Seven Quick Takes on Plutarch, FREE Picture Study Resources, Planning Webinar, and More!

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In case you missed my very excited Facebook post, Anne White’s first Plutarch Project paperback {ooh! alliteration!} is now available on Amazon! I am excited, and I mean loudly so. I love Anne’s guides, and I print them out religiously, two to three times per year. But that is a lot of printing, and I already have two binders full. To have a simple little paperback, with everything in one place, is a dream. come. true. Dream come true, people! I was just getting ready to print this term’s copy out when I realized Anne had finished her first volume of the series. If you haven’t printed Plutarch yet, this is a great option for you!

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Last Friday, I forgot to tell you about Mystie-My-Pretend-Life-Coach’s free live planning help webinar {planning for life — not just school!}, so you might have missed it yesterday. But not to worry! She assures me that the replay is still available — and will be available for quite some time — so head on over and sign up:

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This week’s links collection:

• How The Ballpoint Pen Killed Cursive from The Atlantic.
  • What do you think? Would you get a child a fountain pen for school?
• Fixated by Screens, but Seemingly Nothing Else from The New York Times.
  • Did you know this? “[A] child’s ability to stay focused on a screen, though not anywhere else, is actually characteristic of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder.”
• 3 Reasons Millennials Are Getting Fired from Ink.
  • Charlotte Mason was right, folks! How we motivate children creates a certain type of adult: “In the book Punished by Rewards, Alfie Kohn argues that Millennials have an addiction to praise, perks, and other incentives to learn–better known as bribes.”

:: 4 ::

This month in 2012:

In which I discussed another one of my children who was “behind” in mathematics.

:: 5 ::

Chartres Cathedral by Corot

In this month’s Newbie Tuesday, I promoted the Dover Artist Cards, to which a friend recently introduced me. And I do think they are awesome. But I couldn’t find any on Amazon for Corot. So … I made my own set for this term. I have four children, therefore there are four copies of each painting in the file. These are the assigned selections from the AmblesideOnline curriculum. Some of them fit four to a page and some of them didn’t. In addition, I went ahead and added larger, single-page prints for each painting as I like to also hand them in my dining room for the term. I have my local print shop laser print them on cardstock for me, and this way the children each have their own little mini to examine, plus I have easy decor for twelve weeks.

Anyhow, if you want a copy of my PDF of Corot minis, click here.

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not my new camera … but kinda close

The bad news is that my camera finally died. I was never really happy with it — it started misbehaving very early in our relationship. Last year, I thought it had died, but my husband was able to help me squeak another year out of it. Now? Now nothing. I decided I needed to make the investment so I’d have a reliable camera with me at the conference this month.

I ended up purchasing a camera similar to this one. The difference is that mine was discontinued and so quite a bit cheaper. But it’s awesome. Plus, I can upload photos via WiFi, which is way exciting. I despise trying to find the cord to upload photos. Wah. First world problems, I know. Still. WiFi upload is really cool and might help me become the consistent photo-taker-and-uploader I’ve always dreamed of being.

:: 7 ::

Answering Your Questions:

• Question: What is the name of the book you’re using for drawing with the girls?
  • Answer: Technically, I’m using two different resources. For daily practice, we are using the free exercises from Donna Young. I cut them into strips and give only one exercise per day. It’s quick and easy, and we do a bit of discussion over how the end product differed from the original and what could have been done differently. Its purpose is basically to train the eye. Once a week, I try to give a fine art lesson. This differs depending on what else we are doing that day — each of our Fridays is a bit different. But when I give a drawing lesson, I’m using Art for Kids: Drawing.