B is for Books Where do You Purchase Yours?

Welcome to week two of ABC Blogging.  My co-host Desiree is sharing B is for Brickheadz and I will be sharing ideas on how to source books for your Homeschool.

Books have been an intrigal part of my life for nearly three decades and I'm always on the look out for a good bargain.  Over the years I've gathered a few go to places to purchase books.

 

For New Books 

• Book Depository - I like shopping here because the price you see is inclusive of postage.  This simplifies my book purchases.
  
• Amazon - I tend to only buy Kindle books via here.
• Sonlight - I'm a huge fan and love that they stock beautiful and twaddle free literature.
  

Second-hand Books

• AbeBooks - I find this portal good for comparing the cost of second hand books
• eBay - I have purchased books here on the odd occasion when it was the only place I could find it.
• Facebook - I joined a specific Homeschool Book Sale page (In Australia look for Homeschool Buy, Sell, Swap - Australia) 

 

When Out and About

• Garage Sales
• Community Sales
• Second Hand Book Shops
• Library Sale Tables
• Opportunity Shops
  

Books Suggestions 

• I did a Book Meme a few years back where I shared my favourite books in numerous genres.  These are all still books I recommend. 
• If you are looking for a more comprehensive list of my Book List Resources look here.
• Over the years I have grouped a few of my favourite books in round up posts which can be found here:  Book Lists.
• Each Tuesday I share a favourite book here on this blog in my sections called Tuesday's Treasures.

 

I asked my My homeschooling friends purchase their books here ...

•  Boomerang Books
• Book Depository
• AbeBooks
• OverDrive - eBooks and Audio Books for Free
• Thrift Books   
• Brotherhood Books 
• World of Books
• Hoopla Digital - Your Public Library at your fingertips.
• Open Library
• Better World Books
• Southern Cross Educational Enterprises
• Book Finder

 Where do you buy YOUR homeschooling Books from ?

I would love to hear what YOU have used to teach art in your homeschool.

Blessings
Chareen 

Find the other posts here:

1. A is for Art Lessons at Home
2. B is for Books Where do You Purchase Yours?
   

 

Link up your posts starting with the letter B for this weeks ABC Blogging. This is a Blog Hop!

 

A is for Art Lessons at Home

 Welcome to week one of blogging through the alphabet.  Today is the letter A and I would like to talk about a rather cliche topic - Art in Your Homeschool and my co-host Desiree is sharing A is for Among Us.

ART is not my strong point and neither is getting out all the stuff that is needed to be creative.  My daughter loves to paint.  My first born loved drawing.  I am not an artist by any stretch of the imagination.  Nathaniel's talents are more in the digital media using Cinema 4D but we still needed to do hands on art.

I discovered early in my homeschooling journey that I needed help. Intially that came through a co-op. We would pack a lunch and go over to the hall where the children participated in a group art class.

After we moved to Australia we had no co-op we could join.  This ment I needed to find a solution.  I approached a homeschool Mom who lived in the local area and arranged with her to team up.  She taught the children music (ie recorder) and I taught a weekly art session in my home. Being accountable through the weekly Virtual Fridge link up and to their family really helped keep me on track.  .

Tessellating Tile Art found in The Usborne ART Treasury on pages 84 -87.

 

Some Ideas to do Art from Home are...

Do not LIMIT your thinking of art to drawing.  Art is truly a multifacited medium.  It covers achitecture, the decor in your home to the classical ideas of sculpture and painting.   That is what makes it such a deep experiece to have in your homeschool because you are surrounded by art everywhere you go.

Use your community.  - Immersion is a wonderful way to experience and explore art.  Look in the news, do some google searches to see What's On ...  Here a few ideas to get you started

• Lego expos,  
• Sand Sculpting,   
• Laser Light Shows, (Melbourne Town Hall Show)
  
• visit old churches take a look at the wood carvings, lead glass windows etc. 
• Cake shows or gingerbread house villages
• Attend historical exhibitions
• Look for night time attratcions  and experience how dark and light affect the way we see things.
  

Modrian Inspired Art

 

Choose a famous artist

• Look for art inspration themed around their name. 
• Artist Unit Study Claude Monet 
• Wayne Thiebaud - Artist / Art
• Piet Mondrian - Artist / Art

Book recommendations

here are a few of my favourites

• The Usborne ART Treasury
• Finger Print Drawing Book
• Global Art
• The Usborne Book of Famous Paintings 
• The Usborne ART Treasury
• Finger Print Drawing Book
• Global Art
• The Usborne Book of Famous Paintings 
• The Children's Book of ART  
• Katie and the Sunflowers
• Katie's picture Show
• Katie Meets the Impressionists
• Katie and the British Artists
• Katie and the Waterlily Pond
• Katie and the Mona Lisa
• Can You Find It, Too 
• Get into art Animals - explore 12 artists
  

Drawing Textbook Lesson 13

If you have a student who wants to learn to draw I highly recommend you invest in the Drawing Textbook by Bruce McIntyre.

