{"id":3445,"date":"2017-07-10T23:32:32","date_gmt":"2017-07-10T23:32:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.doingwhatmatters.com\/?p=3445"},"modified":"2017-07-10T23:33:30","modified_gmt":"2017-07-10T23:33:30","slug":"july-2017-newsletter","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/doingwhatmatters.com\/july-2017-newsletter\/","title":{"rendered":"July 2017 Newsletter"},"content":{"rendered":"

A newsletter and a reading suggestion<\/h1>\n

I’ve had several people ask me if there is a difference between the newsletter I hand out at conferences, and the one that comes via email, so I thought I’d show you a sample. The newsletter I hand out at conferences is downloadable in color from the front page of the Everyday Education site. It’s published once a year, and has as many articles as I can cram into eight pages. Here it is as a PDF<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/a>

I enjoyed coloring this tree of life page from The Art of Cursive<\/em>.<\/p><\/div>\n

The July e-newsletter below just went out to my mailing list. It usually contains a classic painting, short note, book recommendations, pointers to new or updated articles on the website, any special deals I might have, and a nod to any amazing new resources I may have found (cursive resources<\/a>!). In theory, I send it once a month. In fact, I send it about six times a year. I definitely won’t overwhelm your inbox!<\/p>\n

If you’re not on the list and you’d like to be, you can sign up in the right sidebar. If you are on the mailing list, I’d love to know whether it went to your inbox or to the nether regions (otherwise known as the spam folder). So many of the newsletters I receive end up there, so I suspect mine probably does too.<\/p>\n

Summer reading<\/h2>\n

<\/a>\"\"I forgot to include a book recommendation in the newsletter, but I’ve just added\u00a0The Green Ember<\/em><\/strong><\/a>\u00a0series to my Books Boys Like<\/a> list. I plan to write about it in a bit more detail, but for now, just know that it would be an enjoyable summer read for middle-grade students, or a nice family read-aloud. I never suspected rabbits could be so fierce!<\/p>\n

I just noticed that the audiobook version is $3.95 at Amazon<\/a>, and you can read the Kindle version free if you have Kindle Unlimited. Of course, the print books are much more pleasant to read, but it’s a good thing to know. I’ve gotten rather fond of the Kindle\/Audible Whispersync deals that allow you go back and forth from listening to reading without losing your place. If you haven’t tried them, this book might be a good place to start. (As always, Amazon links are affiliate links \u2014 details in footer.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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\nJuly 2017 Newsletter<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
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Happy July!<\/span><\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n
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The Art of Cursive<\/span> coloring book follows the CursiveLogic handwriting worktext and provides extensive practice in the CursiveLogic handwriting method (you’ll want to learn the basic . As students are coloring beautiful pictures, they are practicing cursive letters, connections, slant, spacing, and more. Best of all, it\u2019s fun and relaxing (I’ve colored way more samples than necessary)!<\/span><\/p>\n

CursiveLogic teaches cursive in four simple lessons in a beautifully-designed text. Learning to write become something to look forward to, rather than a chore, especially when it’s followed by\u00a0The Art of Cursive<\/span>.<\/span><\/div>\n
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New link updates at Excellence in Literature!\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

We have just completed a link update for the online context resources mentioned in the Excellence in Literature curriculum<\/a>, and have also created a page for each module on the website, with the most updated current version of the links. I’m excited about this, because it means that I can keep links much more current than is possible when they are only in the book. The links pages are just the links, so students will have to refer to the book to know what they are supposed to look for and do, but I think it will make the curriculum even easier to use. You can reach all the links pages from the Curriculum User Content<\/span> <\/a>page.<\/span><\/div>\n
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The Excellence-in-Literature.com website now hosts a growing collection of over 800 pages of resources for the study of literature. These include poetry, short stories, and other context resources, plus a growing selection of how-to articles.<\/span><\/div>\n
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From Cathy Duffy’s review<\/a>: \u201cStudents completing these courses should be miles ahead of most of their high school contemporaries in their ability to read and analyze literature at a sophisticated level. The challenging writing assignments also promise to develop student skills in composition to a high level.\u201d<\/span><\/div>\n
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Recommended book editions\u00a0<\/span><\/a><\/span><\/div>\n
now linked at Everyday Education<\/span><\/a><\/span><\/div>\n
You’ll find a downloadable book list as well as links to the recommended editions of books studied in Excellence in Literature at Everyday-Education.com<\/a>. You’ll also find links on the description page for each study guide. You don’t have to use the recommended edition, but there are reasons I prefer them, and you’ll find my criteria listed on this page<\/a> as well.\u00a0<\/span><\/div>\n
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Peaceful Planning and Record-keeping<\/span><\/span>
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I finally got around to creating some small \u00a0planning and recordkeeping booklets that reflected the type of planning I did.<\/span><\/div>\n
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You can read about the Peaceful Planning system at PeacefulPlanning.net<\/a>. There are four booklets:<\/span><\/p>\n

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12-Year Planner<\/a><\/span><\/div>\n
K-8 Student Record<\/a><\/span><\/div>\n
High School Student Record<\/a><\/span><\/div>\n
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Lifetime Reading List<\/a>
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Conference Schedule<\/span>
\nI’ll be leaving on Tuesday for the Missouri Homeschool Conference, GHC St. Louis, and I hope I see you there (come for free shopping night Thursday, and stay for it all!).\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

You’ll find a downloadable schedule, workshop descriptions, and other details at GreatHomeschoolConventions.com<\/a>) I’m looking forward to being there, and will be in booth 236-237<\/span>. Be sure to stop by and say hello!\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

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Visit the Doing What Matters blog!\u00a0<\/a><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<\/div>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
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Have you tried my<\/p>\n

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Cursive Made Easy<\/span><\/div>\n
\u00a0\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/div>\n
Learn cursive in four easy lessons with CursiveLogic<\/span>, then practice and review with beautiful coloring pages in The Art of Cursive<\/span>.<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
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HIgh School English<\/a><\/span>\u00a0<\/a> \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n
Excellence in Literature helps you teach classic literature and writing to teens even if you don\u2019t know Virginia Woolf from Beowulf!<\/span><\/span>
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Peaceful Planning\u00a0<\/span><\/span>\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/span>\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/div>\n

At Everyday Education<\/a> you’ll find an article with brief instructions for simple, peaceful planning and recordkeeping, and at DoingWhatMatters.com<\/a>, you’ll find a number of posts on planning and organization.\u00a0<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n

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\"Like\"<\/a><\/td>\n\"Twitter\"<\/a><\/td>\n\"Pinterest\"<\/a><\/td>\n\"GooglePlus\"<\/a><\/td>\n\"LinkedIn\"<\/a><\/td>\n\"Forward\"<\/a><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
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Everyday Education, LLC<\/a> is the publisher of the Excellence in Literature<\/span> curriculum, the 1857 McGuffey Readers <\/span>with instructions for use with Charlotte Mason methods, Perfect Reading, Beautiful Handwriting<\/span>;<\/span>\u00a0Transcripts Made Easy;<\/span>\u00a0and other homeschool helps. We’ve been online since 2001, which is a really long time in internet years.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n
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The classic painting is “Children of the Sea” by\u00a0Jozef Isra\u00ebls, 1872. [Public domain.]\u00a0\"\"<\/div>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<\/div>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n