Picture Study- A Charlotte Mason Approach

Winslow Homer - Waiting for Dad

While there are many things in our homeschool day that I orient around a classical education, I truly appreciate a large part of the Charlotte Mason (CM) philosophy and practices in home academics. Some time back I decided to purchase the Dover Publications Art Cards to put to use in a CM picture study manner. I have been meaning to post about these cards and how I prepared them for some time, and when I read the two most recent posts from Simply Charlotte Mason, I was encouraged to share. (If you are not familiar with picture study, please, please take the time to learn how simple and meaningful this is. Go here and here to start.)

When I ordered my art cards from Dover I loved the way they had information about each card in the books. I knew I wanted to make an "art library" using the cards, but I wasn't willing to give up the overviews of the artists while discarding the cover and leftovers of the book. So, I decided to cut out and save the parts that I could use.

My intentions were to create photo albums with the cards. I pasted the overview information to an insert for the back cover of my album and added specific information to the reverse side of the images. Then I combined all the cards and the information in 4X6" photo albums. Now I have an easy reference for finding images by artist or artistic style. While these small prints don't show the detail of a larger image, I am glad to have them available and for a reasonable price.

Now let's do some picture study!Frank Benson - Sunlight

Memory Building

Last fall I had the privilege of gaining and sharing a wealth of information with a group of homeschool moms led by a Master Homeschool Teacher. (I call her a "Master" teacher based on her years of experience schooling both her own children as well as others.) From this time I gleaned many useful ideas that I have enjoyed implementing in my own school. Here is one of them...

Mental Memory Building

My objective with this activity is to encourage memory skills, directional awareness, attentiveness and color recognition. Each is a basic skill that is used in all areas of life and especially academics. I use this with all my kids at different levels of difficulty.

For the materials, we use what we have on hand, LEGO DUPLO, stored in the cooler you see in the photos =). We play it as a game and the kids love to do it, but they also let me know when they are done. Mental activities can be taxing, so move along when they are ready.

To start I select a series of blocks, usually 3 blocks in 2 colors, and set them in a line.

I allow my child to look at the blocks for a period of 1 second per block before hiding them and asking them to recreate the series I had with the blocks placed in front of them. When they announce they are done, we compare their blocks to mine to see if they remembered correctly. We casually dismiss errors and praise both hard work and correct answers.

After the child has shown they can easily get 3 blocks I move to 4 blocks in 2 colors, 4 blocks in 3 colors and finally 4 blocks in 4 colors. We keep adding to this until they are worn out or the level of difficulty is too great.

For my older boys I have found that creating a line alone is too simple, so I add more blocks and start moving in different planes.
This challenge can continue to grow as much as desired by the parent and child. My kids have found it is fun to test their siblings.
The best part is when they get to challenge you!
A great tool even for adults to build basic mental memory skills.

For a system available for purchase that uses this type of training, Audiblox, is a brand I am aware of although I have not used it myself and cannot give an opinion regarding it. On their site you can find a number of videos clips that demonstrate these ideas, and their use for learning disabled students.

The Organized Home Schooler

Though there are days the above title can feel like an oxymoron, there is hope. In this inspiring book by Vicki Caruana help abounds. Each chapter is a mix of encouragement and checklists to order your life and school while building off the solid foundation of God’s Word. The author addresses all areas of concern from abstract issues such as heart matters and time management to the basic physical concerns of organizing paperwork, supplies and materials.

This book has been a welcome addition to my own library. It is an encouragement for me now and will remain on my shelf as a guide when reevaluating in years to come. I especially appreciate Mrs. Caruana’s reference to Scripture as our source for orderliness and work ethic reminding me that all that I do needs to be done to the glory of God. The checklists fit my personal style of completing tasks, though the book is written to be a source of reference for all types of personalities.

Mrs. Caruana’s insight comes from her own experiences as a former public school educator and a homeschooling mother of two. She frequently speaks at homeschool conventions and shares through workshops and her online blog, Apples & Chalkdust. For more information regarding this book or others like it please visit http://www.crossway.org/blog.

{This book was received as part of the Crossway Book Review Program. All opinions are my own.}

Christmas Wrap-Up

Now that the New Year is here, I decided I should take some time to wrap up our Christmas Around the World posts. While in America most of us have begun putting away our holiday regalia, in Siberia and elsewhere the holiday season has just begun. So here's the rest of what we learned this Christmas....We can still have a fruitful year even if our wheat didn't grow 6 to 8 inches. We were amazed how quickly it grew at all.My version of the Croatian Licitar Heart is neither dough nor edible, but it does have a "mirror" of aluminum foil to reflect the soul.Babuska may be a legend in parts of Russia (La Befana in Italy), but a good friend in Siberia has never heard stories of her. She does make a cute ornament, though.

