Pictures from Feb 10-15, 2014

Pictures from:

 Feb 10-15, 2014

 I had just cleaned the picnic table off, so the snow on the table is all new.  I measured 5 1/4 inches.  Then we got new snow last night; another 1+ on top of the previous 5; but our forecast is looking up for next week!!!

Dd's card to Dh

Dd's card to me--- I love it!

Dd made this for her buddy--

Another really cold week in Indiana (and more snow heading our way as I type!).  Dd went out on Monday for basketball practice, Thursday we went to LHE Co-op classes, and Saturday we went to our 7th out of 8 basketball game--and that is the extent of our outings.  This is our third year doing Upwards Basketball; and in all the previous years we would practice on our basketball goal in our driveway on shooting---but NOT this year!  This year our driveway has been covered in snow!  It is just so weird to compare this season to the other seasons; and know how different they are.  

Warm-up before game went well.  Our Seminoles won 24-4 or something like that.  Dd did really well on defense this game; which has been something they have been working on.  B/c the other team wasn't scoring they had the older kids pass to the younger kids on our team to score more; which was really great to see some of our 'unsung' heroes get to shine.

This is one of my favorite moments in the game--Dd really got down on the floor and went after the ball.  Sometimes she STANDS more than bending and going after the lower spectrum of the balls ventures; but she does a great job always on rebounding off the boards.

 

As of last night this is the SNOWIEST winter ON RECORD for Indiana!  We have already broken the record, and it is only Feb. 16th!  We still get snow up to April; and occasionally in April!  This is definitely going to be a hard winter to break for the future.  We have had 51.5 inches already.  The funny thing is that although we think we have had such a record breaking year, places in New England that normally get 70-80 inches have received over 100 inches of snow; something like 120 or more most likely; so that makes our 51.5 inches look like a joke!  It is all what you are use to (isn't that right, Christie!  You are tired of all the snow you've had and you've had less than 20 inches, I think.)  I must be getting old....going on and on about the weather!  I must say, it has made the birds like me a lot though!  But, they always like us in the winter when our bird feeders are full!

This week has been a very, very busy one for Dd.  This has been the week of making swords and daggers!  I think she has made 4 different ones.  They are all roughly based from different Percy Jackson character's swords.  She has seriously had a BLAST making these.  She has done some more coloring of Star Wars pictures; but that was second place to this project.  She also knitted one arm glove, now to make the second glove for it to be a complete pair of arm warmers.  That project started on Monday, but got dropped once she found the sword project so fun...

Each of the swords and daggers have a sheath and belt so they can be worn either across Dd's shoulders diagonally or like a belt; but she prefers across the chest style best.

 
The long sword is made out of two yard sticks put together, and the short daggers are made out of cardboard, then duct tape.  The sheaths are made out of duct tape alone.  ETA: she did get a new duct tape that is silver and covered the green part silver, to make it look like a real sword.  The purple thing is her sheath with sling.

 

Our Core stuff---we are in India now!  It is very interesting, and luckily I had bought quite a few books on India at various book sales; so I am good on that country.

Isn't this funny!!!

This male robin---okay, so I am NOT getting my hopes up...especially since he wasn't here today; but he has been hanging out in our tree off and on for days!!!!  Irony of all ironies, is that all our neighbors will get birds NESTS in their trees, in their yards...but we DON'T!!!  I don't know WHY!  None of our neighbors feed or care about animals at all, and they get the babies!  But, the babies do come to our feeders once they can fly.

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Mrs. C's Art Class Spring 2013

Mrs. C's Art Class Spring 2013

This post is going to be: In Process

Class one- She spent the class discussion the different proportions of the human body in drawing; depending on what type of drawing you are doing--- in a normal figure drawing class, the ratio would be that the length of the body would be 7 heads long.  In Manga it would be X, in Marvel Comics then it is longer still, close to 10 or so.  I didn't take notes on this, and Manga and Marvel aren't my thing...but it was interesting and a lot of the students in the class are interested in that information. 

Then she had them work on getting down the stereotypical proportions for the 'average' human body in "figure drawing'.  She had a form / graph printed on a white sheet of paper and put that inside a SHEET PROTECTOR.  Then the students would trace or draw on top of the sheet protector with a DRY ERASE MARKER; and then they could erase their mistakes with a piece of cloth.

