Raising (Cave) Boys

The boys have had some fun today learning about prehistoric cave painting. After reading a bit about prehistoric art from library books on the subject, and looking at pictures online of caves in Lascaux, they had a go at creating some of their own prehistoric style art.

They tore large pieces of brown wrapping paper up and scrumpled them to get a nice texture. We then popped out in the garden to gather sticks for painting with:

Next they set to painting bison and stick figures and so on. Here’s Waif getting stuck in:

And some detail from his finished piece:

And here’s Gman’s version:

And if you thought I wouldn’t be able to resist joining in as well, you’d be right. Here’s my bison:

Actually, painting with sticks was quite liberating – it certainly frees you from any perfectionist expectations!

Sewing Blunders of the Spatially Clueless

Last week I wrote about going back to my sewing roots, and wondered whether I could even learn to make my own clothes. It so happens that Waif needs new pyjamas for the winter. A perfect first dressmaking project I thought. I bought a pattern, some fabric, and carefully cut out the required pattern pieces. So far, so good.

Before I go any further, it may be worth mentioning that I have rubbish spatial skills. At school, I had no problem with algebra or arithmetic but given problems involving symmetry or manipulation of shapes I was flummoxed (my maths teacher helpfully told me that this was “because you are a girl”. Harrumph). Anyway, I digress.

The next step in the process was to cut out the fabric. I carefully pinned the pattern pieces to my washed and pressed fabric, and meticulously cut around those pieces. Unfortunately, I had my folded fabric right side up, and wrong sides together, which means I have ended up with this:

Instead of two front pieces and two back pieces with the pirate design on, I have one front piece with pirate design and one front piece with the reverse of the design; likewise with the back pieces. Oh dear

Luckily, I bought the fabric locally and it was pretty cheap, so I can get some more. And I am determined to get to grips with this! If only I had paid more attention to what my mum did when I was little and she made lots of our clothes…

Still, I can chalk this up to experience and move on. It’s not a mistake I will make again (and surely I am not the first person to do this?!) so I can look on it as a new skill learned. I now know which way to fold my fabric before cutting the pieces out!!

I am not going to give up. Onwards and upwards. I will master this!

Additionally, as a home educating parent, I think it is really important that the boys see that (a) I am learning something new; and (b) I make mistakes; and (c) I don’t give up after making a mistake, but use it to learn something. Job done

Every Day Matters

Inspired by Tammy, and encouraged by Leanne, I have decided to embark on the Every Day Matters weekly drawing challenge (which has a yahoo group, a Facebook group and a Flickr group if you want to find out more!) This has been going for quite a few years, and there are 328 challenges so far (see them on this list) so I have a fair bit of catching up to do .

I figured it would give me some inspiration and motivation for improving my drawing abilities. I have never considered myself a creative person. Until starting home educating my boys four years’ ago, I hadn’t done anything artistic or creative since school (and then I tried my best to avoid such things!) but figured it would set a good example if I joined in learning some new skills with them. Since then I have learned to sew and quilt; tried painting and drawing; and just generally stretched myself in new creative directions. So I have no “innate” ability that I am aware of, and have had no formal instruction. I am just a curious person wanting to try to develop a skill as best I can, and to enjoy myself along the way.

What I have found, through sketching with the boys, is that drawing something is a wonderful way of really noticing the world. It is mindfulness in action – an almost spiritual process, and whilst it can be frustrating, it can also be very calming and soothing. Much like meditation really.

So, that’s the background, on with the drawing!

EDM Challenge #1 – Draw your shoe

These shoes are the most comfortable I have ever had. In fact, they are so comfortable that I bought a second pair in a different colour. At the time my husband assured me that this was most definitely a sign that I was getting old . I am not terribly pleased with the drawing, in as much as the shoe doesn’t look quite right. The back half is ok, the front half is, well, not quite right. But hey, this is a process, a learning curve. A girl’s gotta start somewhere, huh?

Although I have started with challenge #1, I probably will try to rebel against any obsessive orderly list making tendencies I may have, and do the others in a random order

Swimming: 26 Lengths Front Crawl

Reblogged from Gman's Galaxy:

Me, Rafe, Mum and Dad all went swimming yesterday. After a few games of ball, I went into the lanes to do some big lengths. The most I'd ever done before on any stroke (switching from length to length) was 16. The most I'd ever done on my front was about 4 :D
But, just a few weeks ago- I'd improved my front crawl by always breathing to the same side.

