Weekly Wrap-Up : Free Week Thoughts

This was a week off from school for Mr. B and I. We both are really enjoying the freedom of a three weeks on and then one week off schedule. I see his relaxed disposition fitting right into this pattern, taking advantage of his time to explore a few fun activities, a bit of reading, and some volunteer work as well.

Mr. B read this book during his off week...preparation for a writing project.

Can we do any better than that?

I think I am going to start something new with our weeks off and have a theme to pursue. I was thinking about using the theme of the week to give Mr. B an opportunity to try a few new things if he is interested.

Some ideas I have been kicking around:
New recipes - perhaps in one category like yeast breads, soups, Italian recipes, or bbq.
Art - choose an artist that we can view locally and explore their work.
Sport - Mr. B wants to learn to sail so we may do some research and reading about sailing, eventually taking some sailing lessons.
Video - work on a video project together.
Service to others - find a way to serve others, perhaps a random act of kindness.
Explore - seek out new places to visit in our own local area, play tourist. Mr. B could practice his driving too!

I could see this as a great way to offer new opportunities for Mr. B in a way that is fun and relaxed. He would still feel like we are having the week off but it would give us something enriching to do together at least part of the week.

High school is all about exploring, discovering things and ideas that stimulate more real learning.

We will be back at the books next week so we will have a more traditional Weekly Wrap-Up post then. 

Barb-Harmony Art Mom

Art Ideas: Trees!

Scan some leaves and then put the scan in your nature journal. Easy!

I am really enjoying putting together this series of art idea posts....gives me something to do with all those wonderful Pinterest projects I am finding and pinning to my boards.

Nadene submitted this to the last Sketch Tuesday slideshow. Isn't it wonderful?

This week how about some trees!

Graphic Tree With Swirls: I can see this as a multi-media project with watercolors and pens but also you could add glitter, gel pens, or markers.

Tree Reflections Pastel Tutorial: Another great pastels project featuring fall trees from Nana and Tricia's family. 

Dot Trees: Tricia (from above) shared on Twitter this week that her daughter drew some blue leaves....how about a blue tree? Or you could go with a more traditional green, orange, or red tree with fall leaves.

Trees with birds and flowers: I could see some little girls somewhere making these trees with all their color and decoration. This looks like a marker project if ever I saw one.

Graphic Trees with Pen: To balance out all that color and cuteness of the last link, take a look at the trees in this artwork. Perfect for a pen project.

Copywork and Dictation in High School? Simply Charlotte Mason Giveaway

Sometimes there comes along a product that has all the great attributes that I am looking for right from the start. There is no need to tweak or alter the plans at all because they are high quality, well organized, and in line with our family's values.

Spelling Wisdom from Simply Charlotte Mason is just such a program and I am so glad that I can use it with my boys in high school. This program uses quotes from famous authors, Bible scriptures, speeches, poems, and letters incorporating the 6,000 most commonly used words in English. These selections are the basis for copywork or prepared dictation as outlined by Charlotte Mason. What an interesting way to work on spelling, punctuation, and capitalization!

I have found the Spelling Wisdom program to be a great tool that helps me hone my son's skills as part of a Charlotte Mason style high school. We used Book Four starting when my boys were in 8th and 9th grades and it was a perfect fit. Mr. B will soon be using Book Five.

For younger students, you can click over to the Simply Charlotte Mason website to view all the levels of Spelling Wisdom available. The author of the program, Sonya Shafer, suggests waiting until your student is age 10 before starting work with spelling as outlined in the Charlotte Mason volumes. Our family was not introduced to Charlotte Mason's methods until middle school so we jumped in with Spelling Wisdom at a level that fit our ages.

Spelling Wisdom in Our High School Plans

Basis for Copywork: Using Spelling Wisdom, the selections were all gathered together so I could pick one and assign it for the week. At this level, the quotes are sometimes quite long and for my sons it might take a couple of sessions to get the selection written carefully and neatly into their notebook. Each selection using wonderful examples served as a model to imprint proper spelling, grammar, and punctuation. (We were sometimes introduced to a new author or poet and this led to further reading...added bonus.)

Dictation as a Tool: I learned from using the selections as the basis of our dictation work that there were areas that we needed to refresh and to make more solid as far as punctuation, spelling, and capitalization. Using the selections from Spelling Wisdom gave me a way to see how my high school age sons were applying the rules of grammar, spelling, and punctuation in a more natural setting. No more workbooks.

