JBug did art yesterday.
This is Pablo Picasso’s “Child with a Dove” on the left. JBug’s version on the right.
To say I am pleased with the result would be a major understatement. This one is getting framed and hung, for sure!
But let me talk with you about the process, which to me is so much more important than the product (with the caveat that I am no artist nor a trained art teacher, as is probably obvious by now!LOL!).
As I explained in an earlier post, I had set out a display with a few art cards and some art supplies and explained to the kiddos that they could use them (or any other supplies they wanted) to copy the pictures. They agreed that sounded like fun.
The materials sat there untouched for over a week. Disappointing, but completely okay, because the kids were obviously highly engaged in other creative pursuits of their […]
Original post by lapazfarm
Both Superboy and JBug have absolutely gone construction mad!
It’s not exactly what I had imagined when I “strewed” all those architecture books the other day…
it’s better!
First up is JBug’s work in progress, “Itty bitty city”:
using some halloween candy boxes and a few odds and ends…
she is creating…
and building…
and decorating…
an itty bitty city! And she is not nearly done yet!
I can’t wait to see where she goes with this!!! What fun!!!
Each day she wakes up and says, “Can I work on my city now, pleeeeease???” And I can most joyfully answer “YES!”
Of course you know Superboy is not one to be outdone…
Stay tuned for architecture part 2: Colossal castle!
Original post by lapazfarm
I promised I’d post some more ideas today, so here are a few. I am running a little behind (we have been busy with all this fun stuff!!!) but I’ll have the rest up tomorrow, hopefully.
These are pretty simple today. Just a few ideas I gathered from things I’ve seen around the internets:
This is a very simple art center I set up with some watercolor pencils, paper, brushes and a few fine art cards. I put up three cards of very different styles so the kiddos can choose whatever suits their mood and try their hand at imitating it. I put out watercolor pencils because of their versatility, but the kids know that in the bright red cabinet beneath there is a wide assortment of other media they could use if they choose-paints, markers, colored pencils, pastels, etc. I think I originally saw this set-up by Lori over at Montessori […]
Original post by lapazfarm
Are your well-layed out shelves collecting dust? Are cobwebs growing on your manipulatives for lack of, well…manipulation? Are you tempted to describe your school as
“Montes-snore-i” ???
Time for a shake-up, I say!
In an effort to fight the ho-hums around here, this morning I temporarily stashed away some of our stand-by’s and put together some trays that are certain to inspire the kiddos to get those creative juices flowing! And guess what…it’s already working! Tee hee!
Wanna see?
Ok, but only a few at a time. I’ve got to dole these things out slowly, ya know, to keep you coming back to my humble little blog!LOL!
Ok, here is the first tray. I call it (did you know I name my trays? Weird, I know)…
The Dr Seuss creature creator:
Start with a copy of a Dr Seuss book (any one will do, really) for inspiration, add some neon colored play-doh, cut-up chenille stems, some colored feathers […]
Original post by lapazfarm
Among other things, we have begun a kid-requested study of human anatomy here at LaPaz. We are using The Body Book as a “spine” (LOL!) for this study, which is a very fun cut-and-paste sort of book, beefing it up with some library books and videos, and rounding it out with some hands-on extras.
Here are some scenes from day one, the five senses:
From The Body Book:
Some resources we borrowed from the library:
A smelling experiment all ready to go–the shakers contain cotton balls soaked with various extracts (I used lemon, root beer, peppermint, and maple, just whatever I had on hand). I put tape over the tops to keep the scents inside until the kids were ready to begin.
The challenge is to match them up while blindfolded.
Pull the tape, smell the scents, and pair them up!
“Mmmmm! That smells goooood! Can I do it again?”
Sure! Except (shhh…don’t tell) tomorrow the scents will […]
Original post by lapazfarm
We are in a bit of a groove right now and I am pretty pleased about it.
JBug is still working hard on the illustrations for her book. This is taking a lot longer than either of us anticipated because she is working so hard on them, taking her time, trying to make them extra nice.
From the photo you can see she chose an illustration from the book The Twelve Dancing Princesses to use as a model for the princess in her book. That is what she does. She decides what pictures she needs to draw, and goes looking through her books to find a model. Then she carefully draws, colors them in with colored pencil, and outlines her drawing with black ultra-fine Sharpie. She often asks me for help with getting things to look the way she wants them to. I try to limit my input to helping her see […]
Original post by lapazfarm
Maybe it’s the weather. The snow or something.
