Make a Card Monday - Sunflower Squiggles

I always like the color combo of this card. It's a lot less layered than I'd probably make today though.

Details:
cardstock: green (unknown), cream (unknown)


color: Jardin Moss, Sunflower ink (Palette); Prismacolor pencils

stamps: Background Squiggles, Squiggle Ladybugs (The Angel Company)

Make a Card Monday - Bright Angel

Here's another card from days gone by. I inked the edges to add some dimension but other than that pretty straightforward.

Details:
cardstock: yellow (unknown), white (Georgia Pacific)
patterned paper: stripe (Basic Grey)
embellishments: fibers (EK Success)
color: Burnt Umber, Noir ink (Palette)
tools: hole punch
stamps: Little Inspirations (The Angel Company)

School Summary - Massachusetts Bay and Rhode Island Colonies

A Summary of September 8-12

This is an overview of just one week of work. We are all very excited to take our first break week and head to the Historic Triangle in Virginia for Fall Homeschool Days. The younglings did a great job keeping on task despite the excitement.
Here's what we did:

Things that were scheduled:

Math

Tenor is plugging away with Saxon 8/7. He's getting into more complex concepts but we're not having any real difficulty. He would probably score much better if he would just do the work on paper rather than in his head. Most of his errors are minor computation issues.
Soprano is doing very well with Saxon 6/5. She might tell you that she's not a math person but she isn't really struggling at all. Every once in awhile we come to a new concept that I need to walk her through but so far she's just getting it done and building on what she learned last year. She will say that she LOVES (with hearts and curly q's) Life of Fred. I add a chapter from LoF every 7 lessons to break up the Saxon work and to stretch the Saxon book through the entire year. She's only in LoF Butterflies which is an early elementary book but she enjoys the stories and doesn't mind doing the work. I'll keep using LoF as a supplement for her in the years to come.

Language Arts (Grammar, Reading, and Writing)

Writing is still going well. It does add *one more thing* to my part of the school day. I keep forgetting that I need to teach it until we've already finished everything else for the day. Then I remember and think, "Oh yeah, *sigh* writing". It's not that it's hard to teach... maybe I should write myself a note to do it before we start our other MFW things.

Electives:

Typing, Greek (Tenor), Spanish (Tenor), Home Ec (Soprano)

Tenor fit in three Greek lessons this week which will help us get on track to finish two levels this year. It's all still letter review so I'm not worried that he's moving too quickly.

My Father's World Exploration to 1850

When I was in elementary school, I thought Roger Williams was 'all that' for starting the Rhode Island colony and offering religious freedom. Reading about him this week changed my perspective. He did offer religious freedom but only because he was kind of a fanatic and got kicked out the other colonies for causing division.

Bible: This year we're doing an in-depth study of the book of James and attempting to memorize the entire book. We're up to verse 11 of chapter 1. This week they used the study book to dive into the text more thoroughly. We didn't any verses to our memory work.

Science: We learned about marsupials this week using AIG's The World of Animals. The younglings made a craft that simulates how a marsupial mom's pouch works. Since I have the entire AIG set with teacher books, I'm making them take the quizzes this year too. They finished quiz 1 and also read about Charles Darwin.

Tenor's marsupial baby and pouch

Tenor's marsupial baby and pouch

Soprano's marsupial baby and pouch

Soprano's marsupial baby and pouch

History: We read about the Massachusetts Bay colony and the famous Pilgrims. We looked more closely at Miles Standish and how his actions saved the colony from Indian attack. I'm not sure I agree with what he did but if he hadn't, our country's history might be very different. We also read about how Rhode Island got its start. Between Roger Williams and Anne Hutchinson, they had some very, um, fervent people. We also read about the Salem witchcraft trials. I summarized some of the more graphic info because Soprano gets upset easily about that type of thing. I can hardly take her into any stores in October because of the Halloween things for sale.

I added in some map work from MapTrek (Plymouth Colony). I also added two timeline pieces from Homeschool in the Woods (Massachusetts Bay Colony, Salem Witch Trials).

Other MFW: 

Music: We listened to several selections by Franz Schubert and learned our third hymn, "The Lord's My Shepherd." We are having trouble singing the words with the correct rhythm. It doesn't flow in certain places. If this is one of the few hymns that have survived from the Scottish Psalter for more wide-spread use, it makes me wonder what the rest of the Psalter is like.

Art: Gerrit Dou and painting with golden light.

The backgrounds were supposed to be dark to emphasize the light of the foreground.

Extras:

In preparation for our trip next week, we focused a lot on colonial life in general, not just in New England.

Web:

You can see them all in my Youtube playlist for weeks 1-14.

Videos:

Colonial Life for Children by Schlessinger Media

Felicity: An American Girl Adventure by Revolution Studios (because we are headed to Williamsburg next week. This might be a better fit during week 18.)