Composition Built on Great Quotes: This is where I took the selections from Spelling Wisdom and made them really shine. I loved using them as the jumping off point or story starter for Mr. B's creative writing assignments last  year.  I would find a quote that I liked and then have him continue the story or rewrite the quote in a different style. For instance, perhaps the quote was a conversation. I would have Mr. B continue the conversation giving him more practice using proper punctuation and giving him a tickler to start a creative writing assignment. Another assignment I gave was to take a selection from Spelling Wisdom and have him rewrite it in the style of a different author like Poe, Twain, or Dickins. There is no end to the ways you could use all the wonderful selections that are included in Spelling Wisdom.

Each book in the series has 140 quotes and it is suggested that you cover two quotes a week, making each volume last about two years. In our family, we use one quote a week as part of copywork and dictation. I assign the quote, they copy it over the course of the week into a composition notebook, and then on Friday at our weekly meeting I give the quote as dictation, either in full or in part.

I highly recommend the Spelling Wisdom program for all ages of children but I especially found it helpful in providing quality dictation selections for my high school age sons. It has been a staple of our high school English plans and I love that I can pull it up on the computer in a matter of seconds, pick the quote I want to work on, print it out, and hand it to Mr. B. It can't get any simpler than that.

Sonya Shafer has generously offered to give two copies of Spelling Wisdom (your choice of levels) to my readers! This is the perfect opportunity to  See the details below to enter. (First time I am using Rafflecopter so bear with me if there are issues.) I will pick two winners who will each receive one copy of their choice of Spelling Wisdom.

Weekly Wrap-Up: Employment Opportunities and More

This was the week that Mr. B got his first official job requiring a work permit. He will be working part-time at a local retail store as a clerk and stocker of shelves. He is excited to finally be able to make some real money to put away for his up-coming car insurance expenses. I think it is going to be a great experience for him although I know it means even more time around here where there are no children in the house. It is quiet so much of the time now. Adapting my activities is a slow filling of quiet time with things that I haven't had room for in many years.




We are still whizzing through The Elegant Essay Writing Lessons from IEW. This is a fine tuning of skills Mr. B has gained over the years using their system of writing. We are not dwelling on the lessons and many times I cut the practice parts in half if I know he has a grasp on the concepts. I would love to have him do all the exercises just for my own enjoyment in reading them but that would be selfish wouldn't it? He has a flair for writing that I really connect with.



He is in the second unit of his Anatomy course from The Simple Homeschool. He many times thinks the text is lacking but I remind him this is a perfect time to employ his research skills. This he enjoys. I think this makes him own the information more as he debates with the author and questions things further. I got to hear all about homeostasis last week and this week it was epithelial tissues (which led to a discussion of our word roots study).

Still listening to Bartok and viewing Expressionist art....love the conversations this has led to about views of valuing art and musical styles. High school kids are so much fun because they ALWAYS have an opinion.

I know that many of my readers have commented in the past about reading Steinbeck's Grapes of Wrath, dreading the time they had to do so with their own children. It is a difficult book and not one that many people particularly like or enjoy but let's face it...the book allows us the opportunity to discuss difficult topics and issues. I think it is a perfect time in our history to be digging into economy issues, morality issues, and looking at the role family relationships have in helping and supporting one another. I identified deeply with the mother in this story and could only imagine her feelings of dread upon leaving all behind to move to an unknown world. This is the sort of reading that connects with our humanness.

There ends my wrap-up for this week. Still relishing the fall warm weather and sunshine in our part of the country. The shorter days sort of bum us all out but it is the season for that.


On a lighter note...found this little sketch in my desk when I was cleaning up a drawer. I loved it when the boys were younger and they would draw me little notes to find. This must be from probably six or seven years ago. Made me smile. Thanks Mr. B!

Sketch Tuesday: On the Menu: Stew

Last week's sketch idea was to draw something that lives a long time and I am really impressed with not only the creativity but the quality of this week's sketches. Thank you all for sharing your artwork and making this such a special slideshow. Give all the kids hugs for me and tell them thank you for their hard work. 



Here is the slideshow: Something that lives a long time. 

Please note that I will be unable to host Sketch Tuesday next week so the next slideshow will be in two weeks. You can still send in your sketches as you finish them but I have a deadline for another project that keeps me from putting the slideshow together. 

This week's assignment, due Monday, October 31, 2011:
Sketch something you put into a stew.

All sketchers are welcome and there is no need to sign up. Send in your sketches in jpg format and mail them to: sketchtuesday@yahoo.com by Monday, October 31, 2011 and I will include them in Tuesday's slideshow. Complete instructions are found by clicking the Sketch Tuesday tab at the top of my blog.

More Autumn Art Ideas - This Time Leaves!

