It's A Wrap! First Term Complete!

Our final week of the term has finished and we are all buttoned up for a few weeks off before heading into our second term adventure.

Can I just say one time how *fast* this term went by? I am not exaggerating when I say that it really seems like we just started school until I look into our notebooks and binders and see how much we have accomplished.

This past week has been our exam week, Charlotte Mason style.

Here are some of the highlights of our week.


Mr. B's Cezanne project using markers.


Mr. A's Cezanne project using markers and colored pencils.




Short book review for King Solomon's Mines written by my 14 year old:
An action packed thriller, King Solomon's Mines is the original adventure story. Set in the mid-nineteenth century, the book tells the story of Allan Quartermain, an elephant and lion hunter. He sets out in the Sahara to try to find the mythical mines of King Solomon. Along the way he and his companions must deal with a forgotten tribe of Africans and the treacherous terrain.


We watched the movie version of Les Miserables....what a disappointing experience. We all were looking forward to seeing the story come alive on the screen. This just didn't happen in this case.

Liam Neeson was tolerable as Jean Valjean but the movie did NOT stick closely to the book at all. The boys and I felt as if they missed the huge turning points from the book. Why did Jean Valjean do what he did? Why did Javert act the way he did? The Thernardiers were played way down in the movie which changed the tone of Cosette's story. You know how it is when they take a huge classic and try to do a film....sigh. In case you want to give this movie a try, please be warned that it really is PG-13 for language, brief nudity, adult themes, and perhaps even for a little violence. I would say high school age and above.


This comic made me laugh. Mr. B was asked to draw a comic strip featuring Gregor Mendel and his pea experiments. This is the one that made me laugh.

It says:
Why Gregor Mendel Left the Monastery
"Now we have to deal with the "Mendel" issue."
"What's the problem?"

"He won't shut up!"
"Yes! Smooth again! Woohoo!"
(That is a little biology humor.)

There were displays for Australia and Canada.

We listened to their music focus pieces and had a vocabulary quiz time after dinner one night. They recited their scriptures and poetry. They both read in Spanish for us. Finally, they demonstrated their robots.

It was a fun week. I am busy planning the rest of the year and hopefully we will enjoy all of our adventures as much as we have the first term.

I had to narrow our literature selections a bit...here are the final formal literature selections for the rest of the year.




I made a few changes from our original plans because I do not want to overload us with great literature and miss out on savoring it slowly. This is a very workable plan that we all agreed would fit our interests and reading levels.

I know. Two Shakespeare selections! We only have so much time left in their high school years to fit in all we want to cover together. I have found both plays done as audio books on Naxos.com, so we will read but also listen to the professionals do it justice. (Hamlet and MacBeth)

The books all lined up on the shelf are a huge temptation for my 14 year old. He is itching to get at the Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. I directed him to his free reading selections and he pulled down Cry the Beloved Country. No twaddle for him these days! He is also enjoying a biography of Jules Verne from the library. He has become very interested in biographies lately and I am so glad that our little public library has quite a few decent ones for him to choose from.

I have a number of posts brewing in my head as well as a few started in their first draft. I am also busy putting together some exciting new art and music plans that I will share here on this blog early next week. I have good intentions every day to write, but my family keeps tempting me away from the computer with long walks and family time. I will savor it while it lasts.

Barb-Harmony Art Mom

Sketch Tuesday: Big City

Sharp as a tack was the title of this week's sketch challenge. I am really proud of all the creativity this week. Even though there are just a few sketches, I think you will enjoy the slideshow.

Here is your slideshow: Sharp as a Tack!

This week's assignment, due Monday, January 4th: Sketch Something You Find In A Big City.

Everyone is welcome to sketch. Send in your sketches to sketchtuesday@yahoo.com by Monday, January 4th and they will be included in Tuesday's slideshow.

Have a great week!
Barb-Harmony Art Mom

He Has Done It Again

I have practically worn out my first David Fray CD with his uplifting Bach music. You may remember I shared his YouTube video with you previously. If you haven't watched it yet, you are missing a treat.

I think he has done it again with his new Schubert CD.

Here is the latest YouTube video.

Pop over to Amazon.com and check out some more samples.


So many of you have asked me to share my music list and I have sat down to write it out quite a few times, but I end up getting so sidetracked listening to my favorite stuff that I never finish. One of these days I will get the list published on Amazon.com and share it with you all.

You can take a look at Harmony Fine Arts materials pages in each grade and find a lot of my favorite music. In the meantime, make sure to check out the David Fray CD....it has blown me away with its beauty.

