Great Minds Think Alike - with Winter Promise & FREEBIES!

If you've been reading here at our Nest for any time at all, you've probably noticed that we homeschool - and that we like to get down and dirty with our education.

We read lots of books, we cook and bake often, we build things and explore and sew.  We all love it - it's fun and in-depth and my kids really understand and remember the things we study.

For the Mommy-Teacher, though, it's a lot of work. 

It's work that I love - I am a certified teacher - and I've dreamed of having my own chalkboard since I was in kindergarten.  Pulling all of these things together, however, is very time consuming, and so I love finding quality materials that will save me time and encourage my kids.

I recently stumbled across the mother lode.

There's a curriculum company called Winter Promise that offers Charlotte Mason and unit-study-style curriculum for homeschoolers.  You can buy a complete boxed set or purchase pieces individually - and these resources are structured unlike any I've ever seen.

The science curriculum includes things like dinosaurs and horses.  What kid wouldn't want to spend an entire school year delving into either one of those topics?  (I'm pretty sure My Little Man is on Year 3 of his independent dinosaur study, at least.)

The history curriculum includes studies like 'Hideaways in History,' where kids get to build an actual place from the time they're studying, like building a pyramid while studying Egypt.  There's also a culture and geography program called 'Children Around the World' - and when I discovered that, I got really excited.

Partly because my kids love learning about other kids in other places.

But mostly because Winter Promise has shared some great samples of this curriculum - for FREE!  Now you can be sure that it's a perfect fit for your family before you purchase.

You can download a free sample of this 'Children Around the World Curriculum' here - and this is a meaty sample.  It's a full 32 pages of stories, student response sheets, and directions for hands-on activities.  The sample focuses on England - and there's some great stuff there.  I can't wait to study it!

There are more samples connected with this curriculum, as well.  Check them out:

Children Around the World Guide 

Children of Many Lands 
Cultural Gathering Planning Guide 
Fun & Traditions from Many Lands 
Working Children 
Prayer & Personal Involvement Journal 
Student Geography Worksheets 
Faraway Places Doodle Placemats 
Native Costume Stand-Ups 
Travel-With-Me World Map Set & Figures

Here are some samples from the Hideaways in History curriculum:

Hideaway in History Guide
"Make-Your-Own" Hideaway Book
Let's Hideaway in History
"On-the-Spot" History Fun
Hole Up in a Homemade Hideaway 
Hiding God's Word in My Heart

There's an activity in one of these samples above that I'm definitely going to use with a book club this fall.  :-)

Here's a whole mini unit about ancient Rome.

Mini_Study_Rome_from_Hideaways_in_History 

Here's another fun sample, too, that come from the 'Adventures in the Sea and Sky' program - and I'm totally using this idea for a book club this fall, as well.  It might also be on my list for next year when we study pirates.  ;-)

Micro-Study_Pirate_Dress

So there you have it.  The mother lode of freebie resources from a great-sounding new publisher.  These will allow you to build, cook, host parties, dress up and act out, all while learning from the inside out.

You can find other ways to use Winter Promise over here at the blog.

Thanks, Winter Promise.  I'm happy to make your acquaintance.  I think we'll be very good friends.  :-)

Have you heard of Winter Promise before??  What style of school do you do?

Last week Nancy at There is Grace shared how to make your own library book bag.  My kids would love these! To find out more, visit There is Grace - and Nancy, please visit our Inspired Wednesday page and take the "I was featured on Washed Up Inspired Wednesdays' button back with you.  

<center> <a href="http://anestintherocks.blogspot.com/" target="_blank"><img alt="A Nest in the Rocks" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEih_9UXxvpHihP2_LX14wtPFiUPHRfXtxSHNJodSzTZt0lgD04c9FszjMkaqaez4_hN2Up8YHkAmCaJGRSlhH6e1lEmHKSX4QdlcQAsCFRHjHRbg6S30CYSoJpTfnFA2o55xEhOj-_hEihC/s1600/Button+2.jpg" imageanchor=""/></a></center>
 
If you have a post about an encouraging activity, project, or trip that you've taken, please link up below and add a link back to this post.  Either way, please read on to find out more about a fun activity that we enjoy here in our nest, and be sure to hop over to Where He Leads, We Follow to check out Stephanie's  Inspiring Wednesday post, too. 

*I am being indirectly compensated for this post with a piece of WP curriculum.  Thus far, I have seen only the freebies that you see linked above - but the opinions stated above are my own.  I am most impressed with the freebies and look forward to learning more about this company.

An InLinkz Link-up

See the Light Shine's July Special

*This post contains affiliate links for a company whose products I have used and loved.  I recommend them because they are high quality.  If you choose to click on these links, you'll be supporting our homeschooling efforts - and we thank you.

We've turned a page on our calendars, and that means that See the Light is offering a new monthly special. 

This month it's "Pointillism Fruit" by George Seurat.  The DVD contains four step-by-step lessons and runs for more than 90 minutes.  STL recommends setting aside an hour for each lesson on this DVD, and these lessons are suitable for kids ages 10 and up.

"Pointillism Fruit" is on sale now for $12.50 with free shipping to anywhere in the US when you use the code JULY at checkout.  That comes out to only $3.13 per lesson.  Where else could you get a great quality art lesson taught by a master artist for that price??

See the Light is giving away other great freebies to enhance these lessons, too - and they're only available in July.  You can download a biography, lesson plans, and other great activities for free here.

Have you tried See the Light yet?

Art Pages Review & Giveaway!

This page contains affiliate links.  Clicking on them helps to support our homeschooling efforts.  

As my Big Helper's interest in art grew over the last few months, I've found several wonderful resources for teaching her how to do the art she likes.  Nothing can replace See the Light's Art Class DVDs for methodically teaching technique!

