The Mindful Homeschool

The kids and I have been having a ton of fun outside lately.  We went on a nature bike on Friday morning and spent the rest of the day making bird baths from terra cotta pots.  On our bike ride into the woods, we saw all kinds of cool stuff.  We saw a huge wasp nest along the bike path, then later ran into the woods to check out the “kids’ fort” and scared away at least one antlered deer.  It ran out of the wooded area when W went charging into the tall grasses by the creek.  W also found a very pretty blue and black and white striped feather.

When we came home I started pulling out our assorted collection of terra cotta pots so that the kids could make bird baths.  We saw this idea first on PBS’s Donna’s Day show.  It is a lot of fun, doesn’t cost any money, and keeps the kids busy for hours.  We have been stacking the pots, rearranging them and decorating them for going on three days now.  The children have decorated them with pennies, glass gems and other things we have found in our house.  And the water that we add to the pots to make them look like fountains cools us all down.  At night we have placed candles in the center of the baths, making our own version of ishi-doros (stone lanterns).

I found this on the web to illustrate how some others create these works of art.  My dc have yet to commit to gluing them and painting them.  I think at this stage it is more fun to rearrange and design the pots.  It is kinda like building blocks for the garden.   Here is the site:

  http://patriciaspots.com/birdbathhowto.htm. 

I would love to hear if others enjoy this as much as we have!

C had art class today.  The featured artist was Claude Monet.  As usual, she had a good time and came home with some lovely art.  We have always thought of her as our artist-in-residence so I am so grateful that she is taking these art classes with a wonderful teacher who is fun, kind and creative.  Oh, and she also knows her art!  I am grateful that my daughter has been given these opportunities to learn more about and practice more art.  My deep gratitude goes out to her teacher and those who arranged the classes for our HS group. (23)

We also went shopping for shoes for the children.  We bought a pair for each of the boys; they ended up with the same shoe only in different sizes!  (For the second year in a row!)  I am grateful that we have money to buy things like this and that we don’t have to put it on our credit card.  (24)  I have been reading lately about HSers who are facing very difficult times financially and otherwise.  Of course, these financial troubles are affecting everyone, not just those of us in the HSing communities.  I am grateful for dh’s steady employment (25) and my thoughts and heart go out to those who are facing a lot of financial uncertainties and stress right now. 

Both of the boys are so excited about their new shoes.  My 3 yo was especially happy and he told me, “You have a nice family!”  LOL. 

C had her art class on Friday.  She was one of three students in the class which meant she and the other students had more individualized attention from the teacher.  She, as usual, had a lot of fun and created some really neat art, a Fante flag.

The Fante people of Ghana, West Africa, have been making brightly colored patchwork flags for over six hundred years.  The flags are paraded through the streets of towns and villages at festivals and at the funerals of important people. 

Fante flags are sometimes made of cotton, silk, satin or felt.  Sometimes they are embroidered to give them an even more interesting texture and look.  There can be as many as 15 different colors on one flag.

The pictures sewn on the flags tell stories of historical events or African proverbs.  They show details of the beliefs and traditions of the Fante.   

Each student in C’s class made a flag of their own from felt applied to a very thick piece of paper.  The flag C created has a bright red border with a dark black and blue rectangle at the upper left hand corner.  The center of the flag is blue with a white unicorn in the middle of it.  There is a colorful rainbow in the lower right-hand corner of the blue rectangular center. 

“The magical menagerie” is the name of the company on which her flag is based.  I plan to ask her more about how she came up with the name and what it means.

While C was at art class, H, W, and I went shopping.  We picked up some Valentine clearance items, including some adorable “Sweater bears”.  They are polar bear plush toys with soft sweaters with hearts on them.  The children have been playing with them ever since they got them.  These bears are so cute that I am starting to play with them!

W has been interested in polar bears ever since he was little.  He received an adorable plush toy one from Santa one year.   He reminds us to pray for them during bedtime prayers every night.  He is concerned about them becoming endangered species.  He knows that global warming is affecting their living conditions and that this may be reducing their numbers.  

We have learned a lot about polar bears over the past few years and like W, I pray that the effects of global warming will be reversed and the polar bears will once again have lots of ice on which to roam.  Polar bears are the largest carnivorous mammals in the world.  They are famously devoted mothers and stay with their cubs until they are 30 months old.  They “attachment parent” and nurse their young for up to 30 months.  It is only when the cubs are ready to hunt and fend for themselves that they are separated.  Once I was asked the question, “If you were an animal, what kind of animal would you be?”  I told them I would like to be a polar bear because they are such good mothers.

God bless these animals and keep them safe.  

Today was another day of Harry Potter’s The Goblet of Fire, art, hanging out with friends and playing games.  A typical unschool day.

The older kids spent the morning hanging out in the bedroom listening to and reading the fourth book in the Harry Potter series.  H-man spent some quality time in the bathtub preparing himself for swimming himself silly at his cousin T’s birthday pool party tomorrow.

After lunch we drove C to her art class where she learned all about Alexander Calder, an artist who was known for his mobiles and stabiles.  C and the other children in the class made sculptures out of wire and colorful shapes.  C’s finished work was a bird perched under a wired arch.  (Note to self:  Must take photos.)  The teacher complimented C on her work and said that she worked well independently.  This art class has been a lot of fun for C, not only because she gets to hang out with one of her best friends, but because she is loving all the art she is doing. 

Two weeks ago, when she took her first art class with our homeschool group, she came home with wonderful, creative pictures that were similar to the type of paintings Marc Chagall is famous for.  For that class they used an oil pastel/mixed media drawing to achieve the right effect.  Each week the children study a particular artist and then do art in that particular artist’s style.  It has been a great way to end the week and learn something more about art.

After class, we went with our HS friends to a local coffee shop where we had something to drink and saw…more art!  The coffee shop was opening a store that specialized in earthy, local art.  It was a beautiful gallery and we were all oohing and ahhing and saying at the same time, “I love this place!”

When we got home the older kids went back to their Harry Potter reading.  W is determined to read/listen to the fourth book and not be outread by his sister.  She finished reading the book yesterday, the same day we picked it up from the library, but is now attempting a second read.

Papa John picked up a new tent for H-man which he enjoyed immensely.  It is now set up in our living room and is a cozy place for the kids and adults (although not all at the same time, silly!)  It fits about 2 people comfortably but you could fit more in if you really wanted to!

Later this evening the children and Papa watched a PBS special about parrots in Austrailia and then watched a show on the Parthenon in Greece.  Even W didn’t want to step away from the TV and miss the show.  The night ended with C, W and Papa playing an exciting game of concentration with Le Petit Prince cards, a gift from Aunt L.  C won, narrowly beating her brother.  She hadn’t played this game in such a long time and it was nice to see everyone having so much fun with it.