I don’t know what it is, but something is in the air here and I certainly hope it sticks around.
Because it is causing a sudden flurry of writing activity!
After a long writing slump, both Superboy and JBug are suddenly hard at work on new stories.
I walked downstairs this morning to find Superboy already up (!!!) and working on his new story that he started yesterday with a friend. Oh, boy! Getting up early is the first sign of another obsession taking over! You know, those times when he gets so absorbed in something that all I have to do is stand back and let him go at it? I love it! Makes my job easy as pie.
Me: What are you doing, Superboy?
SB: Working on my story.
Me: Okay. You go to it, then.
SB: Yeah. Can you bring me a cookie?
Me: Sure, babe. Anything […]
Original post by lapazfarm
I am a little behind in posting, but here are some pics of the kids’ reindeer-related activities from monday:
Labeling a photo with the “parts of a reindeer:”
We watched a slide show and read about the history of reindeer in Alaska. Then Superboy read about how to make Eskimo Ice cream (hint: yuck!) while JBug did her copywork of “Reindeer words.”
Then it was time to have a cup of tea and, inspired by the Skull Alphabet Book, they started sketching the reindeer skull:
They both concentrated and worked so hard to make their pictures accurate…
and detailed…
Here is JBug’s finished product:
And here is Superboy’s:
I am so pleased with both of them!!! All that sketching in our nature journals is really paying off!
Not bad for a monday!
Original post by lapazfarm
Both JBug and Superboy have expressed interest in studying Alaskan animals, and I wanted to do it in a way that invited inquiry, rather than a teacher-directed approach. What better model than those wonderful hands-on nature center displays we all love so much? So I borrowed a few things to add to our own growing collection, and set about creating a little “nature center” of our very own! We are starting out focusing on reindeer/caribou, dall sheep, and various skulls, but displays will rotate every few days until the kids have thoroughly explored it all. Here is what I have out for them right now:
This is a reindeer skull and jawbones and a Skull Alphabet book. (Each display has at least one information/task card to go along with it).
These shelves have a variety of items, mostly caribou-related. Here are some close-ups of the three sections:
The left section holds a reindeer […]
Original post by lapazfarm
There are a bunch of blog challenges out there, including Poetry Friday, Sketch Tuesday, Works for me Wednesday, Green Hour, and more. I’ve thought of participating in these kinds of things, but could never really get into them. Until now…
For the past couple of weeks the kids have been doing the weekly challenges over at Think! blog. A great way to get kids thinking outside the box, these simple little challenges are lots of fun, take only a few minutes, and use common household objects so there is no real prep-work involved. It’s so easy to squeeze them into a week whenever you have a spare moment. Think! is a new enterprise, so it would be great if some of you folks could join us! Do the challenge and get your pics up at Think! The more the merrier!
Come on, and Think!
Original post by lapazfarm
Ok, so here is the promised update on Superboy. Be sure to read to the end-there’s some exciting news there!
Most of Superboy’s time is taken up on his choice of studies: the Natural History of Alaska. I think it is a brilliant way for him to incorporate his love of the outdoors with science, geography, and history, and getting to know our new home state!
We found a couple of good resources for this and are enjoying them immensely.
I say “we” because I am learning this stuff right alongside Superboy. Fascinating, it is! We read a bit and then we go and see if we can see it for ourselves.We are racing through the plants section of AK Science Nuggets in order to complete it before all the plants become inaccessible (as in, buried under 4 feet of snow) and then we will move on to other sections. We are really […]
Original post by lapazfarm
I should explain. This is a homeschool blog, right? So, why have I been so stingy with the school-related postings lately??? It’s not as if we haven’t been doing it, because we have. I just have not been taking many pictures or been inspired to blog about it much lately. So many other things on my mind, you know??? Getting to know Alaska, winter coming on, elections coming up. Makes our schooling seem so tame and ordinary in comparison. Who wants to read about JBug’s attempts to master the silent e (or as she calls it, the bossy e), or Superboy’s battles with factoring trinomials when you could be reading about the relative merits of lipstick on pit bulls versus pigs?
