Vermeer and Haydn Mini Unit

My planning for our 2011 school year is well underway. I hope to share some more detailed plans soon, but for now, here is our Artist & Composer plans for this term:

I will be doing Barb(Harmony Art Mom)' s Mini Unit on Johannes Vermeer and Joseph Haydn with the girls this term.


Click on the picture to check out this great "mini" unit. Barb calls it mini, but I think it's a bit more than that :-).

Booking it in 2011 with "Life as Mom"

I have decided to join in Booking it in 2011 with Jessica Fisher, at her blog, Life as Mom.

I am planning to deviate from Jessica's booklist, but plan to include some of her books in mine.

Here is Jessica's list, with the "due date for reading":

• February 10 - The Happiness Project by Gretchen Rubin


• March 10 - Mansfield Park by Jane Austen


• April 10 - Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day by Jeff Hertzberg & Zoe Francois


• May 10 - Finding your Purpose as a Mom: How to Build your Home on Holy Ground by Donna Otto


• June 10 - The Pilgrim's Progress by John Bunyan


• July 10 - Dancing with My Father: How God Leads Us into a Life of Grace & Joy by Sally Clarkson


• August 10 - The Help by Kathryn Stockett


• September 10 - Organized Simplicity: The Clutter-free Approach to Intentional Living by Tsh Oxenreider


• October 10 - Not your Mother's Casseroles by Faith Durand


• November 10 - The Monster in the Hollows by Andrew Peterson

Here is my own list for the year:

• February 10 - Northanger Abbey by Jane Austen


• March 10 - Mansfield Park by Jane Austen


• April 10 - Desiring God by John Piper


• May 10 - Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte


• June 10 - The Pilgrim's Progress by John Bunyan


• July 10 - Dancing with my Father by Sally Clarkson


• August 10 - The Professor by Charlotte Bronte


• September 10 - A History of the English-speaking Peoples, Volume 3, The Age of Revolution by Winston S. Churchill


• October 10 - Hard Times by Charles Dickens


• November 10 - No Other Foundation: The Church Through Twenty Centuries by Jeremy C. Jackson


• December 10 - Home Education by Charlotte Mason

Most of these books are currently on our bookshelves - or available to me. I have tried to mix up the genres, and plan to be reading the heavier books throughout the year. If you're wondering why I'm planning to read Churchill's book - it's simply that I want to have a bit more background to the History studies we will be doing this year. We are working through Susan Wise Bauer's Story of the World Volume 3: Early Modern Times, much of which includes the Age of Revolution.

I plan to post a short review of each book here on the blog as I complete it!

As an aside, here is a list of some of the books I read in 2010:

• Van Loon's Lives by Hendrik van Loon


• Sense & Sensibilty by Jane Austen


• Persuasion by Jane Austen


• Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte


• Shirley by Charlotte Bronte


• Villette by Charlotte Bronte


• The Life of Charlotte Bronte by Elizabeth Gaskell


• Agnes Grey by Anne Bronte


• The Tenant of Wildfell Hall by Anne Bronte


• Lorna Doone by R.D. Blackmoore

As you can see, I was a little biased towards novels last year! This year I am attempting to read more books on Christian living and some History books. Van Loon's lives is a wonderful introduction to many historical characters. Read it if you can, you won't be disappointed!

Pohutukawa, the New Zealand Christmas Tree

This is a Pohutukawa tree, native to New Zealand. Because of its beautiful red flowers it has come to be known as the "New Zealand Christmas tree." This is also partly because it flowers in summer, mainly in the northern parts of the North Island, which is around our Christmas time! The image of the flowering Pohutukawa on a beach is a typical scene at this time of the year.

See The Bushman's Friend for more information on the Pohutukawa tree.

Charlotte Mason Blog Carnival

Welcome to this edition of the Charlotte Mason Blog Carnival! I am hosting from little New Zealand, down in the South Pacific. While some of you are experiencing the first snow of the season, we have been experiencing some early hot weather. Last week felt like February weather to us, with some days reaching 30 degrees celsius!

The Pohutukawa, New Zealand's "national" Christmas tree

Anyway, let's get on with the carnival!

