Amazon.com Back to School

Amazon.com Back to School includes a variety of offers. I'm going to give you the general links here then write about a few things, my picks, which I think are particularly worth checking out, and may not be so obvious, below that.

• Back to School Savings
  
• School Shopping By Grade
• Textbook Store
  

Many of the promotions make me cringe - they are suggesting new bedding, computers, scanners, and a whole host of expensive items which seem to me to have no connection to back-to-school. I do recognize that you mileage may vary. For all I know you may want to buy ahead for the holidays or you may be waiting for just the kind of deals they have. Anyway, here are my picks.

• Short-sleeved polo shirts - I wear polo shirts because they are inexpensive and comfortable.
• Prismacolor colored pencils - for colored pencil drawing it's worth having high quality pencils and Prismacolor make some of the nicest.
• Super magnet science kit - who can resist a set of cool magnets? Looks like fun to me!
• Set of 4 Tycoon games - great games for the 8-10 year old boy in particular. Tycoon games were popular in my home for quite a while.

Happy browsing. I'll have more links later on savings.
Purchases made through the above links support The Homeschooler's Guide to the Galaxy.

A Few Fun and Useful Learning Links

An interview with a children's author and illustrator who loves nature: Jennifer Thermes at The Grass Stain Guru.

Get out and do World Water Monitoring Day: a great homeschool, school or club project.

School supplies for a penny at Staples: here is the ad - the sale ends today.

For the Kansas City metro folks: enter a local art exhibition (scroll down) in Merriam, Kansas.

Open House tonight to learn about Currclick's new online classes coming this fall.

International Youth Camp - your homeschool teen might like to learn about this.

Waterdragon for Wordless Wednesday

Learning link for teen artists - Artist Girl recommends Fan Art Central. However, a word of warning, the site won't work if you have adverts blocked.

Wordlesss Wednesday.

Find dragon drawing books at Amazon.com.

Inspiration From A Snowman

Today I was reminded of how inspiration for learning can come from many places, even places that you just might not expect.

Many years ago I was introduced to The Snowman by Raymond Briggs. If you've not heard of him, Raymond Briggs is a British illustrator, born in 1934. When Artist Girl was really little I must have snuggled up with her one day to watch the video version of The Snowman on British broadcast TV. For me it was love at first sight. The combination of story, music, and fantasy in The Snowman had me hooked. I wanted to know how to draw like that (the illustrations appear to be done with colored pencils). Thus began an adventure in art for me. Below you can see a frog illustration I did as a result of following this inspiration.

Of course I'd had pencils as a child, but not the beautiful colored pencils that artists and illustrators use. Colored pencils purchased for children generally feel scratchy to use and create dull-colored drawings. I've no idea why we buy these poor quality colored pencils for children. The high quality ones really aren't that expensive. You can pick up a basic set for around $10. If you have a child who is interested in working with pencils please do make the investment of supplying them with quality tools; they are pretty readily available (more information below).

Anyway, if you've never seen The Snowman it is a story without words... totally delightful. Words really can't convey it. I'm going to provide you with some learning links, though personally I'd rather watch the video/DVD version and see the original book than explore this topic online. Somehow watching an online animation seems sacrilege to me :-)

• Read about illustrator Raymond Briggs at the British Council website.
• Visit the official Snowman website and find teacher resources and games. There are animations here, so if you want to see the full DVD first, miss this site out for now. Instead you may want to see a double page spread of the illustrations at Random House.
  
• Here is an unofficial fan site for Raymond Briggs, where another fan includes his story of discovering The Snowman.
• Raymond Briggs had to go against the wishes of his parents to study art. You can read what The Guardian has to say on Raymond.
  

At Amazon.com you can see inside the original book version of The Snowman and find
The Snowman on VHS, DVD and in book format. The storybook version with words has a poor review so check your library for the original word-free version, or for the DVD.

I've found artist quality colored pencils locally at places like Michael's and Office Depot. I've also used Cheap Joe's for ordering from online. Here's a set of artist quality Derwent colored pencils for less than $11 from Cheap Joe's, and a set of 12 artist quality Prismacolor pencils at Amazon.com. These are both good quality and would be great for starting out with.

