Summer Series: Cubism with MGT!

We are back from family camp, but the kiddos are off once again to water camp. This summer is officially "The Summer of Camps." If I had to do it again I would not be this busy. Honestly, we have become a society of moms who put their kids in a million activities because we think that it will better them. I don't know if that's the case. Perhaps the camps have bettered them this summer (four weeks of camps in total, although two were just partial weeks) but since I have volunteered full-time at two of them, I feel very, very tired. My prayer is that God works this out for the good for all of us and that I will somehow manage to regain my stamina this summer. We have about four weeks left of summer and I am going to try my hardest to stay away from planned activities. 

I am just beat. I do know that my children have learned so much and have built wonderful memories that will last forever, I hope. However, I did make Tiny B promise at family camp last week that she would never, ever forget our time there and she said that she couldn't promise that. Ha! Kids are sometimes too honest! 

I want to share a Mother Goose Time art project with you, since art is what I am focusing on for the month. We studied Picasso and Cubism. 

I found several cubism images online and showed the kids. It is a very difficult concept to teach to a three and six year-old, and they didn't fully understand it, but I know that's not the point of the project. At this age, an introduction to concepts is enough, and building on the concept through the years is what really enabled them to understand. In my explanation, I use words such as "shapes" and "might not look like a real person" to describe cubism. 

I put all of the shapes and eyeballs on the table and they chose what they wanted to use and had a lot of fun creating their cubism picture! This is a picture of my son's work. I almost want to frame it and put it in their room because it is so cute! 

Now, I am off to enjoy the beach by myself while my kids are at water camp. By myself. Now that alone makes this camp time worth it. I fully believe that a rested mama makes for happier children. For the next four weeks, I'm going to do my absolute best to rest and do things that will help me so that when school time comes around, I'm ready to dive in and homeschool with a rested and excited heart. 

Summer Series: Pointillism and Family Camp

I realize that the title of this post sounds like we did pointillism at family camp, but unfortunately I'm not that crafty. We did our Mother Goose Time lesson on Pointillism right before we left for camp. I'm currently at family camp, blogging under my covers while the kiddos are asleep with visions of beautiful trees and late nights in their heads. I was asked to serve in the children's ministry for my church at this one week family camp. Hubby had to stay home, but I'm here with the kids, and I pray that they never forget this special time at Lake Arrowhead. 

Before we left, I taught them the pointillism lesson in this month's MGT curriculum. 

The kids made "points" on their umbrella with a cotton swab. Tiny B usually rushes through art projects, but she just loved this one and spent so much time on it that her "points" ended up morphing into globs, but I was so thrilled with the fact that she was taking her time (and the fact that she can turn her piece into whatever she wants!) that I just let her create. 

I'm off to dreamland now, as I have a early morning date with about twenty-one four and five year-olds, and I must keep up my energy for them!

Happy Summer! (Let's cherish it because it will be gone all too soon). 

Summer Series: Art Studio Begins!

Happy Summer to you! We've been amazingly busy. Admittedly, I thought I was going to go insane with the constant "on the go-ness" but I was able to catch my breath when my mom had the kids at her home for two nights while they attended a Waldorf School bug camp. It was lovely. I went to the beach twice and stayed in the water for an hour each time, conquering my fear of the waves since last summer's "caught in a rip current" incident where I almost drowned. I got to lay in the sun and read my books and listen to Ziggy Marley on my phone. It was like a total renewal for my soul! I adore my children but nothing makes me a better mom than having a little break to fill up my oxygen tank.

We've got more busyness coming up with a week of church family camp where I've been invited to teach the children (Oh my goodness...I'm so excited! I prayed that God would give me an opportunity to serve with children in my church, and He answered my prayer in three days as I was asked to teach VBS and family camp! Having been out of the classroom for six years, I've felt a little piece of me missing). My friend told me that summers are busier than the school year, and now I see that this is true! 

I'm so thankful that I'm able to tailor Mother Goose Time curriculum to our needs. I'm doing the bare basics this month and decided to focus only on the art component. There is an amazing money portion as well which makes me very sad to miss. 

Art Studio is written differently than the other months. Because of this, it was very easy to separate out the art portion. I hung up the beautiful art that was included in the kit as well as the poster and the calendar. 

The day's lesson plan for the art portion was discussing the Mona Lisa painting, looking at their own facial features, coloring their faces, and coloring the flip book. 

This is the book that comes with the kit this month. Adorable. 

They studied their faces in makeup compacts that I gave them and drew themselves. 

Admittedly, they were distracted due to summer and all of the busyness that I wrote about earlier. The lesson took about twenty minutes and they didn't have the stamina to finish the whole flip book, so we'll take it out to work on during free moments. But this is what homeschooling/teaching is all about...Recognizing the events going on around the children and molding the curriculum to their needs at the time. Tiny B is working on reading this summer and her fine motor skills with the art, and Strong B is focusing on expanding his vocabulary through the art lessons as well as fine motor skills and simply enjoying the last month of being a three year-old. It doesn't get much better than that. 

My summer series posts are supposed to be short. Oops. 

Happy Summer!