Over this past year I tried to get my homeschool co-op to come out to my place to do a bi-weekly art lesson with the lad and I but...no one came out. I guess they thought the half-hour drive was too much to bear. I wanted to do an art class because doing art as a group is much different than doing art one-on-one. So when it came time to do our spring co-op again I thought, I'm going to do an art class.
Grab a bunch of children. Set them down with some paper and pencils and watch them go. Seriously.. we had fun. My job? Simple. Give some basic instruction first day... see.. look at these different zentangles. This one is called ____, that one is called ______. Practice a few of them. We practiced on 2 x 2 squares of paper.
My job? Offer encouragement, show what you can do different... if you space the lines farther apart or turn the tangle upside down. "AH!!!" one boy said.. "I can turn it into wheat!" while a girl said "I can make those vines into ropes if I add some twisty lines". I LOVE THAT STUFF! Seriously. I do not consider myself artistic.. I hated school and having to all do the exact same thing when doing art. HATED IT. But I do have a knack for taking ideas and presenting them to children and then seeing them literally FLY with it. I LOVE THAT. For week two I asked them.. what do you want to do? Do you want to practice more on the 2 x 2 sheets OR would you like to see what you can do with objects? Objects it was, so I brought in a variety of half sheet images. Some pokemon, some birds, some puppies etc. Things I thought the children might be interested in..and let them go to work. I just pulled up free colouring pages from on-line, resizing them to fit the page. This proved to be what the children wanted to do. Fill in images and make their zentangles, or doodles with a purpose, practical. I quickly discovered one young lady had an affinity for doing bible verses. Her mom told me how delighted she was that I allowed her to do what she wanted to do and didn't make her do what the others were. This picture is partially done. She did another one that was much bigger and filled with hearts around the John 3:16 verse. Simple and well done.
Another young lady turned out these amazingly well done drawings. She hopes to turn them into a book and maybe sell them. I told her she had the skill to do so.
Another young lady tried her hand at making her own outline and then filling it in. Isn't she doing an great job? I was so proud of her and pleased with her work.
My young fellows weren't really keen on me taking pictures of them working. In fact one refused, so I went with it. :) We did careful behind the scenes pictures. I'm not supposed to let it be too big, but pleased I was with their work. For their final project white shirt did a zentangle with french symbols to be filled out, and striped shirt did a series of intricate lines inside a pokemon figure.
This young lady learned to fit the zentangle drawings to the outline she was using. By the time she had this one finished, it would have been a joy to colour in and see all those sweeping lines. Not just done in pencil, but in fine tipped marker as well.
The bulk of the class was just me doing around and saying well done, have you thought about using this idea? Oh.. I like how you added some blockiness to that, or see how the lines sweep here?.. what kind of doodle do you think will fit well there? Encouragement along with different images to fill.. it was just an easy, laid back class filled with laughter and beauty.
Didn't they do an excellent job? I was so immensely pleased with all of them. It was amazing to see their different styles? A couple of the children made "cheat sheets" for themselves, choosing zentangles they particularly liked and putting them on a sheet.
This post is part of the Homeschool Crew Art Round up. It will probably open up on Friday morning.
I have to tell you this.. I have not read this book, my lad did. Boy did he ever talk about this first visit an ice dwarf and the kuiper belt, as found in Mary Kay Carson's book "Mission to Pluto".
AND.. wonders upon wonders.. he actually told me what he thought about it. So this review is based solely on what he told me about it.
HE LIKED IT!
OH,... he was full of information. He researched additional ideas on youtube and just filled two weeks with reading and watching. :) Here's one video he told me about:
It's a good thing that you know?
What he liked: LOTS of pictures. Not just pictures and colour graphics to fill space, but ones that actually had to do with what he was reading about.
It had interesting cut-outs...you know when they bring up interesting facts not directly related to what they are talking about. Like when they talked about the girl who named Pluto or when they talked about the colours of the spectrum and what not. My lad was going on and on about how that led to him learning about Red S____ . He's told me and explained it to me but it keeps disappearing into the nether on me! (how red isn't really red cause it disappears ???) Anyways, it has him all fascinated and talking.
He loved it when they had all the pictures on the page in one spot OR taking up the entire page. He didn't have to wonder where he should start reading.
If the picture was at the top of slightly off center he didn't know if he should start reading under the picture or beside the picture, so "tell them mom that if they are writing this for me to read they should put the pictures either at the top or at the bottom so it isn't confusing". It has lots of information in it but "I found it really easy to read. It didn't take me very long". When I asked if he thought other boys might be interested the answer was "yes". He admittedly wasn't sure if girls would like it... but honestly.. I think they would if they are into the things of outer space and seeing how a scientist realized a dream.
