Little PineMy little pine tree is just a few feet tall.
It doesn't even have a trunk yet.
I keep measuring myself against it
But the more I watch it, the slower it grows.
~Wang Jian
The Magic Horse of Han Gan tells a legendary account of the ancient Chinese artist, Han Gan, who painted horses on silk in the ninth century. Beautiful!
Also reading Welcome to China (DK Reader), watching the Schlessinger Countries Around the World: China DVD, and adding landmarks of China to our Around the World cards.
6 comments:
Heidi,
How do you decide what to study, and when? Your schedules look so organized AND fun! What's your secret? :) Or are you just naturally God-gifted!
I love stopping by to see what you guys are up to...
Blessings!
Mrs. Q
Ahhh. If you only knew. :) For math and grammar, we simply do the lessons in our lesson books. For handwriting, I write something on Levi's handwriting paper that corresponds with our studies in some way (a sentence or two about history or science, a grammar rule, a Bible verse, a couple lines from a poem, etc.) and have him copy it. For history and science, we have our books that give us our main outline of studies and I pick books from our shelves or from the library that go along with the topic we are reading about. Sometimes I do videos from the library. Both our science and history programs have reading lists and suggested activities. Honestly, I don't do much planning and our routine is all over the place right now. For music, art, and geography things are completely spontaneous at this point. It just depends on what strikes my fancy at the library. If I find one thing that looks good, I usually try to find another additional source that will reinforce the topic (a book or two, a video, a picture or site online...) I do very little ahead of time, going from week to week, and we aren't spending hardly any time each day lately.
When I think about it, I just enjoy tying things together. Levi is using a simple book of hymns for piano lessons and I had him write the words to one of the hymns for his copywork and we listened to it on a Hymns for Children CD, for example. I would probably be a unit studies kind of mom if I didn't also like things without gaps and in chronological order. Wow, maybe I'm just a control freak. :)
Heidi - I just love coming to your site as well because you inspire me in so many ways. When I go to the library now, I am always looking for "connections". I have found I am tying things together, when before I just found whatever random books looked good. (We still do a lot of that, too :))
I also think of you when I start looking at the world around me. Just the other day, I noticed a field of beehives that I drive by just about every day. They were not that awesome blue color, but I still realized I need to slow down and appreciate my surroundings.
And, of course, the decorating ideas are beautiful!
Thanks for a great site!
Mandy
Oh I wish I had asked to look more closely at your notebook/school organization. After my trip next week I think I will try to get my notebooks in order so that I am ready for the year that is to come. Do you use the Wise/Bauer system which is the subject notebook filing system?
I guess I should delurk on here since clearly you've "found me out"!! :) I love seeing your beautiful pictures and reading about the adventures of your boys.
~ Sarah
Hi Heidi
What fantastic books you have discovered to teach your boys about China. You are very inspiring and I always wonder how you come across such unique finds.
Hope you are having a wonderful day.
Love
Elise
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