Barb-Harmony Art Mom

Here is the previous David Fray CD that I talked about.

Sketch Tuesday: Sharp as a Tack

Great sketches this week of something that smells good! Thank you to everyone who participated....I love to see what everyone comes up with for their sketches. All are unique. :)



There are just a few sketches but I appreciate every single one...

Here is your slideshow:
Something Smells Good!

This week's assignment, due Monday, December 28th: Sketch Something Sharp.
(Please keep it rated G and I will not post anything with blood or violence.)

Everyone is welcome to sketch. Send in your sketches to sketchtuesday@yahoo.com by Monday, December 28th and they will be included in Tuesday's slideshow.

Enjoy your week!
Barb-Harmony Art Mom

High School Transcript Thoughts

Hut in Snow-Caspar David Friedrich, 1827

Here is a questions I received recently in a comment:

I was wondering what would your transcript look like for 10th grade? I am currently using a curriculum that is driving to the brink ...??? I have modified our subjects at times to make them more like CM. I seem to have a hard time translating what we do onto a hs transcript. Am I thinking about it too hard? Do you have a guideline? A Sample you could share. I know ours would be different because of our goals - but any comments may help.
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Here is a glimpse into how I translated our 10th grade onto our high school transcript.

First of all, I used the guidelines from Tapestry of Grace to come up with course titles and credit ideas. (Follow the TOG link to see more on their advice for transcripts.) I try to keep things simple and by combining things we do into one course, you get the basic idea of what we are covering in a year. I use hours to come up with credits.

Classic Literature of the Western World 1 credit
World History: Fall of Rome to 1800 -1 credit
Marine Biology - 1 credit
Geometry - 1 credit
Spanish 2 - 1 credit
Band -1/2 credit
History of Fine Arts-Western World 2 -1/2 credit
PE -1/2 credit
Robotics - 1/2 credit

I also include on a separate sheet all of the extras that the boys participate in aside from their formal courses. This is more of a narrative style discussion of what is not reflected in the list of credited courses.

I try not to think about transcripts too much, but I do keep records of all we do in Homeschool Tracker. This gives me a way to remember all that we have accomplished and then put it into a transcript that makes sense for our family.

Hope that helps.
Barb-Harmony Art Mom

Good Start on Our Winter Break List

We had a fantastic time making our chocolate dipped pretzels.


This led to chocolate dipped marshmallows.

These goodies are going into our family recipe book to make for treats in the future.

Easy recipe for chocolate dipped pretzels:
12 oz chocolate chips (we used semi-sweet)
2 tablespoons butter
Bag of pretzel rods

Melt the chocolate and the butter in the microwave and then dip. We had an easier time putting the chocolate on a rubber spatula and then rolling the pretzels in the chocolate on the spatula. We put ours onto foil to get solid and then I stored them in an air tight container.



The other fun activity we did this past week was to go to an indoor trampoline place with a group of friends. I did not even know such a place existed but it does and it was packed with jumpers and observers. (In the photo above, Amanda is facing us in the teal and my youngest son has his back to us in the shorts.)


All of my children had a blast bouncing and jumping and laughing for a solid hour before they declared it was enough! (In this one Amanda has the purple shirt and my middle son is in the shorts.)

We will definitely be going back to this place soon.

Fun stuff!

Perfect for Our Geography and Cultures Study!

Check out the video HERE.

We will be looking forward to this movie....it will be perfect for our World Geography and Cultures study.

Featuring four babies from the United States, Mongolia, Japan, and Namibia.

Fascinating stuff.

Barb
HT to Sara at Walk Slowly, Live Wildly

Middle of the Night

Many nights I wake up at 3 AM and worry. I worry about a variety of things but near the top of the list every time is my inner dialogue about how I can fit everything in during these last few years of high school and the worry that I am not doing a good job.

The dialogue goes something like this:

ME: You are going to leave something out of their education that is vitally important.

me: There are always going to be holes so do your best and it will all work out.

ME: You haven't made them a. work hard enough b. work to a deadline c. stick to a schedule.

me: Look at all you have accomplished lately. They are beginning to be really self-motivated.

ME: You should have kept to a more traditional course of study.

me: But that is why we chose to homeschool these boys, so we could have a little freedom to do things our own way.

ME: They are not involved in any outside classes. When do they get to socialize with their friends?

me: (this one is really tough to argue) They are friends with each other and when the opportunities do arise for association outside the family, they enjoy it thoroughly.

