My Mother
Posted by Cindy on May 11, 2008
Happy Mother’s Day, Mom!
This picture was taken last night at our church’s annual Mother-Daughter Banquet. Thank you gentlemen for a lovely evening!
Keepers At Home – Scrapbooking
Posted by Cindy on May 10, 2008
As a fitting end to our Keepers At Home year, we had a little scrapbooking party. What great memories come from this group!
(And, yes, even our boys have fun. But, ahem, shooting a foam deer with a bow and arrow in his Contenders of the Faith class at co-op was MUCH more manly! Thank you , Debbie, for all his manly experiences this year!!)
Even Eli had fun with Mrs. Jody!
Next year, we’re asking the girls to take over some of the planning and teaching for the group. (The moms are weary! 
They already have some good ideas like teaching one another the waltz and how to safely ride horses. I love the idea of the girls taking a bit of control over their group!
Renaissance Study
Posted by Cindy on May 9, 2008
Our last unit study of the year turned out to be a great one!
Besides really important stops at the printing press, trade/exploration and Martin Luther, we chose to turn the main focus of the unit on famous Renaissance artists. After watching the Renaissance DVD below, we spent one day studying each of the following artists and trying our hands at their art. Some of our art ideas came from Discovering Great Artist by MaryAnn Kohl. (I LOVE this book!)
Here’s a sampling of our projects.
Botticelli -art in the round
Michelangelo – “Sistene Chapel” art
Da Vinci – art from nature
Donatello – soap sculptures
Bruegel – landscapes
Tao-Chi – not your typical Renaissance artist, mind you. But, an artist from China during the Renaissance time period. I found this lesson on brush and ink paintings from Month-by-Month Masterpieces
We also did a brief study of Shakespeare by using bits and pieces of the materials below.
And so, that brings us to the end of another school year! I have a box of Sensational Summer Sparks already started. I’ll share that with you soon!
A Mother’s Worship
Posted by Cindy on May 8, 2008
Let’s just say the Lord led me to Nancy’s blog for a reason today. I found this and really needed to hear it. Thank you, Lord, for reminding me that the little things are not only important, but full of worship, too.
Simple Machines and Play
Posted by Cindy on May 7, 2008
Don’t ya just love when kids use their imaginations and create really cool things? This afternoon, the older kids made great use of their free time (and I was able to get in a little discussion about simple and complex machines!)
Caleb loves ladders, ropes, tools and other bits and pieces of boy stuff. Living on a farm leaves lots of room for boy stuff to be sitting around. After a failed attempt to use the ladder to climb this really tall tree, he went to work putting together a pulley with an old ax head for the purpose of smashing things. We just happen to have a stash of really old bricks that are easily smashed, so what could be more fun, right?
Along comes big sis. Seeing the ladder leaning against the tree reminds her of the tree house that Dad has promised to build soon. Together they start scheming how to use the new pulley system along with the treehouse. This is the second invention of the afternoon – a dumbwaiter. When they want something in their treehouse, they plan to ring a bell for the servant (me) to do their bidding and send up whatever they need using the board and rope!
Do you think these ideas are worth leaving a tip in the tip basket Caleb recently put in his room?
