Wrap-Up Collage Journal

In Our Lives 
Oh, man...just getting back into the swing of things after our two trips. There are still suitcases in the hallway, but they HAVE been emptied.

My car got rear ended in the terrible traffic our town always has. The resulting damage was not as bad as the massive thud we felt (and the SCREECHING scared scream from Baby). And everyone was fine. Now I just have to get an estimate for the other guy's insurance.

If you look at this picture as googly eyes on top of his closed eyes, it's just kind of silly. But when I squint and look at it like those are his eyes, it freaks me out.

In other Dash news, I thought Uncle Matt would be happy to hear that "first Illinois but then the yellow Missouri Tigers" are his favorite football teams. He just announced this.

Ryan was away this week on business. We were excited to have him back and very sorry he had to carry out so much trash upon his return. I really meant to get to that.

In Our Homeschool 

For one of our tea times, we drank hot Hawaiian tea sweetened with agave and these Vegan Carrot Oatmeal Raisin Cookies (topped with an orange glaze). Still reading Farmer Boy.

I forgot to say in my Tennessee trip post that we (well, the kids and Ryan, anyway...my mind has a difficult time focusing on audiobooks, especially if they are in a fantasy genre) listened to The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe. They loved it. Even more than I expected. They are anxious to start the next book.

In other subjects, we had a lot of math, science, phonics, and spelling to catch up on for our homeschool academy classes. The two middle kids are listening to their teacher read Charlotte's Web in one of their classes.

I subbed in Tornado's Thinking Skills class this week. The teacher had left me pictures ripped from magazines. Everyone picked a picture and started writing a story. After a few minutes, they passed their story on to the next person. They passed around their stories several times until I said it was time to wrap the story up. There were some verrry interesting stories. I enjoyed being in a 5th/6th grade class; it was a nice change from the nursery, which I also do. I enjoy watching Tornado interact with his peers in a classroom setting, which is pretty...comforting on a good day.

I LOVE Sissy's classes at our other co-op. She takes a kindergarten class and an American Girl History class. Here is her notebook she is working on in AGH.

Something Else We Baked 

After reading a chapter in Farmer Boy about the Wilders harvesting their maple syrup for the year, I looked up "maple recipes" and came up with this Maple Apple Crisp. Delicious.

Extracurricular This Week

Last week the kids became fully emerged into their fall extracurricular activity schedule, which is, I have to say, much fuller than I had planned it to be. (We do have Saturdays free this semester, which is a huge relief. Friday-Sunday off: yay!) I am really loving everything they've got going so far, and I have strategically scheduled everything in groups. Although I am on the road a lot, going here and there,  it helps that most of their activities are back-to-back/at the same time.

This is an project Tornado completed from the last couple of weeks in his community art class.

And this is a picture Sissy drew at her art class. She said it is her and her cousins, W and C. So sweet.

Places We're Going and People We're Seeing

On Friday, I took the kids to World Fest in Little Rock. There were different booths and activities set up at War Memorial Park to celebrate culture and diversity.

Next, we met Aunt Tracy at Dempsey's Bakery for lunch. The boys also had to get haircuts at Pigtails and Crewcuts. Since it was only $9, and she needed her hair washed, anyway, Sis got to sit in a car for the first time. She got a wash and blowout, which was really fun for her.

My Favorite Book We Read 

I highly recommend this book by Jef Czekaj. Great alphabet book with a similar feel to The Scrambled States of America. X is tired of being at the end of the alphabet and underused. He is calling for a new alphabet. It's very clever and educational. "Why does [A] get to be in so many words?...And I and E, aren't you tired of having to switch places every time C comes into the picture?"

What's New With Baby

I think this picture probably best describes what Baby is up to these days. Wreaking havoc everywhere he goes!!! Well, not that bad, but it HAS gotten very difficult to sit with him and even stand holding him (because he's no longer content to just cuddle - he wants to move!). He desperately wants to MOVE but can't quite crawl yet, so he's in that in-between stage.

He reaches out for everything, whether we are sitting at the table, the counter, the computer, etc. I was just standing at the counter, making supper, when he pulled Sissy's bowl of miso noodles off to the floor (when resulted in hysterical sobbing on her part because that was all that was left). The dogs were very pleased with their special meal.

Project: Something or Another

Apparently Project 365 has morphed into "remembering to take pictures every once in awhile and then getting really behind on posting them." Here's what I've got:

Monday, June 27-Friday July 1

Tornado had a wonderfully creative time at art camp this week. He attended everyday from 9-12. These mosaics were one of their projects completed in this history-based camp.

Some of his other projects included:

Cave drawings on brown paper - I believe he drew the two long white snakes.