I will try to take a picture of her form and post it.  She did a good job giving the students a good idea of where the head, neck, shoulders, arms, wrists, etc. hit and line up along the body.

Class Two:  The had the students draw a "Hang-Man" stick figure, and then proceed to show them how disproportionate that drawing it.  Then she re-discussed how the human body is typically 7 heads long/tall....if you don't know what I am saying pick up a pencil and a piece of paper--then draw 7 circles of the exact same size one on top of the other, vertically, up, like building a snowman,  draw your circles very lightly,  the top circle is the real head of the figure and the bottom 6 make up the rest of the body--the neck all the way down to the heel, the feet actually angle off and farther down past that last circle a little bit; but the heel would stop at the circle hitting the floor. 

She did a really good job of making sure she pointed out that this is just a AVERAGE, b/c as YOU know; we are all so very DIFFERENT...and this is just a drawing exercise to help teach your eye (and hand) how to get some practice.  Some people are (or is it "most") not going to fit into this proportional measure.

Now for the fun activity:
1) She had the students pick out 2-3 magazine cut outs; specifically ones that had the whole body there. 
2)Then put the magazine sheet INSIDE their plastic SHEET PROTECTOR ,
3)and get out their DRY ERASE MARKER
4)Draw a circle where the head is
5)draw a tiny circle for each of the two collar bones, then a line connecting them
6)draw a tiny circle/dot for the elbows, and a line connecting the elbows to the collar bone
7)draw a circle where the wrists are, and a line connecting the wrist to the elbow
8)draw a circle where the belly button is
9)draw a circle where each hip bone is
10)draw a circle where each knee is, and draw a line from the hip circle to the knee circle
11)draw a circle for each of the ankles, draw a line from the ankle to the knee
12) draw a line from the ankle circle to the end of the toes

****
Then remove the magazine from inside the sheet protector and you will see just the stick figure form you drew; which is pretty interesting and in good proportion!  Then she suggested that the students take a sheet of regular white paper and a pencil and draw their stick figures onto a that piece of paper.

The drawing without the magazine inside the sheet protector.

The magazine cut-out was of the Statue of Liberty.

This activity helps the students to get better at drawing figures in correct proportions.

This class was on the differences between Comic and Manga.  Some of the classifications written on the board were:
Comic Illustrations are known for the following things: Action/Adventure, Divide & Conquer, Ongoing storyline, Set formula, Mass Productions (similar to McDonalds productions), Lots of Color, Dialogue Bubbles, Snapshots of expressions, Limited Frames, Focus on details--left to right.

Manga Illustrations are known for the following things: 
Any genre & novels, One Artist or writer, Creative as Possible, Crazy and Wild composition--original, Black and White Tones, Dialogue that is Integrated, Fluidity of Emotions, Less Detail, Top to Bottom--right to left... 

In class on 2-20-14; Mrs. Cole's gave a presentation on Manga--here are my class notes:
Manga started in Asia; impromptu sketches - whimsical. Francis Barlow printed  sequential plates; then William Hobath -1700's- A Rake's Progress- Series of Progress. Series of plates, illustrations, Matt & Jeff 1904 or 1907.  Astro Boy creator watched women in theater plays.  Maybe that is why his characters are so feminine.  Then Western comics influenced Asian Manga.

Last class pictures:

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Core F Week 15 Feb. 3rd-15, 2014

Core F 

Week 15 

Feb. 3rd-15, 2014

Another snow filled week here in the Antarctic!  I think the weather station said we have already had 44 inches of snow - and it is only the first week of Feb.!  Gracious! I am beginning to think that I could drive in the snow; this has been very good for my nervousness about that and I've grown accustomed to it.  I still hit "my" breaks, on the passengers side when my husband is driving me around.  His idea of when to break, and my instinct of when breaking should start are two different times apparently!!  He is fearless!