For Natural History Illustration be sure to check out the FREE edX course: Drawing Nature, Science and Cultrue: Natural History Illustration 101.

Online Art Tutorial Programs we've used and enjoyed

• ArtAchieve - There are five year levels available.  You are able to purchase single lessons of any project you would like to use in your homeschool.  The lessons are presented in different formats (PowerPoint or video) by John Hofland.  Every lesson has a comprehensive lesson plan available covering many aspects on the topic at hand. Be sure to try a FREE lesson with ArtAchieve: FREE Level I-Art Lesson I-2: The Czech Cat "There is no right or wrong way to draw. One drawing is not better than another.  It's just different - because the people who are drawing are different "- John (ArtAchieve)
• See The Light -  We have loved using the video based lessons.  Each video contains three step by step lessons.  Lessons are in a step by step format and available as downloads or DVD.  You can request your free lesson from here. We have really enjoyed the Art Projects series and learnt so many great things from pop art (Repeated Sweets - Wayne Thiebaud Artist Study) to pointillism fruit.
• A few years back we did a series of art pieces via the on line art lessons using Creating a Masterpiece. I really liked the way each lesson is broken up into shorter step by step lessons making it easy to accomplish really complex pieces over a number of days or weeks. You can try a free lesson over here.

 On Pinterest

• Artists Study
• Art
• Art - Kids Craft Ideas 
• Art - Egg boxes
• Art - Ice cream sticks 
• Art - up cycled toilet rolls 
• Art - Paper Bag adventures 
• Art - Paper Plate

Picture Study Resources

• Charlotte Mason Picture Study over at the Art Class Curator.
• How to bring picture study into your homeschool over at Homeschool On.
• A Charlotte Mason Picture Study Lesson over at nourished Children.
• Ambleside Online Artist Rotation Schedule
• How to Teach Picture Study the Charlotte Mason Way over at Joy in the Home.
• FREE Charlotte Mason Picture Study Aides over at A Humble Place
• Picture Study Portfolios over at Simply Charlotte Mason.

Chareen repeated sweets: cupcakes

 Art Resources on line

•  Artist Studies
• Watercolours and notebooks Articles, Tips & Advice
• watercolour charts 
• Chalk Pastel Tutorials
• Harrington Harmonies Art Lessons
• Dry Brush Watercolour Painting  
• Water Colour Dry Brush 
• Oils
• Drawing For Young Children
• What Do You See? A Child's First Introduction To Art 
• Ken Harris Art School
• Want to Learn Art?  A list for Elementary, Middle and High School

Homeschool Friends recommend these art programs

•  You Are an Artist Chalk Art Pastel Lessons
• ARTistic Pursuits
• How Great Thou Art
• Let There Be Art
• ArtHub for Kids
• Art Achieve
• SchoolhouseTeachers.com

I would love to hear what YOU have used to teach art in your homeschool.

Blessings
Chareen

 

Link up your posts starting with the letter A for this weeks ABC Blogging.

The Singing Tree by Kate Seredy

 Earlier this year I read The Good Master by Kate Seredy. Nathaniel is working his way through Sonlight Curriculum and I discovered they had included the sequal The Singing Tree.

The Singing Tree

• Format Paperback | 256 pages 
• Dimensions 129 x 197 x 17mm | 193g 
• Publisher Penguin Putnam Inc 
• Language English Edition 
• ISBN10 0140345434 
• ISBN13 9780140345438
  

From Book Depository -  "Life on the Hungarian plains is changing quickly for Jancsi and his cousin Kate. Father has given Jancsi permission to be in charge of his own herd, and Kate has begun to think about going to dances. Jancsi hardly even recognizes Kate when she appears at Peter and Mari's wedding wearing nearly as many petticoats as the older girls wear. And Jancsi himself, astride his prized horse, doesn't seem to Kate to be quite so boyish anymore. Then, when Hungary must send troops to fight in the Great War and Jancsi's father is called to battle, the two cousins must grow up all the sooner in order to take care of the farm and all the relatives, Russian soldiers, and German war orphans who take refuge there." 

My Thoughts - I loved reading about the growth of the characters and how Jancsi father still looked after the family through his letters even though he was conscripted to the war. 

