"Education is not the filling of a pail,but the lighting of a fire." William Butler Yeats
We actually got back to school last week but we were working on the other things, the life things. We had a shift in chores and those require time to teach and I did not want to be pressured to rush through it so we could get to "real" school work. That just leads to frustration on my part, which leads to yelling and no one learns anything good from yelling. Cooper is learning to sweep the floors and Marshall has proven to be a whiz at loading the dishwasher. The twins have taken over feeding the cats and dog (big brothers taught them). It was a good change because our morning run very smoothly now and better yet, housework is done and the house is staying a bit more tidy.
We are starting our second term this week and it so exciting to start new books. In addition to the books we read over the whole year we are adding a biography of Queen Elizabeth and Children of the New Forest this term. I can't wait until term three when we read The Jungle Book! Marshall is not adding any new books but is making great progress with reading and I forecast he will be reading his fables to me by the end of term 3!
With the the new year, I wanted to take up a resolution that did not have anything to do with my weight. So I decided to teach myself to watercolor and tip toe into the mysterious and elusive world of Art. Most people think of art (drawing or painting) to be an innate talent and if you are not good at it then "oh well" I just can't do it. I refuse to believe that because I am not good at football but I can still play it! Sketching and drawing and painting used to be taught and most educated people had a working knowledge of how to put an image to paper. I am so grateful this is one of the forgotten subjects we can add into our sons' educations. They will be taking an art class once a week through the YMCA and I can't wait to see what they create! Once I master watercolors I will teach my boys so we can use the skill in our nature journals. Speaking of which here are some of my recent paintings. (I put these online not to brag, quite the opposite, they are far from "right" but you have to start somewhere and I encourage you to start!) Youtube has a ton of tutorials!
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| Holly bush - I had to find one with a berry on it because I really love color and all the greens and brown get boring to me. I messed up on a shadow placement - can you find it?? |
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| House Finch - The red is the wrong red and I didn't blend my colors very well but I still love him! |
