ARTistic Pursuits ~ High School Color and Composition, Book Two

I had the privilege of reviewing ARTistic Pursuits High School 9-12 Book 2 Color and Composition by ARTistic Pursuits. ARTistic Pursuits is a unique art curriculum that helps parents provide quality art education for their children. ARTistic Pursuits have been serving the homeschool community since 1999.

ARTistic Pursuits High School 9-12 Book 2, Color and Composition was written by Brenda Ellis. The spiral bound book contains sixteen units with each unit containing four lessons.

Topics discussed are:

• hue
• value
• balance
• rhythm 
• intensity
• shading
• lines and texture

Each book gives a list of the art supplies needed to complete each lesson. Watercolors are the primary media for this book.

Unit Breakdown:

• Building a Visual Vocabulary
• Art Appreciation and Art History
• Techniques
• Application

Each lesson gives an in depth description of how to get started:

• References to help the student succeed
• Notes to remind the student of what they need to be aware of while completing the lesson
• Objectives
• Student gallery example
• Try this section to encourage your student

For the student that has limited artistic knowledge ARTistic Pursuits breaks the lessons down in a way that he/she will be able to understand. 

Throughout the book are quotes such as:

"The beginning is the most important part of the work."

~ Plato ~

philosopher of ancient Greece


I found this very helpful art history timeline that my daughter
found helpful. She could visually see the progression
of art throughout time.  

The book has wonderful snippets of art history. Through studying art history the student gains appreciation for artists and their works. True appreciation of a work of art comes from understanding the artists intent and the time period in which the art piece was created. 

An example can be found in Thomas Gainsborough's (1727-1788), The Blue Boy. During the Renaissance, the color blue, was thought as a color to be reserved for the distant background in paintings. Gainsborough decided to prove that such old rules were nonsense. By painting with blue, in the forefront, he set out to prove that a good painter did not need to follow any rules of art but could manipulate colors to achieve a desired effect. Knowing the time period, and the reason behind the painting of The Blue Boy, one can have greater appreciation for Gainsborough's artwork. 

Using ARTistic Pursuits

My 9th grade daughter worked on various lessons throughout the book. Several years ago, we realized that our daughter had significant artistic ability. At the time we had no idea how to cultivate this talent. We tried a semester of art through a homeschool co-op and my daughter was not impressed. For the past year she has been helping out at an art studio in exchange for private art lesson. This, of course, helps but it is not enough. For the most part, my daughter has had to learn techniques and the various art mediums on her own. She was very excited when given the chance to use this book. We have looked for homeschool art curriculums before but have never found anything that really gave her the tools needed to further cultivate her talent. I was anxious to see what she would be able to create with the help of this book.

My daughter used pieces of fruit to create this watercolor picture . 

She utilized shading to give the picture a more real feel. Shading 

gives the picture dimension.

In this watercolor picture of trees, my daughter followed the steps
of creating rhythm. Rhythm gives the picture a feel of the trees being 
at various distances.

My daughter actually used pencil to create this still life of a bell pepper.

She used shading to give dimension and color variations where the light shone

on the pepper.

My daughter used acrylic paint to create this positional placement picture.
The two flowers give the picture balance. The color variations give the flowers
dimension. In the background she utilized opposing colors to bring greater 
definition to the painting.

My daughter learned a great deal of information from studying this book. The detailed instruction and explanations helped further her current knowledge of various techniques.

Throughout the book there are snippets of information on various artists. An example is:

The Artist:

Pierre-Auguste Renoir (1841-1919)

French Impressionist Painter

"Renoir frequently painted his wife, children, and friends.

Interested in reich color effects, he developed the 

Impressionistic style along with his friends,

also Impressionist painters. 

He painted happy scenes of middle-class life.

Later in life, suffering from arthritis, 

he had brushes tied to his crippled hands in order to paint."

My Thoughts
I think that this curriculum is put together amazingly well. As a home educator for my children, there are some subjects that I just cannot adequately teach and art is one of them. I am so grateful for curriculums like ARTistic Pursuits that come along side to assist the homeschool parent. This curriculum helps guide and direct the student in obtaining the needed skills and technique for art. Often times, the fine arts get the back seat to the core subjects, leaving a gap and deficit in the fine arts. I most definitely will be purchasing ARTistic Pursuits in the future. I would recommend this curriculum to other homeschoolers and educators searching for help with the arts.

Art is not what you see,

but what you make others see.

~Degas~

To read more reviews click HERE.

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Texas Rangers

Nothing says spring like the opening week of baseball season. The crowd, lights, cheering, food, laughter......

Take me out to the ball game

Take me out to the crowd.
Buy me some peanuts and Cracker Jack
I don't care if I ever get back,
'Cause it's root, root, root
For the home team.
If they don't win it's a shame.
For it's one, two, three strikes
You're out
At the old ball game. 