You get the idea. I spend time mentally chasing myself around and around.

Why do I do this? During the daylight hours I feel confident and sure of myself. In the dark, middle of the night hours I feel a panic over the whole homeschooling through high school decision.

My youngest has two years left. My oldest has one year left. Gulp.

What helps calm me, besides lots of fervent prayers, is to be proactive.

• Keep our goals in mind.
  
• Be flexible with shifts in goals and remember that all paths will eventually lead us to the end of the high school course.
  
• Keep my expectations high and our options open.
  
• Allow time for the boys to stretch and grow.
  
• Be vigilant to watching the boys for increased interest or waning interest in topics and hobbies.
  
• Build enthusiasm for our subjects by finding something to be interested in and allowing the boys to create a fondness for some aspect of each subject.
  
• Talk as a family about how our course choices are going for each boy and get other family members involved if possible.

I have printed out our long term goals and put them right inside the front cover of my planning binder. This keeps them in mind when I come across some project or activity that I want to include in our school day. I can easily check our goals to see if this particular project or activity fulfills some part of our goal.

I know that we have graduated one son already from high school and he has not found anything that has held him back because of being homeschooled through high school. He is getting ready to graduate from college and you would think that would give me an additional boost in confidence. Also, my 11th grader just recently passed with flying colors the California High School Proficiency Exam. All of these things should boost my sense of staying the course.

Perhaps I am just a worrier by nature and I wish I had some sort of safety net to assure me that I was doing everything I should be doing. It takes a lot of courage to homeschool through high school.

10 Do not be afraid, for I am with you. Do not gaze about, for I am your God. I will fortify you. I will really help you. I will really keep fast hold of you with my right hand of righteousness.’ 13 For I, Jehovah your God, am grasping your right hand, the One saying to you, ‘Do not be afraid. I myself will help you.’ Isaiah 41:10, 13

Barb-Harmony Art Mom

Sketch Tuesday: Something Smells Good

Last week's assignment was to draw a tree out your window. I wanted to thank everyone that sent in sketches this week since I know many of you are already on your winter break or you are really busy with other activities. I appreciate your time.

Here is the slideshow: Out Your Window-Trees

This week's assignment, due Monday, December 21st:
Sketch Something That Smells Good

Everyone is welcome to sketch. Send in your sketches to sketchtuesday@yahoo.com by Monday, December 21st and they will be included in Tuesday's slideshow.

Have a great week!
Barb-Harmony Art Mom

December Edition of the Hands-On Homeschool Carnival

This is my first time hosting the Hands-On Homeschool Blog Carnival. I love when our family can add in some sort of activity to our learning day that makes it more meaningful and interesting. The blog entries in this edition of the carnival are all great ideas that you can implement in your own homeschool so be inspired!



Photo from Brenda's Blog
Leonardo's Inventions: Brenda from The Tie That Binds Us shares this fantastic entry showing how their family enjoyed a book that I actually have on my shelf as well. This very hands-on project based book ties science and history together. Check out her entry to learn how they made some webbed gloves and their very own plastic!


Photo from Tristan's blog.
Home-Dyed Play Silks: Tristan from Our Busy Homeschool gives us the steps to dye our very own play silks with a surprising product! You may even have it in your pantry at this very moment. Hmmmmm....too bad my boys are too old to really appreciate a set of truly beautiful play silks.


Photo from Amy's blog.
Ukrainian Feast and Games: Amy at Eclectic Homeschooling writes about their family's hands-on study of the country of Ukraine. This country has a soft spot in my heart ever since I was able to visit there years ago and Amy has passed on a love of the country to her children as well. Check out her entry for some wonderful food ideas, costumes ideas, and games.


Photo from Amy's blog.
Peppermint Patties and Adam and Eve: Amy also shares at Eclectic Homeschooling a delicious lesson from their ancient history study. How did she know that Peppermint Patties are my absolute favorite candy?


Photo from Melissa's blog.
Keeping a Nature Calendar: Melissa shares how their family is going to be keeping track of the things they find to observe and learn about from their nature walks. Pop over to In The Sparrow's Nest to read her entry to the carnival. I love this idea!


Photo from Ritsumei's blog.
School Food: Ritsumei from Baby Steps was also learning with food this time around. She shares how they use various aspects of preparing food as part of their learning this time around.


Photo from Cindy's blog.
Decoupaged Notebooks: Cindy sent in this entry from her blog Our Journey Westward showing a really easy but elegant project that turns a notebook into a piece of art. I am thinking my kids need to make these for their Bible notebooks this term. Thanks for the wonderful and easy idea!

