Art Journaling ~ The Heart of an Artist

 
It's Wednesday, which means it is time to hear from another of the Homeschool Guests.  I've enjoyed sharing my friends with you the past few weeks, and look forward to many more!
Have you missed any of the guests?
Week 1:  Hope ~ Nature Study in Your Homeschool
Week 2:  Monica ~ Homeschool as a Calling
Week 3:  Stacey ~ Empowering Children to Narrate Through Play
Today's post comes from my dear blogging friend, Jess:


A while back I had the desire to bring a group of children together with the purpose of creating both art and writing in an environment that would stimulate, nurture and inspire.   I believe that within each of us dwells the heart of an artist.  The level of skill and the depth of talent are not what define an artist.

  An artist is one whose soul is connected with their limbs. 

Our family is very busy with numerous activities, classes, and trips.  Often I had great plans of breaking out oil pastels, or watercolors, only to find that priority was given to math or writing, or science.  I began to question why it is so easy to push art aside as something we will get to another day.  In my artist’s heart, I felt that art is equally important as math, science, and language arts.  If I scheduled time and a place to create and honored it among our expansive list of other activities, then we would never have to push it aside again. 

With the click of a send button, I sent my idea to my core group of friends.  They quickly responded and our group was created.  That was ten months ago.  What was originally designed as a 4-class session continued and grew into a bi-monthly activity, two coop classes, and now a summer session with two separate classes!  When I reflect back on what made this successful several things come to mind:

Allow each child to express his or her creativity.

I often think back to the art teacher at my daughter’s public school who told my children that they would get a good grade if their art looked like hers.  I never want the children to feel like my work is what their page should look like.  I begin each class with a general idea of what the page will be about and a list of writing invitations to accompany the project. 

Use technology to your advantage.

Many people tell me they wish they could do art journaling with their children but they are not creative.  Pinterest provides many of the inspirations for my journal pages.  I search under art journal and I scroll through page after beautiful page of other artists’ work.  If I find one that lends itself to the blending of words with the art I repin it to my page. 

Use quality art supplies.

Art supplies can be expensive. Search for coupons to art stores and use these to stock up on quality markers, oil pastels, tempera paints, sponges, artist tape, glue and paint brushes.  Search tag sales.  Advise your children how to use these materials properly and care for them respectfully.  Make these accessible to your children at will.  Often my girls will be inspired to journal at odd hours.  I do not want to prep for them at nine o’clock at night, but I do not mind if they do it themselves.

 Build your group with care.

Choose children who work well together.  Decide what type of atmosphere you wish to create and then invite children who will be creative in that environment.  I always offer tea and play classical music.  I want a soothing, peaceful environment.  I build my groups around ages, writing ability, level of involvement I must have in the group, friendships, dynamics and a general interest in writing and art.  When your group is cohesive, the creativity flows.

Keep your own journal.

Often I work alongside the children.  There are times when I may have a finished page to show them, if I needed to test out a new art supply, or try a new method to see how it would translate to a group.  However, most of the time, I am working on my page at the same time.  I keep notes and jot down beautiful language I overhear, or possible topics for writing.  


In my last coop class I had planned to use straws to blow paint onto a page exposing writing that was done in white crayon.  It did not work as planned.  There was too much page to cover and the method was not sufficient to distribute paint to show the resist.  I modified this to sponging the paint.  Some children did not press hard enough with the crayon and their words did not show through.  We talked about a time in their life when they tried something and the result was not what they planned.  Each child immediately thought of something they did, whether it was trying a trick on a bicycle or learning a new skill in gymnastics class.  Spontaneously I gave the children a black marker and asked them to fill one page with a drawing of this memory.  The other page was used to write about the memory.  This page was one of my favorite times working as an art journaling group.  

Thank you, Jessica for sharing your talents with us today!  Please visit Jess at her blog, Teachable Moments. She tweets at @Moments2Teach

Empowering Children to Narrate Through Play

Can you recall the first time you watched a child play…like really play?  

For many parents, it’s those first few moments an infant starts to purposefully place hands together to manipulate a toy or engage with a caregiver.  Remember that beautiful spark in the child’s eye that signals to you “I am alive, curious, and want to engage in my world.”