When my son realized there were several others in the series he wanted me to rush out and get more of them.. so expect a review or two to come along yet from others in the series. :)
Title: Mission to Pluto Author: Mary Kay Carson Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Pages: 80 Age Range: 10-12 years Series: Scientists in the Field Reviewed for: Raincoast Books
Book Synopsis: In July of 2015 a robotic spacecraft reached Pluto after a nine-and-half-year journey. New Horizons
is the first spacecraft mission to Pluto and revealed its five moons
as never before seen. Images from the mission show a reddish surface
covered in ice-water mountains, moving glaciers, and hints of possible
ice volcanoes and an underground ocean. Pluto is geologically alive and
changing!.......Follow along
with the team of scientists as they build New Horizons, fly it across the solar system, and make new discoveries about a world three billion miles away.
HI! Guess what, Joanna is nice enough to guest post for me with what sounds like a fascinating book. Joanna commented on my blog about this book and I asked if she'd please please please write a blog post for me as I wanted you all to know about it too! Come check it out with me eh?
I am always looking for ways to keep my boys interested in learning about art.
We
have read many great books about artists, carried out artist studies
complete with copied works, and go on field trips to local art museums.
But
I always wanted my boys to really stop and study the works of art.
Look for the nuances that make them so spectacular, learn the names of
major works of art and the artists who painted them.
I
was so thrilled when I stumbled upon the Spot the Differences book! So
far we only have book 1 but there are 4 of them in the series.
I love this series because my boys were excited about using it!
The
book has 25 famous paintings-- each painting is pictured twice. The
first page shows the original painting complete with name and date it
was painted. The opposing page shows the same picture with anywhere
from 6-14 change and you are challenged to find all the differences
between the original work of art and the changed picture. There is an
answer key in the back of the book if you get stumped and a handy box
for checking off all the differences you have found.
Surrounding
both pictures are snippets of information about the artist, the
painting itself, and some facts about the historical period in which the
artist lived and painted.
Joanne Rawson is the author of the blog Our Unschooling Journey.
Known around the web as Mother of 3, Joanne began her blog when she
first started homeschooling her three boys in 2012. She lives in
Connecticut with her family and enjoys reading, crafting, and
travelling... all of which usually ends up on her blog.
So the other day I had cooked up a bunch of rice cause I wanted to make some rice pudding. I over estimated how much I would need (what can I say... I can do the math but my cold-fogged head messed up). Anyways, I had a whack of rice and wanted to lessen the amount of leftovers. (ever been there??). I found Five Easy Recipes that use leftover rice and made what I call rice cheese balls, but what they call Arancini.
Ingredients:
2 cups cooked white rice, cooled
½ cup grated Parmesan
1 egg
8 small cubes fresh mozzarella - if using store bought mozzarella let it sit out for a bit to get warm and soft.
2 eggs
1 cup Italian-style breadcrumbs
Oil, for frying
1 cup marinara sauce (didn't use)
Directions: 1. Place a large pot over medium heat, adding enough vegetable oil to rise 4 inches in the pot. 2. Combine the rice, Parmesan, and 1 egg in a medium bowl. Use your
hands to thoroughly combine the mixture. 3. Whisk together the remaining 2 eggs in a small bowl. 4. Measure the breadcrumbs into a small bowl. I did not need the 1 cup, could probably get away with 1/2 cup. 5. Take a small portion of the
mixture, forming a ball around a cube of mozzarella. 6. Dip each arancini in the eggs and then in the
breadcrumbs, shaking off any excess. NOTE: to do this I placed each round on a spoon and then spooned the egg over top of it, turning as necessary. DO NOT dip them.. they will completely fall apart on you. Then roll them in breadcrumbs. 7. Once the oil reaches 375 degrees
Fahrenheit, add 2 or 3 of the breaded arancini to the pot, frying them
until golden brown and cooked throughout. 8. Use a slotted spoon to remove the fried arancini from the pot and
transfer them to a paper towel-lined plate. Immediately salt the
arancini. Repeat the frying process with the remaining arancini. I did not salt them but I dislike excess salt, hubby found it unnecessary, your tastes may vary. If you want, dip them in the marinara sauce. If you are like hubby - seafood sauce is really great with them, or ketchup, or dijon mustard. Threaten to scarf down all nine balls lovely wife made. :) If you are like the lad and mom - no sauce necessary..just eat up and enjoy and look for seconds. :) They are best served warm.
Welcome to week "P" of blogging through the alphabet, I'm so delighted that you have stopped by to visit with Amanda and I through this whole endeavor. How are you doing with it eh?