And for the food...Bolivian Bunuelos- These are a more Puerto Rican style, but I look forward to trying authentic Bolivian Bunuelos someday.Puerto Rican Pasteles- Not sure the masa I made out of pumpkin, green bananas, plantains, potatoes and yucca was quite right, but the filling was delicious. Again, I'd love to try authentic pasteles in the future.Tanzanian Green Beans & Potatoes- A yummy version of potato salad that I will have to make again, though next time I may go for smaller veggies.
Philippino Pancit Bihon- An excellent recipe and a crowd pleaser. This may become a regular at our house.Croatian Braid Bread- So good! This tangy, sweet bread is a treat I hope to make more in the future. It is wonderful breakfast bread.
Russian Tea & Cakes- Excellent and a favorite even before this Christmas, albeit not Siberian necessarily. Alex sent us some favored Siberian salads that we will have to try soon.American Green Bean Casserole- It wouldn't be the holidays without it, right?

Hope all had (or are having) a wonderful holiday season. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

While studying about Siberian Christmas we found this fun animation of the Christmas story.



We also learned that Christmas Eve dinner in Siberia is often a meal with 12 parts or dishes. These twelve items represent the 12 Apostles during the Holy Supper. Supper is served on Christmas Eve after the first star appears in the sky. I especially like finding that "After dinner, no dishes are washed and the Christmas presents are opened". I believe this is something we will have to do after our Christmas Around the World meal.

As a child myself I remember my mom sharing "Russian Tea" with us. I have found that indeed the instant tea, made with Tang, is based off a traditional tea made in Russia. Here is a yummy-looking recipe I hope to use with my family.

Russian Spice Tea - Christmas Holiday favorite
Ingredients:

3 lemons	2 quarts weak tea
3 oranges	2 tbsp. whole cloves
1 pt. pineapple juice	2 c. sugar

Preparation: Squeeze juice from the lemons and oranges. Pour some boiling water over the cloves and let stand for 10 minutes. Strain the juice and cloves. Add sugar and mix well. Add the tea and heat to boiling. Serve hot.

On this same site is a recipe for Russian Tea Cakes, very similar to Mexican Wedding Cookies. I think we will have to have some of these to go with our tea.

Oh my, our Christmas Around the World celebration is going to be quite festive and yummy. I hope I am able to pull it all together. Check back soon to see what all we put together. I hope to have a menu finalized in the coming days and will post it as soon as I do.

Links:
Russian American Christmas

Christmas in Siberia

As we move away from Croatia our schedule is getting busier with Christmas preparations of our own, but we wanted to take the time to look at a few more countries, so today we will focus on a region in Russia, Siberia. As most people imagine, this part of the world can get incredibly cold during this time of year, but I have enjoyed reading about the way they bundle up and face the cold as they go on with daily life.

Christmas occurs in Siberia on January 6th as the Russian Orthodox refused to follow the Gregorian calendar and instead use the Julian to determine the date of the holiday. Because of this Christmas comes after the celebration of the New Year which is often the bigger celebration of the two. Christmas was also outlawed during a time in Soviet reign and this has had an effect on the traditions that have lasted to today.

One story we enjoyed hearing from Siberia was the folktale of Babushka, grandmother, and the role she plays in the gift-giving. It is the story that the three wise men asked Babushka to join them on their way to Baby Jesus. She refused and regretted it later. So, today she offers gifts to all the good children in place of the gifts she missed giving to the Christ-child.

Also in Siberia we found the Santa Claus is represented instead by Dedushka Moroz, Grandfather Frost, and his grandaughter, Snegurochka. These two show up on New Year's Eve to offer gifts of candy to the children.

Links:
Russian Crafts
Russian Christmas

Praying for the work of Alex and Yulia in Siberia. Learn more from them at Transform Siberia.

Christmas in Croatia- Cont.

Though I haven't had time yet to make and photograph the ornament for our Christmas Around the World Tree, I am planning to base it off this Croatian traditional ornament, the Licitar Heart. These hearts are given during many special celebrations in Croatia as a symbol of love. They are often edible, though I don't think mine will be.



For our meal I am hopeful our wheat that we planted on the 13th will have grown some, and we will place it in the middle of Bozic Pletenica, a braided bread wreath. A great-looking recipe can be found here.

I also hope to make Croatian Knedle (Potato Plum Dumplings) using the recipe found here. I may be a bit overambitious on all this food, but do hope to have as much of it done ahead of time as possible. We'll see.