A Light-hearted Take on King Henry VIII
Today for her English, Emily had to write a poem - either funny or serious.  Discussion ensued on what she could write about.  Bethany was in the middle of a report on King Henry VIII's wives, so I suggested Emily write a limerick about him.  This is what she came up with: Henry's Wives by Emily   Two of the wives of Henry the VIII Had a very fatal fate (beheading) Two of them were forced, at the King's command to be divorced. Then one had died, and one survived, and that was the end of the wives.   ~ all because he wanted an heir! Silly Henry! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  

Matisse-inspired Collage Art
This week in our art class, based on Discovering Great Artists, we studied Matisse. Henri Matisse was born in France in 1869. Matisse is regarded as the father of the Fauvist movement.  His earlier paintings were in the Post-Impressionist style - still recognisable figures, but using strong, bright colours.  His style was considered quite shocking for the times.  The Rumanian Blouse, 1940.   When Matisse was diagnosed with cancer in 1941, leaving him wheelchair-bound, he started to experiment with paper cut-outs and collages. This is what we based our artwork on.       Matisse designed this stained glass window for the Chapel of the Ros

Mondrian Art
  Today we had our first art lesson with a friend of mine and her children.  We are using the book Discovering Great Artists.          The first artist we chose to study was Piet Mondrian.   Piet Mondrian was born in Amsterdam, Holland in 1872.  Earlier in his career, he painted traditional Dutch landscapes, but after moving to Paris his style gradually changed to an abstract, cubist style, which he is more famous for:         We all had a go at our own designs, inspired by Mondrian's work, and stuck to using only the primary colours to fill in some of the spaces.   We used graph paper to decide where our lines wo

13 Things about me
1.  My favourite colour is purple 2.  I LOVE licorice, especially allsorts and RJ's Natural Licorice. 3.  I nearly finished a Bachelor of Science Degree, majoring in Zoology.       Maybe one day I'll finish it... 4.  I am the oldest of 6 children (3 boys and 3 girls) 5.  I have lived in 16 different homes, 7 before I was married, and 9 after. 6.  I have passed grade 7 practical piano, thanks to my parents providing me      with lessons and encouraging me to practice every day.  I love that I can      now sit down and play a piece for pleasure.  7.  I never

Gutenberg & the Printing Press
  Today in Story of the World, we learned about the beginning of the Renaissance, and how Johannes Gutenberg invented the printing press.       Here us a Youtube video explaining how the printing press worked:   Demonstrating the Gutenberg Printing Press   This is a post by Jeanne at A Peaceful Day about a beautiful pop-up story book of Gutenberg. ~~~ Bethany's Narration: Johannes Gutenberg made a printing press from an old winepress.  He stamped the letterblock with ink made from soot and linseed oil, and put it in a type of folder.  Then he turned a wheel and a lever to flatten it, squeezing the paper and the block together.  Th