Mini Lesson Plans

Models and miniatures are a fantastic hobby and have lots of homeschooling possibilities. Have your kids ever built a diorama, visited a model railroad exhibit, or decorated a doll's house? Many little people, and big people, are fascinated by tiny stuff. I know I certainly am. When I received a visit from Randall, who loves to write about model trains, for yesterday's Wordless Wednesday, I began to think of some of the possibilities. I've wandered the web so you don't have to, unless you insist of course!

Over on the left is The Usborne Book of Making Models. If you are interested in shopping for items related to models and model making, books, materials, etc, I've gathered these links together at the end. Read on for mini lesson plan ideas and for more details on this and other Usborne model books...

Model trains are such a favorite thing to have under the Christmas tree. Little boys who love Thomas the Tank Engine might just develop a love for model trains and railroads. There are some good articles on toy trains for children, including articles on Electric Train Scales for Children (about choosing the size of trains) and Electric Train Do's and Don'ts for Parents at About.com. For teens and adults try the National Model Railroad Association Introduction to Model Railroading. If you need to be inspired by visuals, take a look at the small layout scrapbook for lots and lots of layout plans and photos. I was particularly intrigued by the shoebox layouts.

Working with scale trains is a great exercise in math, design, art and electricity. You'll be planning track layouts, costing a variety of designs, learning electrical safety, and building scenery. For your scenery The Usborne Book of Making Models, pictured above, contains ideas and step by step instructions for making a tunnel, as well as bushes, shrubs, trees and paths.

I've always enjoyed visiting model railroads. It took a good bit of searching to find a website that lists places to visit - check out GreatestHobby.com, their list looks to be comprehensive and current... unless of course you know different! I'm lucky enough to live close to a very absorbing little model railroad store. At the Show Me Railroad Company they make their own limited edition HO scale rolling stock right in the store. It's a kind of mini rail wonderland with large layouts in several scales, and lots of tiny items to explore. If you don't have a miniature railroad museum, like the Twin City Model Railroad Museum, or the San Diego Model Railroad Museum nearby, visiting a store or a model railroad club could be the next best thing.

If you want the tradition of a train under the tree, it's worth spending some time reading to make sure you choose something suitable. Alternatively, if you're not sure you have an enthusiast, do what I did. Choose the least expensive little battery-operated train set you can find and assume it will get broken. Guess what - we've had our little plastic Santa train set for probably 9 years now and it's still as good as new! It was the right choice for us; neither of my kids has developed an enthusiasm for model railroads, at least not yet anyway.

Writing about mini lesson plans is almost as fascinating as doing them. I have a lot more to say but I'm out of both time and brain juice, so for now I'll say, "to be continued"... I will update later with links for those interested in shopping and continue in a separate article for mini lesson plans with other kinds of models beyond trains.

Places to shop for model trains and related items:

• Atlas Model Railroad Company - Atlas produce items in HO, N, and O scales.
• The Show Me Model Railroad Company makes and sells limited edition rolling stock in HO scale. See the Show Me Holiday Collectibles - these are affordable and could make a great gift for your model train enthusiast.
• Manufacturer Lionel has their own Online Train Shop. You''ll need a few bucks to invest in one of their sets. Set themes include Harry Potter, Thomas the Tank Engine, Polar Express and North Pole.
• Find a hobby shop close to you from the Greatest Hobby model shop directory.
• More links for model train enthusiasts and yet more from Model Railroad News.
  
• At Choo Choo Track they sell Brio compatible and Thomas items.

What do you say? Do you have a train under your tree, a favorite train-related resource, or a train story to tell?
Brought to you in association with Amazon.com with Christmas train choices and plenty of Brio items.

Scribbit Won the Give Away

Scribbit was the winner of my first ever giveaway, which was made possible by CutePiXelArt and my daughter Artist Girl. Michelle at Scribbit decided that she most needed a square button containing her logo and blog background. Here it is!

Thank you to everyone who entered. Don't ask me how I did it, but I managed to delete the original post. There were four entrants in the give away and Scribbit's number was drawn. Look out for future giveaways here.