And I too remember watching my infants for hours on blankets, but the first time I really studied children playing was as a graduate counseling student desiring to use play therapy techniques with children and teens in a therapeutic setting.  While adults communicate primarily through verbalization, children’s natural communication medium is play. Play is universal and does not require an external reward.  It is the way children explore, become oriented to the world, experiment, and learn in their individualized ways.  Play is a window to a child’s stream of consciousness and is often how they organize experiences.  If a child feels safe, strong emotions can emerge.  There is a sense of empowerment and engagement that comes from control in play. Is there anything more beautiful than an ordinary child extraordinarily empowered and engaged?

From Professional Counselor to Professional Homeschool Mom

{Yes, I did say professional homeschool mom!}  Fast forward 10+ years and I begin reading Charlotte Mason’s philosophies of education.  I resonate with the idea of education being an atmosophere, a discipline, a life.  I begin implementing many of her practices including utilizing quality living books, nature studies, and narration.  And the challenge becomes to train my children in narration.  I begin to notice a pattern though, even when verbal narrations are concise with a few details…I often find my children “playing through” their stories during afternoon quiet times or acting out a portion of the story.  These spontaneous moments have more details and emotional passion than their verbal narrations.  In fact, the stories they “play out” often become their favorites.  I see my children empowered and engaged.  So as a mom of a 5 and 7 year old at the beginning of my homeschool journey, I begin to cultivate opportunities to narrate through play.  Can I share what I’ve learned?

     1.   Choose high quality literature.  Ms. Mason suggests that literature should stimulate and nurture the mind.  I’m going to suggest that there should also be an emotional response.  The emotion evoked while reading is going to help with storage and recall of the information.  This means literature is stimulating intellectually, but also might mean that conflict in plots would represent challenges in moral development (character-building), adventures would stimulate imagination, and artwork induces mood and creativity (in the case of picture books).  This emotion is also going to be the trigger for re-creating or playing through the literature.

  2.   Provide a few small tools to stimulate the play.  The tools should not require elaborate expense or planning.  Teach children to use what they have.  But maybe you can help make a simple costume from scrap supplies. Maybe it’s a suggestion to get out a toy they already have and use it in a new way (blocks, Legos, Lincoln Logs are good for this…even stuffed animals or miniatures can get recruited as resources).  Look for opportunities to say “Yes” to a child’s request to use objects or symbols with which they might not normally play….is it really going to hurt if they unmake their bed to make a toga from their sheets?

        3.   Don’t direct the child’s play.  Just like we avoid too many leading questions in asking for narration, we also want to avoid too much involvement in the narration through play.  It’s okay for you to help summarize what you have seen them play.  A simple statement like, “Oh I see, you’ve built a lighthouse right underneath the great big bridge," affirms their initiation.  {Notice it’s not, “Why did you put the bridge there, why not the other side.” Or, “I think you should have built the bring going the other way.”}  Just because you picture it differently in your mind doesn’t mean that’s how the child imagines it or depicts it in his play.  Less is more here. ;)

     4. Look for opportunities to discuss setting, point of view, mood, or theme of the story. While the plot often gets much of the attention, truly learning from literature requires more than just restating a plot.  Maybe we can work together to turn a child’s bedroom into a “Salamander Room” {setting}, or maybe a child will act out/play through a story from a character’s perspective other than the main character {point of view}.  Maybe we can help set a {mood} for play by offering alternative lighting or music.  Again, keep it simple…we don’t do all of these with every story…I would suggest just offer one small idea and let the children build from there.

