Home Art Studio: Second Grade - "Color Wheel"

Lured by pretty projects and clean design, I was so very tempted to switch our art program to lessons by Deep Space Sparkle this year. While she offers many wonderful, affordable lessons in print format, Tessa really works best during art with video guidance. Deep Space Sparkle offers some video lessons (the sample is very nicely done), but I couldn't justify the cost for a product we'll use only once and has no resale value (the video lessons are digital files).

Last year, we used Home Art Studio (a fairly new DVD-based leveled art program) for the first time. Tessa greatly enjoyed it and I found it easy to use. At just under thirty dollars retail, it's an excellent value for homeschoolers. We used First Grade last year because its around-the-world theme coordinated well with our history studies. I gave Tessa the option of using Second Grade or Third Grade this year. After checking out the student work galleries, she decide Second Grade looked more fun. So, that's the one we're using this year.

After tracing around a large bowl on watercolor paper and then dividing the subsequent circle into six parts with the aid of a ruler, Tessa used green, yellow, orange, red, purple and blue tempera paints to create a color wheel. She will use the color wheel to help her choose complementary colors in future lessons. 

Tessa outlined her color wheel in black to make it pop.

Tessa's completed color wheel.

Last-Minute Beach Getaway (Seagrove Beach, FL) - July 2015

What do you do when the beach and blue seas are calling your name, but your pooch is too old to stay at her usual digs? Take her with you, of course! I'm not sure why it took us all year to figure this out. It wasn't so much that the thought hadn't occurred to us, it was more committing ourselves to driving hundreds of miles with an elderly dog in tow, finding a nice, yet affordable place walking-distance to the beach that would also accept a dog, plus the logistics of doing so. (Not to mention, accepting that a cruise or trip to Disney just wasn't in the cards this year.)

A little over two weeks to vacation time, we knew if we didn't buckle down very soon, it was going to be a staycation for us and no one wanted that (well, Sweetpea probably would have been okay with it). Not long after, we logged onto VRBO.com, closed our eyes, and booked us a vacation. While not our most exotic getaway, it was a good and memorable trip.

Woohoo, no June grass! These were some of the clearest waters we have seen anywhere in Florida. (The dark blotches are gigantic schools of fish!)

In our many vacations to Florida, we had never tried tubing the emerald waters. The waves were such that we found it to be a most relaxing way to spend our days.

Tessa delighted in daily visits from the ice cream truck!

Previous guests at the condo we stayed at had graciously left several new kites. Tessa selected her favorite and enjoyed several minutes of kite flying on the beach. This was another first for us. She was really good at making it perform loops. Me? Not so much. 

Tessa insisted on breakfast on the balcony. Who could blame her?

I think Florida weather agreed with Sweetpea, our thirteen-year-old wire fox terrier. Her arthritis improved to the point that she walked like a youngin again. A few days upon returning from our trip, her lungs started gurgling. We found out that she has congestive heart failure. My husband has another week of vacation coming up. We're trying to decide whether she can handle one more trip, as she did so well and seemed so happy.

After one sun-drenched day, we enjoyed an early dinner at Pizza By the Sea, a favorite Fort Walton Beach eatery of ours.

Staying a little further west on the Panhandle this time, we discovered a new ice cream haunt. Blue Mountain Beach Creamery makes their own ice cream and features creative flavors. The banana pudding cone I had was so good I ordered it both times we stopped by.

Third Grade 2015 - Age 8

A bit of a slow start this morning, but we got 'er done. Tessa's quite excited about starting so many new curricula this year. Wordly Wise 3000, CLE Reading and Beast Academy were big hits. Hopefully, that enthusiasm will endure. Tomorrow, we attempt New American Cursive and CAP's Writing & Rhetoric Book 1: Fable. Wish us luck!

See how she's grown! - Tessa's Second Grade 2014 - Age 7 pic.

Tessa's first day of third grade!