Her First Art Show

On Friday, Jolie participated in her first art show. She and her teacher went through her art that she produced in her class throughout the year and chose two pieces to present. The rest of her artwork was put in her portfolio and made available for people at the art show to look through. She and her homeschool classmates’ art work was combined with the art teacher’s after school art classes’ art work to complete the show. Jolie was truly excited about the opportunity to show off her work to more that just her family.

The art teacher is offering summer classes, so Jolie will probably attend one day a week. She really enjoys the classes, so I’m willing to pay a little bit each week for her to improve her art skills, learn about artists, and have an hour each week away from her brothers.

I will reevaluate at the end of the summer and see if we choose to enroll her in classes next year.

A Mentor Comes out of the Woodwork

Jake has been interested in woodworking for some time. He got a set of tools for the holidays and thus far has cut down a dead tree and repaired a toy with them. He would really like to start designing and creating some projects, but woodworking is not one of Justin or my skills. Don’t get me wrong, I loved shop class and would love to build some great projects with wood, but we are lacking in tools and I’m lacking in time right now.

We brought the kids with us to Justin’s most recent General Surgery appointment with the approval of the surgeon. I mentioned needing to find a babysitter and he said to just bring the crew with us. So we did. Jake was really impressed with a wooden ship that was on a shelf in the doctor’s office. He got it down and showed it to Jake, telling him that he had designed and created it himself. Jake was very impressed and told him about his interest in woodworking. The doctor continued around the room showing Jake all of the items that he had created and told him about the furniture that he made in his shop at home. Needless to say, Jake was impressed.

It was then that an amazing thing happened. The doctor asked Jake if he would like to come to his shop and learn about woodworking. After looking over at Justin and I with a gleam in his eye, he exclaimed that he would love to. The doctor gave us his card with his home number and address on it and encouraged Justin to bring Jake over and that he would teach Jake about safety, design, and woodworking. Jake has been ecstatic the past 36 hours thinking about the possibilities.

I am a firm believer in the importance of mentors. I try everyday to set a good example for my children, but know that there are areas my children are interested in for which I do not have the adequate skills to assist in their development. For Jake that is woodworking and for Jolie that is art. Jolie has found a wonderful art teacher that, though I am paying her for classes, I feel Jolie looks up to as a mentor. Jake will now have the same opportunity.

If we lived closer, I’m sure that the kids would receive lots of mentorship from their grandparents, and aunts and uncles. Being a military family, most of the time we look to each other for mentorship and guidance. I am glad that the doctor was genuinely caring enough to give of himself to benefit my son. I look forward to watching their relationship grow over the next few years. As soon as Justin is feeling better, he is planning to take Jake over for his first “lesson.”

A Cultural Experience

We feel that it is important to expose the kids to all types of people, cultures, and religions. Americans are fortunate that our country is a melting pot of diversity. We can all learn so much from people who are different from ourselves. Variety is the spice of life, is it not? If everyone were the same, the world would be such a boring place.

Today, I had the opportunity to branch out and expose the kids to something new. We were invited to join a group of homeschoolers for an African drum performance and a Tibetan bowl demonstration.

The African drum performance was wonderful. The gentlemen went through some African history, touching on the importance of the drums and their link as a sort of ancient telephone, used to communicate with others throughout the village and beyond. The kids learned a West African welcoming song, Funga Alafia, as well as a rhythmic song that we all danced to. They have hardly stopped singing Funga Alafia since we left the get together, and were sure to teach it to Justin when he got home from work.

The Tibetan bowl demonstration was very interesting to me (I’m not sure that the younger kids got as much out of it as was hoped). The local gentleman used different mallets to create different pitches from the many antique bowls. One of my friends was asked to stand in the largest bowl while he created different vibrations and pitches with that and additional bowls. At the end of her time in the bowl, she had gone from having a horrific toothache, to having no pain at all. At the end of the demonstration, the gentleman explained the natural healing powers of the vibrations of the bowls. It is definitely something that I would like to do some more research on.

We were all glad that we had the opportunity to attend and learn something new. The hostess is hoping to hold other cultural events at her home throughout the year. I look forward to her next event and getting the opportunity to expose the kids to yet more culture from this greatly diverse nation of ours.

Teaching the Water Cycle and Water Pollution

The first Wednesday of the month we gather with other homeschoolers for Roots & Shoots. This month I was in charge of leading the group and chose to focus on the water cycle and water pollution.

Being me, I stressed over the presentation for weeks. I had lots of great ideas…have the kids test water samples…teach them about our watershed…go on a fieldtrip to the water treatment facility, but none of them came to fruition.

I did find several nice water projects for us to do as a group, but the timing was off and the kids in our group were a bit young. Although we didn’t participate in that one, I think I will have my kids participate in some of the other projects offered by The Center for Innovation in Engineering and Science Education throughout the year because they look very interesting and engaging.

After utilizing the adrenaline associated with procrastination, I found several fabulous activities to do with the kids. Because I like multi-sensory presentations, I tried to mix up the demonstration a bit.

We started by discussing the water cycle. I was surprised that some of the kids didn’t know about the water cycle, so I explained and then showed them a picture and read the captions from one of the books I displayed on the front table. I then had them color a picture of the water cycle. I had two different sheets, one for the older kids that was a bit more detailed and one for the younger kids that was simpler. From there I had them gather in a circle and taught them a song to help them remember the water cycle. I thought it was a cute song. My kids have been singing it around the house for the past few days. We then transitioned into a game that walks the kids through the water cycle. I think it would have worked better had we had more kids (we only had eight and that included Jensen) and if they had bee a bit older.

