Creating

Sometimes it is easy to forget how important crafting can be to a sense of homeschool well-being. A sheet of correctly solved math problems is very satisfying, and definitely should be, but tapping into our creativity encourages mental stretching that gives us the strength to think on our toes, finding new and unique solutions to problems. Plus the process of imagining, pursuing, and then completing an entirely unique project, with final product in hand, gives a sense of fulfullment that, honestly, knocks internal self-patting right out of the park.

Clay, paper, paint, markers, pencils...you name it. There are lots of outlets for creative expression. This week Calvin made a pot, created a picture by pressing colored non-drying clay onto a sketch of his own, designed and built with Legos, and started a new scrapbook. This in addition to writing stories, noodling on the piano, and singing songs of life at the top of his lungs from the shower. And, of course, drawing.

We've always done a lot of drawing. Calvin illustrates most of his journal entries, and he loves to draw maps, as well, creating the worlds, real and imagined, that he explores in the books that he reads. I love his youthful symbolic drawings—the ones where birds have wings and four feet, suns have clearly visible rays, and people have oddly circular torsos—but he's entering the stage of more realistic images, so we've embarked on a journey of self-lead lessons with Drawing With Children, by Mona Brooks. This week we tried self portraits, taking pencils and clipboards and sketching pencils into the bathroom to use the mirror. Calvin did a first sketch, then we spent some time talking about the difference between his first sketch and the image he was seeing in the mirror and he made a second sketch. Then, just for fun, he made the likeness out of construction paper, too.

Clay pot making, inspired by the ancient pottery we saw behind the scenes at the museum

Pressed clay landscape

self portrait sketching

6 days: Finishing touches

Calvin and I both did some sewing for this years gifts, and with time slipping ever away, we stepped up our efforts. The goal was to be finished by Thursday night, but we finished a day early. There's a first for everything.

Artistic Friday

Our day started with sunshine, orange juice, coffee for me, and a few notes on Tutankhamun for Calvin. I discovered this sight long after I'd had enough coffee to wake me up and get me started.

We are still working on our mummy cases. This is turning into a two week project, mostly due to our lack of extra time, but we're having a good time with it.

We've been talking lately about categorizing the world from a scientific standpoint, so today we went outside with our sketch pads to find the symmetry in living things, and the lack thereof in non-living natural or human-made things. It was fun from both a scientific and an artistic standpoint.

And the rest of the day was spent at HAA practicing for Calvin's next play (The Wizard of Oz!) and creating oil pastel paintings, then back at home rather carefully organizing the Legos, which are still spread all over the front room because organization takes time, and messes often get worse before they get better. That's one of the fun parts of life.

We're linked up to Saturday's Artist.

We made a cricket

Which looks suspiciously like a grasshopper, but we didn't have any black pipe cleaners, and honestly, that wouldn't be as cute.

This didn't come entirely out of the blue. Calvin started reading The Cricket in Times Square today, a book I'd suggested to him because we'll be going to a stage adaptation later in the month. He read the first two chapters today and probably would have continued if I hadn't stopped him to ask him to tell me about it so far. I can tell it's going to be a hit, but in general any book with critters is a big hit with him.

I got the craft idea from this website, although we altered it to look a little more like a cricket.

A scrapbook for Pooh

There was a time when I might have been called a scrapbooker. After Calvin was born I scrapped every moment of every day for his first couple of years. And then nap time slowly disappeared, and more and more time was spent on games and reading and puzzling and discovering, and there was no time for scrapbooking, and no time to miss it, either.

I still dabble every once in a while—I love the colors and textures, and the printed pictures—and the trip to Florida seemed like a great subject for a book, so Calvin and I have been working on a pair of books ever since our return. And although it takes longer when we do it together, the final product is twice as rewarding and the process twice as fun.

So the Disney books aren't quite done yet, but Calvin, very intrigued with the process, began a collection of scrapbooks for Winnie the Pooh and his friends at the beginning of the week. He disappeared into his office and emerged an hour later with a finished book for Pooh, and each day he made another book for another character.

Construction paper, crayons, scissors and glue. We've often done art projects together, or he's done projects on his own at my suggestion, and he's certainly disappeared and drawn pictures of his own accord, but the creation a full scale project on his own was fun. He even knew exactly how he wanted to bind them, all I had to do was help tie the strings. I didn't snap shots of all the pages—there are about 80 of them—but just a few of my very favorites.

We're linked up to OLM's Saturday's Artist.