Favorite Books: 

A Day in the Life of a Colonial ____ series by Kathy Wilmore

A Visual Dictionary of a Colonial Community by Bobbie Kalman

Colonial Women by Niki Walker

The Milliner by Niki Walker

The Colonial Cook by Bobbie Kalman

The Blacksmith by Bobbie Kalman

The Woodworkers by Bobbie Kalman

Finding Home by Sandra Markle (marsupials)

Koala by Dee Phillips

Tree Kangaroo by Dee Phillips 

Wombat's Burrow by Dee Phillips

What is a Marsupial? by Bobbi Kalman

What to Expect When You're Expecting Joeys by Bridget Beos

Marsupials by Nic Bishop

Platypus by Joan Short

Make a Card Monday - Lavender Field

So I told you about my Copic Coloring Class and showed you the cards. Well, in order to go to the class, I needed a way to transport all of my markers. The only thing that fit everything was a lunchbox tin that holds all of my handmade cards. I have all the handmade cards that have ever been sent to me plus a whole bunch of cards that I made once upon a time.
It was getting a bit full.
After I used the tin for class, I decided to pull out all the ones I made and just add them to my card stash. After blogging about them of course. It's funny to see how my cards have changed over the years.
Here's a purple flower card I made as a class demo to show second-generation stamping.

Details:
cardstock: dark and light purple base (Bazzill), green (unknown), white (Georgia Pacific)
embellishments: brads (Making Memories Tropical), ribbon (unknown)
color: Lavender Sachet, Violete, Landscape, and Noir ink (Palette)
tools: circle cutter (Creative Memories)
stamps: Something for You, Love and Joy (The Angel Company)

School Summary - Early Colonization: Jamestown and the Pilgrims

I respectfully ask that you not pin pictures of my children to Pinterest. Thank you!

A Summary of August 25 - September 5

We've rolled right back into a full school schedule without too much difficulty. I'm thankful that the younglings adjusted to the routine rather easily. I think, to be honest, that they just do better with a more structured routine. I've had a few grumbles about things here and there but for the most part attitudes have been good. We're getting everything done and finding time to add in some extras.
Here's what we did:

Things that were scheduled:

Math

Language Arts (Grammar, Reading, and Writing)

This year both younglings are using IEW's U.S. History Based Writing. It's been helpful, I think, for us to go through the lessons together, brainstorming, doing key word outlines, discussing the techniques. They help each other along with the brainstorming parts so they don't get stuck. Having (and using) the teacher's manual has been invaluable thus far. I had them watch the Teaching with Structure and Style DVDs as well as the Student Intensive A DVDs this summer which has helped us as well.

Soprano continued working through activites for Sarah, Plain and Tall. One assignment was to write an advertisement for a brother or sister.  I thought she understood that she was writing a "wanted" ad. Nope, she wrote an ad to "sell" Tenor. *shaking head* Ah, sibling love.

Electives:

Typing, Greek (Tenor), Spanish (Tenor), Home Ec (Soprano)

I went searching online for Tenor's Greek program and realized that if he were to complete levels 2 and 3 this year, then he would have one volume per year through 12th grade. So we are now on a mission to double up the lessons. It hasn't been difficult since his beginning lessons this year are all review of the Greek alphabet.
We haven't started Spanish yet. Soprano has done a few home ec. lessons beginning the year off with revisiting baking.

My Father's World Exploration to 1850

I caught the tail end of an airing of 60 Minutes last week where they were interviewing a man, Nicholas Winton, who had saved hundreds of mostly Jewish children from Nazi-occupied Czechoslovakia. His story is amazing but something he said caught my attention. He said something to the effect of 'the past is in the past, and we shouldn't look back only forward.' (I'm paraphrasing.) I agree... even Paul tells us to "forget what is behind and press on toward the goal." But there's danger in not looking at the past at all. It was clear this week as we studied history that we need to remember how our country came to be and to use our history as examples of what to do and what not to do.

Bible: This year we're doing an in-depth study of the book of James and attempting to memorize the entire book. We're up to verse 11 of chapter 1. Although verses 9-11 are still a little fuzzy.

Science: We jumped into AIG's The World of Animals starting with mammals. We compared human hair (Tenor kindly donated a sample since he was due for a haircut) and animal hair (our neighbor's dog) under the microscope. We checked our heartbeats and compared it to that of an elephant whose heart beats about 28 beats per minute. We also timed ourselves holding our breath to see how long we could do it. We didn't come close to a sperm whale which can hold its breath for an hour or more!

Soprano's notebook sheet for mammals. She chose to present the info like a newspaper.

History: We read about King James and how he wasn't as sympathetic to the Puritans and Separatists as they were hoping which prompted the Great Migration to North America. For all his faults though he did give us the King James Bible which has been used for hundreds of years. We also read about the Gunpowder Plot and had a campfire while reading the Guy Fawkes poem, "Remember, remember the fifth of November...". 

The first permanent settlement was Jamestown which we studied this week. We learned all about Powhatan, Pocahontas, John Smith, and the other settlers. Not quite the story Disney portrayed in its movie. We made wigwams like the Powhatan Indians lived in. I find some connection with the story because I'm related to Pocahontas (way, way back through marriage) on my mother's side. Cool, eh? After touching on Jamestown, we learned about Samuel de Champlain.

