Nature

We have really been enjoying our nature walks! Thought I would post some pictures for my memory's sake.

Cursive Resources

Did you know that the new Common Core standards don't include cursive handwriting? I really think it's a mistake. Cursive is a discipline and a skill and a beautiful form of art. One of my daughter's handwriting was quite ignored while in school (in fact, the teachers thought she had great handwriting!!) and I was always appalled at how she wrote her papers and what passed for good and legible handwriting. I remember, when I was in second and third grade, what pride I took in having the best cursive possible. :) A little peer pressure isn't always a bad thing. My friend and I were constantly trying to have the best handwriting possible and I think it spurred us to excellence. Not so anymore... kids are given an iPad to "practice" their cursive... does this even make sense to you? How can they practice without a pencil and paper???

Anyways, enough of my ranting... you can be sure that one of the goals I have for my children, is to improve their handwriting/cursive. Louisa is a little young to learn cursive but she REALLY wanted to and Kailyn was already starting to teach her, so I thought I had better show her the correct way before she took it upon herself to self-teach with cursive.

I was really surprised to find so many FREE cursive worksheets and teaching materials! In case you are interested, here are my top two resources that I use for printing off practice sheets:

Zaner Bloser font website (they have limited free access to their worksheets and the ads are pretty annoying but it's free and I can save them as pdfs for future use!)

Printable Cursive Handwriting - this site is pretty awesome. They have three different types of handwriting/cursive fonts and TONS of free printables that are in pdf form. I used their First Year of Cursive packets with Louisa and it has worked perfectly.

Another bonus I have found while typing up my own practice sheets is the girls get to copy Scripture! and poems! and fun, personalized things! I love that I get to customize this for them!

Picture Smart Bible

For our Bible study time, we are using the Picture Smart Bible and so far, I am very impressed with it! I found this resource when I was first considering homeschooling and was discouraged that there wasn't any time in our current days to implement this and so suggested it as a resource for our church's children's program.

I was thrilled to realize, after we decided to homeschool, that I could use this in our daily Bible time!! It is a survey of all the books of the Bible and is told through drawing and coloring. When I say drawing, I really mean tracing, as the outline of the pages are done for you. The teacher's part is very easy to follow and it makes me want to draw and color alongside them but I haven't actually printed any off for myself. The survey is done well and I feel that they have covered all major points/stories and are always pointing back to Jesus and looking ahead to how He will fulfill what was lacking in the OT Law, priests, etc.

We work on these for about 15-20 minutes a day and just finished the book of II Samuel today. The company has a version of this for younger students, but I am glad I went with the adult/older kids version. Louisa is 8 and in 2nd grade, but I feel it is quite appropriate for her and apart from the story of the Levite and his concubine(!!!) I have felt that all the stories are age appropriate. And yet, there are some stories that the girls do not remember or have not heard (e.g. Jepthah and his daughter from Judges 11) but are good for them to think about and consider.

A few things, in case someone is interested in purchasing this curriculum...

-I bought the CD with the downloads and while it is handy, I think I should have bought the instant download for easier use.
-The pages for the teacher portion are A LOT to print out. I had them spiral bound at Office Depot and put a cover and back on it.
-I bought the girls each a 3 ring binder and we just hole-punch the lessons as we get to them... I did NOT print the entire OT out at one time. Then they decorated the front how they wanted.
-Make sure you have enough paper and ink when printing this out!! :)

Noli me tangere

This term, we are studying Giotto and his works of art. So far, we have studied 6 frescoes that he painted, the most recent being this one:

Noli Me Tangere, Giotto

The girls are instructed to study it without talking for about 3 minutes. They are supposed to then narrate back to me what the picture looks like (they can also give me a rough sketch) and tell me what they notice, and what they think about the painting. Most of their observations are spot on. Kailyn is always noticing the trees, or greenery and usually tells me what she thinks they represent. Louisa is always first commenting on exactly how many people are in the picture and how many are wearing "halos."

After they studied this most recent picture, I asked Louisa why she thought Jesus was holding his hand up to Mary (she had already determined it was Mary Magdalene). She said she thinks Jesus is telling her not to touch him "like it says in the Bible" that he has to return to His father first. I was happy to tell her that she was right and that the title of this painting, "Noli me tangere" is Latin for "Don't touch Me." She was excited to read the passage in John that this refers to.

Jesus said to her, "Do not cling to me, for I have not yet ascended to the Father; but go to my brothers and say to them, 'I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.'" John 20:17

The brave little deer

Check out what we saw in the woods a few days ago...

Louisa wanted to lure the deer with her flower petals.

And a pair of Downy Woodpeckers!

I don't think Kailyn will ever forget being that close to the ridiculously brave deer. :)