Last week's assignment was to sketch something that floats. When I was making the assignment, I was thinking about floating in water but many of you interpreted the assignment as floating in air....love it! This is one of the best parts about Sketch Tuesday! You all complete the assignment in a way that makes sense to you and therefore we have a lot of special artwork to share. (I also love the variety of pirate and viking ships that were submitted...made me smile.)
Next week's assignment, due Monday, October 3rd 2010: Sketch something that starts with the letter R.
Make your sketches and send them in by Monday, October 3rd and I will include it in the slideshow on Tuesday morning. (The earlier in the week, the better.) All sketchers are welcome and there is no need to sign up. Participate as much as possible and make sketching a weekly habit. Send in your sketches in jpg format and mail them to: sketchtuesday@yahoo.com. Complete instructions are found by clicking the Sketch Tuesday tab at the top of my blog.
I have been so overwhelmed with the positive response to my new Autumn 2010 ebooks that I wanted to give a little back to the homeschooling community. I tried to think of something exciting to offer and my boys suggested the Color Your Own Degas Paintings coloring book from Dover Publishing.
We have used Dover coloring books for many, many years and they have been a great way to enhance our artist study. My boys enjoy using thin markers or colored pencils to complete a page or two for each of their artists they study. So I will be giving away a copy of the Degas coloring book and a set of the Crayola markers linked below (click over to the blog entry to see the links if you read in a reader).
If you would like to be a part of this giveaway, leave a comment on this blog entry. Make sure I have a way to contact you if you win the coloring book. The deadline for entering in the giveaway will be next Sunday, October 3rd. I will announce the winner on Monday October 4th.
Here are links to the markers and the colored pencils (click over to blog to view them if you read my entries in a reader) that my boys love the best for using in coloring books. (I buy the more expensive markers and they still pull this set out when they are working on an assignment....go figure.)
FYI: I am also holding a giveaway on myHandbook of Nature Study blog for a copy of the DVD, Your Backyard and the book Backyard Birds. Please click over to see how you can enter that giveaway too!
If you would like to read more about how we include these coloring books in our homeschooling, check out this Squidoo Lens: Dover Coloring Books.
Somehow the month has slipped through my fingers without writing my weekly wrap-up posts. But I did write one Friday about our 11th grade plans and then next Friday was about our Friday discussions so I wasn't slacking off but just writing about other pertinent things.
We have been moving right along through our studies and with finishing week five we have hit our stride. We know what books we are reading, the schedule seems familiar, and we can sneak in some fun activities without disrupting our work too much.
Some highlights of the week include our work with The Joy of Chemistry. This little book is packed with awesome demonstrations that you complete *before* reading about the new concept for the lesson. All of us are really gleaning new insight by working this way through the book.
I created a notebook page where the boys can record what we did in the demonstration and then write notes from the chapter at the bottom that explain what we experienced in the demonstration.
This year I am juggling both ends of the timeline as far as history study goes. One son is working through ancient history and the other is studying 20th century history.
Ancient history this week included reading about the flood and comparing it in our literature study of Gilgamesh. I assigned a writing piece to compare and contrast the two accounts after we read about and discussed this together.
We found ourselves reading about and discussing World War 1 this week as part my son's history plans. Feeling thankful that we covered this period of time in middle school, we could move on to deeper aspects of this perplexing period of time.
If you have never read Whatever Happened to Penny Candy?....I would highly recommend it to you as a way to make sense of our economic conditions today. It is perfect for high school study and I am so glad we did not read it before now.
We are still plugging away with The Grapes of Wrath....enjoying the language and imagery of the book as we go along. We talked about so many character qualities this week.....the waitress in the roadside diner, the one-eyed man at the junk yard, the preacher, Ivy Wilson. The scene where they pick a scripture to bury with Grampa Joad is priceless. We talked about the humanity of losing your home and the making of choices where to go and what to take with you. This is great stuff.
Now for some fun projects.