 

I was deeply touched by how the family took in many many strangers from the Russian soldiers who helped keep the farm running to the german orphans who came to be fed as well as all the local families who came to the farm for a chance at physical and emotional healing. 

 

Kate Seredy takes you on a journey through how the war had an effect on every single facet of life from the animals in the wild, the residents on the farms to the store keepers and town residents even though there were no physical shots fired in their area. They lived with the ravages of war. The book is sprinkled with beautiful illustrations by the author.   

 

The Good Master was published in 1935 and it's sequel The Singing Tree was published in 1939.

What are some books you would recommend to read about this time period?

Blessings

Chareen ♥

Who Am I? by Casting Crowns

Today is pivotal to my faith. I believe that He rose from the dead and took on my sin. It's not because of anything I did but it's everything to do with what HE DID for me and WHO HE IS.  

Casting Crowns have written and sung this beautiful  song that perfectly describes today and the depth of the gift from above towards mankind.

Who Am I? 

Who am I, that the lord of all the earth
Would care to know my name
Would care to feel my hurt?
Who am I, that the bright and morning star
Would choose to light the way
For my ever wandering heart?

Not because of who I am
But because of what you've done
Not because of what I've done
But because of who you are

I am a flower quickly fading
Here today and gone tomorrow
A wave tossed in the ocean
A vapor in the wind
Still you hear me when I'm calling
Lord, you catch me when I'm falling
And you've told me who I am
I am yours

Who am I, that the eyes that see my sin
Would look on me with love
And watch me rise again?
Who am I, that the voice that calmed the sea
Would call out through the rain
And calm the storm in me?

Not because of who I am
But because of what you've done
Not because of what I've done
But because of who you are

I am a flower quickly fading
Here today and gone tomorrow
A wave tossed in the ocean
A vapor in the wind
Still you hear me when I'm calling
Lord, you catch me when I'm falling
And you've told me who I am
I am yours

Not because of who I am
But because of what you've done
Not because of what I've done
But because of who you are

I am a flower quickly fading
Here today and gone tomorrow
A wave tossed in the ocean
A vapor in the wind
Still you hear me when I'm calling
Lord, you catch me when I'm falling
And you've told me who I am
I am yours
I am yours
I am yours

Whom shall I fear, whom shall I fear?
'Cause I am yours
I am yours

“Who Am I”
(Mark Hall)
© 2003 Be Essential Songs (BMI) (admin. at EssentialMusicPublishing.com) / My Refuge Music (BMI) (admin. at CapitolCMGPublishing.com)

Dear Mr. Henshaw by Beverly Cleary (Book 13/52)

 On Tuesday I decided it was time to resurrect my weekly book recommendation - Tuesday's Treasures and shared about books by the author Beverley Cleary.  She was a Newberry Medal Winner, a Teachers Top 100 Book author for children and won the ALA Notable Children's book award. She wrote timeless, beautiful books.  For this weeks edition of 52 Books in 52 Weeks and in honour of her contribution to literature I decided to read the gorgeous hard cover edition of Dear Mr. Henshaw.

 Dear Mr. Henshaw

• Format Paperback | 133 pages 
• Dimensions 133 x 190 x 10.16mm | 91g 
• Publisher HarperCollins Publishers Inc I
• Language English 
• Author Beverly Cleary
• Illustrator Paul O. Zelinsky
  
• ISBN10 0380709589 
• ISBN13 9780380709588
  

From Book Depository - Beverly Cleary's timeless Newbery Medal-winning book explores difficult topics like divorce, insecurity, and bullying through the thoughts and emotions of a sixth-grade boy as he writes to his favorite author, Boyd Henshaw.

After his parents separate, Leigh Botts moves to a new town with his mother. Struggling to make friends and deal with his anger toward his absent father, Leigh loses himself in a class assignment in which he must write to his favorite author. When Mr. Henshaw responds, the two form an unexpected friendship that will change Leigh's life forever.

From the beloved author of the Henry Huggins, Ramona Quimby, and Ralph S. Mouse series comes an epistolary novel about how to navigate and heal from life's growing pains. 

My Thoughts -  I was rather surprised by this little gem. Dear Mr. Henshaw is written entirley from the perspective of Leigh through letters (epistolary) to Mr. Henshaw.  

The books opens up with a letter when he is in second grade and writes his first letter to Mr. Henshaw. It progresses to Leigh's sixth grade year just after his parents seperate. Through his letters to Mr. Henshaw we learn about his concerns and inner conflicts. We walk alongside him as he struggles with being the new kid in school, his changing relationship with his father and a lunch box thief. 