Well, my heart is still very heavy, sad, and pained over my Joe.  Over 13 years of day-in, day-out friendship and companionship--loyal and true. As I sit here and type this I can't imagine that I won't have him coming over to visit me.  I don't want to look down beside me, because he won't be there---lovingly looking up at me, patiently waiting his turn, when I will stop pecking and start petting him.  Such a great cat; a cat that seriously only had eyes for me.  The vet asked if my daughter would be upset, and I had to honestly tell her, 'no', that he was "my cat".  He didn't see anyone else in the world (or the house) but me and the way he would look at me was as if I was much more than I am--I could never deserve such affection.  I'll stop talking about him now, or I'll really start crying.  But, this was a really hard week for me.  But, I am relieved he is out of the spiral downwards.  I don't have to see him getting worse and worse and worse--which was torture for me; although he took it in stride--never complained.  I am so thankful that our heavenly Father gave me a cat that showed me such love.

We finally finished our 'slow' audio Captains Courageous by Rudyard Kipling, and I wanted to say a few things about it.  I don't know why it isn't pushed out there more and recommended b/c it really has some good lessons for middle school or high school students.  It could be that it was written in the 1800's and therefor has the unfortunate wording - has the 'N' word in it a few times.  That really is bothersome, but you can tell that it was really from the time period that it was written.  It also has some sentences and impressions that are of the times regarding woman and men too; but that is only natural with an older book.  If you can look past those things, like we do with Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn then you are in for a very unique story. 

Basically it is the evolution of a spoiled rich 15 year old boy into a humbled, hard working young man who understands the value of money and a hard days work.  His transition is one that we would all wish upon our children; or at least I would hope on mine.  But, as a parent it also had some insights that were pertinent.  The boy had been washed overboard, and found in the sea by a ship as they were heading out for a big fishing expedition.  They didn't return back to New England for a few months; just long enough for the boys transformation to take place.  Upon his landing, he telegraphed his parents to come pick him up (and that he was alive!!!!).  When his father arrived, he was amazed to see not his former impudent son, but a new creature entirely--one he could be proud of--not a disgrace like before.  

His father is a billionaire and is quite successful in many aspects of his life.  He confides in his son about his career and tells his son the one type of man that looms above him: "The Learned".  Here is one of the best sections of the book, in my opinion, where he describes how this world belongs more and more to the men who rest their elbows on their chins and READ...get college educations...etc. etc.  How the educated men see him as a "muddler"; someone who is uneducated, but still somehow makes his way through this world making money and succeeding.  He wants more for his son; to gain the knowledge and experience he has to offer his son; PLUS a college education of book learning!  It was such a good little speech!  I really enjoyed it tremendously.  I asked my daughter what she thought of it, and she didn't even really notice this section.  I guess it was more inspiring for us parents whose goals of helping our children to soar are similar to his.  It was a very inspiring story, we listened to it on audio; and I bet I listened to disc 5 about 5 times--over and over again trying to get every morsel and nugget of information out of it that I could.  As Mr. Knightly would say..."Well Done!"

*****

I'm going to try to do this update without my bells and whistles b/c after I typed up my entry it didn't get saved.  I spent over an hour typing, cutting, and pasting getting it just right...now I am just going to try to get it down and not spend any more time on it than necessary to feel like I've accomplished my task.

This week's art from Dd was coloring Star Wars pictures, I'll post them here and there throughout this posting:

 

Bible:
Veritas Press: Genesis Through Joshua
We have finished cards 28, 29, 30, & 31 this week.

We were reading Deut. 34, Joshua 1,2,3,4,5,6; Joshua 21 & Judges 1.  After reading each section our bible we read the matching section in our Believer's Bible Commentary.
We did our sections on Journey Through the Bible, The Greenleaf Guide to the Old Testament, and VP worksheets.  Some weeks we just really click on doing our Bible; and this week was one of those weeks.  



Math: Math U See Zeta: 16 A-E
Skip Counting Family- 8 Family, 3x per day- each day



Photography: Dd is still enjoying taking pictures of birds and natures scenes.
 



Read Aloud's:

The Land I Lost-completed
There should be a warning with this book, as the protagonist is very un-American and see's animals so drastically different than we do.  It was harsh to our senses to read these chapters, and apparent we were in another culture that thought and lived very opposed to how we relate to animals.

Whatever Happened to Penny Candy-completed 
We finished this up...no raves from Dd.