I have a bulletin board where I hang artwork for a period of time before it gets filed away in portfolios. It is always a good sign when the board gets full! You can see a couple of Ancient Egypt projects and one Matisse project done with oil pastels. Mr. A is not afraid of bold color so Matisse has been a favorite of his this time around. The Egyptian projects have let Mr. B use the metallic gold Prismacolor marker a lot....perfect thing for making things look shiny.
This week Mr. B is making cinnamon bread which includes using yeast and kneading dough. Every week all of us eagerly await this part of his schoolwork.
Last week he made ice cream cake! This is chocolate cake with mint chocolate chip ice cream and whipped cream on top. (We use mint ice cream that is not green.) Talk about yum!
Of course we had all of our other subjects in our week: math, Spanish, PE, astronomy, robotics, videography and so on but I will leave you with the highlights.
I have received several emails asking if the art and music plans in the Autumn 2010 ebook are related to the autumn nature study. The answer is no. These plans are a general study of Edgar Degas and Sergei Prokofiev and are not seasonally related at all. (The same thing is true for the Summer 2010 Art and Music plans except they feature the works of Vincent Van Gogh and George Handel.)
You can use these plans at any time of the year and they will be appropriate for all ages of children.
The plans were designed to be flexible and like all Harmony Fine Arts plans you are able to choose how your family will study the artist and composer. This ebook will help you complete picture study by providing images or links for online viewing and then if you want to take it a step further the plans outline a follow-up activity to enhance your artist study. Using these hands-on activities, your family can extend the study so it is meaningful and fits your style of learning. The notebook pages included with the ebook give children that enjoy that sort of activity a place to record their thoughts and experiences with both the artist and the composer.
The composer study plans include links to listen to Prokofiev's music online, suggestions for music to purchase if you would to listen to more music, and also a YouTube video that will enhance your study. All the suggested music YouTube videos are appropriate for all ages. There is also a link to a special animated version of Peter and the Wolf that you may wish to preview before sharing with young children....some scenes may be a little too intense for very little ones.
I give suggestions for a plan to study for both the artist and the composer. Your family could easily cover the material in this ebook in about four weeks but our family is going to stretch it out to six weeks by listening to all the suggested music, completing the accompanying notebook pages, viewing all the artwork, and finishing up with all of the follow-up art activities. If you wanted to further stretch the study out, there are coloring pages and links to view more artwork by Degas.
I hope that further explains how the Autumn 2010 Art and Music Appreciation plans in the ebook will help your family either get started with your own study of art and music or by gathering all the information you need into one place so you have more time for enjoying the subjects and not planning them. Would you like to read a review? Jimmie from Jimmie's Collage has posted a review for your reading pleasure. Click over to see what she has to say about the Autumn 2010 Art and Music Appreciation ebook: Jimmie's Review.
Autumn 2010 Art and Music Appreciation:
Edgar Degas and Sergei Prokofiev
The Autumn 2010 Art and Music Appreciation:
Featuring Edgar Degas and Sergei Prokofiev
Complete plans for including art and music appreciation using Edgar Degas' artwork and Sergei Prokofiev's music.
Suggested artwork with links to view the art online. There are large images included in the ebook as well for viewing.
Suggested follow-up activities for each painting studied. Materials list provided.
9 notebook pages, 4 coloring pages.
Suggested song selections with links to online listening and several follow-up activities for Prokofiev.
Autumn 2010 Art and Music Appreciation Plans Featuring Degas and Prokofiev:
Contains all plans, notebook pages, links for viewing artwork and listening to the suggested music, coloring pages, and follow-up activities.
28 Pages for $3.25 (You can now pay through Paypal without creating an account.)
Save and purchase both the Autumn Nature Study and the Autumn 2010 Art and Music Plans together for a special price of $10.95.
(You can now pay through Paypal without creating an account.)
Note: There might be a delay in you receiving the ebook in your inbox. I am emailing each book out myself and the delay can be up to 24 hours. I usually can send them a lot quicker than that. Also, I will be emailing the ebook to the email address on your Paypal.com account.