But, for those who are interested, I’ll indulge in a little homeschool talk. I’ll try to stay awake if you will, ok?
I’ll start with JBug for this post, and then […]
Original post by lapazfarm
Our current read-aloud is this wonderful book:
In a Patch of Fireweed by Bernd Heinrich
The children and I are utterly absorbed by Heinrich’s descriptions of his adventures as a budding naturalist. This passage we read today rang especially true for us as nature-centered us-schoolers:
(After a short description of the value of play in young foxes)
…Foxes who play the most learn the most-and they survive. Almost anything a fox learns will come in handy later in his life.
We, too are predators, though we live much longer than any fox and our environments are much more diverse. Small wonder play is such an important aspect of our lives, especially when the environment is unfamiliar. Growing up in Maine, I played a lot, but I never connected it to “education.” Education in our modern conception, is usually associated with a training toward some practical end. My education was largely outside that mold. My […]
Original post by lapazfarm
Our first day back to school. Whatever that means.
Superboy’s highbush cranberries.
JBug’s Larkspur (Yes, I know it’s poisonous. Yes, we were very careful).
Hope your first day is/was as bountiful.
Original post by lapazfarm
Good day today.
Superboy did only one page of math today. He just wasn’t feeling “mathy” and that’s ok by me. I have those days myself!LOL! He did spend the day productively with other things.
He read a couple of chapters of Life of Pi (surprisingly NOT reading comics) and then worked on his superhero drawing.
Then he suddenly realized he has another cross-country trip to plan!!! And it is coming up soon!!! He wants to take a more northerly route this time across (as opposed to the southern route they took last time) because he has entirely new things he wants to see. Out came the road atlas, the highlighter, and his trusty guide:
The Monster Spotter’s Guide to North America
This was an invaluable tool in planning the last epic journey, so he plans on scouring it’s pages for more not-to-be-missed sites. I have to admit, to see him pick it back up […]
Original post by lapazfarm
Math again, 2 pages of Keys to Algebra. He has decided he will go ahead and finish up this series of workbooks before we decide to re-evaluate math materials. I think that is very sensible of him. It also gives me time to dig up more resources that he might want to try out later.
Looked at headlines on Yahoo News and then rabbit-trailed off on a story about the volcano erupting in Chile. We looked at a slide show with lots of pictures of the eruption-very impressive! This lead to looking at Chile on the world wall map, discussing the climate in the region (and a Man vs Wild episode he saw that took place there), Google Earth-ing (is that a real term???) Patagonia to find the volcano that is erupting, looking up info on the NASA Earth Observatory page, and even a discussion of the origins of various […]
Original post by lapazfarm
Here is the view out my bedroom window:
I have no idea what he is working on, but I think that is his sketch book he has there on his lap. My guess is that it involves sketches of spears, bows and arrows, traps and other excuses for sharpening sticks.
Think I should call him in to do his scheduled art lesson? No? Me either.
Original post by lapazfarm
It’s things like this that make me think that unschooling just might work for Superboy.
When Superboy is interested in something, he gets a little obsessive. His current obsession is wilderness survival. (Don’t ask me where he comes up with this stuff. I just sit back and watch it happen.) What do I mean by a little obsessive? By way of explanation let me walk you through his current obsession.
Here are just a few of the things he has been doing outside of “school time” the past few days:
Perusing websites with names like Wilderness Survival, Wildwood Survival, and the Wilderness Survival Guide.
re-reading relevant sections of his Dangerous Book for Boys (which btw, got left out in the rain the other day because he reads it outside in the woods, then runs off to make a bow and arrow or some such forgetting all about the book. I am not […]
Original post by lapazfarm
You know, sometimes I am such a slacker. I get caught up in whatever it is I am doing (cleaning, cooking, gardening, reading, art, blogging, checking email, whatever) and I pretty much forget about everything else. Homeschooling included.
Lately, thanks to all of the recent unschooling buzz going around, I have been paying more attention to what my kids are doing when I am being “slacker mom” and not actively leading them through a series of well-planned activities.
They are actually pretty busy.
The little ones, of course, are learning all the time. Just the very act of trying to communicate with each other is an education in itself. Plus there are always rocks to be thrown and puddles to explore. Living is learning for these guys in a very real way.