Anyways, recently my son attended the Project fair for our local homeschool co-op. His project was all about his cactus.
Part of the gig was for children to answer questions about their presentation, and one of the questions asked was "does Canada have any native cacti species." The lad hadn't researched that idea so had no clue, people offered guesses, most saying no it didn't, but I did google and showed the lad the response. Did you know we have FOUR cacti species? In British Columbia, Manitoba and in Ontario? I KNOW!!! A total shocker!!! In Ontario we have the Eastern Prickly Pair Cactus...and low and behold guess what! On Sunday we had a preaching engagement up in Kingsville which is REALLY close to Point Pelee.. the home of the Eastern Prickly Pear so we actually got to see some! I know! AH!!!! My boy child was SO delighted!!!
It could be found everywhere it seemed, but the lad did some research on it when we got home and found out that its on the Ontario Endangered Species list. Habitat loss and human interference play a big role in it's demise, with invasive species NOT helping matters at all. So if you see it growing in Ontario LEAVE IT ALONE!!! Don't trample it, don't dig it up, just enjoy it in it's native environment and pull out those nasty invasive plants that want to crowd it out! Let it enjoy the sandy dunes, and open sun, and let it flower. Let it fruit and spread it seeds (even if the fruit is edible). Just let it do it's thing and help it along instead of hindering it. Let other boys, like my son, be delighted in discovering cacti in Ontario!!!!
So what'd'ya say... do you have a "P" post? Come on in and join us won't you? We're delighted to have you stop in. :)
Imagine taking an art class in the comfort and freedom of your own home... professional lessons, art lessons for children, provided by ArtAchieve. I don't know if you remember that the lad and I reviewed this last year, and were delighted to review for ArtAchieve again, this year broaching the Entire Level III. Boy.. has it been fun. :)
One of the things I love, after various conversations with John, is how he holds true to his statements. He believes anyone can learn to draw, that it is not a skill only for the talented but for anyone. It's a necessary skill that improves one's abilities in many other subjects. He structures his lessons in such a way that if you want to learn to draw a cat, your cat will LOOK like a cat. :) At the same time, he leaves plenty of room for creative self-expression, so the cat you draw will be YOUR cat, not his, not your neighbours, but all yours. Learning to draw means paying attention to what you are observing, it means thinking creatively which spills over to other subjects. Doing art helps you cover history, geography, literature and more. I know it has helped us in our Canadian Studies! :) Come.. explore ArtAchieve with us, won't you? Once you have logged into ArtAchieve you will be brought to a page with all your lessons.
Each lesson, if you click on the (+) sign opens into usually four sections.
The way you approach the lesson influences which version you use. My son wasn't keen on the video as he needed to stop and start it all the time. He would rather not do that. He quickly learned that the powerpoint version worked best for him. One slide at a time with little dots below that he could shift between. He could quickly skip ahead to see the final result or he could jump a few buttons back to review that he did a step properly.
The son was busy.. ever so busy with having fun about the armadillo as a turtle rabbit. I raise rabbits so he was bugging me about how many some of them might want to become turtles so I better watch out for turtle rabbits. AND DON'T get him started on the German.. oh my!!!! 11 year olds and their sense of humour eh? We could just see those little armoured turtle rabbits running around. It just made us laugh together. :) Each lesson John adds these "curriculum connectors" as I call them, where he gives some of the history of the animal used, or the art form involved. He throws in history, geography, science and what not. Art is such a cross-curricular subject and it just neat to see the Cross Curricular Connections he makes.
Each lesson starts off the same (except for the stop action lesson at the end of level three). A line drawing to complete (so you can practice drawing the parts of the subject matter) and a supplies list. You can also find a supply list for all the lessons under supplies when you login, though I found it wasn't as complete as the in-lesson supply list.
We ran into one lesson where we didn't have the acrylic paints needed so I emailed John to find out how necessary they were or if we could make do with oil or tempura paints, or if pencil crayons might work as well. He said "Go ahead all those will work". :) So we did. I just love art programs that are accommodating as that's how I approach art! I figure what is important.. the medium or the learning the style taught? Granted, if a lesson is about HOW to do work with pastels.. well..then you want to use pastels. But this lesson was about how to do form lines and plain lines so the materials used didn't matter quite as much.
Each lesson contains a different art lessons, whether about form lines, working in 3rds, or working with different mediums like glue and aluminum foil. The art lessons are short and illustrated well. The lad and I finished two projects. We worked through them slowly as that helps my perfectionist son take the time that needs to do a job well.
For this project we were supposed to draw an armadillo.
