

And then there is her artwork. The book contains several photo and art pages, but not nearly enough, in my opinion. Lear does an admirable job of describing many of Potter's sketches and painings, but such descriptions merely whet my appetite to see them myself.

According to the Beatrix Potter page on the Visit Cumbria website, although Potter is "a household name around the world, her personal life and her other significant achievements remain largely unknown." Moreover, some of what we had thought we knew about Potter's life has recently been revealed as erroneous. Lear's book brings to light and life the Beatrix Potter we thought we knew.

Free Artist Studies from Concordia University

Kudos again to the Homeschool Freebie of the Day website for letting me know (via their weekly email subscription) about this resource.

Concordia University in Chicago has developed FREE monthly artist study lesson plans for grades one through six. Here's a link to the site. I looked over their offerings and selected the plans for grades two, four, and six and dowloaded the Adobe file.

Northern River, by Tom Thomson, featured artist for Lesson 2, Grade 6

Each plan provides a biography of each month's featured artist and background information on the selected artwork. The the plan suggests ways to lead students in "directed observation" of the piece, which consists of several questions and things to consider. The plan wraps up with a Things to Do section for students, offering options for their own artwork or comparisons with other pieces by the same artist.

Since picture/artist study is not my strong suit (read: I need all the help I can get), I'm looking forward to utilizing this resource in our home school.

Weekly Wrap-Up: High Octane Cruise Control

Remember how I've moaned and groused about the speed at which our lives are now moving? How I prefer a quiet life? How we need to make some changes around here?

Well.

Changes have been made, but not to our schedule. Wonder of wonders, I think I'm getting the hang of this plate-spinning gig. It's still not my preferred way to live, but at least I'm no longer grouchy or miserable. And here's what's keeping me going:

Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.
                 -- Matthew 6:34

Ain't it the truth? So we're cruising at high speed around here, and I'm not worrying about tomorrow.

Anyway, this week was a good one. The usual things went on as they should, and here are a few highlights.

- Miss Priss and I worked on fractions (again) for a part of the week, equivalencies and simplifying fractions. Here's a snippet of our real conversation:

Me (excitedly): You're really getting this!
Her (off-handedly): No. I just play along.

Ah, well.

 - We also continued our study of the brain. This great mini-video from Discovery Health helped us out.

 - Our History Pockets project for the week was a diagram of a Southern plantation. They are not quite complete -- hence, no photos. We also enjoyed reading George Washington's World; Abigail Adams: Witness to a Revolution; and This Country of Ours. Due to my education hand-wringing earlier in the year, we're behind; but I'm not going to let that bother me. Much.

-The girls are enjoying Robinson Crusoe more now that I'm reading it aloud.

- In our artist study, we considered Jacob Blessing the Sons of Joseph and Woman with a Pink, in our What Makes a Rembrandt a Rembrandt? book.

We also sat at a mall for a few hours selling Girl Scout cookies; we watched a lot of bird activity; Miss Priss tumbled, Tiny Girl rode her pony, they both had piano, and we all had fun at church Wednesday night; we admired spring as it burst upon us, in the form of daffodils, flowering trees with white and lavender-pink blossoms, and a thunderstorm; and today we fasted, as part of our hunger badge for Scouts. We went to IHOP for supper with friends to break our fast. Pancakes never tasted so good.

How was your week? Pop over the Weird, Unsocialized Homeschoolers for more encouragement and ideas from other blogs, and have a great weekend!

Weekly Wrap-Up: "Winter Break" and Rembrandt

Happy Friday! Our local schools, public and private, were on "winter break" this week. Despite the girls' irritation, I saw no need to take a frivolous break, but did designate a bit lighter than normal week. In fact, we took Wednesday off because it was Tiny Girl's tenth birthday (read all about our day here). Our celebration of her first decade continues, since my folks arrive later today to spend the night, and we're all going out to eat tonight. The handyman at the barn where she rides gave her this little nosegay and a glass horse ornament:

We took a break from spelling and our math lessons were shortened, but other than that we operated normally. Bible, poetry (Dickinson), copywork, grammar (still adverbs), piano, French, and literature continued smoothly. Miss Priss is in the final third of Anne of Green Gables, reading aloud to us the best parts. Tiny Girl began The Princess and Curdie, by George Macdonald. They continue to grouse about Robinson Crusoe, and have asked that I begin reading it aloud to them instead of their listening to an audio version. I'd rather not, but in the interest of promoting this work as a Good Thing, I will do so.

In our history and biography lessons, we enjoyed more from George Washington's World; chapter two of Abigail Adams: Witness to a Revolution; and This Country of Ours, specifically, the origins of Carolina. We're nearing the end of Plutarch's Julius Caesar. This week, we came to his famous declaration: "Veni, vidi, vici"; which means, "I came, I saw, I conquered." Pretty much sums up Caesar, in my mind. The girls also completed a project for the Homes and Villages pocket of History Pockets' Colonial America: diagrams of a colonial village:

I have to feature both or suffer the consequences.

Much to everyone's delight, we were able to spend some time considering two Rembrandt works from our What Makes a Rembrandt a Rembrandt? book. Both works are remarkable examples of Rembrandt's use of chiaroscuro (light and dark). To hear how this is pronounced, click here.

The first we studied was Anslo and His Wife. Click here to view this painting on the Art Project website. The small window at the right of the painting allows you to zoom in closer to examine parts of the work in marvelous detail. If you don't see this window, move your mouse cursor over the area where it should be, and it will pop up.

