Go on an Art-n-Nature Element of Space Hike

This year, a friend asked me to renew the Art-n-Nature club initiative that I had put on pause last year while focusing on some other local homeschool group efforts.  Her wish was my inspiration. 

As of last month, I juggled my fall planning around a bit and began to weave an Art-n-Nature hiking series back into our homeschool adventures for the year with the intent of making it a once-monthly experience.

We kicked off our 2016-2016 Art-n-Nature series in August by exploring one of the elements of art and design that we had yet to study with friends:  Value.  Several families met together at a local state park where I led a brief lesson on the lightness and darkness of color.  Then, we witnessed how the concept of value plays into our experience of nature by joining in a ranger-led night hike as dusk became night. 

This month, our Art-n-Nature club wrapped up our first foray into each of the seven elements of art and design with an Element of Space exploration at a local conservation area.

Focusing on the Element of Space 

For our Element of Space exploration I chose a lovely little spot called Shifting Lots Preserve that only opens for parking as summer wanes.

As one might imagine, with no regular traffic throughout the late spring and summer months, the access road to the preserve was quite overgrown.  So, once everyone had braved the narrow, rutted single-lane path to park, we were all delighted to discover the balm of the beach just steps away.

Everyone happily deposited blankets and bags on the sand, and, then, I challenged all the children (and whichever grown ups wished to accompany them) to walk down the beach in search of interestingly-shaped objects that could be traced onto single sheets of paper.  

The children then returned to our gathering area with a bounty of shells, stones, driftwood and more.  I used their treasures, as well as the sea and sand all around us to review the basics of Line, Shape, Texture, Color, Value and Form.

From there, we began our mini-lesson on an aspect of Space.  That is, Negative Space vs. Positive Space. 

I put a shell on the sand and asked what shape its outline was.  We talked about how the color and texture of the shell in the sand made a positive image we could identify.

Then, I asked the children dig holes in the dirt.  After a few minutes, I suggested that they touch the sand that outlined their holes and asked them what shape it made. (Circles!) Then, I asked them to draw their hands from the sand to the inside of their circles without putting their hands down into the holes.  We talked about how there was nothing there.  Yet, we had a shape - a circle.  This is like negative space.
 
Once I was confident that the children had a basic understanding of positive and negative space, I explained our art exploration of the day, which was inspired by Kirsty Shadiac's Artventure youtube video:


I showed the children some samples my children and I had created and then directed them to trace one or more of their found objects using oil pastels or to create their own freehand shape.  I asked them to do this on two different sheets of paper.

Then, I directed them to create lots of line-and-shape patterns using light, bright oil pastel colors on the inside the traced shaped on one of their sheets of paper and outside on the other.

Once the children were satisfied with their patterns, we used watercolors and ocean water in small cups to paint over the patterns in dark washes of color.  
 

I reminded the children before painting that it is best to gently pull the tip of the brush across their  rather than smashing it down onto their artwork or push the brush.  I also demonstrated how only a bit of color is needed and how to pull color from one part of the paper to another.

As the children finished  their art, we weighted the corners of their works down with rocks so the paint could dry.

Then, I chatted with the children a bit about land art, Andy Goldsworthy, Richard Shilling, and similar artists and explained that there is even a website dedicated to land art for kids.  I shared printouts of photographs of several land art pieces made on beaches by established artists amateurs and children, and, then, set the kids off to play or create as they desired.

Since I had scheduled the meet up for two hours only, some families had to depart soon after the kids' free play began.  Others, like mine, stayed for hours, creating land art...

... building structures...

... floating on river currents towards the sea...

... admiring wildlife...

It was a full, fantastic day of fun, friends, art, nature, sea, surf, and sunshine.

There was so much "work of childhood" (i.e. play!) happening.  It was beautiful!

Some of the mamas that went enjoyed creating their own works, too.

Please feel free to borrow any of the ideas we enjoyed for your own Art-n-Nature gatherings! 
 
