SPACES Bienniel Sculpture Trail: Huntsville, Alabama

Recently, while  driving through downtown, I noticed something new.  Someone had erected some pretty cool sculptures and I couldn’t resist stopping to take a closer look. It turns out the pieces are part of a sculpture trail, a collection of 28 pieces from 15 accomplished artists on display at six different locations around Huntsville, Alabama.  

Modeled similarly to Chattanooga, Tennessee’s sculpture trail and public art, SPACES Bienniel  Sculpture Trail will be on display until August 2012.  Installations are located Downtown on the Square, at the Huntsville Museum of Art, the Von Braun Center, Lowe Mill Arts & Entertainment Center and the campuses of  UAHuntsville, and Alabama  A & M University.

Brochures are available at the Huntsville/Madison County Convention Center with maps of the sculpture trail also available for download at the Spaces website. 

There is a GPS tour and a Cell Phone Tour available which you can access by calling 256-489-2088 and entering the number of the sculpture. 

Here are some of the sculptures we saw downtown:

Soft 2 

Celestial Motion

Grouper

And my personal favorite:  

…and this is hope (#1 and #2)

Created by internationally known artist and sculptor, Charles Brouwer, this piece is constructed out of locust wood, a hard wood that holds up to the elements. His sculpture symbolizes the hope that he finds in families that rise to the challenge of raising children in today’s world.

I can’t wait for a nice day so the kids and I can get out of the house and and appreciate some more incredible works of art.

Huntsville

This Week on the HSB Front Porch and a Giveaway

Did you know that the first week of February is Authors and Illustrators Week? That’s why the writers at The Homeschool Bloggers Company Front Porch are sharing their favorite authors and illustrators.  You can look for my post of my children’s favorite picture books and I hope you’ll share some of your favorite picture books too.

Did you realize that I am giving away an Expo to Go package from the fall  Schoolhouse Expo? There are some great speakers, like Todd Wilson, Diana Waring and John Taylor Gatto. It’s easy to enter the contest. Go to this post, Who Needs Some Encouragement, and leave a comment telling me what you think is the hardest part about homeschooling. For our family, right now I’d have to say staying on track!  Hurry over, the contest ends tomorrow and a winner will be selected and announced on Friday.

Today is also the last day to purchase the Schoolhouse Expo tickets at the Early Bird Discount.

VocabAhead One Thousand SAT Vocabulary Videos & MP3’s-- A Review

VocabAhead offers tools to help students build their vocabulary so they are better able to master the SAT, GRE and ACT words on college entrance exams. In addition to an incredible website, they also offer a book and a DVD-Rom, which I received to review.  

The DVD-Rom, VocabAhead One Thousand SAT Vocabulary Videos & MP3’s, contains more than 1,000 SAT Vocabulary Words that are introduced as cartoon pictures for visual learners. The DVD-Rom also has MP3 audio files that your student can listen to on their MP3 player. The videos can be accessed on your computer, with a DVD-Rom, or added to your child’s iPod, iPhone or iPad.

One way that we used this product was to listen to the definition of the word a couple times and then my kids were required to work the word into sentences throughout the day. I have to tell you that some of the words aren’t common. Try to work accouter or legerdemain into your everyday conversation!    

I also encouraged my kids to begin a vocabulary notebook, jotting down their vocabulary word of the day and using it in several sentences. This worked okay for a little while. Unfortunately,  my computer is on it’s last leg and though initially we were able to see the videos, shortly after I received my review copy, my DVD-Rom quit working so we really didn’t utilize this product as much as I’d hoped and the notebooks kind of fell by the way.  

You can learn more about VocabAhead and their products by visiting their website.   The DVD-Rom that sells for $24.95 is available for purchase through Amazon.com. Minimum system requirements are as follows:  Windows:  XP, Vista or 7.  Macintosh: MAC OSX. iTunes 8 or above. 512 MB RAM, Sound Card, 4.7 GB Free Disk Space and don’t forget the working DVD-Rom! A Compatible MP3 player for portable use.   

I encourage you to visit The Old Schoolhouse Homeschool Crew website to learn how other crew members used this product in their homes.  

*I received this product free of charge in exchange for sharing my honest opinion.

Woo Hoo! My Etsy Shop Name is Chosen!

Last week I sent a plea out to my readers asking you to help me name my upcoming Etsy shop. I was blown away by the response! Honestly, based on my experience with contests and giveaways, I expected to have maybe five or six entries. Instead, I received 33 name ideas here on my blog, one on Facebook, and yet more from some of my friends via e-mail! My “easy” decision suddenly became Incredibly difficult!