Before we considered the painting Belshazzar's Feast itself, we read the story in the book of Daniel. Click here to view this painting on The National Gallery (London) website, which also offers a wonderful zoom feature. What amazed us about this particular work is how Rembrandt depicts the luster and richness of the gold objects and Belshazzar's robe without the benefit of metallic paint. Zoom in on the painting to see what I mean.

We had a great time with the Great Backyard Bird Count. The species with the most representatives in our backyard was the goldfinch. They sucked down the nyjer seed in a matter of days!

Jasper completed his beginning obedience class and earned a certificate. Yay! We plan to take the intermediate course in March and earn his AKC Canine Good Citizen award.

Well, that's our week. I hope yours was lively, educational, and enjoyable!

Weekly Wrap-Up: Trying Something New

Happy Saturday! I'm late posting our Wrap-Up this week; Tiny Girl and I were at the barn yesterday afternoon, and last night was Girl Scouts Mother-Daughter Bingo night. Big fun around here!

We had a good week. I'm feeling more energized and confident after my epiphany last week. Still more plans to put into action, but we went back to our roots and tried some new things this week that worked well. Nothing like a bit of success to put a whole new perspective on things.

Several subjects clicked along: devotion/Bible study using Keys for Kids, which we enjoy; cursive copywork, Miss Priss working on AO selections for Return to Gone Away and Tiny Girl on AO selections from The Peterkin Papers; grammar, in which we studied comparative and superlative adjectives; spelling with Spelling Power, which works well with both my strong speller and my challenged speller; we completed the introduction pocket for our Colonial America history pockets; French with Rosetta Stone; and piano lessons and daily practice.

Other activities included:

• For poetry, a study I'd been neglecting but we all enjoy, we began reading and discussing AO selections of Emily Dickinson's poems.
• In math, Miss Priss cycled back through lines of symmetry, graphing, and basic operations practice in Mathematical Reasoning. Tiny Girl left geometry behind for a bit and returned to basic arithmetical operations and a bit of algebra in MEP Year 4.
• We continued our study of the brain in Professor IQ Explores the Brain, by Seymour Simon. This week, we explored the cerebrum, cerebral cortex, and brain hemispheres.
• Literature selections included the first two chapters of Robinson Crusoe, which the girls are listening to on the computer; a selection from Caesar in Plutarch's Lives; Anne of Green Gables for Miss Priss; and The Peterkin Papers for Tiny Girl.
• In our What Makes a Rembrandt a Rembrandt? book, we took a close look at two paintings, The Anatomy Lesson of Dr. Tulp and Flora. We also discussed Rembrandt's ingenious use of chiaroscuro, an Italian word meaning a strong contrast between light and dark.

On Friday, we mixed things up a bit. The girls already have their Timothy Ministry enrichment classes that afternoon, so are mornings have been rushed. To help lighten the load but still keep the brain juices flowing, I substituted multiplication games and drills on Multiplication.com and Aplusmath.com for our regular math lessons. I also removed grammar and spelling study from our Friday schedule and had the girls work on two Mind Benders puzzles, which they love, and Miss Priss also completed four pages from Building Thinking Skills. By assigning logic studies to Fridays, our Monday through Thursday schedule is freed up a bit more. At first, Tiny Girl was hugely disappointed at the loss of logic every day, but she survived.

So that's our week! To read more Wrap-Ups and glean some ideas and encouragement, pop over to Weird, Unsocialized Homeschoolers.

Weekly Wrap-Up: It Was a Hairy Bear...

... it was a scary bear. We beat a hasty retreat from his lair. And described him with adjectives."

If this sounds familiar to you, then you must be familiar with Schoolhouse Rock. This week, we watched "Unpack Your Adjectives" to add a little oomph to our grammar study. A little oomph can be a good thing, can't it?

Other highlights:

The girls completed book A3 of the Mind Benders series. The last two puzzles were quite tricky, and they requested my help. However, I did very little. Both of them are better and more practiced than I at these grid puzzles, and, working together and talking it out, they were able to figure out the answers.

We began our study of the brain and nervous system. Again, I found the KidsHealth website to be a great introduction and overview. Click here for their chapter on the brain and nervous system. The girls listened to a recording of the article as they read along.

I really cannot rave enough over the Eyewitness Science book, Human Body, by Steve Parker and published by DK. I found it at our library, but this is a keeper, so I bought a used copy on Amazon. While simplistic illustrations of body parts are helpful in clearly depicting their functions (like this Flash diagram on the KidsHealth site), more realistic-looking models are invaluable in showing how our inner workings really look, how they fit together. We truly are fearfully and wonderfully made.

The girls began work on their Colonial America history pockets. For children in grades four to six, these pockets are more detailed than others we've done in the past. I'm going to pick and choose the pockets we complete, since we've already covered some of the material a few weeks ago, such as the Mayflower crossing.

We watched a short VHS production by Kultur entitled "Rembrandt: Painter of Man," which I found at the library. There's another part we have yet to watch, "The Restoration of 'The Night Watch,'" which is one of Rembrandt's most famous works.

In math, Miss Priss tackled decimals, a bit of geometry, and basic operations practice in Mathematical Reasoning. Tiny Girl continued with geometry in MEP, including work with tesselations, enlarging/reducing geometrical figures, figuring area and perimeter, and similar/congruent figures.

On Friday, the girls attended their Timothy Ministry homeschool enrichment classes. They are both enjoying the  acrylic painting class. Miss Priss is having fun in Irish dance. Tiny Girl absolutely loves chess, a class I had to convince her to try. She's a born strategist, like her father. I, alas, am not; she routinely beats me at checkers and mancala.

 Those are the highlights of our week! To read more Weekly Wrap-Ups, hop over the Weird, Unsocialized Homeschoolers.

Have a great weekend!