It's Been A Blur

Bobo and Crockett had their piano recital tonight, which also functions as "warm up" for their National Piano Playing Auditions in just under two weeks.  It was Crockett's first recital and he handled it well.  He played all five of his songs from memory and sat dutifully as his teacher scribbled notes in his music between songs.  Bobo's an old pro by now but her program is eleven songs long - a Herculean feat just to get through, let alone to have by memory. I remember sitting at the piano and drawing a complete blank with my one recital piece many years back. Not a good memory.

We're finally on Spring Break around here - it felt like it would never come! It's been a long winter; I think I've mentioned that more than a few times. We spent the day at COSI: the big three going through the Sherlock Holmes exhibit with Hubby, me and the little people running around KidSpace.  All three were mesmerized by the bugs and critter program:

We finished our art class, "Face, Spaces, and Places" a few weeks ago, leaving a big hole in our Thursday afternoons. Everyone loves Mrs. Ness (not to mention hanging out in her amazing basement play space while waiting for siblings' classes to be over).

The late winter/early spring birthdays were celebrated with nary a mention here.  Better late than never.

Crockett turned 7

Right Hand Man turned 2

The Patriot turned 5

A sweet note and gift from our oldest for Hubby on his birthday

The current Power Ranger fanatic. 

That's a little bit of everything that's been going on around here. I can't keep up with it all anymore but it feels good just to save a few moments for posterity.

Around Home

We are finally getting a taste of Spring around here, but up until now it's been lots of indoor activity. Needless to say, we're all ready for a change of pace. Hello, Spring Break!

Todzilla went with a buddy to his first ever NHL hockey game. He came home with a new passion and has been roller blading with puck and stick around the cul-de-sac ever since (despite the cold weather). He pulled out my old helmet but decided my hockey gloves smelled too bad to wear. I do NOT miss the smell of hockey hands.

The girls are creating all sorts of Chihuly inspired "glass" at home after their art teacher showed them how to do it.

They've also been baking and taking their products door to door since most of us gave up sweets for Lent. Only one more day!

Right Hand Man is everyone's little helper. While his intentions are good, he leaves a trail of transgression everywhere he goes. His current favorite is dunking things in the toilet. Never knew a sixth child could have new-to-us tricks up his sleeve. Yes, we've had to throw toothbrushes away after finding him swishing them around in the toilet water. Fun, fun.

Late Mid-Year Roundup

March always feels like the beginning of the end for all things academic. There's lots left to do, of course, but considering many of our co-op classes finish at the end of April - the end really is in sight.

This has been one of our most successful years to date, which has been a pleasant surprise. A baby always complicates the schedule  - with lots of holding-on-the-hip teaching, talking over baby babble (which is surprisingly loud), and dealing with extra mama tiredness. Right Hand Man has been our worst sleeper by far so my Keurig has quickly become my new best friend.

Hubby has taken over the phonics work with Crockett, our current kindergartener. While it's a joy to see an emerging reader beam with the satisfaction a new skill, it's a major chore getting there! The painstaking work of sounding out every.single.letter is hard enough on it's own, doing it within a busy household can do me in faster than anything else. A few evenings a week Hubby and Crockett head up to our bedroom and work through the phonics books in peace and quiet. Then they wrestle. Win-win.

Here's where we are:

Bobo: Lesson 70 in Saxon Algebra 1/2. Still taking our time in First Form Latin. We're near the end (finally) but I think I'll stretch it out and not begin Second Form until next year. Her Literature class has probably been her favorite this year (Notable Youth of Purposeful Discussion). The book list: Call of the Wild, The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, The Devil's Arithmetic, Number the Stars, Where the Red Fern Grows, and The Giver. Each week they post answers to comprehension questions on an online forum; they meet monthly to discuss the current book and hand in their final essays. Life Science and American History (first semester was Ohio History) - both taught by dads in the group. Halfway through with Vocabulary from the Classical Roots (A). Art class. She's working hard right now preparing for the annual National Piano Playing Auditions, again doing an International Program which involves gazillions of memorized pieces (10). She recently took her last belt test in Tae Kwon Do before her Black Belt so the training for that begins in earnest now. Her first ever basketball season ended Sunday. She loved it and wants to play again next year. Working one evening a week in our church's nursery and participating in the middle school youth ministry.

