Painting on the Ceiling

Do not try this at church!(unless you're Michelangelo) DO try this at home. I wasn't sure if the kids would be interested because it was our third week in a row painting. I printed off some Sistine Chapel ceiling coloring pages just in case. I only had one taker.

Guest Mentor-Samuel Evensen

Today, our guest mentor, Samuel Evensen shared his love for color, painting and meaningful ideas. He clearly sparked something.

Science serendipity

We happened to catch a flyer for a geological tour of our neighborhood which just so happens to be one of our subjects of study this year along with New York history, so...

Our guide, Sidney Horenstein



It was really a mixture of geological history, botany and New York history as Mr. H. detailed the life of Inwood from mastodon bones unearthed on Payson and glacial rolling stones from the palisades, to the development of the ferries, trains and subways in Manhattan. He also taught us the names of several local trees including this Mimosa. Mr. H. told us that the Palisades are flat because they used to be below sea level and were pounded flat by the waves. It might have been cool to do a math problem about the median age of the group before and after we joined the tour. ;) Each child is writing a narration, or in one case a short story, based on our adventures with Mr. H. We'll save those in our New York history file for future years. We also came home with several heavy samples of milky quartz.

Art-Giotto di Bondone

Pulverizing chalk into powder and pouring in egg yolk is not something I generally condone especially when it requires rocks in the house. But today we were trying our hand at making our own egg tempra paints like Giotto di Bondone. Learn more about this 13th/14th century painter and enjoy a slideshow of his extensive works at: giottodibondone.org

We used:
plastic bowls (disposable)
paintbrushes
1 egg yolk only
2 teaspoons of water
rocks we found outside (round are best)
pastel chalks/berries

Each child picked a color and ground a small bit of pastel chalk into their respective bowls. I mixed the egg yolk with 2 teaspoons of water (until frothy). This liquid mixture was spooned into each child's bowl. They each mixed with a paintbrush until the consistency was thin and smooth. We painted.

What I learned:
"Smooth" here is actually a euphemism for lumpy. ;) Also, our rocks were a bit dirty and some of them had an element of sparkle that mixed with the paint and gave those colors a glittery quality. The dried paint was shiny and very sturdy. I did try mixing blackberries into paint. I did not grind them well and the color came out a sort of swamp-water-latte with clumps. Giotto's paintings are full of vibrant color and smooth consistency. He must've had a pestle and an assistant!

Thanks to "Discovering Great Artists" by MaryAnn F. Kohl and Kim Solga for the great idea.

Two Links

We're always interested in useful links here at educationvalidation. Sumgreater recommends http://www.classicsforkids.com I second that. It includes information about composers categorized by period, country, alphabetically, etc. It also includes, puzzles, games, tips for parents/teachers and recordings of many classical pieces. We started at the beginning with Hildegard von Bingen (a very good place to start). We also found lots of her music on youtube and learned that a friend of ours is writing a play about her controversial life as a nun who prophesied, performed miracles, wrote books on religion and medicine and was a prolific composer.
Tonight, I found a fantastic interactive website that gives anybody access to the Library of Congress. Star would like to spend a few months in that Library, but she's never gotten more than a peek through the windows in the closed doors. She made a very depressed face after that. Here's your open access pass: http://www.myloc.gov

Happy summer school!

The Baby is the lesson

Having little babies around all the time always feels like such an obstacle in doing homeschool. I read this article just now, though, and it's exactly what I needed. Maybe it will make you feel better, too.

http://www.lovetolearn.net/homeschool_articles/baby.lasso

The Gleaners-Jean-Francois Millet

This painting is our screensaver this week. It is Millet's most famous work.
What do you think?