I haven't figured out how to teach her about famous works of art yet, though - at least, not in a un-researched, easy-on-Mommy way.

Until now.

It really couldn't be easier.  Erica Johns at Classical Composer just added Fine Art Pages to her previous musical offerings.  This set of 25 pages is almost like a mini-study guide in poster format.  

Each page features a famous work of art at the top, followed with a few tidbits of information about the artist, when it was created, what medium was used, where it can be seen now, and a fun fact.

With big print and only the most important information to remember, these are great for printing off and hanging around the house.  It won't take any work on my part to stick these up and watch the kids read them.

After that, we could talk about them, move them around, compare the art pieces to others, or discuss which we'd most like to see - or to recreate.  These could even be a springboard for more independent study on the kids' part - they could find out more about each artist or what sorts of other things s/he created.

Since My Big Helper knows very few pieces of famous art besides van Gogh's Starry Night and was already comparing the new retro swirls in our local McDonald's to that painting, I can't wait to see what she comes up with when she can identify more art.

You can see a sample of these Fine Art Pages here.  You can also find a free sample of a composer resource here.  There's even a Claude Monet freebie.  Erica Johns is very generous!

These Fine Art Pages will retail for $14.95 but are currently on sale for this week only for $9.95, so if this is a resource you'd like to utilize, click over and make your purchase today!

Classical Composers is not just something that you download, however; it's something you join and have ongoing access to as resources are created, artists are spotlighted, and new features are added.  Erica Johns is giving one free membership to a lucky A Nest in the Rocks reader!

Enter via the widget below.  Good luck!

Entry-Form

* I received a free membership to Classical Composers' Fine Arts Pages in exchange for an honest review.  

GratiTuesday - Our Weekly Art Show

This post contains affiliate links.  These links will take you to other resources I share in this post that I have personally tried and enjoy.  We thank you for clicking on them and helping to support our homeschooling efforts.

A few months ago My Big Helper suddenly developed an interest in art.  

I'm not sure where this came from, exactly, but I wasn't expecting it.  As a preschooler she loved to sing, perform 'shows' for us here at home, and write.  She loved helping me in the kitchen and doing projects of all kinds and being together, but art never stood out as anything special to her.  If anything, the standouts were writing and singing.

Those things were crowded out of her in the busyness of public school, and I prayed that they'd return when we began to have school here at home.

It didn't turn out exactly as I planned, though, because she fell in love with science at the co-op we joined for her brother's sake, and on top of that, I got blindsided with a love of art.

At first I rather panicked.  Art is not exactly my area of expertise, but after thinking about it for a while, I decided that we could figure this out.  After all, I did ten years of ceramics in 4-H and painted t-shirts and wooden watermelons and sheep on a whole host of other wooden things, so surely I could keep up with an eight-year-old, right?  I once drew a picture of van Gogh in art camp; I could research some artists and their work and their art styles and ...

Suddenly I was overwhelmed.

When our See The Light Art Class DVDs arrived, they were a major blessing, and I began to calm down.  I purchased an 'art around the world' kind of book so that we could incorporate art into our regular studies and began to breathe again.

Then I found the Harmony Fine Arts blog that gives weekly art assignments, points you to tips, and then hosts a digital 'art show,' of sorts, the following week.

The format is structured enough that My Big Helper can follow along and study the tips as she wants, but loose enough that we can all play around with the assignments together.  This week the three of us had fun trying out oil pastels for the very first time.

In fact, My Little Man, who has never expressed an interest in art and has been quite adamant about not getting messy or handling smelly things, made four pictures with the pastels this week!

This week the assignment was to use oil pastels and make a picture of sunflowers.  My Big Helper began by sketching her picture with a pencil, and I could see her using information that the teacher in the Art Class DVDs had provided.

My Big Helper colored, shaded, and blended for hours to get her picture just the way she wanted it.  She was thrilled with the way that it came out and wants to hang it in a prominent place in our house- before selling it at her next lemonade stand to raise money for a mission trip to Haiti.

I love seeing my Big Helper so excited about her artwork - and to see her little brother's enthusiasm grow, too.  I love even more that Barb at Harmony Fine Arts makes it so easy to teach a variety of art skills to our kids - and provides a great forum where they can share their work.

My Big Helper's finished sunflower piece.

This morning their sunflower pictures will go live in Barb's virtual art show.  You can see them here.  Wanna join in?  There's no registration required, no commitment, and it's totally free.

This is the best kind of art show.

For more GratiTuesday, visit Heavenly Homemakers.

**Be sure to check out my art giveaway starting today at noon!

Hurry, Hurry, Art DVDs for 62% Off!

This set is being discontinued! Get it while supplies last!

These 12 art instruction DVDs retail for $79.90!

YOUR PRICE is $30.00 - 62% off & includes *FREE SHIPPING! ~ While Supplies Last!

*Free shipping applies to USA orders only.


Let your child's inner artist shine with this exciting series of instructional DVDs created just for kids! Featuring 26 projects spread across 12 volumes, Mike's Inspiration Station: 12 DVD Boxed Set will draw out the budding artist in every child with fun and nicely-paced lessons in traditional mediums like drawing, painting, and sculpting, plus unique activities like making clothespin puppets and fridge art.

Geared toward ages 8-13, the series encourages kids to craft right along with host Michael Cariglio and his biblical buddy, Booker T Bible, a talking, animated Bible who offers creative inspiration with Scripture references. Let Mike's Inspiration Station inspire your child's creativity and get some fun art project ideas and fridge art in the process!

Download the COMPLETE Supply list containing master for all 12 DVDs as well as broken down by lesson.