Are You Reading to Your Children? Autumn writes a thoughtful entry on her blog Homeschooling in Kerrville reminding us of the importance of reading aloud to our children. Let's all make reading to our children a priority or if we already have a regular reading aloud time in place....remind yourself of the reasons why you need to keep up this very good habit!


Photo from Amy's blog
Making a Coracle: One more entry from Amy at Eclectic Homeschooling sharing their hands-on project from their ancient history study. What is a coracle? You will need to click over and find out!


Photo from Angie's blog.
Fun Fridays: A Day For Fun!: Angie has a whole list of fun and engaging projects for her boys to choose from for their Friday Fun Days. Click over to her blog at The One Thing to be inspired to include some fun in your week.


Photo from Jimmie's blog.
Living Math with Angles: Jimmie has been working hard this year to make math a hands-on learning project. Her entry this time around from her blog Jimmie's Collage is all about angles. This looks like a great learning experience and a lot of fun as well.


Photo from Richele's blog.
Handwriting and Brush Painting: Richele from Barefoot Voyage shares this wonderful entry showing how her family is transforming handwriting practice into a form of artwork using Japanese Magic Paper and making their own inks.


Photo from Casey's blog.
Pecan Tree Nature Study: Casey at Bumpin' Along the Road Less Traveled shares an entry dear to my heart and is my favorite sort of hands on learning. Nature study done with the whole family right in their very own backyard. This is a great example of how much fun simple nature study can be. You must click over to see all their adorable and fun photos from their day. Thanks Casey for being such a faithful follower of the Outdoor Hour Challenges.


Photo from Angie's blog.
Handicraft/Life Skills Spotlight and Challenge: Angie has come up with a great idea to spotlight a skill each week on her blog. The post she shares for the carnival on her blog The One Thing outlines how it will work along with a lot of great ideas to get us started with some hands on projects.

That is it for this edition of the Hands-On Homeschool Blog Carnival. I am sending a great big thank you to all of the participants and I hope you are as inspired by reading each other's blog entries as I have been this week.

If you would like to submit an entry for the next carnival on January 11, 2010 posting over at Mountaineer Country, here is the link:
Hands-On Homeschool Blog Carnival

Hope you enjoyed the carnival!
Barb-Harmony Art Mom

Term Exam Grade 11 (Charlotte Mason Style)

School for the final week of this term is going to be filled up with Charlotte Mason style term exams. These are not the sort of term exams that put fear into the hearts of my children, but rather the kind of exams that they actually look forward to. It is an odd concept for many who have never tried this sort of exercise, but if you plan the exam right your children will look at them as the means to share what they have learned and wrap up their projects for the end of the term.

I am very grateful to have found this method of examination for my boys for two reasons. I get a glimpse into what they really know and it gives them a chance to shine. They know the exams are coming and pretty much what will be expected of them so there are no big surprises when they receive the official assignments.

I always enjoy reading other family's Charlotte Mason style exam questions so in the spirit of sharing.....here is one of our exams. (lindafay actually inspired our first Charlotte Mason style exam years ago....thanks lindafay.)


Oh, before the exam you need to read my little disclaimer.
Please remember that my boys are in high school, they have always homeschooled, they have had lots of practice with this sort of exam, and we have been using Charlotte Mason's ideas in our homeschooling for about four years. You should not try to compare the nuts and bolts of what we are doing to your family because your family has a different focus and a completely different set of goals.

Just thought of another note: We do actually complete "normal" type testing during the term for the following subjects: algebra 2, vocabulary, physics, Spanish, and auto shop. These are the tests that come with the particular curriculum we use so the term exam is in addition to those as-we-go-along tests.

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Now here is my 11th grader's term exam.

Algebra 2: Complete assigned lessons and turn in your notebook. In addition, share with your Dad how you arrive at the quadratic equation.


All paintings in this blog post are Paul Cezanne's work and found on Wikimedia Commons.

Art and Music: Complete your Cezanne project and display it on black cardstock. Complete your Brahms notebook page and share your focus piece with the family. Finish any Pen and Ink assignments and then choose one for me to make into a notecard to send to your grandparents.

Bible: Recite this terms scriptures from memory (all six of them). Turn in your commonplace book for my review.

Geography: Turn in your notebook for my review. Fill in your maps of Europe, Asia, and the Middle East with as many countries as you can. Fill in as many European capitals as you can on the map. In addition, choose one country you have studied this term and make a display of your work including: map, notebook pages, sketches and art work, food item or the recipe, current event, animal or geology notebook page. It is optional to dress up in a costume for the unit celebration.

