masks and spiders and wool... oh my!

On Tuesday the kids continued their mask project by covering their plaster casts with paper mache.


That was supposed to be their whole project for that day... however, they can be speedy little things when they want to be and they had come up with another project they wanted to try... basket spiders.

Their wonderful teacher went looking through her supplies and found black reeds and weavers.

Then the project began...



And then she got out some wool that they could use to decorate their spiders... and a bit of silliness broke out...


Here's Clara's undecorated spider...
And Alex decorating his...
Clara named hers "sweater legs" and it is really cute... she's almost done with it so I'll have to take a photo of the finished product.

After the spiders were finished... it was time to get silly with the duct tape...

I'm not sure any of this was really a good idea...
... but they did it to themselves... and they survived! :-)

it happened...

I had been interested in the literature rich approach of Sonlight for years... I loved reading the stories about kids who just couldn't put down their readers because they loved the stories that much. But at the same time, I worried that it just wouldn't work that way for us. Alex is a voracious reader at times but he also likes to read what he wants to read and has stacks of started then abandoned books in his room.

Well... it has happened... the begging of "mom, can I please read more than is assigned"... "mom, is it okay if I just finish the book".... "please, it's really getting good". I LOVE it!!! I know it won't be this way with every Sonlight book (and it hasn't been... although he has finished every book so far without complaint) but it just warms my heart so when it does. He loves history and has a better relationship with it since it's coming through literature versus a text book.

I'm so glad that it has happened for us!

the rabbit trail continues...

Alex has now added this....
... to his school work.

The rabbit trail started by him reading the Percy Jackson and the Olympians series continues. The characters in the books can read ancient Greek naturally because they are demi-gods. Alex thought it would be cool to be able to read Greek writing too. So, I wandered around the internet and placed an order for the Hey Andrew! Teach Me Some Greek! series. I ended up ordering Level 2 since Level 1 was basically the Greek alphabet and the Level 2 book includes lots of review of that before moving on to new material.

As for the reason why I chose this particular program... well, there's really no big reason why. If I was to pinpoint the main reason, I would have to say... cost. This decision to study Greek was totally driven by Alex. I am not pushing it, so when he says he's done studying Greek, he's done. I didn't want to sink a huge amount of money into something he may not stick with for very long. The other reason I decided on this program had to do with the positive reviews I read online.

He's not very far into the program yet, but he's really enjoying it so far. We'll see how long it lasts!

the mask...

Okay... since it isn't a post about our Tuesday art class without a photo of Alex in a silly hat....

here you go....
Today we started our "life mask" project.

The kids started out by pairing up... the boys worked together and the girls worked together. After that, the first person to have their mask made coated their face with vaseline. Then it was time to add the wet plaster gauze strips....


They kept working until their faces were nearly completely covered....
Then once it was dry.... it was time to remove the mask!

Here's Alex checking out plaster Alex....
While they were working the instructor showed them photos of Lincoln and Washington's life masks. They were all pretty excited about them.

Their instructor is going to fill the masks with plaster this week so they'll be dry by our next class. Next week they'll paint them! I can't wait to see the finished product!

a contest... just for Tracy :-)

Send me an email (link is on the right) with the names of the locations in the post below. All entries received by noon central time on Friday October 23rd will be entered into a drawing for a $10 amazon.com gift certificate.

Where in Chicago is Alex?

Alex is taking a homeschool poetry writing class with the theme of "building poems". They had a homework assignment recently... to solve several clues to identify several Chicago landmarks and then go and visit them. We're running a bit behind on this assignment but managed to get out this morning to visit the landmarks....

#1

(no clue why he posed like that)

#2
#3
#4
#5
There was one more on our list, but Alex visited that one with his grandfather over the weekend. They visited the Hancock Building but those photos are on my point and shoot and I'm too lazy at the moment to download them.

Anyway... we had a great time and it was a BEAUTIFUL day out... I just wished we had had more time to explore... oh well... we'll just have to go back!

I'll have the answers later!

a tisket... a tasket....

... an almost finished basket....
(yes... that's my basket there in the front, next to my ever-present phone)

Four the past four Tuesdays we've been taking a homeschool weaving class with some friends. The first week we worked with back strap looms. I would post photos of our projects but in order to do that Alex, Clara and I would have to actually finish our projects. At this point I'm afraid that they may be so hopelessly tangled that we may just have to happy with the weaving we completed in class.

Back to the baskets.... the first week of working on our baskets we wove the bottom. Last week we did the sides... this week we finished the top and painted or stained our baskets.

Here's Alex working on the top of his basket...
Look... his finished "hatsket"...
Fashionable, no?
Here's Clara working on hers...
Then it was time to paint...
and paint...
and then paint some more....
I stained mine. Alex painted the rim and stained the rest.

Clara painted the whole thing...
I really need to take photos of our finished baskets! I'm so proud of them! The kids did really well with the weaving and their painting. It was so much fun and I'm very grateful to my friend who arranged the class for us!

one would think...

...we were studying ancient Greece based on the books I've found lying around the house...
... but we're not. We're actually studying early American history this year. So, why all of the Greek mythology?

Here's why...

The Percy Jackson and the Olympians Series

Okay... so since we're not studying this in school, why am I posting about this on my homeschooling blog? Well... because homeschooling has allowed Alex to become completely obsessed with Greek mythology.... it has allowed him to follow this "rabbit trail" as far as he wants it to take him. Homeschooling has allowed me to let go a bit and let him read late at night until he can't keep his eyes open any longer (this week he's been reading until around midnight). He loves this book series and loves to read.... how can you not let him run with this enthusiasm?

The stack of books shown above is last week's set of books, he checked out (and has already read) a stack equally as big this week. He knows the stories by heart now and talks about them constantly. I'm also reading the book series and I am just on the book ahead of him. When I finish a book and give it to him to read, he always asks me which myths are referenced so he can read up on them first. I know I couldn't "assign" this stuff to him and expect the same results. Jeff is also reading the series and is on Book 2. Alex LOVES to quiz his dad about what's going on in the book and the myths referenced. It's become a real family affair (oh... I should also mention that Alex and Clara are considering being Perseus and Medusa for Halloween).

Anyway... I just thought I would share our experience with this book series and how it has overtaken our lives :-)

On another note.... I'm sorry about the posting gap again. This time we had illnesses and doctor visits consuming my free time (Alex had another bout of MRSA and now needs to see a specialist next week). We've also had a couple of auditions that we're keeping our fingers crossed about. I did get emails from a couple of you and I'm working on emailing you back by the end of the weekend!

Happy Friday!