The Drawing Lesson Book Review (Blogging for Books)

Disclaimer: This post contains Amazon Affiliate Links.





I received The Drawing Lesson in exchange for honest review from Blogging for Books. The book was written by Matt Crilley. The book is part teaching you how to draw and part graphic novel of a teacher teaching a young boy how to draw.

I wanted the book because I love to doodle. I wish I could draw better. I struggle with faces. When I used to draw faces, the faces never looked liked the person. Good picture but not accurate. I also took a year of graphic design. My best drawing was a composition of Usher, Lil Jon, and Ludacris. The teacher said I didn't have to draw them to perfection, but to focus on what made each person unique, such as Lil Jons hair and sun glasses, so others would recognize them.

Crilley presents lessons on shading, light, negative space, compositions, etc. For example, in the story when the teacher was showing the boy how to draw a watch. The boy had to draw the watch with similar size and markings. The boy had to learn where to place the holes in the bands and how to size the watch. He also learned how the watch was tapered at the ends. Another lesson was drawing light lines at first, just in case you made a mistake. You can erase and fix your mistakes early versus trying to fix multiple problems later on.

You can purchase the book in paperback and kindle format, using the link above. The book is prime-eligible.

PowerMyLearning Review (Sverve)

I reviewed PowerMyLearning, in exchange for honest review from Sverve. This is a sponsored post. I wanted to work with PowerMyLearning because my oldest child learns better via the computer and visual aides. Even though Brad is home-schooled, he still needs additional help learning. I have to find different methods to help him learn new things. I also signed Kalen up for an account. Kalen is starting to show an interest in the computer, other than trying to break the keyboard, mouse, and the printer. I bought him a little laptop, to teach him 6 things: A, B, C, 1, 2, and 3. Kalen starts school next year. He will be in Head Start and a Pre-school for kids with intellectual disabilities.

PowerMyLearning is an educational website for educators, parents, and children. The website provides games and activities for children. The parents can monitor the children's progress through the parent account.

You do have to create a separate account for each child, as well as the parent. The children's account needs to be created first. Then, create the parent and add each child's user name. The website then sends a request to the child to connect parent to child.

Also, the kids accounts don't require an e-mail to sign up. They will need their username, password, city, state, and birthday, in addition to school name.

I did it backwards. I created my account first, thinking I can add my children through the parent account, similar to a few other websites. Then, to add your child, it asks for a user name. Can't have a user name if your child does not have account. So, I went to create Brad and Kalen an account. Logged back into mine and added his user name. The website then said it will send a request to Brad to add me as his parent (which is a good thing and a bad thing. What if the child does not want you to track his progress? I definitely recommend the parents setting up all the accounts. ). The process will take a minute for parents with multiple kids.

Then, you log into each child's account, click on their name towards the top, and go to account. There are two options. Link the accounts or select, not my parent. (Another reason, I recommend the parents set up the account).

The website has over 2000 activities in subjects, which include:

1. Math
2. Science
3. Language Arts
4. Art and Music
5. World Languages
6. Social Studies
7. Your Life
8. Technology

I played with the games at first to see how easy or hard they are? Do the games require a lot of clicking? Do the games require a lot of comprehension? You can select games based on subject or grade level. I started at Kindergarten because both kids need to learn the basics. Kalen starts pre-k next year and Brad is in the 6th grade, but still needs the lower grade basics, such as counting, learning numbers, and ABCs. For Brad, I may mix it up a bit, letting him work on activities ranging from K to 6th to see what he can and can't do. For Kalen, I am going to help him prepare for school next year. Kalen will be attending two schools: head start and the school for developmental disabilities.

One game I liked, is Energy City, created by the Jason Project. The game is more for advanced learners. It is a partial city builder game and part strategy. You complete missions, while also keeping the city from running out of money and energy. It teaches kids how to conserve energy.

Dr. Seuss: the cat behind the hat. The art of Dr. Seuss

I read Dr. Seuss: the cat behind the hat, in exchange for review from netgalley.com

The book was wrote by Caroline M. Smith and published by Chase Art Companies, LLC. The book discussed the paintings of Ted Geisel, aka Dr. Seuss. The artwork was beautiful, abstract, colorful, vibrant, whimsical, detailed, animated, etc. The artwork reminded me of Picasso and M.C. Escher (sp?). Smith also provided history of each painting, in addition to excerpts from Seuss's books to accompany paintings.