Science in Art

Today CoM worked 3 pages of math - reading, addition and graphing. We had a bit of a misunderstanding because she is very much like her mama and tried making it harder than it needed to be but when she calmed down she had an "oh" moment and we were back to normal.
We went outside and learned about liquid/solid transformations*: water, oil and glycerin, food coloring. We dropped approximated a teaspoon of oil into the water, several drops, and watched them pull together. We dripped yellow, blue, pink and purple food coloring into the oil, separate spots, and watched as the food coloring sank through the oil into the water below. It mixed together and made a black shade. We looked through the jar of water/coloring, watching the sun filter through and turn into red. Very cool.
We took glycerin from CoM's soap-making kit, melted it down and mixed in a rose scent. We kept the colors separate and made our own forms, again using her kit. CoM made a fairy while I made hearts and LB made a flower and angel.
We also took water, food coloring, watercolor paint and water-based markers to construction paper. We dripped food coloring in various places onto the white paper. LB learned how mixing red and blue make purple, blue and yellow make green. They seemed to have fun learning how the liquids mixed or didn't, as the case may be. CoM dragged her water-loaded paintbrush through the paint and mixed colors together, watching how the paint thinned and spread across the paper.

What is your favorite Creative color?

*note: the school in which the girls are enrolled is an online private academy. They follow Maryland's standards for education. The curriculum/lesson plans used today was pulled from MD's education sites.*

Our First Private Schooling Field Trip

So I enrolled the girls in SIRES Academy, an online private academy based in South Carolina. They offer two programs, one for Christian homeschoolers and one following a more liberal, or "public" schooling. SIRES follows the Maryland state standards for education - so it was an easy choice for us. They offer music, dance, theatre, art, computer, foreign languages, health, physical education and more in addition to the nation's normally required subjects.

As part of our curriculum we are required to take the girls on field trips. So today we went to Hilton, AL, and visited a covered bridge. We found river rocks, saw the "waterfalls", found out how cold the water is (and why we couldn't go swimming today!), had a picnic and chased the dog back and forth from the car to the creek.

We started CoM's home-ec today with basic stitching - up and down, in and out, basic stitching. She has an awesome basting stitch.



What are some ways to get back in touch with nature and our history?

Homeschooling in Art

Due to the girls' illnesses we ended up deciding, with the public school's support, to homeschool. The school was very helpful and eager to provide us with guidance in where to look or how to encourage the girls' learning.

This past week has been very hectic, dear readers, as LB doesn't like school! and CoM loves to learn but wants to focus on art.
Denver Art Museum has a whole education section for teachers, covering visual, dramatic and musical arts. We studied the African nkisi and the girls made their own faces out of clay. CoM then built a monkey man out of the Kinex she received from Meemaw for Christmas. Pictures will be uploaded soon.
Yesterday we got out the oven-baked clay and made our own beads. The girls agreed that Barbie and Ken would have a birthday together so we made a cake and a banjo. We followed the directions on the back of the box, allowed it to cool then painted. I pierced the clay for the banjo before baking it. Once the banjo was cool and dried I then strung it with denim thread and hot-glued it in place. This also allowed me to build in a "bridge" to produce "sound" (two threads, similar tension). The cake we painted pink then hot-glued three pink roses on top. Ken played Barbie a song this morning and they sang Happy Birthday.

Silly, beautiful, Creative them!

Happy New Year!

Okay, okay - a little late, I know. 3 days...4 days...who's counting?

So the past several days we've been getting CoM and LB ready to head back to school. The shirts are the wrong color and I ordered them online, so no receipt. I decided to try to dye them. They're a couple shades of royal blue darker but not the navy blue for which I was going. Back to the drawing board there...

Bad news for LB - the neurologist suggested that my 5 year old fakes having a seizure during her sleep at night. Even though we've taken video and pictures, we've talked to her - he even gave her an ekg in which he himself stated that she had frontal lobe activity. I think it's time for a second opinion. We're still waiting to hear from Children's Medical Services whether or not we still qualify for their assistance and if so, whether or not they'll approve a second opinion - maybe even consult with their neuro who travels down from Atlanta.

In other news, CoM has spent the day doing research on the Solar System - something she has been fascinated with since she was about 3. She shrieked when I told her I wanted a 3 page report. Then sat down and has written several pages of: notes.

So I'm looking into colleges for the Master's program in Psychology/Counseling. I want to focus on children, play/art therapy, and I want to be able to get my Psy D. Any suggestions?

How are you ringing in the new year?