This song was originally posted at:
http://bussongs.com/songs/take-me-out-to-the-ball-game.php

Orphs of the Woodlands ~ The Treasure of Hightower

My children and I had the opportunity to review Orphs of the Woodlands: The Treasure of Hightower by Star Toaster.

What exactly is Orphs of the Woodlands: The Treasure of Hightower?
If your child likes adventure, than listen up!! Orphs of the Woodlands is an online interactive book. As your child reads the online book he/she will encounter Top Secret spy files, disappearing ink, sound effects and many more surprises. As your child progresses in his/her reading, he/she is able to enter the world of Ivythwaite, a land where your child will continue an adventure in the form of a game. In Ivythwatie your child will complete jobs and" educational" games, in order to care for orphs. What are orphs you ask? Well, they are little orphaned creatures that are counting on your child to take them in and care for them. After completing jobs your child earns gold stars to purchase food, shelter, supplies and medicine to care for the orphs in their care.

There are jobs in 8 subjects

Math

Science

Language

Vocabulary

Thinking Skills

Character

Life Skills

The Arts

There are over 300 lesson that your child can work through as they read 

The Treasure of Hightower.

What my children said:
My 12 year old said that she actually like Orphs of the Woodlands better than a very popular game that many children and teens are currently playing. Both of my kiddos absolutely LOVE the book and game. I guess I could say that they are a bit addicted. My daughters are constantly comparing each other's progress. On multiple occasions, my 12 year old has commented when doing her schoolwork that she learned a specific fact or concept doing "jobs" in the Woodlands. 

My 8 year old said:

"I love the book and I also love how you get to save orphaned animals. I like how you get to do jobs. I just love the whole curriculum. There is not one thing I don't like about it. My favorite jobs are life skills, science and the spy jobs. I love all of the characters and their personalities. My favorite animal is MufFum. MufFum is an orphan. She is a baby chipmunk. She is so cute."

My 12 year old said:

"Orphs of the Woodlands combines two of my favorite thing, books and games. I guess learning is a bonus, lol. In my opinion, Orphs of the Woodlands is better than Minecraft and I would like to try out more programs like it. Each chapter brings new excitement and adventure. All of the little orphs are so cute." 

Animal Facts from

The Book of Bird Shoes 

"Children are also encouraged to develop positive character traits as they study scientific facts about animals from The Book of Bird Shoes.  For example, hedgehogs eat insects that are harmful to a garden without harming the garden itself.  Because of this good deed, they are known as the "gardener's friend".

What I thought:
Wow, were do I even start!! I was extremely impressed by the book and the game. I am always hesitant when the word "game" is involved since I feel like kids already spend way too much time playing games. Well, this game is different. In order to play the games your child has to actually read first. Games are unlocked as they progress. The games are not just mindless and simple. They are educational!!! Smart thinking on the part of Star Toasters. Over the past weeks it seems so unnatural for me to say, "Sure, go play your game for as long as you want." I loved getting e-mail updates on my children's progress. Sometimes, being a busy homeschool mother, it is hard to look at everything my children are doing. 

My children have even taken their interest in the program further. My girls have created recipe books with all of the recipes that come up through out the game. My daughters play Orphs of the Woodlands pretending that they are rescuing Orphs, using their stuffed animals. 

My girls have a list of recipes that they want to try to make. 

Here is a summary of a e-mail update that I received for one of my children. 

Hi Jennifer!

Karis has finished reading chapter 10 and has learned about complementary and supplementary angles, sentences, fragments, punctuation, facts and opinions, homonyms, capitalization, cooking and nutrition, character, animal facts, vocabulary, and how to estimate the height of a tree.  There are a lot of challenging lessons in the Woodlands.  Karis has accomplished a lot!  You can view the SKILLS PAGE at any time by logging into MY ACCOUNT using your parent password.

COMING UP:

There are a lot of exciting things to learn in the Woodlands.  In the next chapters, Karis will be studying area, volume, circles, circular looms, snakes, Latin, homonyms, cooking and nutrition, character, inspirational quotes, animal facts, vocabulary, and thinking skills. There are so many fun things to learn in the Woodlands.  Karis will really enjoy the next chapters!

Customer Service
While you cannot actually call to ask questions or discuss problems that you are having with the product, the product developers provide an option to e-mail the company. At first I was thinking, great, we are having problems and I cannot even talk to someone. Well, their quick response to my e-mail about issues we were experiencing quickly changed my mind. Over the course of an afternoon they corresponded with me multiple times and offered suggestions and eventually took the issues to their technical product developers and within no time the glitch was fixed!!! I would give their customer support a definite TEN!!!