If you have any questions, please email me: harmonyfinearts@yahoo.com.
Last week's assignment was to sketch something with whiskers.....wasn't this a fun topic? I was surprised at all the creative ideas and this is a delightful slideshow. Thank you to all the moms who took the time to send in sketches. Welcome to all the new sketchers this week!
Next week's assignment, due Monday, September 27th: Sketch something that floats.
Make your sketches and send them in by Monday, September 27th and I will include it in the slideshow on Tuesday morning. All sketchers are welcome and there is no need to sign up. Participate as much as possible and make sketching a weekly habit. Send in your sketches in jpg format and mail them to: sketchtuesday@yahoo.com. Complete instructions are found by clicking the Sketch Tuesday tab at the top of my blog.
As we get rolling with the Autumn Art and Music Appreciation plans, we picked several Prokofiev pieces to listen to regularly. Of course that list includes listening to our favorite selections from Romeo and Juliet as well as Cinderella.
But our new favorite pieces are from Lieutenant Kinje
This is the piece we are listening to this week: Romance. This is the kind of music you find yourself humming the rest of the day.
Some readers have asked what we talk about in our Friday meetings. I will attempt to give you a better picture of what we do together to wrap up our week on Friday mornings. I prepare during the week by making notes of any topics that I want to be sure to include in our discussions. I do not read everything my sons read but sort of alternate between weeks what I read so I have a sense of what they are working on.
Here are some specifics using my 12th grader as the example. Just as background information, our meetings cover history, literature, writing, poetry, economics, and usually art/music appreciation. The rest of his subjects we touch base with daily: chemistry, math, and Bible. Our Friday meeting is taking us nearly one hour to complete. This year I meet with each of my sons separately.
Preparation During the Week He has his assignments listed in a chart so he knows what is expected for the week.
I am trying to pick one element a week to talk about for his literature. For instance, this week we are going over how to quote a poem in an essay. I gave him the page numbers in the editing book to read over and asked him to write two examples from his poetry reading. I looked over the information so I would be up to speed on Friday. For books that are covered in Tapestry of Grace, I read over the Teacher's Notes but many of the books we are reading this year are extra or substitutes for the books in TOG. For those books, I read either the books themselves or the Spark Notes information so I have an idea of what is going on in the readings.
This week, I did read the assigned pages in The Grapes of Wrath and A History of the Twentieth Century (about 30 pages each) so we could have one book that we share in depth for literature and history. I kept notes of anything that I wanted to make sure to hit when we met on Friday. I listed a few pages to read aloud in The Grapes of Wrath. I made brief notes from the history reading and looked up a YouTube video for The Tell Tale Heart (his short story this week). I also found a YouTube video showing the aftermath of the 1906 earthquake in San Francisco. Our Friday Meeting History As my son reads A History of the Twentieth Century, he takes notes of anything he finds interesting. He gives me a brief synopsis of what he wrote about and I add in anything that I highlighted for the discussion. This is also the time that he shares any history or government related current events he read about this week. Our time really turns into a conversation more than anything else...he talked about how when you condense history like this book does it seems as if there is one war leading to another war and spurts of inventions which actually end up spurring more war and more deadly weapons. He cites the invention of the Wright brothers' airplane (of course). We also talked about the 1906 earthquake and watched a YouTube slideshow showing the aftermath of the earthquake with actual photographs. He commented on the differences between the look of the people in the photos with those of people after hurricane Katrina. His conclusion? People were more apt to rely on themselves in 1906 to get back to "normal". I sat on my side of the table and reveled in the connections he makes between history and his "real world". This led us to the more local current event with the gas explosion in San Bruno.
Literature/Writing/Poetry: We continued working together on a character analysis for Tom Joad from The Grapes of Wrath. We listed examples of things he said and did that indicated what kind of person he was and how he related to others. I had my son give me a brief oral narration of The Tell-Tale Heart (short story). He likes Poe's style so this was easy for him. We watched the YouTube video with the introductory part of the story (featuring Vincent Price). We continued talking a little about Our Town and how a play is written differently than a novel. My son showed me his poetry quotes using proper punctuation. We talked about his on-going writing project to keep track of the theme of man's inhumanity to man from The Grapes of Wrath. He is making notes so he can pick three good examples in week 10 for a formal essay.
