Picture Study

Picture Study has always been one of those things I wanted to do but just didn't seem to get around to it or since I do not know much about art history we just kind of fumbled through it. That all changed this year when Simply Charlotte Mason started offering Picture Study Portfolios. I purchased two a couple of months ago and it has mad our lives so much easier. We spend 10-15 minutes one day a week doing Picture Study. For the past five weeks we have used the portfolio of Rembrandt. What I love so much about this is you are given multiple paintings to choose from and discussion points about each painting.

This is our artist study wall. Each Friday we add a new painting to the wall. Typically with Picture Study you study one artist's work for 6 weeks but I really enjoy looking at all the paintings and getting to know each particular artist, so we will use all the paintings provided in the portfolio before moving on to another artist. Below are my two favorites so far:

Jacob Blessing Joseph's Second Son

The Return of the Prodigal Son

Art Entry

Grace's entry in a local kid's art contest when the fair starts in September. I think she titled it "

Keep Believing".

Field Trip

Monday I had a half day doctor's appt so Scott and Grace headed off on a field trip. The highest point in Georgia is Brasstown Bald. There is a shuttle available for to take you to the top or a steep, paved 25 minutes walk. They choose the walk. They had alot of fun and Grace got some well needed exercise in the process.

Thomas Edison

Currently we are studying in Science about Thomas Edison and solar energy. Today Grace picked four of Thomas Edison's inventions to include in her science journal. I find that keeping a science journal keeps Grace interested more than just answering questions from a textbook. So far her journal is filled with illustrations, pictures, and journal entries from the summer study of hermit crabs and our new study of Thomas Edison.

• Telephone - He improved the telephone by adding carbon particles which allowed people to talk longer distances.


• Incandescent Lamp - He did not invent the first light bulb but did develop a carbon-thread filament that could burn steadily for more than 40 hours and was safer.


• Phonograph - First machine that recorded sound and played it back. This was his favorite invention.


• Stock Ticker - An instrument that transmitted the constantly changing stock prices.

Better Temps

Finally it looks like the oppressive heat has left. After almost two months of above 94 degrees every day we are down in the upper 80s. I am now able to start walking again. Last night the breeze and low humidity with a temp of 80 at 7:3o made it a very pleasant walk. The 10 day forecast has us down in the 60s at night and mid to high 80s during the day. My chickens are much happier campers. All but two of my hens have started molting and stopped laying eggs. The young Buffs should start laying any day and of course Betty is still broody. This afternoon hoping to visit a small farm down the rode for fresh eggs. This will be the first time since February that I have had to purchase eggs.

An Opportunity

Some posts back I spoke about the possibility of Grace taking voice lessons. Well I am not to keen on the contract you have to sign to start this process or the fees involved. So as a family we discussed it and decided it might not be the best choice for us right now. Fast forward to today... I have a website on my favorites for home schooling activities that take place in a larger town 50 minutes from us. Rarely does anything really peak my interest, but you just never know, so I continue to look at it off and on. Today I pulled the website up and low and behold there is a acting/talent studio that has just started offering classes for home schoolers during the day. These classes focus on work in front of the camera as well as auditions, etc. Even better is the price - day classes are half the price as night classes. We would have to reschedule one day a week to attend. It would take place on a Thursday which is also the day that she takes a group art class and in the evening will be attending practices for a drama ministry team. So more than likely Thursdays will just be counted as fine arts days with outside of the house classes. The timing will be very close - 50 minutes drive to class, 1 hour class, 50 minutes drive home eating lunch in car to arrive at art class exactly one hour after the acting class ends. But I really feel like this will take it to the next level for her and that she will really enjoy it.

Some Good News

Scott has not had a traditional work schedule for the past 8 months. He is at home with us Monday - Thursday and works 12 hours days Friday - Sunday. This is a schedule we actually campaigned to implement into our lives. Since we home school Grace gets to see dad all day long four days in a row. A couple of months ago some issues were happening at work and we were worried that Scott would have to go back to a 5 day a week work - week/10 hours a day plus 2 hours drive time. Today we found out that he gets to keep his position supervising the weekend shift. This means we can still heavily garden this Fall and start putting more of our homesteading ideas in action. If the position continued to stay on the weekends through next Spring and Summer it will be even better for more gardening. We are all so relieved. Life can go on as we know it.