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Author Jim Baumgardner will be doing a few guest blogging posts at Creative Learners blog focusing on various aspects of creative writing. His first post, The Fundamentals of Writing, was posted today. If you have a child that's interested in creative writing he (or she!) might find this series helpful.
The next part in the series will focus on developing characters and choosing a setting.
Leigh Bortins' new book, The Core: Teaching your Child the Foundations of Classical Education, is a wonderful addition to a classical homeschooler's library. As founder of Classical Conversations, she's had the opportunity to introduce the concept of classical education to many homeschooling families and define the most important tools of learning – the core.
When asked about the foundations of a classical education, Leigh replied that it's "important to over-practice the basics until they become second nature. Every area of thought or activity has foundational ideas that if mastered allow us to eventually be experts. Practicing the fundamentals is as crucial in academics as it is in music or athletics. So we don’t believe that you can think critically unless you have facts to think about. Memorizing the periodic table is as foundational to chemistry studies as memorizing the coaches playbook is to a football player. You can make the same comparison between an actor memorizing a Shakespeare play and a student memorizing a timeline of history. Classical students can aptly perform as world citizens because they have the story memorized."
Leigh believes that memorization is the most important foundation to a full and complete education. After discovering that her older children were struggling with some basic facts, she realized that if those facts had been memorized when they were younger they wouldn't be struggling. She set out to have her younger children begin to memorize those fundamental facts and, consequently, they didn't face those same struggles later on.
The Core is full of ideas for memory work in reading, writing, math, geography, history, science, and fine arts. I really love her ideas for learning about geography (something that is sadly lacking in my own education) and plan on implementing her ideas this fall when we begin our new school year. I've always thought that memorization was an important skill and I'm thrilled to have discovered some new ideas for presenting memory work in an interesting fashion. I enjoyed reading Leigh's new book and it's a nice addition to my homeschool library; one I'm sure I'll be referring to often.
Disclaimer: I was given this product free of charge for review purposes. I received no other compensation for my review. All views expressed are my opinions only.
It’s been a busy month here in spite of being the first month of our summer schedule. We started the month with a weekly checklist of schoolish things to do but that only lasted a week. :) At least I’m keeping up with math and having a 30 minute reading time (most days) each week!
TJ and I spent a week in Maine visiting family and attending two graduations for my niece and nephew. She learned to drive a lawn mower (with help!), covered the deck in chalk drawings, played mini-golf, fed chickens, and lots of other fun things.
We're finishing up our plant study this week and will start studying animals next week. A friend will be homeschooling her kids in the fall and her son was excited to learn we'd be dissecting a fish so it looks like TJ will have some company for our science lessons! I'm hoping that since we'll be doing science with another family it will keep me on track.
Even though it's summer I've still got a few things in the works – I'm working on the checklists and forms for my teacher's notebook, trying to figure out how we're going to do our Sign Language studies, and planning our space science lessons. The fun never ends!
When a dressmaker who values beauty tangles with a liveryman who condemns vanity, the sparks begin to fly!
Jericho "J.T." Tucker wants nothing to do with Coventry, Texas's new dressmaker. He's all too familiar with her kind--shallow women more devoted to fashion than true beauty. Yet, except for her well-tailored clothing, this seamstress is not at all what he expected.
Hannah Richards is confounded by the man who runs the livery. The unsmiling fellow riles her with his arrogant assumptions and gruff manner while at the same time stirring her heart with unexpected acts of kindness. Which side of Jericho Tucker reflects the real man?
When Hannah decides to help Jericho's sister catch a beau--leading to uproarious consequences for the whole town--will Jericho and Hannah find a way to bridge the gap between them?
About the Author
Karen Witemeyer holds a master's degree in psychology from Abilene Christian University and is a member of ACFW, RWA, and the Abilene Writers Guild. She has published fiction in Focus on the Family's children's magazine, and has written several articles for online publications and anthologies. A Tailor-Made Bride is her first novel. Karen lives in Abilene, Texas, with her husband and three children.
My Thoughts
I’m very impressed with Witemeyer’s first novel and looking forward to reading her future novels. The characters in A Tailor-Made Bride were well-written and the dialogue was fun and oftentimes made me laugh out loud. It was a fun, light read. Highly recommended for those who like clean, historical romance novels.
"Book has been provided courtesy of Baker Publishing Group and Graf-Martin Communications, Inc. Available at your favourite bookseller from Bethany House, a division of Baker Publishing Group".
Can she turn her second-best chance into a golden opportunity?
Dowryless and desperate, Tressa Neill applies to the inaugural class of Wyatt Herdsman School in Barnett, Kansas. The school's one-of-a-kind program teaches young women from the East the skills needed to become a rancher--or the wife of one. But will Tressa have what it takes to survive Hattie Wyatt's hands-on instruction in skills such as milking a cow, branding a calf, and cooking up a mess of grub for hungry ranch hands?