Notes About Supplies 

Our Art-n-Nature club is free and open to anyone in our local homeschool community who wishes to join us.  Thus, I try to keep supplies basic.

For our Space excursion, I suggested that everyone bring a paper-size piece of cardboard, a clipboard or another hard surface for each artist in their family.  I also brought my own stock of showerboard "whiteboards" (showerboard that I have had cut down to smaller sizes) for those that may have forgotten their hard surfaces.

(Note:  Affiliate links to Amazon follow for your convenience.  We appreciate you using them at no extra cost for you for any shopping you may have to do at Amazon today and invite you to read our full disclosure if you wish.)

 
I also brought a stock of the following supplies and asked families that had such supplies to do likewise so we could share:

• copy paper and/or watercolor paper
• oil pastels (I brought Crayola for the littles and Sakura for the bigger ones.)
• paintbrushes (Round no. 8 watercolor brushes are ideal, but for our purposes and location, any inexpensive kids' brushes were practical.)
• recycled containers for water (I love using recycled apple sauce containers.  They are an easy-to-carry size and have wide mouths.)
• watercolor paint tubes or palettes.

Further, I suggested folks might consider bringing:

• a lunch or snack to enjoy after the art was finished
• hats
• sunscreen
• bug repellant
•  swimwear
• watershoes
• a change of clothes
• blankets and towels
• wipes or tissues
• a camera
• nature journals
• diapers for little ones
• beach and water toys for after the art was finished 

Everyone brought - and shared - things as suggested and everything worked out beautifully!


Check Out Pics, Reports and Plans from Some of Our Other Art-n-Nature Experiences 

• Create Your Own Art-n-Nature Hiking Club with Five Easy Steps! 
• Planning and Preparing for our First Art-n-Nature Hike on the Element of Line 
• Go on an Art-n-Nature Art Element of Line Hike
• Go on an Art-n-Nature Element of Shape Hike 
• Go on an Art-n-Nature Element of Form Hike

We'd love to hear about your adventures with art and nature!  Feel free to comment with ideas and links.  Also, keep an eye out here for future Art-n-Nature reports.

This Book Makes Us Want to Read the Entire Series {A John Adams: Independence Forever Review}

This year, we are focusing most of our family history and geography studies on the United States, as a whole, and Massachusetts, in particular.  So, when I was offered an opportunity to review one of the long list of Heroes of History or Christian Heroes: Then & Now books along with a Unit Study Curriculum Guide by YWAM Publishing, my choice easily became the John Adams: Independence Forever book and study guide.  John Adams is from Massachusetts (our state), lived during the Revolutionary War (a time period that my children are quite interested in!, and was a key player in American history (who my children and I had yet to learn much about).

Now that we've read John Adams: Independence Forever, I can confidently say we have become more than just "familiar" with John Adams and the history of his day.  In fact, nearly every recent day, John Adams and ideas related to him have popped up in our everyday conversation.  I love it when that happens!

Why This Book and Study Guide?

In short, we found that John Adams: Independence Forever brought John Adams to life for all of us, built on our prior knowledge, and extended our learning.  The Unit Study offered even more.

In the mail, we received a 215 page, softcover copy of John Adams: Independence Forever and an accompanying CD-rom study guide. The image on the cover of the book was well-designed and provided some gentle study and review in and of itself. 
 

We noted the background was part of a map of Massachusetts and the foreground contained an outline map of the lower 48 states of the America overlayed with small pictures that the kids could connect to key events in early American history, such as a tea kettle for the Boston Tea Party, a printing press that reminded us of Ben Franklin, a man on a horse that reminded is of Paul Revere and Ben Dawson, a scene that reminded us of the Boston Massacre, a picture of what we think may be the Liberty Tree, and more. This cover drew my children's attention since they enjoy studying about the American Revolution.

On the back cover of the book, an image of John Adams helped me introduce the main character of the historical biography.

