Works of art

In the post below I described our art project. Here are my three children's works of art. They all turned out differently - unique - and each is so wonderful. Very creative project!

This is Jar-Bear's.
This one is JJ's
This one is JT's

Art class

Can you tell I am behind on my posts???? Sorry about that!!! And now I am not even posting in order. Again, sorry. But at least I am getting the ideas out here. 

Our April art class was so different and interesting. She talked about color. The kids used paints - primary colors. They mixed to get other colors. Then painted on their paper. After that they cut up the paper and mounted it on a metal grid. They could weave it or hot glue it. It made for some very interesting designs. Plus they were encouraged to use other items to mount / glue on the paper and grid such as buttons, beads, toy hats, sunglasses, etc.

This first picture show the paper and the grids that were used to create this project. 

The kids were encouraged to paint with things other than just a paint brush as it creates different designs and textures in the paint. Look at all those choices - it is hard to pick just one!!

Below you can see the swirl of colors as the boys got into their painting. 

Below you can see J using a hot glue gun to mount his pieces in various designs on the grid. 

Art class

Our last art class for the school year was a very neat project. She had them use two pieces of paper. The first one they were to draw a window. Then she helped them cut out the window so that the viewer could look through to see what was there. She talked about foreground and background. The creativity of the children was amazing. Some decided to be outside looking in and some decided to be inside looking out. My middle child looked through the window to see a reflection in a mirror. Isn't that something!!  Some of the students mounted their pieces on foam core so that there was a gap between the two pieces of paper. It created dimension. 

Pictures - tour of Janesville Gazette

This was just a wonderful field trip. We did not get to see the presses running as they just recently switched to doing a morning paper. Therefore, the presses run late in the evening. This though was (in my opinion) so much better because the kids all got to walk right up to the machines. Many of these machines are very dangerous and if in operation the kids would have been kept behind the viewing glass. They would never have been allowed on the floor right next to the machines.

Here he is showing the kids the technology - how the computers control the presses and the colors. 

This is the area where the color is put on the paper and we could see yellow ink left over from the last run. 

Look at the size of the paper rolls used. Isn't that amazing. They are huge!!

New doors

It is Memorial Day weekend. Normally, in the past we have gone camping. With all that is going on with the economy, I feel more like saving, paying off bills, etc. So we decided not to go camping. Still, I miss it. It is such a great time. We did get some camping food and are grilling out this weekend. 

For our birthdays - we used our birthday money to buy new screen doors. Our front screen door was literally rotting away and no longer closed. The back screen door - is no longer a screen - as the screen has a large gapping hole in it. My mother said we could fix the screen but honestly the frame of the door isn't that much better than the screen. We are opting for new ones. 

We really wanted to get the screen doors fixed in time for the nicer weather. It is so much nicer in the house if we can leave them open to allow for a better breeze and ventilation. Plus, T and the kids painted the doors. They look wonderful. They did a great job. T just has to let the last coat of paint dry and they re-install the back door. The front door and the front screen door are done. 

T still has to install the back screen door but he can handle doing one door a day. The other door will have to wait until tomorrow. Home projects are just not his love. He can fix a computer with no issues but home repairs he really doesn't like to do. And I understand - it is one of those necessary evils in life. 

Lincoln Tallman House

The Lincoln-Tallman House is an example of how the very wealthy would have lived in the 1860's to 1890's in Wisconsin. The house was originally built in 1857 in the Janesville area. This area was really still very much the frontier. The only way Mr. Tallman convinced his wife to move from her nice life in New York to the frontier was by promising to build her a house that would fit her lifestyle. It has all the most modern of conveniences for the times. It was simply an impressive house. About 70% of the furnishings inside are original to the Tallman family.  Since there wasn't any suitable lodging in the area when Lincoln came to campaign for the Presidency -- he was invited to stay with the Tallman's. Photographs were not allowed in the house --- so I have very few pictures to show. 

Entering the main entrance to the house. This is the current main entrance but at the time when Lincoln visited the side door (not show here) would have been considered the main entrance. This door would not have been used by Lincoln. 

Standing in the front circular driveway leading to the main entrance.

This is another view of the current main entrance. 

Lt. Worden Re-enactment

Re-enactment of a Civil War hero - Lt. Worden. Lt. Worden was the commander of the Monitor during the battle of the Monitor and the Merrimac. It was fascinating learning about his position as commander and about the importance of the navy (especially how important iron clad ships became) in the Civil War. 

My three sons with Lt. Worden.

JJ found the telescope intriguing. This is an authentic telescope from the Civil War. 

Lt. Worden giving his presentation / talk.

He brought two Civil War flags with him to discuss. His entire outfit is an authentic replication of a navy officer's uniform from the Civil War era. The gold on the hat and coat is real gold. Only officers that could afford it would have had the gold band put on their hat. Many would have gone without the band if funds were not available. The men had to pay for the uniform through deductions from their pay. 

A great field trip day

We had just a fabulous day --- it was a field trip day. Amazingly I didn't get very many to sign up for this event but the smaller number was nice. It was more personal and it was not overwhelming. Some of my events have gotten so large it can be a lot of work!! This one was really much easier and my kids just loved the day. They loved that one of their favorite homeschooling families joined us last minute on this field trip. This family has 4 kids where we have 3 --- but interestingly they have a child same grade/age as all of mine. They just slipped an extra one in there!! So there is a friend for each of my kids. And all their kids are just so nice and wonderful. I think it made the field trip all that much more special - when there are great friends along to share the day!!