Abel Samms wants nothing to do with the passel of potential brides his neighbor brought to town. He was smitten with an eastern girl once--and he got his heart broken. But there's something about quiet Tressa and her bumbling ways that makes him take notice. When trouble strikes, will Abel risk his life--and his heart--to help this eastern girl?
About the Author
Kim Vogel Sawyer is the author of fifteen novels, including several CBA and ECPA bestsellers. Her books have won the ACFW Book of the Year Award, the Gayle Wilson Award of Excellence, and the Inspirational Readers Choice Award. Kim is active in her church, where she leads women's fellowship and participates in both voice and bell choirs. In her spare time, she enjoys drama, quilting, and calligraphy. Kim and her husband, Don, reside in central Kansas, and have three daughters and six grandchildren.
My Thoughts
While on an Alaskan cruise with her husband and parents, Kim Sawyer met a woman who had attended a herdsman school – a special school designed to train people in various ranching skills. Because her husband couldn’t take time away from his duties on their ranch, he sent her to the herdsman school to gain the skills she would need to live and work on a ranch. From that nugget of information Sawyer came up with idea for A Hopeful Heart. The story, centered around Tressa Neill, takes us to a small town in Kansas. Tressa has been sent away against her will and with no other options open to her. Through various situations she grows and comes to understand the strength she has within herself.
I thought the story was well-done - I loved the unique spin of the herdsman school and the characters were interesting. I’ve never read anything by Kim Sawyer but I’ll be sure to look for more of her books in the future.
"Book has been provided courtesy of Baker Publishing Group and Graf-Martin Communications, Inc. Available at your favourite bookseller from Bethany House, a division of Baker Publishing Group".
If you let your child play Wii Fit and count it as phys. ed. . . . you might be a homeschool mom.
If you have a fruity pharaoh going through the mummification process on your kitchen counter . . . you might be a homeschool mom.
If you have a large poster of the human body showing all the major organ systems hanging in your dining room (to the horror of your mother-in-law). . . you might be a homeschool mom.
If you have any insects or other creepy, crawly, and/or slimy creatures in jars on the dining room buffet. . . you might be a homeschool mom.
If you're contemplating putting a bookshelf in the bathroom because you are running out of space for books . . . you might be a homeschool mom.
If your child has decided to save all their history projects and turn the backyard into a museum (and also try to charge the grandparents admission) . . . you might be a homeschool mom.
I finished reading Don Quixote (insert happy dance here) and it only took me five months! ;)
Overall the book was enjoyable but there were some points where I just felt like I was pushing through to finish.
Right now I'm re-reading my chapter summaries, trying to organize my thoughts about the book, and discussing the book with a few others who have read it.
One of the questions S. W. Bauer asks in The Well-Educated Mind is "what is the most important event in the book?" I'll confess that I am stuck on that question and I'm trying to discover the answer. What is the defining moment in Don Quixote that causes the character to change? I have a few theories but I'm trying to narrow it down. I'd welcome comments from anyone who has read the book.
Here are my goals for the month of June:
I am not a unit study kinda gal. There I admitted it! :) I enjoy planning my own things but I really don't think I could put together a whole unit study on my own. Enter Amanda Bennett and The Old Schoolhouse. They have put together the perfect combination of unit study materials along with colorful notebooking and lapbooking elements in their Download N Go unit studies.
Each of the Download N Go studies is full of activities divided into 5 daily lessons. Each lesson includes video and website links, questions to answer, notebooking pages to complete, lapbooking elements, vocabulary words to study, recommended books for further study, and lots of other things to keep you busy! At the end of the week your child will have completed a beautiful notebook or lapbook to remember the fun adventure.
TJ and I just finished the Whale Tales study and we had so much fun reading books, checking out websites, putting a lapbook together, and watching amazing videos of whales in action. I was impressed with how very easy it was to get started. After I downloaded the pdf file I quickly read through it, ordered library books, and printed the lapbooking elements. We just picked up our library books and jumped right into the study. It's really as simple as that! (Check out the sample of Whale Tales.) We've already picked out four more units to study this summer (actually, we've picked out more than that, I'm just trying to narrow it down to four!).
These unit studies are ideal for children in K-4th grades and there are many options for purchase:
Download N Go is having a sale! If you order before June 12th you can receive 20% off any of the multiple pack units. Just use this code (DNG20PKS) at checkout.
Interested in winning a prize pack?
The Old Schoolhouse Magazine and Amanda Bennett Unit Studies have teamed up to celebrate the successful launch of Download N Go™ with a Sweet Treat Prize Package in The Adventure Begins ... Giveaway! They're offering one lucky winner the SWEET chance to go EXPLORING this FALL!