Economics: I use the learning guide for Whatever Happened to Penny Candy? to stimulate our discussion. We read together the additional selections in the guide. We try to relate the information to what we have experienced in our lives...I shared with my son how at my first job I made $2.90 an hour and that was a fair wage for the time. He could hardly believe it....we talked about inflation which was the subject of this week's reading. We continued our discussion of Economics in One Lesson, each sharing what we gleaned from the chapter.
Art/Music: He showed me his finished Matisse project and we talked a little about Prokofiev. We watched another segment of Peter and the Wolf on YouTube.
In general, I try to keep my comments to a minimum and to only ask enough questions to get to the heart of what the reading selections are about. I have been reading and rereading Marcia Somerville's article on Socratic discussions. This is something that I try to work towards with my boys when we have our meetings. I don't want it to be a question-answer time but a discussion which helps them come to their own conclusions, especially since they are teenagers who should be able to reason at a higher level.
We do have discussion during the week as well. These are more informal where they call me over to tell me something or to ask a question about what they are reading. Anymore, they hop up and use internet resources to answer questions before they ask me. Then I get to hear what they discover...love that part of being a homeschooling mom.
After the meeting I pull up Homeschool Tracker and mark off assignments as completed. It gives me a visual end to our week when I can see all that we have accomplished. If we did not get to a particular assignment during the week, I roll it over into the next week if I want to keep it on the schedule. Sometimes if we run out of time, I just eliminate a lesson if I don't see the need to cover the information. I use HST as a tool and not a master.
Please feel free to email me if you have any more questions about our meetings. It is hard to come back and remember exactly what we covered but I think you get the idea from what I posted.
This week Mr. A started taking his welding helmet to his metal fabrication class. He just keeps on stepping it up...the growing up thing I mean. Maybe I will just go sit in his room.
(I forgot to say that he got his driver's license two weeks ago.......sigh.)
Last week's assignment was to sketch something that has a battery. We were brainstorming ideas for this sketch and realized that there are lots of things in our house that use batteries. I love the variety in this week's slideshow and I hope you enjoy it as much as I enjoyed seeing all your hard work.
If you would like to read a wonderful testimonial about Sketch Tuesday and one family's list of benefits in participating, don't miss this entry: Advantages of Sketch Tuesday. Thanks Nadene.
This week's assignment, due Monday, September 20th, 2010: Sketch something with whiskers.
Make your sketches and send them in by Monday, September 20th and I will include it in the slideshow on Tuesday morning. All sketchers are welcome and there is no need to sign up. Participate as much as possible and make sketching a weekly habit. Send in your sketches in jpg format and mail them to: sketchtuesday@yahoo.com. Complete instructions are found by clicking the Sketch Tuesday tab at the top of my blog.
Just like I gave up on formal grammar and Latin study, I have now given up on formal poetry memorization.
We still are memorizing poetry but not with the intensity that we did in the last year.
Each son has picked a poem to memorize by skimming through the Poetry Memorization book from IEW.
We copied it off and slipped into a sheet protector for their binders. They work on memorizing a little a day but as part of their literature study. Their schedules do allow for a little time each day on their own to memorize their chosen poems....I decided a little bit was better than nothing at all.
Each time I offer a grade to one of my children, I try to customize it a little to fit their skill level, interests, and personality. This time around with 11th grade it is no different. My youngest son is just turning 15 years old so he is a very young 11th grader. This adds a level of challenge as far as maturity in handling certain topics and issues. He is also my most sensitive child and this makes me think a little more before handing him some books that his older brothers handled with different life experiences. We are still contemplating a "gap year" either next year or the year after he officially graduates from high school.
With those background points in mind, here is what I have come up for his Junior year of high school.