Inside the book, there are no illustrations beyond a black and white map of the colonies opposite the Table of Contents and reproduction of the man-and-horse from the cover, which heads each of the 17 chapters in the book. 

The book also includes a one page Bibliography, an About the Authors paragraph and a listing of related titles.

 

The Unit Study CD we received includes TONS of information, including:

• a brief text biography about John Adams.
• overviews on how to lead a Unit Study in a classroom, a group or at home.
• a 79-page Unit Study that comes as a downloadable pdf that includes quotations that can be used for copywork, discussion questions to be used orally or as written exercises, ideas for related projects, and so much more.

• a 5-page Appendix to the Unit Study that includes a John Adams information sheet for students to fill in, a number of maps, and a timeline worksheet.
• Author Interview videos
• Reader Review videos
• a link to online Bonus Materials
• Heroes Series Resource and Catalog information

Upon inserting the CD into my computer and opening it, a flash drive intro with music and graphics immediately opened, which led to an easy-to-navigate menu that allowed us to access any of the Unit Study information and features that we sought.


A Gentle, Engaging Living Books Study of John Adams and More

Snuggled on the couch, cuddled up together in bed, basking in warmth on a blanket outside...  That is how we did much of our study of John Adams, along with related historical events and geography.  For, indeed, John Adams: Independence Forever became such a welcome and easy family read-aloud that we did not feel the need to do much more to "study" it.  We simply enjoyed learning about John Adams through reading and chatting about each interesting chapter of his life.

That said, since we had the Study Guide, I did introduce portions of it to the children even if we did not feel the need to do much more than read and chat about the book, and I am glad we did.  My children enjoyed viewing parts of the author videos; iinspirational John Adams' quotes became fodder for copy work; printable maps were great for reference; and well-written study guide questions guided some of our chats.  The guide includes six questions per each chapter, with one on vocabulary, some on basic comprehension, and some that encourage deeper thinking or expression of personal thoughts.

Because I chose to read John Adams: Independence Forever slowly with my children, letting one to three chapters "sit" with the kids for a day or two before going on to the next (even when they asked me to "keep reading, keep reading!"), we just finished the book this week.  Reading at this pace (as opposed to buzzing through the book over several days as we sometimes do with other books the children enjoy), worked well for us in that the kids enjoyed the story and seem to have retained more of it than they have of other stories we have read.
 
Often, before opening up the book to read, I asked my children what happened in our last reading and waited for them to offer narrations.  Sometimes, I used Study Guide questions to prompt their narrations or to inspire even more thoughts and details about prior readings.  Always, I was impressed with how much the children recalled. 

Now that we have savored the story of John Adams as a read aloud, in the coming weeks, I plan to gently review parts of it again by having the kids make notebooking pages for their Massachusetts and United States History and geography notebooks.  I am excited that the printables from the Unit Study CD will make this super easy for the kids and me to do!

Thumbs Up from Us All

Some biographies are dry.  Others exaggerate.  Still others simply recycle canned information about a person.  No so with John Adams: Independence Forever, and, I imagine the entire Heroes of History series!  My children and I found John Adams: Independence Forever engaging, realistic, and chock-full of details that made John Adams, his family, his colleagues and the time period they all lived in come alive for the children and me.  In fact, as we read, there was laughter, sad "aw"s, excited bouncing up and down, and more.  There was also genuine discovery.

"Wow, I did not know there was a type of revolution in Massachusetts even after the revolution!  Why would the farmers revolt?"

"The Vice President was the second place person people voted for?  Is that what still happens?"

"Isn't it weird that the men who got together to make our country free had so many problems between them?"

These comments and more unfolded during recent readings of the book.

Further, when I asked my five-year-old about the book and what he learned through listening to a reading of it, he said:

"John Adams was our second president.  (The book tells us about ) when he was a kid... America got free... The British and them (America) made peace... John Adams helped." 