Read more… 80 more words

I am very proud of Gman :-)

The A to Z Continues

You may remember the vocabulary building project we started a few weeks back (read the original post here).

Well, here are the next three letters:

First up, we have Waif with

Janiform – having two faces

I was particularly taken with the special offer at the hat shop – Buy One Get One Free

Next was mama with

Kreatophagia – the eating of raw meat

No cooker required!

And lastly Gman swore he could tackle the letter “l”

Lalochezia - the use of foul or abusive language to relieve stress or pain

Sow much fun in the park!

Yesterday, while Gman was at acting rehearsals, Waif and I went down to a plant fair held in the local park. While we were there, the manager of the park spotted us and asked if we would like to help sow a small area of wildflower meadow in the park. What a great opportunity to do something else for the May Flower Challenge! The parkies had already prepared the area for sowing. They provided us with a trug full of seeds mixed with sand to scatter along the prepared area and left us to get on with it. As you can see, Waif sowed with great gusto! Now all we have to do is wait until the summer months when hopefully we should be able to return to see some lovely wildflowers. Waif will be able to say with pride, “I helped plant that meadow!”

Flowery Verse

Today’s May Flower Challenge post comes courtesy of seven-year-old Waif, who has been penning more flower related poetry.  Here’s his Plants Poem:

 

And “Roses”:

He has also written two more nature-related poems this week. “The Water”:

And, my favourite so far, “The River”:

Waif has just discovered the word “shroud” and seems to like it!!

Gman has also been putting pen to paper and has written a poem about trees. You can read it over on his blog.

On Mina, Boys, Education & Poetry

I think we all felt somewhat sad this week to have finished reading the really rather delightful My Name is Mina. This book, more than any other, seems to have sparked a creativity in the boys, most especially in Waif. Although he has been a fluent reader for some time, he has never really been interested in writing. However, with this book, that has changed and he has been writing stories and poems like they’re going out of fashion! Whereas Gman did go to school until the age of 8, Waif has never been to school and I think that, as a result, his style of learning is a lot more fluid and organic, and he seems less worried about “shoulds” and conventions. In addition, he has been exposed to “real” books and poetry (in the last month for example, we have read poetry by Lewis Carroll, Mary Oliver, Basho, Ryokan, William Blake – possibly not what 7 year olds at school are reading!) rather than textbooks and books written with particular curriculum-focused goals in mind (lol – I originally typed that as gaols – possibly rather fitting?!)

Anyway, here are a few poems he has written:

“Peace is”:

(my favourite line – “peace hasn’t got any shouting”)

“Spring”:

“Sandy Land Poem”:

And two odes to Corny (Gman’s pet corn snake):

I do wonder if a seven year old boy in a school setting would have the same freedom to write? If he would be teased by his peers for his love of flowers? If his poetry would be corrected so that it followed more “shoulds” and conventions? I don’t know, but I do know I am enjoying this new development

Ter-wit Ter-woo

Inspired by Mina’s love of owls, we have been drawing and making owls. First up these drawings (with a little bit of help from Art Projects for Kids). Waif drew a very wise owl:

I drew a cute owl:

And Gman went for something a bit more psychadelic:

The boys have also had a go at making clay owls. They fashioned these last Friday and then, making the most of the first sunny day in weeks, yesterday took them outside to paint:

Here they are, all painted. First up, Gman’s:

Then Waif’s:

Even the ladybirds came over to check them out:

It was lovely to have some sunshine and be back outside. Waif in particular was happy about it:

Alas, today it is raining again!! Perhaps some owl poetry..?

Homeschool Book Awards

We were very excited to find out about the National Homeschool Book Awards, via Julie of Homeschooling Ideas. Basically, there are four books nominated each year described as being “designed to recognize and celebrate current juvenile fiction that explores learning experiences occurring outside the traditional classroom setting and that resonates with homeschool readers” – you read them in your homeschool and vote on your favourite. The website provides book club ideas for reading along too.

We had just finished reading the rather excellent book Skellig and were ready to get started on the prequel My Name is Mina so were very excited that this was one included on the list. Today we started reading it and then the boys got stuck in making their own version of the front cover of the book. Here is Waif’s:

And Gman’s:

I think this book will be a springboard to plenty of creative and inspiring activities for the boys, with opportunity to learn about all sorts of different topics. I’m really looking forward to reading more and, I hope, so are the boys