Dawn K Homeschool

Quickly, I'd like to share some books we read or began reading today. History First, we read our third book in the "Adventures in Colonial America" series, Seventh & Walnut   and I just loved it! It was so much fun to read aloud, and it was so informative yet enjoyable.  The entire story is told from the perspective of the city's night watchman or town crier. Art Appreciation -- Impressionism Continuing with out introduction to Impressionism, I read  Charlotte in Paris  which is set up like a series of diary entries complete with watercolor paintings and scrapbook memorabilia.  Many French words are introduced along with French culture. Literature Read Aloud I am delighted we began  Chitty Chitty Bang Bang  -- the original book by Ian Fleming.  We only read one chapter (I'll read more tonight at bedtime), but so far, we are thrilled with it.  As is customary with books made into films, it is already astonishingly different!  Now, I d...

Well, okay, we still have to listen to our Latin chants, and the boys have to correct their math problems. Today was more challenging because the boys also had piano lessons. I thought I would share a little more about how our day goes. Their day starts with some time to play followed by eating breakfast while completing their independent work. I'll share our resources for this. Independent Work 1. Logic Daily, they complete one page from this book: MindWare Grid Perplexors: Level A . To mix things up a bit, I'll alternate with Logic Liftoff every other week.    2. Daily Grams This is one program I have used since practically the beginning. It is one of my most often recommended resources. Each lesson consists of six parts; the first two sentences always involve correcting capitalization and punctuation. The last is always a lesson in sentence combining. The other three vary, presenting the student with practice in analogies, parts of speech, letter writing, dict...

So, we started school again yesterday.  Phew!  What a year this is going to be.  I think it is taking so much more time because I added in new programs (including  Latin for Children  and  IEW -- Student Writing Intensive ). So far, the Latin program is leaving me dazed and confused.  It just seems like so much is thrown into the first chapter. The boys adore Andrew Pudewa.  Seriously, they would ditch me in a heartbeat in favor of him as their teacher. He IS refreshingly humorous and empathetic. We are continuing with the following since they work: Saxon Math (using the older textbooks) Rod and Staff English (omitting the writing exercises) Daily Grams (I love this program!) Megawords for Spelling (I love this approach!) Currently, we are using  A Child's Introduction to Poetry: Listen While You Learn About the Magic Words That Have Moved Mountains, Won Battles, and Made Us Laugh and Cry  twice a week for poetry study.  We've ...

I just placed an order at www.calendars.com  for our upcoming artist study.  Since I was buying 2011 calendars (one was even in Spanish), I was able to get wall calendars from 95 cents to $6.95 each.  The often 12x12 size is perfect for picture study as well. Be careful that you select wall calendars and not the smaller mini size (unless you want the smaller size). For each artist we study, I adorn the kitchen walls and refrigerator with his or her art work.  Since we are studying Impressionist artists, I selected several Impressionism with a variety of artists and some Monet, Renoir, Degas, and Cassatt.   Here are some examples: Great Impressionists 2011 This  large one is 19 x 18 inches! This  Mary Cassatt one is only $2.95. Here  is a Monet one for only 95 cents! Use the code "ACCESS" to get 10 percent off; shipping is also free if your order is at least $25.

Being a very visual person, I thought it would help our botany study to have a diagram showing the scientific classification of plants.  So, if this will help you, please download  here .