My eight-year-old said:

"I would recommend this book because I liked it.  I like that it begins at an exciting time and then goes back in time to when John Adams was a kid, then when he grows up, goes to school, becomes a lawyer... He married... He helped the Americans in the war... He went to France... He became Vice President and then President...  I like that it is realistic and more real than most other stories you read about heroes.  It was not exaggerated like most stories about heroes."

My nine-year-old added:

"The book is really good.  It's like his journal and you're not him, but you know what he's thinking of and everything.  You're someone looking into the mind of John Adams and you know what he is thinking, doing, and all that...  Something new I learned was that he was the first vice president and the second president... I would recommend it to everybody.  Everybody should read it, because it is just a great book, and, I think that unless you hate stories, you're going to love this.  Anyone who likes history and stuff like that would especially like it!"

As you can see, the book was well-received here!

The Unit Study was a helpful bonus, too. Having questions handy as conversation starters helped to focus some of our informal narration periods and also helped me guide conversations to pull out key points.  The maps, timeline, etc. have and will be a big plus to our discussions and notebooking efforts.  Plus, there is a great little section on State History!

I thoroughly appreciated that the combo of the HEROES OF HISTORY John Adams: Independence Forever book and study guide is flexible!  You can use the two together as we did in order to enjoy a gentle, interesting study balanced in with the rest of life and learning, or you can use the materials for a singular in-depth project or semester-long study.  Truly, as I read through all of the Unit Study materials all, I thought, Wow!  There is enough here for a complete month or more of study ONLY on John Adams and related topics for an entire co-op or class!  Any home-education co-op or traditional classroom teacher that seeks a living history book as a core for studying about early American history, John Adams, the Revolution or related topics could easily complete an enjoyable, in-depth, semester-long study culminating in an event so long as this book and unit study guide were in hand!

Learn More

• YWAM Publishing can be found at Facebook, Twitter and Pinerest.

• I am the only one among the 100 Schoolhouse Review Crew members that chose John Adams: Independence Forever to review.  You can learn more about other Heroes of History or Christian Heroes: Then & Now titles through links here:

What fabulous living history books have you found lately?  Might you add Heroes in History titles to your learning adventures?

Overwhelmed with Gratitude

I am sitting here surrounded by mess.  So much mess.  Mess I need to cut through and clear out.

Yet, I am also sitting here enveloped in gratitude. 

My children are chatting and giggling in the other room as they take some chill time together using their Sunday computer time after a fun, full family day spent in the great outdoors.  My husband is enjoying a much needed and well-earned rest.  I have just finished checking online messages, sharing virtually in the triumphs and trials of friends, praying for those that have asked for prayer as well as some who have not.

As I sit, a warmth radiates through me.  A peace.  An overwhelming sensation of gratitude. 

This day has been a good one and this moment is quiet and ideal.  Other moments this week have not been as ideal for us, to say the least.  Yet, even recalling the  "bad" of this week I am grateful.

I am here.  Alive.  Imperfect, yet granted so much grace. 
My husband, children, family, and friends are, too. 

Our lives are a gift.

Life is a gift.

May each of us continue to choose that gift every day in every way.

Thanks be to God!
 

Where Can You Get 10,000+ Printable Activities in a Few Clicks? {A Super Teacher Worksheets Review}

Who loves libraries?  Certainly, I do, and that is exactly why I chose to review an Individual Membership to Super Teacher Worksheets.  In doing so, I gained access to a library of over 10,000 printables, mainly aimed at kindergarten through fifth grade level children.

Now, I know that folks privy to any kind of inside view of my children's learning preferences might wonder why on earth I would want access to a worksheet library of all things.  For, my children are clearly not "worksheet kids".  They balk at traditional "book work" and tend to gravitate toward experiential learning, living books, games, and creative pursuits.  So, why Super Teacher Worksheets?  Because within the 10,000+ printables accessible as printable pdf's, there are puzzles, games, maps and more, some of which tie in perfectly with pursuits the kids and I are immersed in this year.

