Art, Not Just For Art's Sake, Follow Up

I've been meaning to follow up on my previous post about teaching through Art. I was delighted when shortly after my post, I received an email from Sharon Jeffus of Visual Manna asking me what it was I was interested in. She was so nice to give me more information, so I thought I'd pass it on in case you have been looking into her books as well. Here was our exchange:

Hi Sharon, Thank you for emailing me! All of your Teaching Through Art books look interesting to me, but I was specifically drawn to your site by the book Teaching History Through Art. My son is 7 and he LOVES Art. I think he'd enjoy this curriculum, but I was unsure about what the level and skills were that would be required. Thanks for any input you can provide!

Sharon's response:

If he is a mature 7, he would be able to use most of the lessons. In
the math and art, he would learn how to tell digital and analog time
and counting money, face proportions...might have trouble with
fractals....each book would have some things it might take till next
year for him to get....or longer....

Art, Not Just For Art's Sake

Well, this was a digression from my earlier post about Science, but I decided to spare you the rabbit trail and let it be its own little post. So here you have it... Remember when I said my Fantasy School would revolve around Science? Well, someone else, who apparently thinks like me, thought the same thing about Art. And actually, this comes in as a close second to my Fantasy School, because I love Art with the same geeky passion as I love Science. :)

So, I recently came across a bunch of books that teach other subjects through the subject of Art, and it so intrigues me, except that I haven't been able to actually SEE any of the pages of these books. (Sharon Jeffus, are you listening? People like to see previews of a page or two on websites.) If this concept intrigues you too, you might want to check out VisualManna.com. They have much more than just books. They have lessons online, art camps and But if you buy a book, can I take a look at it? )

Geeky Post

Home Science Tools is such a fun website for me, even though their website is actually, hometrainingtools.com. When I get their catalogs I just drool over the pages, in a way that I used to do with Pottery Barn catalogs. I start making wish lists and everything.

In my fantasy school, everything revolves around Science: Handwriting, Math, English, History, Art and Gym. I mean, why couldn't it? :) If I could find a curriculum that was basically Teaching Everything with Science, I'd buy it in a heartbeat. And if I had the time and knowledge to do this myself, I think I could get a following. :) So there you have it. I'm a complete geek. My kids are doomed... Or very lucky.

Home Science Tools has a page that lists all different Science Projects. There is a whole section that deals with crystals, and that is what we are focusing on this week, since I've been meaning to do this all winter and now that Spring is coming... well, crystals become a little less timely as the weather warms up. LOL..

Today, we tried out the Quick Crystal Cup experiment. It was a big hit. We are letting the crystals grow over night, and we'll check them in the morning. Can't wait! :)

Update: So here are the pictures of our fun crystal experiments:










As you can see, even hubby got into examining the crystals.... Too cool!

Lots of Dots

Recently, we read The Dot again. Love this book! I think I first read about it over at ArtProjectsForKids.org, and decided to take it out of the library a few weeks ago. What I really love about this book is that it shows the kids that all you have to do is start with ANYTHING, even a small dot, and you can have art. It makes it so simple to do art with reluctant or perfectionistic children. Not that my kids are reluctant when it comes to art!! But I do have a boy that leans towards perfectionism. So we've read the book a few times, just before an art project.

Today, we painted dots! Big dots, little dots, and all different colors and thicknesses. To make it interesting and easy, I pulled out toilet paper tubes, marker caps, plastic cups and empty yogurt containers and a few straws. I demonstrated the general idea to the boys, who were a little puzzled by the lack of brushes, and they were off! :)

Clean up was pretty easy as well, as the paint had been poured out onto styrofoam plates, and pretty much everything could be thrown out when we were done. The only caveat, if you decide to try this sometime, was that the toilet paper tubes roll, if not stood on end, and could easily make their way to the floor. Fortunately, ours didn't quite make it to the floor, but it was definitely on its way when I caught it!

Spiritual Awakening

January 19, 2011, my oldest son sat at the breakfast table with me, while his little brother slept. I thought to wake the little guy, but was enjoying the one on one time with my firstborn. As we talked, the conversation turned to spiritual things, and we began to talk about what the Bible says about God and Heaven. We talked about how everyone has a decision to make, and how we can choose to live for God, accept Jesus' death on the cross and receive forgiveness for our sin. I asked him if he had ever done that. "Nope." I asked him if he'd like to do it. "Not right now," he said. So I told him if he ever decided he wanted to, he could come to me and I would help him. I went into the kitchen to make some coffee and a few minutes later he was calling to me to tell me that he had prayed!

Now, I'm one who is, by nature, skeptical of everything. And not having been raised in the church, I am skeptical of children that make professions of faith, but I also know that very often these little ones are the ones who really have that childlike faith to trust God... As I talked with my son afterward, I questioned him briefly, but I also noted that the Spirit of God within me seemed to be rejoicing, and so I found that encouraging. Also, Ian soon after started expressing a concern about when his little brother would make that decision as well, which was kind of cool.

So the question that's really been pressing on me lately is where do we go from here? How do you properly disciple a 7 year old? Yes, we are involved in church, and he also attends AWANA at another church, and of course we have devotions in the morning and before bed. Is that enough? Is it the right kind of thing to be doing? Are we missing something?

In my search, I came across this page, which expresses a few things beautifully and gives me a few things to look into: CharlotteMasonHelp.com

The Plans of Man

One of the things that I struggle with in general is being organized. Although I don't really like the constraints of a rigid schedule, I do like to know what's coming up so I can plan and be prepared. I used to just keep things in my head or make lists of things to do. But ever since I became a mom, I've HAD to rely on those lists. This works pretty good for my "Things to do" list, but not so good for the homeschool stuff. So I thought I'd share something I've found that have really helped me.

First, I have to tell you about the Well Planned Day Yearly Planner. I LOVE this planner! It includes monthly calendars, a weekly meal planning section, sections for field trips, attendance, inspirational quotes, and pages for writing out your children's assignments for each day of the week, subject by subject. (They say that you can record assignments for up to 3 children. At this point, I'm only using it for one, and there seems to be enough room for me to record my second child, when I get to that point, but I don't know that I could squeeze in enough info for 4 kids... I suppose I'd come up with abbreviations if I had to.)

What I really like is that I can sit down on the weekend and plan out the coming week, meals and assignments, and even priorities and weekend activities... AND it's all right there on a two-page spread right before me. AND the Well PLanned Day Yearly Planner for the coming year is on sale till the end of February. So if you're in the market for a planner, this may be the time to check it out!

On the Safe Side

Recently we borrowed the Stranger Safety DVD from our library. It's produced by John Walsh of "America's Most Wanted" and Julie Clark, the creater of Baby Einstein. The boys have really enjoyed it, and have asked to watch it again and again. I was wondering how much of it was sticking in their little heads until Tuesday.

We were in the kids' section of the library, the little one on the computer, Ian and I looking for books. Usually, if the little one needs me, he just calls out, but on this particular day he went looking for me, didn't see me and instead went straight to the librarian and told her he needed help finding me. The very kind lady found me and told me that he knew she worked there because of the ID tags she was wearing and came right to her! Awesome! :)