The boys have been loving their homeschool art class this session, in part because it is the first time they’ve been able to do the class together (now that Gareth is 6), in part because they have several friends in the class, and in part because they have one of Daegan’s all-time favourite teachers: Michelle. [...]
The other day when I picked the boys up from their art class, I saw that they had created colour wheels and there were notes on the board about primary and secondary colours. The boys excitedly told me that the primary colours were called primary because they could be used to create all the other [...]
We began our day by having a look at some scientist Valentines that someone had posted on one of the homeschooling lists I am on. You can find the images here. They are quite clever and ‘punny’, and the boys—particularly Daegan—have enough science background to get some of jokes. Their clear favourite was the Charles [...]
This afternoon the boys and I decided we needed some more art up around the place, so I set them to work decorating the front entry area. A few days ago the boys had found our window crayons languishing in a yet-to-be-unpacked box, and were dying to try them out: They started with a Valentine’s [...]
This week the boys and I are trying an experiment this week: no worksheets, or set curriculum. Not that we’ll give them up entirely, but for right now—with yet more cold and snow of another storm, and a week where Jim will be largely unavailable as he is teaching a course—we decided to shake things [...]
The boys have been crafting up a storm lately, especially during the 10-day long bitter cold snap we had in late January. Here’s some of what they’ve created over the past few months. First, Daegan drew and coloured this America flag, no doubt inspired by our trip to Nebraska for the APHS Jamboree. I haven’t [...]
Here’s some of Gareth’s recent self-created (no adults involved) art. Amazing what a 5-year-old can produce when given free reign, eh? The same evening Daegan worked on his Baby Blues Darryl, Gareth produced this from his Monkey Magnets (US) collections. He told me it’s Nigel Marvin (star of Prehistoric Park (Canada)(US), one of Gareth’s favourite [...]
I’ve been heavy on the maths and books lately, so I thought I’d share some of the art I’ve been finding around the house. The boys take art classes (Calgary has such a large homeschool community that we have a choice of daytime homeschool art classes to pick from), but I have lots of basic [...]
Last night I finished one of the chapter books I’d been reading to the boys before bed: Oliver Butterworth’s 1956 classic The Enormous Egg (Canada) (US). Twelve-year-old Nate Twitchell, a farm boy from New Hampshire, tells the story of ‘Uncle Beazley’, a triceratops that hatched from an enormous egg laid by one of the family’s hens. [...]
Just a quick post tonight. I found this picture on the table a few days ago, when I was clearing it off to get ready for dinner: I’m not sure if this is Daegan’s work or Gareth’s, but I thought it was neat way to represent some of their knowledge about dinosaurs. This is a [...]