Literature: Wrap up and turn in your Les Miserables commonplace book and watch the movie with the family. In addition, choose one of your free reading books and write a one page review as if you were writing it for Amazon.com.

English: Recite the six poems we have memorized this term. Choose ten words from your vocabulary lessons to stump the family with at our Unit Celebration. Polish and add illustrations to your last writing assignment (research report). Email the finished piece to everyone in the family so we can read it and make comments.

PE: Take your President's Physical Fitness exams and record your results. Make new goals for next term.

Physics: Turn in your notebook and lab work. Make sure your commonplace book is up to date for your additional reading assignments in Physics of Nascar and Physics for Future Presidents. Also, pick a topic or a physics concept from this term and make up a science experiment and worksheet for a middle school student to complete. For example: Use Legos to demonstrate one of Newton's Laws of Motion.

Spanish: Write six complete sentences in Spanish using vocabulary from the term's lessons and then read these sentences out loud in your very best Spanish accent for the family.

Auto Shop: Organize your notebook and lab sheets to turn in for review. Tell me four things you found valuable from the term's lessons and labs.

Robotics: Complete and demonstrate the Push Bot project.

Fun Stuff for Our Winter Break or Love Having a List!

Poor Woman of the Village by Courbet.
From Wikimedia Commons.

Last year we made a list of all the things we wanted to do over our Winter Break and it really was a lot of fun squeezing everything in. It kept us in mind of projects, recipes, and activities that make our time off special.

I thought you might like to see our list for this time around.
Update 12/23/09 and again 12/31/09.

1. Make chocolate dipped pretzels. Done!
2. Play board games every Wednesday night. (We played Life and Uno Attack this week already.) (More Uno Attack and Sequence this week.) (Dominoes, Scattergories, and more Uno Attack) Done!
3. Snowboarding with the boys. Purchased their passes.
4. Homemade pizza night with friends or maybe we will go out. Done!
5. Put together a puzzle as a family. Done!
6. Organize photos for scrapbooking: Fall 09, Palm Springs 09 trip, Hawaii 09 trip. Done!
7. Find a shelf for the newly remodeled bathroom and hang one of the photos I had enlarged. (This means a trip to IKEA.) Done!
8. Visit Aunt Liz-eight hours of driving. Postponed....sigh.
9. Take all the bags of decluttered items to the Hospice Thrift Shop for our donation. Done!
10. Finish planning our new garden boxes and organize what we will grow next summer. WIP
11. Plan and start painting the tiles for the kitchen backsplash. (Everyone is going to help with this project.) This project did not even get started...not sure what the hang-up is.
12. Help Amanda with her winter kit projects and finish up the Winter Series of the Outdoor Hour Challenges. Almost Done...Done now!
13. Have our Unit Celebration for this term. (I will post on that after we have it next week.)Done!

I will keep you updated on our progress.

Barb-Harmony Art Mom

"Life Should Be Full of Living"

"When I say that life should be full of living, I mean that we should be in touch and able to relate with some genuine interest no matter where we are, what we hear, or what we see. This kind of interest isn't something we give to children. In fact, we'd prefer that children never say that they've learned botany or chemistry or conchology or geology or astronomy, or whatever. The question isn't how much a student knows after he's completed his education, but how much he cares, and how many categories of things he cares about."
Charlotte Mason, volume 3, pg 171

Our study of world geography has evolved over the last sixteen weeks. We no longer are content to study maps and dry facts. Realizing that in the past we learned all our geography in relation to our history study, much of which included a thorough knowledge of some places that no longer exist or are considerably different in the century we find ourselves in now, we have tried to adapt our study to include a more thorough knowledge of modern geography, people, and environments.

I think the above quote by Charlotte Mason sums up what we are finding in our geography study. The more we dig into our areas of interest, the more we really *care* about the country. Two things have captured the interest of us all and one of them will probably be of no great surprise to those that read my blog with any frequency. :)


Current events: Both of my teens love to find current events to share from the country of the week. They use online research to find an article to read. They then write about it or print the article out for their notebook. Sharing these articles on Fridays during our meeting together is always interesting and lively. Many times the article brings up questions where we need to do more research in order to understand the background of the issue. This digging around for more facts brings us closer to understanding far away peoples and cultures. (Cuba notebook page is from History Scribe-Geo Scribe: Nations of the World.)
If you purchase these at CurrClick.com right now, they are at a major discount!


