Still Learning...

...and it's WONDERFUL! ok, I am a little slow on the uptake here, but I am discovering an amazing benefit of the all glorious TAG. If you click on you kiddos name in the tag cloud, you get all things having to do with him or her. Yeah! like an instant portfolio. Give grandma the link. Gracie has been tagging her blog, too, with tags like HISTORY, SCIENCE, GEORGE WASHINGTON. Automatic and filed storage of her work! it is a marvelous crash collision of the newsletter, portfoio,filing cabinet, and scrapbook. AND, The grandparents, aunts and uncles can easily see our progress with a click a button. NICE!

Intermolecular Polarity

I just learned that word a week ago, and I love saying it. Yet another blessing of Homeschool. we get to learn right next to our babes. Here are two of my lovies, Grace and her Daddy presenting Grace's lava lamp science experiment at co-op. Mrs.Nanfito's phone has a flashlight, so we turned out the lights to get the full effect. Unfortunately, I did not capture the moment very well on camera. Maybe later, Grace will write a guest post describing the science behind water, oil, Alka-Seltzer and food color. Grace you will only have to type the big words-- not say them. Wonderful work, Grace!

homemade funnels

For Grace's Science experiment, every kid needed a funnel so that they could pour both the oil and water in. We did not want to run out and buy 10-15 funnels, so we did some experimenting at home. Believe it or not, paper will work with liquids 1-2 times before it is toast. The picture you see here are little sticky notes made into funnels. Things we would do different: Grace and I would make the funnels larger, and cut the hole larger as well. All you do is cut out a circle, make one radius cut (from circles edge to middle), overlap cut edges, and trim off the tip to make the hole. temporary, but cost-effective.

Whew, that was a lot of work...

....BUT WORTH IT! I am so happy with how these Technique Collages turned out! The students put so much effort into them, and it shows! I am so proud of how each student took the idea and ran with their own creativity. If you are curious, I got the idea from a dear art teacher friend of mine, Lee. She has her daugther's 'collage cat' framed and hanging in their home.

Mountain Lion

Oh Marcus, I am so sad that I did not get a picture of your completed project. Yours turned out so well!

Shark!

Caleb showed such hard work and creativity. Way to go Caleb!

Go Team!

I think RK has football on the brain. Good job, RK

Joshua

Check out that weaving job! Great Job Joshua!

Rhinocerous

Brandon, you did a great job of putting together that rhino. He looks like he just might stomp off the page.

Woof, Woof

Logan picked some wild colors for this dog. what breed is this dog, Logan? Great Job

Elephant

Ben's elephant turned out great! He worked right up to the end.

Lilly

Lilly picked a colorful caterpillar. Brilliant!

Armadillo

Armadillo! Wonderful work, Grace

Nathan

Great football helmet, Nathan!

Tweet, Tweet

Check out this parakeet's home! way to go Alec!

Butterfly

I love how Blair's Butterfly looks like it is going to flutter right off the page

Technique Collages

Students hard at work tracing and cutting.

Story Time

Mrs. Nunamaker reading to our high-energy pkers.

Logan and Joshua practice their lines with Mrs. Osika for the play.

Ice Cream in a bag...Yummm

The Pk- 2nd graders had fun making ice cream on January 16th.

Collage Directions

This post is for the students in the older art class.  Here is a link to the youtube video for collage directions.  Collage    Since time is limited in class to accomplish this, I am asking students to do a little thinking, pencil, and scissor work before class on January 23.  When you get a chance this week, watch the video with your kiddo(s) and help them  to follow the steps.  Its not difficult.  I forgot to recap the steps on the video so here they are again. 1.  think of an animal or object that you like.  2 draw it on paper  3. draw a larger version of it on newspaper.  4. trace that pencil drawing in red.  (after this step, you may stop and bring it to co-op)  or do step 5. cut out the pieces of the whole  6. label the back (leg, head, arm)  7. place into a zip lock bag.  8. Bring to Co-op

Got it?