Jackson Pollack

Impressionism

This was his castle made from recycled materials and tape. (He says its his piggy's new home; there are plenty of little rooms and cubbies for Piggy.) The teachers spray painted the other kids' castles...

...but Tornado told them he wanted to hand paint his castle and glue cut-out pictures on it. So that is what he did.

Friday, July 1-Sunday July 4

Friday afternoon, we headed to Illinois to visit Ryan's family for the weekend. This is how I discovered Dash and his cousin K one day. He was under the corner of the fold-out couch, playing his DS, and she crawled under there to watch him.

Thursday, July 7

Today I took the kids to see Mr. Popper's Penguins. Very cute and funny. And I got teary-eyed at the end. The kids have strange expressions because they were trying to smile into the sun.

Tuesday July 5 - Friday, July 8

It was Sissy's turn for art camp this week. I think she had a lot of fun, and they did some really great (ocean-themed) activities and projects with the kids. Here are some of them:

1) "Sea Life" made from sticking pipe cleaners and clay creatures into a cup of plaster

2) Sea Turtle, using glue and pastels, etc.

"Beach Scene" - with sand paper, strips of water colored paper, shells glued on, and a picture of Sissy in a beach chair

1) framed sealed plastic containing water (and maybe oil?) plus sea sparklies

2) ocean scene painted with tissue paper and colored foil cut-outs

Saturday, July 9

Today, we headed up to the Buffalo River (which is over an hour away). This is how Dash spent most of his time. There was a steady stream of canoers passing by, and many of them did double-takes, probably thinking (and some of them voicing), "Hey, is your kid alright?" He is all about the snorkeling.

It was a great day as we hadn't gotten to spend too many days swimming yet this year.

Tornado is enjoying his picnic lunch in the chair, which we rigged the umbrella onto.

Sunday, July 10

This is how my 6 year old came walking into the kitchen today - with circle craft magnets taped to his eyes.

July 14 or 15?

We made homemade playdough last weekend. Tornado found a how-to clay figures book at the library, and this has been a consistent activity all week.

Sunday, July 17

One of the kids' favorite activities is to get sprayed by Ryan while he is watering the flowers.

Monday, July 18

The boys have gotten to venture out on their own a little this month, attending "Adventure Camp" twice a week. I've enjoyed seeing little scenes of them being there for one another, sharing an experience together, and having one another's back.

Project 365: a painting, some armor, and gymnastics

Wednesday, April 13

One of our home's newest works of art! My 10 year old painted this; it's a self-portrait. I love it! It's hanging in the kids' bathroom, but I love it so much I may find a place for it downstairs.

Thursday, April 14

He said this is his "armor."

Friday, April 15

The two little ones had homeschool gymnastics today. It's one of their favorite days of the month.

I don't know what is up with these two. It's like they automatically latch onto one another to pose for pictures. Which is really sweet, of course, and they do this off camera, as well. Yet, they fought like CRAZY this afternoon. It drove me BONKERS. They started fighting in the backside while waiting in the car line to pick up their big brother. And there was hardly anything I could do about it because we were in the middle of the car line! They were pounding on each other, screaming, stealing stuff from one another, and I had to keep driving. I'd be more concerned, but I have definitive memories of rolling around on the ground, in pain and causing pain to my brother. And we love each other a lot.

Greatest Artists Series: Rembrandt

Today we learned about our next artist, Rembrandt. We read this volume of Getting to Know the World's Greatest Artists Series, and then we watched the dvd of the same title. (If you've never read any of our other reviews, we love these books written for kids. I'm not sure what ages they are geared for, but my 3, 5, and 10 year olds all pay attention to them.) There is always a little bit additional/different information in the book and video so it's great to include both. And the video greatly reinforces what we read. Previously, we've done Cassatt, Warhol, Monet, and Matisse.

It occurred to me that I couldn't think of Rembrandt's first name. Well, this is why: his name is actually Rembrandt Harmenszoon van Rijn.

These are the things I told the kids to remember about Rembrandt:

1) He lived in the 1600's, long before the other artists we have studied, so far.

2) He often painted scenes from the Bible.

3) He is known for painting portraits. He painted many portraits of himself, more than most artists ever do. This is helpful, as there were no cameras at this time.

4) He lived in Holland.

5) His paintings were known for his amazing use of light on dark. Dark paintings were common during this time,which is like most of his work. He could paint light shining in on his subject, making it look impressively life-like.

6) Although he is mostly known for painting portraits and Biblical themes, he also drew some landscapes, often including windmills.

Since Rembrandt was from Holland, and windmills were sometimes seen in his paintings, the kids made some of their own. I sent the kids around the house looking for empty toilet paper rolls while I printed off these patterns from DLTK.