History: Ancient history using Tapestry of Grace Year 1 Redesign. We are supplementing with Teaching Company's Ancient Civilizations Before Alexander the Great. He will be reading lots and lots of the Bible in a historical context using TOG. I had this plan put together for his older brother so I tweaked it just a little to be heavier on the biblical aspects since his main aim in learning ancient history is to connect secular and biblical events. I am hoping to learn some new things alongside him.
Literature:Tapestry of Grace Year 1 Redesign Ancient literature almost identical to what his brother completed but with more responses in writing. He will be using Teaching Company videos to study the Iliad. He has several free reading books on his list this year in addition to his more formal literature assignments. (more on his free reading in a future post).
Math: Saxon Algebra 2....finishing soon and then we don't know what we are going to be doing. He may possibly take a math course at the community college, or perhaps a Teaching Textbook course.
Astronomy: Already shared most of the plan for astronomy in this blog entry. We have since added Google Sky Map app to our phone and it has revolutionized our star gazing. We have learned more in the last week about the stars and planets in our universe than we ever did before. Amazing program.
Art and Music is a modified version of my Ancient Art ebook with an emphasis on the Artist Pursuits book this time around. He is also going to participate in Sketch Tuesday and continue his study of the violin.
Videography: He has started using Corel VideoStudio to make short videos. There is a lot to learn and it was hard to come up with a plan. In the end, he fiddled with it over the summer and came up with his own list of questions to investigate as part of the course and now he is just starting to take video, put it on the computer, and manipulate it into something interesting. We came up with a simple video project assignment for him to start with. This is so far out of my realm of knowledge that he is really self-teaching this course with a little back up from his oldest, very techno savvy, older brother. I am not sure how or if this course will be going on his transcript but I am keeping track of his time and his work on Homeschool Tracker. I may mold some sort of Robotics/Videography/Computer Tech sort of course to roll all his work into for official records. It is definitely a work in progress.
Baking with the Sonoma Kids Baking Cookbook. See this entry for more information. I am surprised at how well this is going with Mr. B. He is a natural in the kitchen and I love it!
So his schedule looks like this:
Mornings:
Ancient History/Bible: M-F
Literature/Writing: M,Tu,Th,F
Chemistry: M-Th
Algebra: Tu-Th
Art and Music Appreciation, including violin M-F
Afternoons:
Astronomy: M and F (formal) and evenings (informal)
Creative Writing: W (long period)
Videography: M and Tu
Robotics: F (long period)
Baking: W (as part of dinner prep)
Personal Bible Study: Th
It looks fairly complicated but really it has worked well so far. This is a child that likes to mix things up so having a core in the morning and then different subjects to investigate in the afternoon works great for him.
There you go....finally on paper and in one place. Hope it helps you in your planning for high school.
Notes on photos above:
Bike riding is part of their week and is considered fun and not part of the curriculum.
Both my high school age boys are a big part of the front yard remodeling. They had a great time using the sledge hammer and pry bar to remove the old ugly concrete sidewalk from our front yard. They are now helping to design and lay the new pavers as part of the remodel.
As we start up our poetry study this year, I want to keep a record of the different ways we study and enjoy our poetry. I titled this entry "Poetry Study for High School Boys" because I have found I approach poetry differently with my boys than I did with my daughter.
My daughter is very linguistic and could easily listen to and repeat poetry by heart. She was good at understanding the imagery and in writing in the style of each poet we studied.
My boys like mechanics. They like to dissect a poem, cut it up and turn it inside out. They like concrete words and images. We are taking a very different approach to appreciating poetry.
Each of the first three weeks of school have had a different flavor and focus. The poet we are reading for the first six weeks of school is Edna St. Vincent Millay and here is how each week has played out.
Week 1: This was our immersion week. I had my son read and devour as many of the poems by Edna St. Vincent Millay as he could handle in the allotted time. The only assignment was to pick one to read aloud at our Friday meeting and tell me if he noticed any metaphors or similes. We ended up talking at length about why he thinks poetry should rhyme. He equates rhyming with "good" poetry for some reason and this was a great insight into his thinking. We will explore rhyming some more during the year, culminating in more free form poets like E.E. Cummings. (I know he is not going to like it.)