Last week we worked on our pumpkin art which was fun from start to finish. It started with our trip to take photos of pumpkins, continued as we purchased a few of the interesting colored gourds, decided which one to use as the subject of our artwork, and then the actual time spent together making our pieces.

Learning to give the opportunity for projects like this is a key to keeping your high school age students balanced AND it gives you time to spend together doing something of interest to both of you. I can't tell you how much it delights me to have time with my son as he is growing in age and in skill as an artist.



This week we are going to again spend time with some art projects and this time we will focus on art that features fall leaves. We are beginning to see more and more color each day as we work our way through the month of October. What a perfect way to bring our nature study time inside to follow up with really getting to note and record the colors of our leaves.

Here are some links to get you started:

Georgia O'Keeffe Leaves on Artsonia. This one doesn't have instructions but it looks simple enough to figure our on our own. Looks like construction paper, black marker, and crayons or you could use pastel paper and soft pastels too if you wanted.

That Artist Woman: Plaster Leaf Prints - Love this for my high school age students since it will seem like a "grown up" project.

Martha Stewart to the rescue with her Hanging Leaves dipped in wax project. This is definitely going to be an easy project for my son and I to do together.



Here's a project children of all ages can do and it will be uniquely theirs: Fall Leaf Contour Project.
We did this a few years ago and it is still a favorite.


You might not know about my YouTube Channel where I share tips and tricks for using different art supplies. You can subscribe to my YouTube Channel so you won't miss any of the upcoming videos I have planned to share in the near future. I made a short video showing how to use watercolor crayons to make a beautiful fall leaf. You can see the video on YouTube.com: Watercolor Crayon Demonstration. The idea works well with watercolor pencils as well.

I love to see your artwork so leave me a comment and a link and I will pop over and take a look!

Five Ways Homeschooling for High School is Unique

Let's face it. Homeschooling for high school is so very different than any other phase, especially when you get into the junior and senior years where your child is very capable of handling so many things.
1. They read well and you can offer just about any book for them to read without worrying that it is going to be above their reading ability.
2. They prefer to do most of their work on their own as long as you are available to help them if needed or to talk about something that interests them.
3. They can use just about any device you have with skill: computer, word processing program, scanner, copier, and the internet.
4. They know where to go to research an answer to a question and at some point can even drive themselves to the library to pick up additional books and resources.
5. They reverse roles and start to teach you things and you become fellow learners.

I wouldn't miss this part of our homeschooling experience for the world. 

Mr. B has been preparing for the CHSPE (California High School Proficiency Exam) which he will take tomorrow morning. He is hoping to pass the test even though he will still remain in our homeschool. Passing this test is the equivalent of a high school diploma and will allow him a little freedom in various areas (getting a part time job, community college courses, etc.) My other two sons took it when they were in high school and it is a great practice. I loathe standardized testing but they are a real part of every adult experience whether it is for a job application or as part of further education.

Now to our week-
I had the joy to read two essays Mr. B wrote and polished, one on Benjamin Franklin as part of his IEW American Literature course and another on Nazi propaganda which was fascinating and enlightening. Can I just say thank you to Andrew Pudewa and the IEW materials for allowing me to teach my children to write and to become accomplished at expressing themselves in words on paper? Thank you!


I found a fabulous resource for high school government to supplement our Thinkwell course. I was actually going to put together a set of notebooking pages for Mr. B to follow the presidential campaigns and elections over the next year. I found a set already done and although they were made for the 2008 elections, there are blank versions of each of the pages so Mr. B can fill them for the 2012 elections. What a great find! I am so grateful for the internet and the materials that so many homeschooling moms share with the internet community. Here is the website: Mom and Pop Homeschool.

There are three sets to download for free and we have saved them to use when the need arises. This website has lots of relevant links to use in your study of the election process and would be a great supplement to your government study.
EDIT 2/1/12: It looks like this link does not work anymore. I suggest this alternate:
Presidents and Elections Unit.


This week Mr. B continued his listening with Bela Bartok, choosing to listen to Romanian Dances which were much easier to listen to and we actually would say that we enjoyed them.

Don't forget to link up to share your composer study.


We are off to enjoy a nice Friday. This has been the week to visit and encourage friends....taking flowers, little notes, and now today a DVD to share with someone. Sometimes I forget to include time for these service related activities that build us up as much as they do the person we are actually trying to encourage. It is a gorgeous fall day and we intend to enjoy it!

Don't forget to write your own Wrap-Up post and share over at Kris' blog by clicking the link at the top of this post!

Sketch Tuesday: Long Live The....