The past few weeks, Sissy has improved considerably with her coloring. Before, she would just scribble a bit here and there. Now she really fills everything in.

The boys cut out their own pieces, and I cut out Sissy's. They glued their colored rectangles around the toilet paper roll, along with their windows and door. I helped them attach the blades with a brad. From left to right: Dash's, Tornado's, and Sissy's.

This is the first week for the Mommy's Little Artist linky,

hosted by Butterfly Wishes and Wonderland Dreams.

Consider sharing any art or craft project done by your kids of any age!

I'm also joining the moms at ABC and 123 for Show and Tell!

stART: Mary Cassatt, Artist

For this week's stART project, we learned about a new artist: Mary Cassatt.

We read these books:

Mary Cassatt by Blake A. Hoena

Mary Cassat was born in Pennsylvania. Her family moved to Europe for a few years to allow their children to be surrounded in art and culture. They returned to Pennsylvania, where Mary would later attend art school. Her father was against her attending art school, at first, but finally agreed. This would not be the first barrier that Mary encountered in the world of art.

It was hard for a woman to be accepted into this field, especially an American woman. She pushed forward, though. She found some success, with her work being shown for years at the prestigous Paris Salon. She gradually began receiving criticism again; she started using bolder colors, etc., going against what was in style or considered acceptable at the time. Soon she became friends with the artist, Edgar Degas. She was inspired and educated by him, finding her way into Impressionism.

Portraits of Women Artists for Children: Mary Cassatt by Robyn Montana Turner

We didn't actually read this second book; we just looked through the pictures of her work. I wasn't familiar with Cassatt's name, but I was familiar with a lot of her work such as these:

The Bath

Children Playing on the Beach

Generally, our library will have a more kid-friendly version on an artist (such as this one), but there weren't any when we were there. My kids really like the Getting to Know the World's Greatest Artist Series books. They are biographies of artists from history, told in a way that is interesting for kids. (They also have these for composers, presidents, and inventors/scientists.)

The kids LOVE the dvd versions, as well.(We watched this volume today after we read our book.) They will sit and watch one of these, just as well as they'll watch Curious George or whatever. I really like them, too. (I pick up more from these dvd's than I would in an adult documentary.) They're narrated animation, and they go through the whole life of the artist in a light-hearted, humorous way. At the end of the story, they stream images of the artist's paintings (plus the title and where the work is currently located) across the screen.

OUR ART PROJECT:

I got the idea for this project here. I gave the kids a piece of colored paper, colored chalk, and kid-safe pastels. (Cassatt generally used pastels.) I asked them to remember what kind of subjects Cassatt generally drew. They remembered: people, specifically the mother/child theme. She liked to draw women embracing motherhood, and she also liked capturing women as intelligent beings (such as a woman reading a book). She mostly just liked to portray everyday activities as being important.

I told the kids they had to use realistic colors for their pictures. (This is really hard for Tornado; he was constantly picking up blue to make lips or green to make skin. I reminded him that drawing pictures of people was important to Cassatt, and she wanted to portray them with honesty. I know normally you want to let your kids use their imagination and not stifle their creativity. I was trying to show through this project that artists learn from other artists, and they even learn from practicing copying others' work.

Sissy's Girl Picking Flowers for her Grandma

(We talked about how the paintings have names; they named their pictures, too.)

I tried to go step-by-step with the kids as they drew. I told them instead of using sticks as arms and legs, let's think about how they really look. And I'd draw an example of two parallel lines. I challenged them to not forget details about a person, including a neck and eyeballs. A few times, Sissy said, "I can't draw that!" I would draw an example on my paper, then she would try to replicate it. This was her best drawing she's ever done. She really got into adding the flowers.

Baby's Bath

That's a mother, holding her baby. (Yes, that's a little hiney you see.) She's getting ready to give him a bath (bathtub to the left...with a picture above on the wall). That's the sink, mirror, and rug to the right.

For the older boys, I talked about how an aspect of Impressionism was using broken brush strokes, instead of blending colors. (We let our eyes do the blending instead.) At first glance, the picture looks one color, but if you look closely you can see how it looks splotchy. They enjoyed finding examples of this in her paintings. Tornado tried doing this, especially while drawing his bathtub and the painting on the wall. Dash tried this by using two different colors for his clouds and water.

Wavy Water

Dash drew a boy in a boat, with a dolphin swimming next to him.

When working with chalk, I had to remind them to watch their arms resting on their paper. And if chalk dust built up, softly blow it away, instead of trying to wipe it off.

Here are a few of our other artist studies and projects:

Our Monet Project

Our Matisse Study

Our Warhol Week

To get more ideas for fun story + art projects,

visit the link-up at A Mommy's Adventure.