Week 2: Using a list of questions we had for analyzing poetry, he picked one question and answered it about a Millay poem. Here is a link to a list that is similar to the one we used:
Week 3: After looking at last week's writing assignment, I realized we needed to cover how to quote poetry in a paragraph using slash marks and quotation marks. So, this week I gave him some information about how to quote poetry and he is quoting several lines from his chosen poem this week in paragraph form using the proper format.
As you can see, our poetry study is very loose and light....perfect for boys who although they enjoy poetry, don't want to dwell on it too much. We are going to tackle quite a few literary terms this year using this sort of method and I will try to remember to share as we go along. I will tag the blog entries with "poetry for high schoolers" so you can easily find the entries if you want to refer to them in the future.
Last week our assignment was to sketch something that grows on a tree. Lots of great ideas were shared again this week...thanks for taking time to send in your sketches for the slideshow.
This week's assignment due Monday, September 13th: Sketch something that uses a battery.
Make your sketches and send them in by Monday, September 13th and I will include it in the slideshow on Tuesday morning. All sketchers are welcome and there is no need to sign up. Participate as much as possible and make sketching a weekly habit. Send in your sketches in jpg format and mail them to: sketchtuesday@yahoo.com. Complete instructions are found by clicking the Sketch Tuesday tab at the top of my blog.
The best part of using oil pastels is that you can layer and cover over anything you want to change. The colors blend and change as much as you want to play with them. They are a little on the messy side but as long as you are prepared it is not a problem.
I have received some email about the spine book for Harmony Fine Arts Grade One. I thought I would gather all my links here on the blog for readers who may be having the same trouble finding this book right now to use for Grade One.
Amazon does not appear to have it available new right now for some reason. It may come back again since this has happened before. In the meantime, there are several copies out there used at reasonable prices. I would snatch them up as soon as possible. (If you are reading in email or on a reader, you probably will need to click over to the blog to see the Amazon link.)
This would be the hardcover with the ISBN of 0195215567.
Updated 11/19/11:
I would check places like:
Ebay.com,
I really love this book so it is hard to find something that will substitute. It seems like Amazon goes through cycles where they have the book available and then they don't for a period of time. Keep trying and let me know if you need assistance from me in locating a copy of this book.
If anyone finds a source for The Oxford First Book of Art, I would greatly appreciate an email.
We had the opportunity to visit some friends out of state last week and this week we had various activities that made it seem sort of pointless to have our regular school schedule. My 12th grader had his afternoon welding class this week but other than that we took a break from our plans.
That is the beauty of homeschooling.
The break did not mean that we did not do any learning at all...of course not.
We listened to a book on tape on the long drive to Nevada. This book is definitely for teens and above because of language, reference to adult themes, and the sort of complex connections to Nazi Germany. We loved the art references used in this book and we learned a lot about "degenerate art" which included many artists we have studied over the years like Picasso, Van Gogh, Kandinsky, Mondrian, and Klee to name a few. If you have high school age children you might like to read The Mysterious Edge of the Heroic World by E.L. Konigsburg (author of the From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler). We are still talking about so many things from this book which to me is what growing through the teen years is all about.
The friends we were visiting in Nevada work at an assay company. They take rock core samples from gold mines and pulverize them in order to determine quantity and quality of gold. They use heat and chemicals to finish the process and since the boys are studying chemistry it was a perfect practical application to show how chemistry is used today in a real job. Very awesome experience. The above photo was taken up in the mountains looking down at a huge open gold mine. You can see it in the far distance of the photo.
These were the same friends that introduced us to Google Sky Map as we star gazed from their plot of land in the middle of the high desert. We learned about scorpions from them too and how we needed to kick every rock over before picking it up.
