The benefit to you is an early Weekly Wrap-Up, which I've been toying with moving "officially" to Saturday, anyway. I usually post it late Friday afternoon when we're finished with school for the day, since we often do things on Friday that I want to include, and leave the linky up until Monday evening. What do you think? Do you like Saturdays? Late Friday ('cause, you know, early Friday just ain't gonna happen)? Don't care? I like to be democratic and all.
So, let's see...our week? Well, Monday was the day when I thought about pulling out a large majority of my hair and banging my head against the wall during reading time. I don't know why, some days, Josh and Megan seem to totally lose their minds -- or, at least, the brain cells that control the ability to read and/or sound out words -- when it's time for their one-one-one reading time. Since the rest of the week's one-on-one time went well and they are reading well when they're doing grammar and math, I'm thinking that perhaps it's just a conspiracy to drive me over the edge so that they can go play while I sit, huddled in a corner, with chunks of hair in my hands.
But, maybe I exaggerate.
We wrapped up our solar system unit this week, never having done the hands-on model. So, there you go. Everyone who ever reads my blog and things, "Wow! How do you do it all?" -- there's your proof. Sometimes I don't. I figure that astronomy is a very high interest subject and we'll come back to it before the kids are grown and gone.
We did make nifty little flash cards. I printed out forms for each planet from our Christian Kids Explore Earth and Space book. We included poor Pluto, which gave us three planets for each kid. They pasted the forms on the lined side of index cards and filled out the information: planet name, ordinal number from sun, number of moons, etc. Then, they drew a picture of the planet on the blank side. It was fun and it really helped them remember, at least, the names of "their" planets.
We had an awesome time on our nature walk this week. We saw a huge variety of mushrooms and a really large rabbit. We hiked, we sketched, but I'll post in detail about that next week.
The next biggest highlight seemed to be our art lesson. I'm telling you, I've always been impressed by Ken Robinson's take on creativity and education and I'm starting to think that he may be right on the money when he talks about redefining the "basics" (as in, "We got the basics done today" and you mean reading, math, science, etc.).
Don't get me wrong. I don't think that what is typically referred to as the "core subjects" need to take a back seat to things like art, music, drama, nature study and other more creative studies, but I'm also really starting to see that maybe things don't need to be so skewed in the traditional direction either. If you've never seen it, you really should watch this video of Sir Ken Robinson's speech at the TED conference (it doesn't hurt that he's funny).
Anyway, we really enjoyed another art lesson from God and the History of Art. This week, we tried our hand at the color mixing we practiced last week with the piece "Stag Beetle" by Albrecht Duer. I thought they turned out really nice.
The original (Okay, not the original, but you know what I mean.):
Our paintings:
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21 comments:
I read this all earlier, and then forgot to comment . . . It's a toss up for me when you post the linky. Whenever it is, I will swing by and link if I had time to wrap up my week. Early worked well for me this week, but like you, often I have fun stuff planned for Friday that I don't want to leave out. Whatever works for you is fine with me!
We had some hair pulling moments this week as well. The yellow bus almost seemed tempting. :-O Life goes on. I guess I'm glad they're here driving me nuts, rather than at school driving someone else nuts that doesn't know and love them the way I do. At least that's what I keep telling myself on days like that.
~Erin
Glad the beetle was just a painting. I'm all for nature study, but that would be a freaky critter to study up close!
I like the late Friday option myself. Just my 2 cents. :-)
@ Erin -- Ah, yes...the yellow bus. Some days it is very tempting. ;-)
I like the idea of Saturday and keeping it open until Monday, lets me get the post done and all of the other links to it done. I'm kind of slow that way.
That video was very interesting. I am afraid I might fall into the category of valueing math and science over art and music. But that definitely made me think about making sure I nurture all the sides of my children, not just the ones I gravitate towards.
Which I should totally be doing anyway, since no one nurtured my creative side and I was in my thirties before I discovered it...
Either late Friday or Saturday is fine with me. Although I am the one who pestered you about adding it one Friday. (Where's the embarrassed smily?) I just didn't realize your typical schedule was late Friday and I'm kind of new at this. I actually had written a weekly wrap up :)
www.homeschoolblogger.com/kristenph
that video about creativity looks really good. going to watch it later, thanks for posting it.
love the paintings.
maybe someday I'll remember this Mr. L and join in. I always forget.
monica
@ Deb -- I agree that I don't think I could value the creative stuff *over* the core subjects, but this is the first year that we've even come close to giving art, music, nature study, etc. more than just a cursory glance and I can really see the value of those things, other than simply how much we enjoy them.
@ Kristen -- You didn't pester me at all. You just asked. Once. One question doesn't equal pestering. Trust me. I have three kids who cross that line on a regular basis. ;-)
Ooooh! Very nice stag beetle art! If you want to see the real thing, come on over to our neighborhood. They really are quite harmless, you know.
Those are some impressive stag beetles! Well done.
Your paintings are awesome!
Thanks, ladies! We really had fun with the stag beetles. And, um, Sue, I think we'll pass. They may be harmless, but they're creepy-looking. ;-)
Those stag beetles are fantastic. Funny you should mention Ken Robinson. I just started reading his book, the Element, today. I saw that TED clip a while back and had been debating whether or not to put it on my blog (but I guess now I don't have to because here it is!). The book is pretty much an expanded version of the speech, with many of the same stories and punchlines. Very inspiring stuff and definitely gives me peace of mind that doing lots of art is OK. Heck, it may even be good for you!
@ Amida -- I reviewed The Element for Around eZine earlier this year. I really enjoyed it, too. Even though Ken Robinson never mentions homeschooling, it definitely gave me some validation about what we do.
I remember those days...and I'm sure I'll have them again soon enough with Bram. Fox used to be able to sound out difficult words but would trip over 'the, and and what' it drove me NUTS!!
I love your art. And that looks like a pretty steep hill on your nature walk.
I love the video of Sir Ken Robinson. It's been awhile since I've viewed it, maybe I'll watch it later with my hubby. He hasn't seen it.
The beetle painting were spectacular. We are also using God and the History of Art. The girls just finished lesson 4.
Thanks for hosting! I love reading your blog.
I like the Saturday idea, since Fridays are our out and about days, and I don't get around to posting that day. That's a great picture of a stag beetle. Glad it was just a picture though.
I love when you post your paintings. Your family does some incredibly projects!
Question: Do your kids ever complain and gripe about all having to the do same picture? How do you handle that?
You were early and I was late. LOL
Thanks for giving me the heads-up on the Grapevine Studies. We got it figured out and started.
The paintings are wonderful! Though I may have nightmares about stag beetles. lol
I only just finished writing my weekly wrap up Mon night. :)
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