A little blog business before you enjoy this week's slideshow: If you would like to receive a reminder to submit your Sketch Tuesday drawings via Twitter on Sunday or Monday, you need to become one of my followers on @HarmonyFineArts. You can click the link below to go to my Twitter account and then click to follow me.




Last week's sketch idea was to sketch something you measure with. There are some very creative ideas in this week's slideshow and I think you are going to enjoy seeing how everyone interpreted this assignment. What a great group of sketches!

Here is the slideshow: Something you measure with.



This week's assignment, due Monday, October 17, 2011:
Sketch something that lives a long time.

All sketchers are welcome and there is no need to sign up. Send in your sketches in jpg format and mail them to: sketchtuesday@yahoo.com by Monday, October 17, 2011 and I will include them in Tuesday's slideshow. Complete instructions are found by clicking the Sketch Tuesday tab at the top of my blog.

You may be interested in my Squidoo Lenses:
Art Supplies For Kids - my suggestions for your art materials
Harmony Art Mom's Top Five Art Reviews
Drawing and Painting With Children - ideas and resources

Can You Still Have Fun in High School? A Little Art Encouragement

Look at all those little pumpkins just waiting to be sketched!

There are many preconceived notions about homeschooling in high school that our family has found to be untrue.

• Myth: You must spend longs days at the books in order to cover everything, leaving no time for fun.
• Myth: The high school years are a stressful period leading up to "big" tests and you must take advantage of every minute to cram in a wide range of courses.
• Myth: There is no time or interest in art, music, poetry, or nature study.

We have busted ALL these myths.

I am all about encouraging on this blog so here is a post that will encourage you to think about the high school years as an opportunity to have some fun with your children and still provide a great education. Why not make some time for art?

Pumpkins and Gourds - equally interesting to sketch and paint

Autumn Art - Focus on Pumpkins

What will we be doing this week? Carving out some time and do some fall art projects! (Yes, the pun is intended.) We were at the apple orchard today and along with apples, there were pumpkins and gourds too.

Pumpkins are a wonderful subject for an autumn art project this week - wonderful shape, great vibrant color, perfect part of a still life, and  great to actually eat when you are done in a pie! Don't limit yourself to drawing Halloween pumpkins....you could make the pumpkin the focus of a nature study lesson instead and then use the pumpkin as the subject of your art lesson. (You can find a complete Outdoor Hour Challenge on pumpkins on my nature study blog.)

Need some ideas to get you going? Here you go!

Art Projects for Kids: Watercolor Pumpkins -Kathy does a great job of stepping us through the process of sketching and then painting a great fall pumpkin.

Hodgepodge: Apple or Pumpkin: A Pastels Tutorial -Tricia and her Nana give readers a visual tutorial to draw some apples and pumpkins for a fall artwork display. This is from their excellent series of tutorials you will want to bookmark for a reference.

A Faithful Attempt: Glue Lines Pumpkins - This one is glue and watercolors but she also has one that is glue and pastels too.

Don't miss reading my post Morning Circle Time - Nature Study over on my nature study blog AND entering for the free giveaway of Kendra's Circle Time - Plan The Best Part of Your Day ebook giveaway!

Leave me a link in the comments if you use any of the pumpkin art ideas and I will hop over and take a look! Happy sketching and painting!

Here Is The Next In His Series!

To El and Back: a film about Butch Belair from DannyGregory on Vimeo.

To El and Back....lovely.

Weekly Wrap-Up: First Week in October and a new Link-Up

It seems almost surreal to finish another week of school and have it be so relaxed and enjoyable. Where is the stress? I think we have left it behind and have reached the point in Mr. B's academic life where things are sort of on auto-pilot for me. The system is in place and the routine is manageable. This was a "B" week for us so that means we had a meeting to go over the last two week's worth of work.

Highlights:
Grapes of Wrath: Mr. B said he had to finish the book early regardless of my "slow reading" schedule. Okay, so I will be flexible with that and start him on the writing assignment a little early. He wants to read it over again according to my schedule...sigh. I can't blame him for reading ahead but I am trying to encourage careful reading the first time through. Always something to hone as you work with high schoolers.


Anatomy: Have I said before that Mr. B is sharp? Sharp in the sense that he can discern when the text he is reading does not give him enough detail. In a way, this is a good thing....it may not be the perfect text but if Mr. B is encouraged to dig a little deeper using the internet and another college text I have as a reference on the shelf, that is a good thing in my book. His sketching skills are coming in handy as he makes his own diagrams for his notebook pages.

