Dawn K Homeschool

I have begun using primary sources in our history studies since Nathan is moving into the Logic stage. Here's an excellent art history activity for Story of the World, Volume 3, Chapter 1 "A World of Empires -- The Holy Roman Empire." Print out pages 28-29 of this pdf document. Go here for a better image of "The Abdication of Charles V" and click "extra large view of the image." You can scroll around to see more detail. The painting, though not painted at the time of the abdication (it was painted in 1620), is an "Allegory on the Abdication of the Emperor Charles V" and proves to be useful in discussing this historical event. You can also read about the abdication in this Baldwin Project link. Background Informtion: Charles V Charles V (1500-1558) was Holy Roman Emperor, King of Spain, Duke of Burgundy and sovereign of the Netherlands. It was he who united the provinces of the Low Countries under a single crown, with an autonomous status w...

I received the following four books today.  Nathan has already begun reading the Queen Zixi one; this is one of the only L. Frank Baum he hasn't read.  Out of curiosity, I checked today to see how many books I've received from PBS since joining in March 2009.  The number is 391 ! Queen Zixi of IX or the Story of the Magic Cloak (L. Frank Baum) Knights (Usborne Beginners) Just a Few Words, Mr. Lincoln  (Jean Fritz) Explorers Wanted in the Jungle I also received another out-of-print book I ordered, Corvus the Crow from the "Out of the Pond" series by Franklin Russell written in 1972.  This completes my set of the trilogy.  The other two titles are: Lotor the Raccoon , and Datra the Muskrat .

Oops -- I already had this one! So, I am offering it up for grabs. I will chose from those who comment here on Saturday by midnight. If you'd like to win it, just leave a comment here. The Moon Seems to Change (Let's Read and Find Out) (Library Binding) Kimber, you won!  Email me your address, and I'll mail this.

I just returned from our library bookstore, which sells wonderful used and discarded children's books -- 50 cents for paperbacks; $1.00 for hardcovers. This is what I bought for $11.50: Read-Alouds Miss Pickerell and the Weather Satellite (Ellen MacGregor) Here's Pippa (Betty Boegehold and Cindy Szekeres) Adventures of Sherlock Holmes (Great Illustrated Classics) Tell Me a Riddle (Tillie Olsen) Science Bird Watching With Margaret Morse Nice (Naturalist's Apprentice Biographies) The Moon Seems to Change (A Let's Read and Find out Science Book) History The Gods and Goddesses of Olympus  (Aliki) Hernan Cortes (Fact Finders Biographies: Great Explorers) The Importance of Charlemagne (Timothy L. Biel) As Far as the Eye Can Reach (Landmark book about Lewis and Clark) Lewis and Clark -- In Their Own Words (George Sullivan) Gold Rush (Bobbie Kalman)

My wonderful husband, who planted these, took the photos.

These are just quick photos of how I store the homeschooling resources we are currently using.  The shelf on the left holds resources we use all year through including my tabletop organizer. The binders include the following: 1. Recommended resources:  This is where I keep books, movies and other resources I hope to buy one day or borrow from the library.  It also keeps lists of items we own within series I am collecting.  There are dividers which keep math resources from language arts, etc. 2. Graphic Organizers/Notebooking/Lapbooking:  This binder holds general forms to use when lapbooking and notebooking. 3. Vertebrates - Nathan and Vertebrates Ben:  These binders hold all papers the boys have created related to our vertebrate study for science.  We are finishing up this month.  Next fall, they will have earth science and astronomy binders instead. 4. Story of the World Completed: This binder holds their completed SOTW work for the year, separa...

This is such a great addition to one's homeschooling library!  Nathan in particular begs to read this aloud to us -- using different voices for the various characters.  The book really does help understand the parts of speech that children are expected to learn.  You can view the entire book online for free here or you can buy it very inexpensively here in paperback or wait until September to order the hardback here .