So, I began the process of elimination—did I tell you this was hard? First, I went through the names and determined which ones were already in use on Etsy. Next, I went through the remaining names to see if the name was available as a domain, in case I decide I’d like to eventually buy the website. Finally, I asked for my family’s opinion. I even called my mom in Ohio and ran the names by her. There was one name that everyone really liked and for branding purposes, it fits. 

Without further delay…. the name of my soon- to- open Etsy shop will be… 

 

Thank you to Dana, a full-time RVing mom who is currently living in a fifth wheel with her family of 13, exploring the US one state at a time.  I hope you stop over at her blog, at Our Traveling Tribe to read about some of their many adventures.

Dana will have her choice of one item from my Etsy store. But to let you all know how much I appreciate your thoughts and ideas, everyone that submitted a name will receive a coupon for 50% one item.

Thank you all! You gals are one very creative bunch!

Homeschool moms, don’t miss my latest giveaway from The Schoolhouse Expo- a Expo to Go prize pack.  

Who Needs Some Encouragement?

This is the time of year that I begin to loose focus on what I’m trying to accomplish by teaching my children at home. I begin to worry about a number of things.

• Are we where I thought we’d be at this point in our year?
• Are we getting enough school work completed?
• Is our curriculum working for us?
• Should I be doing things differently?
• Is homeschooling really the right thing for my family?

Yes, even though this is our 12th year in the trenches, I still second guess myself. I still wonder, what if… should I….what about….

It’s times like this, when the winter doldrums set in that I desperately need some encouragement. I need to hear from those who have gone before, or those that are right there with me, to cheer me on and convince me that yes, homeschooling is the right option, you can do this and you’ve come so far!

That’s why I am so excited about The Schoolhouse Expo, an encouraging, fun and informative online homeschool convention presented from a Christian perspective and brought to you by The Old Schoolhouse Magazine!

The convention will be held May 16-20 and includes an incredible line-up of speakers including some of my favorites;  Diana Waring, Dianne Craft,  Carol Barnier,  Norm Wakefield and many more.   There’ are even special tracks  that teenagers and entrepreneurs will enjoy!

As much as I love to go to conventions, the fact that The Schoolhouse Expo comes directly to me, in my home,  is a huge plus. It doesn’t require me to spend a large amount for admission, drive to the event or even get dressed if I don’t want to! And as a bonus, each ticket includes free MP3 downloads, or the Expo to Go as it’s called,  of every session from the conference so you can listen to your favorites over and over again, every time  you really need that little bit of encouragement. 

All ticket holders will receive goodie bags valued at over $200, you just log in to your account and download all your goodies!  There will also be fun door prizes throughout the conference--  you’ll even have an opportunity to win one of my unique jewelry creations! 

Right now, until February 9th, you can purchase a ticket to the entire event for only $19.50 with the special Early Bird price . Not only will you  receive your goodie bag valued at over $200, but you’ll also receive additional bonus gifts too!  Prices will increase on the 10th to $29 (minus the bonus gifts) and again to the full cost of $39.99 on February 27th.

Are you interested? I am, and I hope that you’ll decide to join me once again for The Schoolhouse Expo, so don’t forget to buy your ticket to The Schoolhouse Expo before the price goes up!

Now it’s time for a giveaway just for my readers!  Thanks to The Schoolhouse Expo for offering one of my readers the opportunity to win an Expo to Go package from the Expo held last October-- 24 sessions from some of the best known names in homeschooling-- including John Taylor Gatto!

How do you enter? It’s easy.

Mandatory- Leave me a comment telling me what you think is the hardest aspect of homeschooling.

You can increase your chances of winning by: 

• Follow my blog , Live the Adventure,  through Google Friend Connect or the RSS feed.
• Follow me on Twitter.
• “Like” Live the Adventure on Facebook. 
• “Like” The Schoolhouse Expo on Facebook.

That’s five chances for you to win! And so I can keep it all straight, please leave a separate comment for each action that you take. You have until Thursday, February 10th at midnight CST to enter for a chance to win the October 2010 Expo to Go package, valued at $19.99. A winner will be selected at random next Friday, February 11th and announced here at Live the Adventure and through email so make sure that you leave your email address if it’s not already linked to your comment.     

Now, who needs some encouragement?