Old Time Summer

Tag: Art

  • Summer about over: Exploring future

    Our summer wasn’t much of one. It’s been hot, muggy, dreary, allergy-prone most of the time. When it’s not gray and overcast it’s super duper hot. When it is overcast it’s not AS hot. In any case it’s the house that makes it what it is, on sunny days it’s hard to keep the house cool, keeping it “cool enough” is nye impossible. On dreary gray days it’s hard to move. So let’s explore what each means.

    Too hot in the house: nothing much gets done.

    Too dark in the house: nothing much gets done.

    That’s the truth.

    It’s always something that I’m trying to get done, more productivity, more educational stuff going on. I’ve let it go this summer, though I did want to press on and get even more done. Basically I’ve gotten my DD to embrace writing about things she’s learned, some. My DS no. He wrote a little early on, then nothing.

    Video games and cartoons take higher precedence for my boys. My girl, she’d lay in bed reading all the time, or drawing, or painting, or creating with clay.

    I see value in all the things my girl does, less value in the things my boys do. I do not dis-value video games and cartoons, but I do know it’s only something that should be in a model of many things, less time with those things and more time with un-named things (things that have more reading and thinking involved, historical, nature, human study, mathematical, language, Biblical …)

    All my children need to spend more time with the books, software and such that I have for them to learn with, instead of just the video gaming side of things, or just the artistic side of things. The middle is where there is need of deeper exploration, and that’s what I’m trying to get to happen soon. The meaty middle of educational concerns is coming up soon (after “Labor Day” and then it’ll be all that other stuff is the dessert, and I’m going to get them going on the meaty stuff sooner than that, but it’ll be a tasting affair until September, when the real eating starts.

  • Know Thyself

    It’s Monday, time for “official” education-ing to be happening. I’m getting “them” to do their Latin on Tues. & Thurs., and every day do their “Grammar” & “Spelling Wisdom” & “Creative Writing” & “Math-U-See” & “Catechism Q & A” (Westminster Shorter) …

    Just for starters, trying to get THESE things happening regularly. Hopefully I can get the rest of the art things I need to employ the Art program I have sooner than later. Also need to get some more things to use the Bible/History stuff I have.

    I’m using the rest of this month to get on track and catch-up the very basics, then begin again in January and February with the other things I don’t yet have.

    I’m also using this month for crafty-ness, creative writing, special audio books (holiday stories) and whatever else that happens and is a “learning moment” or whatever.

    One thing I did for my two eldest in early November, I got them each their own day-timer from Target, the made by Franklin-Covey student spiral bound sort, so it started in August. I’m trying to get them to record things they do, places they went, things they NEED to do, etc. Start getting themselves accustomed to organizing themselves in a book. I like it for a semi-journal recording of what I’ve done. I haven’t had one every year, but I have used different calendars similarly, cramming things in here and there, though I haven’t done it to the extent that I have wished I would have through the years.

    Part of what I want my children to learn is “archiving” what they do, learn, read, like, etc. through the years, on paper.

    I found two things of mine from when I was younger in some things I went through in our storage area last week. One is a “slam book” that I started in 1981. I actually only had one friend “sign in” and log her answers, then the other “sign ins” are all me from 1981 to 1990. I had forgotten about it. I’m going to have my children make their own versions later this month.

    The other thing I found is a small spiral bound notebook with 1-year of my life at a church my friend and I started to attend and decided to join, but waited a year to officially do it. I wrote about the people & things we did for that year. I had forgotten about that as well. It’s funny to look back on these things.

    I never had a “diary” that I kept up with. I found them too emo-stupid usually to be able to write one as was thought of should be in a diary when I was young. Like, I looked back at what I wrote the day before or the week before, and felt embarrassed, couldn’t stand what I had written, how childish it seemed afterthefact. Sometimes I feel like that about blog posts, or forum posts, but I don’t actually post as much as I write, because of that I decide while I’m still writing that it’s too NOT what I want to post, so I stop/delete it. I at times am able to just look at it as an editor and re-write it, but usually I don’t. I find that tedious.

