Salt maps, and paint, and color wheels oh my!

So having a few free moments when the little guy was sleeping I decided to pull the art stuff out onto the deck and get some messy things out of the way.

First, the girls have been making a salt map of Central and South America to depict where the Mayan, Incan, and Aztec empires were. We haven't done much with geography so I am trying to get it into gear for our light summer work.(Yes they will be working through the summer on a light schedule)

The Andes mountains were part of the labeling so those are actually molded in their map to make them more evident. I thought they came out pretty good for our first attempt!Tomorrow we will add labels for cities and some other things.

Then Chickie needed to explore tertiary colors as part of art. This was done on a wheel copied onto cardstock. That worked well and she was pleased with the results.

That of course led to a bit of "free art" aka mess!

What am I????

I have struggled with my religious beliefs, or lack there of, for many years. As a kid I remember doubting even the best "miracles" in the bible. I remember memorizing the church service to the point that I could recite it along with the priest. Did I feel anymore than boredom? No, never. As an adult there have been many times that I stand in the church thinking, "Seriously? All this pomp and circumstance is so unneeded. Why go through all of this?"
I don't believe the bible is anymore than a novel. I don't believe in miracles. I think organized religion is a control device and political machine originally designed to gain power back in early times. I don't believe in judgment day or the second coming. I don't believe prayer works in terms of a godly intervention.
Here is what I do believe:
We should live our lives honestly and truthfully and as good people.
There was some sort of higher something that put the universe into action but does not take any role in the day to day living of beings throughout the universe.
Organized church is a crock and the catholic church is the most hypocritical of all.
Dead is dead.
I believe prayer may have worked because of the positive vibes it brings the people being prayed for(power of positive thinking).

Please take some time out of your day to let me know just what you think I am.

Spelling Woes

Some people are natural spellers. I am one of those people so I really have trouble relating to those who can't spell. I actually cringe when I see obvious spelling errors in adult writing/typing. My sweet girls are opposites. Big Mac really has a hard time while Chickie spells everything I throw at her so well that she is currently spelling on a 4th grade level at age 7. What do you do for an older student who has these issues?
First I got the eyes checked. Fine. So I started to look at overall academic work. Seems to be all about par except for reading and spelling. The former is a result of simply being a reluctant reader, but I did notice that she often guesses at words prematurely. Now what?
Off to consult with a real authority, Susan Wise Bauer. One of her audio lectures discusses this problem of reading and spelling that shows up at about 4th grade. Voila! I think this may be it.
Here is the solution I came up with using her suggestions. I took Phonics Pathways, which is a reading program, and looked through the rules that it taught. Wasn't I shocked to find that it actually had a section in the back called, "Spelling Strategies". The instructions are straight forward and easy to follow. This week she copied the rules for C, K, and -ck usage in words, copied several words and wrote them 3 times, had a few small tests with words from these categories and did well. It outlines how to set up your notebook and what to do each step of the way. I can't comment on how well it works as of yet, but will be more opinionated in about 2 months or so I'm sure. You can find the book on Amazon and it retails for $29.99, but they often have discounts on books.