Nature Study topics: We choose at the beginning of the week an area for each of them to research as it pertains to animals, plants, or the geology of the country. (Gems nature notebook page is from the Trail Guide World Geography Student Notebook.)

Here are some samples of the notebook pages from our study of Canada.

This was a lot of fun to read and very interesting. Because our time is limited for geography study each week, we really have to watch how much time we spend following rabbit trails.


Researching the information takes some skill and effort. I love the way they only record information that interests them. I can feel their enthusiasm for the subject at our meetings on Fridays and like Charlotte Mason said in the above quote, "...the question isn't how much the student knows.....but how much he cares....".
(The notebook page is one that was offered during the Outdoor Hour Challenge series on mammals last winter.)

We still are completing a fairly traditional high school geography course but taking the geography study to a higher level of personal interest has changed the whole look and feel of our week.

Barb-Harmony Art Mom

Sketch Tuesday: View from Your Window

This week's entry has been delayed because of a huge snowstorm and a power outage. I just had my power turned back on and have had a chance to gather all the sketches for the week.

Here is what my back deck looked like yesterday.

We are now warm and cozy inside with schoolwork open on the table. We took a big snow day yesterday and enjoyed lots of games and good hot food.

Here is our back deck this morning in the sunshine.


Now for the slideshow: Coral Reef

Next week's assignment, due Monday, December 14th: Sketch a tree you can see from your window.

As always, everyone is welcome to sketch and if you send in your sketches by Monday, December 14th, I will include them in Tuesday's slideshow. Please send your sketches to: sketchtuesday@yahoo.com.

Have a great week!
Barb-Harmony Art Mom

Cookie Baking: Gingersnaps in the Cookie Jar

Now that my daughter has moved out on her own, my number one cookie baker is not around to keep us stocked in home baked goods. I have had to dust off my cookie baking skills and get busy!

Seriously, I am enjoying the cookie making activity. My youngest son has been my accomplice more than once lately and he may eventually take over some of the baking. Sometimes I forget that boys like to do stuff in the kitchen just as much as girls do, so I am working harder on including my teens as I work in the kitchen.

When my daughter did the baking in the house, she had her favorite recipes and stuck to those. Gingersnaps were not on her list, but I love a really fresh homemade gingersnap. This recipe came from the Fannie Farmer Cookbook.


____________________________________________________________
Gingersnaps

A thin, crisp, spicy, crinkly topped gingersnap, easily made by hand or in the food processor.

¾ cup vegetable shortening
1 cup sugar, plus extra to roll the cookies in
1 egg
¼ cup molasses
2 cups flour
2 teaspoons baking soda
½ teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon powdered ginger
1 teaspoon cinnamon

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F and grease some cookie sheets.
Beat together the shortening and 1 cup of the sugar. Add the egg, and beat until light and fluffy, then add the molasses. Stir and toss together the flour, baking soda, salt, ginger, and cinnamon, and add to the first mixture, beating until smooth and blended.

Gather up bits of the dough and roll them between the palms of your hands into 1 inch balls, then roll each ball in sugar. Place about 2 inches apart on the prepared cookie sheets and bake for 10 to 12 minutes, until the cookies have spread and the tops have cracked. Remove from the sheets and cool on a rack.

___________________________________________________________



These cookies are very easy to make so it takes me less than an hour to cook a whole batch (about 3 dozen cookies). I roll the balls for the next tray as the previous ones are in the oven, keeping ahead of the timer.


Coming out of the oven they fill the whole house with a spicy aroma.

I love my Pampered Chef baking stone and is the perfect way to get a terrific gingersnap.

Barb-Harmony Art Mom

Sketch Tuesday: November Slideshow and New Assignment

The month of November proved to be just as busy as I expected and it was a nice change to have all the assignments planned out ahead of time.

I really did miss the weekly slideshows so we will go back to the regular format for the month of December.

The assignments that are included in this week's slideshow are:
Sketch a famous landmark.
Sketch a sunset.
Sketch something with ears.
Sketch a pie or something you make into a pie.

November Slideshow

Your next assignment, due Monday, December 7th:
Sketch something you would find in a coral reef.
(I just got back from snorkeling in Hawaii and I am inspired to draw something colorful that I saw on my adventures.)

All sketchers are welcome, moms and dads too! You can send in your sketches for the slideshow by Monday, December 7th and I will include them on Tuesday morning. Please send your sketches to: sketchtuesday@yahoo.com.

Have fun!
Barb-Harmony Art Mom