Monday, January 17, 2011 at 01:11PM My quote for this week is:
Once you choose hope, anything’s possible.
–Christopher Reeve
I just like this one. ;) One, I love Christopher Reeve and the whole Superman thing. Two, I firmly believe (and tell my boys) that life is all about choices. Here’s to making your own and growing from them.
Sunday, January 16, 2011 at 06:47PM Just a quick post with the boys' Matisse inspired works from last week:
Basically, we just talked briefly about Matisse and his use of cut paper and color to evoke feelings and tell a story. I showed the boys a number of examples. Then I let them loose with construction paper, scissors and glue. This is what we ended up with. The boys were quite happy when Nathan came home from work and was able (pretty accurately, oddly enough) to figure out what emotion each boy was going for. Noah's (top) was simply cheerfulness. Asher's (middle) was confusion (I find this hilarious). And, Micah's (bottom) was a sunset.
(To be quite honest, this was an on-the-fly sort of art lesson for me. I decided on it right then for the sake of having an art "project." The lesson I'd "planned" got scratched, as I decided that the glue and water involved might not be the best thing for a one handed boy. ;) I really need/want to do better in 2011 about having more art lessons, though. This is a classic case for me of letting the planning (and the wanting to get things "just so" before proceeding) get in the way of the doing. And it's really too bad because the boys love everything I suggest, even when I don't think it's a good enough lesson or whatever.)
Saturday, January 15, 2011 at 04:02PM Just wanted to share the New Year's "card" we sent this year...we took the pic a few weeks ago in our front yard:
;)
That was all. ;) Hope your 2011 is going well!
Friday, January 14, 2011 at 01:52PM ...the boys and their obsessions are taking over my mind. Last night, I dreamed about Darth Vader being made entirely out of Legos. We (I have no idea who "we" were) were trying to eliminate ol' Vader by dismantling him and burying the multitude of Lego pieces all over the place in different piles. This involved much sneaking around and evading alarm systems. Once the pieces were buried, though, they kept finding each other and bringing Vader back to life. This repeated numerous times.
I wonder if there's some hidden message in all this. Maybe it's meant simply to help me appreciate the boys' delight with all things Lego and all things Star Wars. If that were the case, though, you'd think I would have succeeded in doing away with ol' Vader. Then, at least, I would have woken up happy and feeling like I'd accomplished something...instead of frustrated at the futility both of keeping track of all the darned Lego pieces and of ever defeating the Dark Side. Sigh. :)
Wednesday, January 12, 2011 at 06:10PM Quick homeschooling thoughts...
1. I have a new-found respect for all teachers. (Okay, it's not really new-found...I've thought this for years, but it's worth mentioning again.) I can't imagine trying to make lessons "personal" for 25+ students...it's hard enough for three. (See my earlier post about trying to remember why I'm doing a lesson rather than just doing the lesson.) For those who manage, hats off to you!
2. The boys and I have been working our way through First Language Lessons for our grammar studies. This particular curriculum and I have a love-hate relationship. I've tried it. Stopped. Tried again with a different level. Stopped. And now find myself using both Level 1/2 (the original combined book) and Level 3. I'm still not thrilled, but it's been working better than anything else we've tried. In any case, the older two boys and I have been learning aplenty about diagramming sentences...something I've previously scoffed as unnecessary. I still don't know when in life one might use this skill, but do now recognize that the process is a useful teaching tool.
3. In diagramming sentences, though, I really have to wonder how much work it would be to diagram all of Yoda's dialogue in any given episode of Star Wars. (Yes, we're still Star Wars crazy here...it's rubbing off on me.) Hmmm. Methinks that may be an awesome assignment... ;) (Probably not the whole episode, though, lol.)