JBug’s latest thing is doing dot-to-dots in a huge book of them I picked up at a yard sale. This, of […]
Original post by lapazfarm
We are having so much fun with our botany and gardening! The littles like it so much I decided to put together a few trays for them to continue the work on their own. I can’t wait to introduce them tomorrow!
The first tray is for painting clay pots:
There are clay pots, some tubes of paint and a tray for mixing colors, some paint brushes, a pitcher of water, and a jar for washing brushes. Very simple!
The next activity, planting seeds, takes two trays.
The first is choosing seeds and labeling:
This first tray contains an assortment of seeds to choose from, some clay pots, and some metal garden tags and a stylus to write the name of the plant on the tag. They can copy the name from the seed packet onto the tag.
Here is the second half of the activity–planting the seeds!
This tray contains a bucket of potting soil and scoop, […]
Original post by lapazfarm
Along with a lot of other folks, I’ve been doing a good bit of thinking about math lately.
Let me explain why:
When I pulled Superboy out of school in mid-4th grade, he hated math. Hated it. I made it one of my topmost priorities to re-instill the love of math that he had as a little tike. I used several alternative math resources, avoiding texts like the plague, and using workbooks sparingly and very judiciously. We did lots of reading about math and playing math games and just exploring interesting math concepts. And for three and a half years math was fun. He loved math. Said it was his very favorite subject, even!
Success!
Then came this year. For some reason when I planned our math curriculum for this year, I panicked and let my fears of “being ready for high school” get in the way of what I knew to be […]
Original post by lapazfarm
Just trying to keep things interesting around here.
There must be a million ways to make learning to spell fun. Instead of writing out words or using the moveable alphabet, why not change it up and try making words using…
wikki sticks
beans glued on cardstock
toothpicks
glue and glitter
salt dough
play dough
finger paint
glass jewels
sea shells
chenille stems
dry erase markers
magna doodle
refrigerator magnets
legos
k-nex
sticks and acorns
yarn
do-a-dots
water on a hot sidewalk
water on a chalk board
soap on a window
Or your child could
sew them
paint them
punch them
stamp them
Or how about in a tray of…
rice
flour
cornstarch
cornmeal
sand
cornstarch and water
lentils
chocolate pudding
birdseed
shaving cream
hair gel
Any more ideas? Lay ‘em on me!
Original post by lapazfarm
Today was day one of our art unit. Hooray! Superboy and I decided we would do all of the art lessons together, to make it more fun. For drawing, we are using the book “Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain” and the accompanying “Workbook” (see sidebar for link). The first lesson was to get a baseline of our current drawing ability with a pre-instruction self portrait. Basically, look in a mirror and draw what you see. This is to enable us to track our progress as time goes by. So, here we are in all our self-drawn glory:
Superboy has some issues with things being a bit crooked, but there are spots (especially around the mouth), that are strikingly realistic looking. I could actually see him improve as he drew this picture. I’ve apparently got one eye bigger than the other. Mine actually makes me look younger […]
Original post by lapazfarm
Superboy and I are still chillin’ here in Alaska, though our time here is nearly at an end. We’ve had a great time up here, driving all over this fine state and seeing the sights. Meanwhile, I have been thinking through that Art Unit I talked about way back when. Since it is my hope to begin the unit shortly after we return to NC, I have started getting some resources together and looking through all of the amazing links you folks left me at my original post. I still have a long way to go, but I have put a few things in my far right sidebar, just in case anyone is interested. So, click on over if you’d like to see. These are just the books and DVDs I have had a chance to review and know for sure we will be using. I still need to put […]
Original post by lapazfarm
Superboy and I are still chillin’ here in Alaska, though our time here is nearly at an end. We’ve had a great time up here, driving all over this fine state and seeing the sights. Meanwhile, I have been thinking through that Art Unit I talked about way back when. Since it is my hope to begin the unit shortly after we return to NC, I have started getting some resources together and looking through all of the amazing links you folks left me at my original post. I still have a long way to go, but I have put a few things in my far right sidebar, just in case anyone is interested. So, click on over if you’d like to see. These are just the books and DVDs I have had a chance to review and know for sure we will be using. I still need to put […]
Original post by lapazfarm
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