Day #108/175 Days (Fine Arts Co-Op)

Due to my sister's work schedule, we've been playing with our schedule for our Fine Arts Co-Op. This week we had it on Thursday. This also worked as both my sister & BIL had to work tomorrow so my nephew stayed overnight. Here is what we accomplished today:

Music

• Read about xylophone in Story of the Orchestra
• Watched a video on YouTube of it being played
• Create mini-book about xylophone
• Read about the timpani in Story of the Orchestra
• Listened to Track 31 on the CD
• Watched this video on YouTube of a timpani solo (impressive!)
• Created mini-book about timpani
• Read from Lives of the Musicians (new book) pgs. 49-53 about Brahms
• Read from Meet the Great Composers
• Created mini-book about Brahms

Art

• Watched Lesson 9 in "God & The History of Art" on "The Reformation"
• Watched art lesson on "Perspective Drawing" in "Beginning Drawing"
• High Horizon line
• Low Horizon line
• 1 & 2 point perspective drawing

I love how hard he is concentrating here. Tongue & all!

• Read about Jackson Pollock in Art in Story
• Watched this video and this video on YouTube about Pollock. The first shows Pollock in action and the second shows his Top 20 paintings
• Of course, no study of Pollock would be complete without having a go at some "action painting" of our own!

Happy just discovered the joy of "spatter painting."

Happy's work.

Conductor's go at it. He used just white & blue.

Lego-Man had the best time of all I think.

Our day ended by listening to Story of the World Volume 2 (just started) as we drove to AWANA. AWANA Club for two hours in the evening. The boys always have a good time with this.

Day #106/175 Days (Art Class)

Today we headed north for our monthly art class. I know I'm really enjoying these classes and I'm pretty sure the boys are as well. They get to be messy and try new things. Today the focus was masks. The boys went in with a general idea of what they wanted to create. I was amazed at how big these things ended up!

Karen used a neat technique but I didn't get all the details. She used recycled paper and cardboard. During the week she spent time coating them with a substance that was toxic actually. However, when it dries, it's safe to be handled and it's sticky - think contact paper sticky. She helped the kids construct their frame from cardboard...

Happy started out as a "space shuttle" but morphed in to a "alien."

Conductor was aiming for a "dragon."

Then they added the paper "skin." Unlike paper mache, they only needed one layer. Here is Conductor with his frame covered.

Then they were given other items to tape on to help create the shape such as TP rolls, foam shapes, etc. They had a blast. Then the really messy part started....painting!

Lego-Man is working on his "Grim Pig" mask.

Spray paint would have been faster and less messy, but the kids loved it all anyway.

We even managed a group photo before everyone left. The kids did a really great job with this project! Even though a lot of them ran out of time on painting, they still had fun. We still need to finish up our painting, but I'll be getting spray paint and doing this outside! 

Karen - our teacher - is the only one without a mask.

We've also been listening to Story of the World on CD while we're driving. We're in Volume 1 right now. I plan to go through all four volumes this way - just listening right now. Our day ended with piano lessons.

Day #88/175 Days

Today we had our monthly art class. The children all glazed their previously made pottery. I think they had a blast painting. I know Happy really got in to it. As I was going through my photos I realized I missed getting a photo of Lego-Man or his projects. Next month when we go back (we'll be making masks!) and pick up our pottery, I'll be sure to get one of his things to share.

Happy is painting his "snowman." It looks like a melted one. I can't wait to see how it turns out.

Conductor painting one of his many pieces. He's also sporting his new glasses. So cute!

To get to class it's about a 40 minute drive one way. After class we headed further south so I could pick up some ink cartridges. The store closer to me didn't have them. All told we were on the road for about 1-1/2 hours. We listened to "The Magician's Nephew" while we rode. We have the Focus on the Family Radio Theater versions and they are very good.

No piano lessons today - our teacher and her family are ill.

Day #67/175 Days - Art Class

Today we attended our weekly art class. The children were given the chance to "throw" some clay on the pottery wheel. They each had two turns to make a pot and loved it. While they waited for their turn they were given clay to mold and create whatever they wished. My boys love these monthly art classes.

After class we headed to one of the local parks to eat lunch and kill some time until our piano lessons. The two younger boys played outside for about 20 minutes but it was cold so they didn't last long. Thankfully the time went by fast and we were soon off to piano.

Since I had my camera I brought it in and snapped a few photos. Conductor loves going to piano not only to learn more but to also play. They have a great set of Legos they have been letting him use and he has been very good with the set. Today they had pulled out a different building set for him to use. He loved it! (I am saying "they" as our teacher is a 19-year-old homeschool girl. We go to her house and her 15-year-old sister is there as well as their mom so we all have plenty of company.)