The character development is realistic as Leigh struggles with divorce child blues, loneliness and flashes of inspirational wisdom on dealing with life in a more mature way (not catching the thief).  He learns that pursuing a dream is not always easy however pursuing it does have unexpected outcomes some times (when he enters a writing competition... that will be a spoiler you will need to read the book to find out what happened.)

I really enjoyed reading this story and think that young adults and tweens could benefit and grow in empathy towards others through reading Dear Mr. Henshaw. 

My Completed Reading list for 2021

1. The Reading Life by C.S. Lewis
2. Joseph Dreamer of Dreams by E. Traylor
3. The Good Master by Kate Seredy
4. The Girl from the Train by Irma Joubert 
5. False Impression by Jeffrey Archer
6. To Ride Pegasus by Anne McCaffrey
7. Pegasus in Space by Anne McCaffrey
8. The Rowan by Anne McCaffrey
9. Damia by Anne McCaffrey
10. Damia's Children by Anne McCaffrey
11. Lyon's Pride & The Tower and the Hive  by Anne McCaffrey
12. Siezure by Robin Cook 
13. Dear Mr. Henshaw by Benerly Cleary

 What books do you recommend for tweens that are deeper and throughtful books?

Linking with Read 52 Books in 52 Weeks BW13

Blogging Through The Alphabet begins 8 April 2021!

Mark your calendars friends, there is a new round of Blogging Through The Alphabet which is begining on Thursday 8th April Australia EST (Wednesday 7 April USA EST).  

Desiree from Our Homeschool Notebook is hosting this round of Blogging Through the Alphabet and has graciously invited me to join her as a co-host.

I attempted to join a Blogging Through the Alphabet in 2014 however due to work and homeschooling commitments I was not able to complete it. However it has remained on my radar as something I really wanted to do.

The challenge is to blog or create a social media post about each letter of the alphabet begining on April the 8th with the letter A. The topic I have chosen is A is for Art Lessons at Home. 

You're Invited to Join in the Fun of Blogging Through the Alphabet

• Blog about what ever the letter for the week is.
• Come link up to the post hosted here or at Our Homeschool Notebook.
• The posts will be scheduled for 7 am Australia EST on Thursdays (that is Wednesday 5 pm USA EST)

Most of all lets have fun together and be creative. 

Here are some ideas to help you get started...

• What would you teach that week in your homeschool with the letter of the week?
• Use the letter for your devotional for the week and share some encouragement.
• Create some word art for your word of the week. Here is an example from Ben and Me V is for Victory.
• Write about your favourite resource for the week
• Create a fun list or round up for the week with that letter
• Choose a theme and tackle it from 26 different angles. Cristi from over at Through the Calm and Throug the Storm did that for round five of blogging through the alphabet and chose to share about Years Ago in her family.  You can see a sample she did for Q here - Q is for Question.
• Take a look at what others have done in the past for inspiration.  Marcy over at Ben and Me hosted five rounds of ABC Blogging.
• Take a photo/s of some thing that starts with that letter of the alphabet and share it on social media and link up.
  

What are some topics you would like to see discussed on homeschooling here on the blog?  I need some ideas from you to add to the list.

Blessings

Chareen 

**Rules for linking up:

1. Your post must be family-friendly. We have the right to remove any posts that are inappropriate. 
2. When linking up you agree to give us permission to share your post or a photo in any future blog posts and social media shares.
3. Please link back to the host or co-hosts blog, and use the image if you want.
4. Please visit another blog in the linky and comment so we can encourage one another.
5. Make sure your posts relate to the alphabet or blogging through the alphabet in some way.
6. The link-up will be available for one week for each letter.
7. If you can’t join for one week, don’t stress. Just join next time, and enjoy!
8. Have Fun, be Creative.
   

Pregnancy is not an April Fools Joke

1 in 8 of your friends Struggle to get pregnant

Some of your friends have lost a baby

1 in 4 Pregnancies is lost in misscarriage 

 

I saw a post on Facebook today that touched me and I wanted to share the words of truth I saw there.  I've made my own graphic because...

I am 1 in 8

I spent more than a decade waiting for two pink lines...

Every four weeks...the reminder of another month of emptyness

A little one who asks... Mommy can we have a baby?

Sadness... Watching a child grow up alone

The guilt... at least you have one

The pain... a heartache that never leaves

Menopause ... the death of hope

I am 1 in 4

One day those lines did appear...

And a few weeks later I joined the statistic...

Words not to say to a grieving mother...  

Don't worry you will have another... I did not.

I watched other mothers go on to have multiple children

Empty arms on a due date ... Mother's Day

Mothers Day ... a birthday missed

The heartache ... that returns uninvited

The grief ... of empty arms