Here was our day:

9-10:30 Milton house tour

11:00 - 12:30 play at park and eat lunch

1:00 - 2:30 tour of Lincoln Tallman house

3:00 - 4:00 tour of Janesville Gazette. 

Then head home. 

Milton house was a stop on the Underground Railroad. It was run by a family that were strongly abolitionist. It is the only station on the Underground Railroad that was actually underground. The family ran a traveler's inn and therefore they couldn't trust that all those visiting their house wouldn't turn them in to authorities. They built a tunnel underground connecting the inn to the family house / outdoor kitchen. It was the family home until they added on to the inn - adding an area for the family to live. Then it was the outdoor kitchen. 

Walking through the tunnel was really shocking. It has been enlarged but still it seemed sooooo small when we walked through. If there were slave catchers in the area, the runaway slaves would hide in the tunnel until they left. That would mean remaining in the tunnel for several hours. The tunnel has walls now but at the time in the 1800's it was all dirt - dirt walls and floor. When it rained it would be wet down in the tunnel. It really gave us a feeling for how horrible it was for the slaves. 

The Lincoln Tallman House was considered a 'rich mansion' for the 1850's in Wisconsin. It gave us a view of how the upper rich in society in the 1850's - 1890's would have lived. Fascinating history. It was the place Abraham Lincoln stayed when he came to Wisconsin to campaign for President. Lots of great history and over 70% of the furnishing in the house are from the Tallman family. So it was really very authentic. 

Then lastly we toured the Janesville Gazette --- a newspaper. What a great tour!! They actually run the presses during the evening so the building was empty at the time we toured. But we got to walk up to all the machines and our guide told us how the process worked. It was a great tour and the kids just loved it. 

I have to confess that one of the highlights for the kids ---- was ---- drum roll ---- the scheduled time at the park!!! While they did enjoy the whole day --- having scheduled time to 'play' was just so fabulous to them. Kids!!! 

What we do

Lately I have had several homeschoolers asking what we use for curriculum. I thought I would share some of what has worked well for us. I do want to add a note here: there are LOTS of choices out there for homeschoolers. What works for us might not work for you. Each family is different and each child is different. I have found that things that worked for one child, don't necessarily work with the next child. So with that said I will share what we have found to work for our family. I will also try to share what we like and why. This might help add some insight as to whether or not it would work for you. 

For math - we use Bob Jones workbooks for the younger years (K-3rd grade) and then I put them into Saxon 5/4. We do use the Dive cd's for the teaching aspect. Those are fabulous and allow the student to work very independently. My children then only need help once in a while when I can tell they are getting the same kinds of problems wrong -- and so it is a concept they are missing - not just a mistake. Saxon seems to be a curriculum where you either love it or hate it. It seems to be one extreme or the other. It works very well for my boys but I know many people dislike it. Saxon is secular - but in math I am not so sure that matters. I do find that students that use Saxon tend to really know their math. 

For science - in the younger years we use Apologia's Exploring Creation books - by Jeannie K. Fulbright. We love them. They are fabulous. And we tend to lapbook them. My two youngest are doing the Zoology 3: Land Animals of the Sixth Day. I back it up with more books from the library on the various animals --- so they are getting a fairly good in depth study of animals. Then we do a lapbook piece for many of the animals we studied. Not all of them but many of them. Here is a site that we get a bunch of stuff (free) for lapbooking. 

Lapbooking animals

For my older son - we also use Apologia - he is just finishing up Physical Science this month and will then begin biology. We would take the summer off but I found a great on line class (yep - virtual stuff again) that helps to teach this course and he wants to do it. He would rather not have time off and be part of the on line class then take the time off and have to do it all on his own. 

Apologia recommends - General science for 7th graders 

Physical science is recommended for 8th grade

Biology is recommended for 9th grade. 

After that the student will have a couple of things to then choose from - such as chemistry, Marine Biology, or Physics. Here is the site that explains more about Apologia (but don't buy there - you can get it cheaper through Rainbow Resources or Pennywise Learning - but this has a nice layout and explanation of the product. I bought the biology through Rainbow Resources because they also have the dissection kits and slides for the microscope that we needed.)

 

Apologia Science

One of the reasons we like Apologia is that it is one of the few science curriculums that teaches that God made the world and while the Theory of Evolution is explained it is clear the authors are creationists. The author also lends toward a young earth view point. If that is not the view that you want to teach, then Apologia is probably not the curriculum for your family. 

I will continue this subject in the next post or so. I have to run get kids to bed. 

sick

I haven't been blogging lately. I have been so sick. And with all the stuff going on with swine flu --- boy, have I felt conspicuous coughing in public. Yet, I knew I didn't have that as I have literally been sick with this for 3 to 4 weeks. Prior to swine flu getting here. 

I got a cold then started getting better. Then relapsed and it just hung on. I couldn't get better. After spending one entire night up coughing, I gave in and visited the doctor. I have a very bad case of bronchitis. I started on a very strong antibiotic. Still, it is hanging on. I was even given cough syrup with codeine. Love it. It prevents the cough and helps me to finally get some rest. Still, I can't lay down in bed. Flat is not good. I feel like I am just choking on phlegm. It is terrible. And it creates huge coughing fits. I have been sleeping in the recliner for several days now. 

I am hoping that I am on the mend. This has been really awful stuff.