Tenor cut his door flap so it could lift and close.

The following week was a brief look at Henry Hudson and his discoveries. It's fascinating that they aren't really sure what happened to him. I wonder if he was taken in by an Indian tribe somewhere in Canada or if he really perished in the boat that he got sent out in by his mutinous crew. Hmm... the original "As the World Turns" drama?

Then it was all about the Pilgrims. Most of this history I was familiar with but it was neat to get a more in-depth look at Miles Standish. We skipped playing the Indian games as scheduled because the younglings had the opportunity to attend a program through our local environmental center called "Native American Games" a few weeks ago. The games they played there were very similar to the ones in the teacher manual.

We also went to a Native American festival this summer. It wasn't quite what we were expecting but we got to see tribal dancing, lots of handcrafts, and Tenor even got to shoot a blow dart.

I added in some map work from the SOTW activity book (Britain and Jamestown, Champlain's Exploration, and New Colonies in the New World). I also added two timeline pieces from Homeschool in the Woods (Champlain and Hudson).

Other MFW: 

Music: We listened to several selections by Franz Schubert and learned our second hymn, "Leaning on the Everlasting Arms." I taught Tenor the tenor counterpoint for the chorus. It was so sweet! Shh... don't tell him I said that.

Art: We (and by we, I mean the younglings) each painted a still life. Tenor chose a flower model he made for a summer botany project. Soprano chose her favorite stuffed horse. We also were introduced to Peter Paul Rubens.

Extras:

Web:

You can see them all in my Youtube playlist for weeks 1-14.
Other videos we watched:

Drive Thru History: Jamestown

Mammal videos from Answers in Genesis

including: mountain lion, porcupine, bats, elephant, giraffe, Maddy the Lemur, Prickles the Porcupine, baboon, and gibbons

Virtual Field Trip at Plimouth Plantation (There's one in the youtube playlist but two different videos on their website).

They also played a web game about Captain John Smith.

We didn't get to it but there's free curriculum available to go along with the movie Dolphin Tale.

Videos:

Animated Hero Classics: Pocahontas by Nest Entertainment

Pocahontas by Disney

Explorers of the World: French Explorers by Schlessinger Media
American History for Children: Early Settlers by Schlessinger Media

The Mayflower by Learn Our History 

Desperate Crossing: The Untold Story of the Mayflower by The History Channel

Explorers of the World: Henry Hudson by Schlessinger Media
Dolphin Tale by Warner Bros. Entertainment

Ocean Adventures: Whales, Waves, and Ocean Wonders by Zonderkidz (ColdWater Media)

Favorite Books: 

Animal Faces by Akira Satoh
Brueghel's the Fair by Ruth Craft

James Towne: Struggle for Survival by Marcia Sewall

Jamestown: New World Adventure by James Knight

You Wouldn't Want to Be an American Colonist by Jacqueline Morley

On the Mayflower: Voyage of the Ship's Apprentice and a Passenger Girl by Kate Waters
P is for Pilgrim by Carol Crane
Samuel Eaton's Day by Kate Waters
Sarah Morton's Day by Kate Waters
Squanto's Journey by Joseph Bruchac
The Thanksgiving Story by Alice Dalgliesh
Who's That Stepping on Plymouth Rock? by Jean Fritz

Make a Card Monday - Copic Coloring Class

I've been stocking up on alcohol markers but have been too scared to put them to use. Fortunately a solution came to light. Copic Coloring Class!
I had a little mommy sabbatical in July when I got to house sit for my folks. A craft store that's close to their house had a class slated for the week I was there. The instructor let us use her Copic markers to get the general idea of how they worked. We colored in a variety of stamped images to try some different techniques.
This past month they had a second class where we got to put those techniques to use on a few cards. Here are my results:

Card 1 - outside

Card 1 - inside

Card 2

Card 3 with blank space for future sentiment

Details:
I don't have all the details because the cards were pre-designed and pre-cut for the class.
I'll give you what I know though.
Card 1:
stamps: girl image (Magnolia) sentiment (unknown)
markers: Spectrum Noir (FS2, FS3, FS6, PP1, TN2, TN7, TN8) and Copic (YR14, BG45, BG49)
ink: Memoir
tool: Nestabilities label die
cardstock, patterned paper, pearl embellishments, twine (unknown)
We used a white gel pen to add the polka dots on the dress after it dried. I also used YR14 and BG45 to color the flowers and then added little pearls.

Card 2:
stamp: lily image (unknown)
markers: Spectrum Noir (BP6, PP5, PP3, PP1, CG1, CG2, DG3) and Copic (B0000, 0)
ink: Memoir black
tool: Nestabilities circle die
cardstock, ribbon, patterned paper (unknown)
We used the white gel pen again to go over the flower stamens after the markers were dry.

Card 3:
stamp: fox image (unknown)
markers: Spectrum Noir (CG1, CG2, DG4, BG4, BG6) and Copic (B0000, 0, YR14, YR18)
tool: embossing folder (unknown)
cardstock (unknown)