Golden Acorn Homeschool

This post is a little late, I know.  But better late than never, right?

A couple weeks ago I taught a two-part Van Gogh class for our co-op group.  (Have I mentioned how much I will miss them?  *sniffles*)  It was a very fun class and I ended up finishing two projects of my own.  We talked about Van Gogh and then the kids created their own Van Gogh inspired art with air-dry clay.  We used the clay to create texture, rather than gobs of paint.  In week 2, we did end up painting our creations.  The idea came from Art Projects for Kids.  Duh.

I think the kids made beautiful and interesting pieces!  I was very proud.  :-)

We stole this “finish the picture” idea from Kathy @ Art Projects for Kids.  Where else?

Cole decided to create his own “Fairly Odd Parents.”

Sydni chose various models.

Zoey chose a “collage” effect.

I chose a garden theme, of course!

Have a happy, art-filled day!  :-)

We have been studying Caspar Freidrich for our latest artist study, and I just LOVE this painting.  He has many lovely paintings, but this one really speaks to me.  The warmth of the setting sun, and the way the light shines through the fabric of the sails…I just want to sail away too.  Maybe it’s the season, and being in the cusp of Spring, or maybe I am restless for other reasons, but I just want to escape for a while.  I genuinely love winter and snow, and being at home with my kids and I am content, but there are moments when I want to sail away and discover new worlds.  I need to be creative, and I haven’t had time for a creative outlet lately.  Not with homeschooling and college and a myriad of other committments.  I need to make time…somehow.

Anyway, I wanted to share this painting with some of you too.  Maybe it won’t affect you like it affects me, but it’s lovely all the same.  We are about to move on to a new painting today, and I needed to say goodbye to my lovely sunset at sea.

On another note, today is the latest version of the Charlotte Mason Blog Carnival!  There are some great posts up on the “Almost Spring” edition being host by Barb, so grab a cup of coffee or tea and enjoy a moment for yourself!

We have been slacking in our art endeavors lately.  We’ve been victim to a lot of  illness this season, and we have had a lot of activities going on as well.  Today, I was determined to make the time to get an art project done and I am glad I did – I just love how these came out!  Each kid worked very independently and each piece has a unique feel.  Naturally, we got the idea from art projects for kids, which I happen to think is one of the BEST blogs around!

Enjoy!

These are, of course, a few weeks old by now.  I just found them in some folders in the art drawer and realized I never scanned them in to share on the blog.  I enjoyed this project myself, and it was especially fun because we invited some other homeschool friends that day to make these together.

Modeled after Piet Mondrian’s art, these are black crayon with water colors.  I only helped the kids a little with making straight lines (as much as they wanted my help anyway), and then they did the rest.

Have I mentioned that I LOVE art?  This idea is also from art projects for kids.  I am so glad to have found that blog!

I taught a class on Andy Warhol on Friday.  It went pretty well, but I realized a few things I should have done after the fact.  I will share more about that when I get those picture posted!

I think I am becoming obsessed with glue and pastel art. It’s just SO fun! Here is our Halloween contribution to the kids’ art portfolios, ripped (of course) from Art Projects for Kids. Where else?

Super-boy went for a pretty “boy” look, Diva wanted nothing to do with drawing and gluing the actual facial features, so she has a “mummy” look, and Monkey’s is quite frightening. Her brother and sister helped her out quite a bit when she whined that she couldn’t do it. Ah, the joys of being the baby.

This was a lot of fun, and although I think we will move onto other mediums for a while, expect to see more glue and pastel in the future!

Happy Halloween!!!!

We tried this project from the Art Projects for Kids website.  The girls and I had a lot of fun with it, but Super-boy seemed less enthusiastic.  *sigh*  I hope some of the upcoming projects catch more of his interest.  Or maybe, it’s the fact that all his friends in the neighborhood have no school today for Rosh Hashanah and he just wants to play?  Who knows!

Super-boy wasn’t interested in doing a vase full of flowers, so he opted for a tree.  I think a tree could have been cool with some awesome swirls, but alas, total lack of effort.  *grumbles*  I chose a little red for mine and the girls had to try it out too.  Overall, I think they are all cute.  We’ll keep working on enthusiasm and effort!

I know I haven’t blogged in a while, but my life is really full, and well, blogging is a non-essential thing in my life.  I like to blog, sometimes I even love it.  But my family has strange ideas about loving clean laundry and meals.  Funny, eh?

Anyway, our school year is chugging along, but you lovely readers know how I like to share a gem when I find one, and I definitely found one this morning.  I had to come straight over and tell you about it.  My fingers are practically tingling.  I know all my mommy friends, homeschooling or not, are going to LOVE this new blog I found: Art Projects for Kids.

I think it might be one of the most amazing blogs I have found on the net. Art is so therapeutic for the soul, and as much as I enjoy doing art projects, I am not the most creative about coming up with ideas. Granted, I let my kids have free reign on the paper, crayons, paints and markers, but I think a nice focused project that introduces new methods and mediums is needed.

This site is phenomenal. The ideas are easy, not terribly expensive, but very beautiful. Something I think my kids will treasure for years. Go ahead and peruse the site and get ideas. I have a few favorites already like, the glue and pastel landscape, and the watercolor resistant leaf.

Enjoy!

Paint + Koolaid = Smelly paint!  Beware the citrus flavors, they cause some reaction with the paint and it bubbled and grew and bubbled some more.  Kinda cool, a little annoying too.  :-P

The last pic is of Diva’s “robot pal” and he is so cute, I just had to include him.  The fruity smelling paint was to make the cover picture of our lapbooks for the fruit of the spirit.  :-)