Summer Art

Many times the most successful and fun projects for my children aren't inspired or thought of by me ~ they are the brainchild of enterprising little minds.    I've found that when I just provide a few QUALITY MATERIALS, the children do the rest of the work.

For example, take this cute little clay guy that was created at my house:

The only materials I provided were the clay (I like Crayola Modeling Clay) and a subscription to American Girl magazine for my nine year old.    In this month's magazine there's a really cute article about making your own clay animals, and one afternoon (instead of saying "I'm bored!") Miss B decided to have fun with clay.  

I just love what she came up with - and I'm sure we'll be getting out the clay a lot more this week!  

What's your favorite summertime art project?  

Learning About Drawing - See The Light Art Class Review

Courtesy of The Homeschool Village, my children have been learning the basics of drawing through See The Light's Art Class. This review has been a treat for us, because I have a six year old who loves to draw and wants to learn more, and a nine year old who thinks she can't draw (because she has never been taught!). I'm happy to report this series of art lessons is helping each of them.

About the Art Class:

• We received a DVD, called "The Basics", which consists of 4 beginning drawing lessons, each about 10-15 minutes in length (Tools of the Trade, It All Starts With a Line, Contours & Compositions, and Draw What You See). There are additional DVDs with more lessons.
  
• These lessons are available to watch online, for the price of $14.99 a month (includes four lessons or "art club meetings"). You can also purchase a nine month membership for $99. New lessons are delivered weekly with unlimited viewings.
  
• You can purchase the DVDs online for $14.99 each if you prefer.
  
• Pat, the teacher, is very positive and pleasant to watch. She speaks directly to the students, telling them everything they will need and encouraging them every step of the way. She also shows them samples of her own drawings.
  
• Famous artists are mentioned throughout the lessons (we liked Picasso's contour drawings)
• Each lesson is grounded in scripture, and a Bible verse or passage is read.
• You can sign up on See The Light's website for a 3 episode trial - great!
• See The Light can also be found on Facebook.
  

Our thoughts:

• My children were immediately drawn to the teacher. They readily gathered the supplies they would need and listened intently. The short lessons are wonderful for elementary aged children, but also kept mom interested, too (I am practicing now)!
• As the parent, you should watch the introductory lesson first and make sure you have the supplies you will need. Some things (such as a charcoal pencil or kneaded eraser) may not be readily available in your house.
• One of the very first lessons deals with drawing apples - this was the perfect thing for my children to do. They had a little bit of trouble at first, but so did the teacher! (wink, wink) She explained that drawing takes practice and patience. My children kept working and did much better. Pat encourages the children to practice between lessons, which mine did!
• I appreciated the way she did not talk down to the children, and used several art terms during the lessons. She chose activities that brought easy success and could be practiced in a variety of ways apart from the DVD.
  
• It was wonderful to have an expert instruct my children in a subject I know nothing about! Video instruction is fairly new to us, and we enjoyed the format.

Supplies gathered and ready for our first lesson!

Practicing different types of lines in Lesson 2: It All Starts With a Line

My nine year old told me "I never thought I could draw well, but now I think I can with some practice!". My six year old said "I liked it a lot but the bonus feature was too hard." (note: the bonus feature on our DVD was another artist walking you through a chalk exercise - beautiful and achievable for slightly older children).

As I was finishing this review, Miss B bounded into the room with a drawing she had just completed - it is for her grandaddy's birthday later this week. She NEVER would have done something like this before. I am so proud of her! She drew fruit (as suggested in our DVD) and she drew what she "saw" not what she "knew" (another huge point in the lessons!). Yay!

Once we practice the skills in Volume 1: The Basics we will be purchasing the next volume. I will purchase the physical DVDs rather than watch online, because then I can pass along to other homeschool friends - always good to pay it forward!

If you need simple, sophisticated, engaging art lessons for your children, this might be just what you need, too!

If you visit The Homeschool Village you can also read others' thoughts about this art curriculum and enter in A GIVEAWAY!

Disclosure of Material Connection: I received one or more of the products or
services mentioned above for free in the hope that I would mention it
on my blog. Regardless, I only recommend products or services I use personally
and believe will be good for my readers. I am disclosing this in accordance
with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the
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Our Own Lewis & Clark Expedition

What fun we've had learning about The Lewis and Clark Expedition!

  One of my daughter's books for this study is from Sonlight's Core 3: The Lewis and Clark Expedition by Richard Neuberger. I love the straight-forward style of the book, and the way it just speaks to both of my children. After the first couple of chapters my daughter remarked how it would be fun to have been on an expedition like Lewis & Clarke's.... which is when a light bulb went off for me.

I had ordered a book over the summer which which was highly recommended - Little Hands Celebrate America. I can see now why it got such rave reviews! It is full of fun, easy crafts which help teach about American history. One of them is a field journal made out of a brown paper grocery bag and yarn. How easy is that? The book also gives a short and sweet explanation of that time period in history - in this case, The Lewis & Clark Expedition. So, after a couple days of reading about Lewis & Clark we decided to put ourselves in their shoes and set off on our own expedition at a local lake.

Both my nine and five year olds made field logs, and I told them we were to name things like we were seeing them for the first time EVER..... just like Lewis & Clark had named the Rocky Mountains, numerous rivers, the grizzly bear, etc, etc.... I had no idea how much this little project would speak to my children. When we first arrived at the lake and sat down to eat lunch, this glorious bug was sitting on the picnic table.... my daughter dubbed it the "green leaf bug" and drew it in her journal.

Over the next couple of hours the children stopped at many different places and sketched or wrote about what they saw. I loved how this served as a creative writing activity!

We saw many "brown devils" hopping from tree to tree and running on the path in front of us.

Here's my Kindergartner hard at work on his field journal:

As we walked we talked about what it must have been like to lug our supplies over so many miles, through hostile and unknown terrain. We thought how utterly amazing it must have been to discover the Rocky Mountains.

My son shared what he knew about Sacajawea (we've been reading a little book at his level to go along with our study). We also just enjoyed a gorgeous day, as fall is finally starting to make itself known in our neck of the woods.

All in all -- a great day, and hopefully a memorable activity for all of us!

*You might enjoy reading A Prairie Dog For The President to supplement this expedition!