       5.   Encourage and look for growth in narration through play.  Just like an 11 years old’s free-time play looks different than a four year old's, so should their narration through play.  I hesitate to share specifics because play and growth are both so fluid, but here are a few thoughts:

a.  2-4 year olds- Most play will be simple, may involve one character, dress up, and one or two events.  Narrations may be the parent stating what they observe the child(ren) playing.

b.  5-6 year olds- Play will still be simple, but more than one character and several events may be managed.  Parents engage child(ren)in beginning verbal narrations as child demonstrates ability.

c.  7-8 year olds- Children will more naturally think about setting and mood and multiple characters and events may be evident. Verbal narrations formally begin.

d.   9-12 year olds- Play will be quite complex with multiple shifts in plot depicted.  Children are developing abstract thinking abilities and so play with reflect a shift away from simple concrete depictions.  Literature becomes more complex including more biographies and non-fiction.  Moving toward more independent play. Verbal narrations should be increasingly substantial. Creative play may the spark for verbal narration {example: Egyptian pyramid made from legos may be the way a child introduces a narration about Egyptian history to a friend or family member}

e.  13+- Teens can play too, but most of this will be independent creations.  Verbal narrations will be main focus, but creative narrations such as blogging, video recordings, photography, creative writing, etc. are great opportunities to allow for teens to narrate through play.

Are you feeling inspired to encourage your child to

be engaged and empowered in their learning

 by narrating through their play?

 I know I am!...now go play!

Stacey homeschools her two children in the midwest 

using mostly Five In a Row and other literature based methods.  

She blogs at brainintrainin and tweets as @staceyruberg.

Homeschooling As A Calling

It's a day of guest posting ... of course I have a friend here for Homeschool Guests.   Also, join me today at MODsquad, where the topic is cultivating Godly friendships for our daughters.   

Now for the GUEST!  

I'm happy to share a post with you today from Monica, a blogging friend and also a fellow member of the iHomeschool Network.  I admire Monica's serene attitude and the joy that shines through in her blog.   I know you'll enjoy her post about being called  to homeschool! 
 

During a conversation about homeschool, a friend recently asked me a question that has sparked a lot of thought. Her question was, “Do you think that homeschooling is a calling?”


I can answer that question from a personal perspective that, yes, homeschooling is most definitely a calling for me and my family.


My husband and I were convinced even before we had our first children that we would homeschool them. This decision was more deeply confirmed as we began our journey as parents desiring to “train up our children in the way they should go.”


Homeschooling is a Biblical choice for our family based on our understanding of scripture’s guidance and principles for families.


Homeschooling as a calling has allowed us to have more confidence, freedom, conviction, and flexibility. We are free from the stress of having to make the choice from year to year as to whether we will school our children at home, in a private school, or public school setting. The confidence that we have in our calling releases us from this stress.


We are able to view our homeschool with a long-term perspective when it comes to making curriculum and other education choices. Because of our calling, we have a more long-term goal in mind for our children and their home school experience. This helps tremendously in the day to day running of our school time. 





Because we know we are called to homeschool we can be discouraged, but not despair when problems arise. When I hit a spot of struggle, I turn to problem solving and finding solutions rather than throwing in the towel because I know this is God’s will for our home. Problems will arise and there will be struggles, but when there is a confidence in your calling you can work through them instead of giving up.


Homeschooling as a calling also frees me from looking at non-homeschooling families with judgment. I cannot judge another person or another family based on calling. A calling to do anything, whether it is homeschooling or anything else is a very personal thing that we come to understand through the Holy Spirit’s work in our lives.  I can homeschool with a confidence in knowing without a doubt that this is a calling for our family, but without criticism or judgment of families who have not been called to the same.

How do you know if this is something that your family has been called to do?

Pray

Seek the wisdom and guidance of the Holy Spirit to direct you to know God’s will for your family and how you will educate your children. Homeschool is more than an educational choice, it is a way of life for us as well as many other homeschool families, so also pray for God’s will for your home in general.

Read

Read scripture and ask God to direct you as you discern it in the light of God’s will for your family and your home. You can also read homeschooling books and resources. But first, go to God’s Word when you’re looking to discern His Will.

Ask

First ask your spouse and seek their counsel. Homeschooling is a calling for the entire family and you and your spouse should be on the same page with this decision. 

You can also seek the counsel of other godly homeschoolers, trusted friends and family members, and wise counselors in your life.

  Monica is a Child of God, Army Chaplain Wife, Homeschooling mom to four little blessings, avid reader, digital scrapbooker, and coffee addict striving to "dwell" on what is true, honorable, right , pure, lovely, of good repute, excellent, and worthy of praise.   You can visit her at Daily Dwelling.