Homeschool Meme

My new blogging friend, Chelle, at Last in Line, has tagged me for a homeschool meme. By the way, please have a browse through Chelle's blog. Chelle is a kiwi homeschooler using many of the same resources I am using with my children. I was thrilled to find her on the internet!

Here are the meme questions:

1. One homeschooling book you have enjoyed:
The first "homeschooling" book I ever came across was Karen Andreola's book: "A Charlotte Mason Companion". This is a great indroduction to Charlotte Mason's methods and how you came implement them in your home.

2. One resource you wouldn't be without:
I think right now I would have to say the brilliant writing course by Andrew Pudewa: Student Writing IntensiveThis course takes all the mystery out of writing for our family.

3. One resource you wish you had never bought:

Hmmm, I am having trouble with this one. I am usually very careful about what I buy. We did try out Mystery of History, but after having already used Story of the World, we just went back to that.

4. One resource you enjoyed last year:

We enjoyed using Discovering Great Artists as a springboard for out art lessons.

5. One resource you will be using next year:

Well, it's not next year yet, but my oldest girls have just started working through Dr Jay Wile's Exploring Creation with General Science. So far they are enjoying it.

6. One resource you would like to buy:

I would LOVE to buy an e-book reader, for all those out-of-print or hard-to-find or just-too-expensive classic books that we have yet to read.

7. One resource you wish existed:

Some sort of reference for New Zealand poetry and literature suitable for children.

8. One homeschool catalogue you enjoy reading:

I have been browsing through the Institute for Exellence in Writing's catalogue, and would love to be able to buy some of their history-based writing lessons and poetry lessons.

9. One homeschool website you use regularly

Ambleside Online. This is a great resource based on the methods of Charlotte Mason and includes booklists for every grade in every subject area.

10. Tag six other homeschoolers:

1. Melissa, from Bugs, Knights and Turkeys in the Yard

2. Nancy, from Sage Parnassus

3. Narelle, from House of Bogwitz

4. Laura Lou, from Wasted Textbooks

5. Mel, from Sweet Blue Sky Days and

6. Jeanne, from A Peaceful Day (Jeanne's lucky - she's already done the meme, so I've linked you directly to her blogpost :-)

If I haven't tagged you, feel free to join in anyway, it's always great to read about what other homeschoolers are using and love.

Vive Les Roses!

We have just finished learning about the French Revolution in Story of the World 3: Early Modern Times by Susan Wise Bauer.
One of the extra reading suggestions was "The Man who Painted Flowers" by Carolyn Croll.


It looks like a lovely picture book which I would love to purchase at some stage. Carolyn Croll has several of her lovely illustrations on her blog, which is well worth a look at.

I did however come across a very similar sounding book on
trademe. It is called "The Man who Painted Roses, the Story
of Pierre-Joseph Redoute". So I snapped up this book for just $2, thinking it was bound to have some of Redoute's paintings reproduced in it. I was a little disappointed when I received it as there were no pictures, other than on the front cover. What I did discover however, was a wonderful story of Redoute's life.


Redoute was born about 30 years before the French Revolution, into a family of painters in Belgium. His father longed for he and his brothers to grow up to be famous landscape or portrait painters. They were encouraged to leave the family home at the age of 13, and travel the country learning from master painters, earning their bed and board by assisting the master painters and by painting the odd potrait or religious painting for the local people.


Redoute learned much from this experience, but he never really wanted to paint portraits, he love flowers! He was constantly distracted by their beauty and began to sketch every flower he could along the way.

Eventually Redoute married and settled in Paris. Pierre-Joseph and his wife, Marie-Marthe, had two daughters, Josephine and Adelaide. Through the help of his older brother, Antoine-Ferdinand, and the contacts of various well-known French botanists, Redoute went on to be the official painter for Queen Marie-Antoinette, the Empress Josephine (first wife of Napoleon Bonaparte), the Empress Marie-Louise (second wife of Napoleon) and Queen Marie Amelie. If you can keep up with all the Maries, Louises and Josephines in the story, you are doing well!

Redoute published many botanical books on roses, lilies and many other flowers of the world. He lived a full life and died at the age of 81.

I learned more French history in this book than I have ever known!