We have had a few "technical" issues with submissions not going to the right person, so if your submission is missing, please accept my apologies!

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LIVING BOOKS

Katey lists the books her family is using for various subjects at Crazy Homeschool Mama: on our bookshelf posted at her blog: Crazy Homeschool Mama.

Pamela describes some of her family's adventures reliving the books of Laura Ingalls Wilder in Just Like Ma Ingalls at her Blah, Blah, Blog.

Dawn shares a great list of Advent Books at her blog, my4sweetums.

POETRY

Nancy shares a medieval Christmas poem, The Canticle of the Bees, at her blog, Sage Parnassus.

I share a post on one of our poet studies: Poet of the Week ~ Phillis Wheatley

GEOGRAPHY

Jimmie shows us how we can succeed at: Teaching Geography Without Buying a Curriculum in her post at Jimmie's Collage.

HISTORY

Robin presents some great Ideas for Photographic History Projects posted at Crack the Egg.

ARTIST STUDY

Jimmie also presents Da Vinci Picture Books at Jimmie's Collage.

Shannon Cook shares Artist/Composer Group: Georges Seurat at her blog, Song of My Heart.

SHAKESPEARE

Susan shares her plans for A Term of Study for Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet, including copywork and narration exercises, at her blog, Stitching Life.

I posted my plans for our Shakespeare study of Henry V in Preparing for Shakespeare.

NATURE STUDY

Tricia shares her family's joy in Autumn nature study at Autumn OHC # 10: November World posted her blog, Hodgepodge.

Cindy describes a nature scavenger hunt in A Preschool Walk posted at Shining Dawn Books.

If you've always wanted to know what an "ootheca" is, Amber will uncover the mystery at Nature Study -- Praying Mantis Oothecae at her blog, The Mommy Earth.

Annie Kate presents Nature Study at Tea Time with Annie Kate.

COMPOSER STUDY

Melissa shares the rewards of composer & orchestra study in "Concerto! I know who that is!" at her blog, Bugs, Knights, and Turkeys In the Yard.

MASTERLY INACTIVITY

Jen shows us what our children can achieve when their minds are inspired by history, and are given leave to be creative: When Homeschoolers Go Unsupervised at her blog: Best Family Adventures.

Eve presents The Serendipity of Learning at her blog, Inchworm Chronicles.

HANDICRAFTS

Shannon presents Christmas in Mexico: Making Ojo de Dios posted at Song of My Heart.

NARRATION IN A FOREIGN LANGUAGE

Amy has put together an in-depth post on Narration... in Spanish or French, hard?! at Fisher Academy International ~ Teaching Home.

CO-OP

And last, but definitely not least, Nancy shares her final post on her Truth, Beauty, Goodness co-op, with an overview of what the group has learned throughout the term: Gazing on Many Truths posted at Sage Parnassus. It is a beautiful example of a Charlotte Mason homeschooling co-op!

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That's it for 2010! May you all have a blessed Christmas, and a wonderful holiday break!

Red Pepper Quilts: Oh Dr Seuss!

On a totally random note, if you like Dr Seuss, check out these neat quilted placemats Rita has made with Dr Seuss fabrics:




Red Pepper Quilts: Oh Dr Seuss!: "The wonderful world of Dr Seuss - Robert Kaufman fabrics: Celebrate Seuss! and Cat in the Hat by Dr Seuss Enterprises! I do love these aw..."

Drawing Lesson - Portraits

The last lesson from our DVD, "How to Draw Really Well" by Graham Braddock, was a portrait. Needless to say, this was the lesson we all found the most difficult. I did find it easier to draw portraits when we had our live lessons with Graham, rather than watching the DVD. When we had the lesson with Graham in person, we had a large photo of the model on a screen. This meant we could look to the photo itself, rather than just at Graham's version on the DVD. You did see clips of the photo of the model, but it was much smaller.

Here are our portraits of a girl called Emma:

Portraits by (from left to right): Bethany, me, Ainsley.

Charlotte Mason Blog Carnival

If you ever wondered who Charlotte Mason is, and what she wrote about, check out the latest edition of the Charlotte Mason Blog Carnival here.