Elbow: Lesson 70 in Saxon 6/5. Reading and loving the Raiders from the Sea series. Taking a break from Latin - will begin First Form next fall (Finished Latina Christiana I and I prefer the format of First Form so I didn't want to start her on LC II). Working on writing skills with various grammar, journaling, essay writing etc. Violin - Suzuki Book 3. AWANA. Her big love is gymnastics. Tae Kwon Do. Also in the American History, Life Science, and Art classes with her sister.

Nothing like a baby brother to keep you motivated to finish your math!

Toddzilla: Almost halfway done with Saxon Math 3, finishing Flying Creatures of the Fifth Day with our co-op, beginning cursive, Pathway Readers (so excited to do Sonlight American History next year so he can read all those great books!), dictation, typing, Spelling Workout B (almost done). Art class. Tae Kwon Do. Minecraft (sigh).

Valentine's Party at the Boys' Science Group

Crockett: Hooked on Phonics with Hubby, Saxon Math 1, Flying Creatures of the Fifth Day, Handwriting Without Tears, Art Class. Skylanders on the iPad. Also, captain of the boy's playgroup (keeping them out of our way during work time)

The Patriot and Right Hand Man: Either driving us crazy or making us laugh. So, so sweet together.

Up next: our baby turns one this week!

Art Classes

The biggest three just completed a six week art class on the Elements of Design, taught by a good friend of mine. Tonight we got to see all their work and hear about what they learned:

They studied O'Keefe, Mondrian, Matisse, Miro, Van Gogh, and Picasso. A great way to spend some wintery afternoons!

Next Up: Paleozoic Fossil Hunting

The girls are off tomorrow for an overnight at their friends' camp near the Hueston Woods. It's a field trip for their earth science class; but considering the class consists of all their best friends, it's also a fun slumber party in a bunk house.

Sporting crazy hair for their last class meeting

We visited COSI today and saw a display of fossils found in Ohio to give them a reference point. (We also got to take apart a computer at the Gadget Cafe and see a bunch of fun, fall related experiments and explosions at Pumpkin Patch Science).

My boys are surprisingly productive this fall with projects and art work. I had to get a picture of Toddzilla painting something other than exploding tanks, firing guns, or car chases. It happens to be a picture for his mama on her birthday...

Andrew Pudewa often says that boys draw verbs, girls draw nouns. This is definitely true of my clan -which is why Toddzilla's flowers surprised me.

We're trying to get out in the afternoons as much as possible to enjoy the beautiful days:

Happy Fall!

Epiphany

Late afternoon inspiration thanks to Kim. 

The three big kids each painted and pasted, I did the cutting.

Morning at the Museum

 

Just A Little Political.

You gotta love the ice cream truck for arriving right at dinner time. This has been her pattern all summer, which normally drives me crazy. But who can resist an ice cream truck? So we all pile out of the house - mid-dinner - and put the ice cream in the freezer for safe keeping, which really isn't the fun way to do it at all. But tonight, with my husband at meetings and me not feeling in the mood for cooking or eating, the sound of Mrs. Ice Cream rumbling down the road was a perfect excuse for "Kids, Ice Cream for Dinner!" I even treated half the neighborhood. I'm sure their parents won't be quite as ecstatic...

In other news:

• We saw a neat exhibit of African art and made some authentic masks at our monthly art club.




• My oldest daughter has been polling the neighborhood - so far it seems our little neck of the woods leans toward McCain.



• Sunday School started today and suprise! Toddzilla's still not a big fan.