I was also surprised that the kids couldn’t explain what water pollution. The two nine year olds knew, but the six and seven year olds (five of them) had trouble with it. I read them A River Ran Wild by Lynne Cherry. I thought it was a wonderful story that followed the life of a river from its discovery by a Native American tribe to the pollution of the Industrial Revolution to the cleaning of the river. The kids’ eyes grew wide as they learned about companies polluting the river with chemicals and dyes. We had a great discussion about the book, which led us into our experiment.

I created two models, one represented a landfill and the other represented someone’s yard. We talked about harmful things that some people throw into the trash (i.e. motor oil, medicines, etc.). Then I showed them how when it rains, the water washes some of the contaminants into our lakes and streams. The same went for the pesticide model. The kids saw how the water washed the fertilizer into the pond at the bottom of the hill. I think both models had an effect on the kids. The moms were pleased with it, so I was happy that all of my stressing had paid off.

I found a great reading list of books covering water conservation and water science. The list includes books of all levels for students and adults.

I got the idea for the landfill and fertilizer runoff models from Water: A Resource in Crisis by Eileen Lucas. If anyone is interested in recreating them, here’s how –

Materials (per model) –

Rectangular plastic food storage container (mine was about 11”x7”)
Pea gravel (about 4 cups)
Foil
Small saucer
Cotton ball
Food coloring
Water

Place the saucer at one end of the plastic container. Stack pea gravel three-fourths of the way up the opposite side of the container. Lay a piece of foil from the edge of the container and up the sides down to the saucer, completely covering the gravel and slightly overlapping the saucer. Add additional gravel over the foil, not covering the saucer. You should now have a “hill” on one side of the container with a “pond” at the other end. Pull the cotton ball apart slightly and drop several drops of food coloring onto it (I used red for the landfill and green for the fertilizer). Place the cotton ball on top of the “hill” and cover with a bit more gravel. Pour water on the top of the “hill” to symbolize rain and watch the runoff that collects in the “pond.”

A Special Fieldtrip

On Monday I asked the kids if they were interested in attending a fieldtrip on Tuesday morning. We would probably have to miss PE that day, so I wanted them to discuss it and decide if they were interested. They came to a consensus and we decided we would go ahead and go on the fieldtrip. I invited some of our homeschool friends to go with us on the fieldtrip and after a short family discussion, they too were excited to go. We decided to meet up the next morning to drive to our destination.

So where were we going, you ask? We went to hear Michelle Obama speak.

It was important to me that the kids attended the event because they were interested, not because we forced them. In 2004, they were too young to decide whether or not they would go and hear John Kerry speak in Tacoma. They went because we took them along with us. In February it was Jake who wanted to go and see Obama speak in Virginia Beach. We stood outside for hours in the cold that night, but Jake was steadfast. He wanted to hear Barack Obama speak, so he didn’t complain about the cold and stood next to me, eagerly awaiting stepping into the Convention Center and hearing Mr. Obama’s speech. He would have loved to shake Mr. Obama’s hand that night, but it wasn’t meant to be. We were too far from the stage, but we where there nonetheless.

Tuesday was much the same. Jolie and Jake stood nicely in line with our friends and me, wrapping our way through the line and into the Civic Center, eagerly awaiting hearing from the woman who could possibly be the next First Lady. Jensen wasn’t a big fan of standing in line, even though all he had to do was sit in the sling while I carried him. He was fine once we got moving and sat nicely in his seat throughout much of the event, which was nice of him.

We discussed the day’s experience on our way home that day. The kids said they had a good time. Jake really wanted to shake Mrs. Obama’s hand, but that would have been hard from the nosebleed section. I’m not exactly sure what they took from her speech. The speech wasn’t what was important to me. I was most concerned with exposing the kids to the event. They saw a group of people gather together because they believe in a common cause. I wanted them to know that it is important and acceptable to stand up for what you believe in.

The kids also saw protestors standing outside the Civic Center. Their presence gave us another topic to discuss while we stood in line. Some of the comments on their signs were a bit above the comprehension of a 9 and almost 6 year old, but the concept of protesting was there, and gave us a great topic to discuss.

Whether or not we vote for the same person on Election Day (or through early voting or by absentee ballot), I feel exposing kids to the election process is important. Getting them involved early and allowing them to explore their thoughts and beliefs and the associating political views that go along with them, I feel, will benefit them in the long run. So take your child with you on voting day. Let them see you being involved in the political system. Let your voice be heard.

Learning While Feeding the Hungry

For all of you interested in helping out those less fortunate and learning something in the process, you need to check out FreeRice. FreeRice works to provide education to everyone for free and to help end world hunger by providing free rice to people that are hungry.

Here’s how it works. On the FreeRice website you choose the subject you would like to brush up on. The subjects available are Art (famous paintings), Chemistry (chemical symbols – basic and full list), English (grammar; vocabulary), Geography (identify countries; world capitals), Language learning (French; German; Italian; Spanish), and Math (multiplication). Then you choose the level you want to start on, and you're off. FreeRice will donate 20 grains of rice through the UN World Food Program for each question you answer correctly.

I hope you’ll check out the FreeRice website too and help to feed hungry people while learning a little something while you’re at it.