    Many times I do write things and then don’t do anything with it, feeling satisfied that I got it organized in my head by writing it out, and don’t save it. I would like to keep a better record of myself …

    I would like my children to keep a good record of themselves through their life. So the things I like to do and want to do I will start doing and have them do them too. It’s good to know where you are and how you got there. Personal journaling/notebooking of life can aide in that journey of understanding.

  • High Museum Family Membership

    We just purchased a Family Membership at Atlanta’s High Museum. I’ve wanted to do this over the past several years to enjoy myself, and also to show art to my children as part of their education and also to learn to enjoy it fully in their lives.

    What made me do it finally and fully is that the other day I saw a billboard with a Monet background of “Water Lilies” for the High Museum and I knew I had to go see whatever it was, but forgot to check it out online by the time we got home. I fleetingly thought of it but never a full enough thought to go to their website at any time. Not until last night.

    My husband was planning what to do on our Anniversary (which is this coming Saturday, August 22) and had decided on dinner and a movie. I liked the dinner idea, but wasn’t thrilled with what movies are out there. So during the night I thought it through in my dreams and recalled the Monet billboard and looked it up this morning.

    I saw that this is the last weekend of the Monet Water Lilies exhibition and knew that had to be what we did … and I knew we’d enjoy it more than a movie, especially since there aren’t any movies out we really want to see that much.

    I’d like to go back with the whole family on Sunday afternoon, so that we can share the Monet exhibit with them (he’s one of my absolute favorite artists) thus we can go and enjoy it as adults on Saturday, and also know what’s what before taking the children the next day. Not our usual MO.

    [dual posted: oldtimesummer blog & pastoralfarms blog]

  • Prang Soybean Crayons

    I’ve been looking for the crayons I love to get for using in our Art Program (haven’t bought them for a very long time) and finally started looking online when I couldn’t find them in any brick stores. The manufacturers website doesn’t list them as discontinued, but there is talk of it on some other sites and hardly anyone has any stock of them, I found some 8-color, 24-color boxes on some seller websites, but found that they were ALL Canadian sites. I did find another product that I need to look into, Crayon Rocks. More for younger people. I have also seen that someone (or more) make Beeswax crayons. I’ve also thought of finding resources and making my own and actually marketing them eventually.

  • Art products

    I bought an art program, via my homeschool coop (which is online) which is an online program itself. There is a list of products to buy to use for the program, but going to Michaels produced only a couple of things, and not the brand names asked for, and going to Staples, Target and Office Max turned up only one more thing (at the latter) and therefore I cannot start the program until I can get the other things.

    Premiere on the list is PRANG crayons. I know what these are and there are NO substitutes for PRANG crayons. I have used them in the past, but currently have none. I firstly found them years ago in a Staples, have seen them nowhere else, but now that I wanted to get a new set for my own personal use (I love to color in coloring books still …) as well as get small boxes for each child in this art program, I can find no brick store carrying PRANG crayons.

    So I’ll have to go online and find an online store that has everything I need, and next time I need a bunch of art stuff, that’s the only way I’ll do it. Lesson learned, wasted energy of my own and gasoline, time and frustration brought to naught.

  • New Learning Tools for us

    We ordered a Latin course in April. It arrived today, this afternoon! It’s Artes Latinae … which we got as part of the HomeSchooling Co-op (online) we are members of.

    Also we got an online Art course there, with instant access to it. It looks to be very interesting, adding both these programs to our household.

    The other day I also picked up a “complete works of William Shakespeare” to finally get going on some of that in the family.

    Of all this I am most anxious to start. all of it! It’s all needed and wonderful stuff. Living learning. The best kind.

    I was going to do more with it today already, but our Baby Q is too full of energy to start anything new right now. He’s quite the deterent to actually getting things done, with “What’s that?” coming from him most of the time, over and over. He’s so small it gets in the way of other things for us older folk. Baby Q is in a new phase, and has seemed to outgrow most of his baby toys. That plays havoc with computers, books, disks, anything in the kitchen … So he’s ready for some bigger lessons himself, it’s the fun of juggling three different ages 8 to 13 with a toddler in the mix.