History Timeline: His timeline is filling in with all kinds of interesting things. Using the Book of Centuries pages from NotebookingPages.com has been a simple way to tie the timeline work in with his regular notebook pages.


Government: Mr. B has started really paying attention to the presidential campaigns as part of his government and current event studies. This is such a great time to be working on a government course since he is able to see the actual process and make connections to his online course. I am thinking we may use notebook pages to record a sort of campaign timeline...need to take advantage of his interest.

IEW American Literature: Mr. B finished reading his first book as part of this course, Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin. He completed all the context work from the introductory pages and next week he will be writing the follow-up essay. The plans give a choice of writing topics and he will be using the IEW model to write his essay. I love that this book builds on all the skills we have accumulated using IEW over the last few years. This is a great way to bring his literature study up a notch but still keep it very self-directed and within my interpretation of a Charlotte Mason model. More on that as the year goes by...


There is a new link-up over A Teaching Hearts! Angie from Petra School clued me into this group with her post this week and I think we will share our weekly study music appreciation with the link-up from now on.

Our current composer is Bela Bartok...a Hungarian composer. Mr. B has been listening with headphones lately so I don't get to listen as often as I would like. He did pull them off this week to share a bit of what he was focusing on and to tell me he thinks it sounds like everyone is just playing whatever they want however they want....he was right. You can see for your self: String Quartet.

Did you make it through that? I had to turn it off after about four minutes....hard on the ears.

I will end my wrap-up on that note....

Poetry for High Schoolers - Organized With Free Notebook Pages

Last year I shared Mr. A's poetry study as we went along in a series I called Poetry for High Schoolers, sharing every six weeks how we had enjoyed each poet and then outlining our simple poetry analysis for each one.  I was busy organizing this study again for Mr. B and decided that a new Squidoo page was in order to make my life easier. It really made sense for me to put the lesson ideas, videos, and other links into one spot for Mr. B to pull up each week and use on his own. (These are the same plans just all pulled into one spot.)

Along the way, I decided to make a fresh set of notebooking pages for him to use with the lesson ideas. Nothing fancy or complicated (remember this series was Poetry for High School Boys) but still nice enough to merit being called "poetry notebooking pages".

I share those pages with you now. 

Poetry Lesson Plans and Ideas

Simple ideas for studying six different poets (including YouTube videos for each)

Poetry Notebooking Pages 

Includes 6 notebook pages and one additional page explaining how to get started with poetry analysis and a list of question. I probably will make a few more pages and add them to this page before our year is over so make sure to bookmark and save this page for future reference.You can see images of each page over on Squidoo as well.

You may also be interested in these pages:

Notebooking for High Schoolers

Charlotte Mason High School

Sketch Tuesday: Measure Up

Last week's assignment was to sketch something from the laundry room. What a great topic and so many things to sketch! We had fun with this one and I hope you did too.

Here is the slideshow: Something from the laundry room.





This week's assignment, due Monday, October 10, 2011:
Sketch something you can measure with.

All sketchers are welcome and there is no need to sign up. Send in your sketches in jpg format and mail them to: sketchtuesday@yahoo.com by Monday, October 10, 2011 and I will include them in Tuesday's slideshow. Complete instructions are found by clicking the Sketch Tuesday tab at the top of my blog.

You may be interested in my Squidoo Lenses:
Art Supplies For Kids - my suggestions for your art materials
Harmony Art Mom's Top Five Art Reviews
Drawing and Painting With Children - ideas and resources

Awesome Art Websites - Just Have To Share

I have been researching and collecting new ideas for a project I have in the works. As I cruise the internet to find resources, I stumble upon websites that are so fantastic that I just have to share.

Here are a few from today's research:

Awesome Artists:
I love the "I Can't Draw Until I Practice" downloads listed. What a great resource!

TeachKidsArt: Middle School Grading Rubric
This is a great system using a rubric to grade art for those that need to record a letter grade. I get asked this all the time in reference to my Harmony Fine Arts plans. This is a great way to clearly show what is expected from a project. I may even use it with my high schooler.

Mrs. Picasso's Art Room: Sparkly Fall Trees

This is such a great project! I am going to be doing this with a canvas I have sitting right by my art table. I have been following her blog for awhile now and she is always inspiring me with her projects.

Artsyville: Kaleidoscope Candles
If you ever want to be inspired over and over, subscribe to this blog. I especially love this project because it is a twist on an old favorite. What a great idea to use these candles....I have seen them at the Dollar Store.

Hearts and Trees: Advanced Fall Color Activity

This is from my daughter's blog and she is offering this free download. Get out your big box of Crayolas!