Some of Zoey's Sketches...

I am just smitten with her sketches as of late...loving them! These from a girl who dreaded art class when in public school. Who pretty much endured them due to having one art teacher who was not a nurturing and positive role model to her. Who actually asked her once if she was "proud" of a drawing and when she replied that yes, she was, the teacher took her paper, crumpled it up and threw it in the trash and told her to start over. Thankfully, the two years before we started this homeschooling journey she had a new and amazing art teacher who I feel started to build her confidence back. Anyways, to see my daughter having fun with art again and feeling free, is a remarkable thing.

Wishing you a creative rest of the week!

Easter Hike

“Any patch of sunlight in a wood will show you something about the sun which you could never get from reading books on astronomy. These pure and spontaneous pleasures are ‘patches of Godlight’ in the woods of our experience.”  ― C.S. Lewis

For Easter this year we ended up staying home and taking it easy. I worked on Good Friday, (Ethan had off) and he and I both work tomorrow. Thankfully today was an absolutely beautiful day and we made sure to enjoy it!

The morning started off with waffles made by me, some Easter basket hunting (with help from our dog!) and then Zoey and I read outside until after lunch, we decided to trek our way to a new trail for some hiking.

It was 2.5 miles and it was lots of hills and steps going UP!! Thankfully it wasn't too hot out and we were able to cool off here and there while in the shade of the trees. There was SO MUCH to discover on this hike. Lots of marshes and bogs to check out and the hike itself was around a lake.

We didn't see the beaver that did this but it was apparent that it had been there recently as the wood was still wet!

I'm going to just share photos here for now...

Once home, I quickly got started in on dinner. Salads, turkey (vegetarian), mashed red potatoes and fresh green beans never sounded so good!! Now I'm completely wiped out!! Felt so very good though to get some exercise and spend the day enjoying our world, together.

Happy Easter!

Lately...

This has been a productive week...Zoey's been continuing with her art exploration when it comes to sketching. Here are a few more interesting faces that she's been working on in her sketch book.

This morning when out walking the dog around the house we discovered some bear tracks which was pretty exciting! They went right through our yard in-between the house and our garage and then meandered off into the woods. We had to take some pictures quick before the snow melts!

Zoey just started reading the book I Am Malala for her geography and literature studies and most recently finished reading Habibi. For fun, she most recently finished reading the book Tuck Everlasting and is currently reading The Secret Garden. She also has read the complete series of Mortal Instruments, Infernal Devices and the book Lady Midnight by Cassandra Clare. It's safe to say that I've long given up on trying to keep track of the books that she's reading for the blog. I now keep track on our library request list that is attached to my library card check-out history.

Tuesday, Zoey and I both went to a school board meeting in a neighboring community. This was Zoey's first school board meeting (kind of funny that she attended it now that we're homeschooling!) and it was a major learning experience for her. We went to support a teacher who is a friend and who also has a daughter Zoey's age who is a friend of Zoey's. This teacher has taught for over twenty years at this school and is getting a non-renewal this year with nothing worthy in her personal file for dismissal. The meeting was packed with community members (we had to move to a different room) and was very passionate/high energy in nature. We stayed for two hours (on just this agenda issue) and left around 8:15pm so we could eat dinner and walk the dog! It felt good to show up and do the right thing (I spoke) and to hear so many people showing support for this teacher. It didn't feel good to witness and hear the lack of compassion and empathy of the school board or the administration of this school. Zoey was astounded that the individuals sitting as the board, were representatives of the school to the community. I have to agree with her, there was one individual on the board that showed compassion and interest when people spoke, everyone else looked annoyed, bothered, uncomfortable and/or, put out. I do think that things could have at the very least, been handled in a more empathetic manner so that the public could have felt as though they were being listened to. Regardless, we had some great/tough conversations afterwards and then again once Ethan got home from working late as well.

Zoey is continuing working through her second math book at lightening speed, still enjoying her logic workbook and is working through her beginners spanish book. Health is included in her science curriculum and she is working through that and is approaching the heavier portion of that unit here quickly. It's kind of amazing to look through all the we have done this year and know that we almost have our first complete homeschooling year under our belts!

Life learning at it's finest!

Science | Finding Out Blood Type

I'm a bit late in sharing these photos from Zoey's science unit on blood. We actually did this at the end of February...oops! For this "experiment" she used a blood type kit to determine what blood type she was. She was so excited to do this activity...every time she gets blood-work done at the clinic she is so excited...crazy girl! She thought that this was even more fun, seeing that she got to get to do it herself. She put antiseptic on her finger and then used the needle/punch to prick her finger to get the blood needed for putting on the test card. Depending on how the blood reacted within each circle she was able to look at a chart and determine what blood type she is.

Crazy fun with learning happening here!

Permission to Play

This year Zoey has been enjoying art projects somewhat on her own terms. She recently has checked out some library books on sketching and these are two of her most recent attempts. I love the whimsy in them!

I also love that she is feeling free to explore and have fun when it comes to art. This hasn't always been the case.

 

Medieval History | Beautiful Feet Books

I'm a planner and that means in the back of my mind I've been thinking about what it is that we'll be doing next year already! Together, Zoey and I decided for history next year that we'll be using the Medieval History from Beautiful Feet Books. I was able to purchase the books used (yay!) all in one lot at a great price, all I need to purchase is the history timeline and the world map, (if we think we need it...we do already have a wonderful world map for the wall).

It's always so exciting to get new books in the mail and these did not disappoint! Zoey wanted to start reading King Arthur and his Knights of the Round Table right away. :) She is so excited that we're going to be working on medieval times.

If we end up enjoying this curriculum, which, after giving it the once-over, I do think that we will...the order for upcoming years would be:

9th - Early American & World History
10th - Ancient History
11th - Medieval (we may sub this out depending on how fresh it is or isn't in Zoey's mind)
12th - Modern U.S. and World History

We will want to fit a Civics, Government and Economics class in there somewhere too. It's possible that she will be taking a Civics class at the co-op next year if they offer it, which currently, it sounds like they will.

Here are some pictures of the inside of the curriculum guide...

I love that it has a bit more structure than we've had this year with using Build Your Library's Geography study. It starts out with a list of vocabulary words to define prior to reading the words in the assigned weekly readings. Next are the assigned readings from the books with some follow up questions to discuss or journal about in a notebook. There are projects that are meant to go in a portfolio that you create and add to throughout the year and several links to videos or websites with relevant additional information to seek out, as well as other book suggestions to gather from the library if there is an interest to go further. Depending on what is being discussed, a suggestion to add something to the timeline or wall map may be included as well.

I really think this will be good for both Zoey and I. This year has been wonderful with BYL's Geography, don't get me wrong...it's just that we feel it's been a lot of reading and memorizing maps, and that's pretty much it (we're not into the copywork or dictation part of things, which I know totally works for many families). The books have truly all been nothing short of amazing, but we just need a few more hands on type of learning activities which this year, I've been feeling like I've been doing somewhat on the fly here on my own to make things more meaningful for Zoey.

Having this guide will be wonderful for me!! For Zoey too, I hope!

The illustrated book of Canterbury Tales is just beautiful! It's hard to tell, but the illustrations are surrounded with designs printed in gold ink. Zoey loves reading books with old language in them, she is itching to get started!!

I think it's fascinating that she'll be learning about the actual architecture somewhat too of the cathedrals and castles of that era.

So, I know it's early...but this is a little snapshot of what we're planning for Zoey's 8th grade year for history. We'll share more as we start in on it next fall for sure!