Art Class!

Tue, 9 Feb 2010 15:37:00 -0600

We had the pleasure of going to our local art museum today and taking a homeschool art class. I have been meaning to try this class with my littles all school year and finally made it. There were 12 kids in our age group and the docent was excellent. She took us around the art museum to look at a large variety of paintings with the theme of lines. It was interesting to see all the different ways lines are used in art.

After about 40 minutes of touring the museum, we moved into the art studio. The kids were given aprons and told that they were going to make prints with the theme of lines! What fun.

First they made lined patterns on their printing foam. The teacher told us that one could use the foam from an egg carton and get the same affect.

Next, they painted the print with printing paint.

Then, they used a roller to press down the template onto the paper.

How cool is that! They were able to go back over and over again with different colors and make really creative prints.

The kids' finished products! From top to bottom, Tom Sawyer's, which he named Random Lights (he's the one who has never waivered from wanting to become an artist); middle one is Little Red Ridinghood's wonderful organic shapes; and the bottom was created by Goldilocks. I am so pleased with this program. They were able to use high quality art supplies, and the teacher was really nice. On the registration form, it had asked how to best teach each child. I had written about the kids' special needs and what would make it easier for them (example~extra paper towels for sensory boy and repeated directions for FASD girl). The teacher had obviously read the registration sheet and followed through with helping my kiddos. Very impressive! I can't wait for next month's program!

Blessings,

Dawn

Weekly Wrap-Up...Sleet, Hail, Freezing Rain, Oh My!

Sat, 6 Feb 2010 19:22:00 -0600

Please join My Heart's Desire in her weekly wrap-up.

From the Heart

The weather outside has been frightful for days and we are feeling cabin fever around here. Our Five In A Row group was canceled due to everything frozen that can fall out of the sky on Friday. I think we saw sleet, hail, snow and freezing rain all within any given hour of the day. We are having some wild weather indeed. Now, I have to try and reschedule the Five In A Row group, but the forecast looks crazy for next week as well. OY!!

On the Homefront

I got to do some stockpile shopping at our local grocery store. They had lots of dairy and nitrate free lunchmeat on super sale (more than 50% off). It is nice to have a full fridge. I am struggling a bit with the kids' chore charts. I revamped them in January, and they do not seem to be working out as well as the previous lists. However, I wanted to train each child in a different task and get on top of maintaining bedrooms. The bedrooms are working well but the other chores need some more thought.

In the Schoolroom

Oh boy, Tom Sawyer was in heaven compared to having a sick teacher/mommy last week. We got several projects done and really got into our study of space. We kicked off our science unit on space by watching Apollo 13. The kids loved it and learned more than I thought they would from the movie. (FYI~There was a shower scene that I had forgotten about that raised some eyebrows and questions out of one little one. They don't really show anything, but you are aware that a man and woman are in the shower at the same time.) We continued by reading some library books about Apollo 13 and making moon rocks out of homemade glitter playdough. We also learned about constellations and made up some of our own. The kids really liked both projects.

We also worked on lots of projects to go along with Snowflake Bentley, but I will save that for a different post. Math, language arts and reading were done in a bit more unschooling style this week. They all got done but it was more games and workbooks that the kids could do on their own.

Tom Sawyer's yearly tests results came back this week. He did very well. He came out at or above grade level in all subjects accept spelling. He was only a few months behind in spelling. Funny, his tester suggested that I make him a spelling dictionary similar to what Charlotte Mason suggests. That very thought has been on my To Do List for the last few weeks. I guess I better get to it. It is such a relief that he is doing so well.

In the Way of Parenting

Things are going well with the kids saying "thank you" and "my pleasure" to each other. I still have to prompt them lots of the time, but I am seeing improvement. Goldilocks is still holding steady. I am back to trying to balance my desires for my children with their actual abilities. Merging and molding their disabilities together can be so hard at times. I do keep seeing progress and must remind myself that child training takes LOTS OF TIME.

As a Wife

Between illness and dh's work schedule, we have fallen off the rule that we must be in our bedroom at 9:30 every night. The idea behind this theory was that we would be in the same room so that, even if he was finishing up ironing (yes, he really likes to iron!) and I was looking over the next day's lesson plans, we would be able to chat about life beyond childrearing. We both have mentioned missing this time together, so we will make sure that it is put back on track next week.

Family Time

We are working on having calmer evenings as a family together. There has been way too much boisterous hide and seek and Nerf gun wars in the house with someone getting hurt or feeling cheated. My kiddos just can not take that much wildness, even though they crave it. Playing card games has been the most popular replacement to the noisy, out of control games. The kids all learned how to play Apples to Apples this week. The girls have to be on a team with a parent, but Tom Sawyer can hold his own with his own cards. Timothy keeps beating us since he is a walking encyclopedia. I think we played this game 3 nights this week for up to an hour each time.

Blessings,

Dawn

my4sweetums - Homeschool Blogger

Art Class!

Weekly Wrap-Up...Sleet, Hail, Freezing Rain, Oh My!