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Dear friends, In honor of President's Day this week, I assigned a literature study on the topic of honesty to my home school co-op English class.  In addition to the assignments and discussion notes below, you will also find very useful lists about honesty at  http://www.k12.hi.us/~mkunimit/honesty.htm Discussion: What is honesty? ·          Honesty is telling the whole truth , in your words, actions, and intentions.  It is being accurate . (That does not mean that someone who tells wrong information is lying.  If they sincerely think it is true, they are not being deceptive, just mistaken. There can still be negative consequences for this, especially if the person should have known better, but there is a difference based on their intention!)   Being honest does not mean you need to tell someone information that is none of their business, or that they would use to harm other people, or that is unnecessarily hurtful...

What are these? Hint: They are all from something edible... Try looking at common objects in new ways, in different forms. Be attentive to odd things just as they appear. With a silhouette. Weird already... Cropped to see just a part... Or artfully arranged... How can you use image and imagination in the kitchen? Try it! I took all of these pictures, many in the past few days . The others are from posts on my other blogs, as linked below. So what are they? Egg white, which leaked out of a boiled egg that cracked when I put it in the pan; some of it stuck to the side of the pan above the water, and some is submerged but still connected by a thick strand. Ice cubes, stuck together so they won't fit in the cup. A big head of broccoli with all of the florets cut off Pomegranate whole and halves (from Pomegranates! ) A thin wheat cracker, held up to the light. Horned melon at grocery store (from  Fun & Fruity at the Grocery Store ) Pumpkin (from  Prepping Your Kitchen to Fix a ...

It's coming up on Rudyard Kipling week in my home school co-op English classroom! (You can read more about his life here: Rudyard Kipling .) We're going to read three of his "Just So Stories" (like "How the Camel Got His Hump") and three of his poems ("If" and "The Thousandth Man" and "L'Envoi").  Some of these pieces can be found in The Book of Virtues, and you can listen to a narration of Just So Stories on-line.  Kipling is perhaps best known for his Jungle Books , later made into a Disney movie.  You can also see an intriguing virtual animation of " If ." Here is my favorite piece by Kipling, which is obviously drawn from this own varied life experiences: "If" If you can keep your head when all about you Are losing theirs and blaming it on you; If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you, But make allowance for their doubting too: If you can wait and not be tired by waiting, Or, being lied abou...

An assignment for my 5th-6th grade co-op students... Look at each of the nine pictures very carefully. You can click on them to enlarge them. The dates listed are approximately when the art was created.   All of the ones in this post are related to the birth of Christ.    The paintings are from the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C. (I had to take the pictures from a slight angle because otherwise I was getting a glare from the flash.)  These paintings and sculptures were created during the  Renaissance . Some of them are  gilded . Many of the the titles contain the words madonna  and  adoration . Click on each of these four bold words and write down definitions. There are Bible passages linked below three of the paintings.  Read each one. Writing assignment: Tell which one is your favorite piece of art and why. Then describe this picture or sculpture in at least three sentences. "The Adoration of the Shepherds" by Giorgione, 15...

Dear friends, These links and information are for the students in our home school co-op's 5th-6th grade English class. They are learning about medieval life in their history class, so I am trying to customize some of their literature selections to complement that. This week, at the start of Advent, we are learning how the Druids (pagans who practiced child sacrifice and a lot of superstition) came to accept Christianity, and how their existing winter solstice traditions were adapted to express the glad Christmas tidings of Jesus. "How St. Boniface Kept Christmas Eve"   is from the vintage book American Normal Readers, Book 5.   Print pages 212-227.  This will show up as numbers 207-222 on the book pages.   You can also find "Yuletide Customs" in the same online book.  Print pages 200-202, which will show up as 195-197 on the book pages. Questions: In what year did this story take place?  How many years ago was this? The first paragraph of the story descri...