Day #12/175 Days – Fine Arts Co-Op

Today was our second time trying our “Fine Arts” mini co-op with my sister. It’s definitely a challenge at times to make the boys understand this is school time and not play time. They get about 20-30 minutes when we first start to play while my sister and I get ready to go. Then we have at least an hour for lunch (it only takes them half that time to eat) and then they have more time at the end to play as well.

We really do cover a lot of ground which is good since we only meet twice a month.

• Read in Story of the Orchestra about the flute.
• Listened to the track in SOTO as well.
• Pulled out a real flute for the boys to try out. They were all able to make a sound with it. (Happy did not get to try as he’s just getting over being ill.)

• Listed four things on the chalkboard that they learned about the flute.
• Copied three of them in to their mini-books on the flute
• Read about the piano in Story of the Orchestra
• Listened to the track with the piano (all the boys are either currently taking lessons on the piano – mine- or have in the past – my nephew)
• List four things on the chalkboard about the piano

• Copy three of them in to their mini-book on the piano

• Our composer today was Mozart. We read about him in Meet the Great Composers.
• We also use the Young Scholar’s Guide to the Composers as well and as my sister reads from there they boys fill in the Student Review pages.
• List four things about Mozart on the chalkboard.
• Pick two to write in the mini-book on him.
• Listen to some of his work on the CD from Meet the Great Composers

LUNCH BREAK! The boys were off and running. I did get a bit distracted this morning and never mentioned it to the boys as I didn’t want to disrupt the flow of work. These “things” have been visiting our yard just about daily:



After lunch we began our art study. We are covering art history, an artist study, and art application. For art history we are using videos by Barry Stebbing. We are also using videos from him for our art application. We are using a variety of resources for our artist study. Since I lead the art study, there aren’t any photos. I’ll have to have my sister snap some next time.

• Watch Lesson 2 in “God & the History of Art” on The 2nd Commandment and how this pertains to art. Discuss.
• Watch Lesson 1 in “Beginning Drawing” (only did the first 10 mins) The boys drew basic geometric shapes, a pencil, a paintbrush, and a 3D object.
• Discussed how basic shapes show up in all drawings.
• Read about Botticelli in Art in Story
• Viewed some of his paintings online including:
  
  • Primavera
  • Man with a Medal
  • The Magnificat
  • Madonna of the Book (rectangle and round shapes)
  • The Annunciation
  • Adoration of the Magi
• Discuss the paintings – using Art in Story
• Used Discovering Great Artists and had the boys create a drawing on round paper.

We broke here for a walk in the woods. It has been raining a lot lately and this seemed like a good time to burn off some energy since it wasn’t currently raining. We took to the logging roads behind my house.



At each intersection we took turns picking which direction to go. This helped lengthen the walk. We spent 30 minutes enjoying the fall day. And this was near the end of our walk…



Our favorite spot on our property – the town line. The boys are in two places at once!

When we returned we discussed the different things we had seen on our fall walk. We talked about Botticelli’s paintings Primavera which is intended to depict spring and the things about it that would suggest that. We also looked at his painting “Autumn” and what would suggest that season in the painting. They then had to create a drawing of what fall/autumn means to them.

Next time we’ll be studying the cello and organ and Haydn during our music study. We’ll continue with our art history and art application lessons but I’m not sure who we will do for our artist yet. We forgot to make a list of those to study at the start of the year so I just pick one when putting together our check list.

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Day #10/175 Days – Art Class

A friend of mine set up a series of monthly art classes. Those who were interested could sign up for one or all. I obviously chose all. Today was our first day. The classes are held in a small studio located about 40 minutes north of where we live. Remember, we live in the middle of no where and everything is at least a 30 minute drive for us.


We had taken an art class at the same studio earlier in the year and it was packed! The primary focus of this artist is clay and pottery and the kids were given as much clay as they wanted to that day to create as many things as they wanted. Not bad for $10/child!


Today our focus was on papermaking. There were only seven students total so it was much easier to move around and snap photos of the process – which I did.





The artist (Karen) already had the paper pulp ready to go. She did give a short mini-lesson on the history of paper and what it was made from. Living in Maine, most of the kids understand that it’s made from trees. In fact, two of the towns we frequent often for various things have large paper mills in them and large amount of families in Maine are supported by the paper and logging industries.