Pilgrim's Progress by John Bunyan (in Old English)- in process

SL assigned "Articles" (in IG):
Religion in Modern China
India Land of the Devout
Hinduism: From Here to Nirvana

100 Gateway Cities
we read sections from South East Asia

Dh read some at night: in process
The Case for Christmas by Lee Strobel



Computer Odd's:
CNN Student News

Rosetta Stone French--30 minutes

EHN / World Book :
30 minute sessions- 5 sessions





 Science:
Apologia: Zoology 2: Swimming Creatures: 
WHALES (pg.s 47-50)





Language Arts:
SL Language Arts pages-Week 5,6, and part of week 7

Following Narnia-IEW
Outline for Magicians Nephew

Vocabulary for Following Narnia:
vengeance, ostentatious, abominably

Fix-It- IEW
Week 29-completed

AAS 5: Step 26 passed

Daily Grams
Day 16-20 (pg per day)



Dd's Reader's:

Just So Stories - The Original Classic Edition by Rudyard Kipling

Just So Stories by Rudyard Kipling

The Gold-Threaded Dress by Carolyn Marsden

The Gold-Threaded Dress by Carolyn Marsden-completed

The Titan's Curse (Percy Jackson and the Olympians, Book 3) by Rick Riordan

Titan's Curse-Percy Jackson-Rick Riordan-completed (she had started this book last week)

The Last Olympian (Percy Jackson and the Olympians, Book 5) by Rick Riordan

The Last Olympian-Percy Jackson-completed (she read this whole book within the week! and on her free time at night and in the mornings before our lessons started)

LHE Co-Op:
Dd has 3 classes each Thursday:
1) Mission to Mars
2) Gym
3) Drama




 
Artist of the Week:
Pieter Brugel

Pieter Bruegel (Getting to Know the World's Greatest Artists) by Mike Venezia

Pieter Bruegel (Great Artists) by Adam G. Klein

What Makes a Bruegel a Bruegel? by Richard Muhlberger

This is a fine example of how buying art books at used books stores is--you can have 3 books on Peiter Bruegel, which are all really book, btw, and none on another equally great artist!  It is really the luck of what is available.  But, we really liked all three of these books.



 Poet of the Week:
John Keats

Classic Poetry: An Illustrated Collection by Michael Rosen

Norton Anthology of Poetry by Alexander Allison

The Poets' Corner: The One-and-Only Poetry Book for the Whole Family by John Lithgow

Since John Keats was such a prolific poet, we had LOTS to read this week!!!  I think I might have drowned Dd in poetry this week.  The book by John Lithgow had a nice summary on John Keats, which was more than the brief paragraphs the other two books provided.  For once, I think we really did a super good job on having a week of poetry.




Composer of the Week:
Fanny Mendelson Hensel

Meet the Great Composers, Bk 2: Book & CD (Learning Link) (Paperback) - Common by By (author) June Montgomery

Upwards Basketball: Practices on Monday and games on Saturday mornings.  Dd lost game 6 of 8; but played a good game.  But, they had won the first 5 games--so it was a good rounding out to have a loss in there.




How to make a Marshmallow Catapult:

Since I was in a Catapult class that make a catapult out of wooden skewers, plastic spoon, masking tape, large marshmallows, small marshmallows, rubber bands and it was so much fun I brought home the materials and had Dd make her own catapult and test it out!!!




The necessary materials---plus masking tape--if you want to make one of this catapults at your home too.




 

First make the triangle base below, then make the triangle come up and meet in the middle as shown above.



 

One of the bases will have two posts coming up out of it, one for the top triangle, and one to hold your --- (take your remaining skewer and measure where to tape your plastic spoon so that it will long enough so that it will shoot well, then once you've measured it, then tape the spoon to the skewer.  Then put a rubber band through the two opposing sides of the top triangle so the spoon has somewhere to hang, then put your spoon through and push into it's base and test it out with small marshmallows.  In our class one student used TWO rubber bands and his catapult shot farthest of all, so you can experiment with how long to make your spoon or how many bands, or whichever you want.  After a few shots our marshmallows gave way and we had to help by holding our catapult as we shot it.  But, it was still fun to do!

 

 And the fun begins---blasting the small marshmallows all around the room!!!

ETA: then the next day the marshmallow gets harder and works even better.

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