Tag Archives | See The Light

See The Light “Van Gogh and Sunflowers” project DVD giveaway!!

By Joy on March 23, 2013 in 2013

**Update: Ticia was chosen at the winner of the “Sunflowers/Van Gogh art DVD!

I am so excited about this giveaway from See The Light. A couple of weeks ago, I had posted a review of the “Van Gogh and Sunflowers” project that See The Light had just made. We had been the to Van Gogh exhibit at our local Art Museum and the owner of See The Light thought my oldest daughter would enjoy it. She was absolutely right!

Sarah’s final picture of her interpretation of Van Gogh’s Sunflowers painting.

My oldest daughter LOVED the project and I think did an amazing job on it. Now, you have a chance to win the Van Gogh- Sunflowers project dvd. See The Light has graciously offered one of my readers a chance to win this project DVD that is just now coming to their website! All you have to do is just leave me a comment and tell me your favoirte Van Gogh painting. Do you love his Sunflowers paintings? Or how about Starry Nights? Do you like another artist? I can’t wait to see your answers!

The giveaway will be open until March 3oth!

disclaimer: I was given the art dvd to do a review. See The Light is giving the dvd away. No other compesation was given. All opinions and thoughts were my own.

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See The Light Van Gogh and Sunflowers Project ~ Review and giveaway!

By Joy on March 10, 2013 in 2013, homeschooling, review

Back in January our family went to see the Van Gogh Exhibition at the Denver Art Museum and loved it. So when I was asked by See The Light if I would review the Van Gogh Sunflowers project, I excitedly said yes! While I knew that the project dvd by See The light might be a little difficult for my younger two kids (it is recommended for ages 10+), I knew my oldest daughter could do it. When the dvd arrived, I don’t know who was more excited, me or my daughter!

Sarah tracing out her design

The Sunflowers dvd is divided into 4 lessons. Each lesson is about 25 minutes long. The first lesson, Pat Knepley begins talking about Vincent Van Gogh and a little bit of his life and how be began drawing and painting. Van Gogh had a troubled life, but Pat explained about his life in such a way, that truly just shared about his talent and gift of drawing and painting.

Sarah working on the vase.

She began the picture, by doing a basic composition or drawing lightly the outline of what the picture would be. Once she did that, they began the task of filling in with color in the short stroke technique that Van Gogh used in some of his paintings. This was just a basic color to get the outline of the vase, flowers and leaves.

Sarah listening and watch the dvd while filling in some lines.

Once she finished that, she then started adding in more colors to fill the picture out and blending in the colors together.

Sarah working on the leaves.

My daughter truly had a wonderful time with this DVD. Van Gogh is one of her favorite artists and it just helped her to understand Van Gogh a little more, by attempting a technique that he used. When I first suggested her doing this DVD, she didn’t think she could do it. My daughter is very talented with a pencil and paper, but she has never tried any other art medium like this before.

working on blending in the colors.

Once she started, Pat Kenpley gave my daughter the confidence that she needed to where now, she is looking forward to trying different mediums out. I also love how in every lesson, Pat brings out her bible and reads scripture from it. There is always a bible lesson in every art lesson that See The Light does. I, for one, am very thankful for a company standing firm on the word of God.

Listening to final instructions on the dvd.

I asked my daughter what her thoughts were on the Van Gogh Project and this is what she said:

“What I really enjoyed about the Van Gogh project was the techniques given in the DVD. They were clearly explained, and I understood how to execute the techniques to finish the sunflowers.The information on Van Gogh’s life was also well explained, and I definitely want to look more into his life as a painter. Honestly, I had never used oil pastels before, and I now I prefer to use them over other mediums. The lessons really helped expand my artistic abilities, and I look forward to learning more!”

Sarah’s final picture of her interpretation of Van Gogh’s Sunflowers painting.

As you can tell, my daughter finished and I think did an amazing job. I am truly proud of her and can’t wait to see the other See The Light Project DVD’s that she does. We have already ordered 4 more and I do plan on blogging about those as well. My daughter’s goal is to attend an Art College and we plan on using some of these finished pictures as part of her portfolio.

See The Light has an amazing deal for you all, until March 24th. You can get the Ultimate Crossmaker Set for only $25.00 (regularly $34.99). This includes free shipping in the US. The set includes The Crossmaker DVD, CD of music and audio stories, Black Light with batteries, Fluorescent Chalk and Fluorescent pencils. Just enter the discount code word, “CROSS” into the box when you go to check out and hit APPLY!

