Preparation for Online Learning

A place to hold an educational retreat when you want to get away from all the busy stuff in your life.

Maybe your school is looking for a place to hold a retreat....check this out.

Wow, what a great looking place! It is very close to the small Southern Minnesota town that I was born in too :)

This site contains an endless amount of fun for children of various ages. I have accessed many fun craft projects and great coloring pages on this site.

I use this site a lot for creating worksheets for the ASD students I work with. The site is very easy to use and lets you personalize the types of problems and categories you want on the worksheets.

Huckleberry Finn is now censored for school curriculum use

I listened on MPR's morning show when the Prof. who did this was on to discuss. I admit that I think it is not necessary to sanitize the language- while I understood the teacher who called in to say it would be nice to teach the book without addressing the "N" word, I think that addressing it is part of what the book has to teach. I'm curious if you caught any of that on MPR?

I think it is so dumb to censor Huckleberry Finn. The book is a great read and a good look at how some people thought in those days. Might help us understand our history. Teachers can explain the background for students. I read something about this in the NY Times. Thanks for the post Nathan. I think this is an important topic for us to be thinking about.

I posted the same link! Funny! It is a great place to go with the family.

When can we go? I love riding horses. What fun!

My daughter is 11 and has had a horse in her hand since she could say horse! She already has plans to go to school to become a vet. Any chance we get, we visit horses!

I used to do a lot of oil painting. I got so I was painting too fast. I painted this picture of a Newfoundland dog in about an hour. I switched to watercolor painting which is a rather unforgiving medium and requires me to think a bit. I will go back to oils eventually. I like painting because the better I get at it the more challenges it presents. It is never boring

Dear Renee - Glad you figured out how to post the pictures. Isn't this fun? You have more talent than you think. It just depends on if a person is interested or not. I bet you do other crafts. Lory

This is a fun way to keep in touch. I just asked my husband if I do any crafts and he lovingly said "no." :) I really am not crafty. I love to bake, so if that is a craft, than I am golden! I am very much looking forward to meeting everyone. Next weekend should be fun!

This painter is one of my favorites. She was one of the few women painters of her day who was acclaimed in her own time.

Are you familiar with Mary Cassatt? If not check her work out. I enjoyed Rosa's work - thanks for the link!

I am very familiar with Mary Cassatt. She is usually the only woman painter included in articles about Impressionist painters. I think her work is wonderful! Thomas Kinkade is a very successful artist. Isn't it great to be able to look up paintings on line? The only bad thing is that sometimes the photos don't catch the color as well as the genuine article. I am hoping I will able to go to Chicago sometime this year to visit the Chicago Art Institute. They have one of the largest collections of Impressionist art in the world. The first time I went there I almost cried. I was so startled by the actual beauty of some of the paintings that I had seen many times in pictures. I also really like Renoir and Monet. I think the more paintings I see, the more artists I like.

Found this post today on the NY times about 10 ways to get the most out of technology.

This is very interesting to see what people say about technology and the advancements that it has made.

I really liked this- I need to update my tech knowledge- this class has shown me that. I'm thinking about the smart phone but not entirely sure if I'd really use it. I don't really use my basic cell phone- if I can find it that is!

Children's books that Build Character. Listed under headings of tolerance, perseverance, responsibility, respect, etc.

This might be useful to prep high school students for College

Student Sources

We climbed the Elba Fire Tower in Elba, MN. There are 625 steps to get to the tower. Then at least 100 more steps to the top. And yes, I carried our little Chihuahua the entire way! Beautiful view from the top!

We camped here last summer and had a blast. We love to camp!

You have to wonder what they are thinking about. Katie, the old mom on the left is probably discussing the rules of our household. This was the day that Faith, the blond one, came to live with us. Taffy is gone now, but Katie is 14 and getting hard of hearing and does not see too well. She and Faith are fast friends. Faith always goes outside with Katie so Katie won't be afraid of getting lost in the yard. The kindness the animals show reminds me to be kind to other people.

This is a watercolor I painted last summer. I caught a sunfish one day and thought it was so beautiful that I had to paint a picture. They are amazing. So, I have been painting lots of sunfish.

Isn't it amazing that DNA can now clear people who were convicted of crimes years ago?

Cool -- I love the Astrid Lindgren book The Tomten.

great place for craft ideas for kids- at home and at school

great site for free worksheets