• My computer is highly on again off again. Hubby's threatening to get me a Mac for my birthday. (He's secretly been coveting a Mac forever). I'm holding out for now, content to simply close the 108 applications it opens on it's own every time I turn it on.



• The girls played their instruments for a chamber of commerce gathering last week. Prizes and games were promised for participants. No prizes and games were delivered. Surprise! That didn't go over well either.

Face Painting 101

Every summer, without exception, my children have set up a face painting stand. They honestly believe that people will come and subject themselves to being decorated with watercolors. Until this year, they've been disappointed.

Yesterday, three of the neighborhood children stepped up to the plate! The results were mixed. Some pleased as punch with the results; others not so much.

Can you guess which camp my middle two were in?

Fresh Off The Press...

Creative Family arrived and I'm about half way through. The children are all about the embroidery projects - "right now!" But I can't see myself finding any burlap, hoops, and blunt needles in the very near future, so that one might have to wait. SouleMama continues to amaze, inspire, and make it all seem more than possible with small children around.

Along such artistic lines, we had a great time at an exhibit on the Portraiture of Aristocratic Children today. A little dress up, a little glue, glitter, and gems - even a mini production of Shakespeare's The Tempest... (Although I must say, I read that play several times for an International Baccalaureate exam in high school, and I couldn't make heads or tails of today's strange rendition. Some things just can't be reduced to a 15 minute quick take for tots.) Kind of amusing to watch them flail try though. Sorry.

In true SouleMama fashion, the museum collages went right up on our bulletin board for all to enjoy. I love how Toddzilla made his Artistocratic dude into a pirate!

The rest of the day was spent OUTSIDE in the beauty of true spring weather. I think we're sunburned.

When All Else Fails, Make A Mess

School was a lost cause this morning -- in part because of a baby who doesn't know if he still needs a morning nap or not, in part because we're on residual sugar high from Easter. Holidays have a way of wiping us all out.

When the girls were little, I followed the wisdom of "put fussy kids in water." Warm, bubbly baths did wonders. Now that they don't all fit in the tub, I've found that making any kind of mess usually does the trick. One thing is constant: you need water. Whether it's mud pies, or a kitchen "concoction," or just a big puddle to stomp in.

The latest water craze around here is painting. Toddzilla even uses a quiet voice when he gets to scoop up those gloppy colors and spread to his heart's content. Elbow's observation sums it up: "there's something about painting with water colors that just makes the picture come alive on the paper!"

Indeed.

Water and life. They go together. Of course our bodies can't survive long without it, our souls need quenching just as desperately. We've been parched around here lately at Living Waters. Not today -- I see more painting and maybe some creek stomping in our very near future.

Apples From Oranges

Our docent-trained Nana came along last weekend on a trip to the art museum. (She could tell you many a tale of woe regarding my own lack of cultural affinities. I ran from anything remotely high brow. Hockey, remember?)




The big three got to study the work of Edna Boies Hopkins in one of the galleries and then try their hand at a modified version of her woodblock prints. Toddzilla got to use globs of paint and a roller. He wasn't complaining.





This particular museum runs a program like this for 3-8 year olds once a month. I'm hoping the apple falls far, far from the tree on this one and my progeny are not as low brow as their mother. To their credit (and Hubby's who loves all things artsy and esoteric), so far so good.

Mozart and Monet

It's Mozart and Monet at Living Waters this summer. We'll be using Mozart: The Wonder Boy as a read aloud, listening to the Story of Mozart in Words and Music, and coloring a few pictures of Mr. Johannes Chrysostomus Wolfgangus Theophilus Mozart from the Bellerophoron coloring book of great composers.

As for Monet, we'll do a picture study, rotating prints each month. I can't wait to decorate our learning room wall with these! I've ordered a Monet calendar and plan on cutting the paintings out for display and study. On the advice of Susan Andreason in A Charlotte Mason Companion, I will not offer much information about the man behind the paintings until the children have had a chance to really live with them for awhile and come to their own conclusions.