Culture Outing – Classical Homeschool Curriculum

The Gift We Have Been Given

November 8, 2020January 8, 2021 Pauline

Today at the American Heritage Festival we witnessed a re-enactment of a Revolutionary War skirmish. 90% of the battles that took place in that war were small-scale skirmishes much like we witnessed. As a mother, my perspective observing is much different than what I would have felt when I was younger. Seeing these young men fall on the battlefield brought tears to my eyes. I felt silly knowing that it was all pretend. Why do I get so emotional! I tried to subtlety wipe my eyes lest anyone see me Read More …

The Mother’s Role in the Fight for Freedom

February 27, 2020March 6, 2020 Pauline

paradise valley homeschool field trip liberty festival

The Liberty Festival is put on by We Make History and it’s been on my bucket list for a long time to take the kids. I believe it’s so important that we teach our children the grand history of this amazing country. So many young people have forgotten what the great men of the past fought and died for. If we don’t teach them how will they know? How can they ever comprehend the words of Nathan Hale as he was about to be hanged: “My only regret is that Read More …

Renaissance Festival 2020

February 25, 2020March 6, 2020 Pauline

The Renaissance Festival is always a fabulous time. This year the Cardinals (our homeschool nature and culture outing group) went together on the elementary student day. The festival often has adult type humor so the student day eliminates that and adds a lot of educational type events that wouldn’t be there. Some of the vendors even had reduced pricing knowing that kids don’t come on field trips with endless amounts of money so that was really cool. But on a downside, many of us noticed that some of our favorite Read More …

Midsummer Night’s Dream at Mesa Community College

February 23, 2020July 30, 2020 Pauline

We laughed until we cried! This was so incredibly well done. It was hilarious. The actors wore modern costumes and used modern accents and allusions to bring the play to a understanding we all could appreciate, but the words were all Shakespeare! I’m a very traditional person but I found I didn’t mind the modern costumes or allusions in the least. It actually really helped us understand the language better. I really liked how we all could “get” the jokes because of it. And also, I think just the fact Read More …

Scottsdale Philharmonic February Concert

February 9, 2020February 20, 2020 Pauline

This concert was truly wonderful. It is also so amazing that it is free! While not as big as the Phoenix Symphony it was every bit as incredible. The talent surpassed any and all expectations and it was very family friendly. They played quite a few familiar songs – many of which show up in movies and cartoons. They are always about a 2 hour performance and that was a little long for my 2 and 4 years olds, but no biggie, we just stepped outside and they played. They Read More …

Art Class – Pastels

January 30, 2020February 8, 2020 Pauline

Art is one of those things I absolutely love but don’t make nearly enough time for. There was a time where I was intentionally doing watercolors and oil painting. Every Saturday I’d make me (and the kids) do a little free art time. But then we moved and my paints got packed up and stored. But more likely it was my routine that got packed up and stored. And like most things, life gets busy and it gets put to the wayside. For a short few years of my life, Read More …

The Rosson House, Rose Garden Tour, and Mapping Early Phoenix at Heritage Square + Book Review of “Vanished Arizona”

January 28, 2020February 9, 2020 Pauline

The book above was a recommendation by the docent that gave us the tour and I absolutely loved it. Such an easy and delightful read. Vanished Arizona is about a New England woman who marries an army man and they are stationed out here in AZ to control the indian “problem.” This was while Arizona was a territory and the indians had been forced onto reservations, many didn’t want to go, they would hide in the mountains, etc. They could be very violent to pioneers and military alike, so the Read More …

Cardinal’s Culture Outing: Handel’s Messiah at Trinity Cathedral

November 24, 2019December 7, 2019 Pauline

There are no words to express how beautiful this is. Driving home, even the best of Christian musical just sounds like “twaddle” in our ears. It is such a wonderful tradition to start the Christmas season. This particular Messiah was also a sing-a-long so we brought our books to follow along and sing our parts with the choir and orchestra. Trinity Cathedral is a real gem. The acoustics are amazing, the organ and musical talent is exceptional… and it also happens to be where Derek and I got married! It’s Read More …

We saw this bull…at Schnepf Farms!

October 24, 2019November 11, 2019 Pauline

Here he is friends…in all his glory! The giant monstrosity of an animal! This picture really doesn’t do it justice. He was HUGE. 9 feet tall easy. They said he just kept growing. So maybe the painting above is accurate! Maybe this farmer was really proud of his giant square-like bull.

Japanese Moon Festival and Telescope Viewing

October 12, 2019November 8, 2019 Pauline

Classical Japanese art and education paintings

In the 4th Grade Memoria Press Curriculum, we study Astronomy, so we though this would be a perfect opportunity to get out and see first hand all that we are learning. The children used the star gazing app on my phone to find the constellations they’ve learned. They had a huge telescope to view the moon and Jupiter. The moon was absolutely incredible. I have never seen the moon so close. It looked like those clay sculptures were the sculptor has put in a ton of time and there are Read More …