Really, I put make-up on that day, but I look like a crazy woman.  bummer that career in tv journalism may not be so promising anymore! note to self...delete video after art project. :)  anyway...new skills I learned today include uploading a crappy video to youtube, and inserting a link to it on a blog post.  Thank you, ladies, for doing this extra thing at home.  

Amy   

Snowflake crayon resist

On Jauary 16th, we scaled it back a bit and concentrated on ONE page.  we made snowflakes with white crayons and then painted over the whole page with watercolor.  See how the watercolor resisted the crayon snowflakes. Seems funny making snowflakes with the weather so sunny!

Phosphors

On the same day that we did all that painting, Logan presented a captivating Science experiment!  It was apparent that he did his research and preparation. Way to go Logan !  Thank you for making Science fun.

Kaleb's watercolor

Wow Kaleb!  This looks like a storm at sea.

Jill

This is also a watercolor.  I am guessing that Jill purposely created this pattern and used just a little water to get those brilliant colors.  Way to go Jill! I am wondering what kind of brush she used.  fan?

Brandon

I love this watercolor made by Brandon.  The overlapping of the pinks and greens give it a nice effect.

Lilly

For this art page, we placed a lighting grate under the paper and then rolled paint on top. 

Lilly's really picked up the pattern.  I think the trick is to not get to much paint on the roller.  Way to go, Lilly!

Paint, Smudge, Spatter

Nate, what a remarkable display of color!

Caleb

I love how Caleb's colors blended on his marble roll.

unintended art

Rebekah, our K-2 art teacher has a keen eye for beauty.  Here she is noting the unintended art. Wonderfully painted spoons!...or are they sun catchers?

I've Lost My Marbles

Two handsome gentlemen rolling paint covered marbles.  Next time, I will use a flat bottom container.  This one had a groove around the edge that attracted the marbles.

Art Overflowing

Two huge drying sheets were not enough to contain all of our art!  I even had to take them home to dry on my basement floor.

Introductory Post

Hey everyone!  I am trying out this new blog thing.  I am new at this, so no laughing at my bad photography or writing skills.  Believe it or not, my Grace and Naomi have been blogging a little.  I taught them to set up accounts, personalize them, and post.  Then like a good "Charlotte Mason" mommy, I told them to post their history narrations.  After that, they can post personal stuff.  They think it is an online scrapbook, and for the moment it has given them a new lift,  "Mom, can I blog today?"  what?  they want to practice writing?  It has been good because along with history and blogging, I am teaching some Learning Strategies for writing sentences.  If it were up to one of my beauties, punctuation would not exist.  Thus the blogging  and commenting gives us ample editing opportunities.... We will see if the fun wears off.  Of course I have taught them the five rules of kids and posting.  Maybe I will write a post about that later.  If you want to read their blogs, I will try to learn how to get a blog roll on here soon. If you have a blog and are willing to share, I will put it on the blog roll too!   For now, I am using this blog as a hub for our homeschool co-op. Title complements to Tiffany.  Thank you Tiff.  Salt and Light?  what do you think of it?   I will try to post pics of the kiddos work as well as needed information.  If you are curious, I am planning to stay away from first and last names of our babes.  When I started, I also tried to stay away from full face photos, but our kids are sooo cute- how can I resist! If you object to any othis, LET ME KNOW, and I will honor your wishes.  Also, if you have any older kids who may want to blog, my kiddos would love some buddies to follow and comment with. 

January 9th, We had a crazy good time in the older art class.  I bossed all the moms around while the kiddos cranked out page after page using different painting techniques.  Later, we will be making fun collages with those pieces of art.  I am just so impressed with your kids' creativity.  I am going to try to post a few of those.... before we collage them. 

Also a happy welcome to Kirstian, Kaleb, Jill, and Audrey.  Good thing they did not come on the first day.  If so, they probably would not have returned.  Crazy how far we have come, Ladies!  I am so thankful for all of you.