There is a lot to learn out there that is different from our part of the world. We were out on a 4-wheel drive road one afternoon and a herd of sheep were sleeping in the way. My friend said not to worry that the herder would soon come to have them move and sure enough within a minute or two the herder came and the sheep scattered to let us through. Amazing....
We are continuing our remodeling of our front yard, removing the grass and replacing it with less water thirsty plants. My husband's friend let us borrow his Bobcat and he has taken the opportunity to teach our boys how to operate it. Yes, that is my 16 year old digging a hole! The boys were in heaven....dirt AND heavy machinery. I am happy because my front yard is much closer to being finished now that they have made the retaining wall and leveled the terrace. My dogwood tree gets planted tomorrow.
My youngest son made the next pastry on his list and they were delicious. Apple turnovers are a favorite around here and now we know he can make some delicious ones! They were perfect.
We visited a nature center in Nevada and learned a little about the habitat there around Reno. Even though it is the driest part of their year, we still found some green plants and flowers to enjoy.
The river was running fast and just the sound of it cooled us off.
So, although not a typical week for us we still had lots to do and lots to learn in an unschooling sort of way. Back to regular plans on Tuesday for us....
I have always considered my husband to be a good dad. He takes an interest in what our children are interested in and he has always wanted to be a big part of their lives. He hurries home every evening as soon as he can and although very tired from a long day, he makes time to talk to each of the children. Even now that our oldest lives out of our home, he keeps in daily contact with her by text messages and phone calls.
While on vacation this past summer, I had some time to observe other dads with their children. Those fathers that were around us in the campground, on the beach, and on the trails were great subjects for my observations.
I came to a conclusion after much thought.
There is a difference between a good dad and a great dad.
Good dads are involved with their children and take time to include them in many of their activities....putting up tents, starting fires, sitting around the campfire. But a dad steps over into the great category when he shows them how to do something and then steps back and lets them do it all on their own. He trains them to do a job and allows them some room to take the job on all by themselves.
But there is a another difference that I noted that I have been pondering ever since arriving back home.
I think that great dads are interested and get involved in what their children are interested and involved with. Making sand castles, whittling sticks, making s'mores, playing catch, skimming stones.......things where the child leads and the parent follows.
We have found that as the boys get older it is more essential than ever to follow their lead when it comes to interests.
On one camping trip I noted several times that my husband jumped into the great dad category without hesitation.
Building beach structures. My boys did the orchestrating and my husband provided some of the muscle. He didn't even offer any advice.
Climbing on tree trunks. Silly thing really but it was fun for the boys to see their dad hanging on a tree.
Playing catch at the campsite. My boys had packed the mitts and ball with the idea of playing a little with each other but as soon as the ball came out my husband was up and asking to play too. Let's just say I heard some good conversation while that ball whizzed back and forth. It made my heart sing and I'm sure my boys loved it too.
So many more examples happened that I didn't capture in a photo but you get the idea.
As the mother of three sons, I appreciate that my husband is not only a good dad but a great dad as well. Why did I feel the need to reflect about dads? Probably because my own relationship with my dad is fairly precarious right now.
Notebooking Pages.com has generously offered a complete set of their Nature Study Notebooking Pages as a free gift to anyone who purchases my new Autumn 2010 Nature Study ebook.
Here is what you will get:
Pages and general topics include (over 300 pages):
7 Days of Creation
All About Animals
Habitats
Nature Log & Journaling Pages
Plants, Flowers, & Trees,
Rocks & Minerals
Seasons
Weather
"Suggested Ideas" pages for these notebooking pages.
Cover pages also included for each major section.
$10.95 value.
I will be updating the entry that announces the sale of the ebooks and if you already ordered your Autumn 2010 Nature Study ebook (or the combo), I will be emailing you today with the link to receive your free set of nature study notebooking pages.
If you have any questions, please email me: harmonyfinearts@yahoo.com.
I will offering this special gift with any purchase until next Tuesday, September 7th, 2010. There has never been a better deal than this to get you started with your nature study! I am sending a huge thank you to Debra at NotebookingPages.com for her generous gift to my readers.
