Middle School

Painless artist study image with photo of art supplies on a purple background.

Painless Artist Study

(This post contains affiliate links.) Cheating Just a Little Okay, so my Charlotte Mason friends may raise their eyebrows to this post.  I can get overwhelmed with all the “stuff” that’s out there to teach.  Good stuff like artists, composers, Latin….  Things that just seem to slip by the wayside sometimes when the phonics and…

4-H Lap Robes

Have you ever heard of Warm Fuzzies for Cancer Patients?  I hadn’t either, but our 4-H extension agent did some research and found this wonderful program for us to take part.  Groups (or individuals) make fleece lap blankets and donate them to cancer centers.   So, that’s what our 4-H group did this week.  Our blankets…

The Peace Place

A peace place.  A place for my children (or myself) to go when we are not being peaceful.  A time-out of sorts, but focused on God and His desires for us.  A quiet and comfortable place for us to reflect on why we haven’t been peaceful and to ask forgiveness.  A place to rid ourselves of frustration,…

Living math blog post image with orange, green, red, and blue blocks

Living Math

(This post contains affiliate links and links to my business website, Shining Dawn Books.) I hated math when I wad a kid. Hated it.  It didn’t make much sense to me, I had a hard time memorizing facts, and my teacher’s didn’t spend much time helping me to understand. I remember my poor dad spending…

Kentucky unity study blog image with a Kentucky state map on it

Plans For A Kentucky Unit

I’m straying from the typical sort of unit study we do around here. This Kentucky unit will be mostly worksheet-based, with final projects being research-based.  Why?  Well first, I want the unit to be fairly quick.  Second, Mahayla has covered this topic before at co-op, so it just made more sense to provide them each…

Keepers Christmas Party

I know I gush often about our Keepers At Home Group, but it really is a wonderful thing!  Yesterday we took a break from “practical” stuff to party! Each of the girls was asked to prepare a dish and bring the recipe.  (We’re putting the recipes together in a little booklet for them.)  After reading…

A Trip to Michigan

Why is it that you usually feel dirtier after showering at a hotel than you did before you showered?  Why is it that once the baby finally falls asleep in his carseat, somebody else in the car decides they have to use the bathroom and can’t possibly hold it – thus waking up the baby…

Artist Study – Durer

I love Discovering Great Artists!  I’ve used it in our home and in a co-op art class.  This lesson came from the book. Albrecht Durer did paintings, watercolors, drawing and woodcuts.  We tried our hand at woodblock printing, which was one of Durer’s specialties.  You take wood blocks and hammer metal objects into the wood to make impressions. …