But the lad wanted to do a pokemon character and I thought
I'd try a cat. The lad helped with the cat feet as I was struggling with them,
I helped the lad with curving the leaves of his Oddish.
The lad thoroughly enjoyed this project once he saw it finished!
This totem project was a time-taker.
We did one section at a time to draw, doing the black form lines went quickly.
The lad was hesitant about doing the colour, until he started
and then he figured out how he wanted it to go.
One of the things I really appreciated was how John showed us different options for how a finished project might look. Sometimes they were quite different from each other but it drove home how different people do can do the same art project and have it turn out completely differently. It gave the lad the freedom he needed to do his OWN art. We talked alot doing each art piece, discussing methods, colour, types of pencils, marker yes or not, how to make easy lines within a colour (use white crayon!) and so much more. We learned alot about the Pacific coast people. Here's a bit we learned while doing our totem poles.
In fact we actually have a problem... we don't agree on which project we should do next... should it be the frog (the lad) or the Canada geese (me)? We can put a Canadian spin on both you know? :)
I have to admit, I'm looking forward to when we do the Canada Goose lesson, check out some of the Cross Curricular Connections we'll be able to do. We'll be able to visit websites to learn facts about geese, do a character study via youtube, read good books about geese, and more. I can see us looking up Canada Geese migrating and perhaps finding out why some geese stick around all winter! You find this under the art lessons tab.
If you are intrigued by ArtAchieve I strongly urge you to try out the free lesson! See for yourself if John's way of teaching works well for you. :) Really.. you won't regret it!
Vendor: ArtAchieve Product Name and Links: Entire Level III Cost For Level Three: Individual Lesson $6 each, bundles of three for $16, or the entire course for $58.50 Received: One Year of Level III.
This month has seemed very busy, so I'm trying to recall what all we read this month. Not as much as some months. :)
Oh.. before I begin I have to tell you this funny story. I told my mom-in-law how much we enjoyed the book Irish Chain... and suggested she read it. She's about 78 years old and she liked this book so much she stayed up all night. Oh my...she looked so tired and frail but wow.. she was full of her enjoyment of it. :) Gave her and the lad much to talk about. It took her four days to recover from her reading adventure. :) So what else did we read this month? We're continuing our natural world adventures with Natural world. We're in the midst of learning about a variety of birds. It was rather interesting today, we had recently learned about swallows, and today we saw some swallows in real life. My lad was fascinated!
The lad is continuing to read through Shepherd, Potter, Spy and Star-Namer. Tells me he likes it. His bed-time reading is all about the Warrior Cat series by Erin Hunter. At breakfast we are reading the Golden Goblet. So far this book has us very intrigued. Has the lad asking lots of questions about why the boy's brother has to be so mean. I'm glad my lad doesn't really understand such cruelty.. he hasn't experienced it. I'm also pleased that it bothers him as much as it does me. We are also reading a book about animals in urban life (very interesting), a book about Canada (a bit young but the lad asks questions so good), and a book about muskoxen (more fascinating than you might think). OH... And we are also reading a second book in the Rip and Red series (review coming soon). I don't have pics as the books are upstairs in my sleeping sons room. I have just started a new book: A Train in Winter. I picked it up at the hospital's rummage sale. I was hoping it would be written as a novel, but it wasn't. Still interesting, but won't be as fun a read. Well..I phrased that poorly.. as reading about women in the French resistance who were shipped to a death camp from the Nazi's wouldn't ever be a "FUN" read, but more clinical I guess this will be. So far it's been a good explanation as to why the French started to resist so much against German occupation. Oh Remember Fledgling from last month? I have the boys hooked, so we're listening to it on MP3's in the car! They like it so much we're into book two! AND they are mad that I want to listen ahead to book three so my listening fun has been curtailed a bit. :( Avian is not a book for young listeners though as there is a fairly NASTY fellow in the book who likes hurting people. But Javed holds true to who he is learning he really is, even if others warn him not to be. A compelling story that the lad says "NO drive around the block, drive longer!! PLEASE!!!!"
I also read a Valdemar compendium.. thoroughly enjoyed it. :) Tempest. It's fun to read fan fiction.. to see what people come up with that's in the light of the whole series.
Some of the stories are really well done, others just leave you wondering "what were they thinking!!!" cause it seems so off.
This one was quite well done.
And that's all I have in my brain for now. NOTE! A linky is up at the end of the post so... join in!
The
Homeschool Review Crew does word prompts for Instagram fun, I think
it's great to have these words prompts for doing quick posts. :) I
find them fun as sometimes it surprises me where my brain goes. :) Today's word: Springtime. Let's follow my thoughts along the way eh?
