September 2010 Edition | Heart of the Matter

How to Take Awesome Photos of Your Kids

photo credit: Christine – From Storms to Sunshine We’ve all been there. Perfect photo op time, perhaps on a sunny summer vacation, with visiting grandparents, or the first milestones of life but then (oh then!)...

Teaching Creative Writing

Creative writing is definitely one of those areas with which parents struggle teaching. I can see why. There is a plethora of dull, lifeless material out there in Curriculum World. Kids are cross-eyed with frustration after...

Encourage Your Children to Express their Creative Side

Oh how I love art and crafting. Although all my kids have their own favorite activities, I am a watercolor fan. I truly wish I had a bit more time to develop my drawing and painting skills. When I lived up north I would take the...

Music Education: Making Music Happen in Your Homeschool

As a music teacher, I’m always getting questions about private lessons and ensembles to join, especially for homeschoolers. And while I do recommend a child’s involvement in formal music training if they are interested and...

Drama Paths

When I was 12, my mother asked me as we drove home what I wanted to be when I grew up. Without hesitation, I replied “a starving artist!” She gave me a rather odd look and asked me if I realized that would entail starvation....

Five Simple Ways to Add Art Appreciation into Your Homeschool Routine

1. Get an art calendar and hang it in your home. Make a point to spend time at least once a month discussing what you see in the artwork. Each month you will have a new reminder and a new art print. 2. Take a field trip to an...

Modeling Artistic Expression and Exploration

I am a former elementary public school teacher who now homeschools. In the classroom, I began every year with a read-aloud from the children’s book, Leo the Late Bloomer by Robert Kraus. Then we’d start a big discussion...

Letting Them Choose

With so many different subjects to cover it is hard to know where to focus a fine arts study. Focusing on the great painters will leave little time for the great composers. Likewise, focusing on photography may leave...

Teaching Sewing in Your Homeschool

Our ten year old daughter loves to sew! She’s been sewing for two years now and though I do sew, I’m no expert so I thought I’d share how we have fueled this passion for our daughter. After we discovered that she had an...

Listening with Purpose, Part I

Listening with Purpose, Part I A lot of us…allow music to be a background to what we do and because of that we forget that listening is an active challenge to the brain. There’s so much auditory material in the...