To sum it up

Reading + Learning = FUN

which in turn is a score for ME!!

Reading (the book), Learning (playing the game)

Orphs of the Woodlands definitely gets 5 stars from our family!!! Great product. Thank you Star Toaster for the opportunity to enter into the world of Ivythwatie and help save precious little Orphs. The Treasure of Hightower was a literary gem. Brilliant thinking on the part of Star Toaster. 

To read more reviews click HERE. 

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Memoria Press ~ First Start Reading

I had the opportunity to review the First Start Reading Program by Memoria Press. The program is for Kindergarten level and covers phonics, reading and printing. Memoria Press provides easy to use Classical Christian educational materials.

First Start Reading covers:

• consonants
• short and long vowels
• 45 common words 
• manuscript printing

There are thirty one phonetic stories such as, "Hogs and Pigs", "Pups and Cubs", and  "The Queen" spread throughout the four workbooks. For each letter of the alphabet, there are pictures for the child to color, that start with that letter. The child is asked to draw a picture  for each new letter learned that begins with that particular letter. I personally love when a curriculum asks a child to express themselves using their imagination. The workbook pages are simple, black and white, so as not to distract the child from their work. At the end of each workbook there is a section entitled, "First Start Reading Word Mastery Review", covering all words learned in each workbook. At the end of each book, there is an Assessment which includes word lists, dictation, and an assessment record to keep track of your child's progress.

The curriculum is black and white, except for the covers. For some children this is good since whimsical, colorful curriculums can be distracting. If you prefer fun, colorful material then you may be disappointed. 

First Start Reading Teacher Guide
The guide covers all four books (A-D) in the series. At the beginning of the guide there are really helpful charts explaining the contents found in each book.

• Letters/Sounds
• CVC Words and Common Words
• Reading Skills
• Sentences
• Page

Lesson Plans are provided for each lesson and cover such topics as: letter formation, pencil check, ear training, letter name and sound. The plans make it very easy for the parent or teacher to follow and guide the child as they work. Having taught six of my children to read, I know how overwhelming the task can be. This guide provides the tools to make the process of learning these essential first skills successful for both parent and child.

After your child has read the stories, there is a comprehension guide of questions for your child to answer.

How I Used First Start Reading
My six year old daughter worked her way through the workbooks. Because my daughter is already an emergent reader, some of the basics such as the letters of the alphabet were too elementary for her. Not all was lost because the handwriting practice for the letters was perfect to reinforce proper letter formation. My daughter enjoyed drawing pictures that corresponded with the letters of the alphabet. She loved reading the stories and illustrating a sentence from the story. She worked through the first three books at a good pace since it was pretty much review. Book D fit perfectly with her current level of learning. We took a much slower pace on this workbook. My daughter enjoyed the activities such as Find and Color, Help the Chick Find its Mother, and the Word Map that were included in Book D. Working through Book D helped reinforce the current phonics and reading skills my daughter has just recently learned. She enjoyed working through the workbooks which is helpful when tackling very important educational skills. 

Phoebe reading, Zeke the Pup, from Book D. 

Final Thoughts
There are so many phonics and first reading curriculums on the market for parents and educators to choose. If used, I would suggest that this be used as a supplement along with a more in depth core phonics/first reading curriculum. For my children, utilizing several programs that compliment one another, has been the key to developing strong readers. Where one program is weak, another is strong. The beauty of learning is having many options to explore until the perfect fit is found. 

To read more review click HERE. 

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Balloonacy

The kiddos and I went to see Balloonacy at Dallas Children's Theater. 

"Our youngest audiences will enjoy this award-winning story of a lonely old man (played by DCT’s own Karl Schaeffer) and his friendship with a balloon. The old man is set in his solitary ways until a red balloon blows through his window and insists on becoming his friend. Sweet, inventive and packed with physical comedy, this play shows how, with a little imagination and acceptance, companionship is everywhere."

This performance was unique in that there was no spoken words. This one man production used body language and sounds of emotion to convey the storyline. The audience was instructed to use body language and verbal emotions to interact with the actor. The performance reminded me a lot of the movie, UP, and the little old man in that movie. Balance was truly a thumbs up for our crew. 

Science Fun

What happens when you put lettuce leaves in water mixed with dye? 

Mixing the dye into the water.

Mixing 

Lettuce leaves are soaking.

Results (4 days later)

Some of the colors have more dramatic results, while others are subtle.

Why Did North And South Korea Split

Do you know why North and South split? If not, gather your kiddo's and take some time to find out!!


This site gives a great overview of why North and South Korea split, Asian History.

Why did North and South Korea Split

Divided Families Film

Here is an activity on North and South Korea.

South Korean Flag

North Korean Flag

Map of Korea