So Many Ways to Supplement Explorations and Solidify Skills

 

Our Geography Club is studying the regions of the United States this year.  The kids keep asking me to print a map of this or find a map of that.  Now, I do not have to hop down bunny trails to do so.  Super Teacher Worksheets provides one stop ease for me!


 

Likewise, we are in a state history field trips group this year and the state report templates dovetail nicely into our in-progress state scrapbooks.

On more traditional fronts, the kids are still mastering their math facts, and, sometimes, they tire of the resources that we have on hand for doing so.  Enter the the ease and variety of Super Teacher Worksheets.

 

And, of course, that ease and variety extends beyond Geography Math and ELA.  In fact, it ties into community programs that we attend.  Case in point: we recently participated in a local butterfly walk, which ended with us coming home with several monarch caterpillars to foster.  

Since I aim to tie academic skills into our experiential learning this year, I simply typed "monarch" and "butterfly" into the easy-to-use search box on the  Super Teacher Worksheets site.  Right away, I came up with just right resources that did not feel too "schooly" for my not-so-schooly kids, but would encourage them to read, write, and learn in more traditional ways in conjunction with observing the metamorphosis now occurring on our kitchen table!

Further, schooly or not, sometimes kids can use a little repetition to drive a point home and Super Teacher Worksheets offers plenty of quick resources for that.  For example, one recent day when my son and I were reviewing something he had written, the only mistake that he had made and did not catch on his own was using "an" instead of "a" in a sentence.  I found this odd since I thought he knew the correct use of these articles.  However, with two other children vying for my attention and him wanting to move onto other things, I did not want to spend a lot of time assuring myself or him that he understood the correct use of the words.  So, in less than ten minutes, I searched  Super Teacher Worksheets for an "a" vs. "an" worksheet, printed it out, gave it to my son, had him complete it, and went on with life with use both sure he "got it".  (He has not made a similar error since.)  The 10,000+ worksheet library sure came in handy! 

Something for Most Subjects and Styles

Truly, Super Teacher Worksheets often comes in handy in our family's eclectic home education pursuits, and I can see it doing so for other homeschoolers, classroom teachers, tutors and parents.  The site is simple to navigate with a long list of clickable links on its left side that lead to pdf printable activities covering:

• Math
• Reading & Writing
• Phonics & Early Literacy
• Handwriting
• Grammar
• Spellings Lists & Worksheets (Gr. 1-5)
• Science
• Social Studies
• Holiday
• Puzzles & Brain Teasers
• Teacher Helpers
• Pre-K and Kindergarten
• Make Your Own Worksheets

Under each of these categories are further categories and within them are short descriptions and clickable links to:

• traditional worksheets
• cootie catchers
• cut-and-paste activities
• foldables
• maps
• mini-books
• scavenger hunts
• songs
• and more!

Each printable is clearly summarized so there is no wasting time clicking through to see if something might be a good fit for a particular child.
 

Further, there is a handy icon to click to save worksheets you might want to print later into a virtual file cabinet.

Honestly, there is so much on the Super Teacher Worksheets that even moms like me who have kids that do not typically relish worksheets can find at-your-fingertips resources that please mom and kids alike.  Without question, the more I use the site, the more we discover it is a "perfect" go-to library to supplement our explorations and solidify the kids' skills.  Better still, Super Teacher Worksheets is adding more printables regularly. 

Among these, I hope they add a feature to the custom worksheets section that allows you to easily make your own copywork sheets soon and I'd also love to see more Art and Music worksheets added to the copious ELA, Math, Science and Social Studies ones.

Even without such additions, though, Super Teacher Worksheets is a fabulous resource, and at $19.95 a year it's a reasonable one, too!

Learn More

• Super Teacher Worksheets can be found on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Pinterest.

• See how Super Teacher Worksheets is working out for 100 Schoolhouse Review Crew families. 

Where do you find easy, effective printables at-the-tip-of-your-fingertips?  Might Super Teacher Worksheets prove to be a perfect printable activity resource library for you?