Now on to some great news! See The Light art curriculum, has graciously offered to give one of my readers an Ultimate Crossmaker Set! All you have to do is just leave me a comment, telling me what Easter means to you! This giveaway will end March 17th, 2013.

Update Congrats to Vicki Arnold for being chosen the winner of the Ultimate Crossmaker Set from See The Light!

**Disclosure Policy: I was given this DVD to review, but all thoughts and opinions are my own. This post contains affiliate links.

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curriculum changes for the new school year …

By Joy on September 19, 2012 in 2012, homeschooling

A lot has happened since I last posted about what we will be using for our curriculum for this school year. The biggest, we moved. So, as I am getting ready to start school again, there have been a few changes in our curriculum. We will be using Illuminations. They give many suggestions on what to use and even offer an awesome scheduling tool to help you prepare your lessons. We will be using a lot of the suggestions that Illuminations gives. One of the main reasons why I am going with Illuminations this year? All three of my children will be using a lot of the same materials. Especially my younger two. I am hoping this will help scheduling and teaching them slightly easier this year.

So what is Illuminations? Bright Ideas Press says it best in their description.

“Illuminations is an all-inclusive *curriculum, covering Bible, Language Arts (grammar, writing, copywork, spelling and vocabulary), Literature, Science, Humanities (poetry, theatre, music, and art), Geography, History, Life Skills, and Projects. Illuminations is built to compliment our Mystery of History or All American History Series.”

So, what will we be using with Illuminations Year 1? We are still using Mystery of History: Volume I. We finished about a 1/4 of the book last year, so I thought I would save some money and just continue to use it this year. All three of my children will be using this as their History.

For Language Arts, we will be using what they recommend. For the younger kids, Natural Speller (Spelling), WriteShop (Writing), English from the Roots Up (Vocabulary) and Winston Grammar Basic Level AND The Blue Book of Grammar and Punctuation (Grammar). They also give a great list for the Literature section.

I am excited about incorporating the geography that they are recommending; The Ultimate Geography and Timeline Guide and Hands-On Geography. We will also be using WonderMaps. We have used it in the past and it is one of the best programs that I have seen.

I love Apologia Science curriculum, so we will be continuing on with it this year. The younger two kids have asked to study Astronomy. My oldest daughter, who is now in 9th grade, will be doing Biology from Apologia.

For Math, we are sticking with Bob Jones for Samuel and Claire. Sarah, she will continue with Teaching Textbooks. If it works, I see no need of changing it.

We will also continue to use See The Light for our art curriculum. My younger two have absolutely enjoyed using this and have learned a lot. I love how Pat Knepley teaches the art and then shares a scripture at the end of the lesson. As for Sarah, she will be using Artistic Pursuits. I think she will be challenged by this art curriculum. I am also wanting to add Harmony Fine Arts at Home. We will also be using the Young Guide to Composers curriculum.

The most important book of all we will be using, is the Bible. It is important to me for my children to learn about God and to love Him with all their heart. We will also be using the Who is God? curriculum from Apologia, for a family bible study. I am excited to be able to use this with all three of my children.

While it does seem like a lot, it really does not take long to complete the work that is involved. Illuminations has this amazing scheduling tool that I can use to schedule the curriculum out the way I need to. I am excited about this curriculum and look forward to sharing with you all we learn this year.

I would love for you to share with me some of the curriculum you are using this year. Is it working so far? Have you had to change anything yet? Let me know in the comments!

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settling in and catching up

By Joy on August 26, 2012 in 2012, Blog, family

View of Golden, CO from Lookout Mountain.

We have been in Golden, Colorado for 3 weeks now. It finally feels like we are getting used to the area and the climate. I think everyone is adjusting well and seems to be liking living here, so far. Even though we are in a vacation rental for another couple of weeks and will be moving to an apartment in 2 weeks, I feel like we are settling in with our new life here.

We have been taking a more hands on approach with our homeschooling by doing field trips and a study of the state of Colorado. We are just taking it one day at a time until we can get into the more permanent rental and I can get the rest of our books here.

Our oldest son has started the local community college, Red Rocks and has already gotten a part time job at a local grocery store. Our girls will be starting dance soon and our youngest son is considering taking dance as well. We are also checking into the local recreation centers for sports they can play.