She took each child through the process so that they would know how to do it. One thing I love about these classes is that she doesn’t take a lot of “talking time.” She even said that herself. She likes to show the process and then pretty much let the kids have at it. She then can go around and help as needed.



Here is Conductor going through the papermaking process….



Step #1 – Scoop up some water and pulp on to your screen.







Step #2 – Remove the top part of the frame (the deckle?) and make sure your pulp mix looks good to you. This is also where you could add larger pieces of pulp or make “windows” in the paper (i.e. holes) for added interest.







Step #3 – Flip the screen and remaining piece of wooden frame over on to a piece of scrap wood. Karen said she was trying to figure out a way for the kids to be able to take all their paper home on that day. She ended up going to the transfer station (i.e. dump) and scavenging some large pieces of wood. We all left with the back of our vehicles filled with scraps of wood with paper drying on them.







Step #4 – Rub your hands along the screen with the frame still in place to remove some of the water. (No photo of this step.)



Step #5 - Remove the other piece of the frame.  Place a large piece of white felt on top of the screen and begin patting it to remove as much water as possible from the paper.







Step #6 – Check to make sure the paper will remain on the wood by lifting the screen. If not, continue patting the felt until drier.  Remove felt. Slowly peel screen off.







And there you have it – a piece of paper!



 



This is a piece of paper that Karen passed around at the start of the class. It looks like mulberry paper (for those who scrapbook or card make) but it’s heavier.







Yes, Happy and Lego-Man had a blast making paper too. In fact, Lego-Man made about six sheets! Near the end I even got in on the act. I love doing things like this.

















I can’t wait until next month. We’re going to be doing “pottery vessels” and I hear tell we get a turn at the wheel!



I forgot to mention that we also had our second piano lesson following art class. I had packed lunch and we had some time to kill so we headed to a local park to play. Some of our friends from class came with us so our "unsocialized" homeschoolers had a chance to work on those oft neglected social skills. Sorry - I know - the sarcasm just comes out like that at times.

The kids had a fantastic time as did I - getting to chat with another mom - even if it was about co-op planning. ;-)

Day #6/175 Days – Fine Arts

My sister and I started talking about a month ago about ways to incorporate more of the fine arts in our school year. She came up with the idea of a little mini co-op with just the two of us. One time a month we all head south to her house and the other meeting she comes up here to ours.

We meet at the end of August and planned out what we were going to study. We are using some videos by Barry Stebbing for our art history and drawing lessons. We are using a hodge-podge of other materials to round out everything else.

Today was our first class day. Overall it was a good day. We realized we have too much reading planned for the music appreciation time so we may end up changing that a bit.

Mornings are reserved for music while after lunch is art time. My sister will lead the music time and I will lead the art time.

• We began reading in Story of the Orchestra about the violin.
• We listened to the recommended track of the Story of the Orchestra CD of the violin.
• We listed four things the boys learned about violins on the white board. They then choose three to copy on to their mini books (found at Homeschool Share).
• Read about the harpsichord in Story of the Orchestra
• Listened to the recommended tracks
• Listed four things (one from each boy) and they created their mini books for this instrument as well.
• Read about Bach in Meet the Great Composers
• Read more about Bach from A Young Scholar’s Guide to the Composers book.
• While reading from the above book, the boys had the Student Review pages. Anytime they thought they had heard the answer to a question, they raised their hand, read the question, and answered it. This kept them pretty engaged.
• Listened to the CD track from Meet the Great Composers of one of Bach’s songs. We had the boys try to pick out violins or harpsichord.

At this point we figured the boys had done enough music. We had wanted to read from Spiritual Lives of the Great Composers but thought it would be too much sitting at this point. There are also notebook pages as part of the Young Scholar’s book but the rebelling over writing had started so we saved this as “homework.”
We let them go have some fun play time while we made lunch. After lunch we tackled art.

• Watched Lesson 1 of Barry Stebbing’s “God and the History of Art.” This covered “What is Art?”
• We created color wheels using tempera paint. The boys were given red, yellow, blue, green, and purple and had to create all the other colors needed from those (including orange).
• I read to them from Art in Story about Rembrandt.
• We then looked at a lot of portraits (self and otherwise) in a book I have of Rembrandt. The reproductions in it were very well done. We talked about what the people in the paintings may have been and what clues we saw in the painting to support that.
• The boys then created their own self-portraits simply using paper and pencil.
• We also talked about etchings and how Rembrandt created those. There were some examples in my book as well so we looked at those.
• We used some simple etching kits picked up at the Dollar Store to create our own etchings.

Overall a full and productive day.