My husband is enjoying his job a lot at the Colorado School of Mines. He will also begin to take classes at this college next semester to further his education in his field. One of the perks of working for this college, is the classes are free for him.

As for me, I am hanging in there and doing alright. I feel like I am behind in everything. While I know we will be settling soon in our new apartment, it just can’t get here soon enough. I know what we will be doing for school, I just have to get it written down and get everything scheduled.

As for the blog, you can see I am still writing on “My Home In The Smokies”. I am working on my new blog and hopefully it will be ready soon. I am excited about the new name and the new design. Honey and Jonah of Honeycomb Design Studio are working hard, helping me get everything ready. I have several reviews coming up for different curriculum’s that we are using this year. I am also still writing for The Homeschool Village once a month.

I have a lot of wonderful plans for the new blog. I want to focus more on our homeschooling, as well as our photography. I feel like God is leading me to help and encourage homeschoolers more than ever. I just have to figure out how He wants me to do this. I still feel like I have a lot to learn when it comes to blogging.

There are couple of conferences that I want to go to this next year. One is the BEECH Retreat. It is being held in Captiva Island, Florida. I feel like this time with the wonderful speakers would definitely benefit me tremendously. They actually plan to have classes where the speakers actually help you focus on your goal. The second conference I would like to attend is the 2:1 Conference. I was blessed to be sponsored by See The Light Art, to attend the conference back in April. I learned a lot from this conference and can’t wait to go back.

I am looking forward to see what God has planned for our family. I am also looking forward to see what God has planned for me and this blog. I feel like I am heading into unknown territory, but know that God will be there with me every step of the way. I hope you will come along on the ride with me. It is going to be another adventurous ride letting go and letting God.

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homeschooling plans changing just bit..

By Joy on July 31, 2012 in 2012, homeschooling

I am sure you are all just about tired of hearing about us moving to Colorado. I know I am! I am so ready to be there! So I thought I would talk a little about how our homeschooling will look for us when we first get to Golden, CO. You see, we will be living in a vacation rental for a month, or until we can find us a more permanent place to live. That means that the majority of our school books are boxed up and in a storage unit until then. So what will we be doing for school until then? Well, I am so glad you asked! {grin}

Thanks to an awesome homeschooling blogging buddy of mine, we will be approaching the first 4-6 weeks slightly different. To begin with, we will be covering the state history of Colorado and the town history of Golden, CO. It will be good to learn all about the place that we will be calling home. We will be taking field trips to local historical places in town, as well as finding the library, police and fire stations and any science or history museums in the area. We will also be covering geography and science by learning all we can about the Rocky Mountains.

I have packed a couple of small boxes with our math, spelling and bible study books. For math, my oldest daughter will finish up her Teaching Textbooks Pre-Algebra, while the younger two kids will finish up their Bob Jones math books.

We will be using a new spelling book this year for the younger two kids. The Natural Speller is recommended with the Illuminations program that I will be using by Bright Ideas Press.

As for the bible study, we will finish up the Esther book we started last year. We got side-tracked and I never finished it with the kids. They loved doing this study, so I am excited to begin it once again.

I also packed up the See The Light art curriculum DVD’s. My youngest son just asked me the other day when we could begin this again. I am so happy that we have found an art curriculum they love!

So as you can tell, we do have some great ideas to get us started. While it isn’t everything that we will eventually be using, I am happy that we will be able to do something not long after we arrive. My kids thrive on a routine and we have been out of one for far too long.

I was so excited when Honey mentioned those ideas to me about studying the state and local history with the kids once we arrived. It will help us get acquainted with the area, as well as get one some sort of routine with our schooling. A win-win for all of us!

We will also be meeting up with a new homeschool group that I have been in contact with. They will have their first park day on August 9th. We will also be checking into the extra-curricular activities that the kids want to be involved with. This includes finding a new dance studio, musical theater company and a recreation league for sports. I don’t know why I was so worried about jumping right into school, we will have plenty to keep us busy the first couple of weeks!

Once we get settled next week in our temporary rental, I plan on sharing with you all the rest of the curriculum we will be using. I am truly excited about it this year as I am stepping away from a lot of the traditional textbooks and workbooks. This is truly going to be an interesting year with all the new adventures that we will have!

Do you have any special studies planned to begin your new school year with?