Robert Louis Stevenson Poetry Study, Week 1

We started poetry study this week when we received our new Children’s Garden of Verses by Robert Louis Stevenson. To be honest at first I wasn’t really looking forward to doing a poetry study with the kids because unfortunately all I remember of the poetry that I was taught in school was that they were of a more modern and esoteric flavor of poems that I really didn’t care very much for at all. But after looking to the Charlotte Mason website for their input on what poets to try, I ran across the book by Robert Louis Stevenson and decided we’d give it a try. Upon receiving it we immediately opened it and started reading from it and the kids and I really enjoy his poems. In fact they liked it so much that I gave them a poem to memorize and to learn to recite and within a couple of days they already have it memorized and enjoy just walking around the house saying it. I picked it because one of our favorite places to visit is the beach during the summer so the poem we decided to learn is called At The Sea-Side.

At The Sea-Side

by Robert Louis Stevenson

When I was down beside the sea

A wooden spade they gave to me

To dig the sandy shore.

My holes were empty like a cup.

In every hole the sea came up,

Till it could come no more.

Teagan

Arowyn

Atelier Art Level 1 Lesson 2

In today’s art lesson we studied the Hands and Flowers painting by Pablo Picasso. The lessons focus was on learning about primary colors and secondary colors, how to properly mix colors and how to clean your brush in between switching colors. Here is Arowyn & Teagan efforts with our latest art lesson.

Arowyn, Age 7

Teagan, Age 6

Another Year of Dance

The new school year is definitely in full swing. All of our extracurricular activities have all started up again and the kids are enjoying seeing everyone that they missed during the summer. This is our fourth year doing ballet and over the years we have graduated from pinks to blues and now this year we are reds! Here is a little bit from their class tonight. Arowyn is the one with the braids and the hair clip in the back of her hair and is wearing a pink skirt, Teagan can be seen mostly in the mirror if you look for him.

Violin Practice

Our violin practice has been going well lately but sometimes my dear perfectionist complains that he feels like he will never get anywhere because he doesn’t play well. I keep trying to explain to him that each time he practices he gets better but of course he doesn’t believe me. So I decided that I would video tape them both, because what I do for one the other wants done as well, and each week we can compare how we sounded last week to this week so maybe he can gain some perspective on how his own skills are progressing.

Teagan

I'm a Little Monkey

Teagan

A Major Scale

Arowyn

I'm a Little Monkey

Arowyn

A Major Scale

Maxfield Parrish Picture Study, Week 1

This year we are trying something new for art appreciation and we are doing picture studies. After much consideration I decided that the first artist we would study would be Maxfield Parrish because the books I found about him in their description stated that he was painter who painted many things that were of a mythical or magical nature and I thought that this kind of art would appeal to a 6 & 7 year old. I actually knew nothing about this artist myself but after looking through the art album I had purchased about him for our art study I realized that I had seen his work before and just never realized it. I love it when the things I get to do with the kids in school turns out to be something that I can also enjoy and learn from as well. The work of his that we are studying this week is The Reluctant Dragon.

The Reluctant Dragon

illustration by Maxfield Parrish

Atelier Art Level 1, Lesson 1

Arowyn has loved drawing for many years. But in just the past couple of months Teagan has started showing an interest in it as well. So I thought that now was a good time to look into getting a full art curriculum for them. So after some research I found the Atelier Art curriculum and ordered it. When I received the curriculum I gave all of it a brief look over and was really happy with what I saw and was ready to get started with the kids. I was glad though that I took the time to read all of the teachers tips that they provide because one of the things they mention is that it is not wise to let your students get in the habit of restarting a project. That if they make a mistake prompt them to work with the mistake because in the end this will make them a better artist. If I hadn’t read this within the first minute of the first lesson I would have been giving Teagan a new sheet of paper for his drawing because within seconds of him starting he had already drawn something in the wrong location and was almost in tears because I wouldn’t let him start over. But after altering the random line he had put under the caterpillars head and adding another one he decided that his little mistake would instead become the caterpillars front feet and by the time he was done with his drawing he was very pleased with himself and what he had accomplished. I was so amazed that he was actually happy with the outcome of his work because he is such a perfectionist and usually throws away anything he draws because it wasn’t what he had pictured in his mind’s eye. So if nothing else I already appreciate that this curriculum is pushing him to grow and forcing him to adapt when he makes a mistake as I know this will not only make him a better artist but also hopefully help him develop into someone who can more easily roll with the punches that life will inevitably throw his way.

The Atelier Art Level one’s first lesson is called The Caterpillar. It is a drawing lesson in which the student learns about line and the many forms lines can take a how they can be used in art. The students demonstrate their understanding of lines by drawing a caterpillar and filling in each part of its body with different lines. Here are our results from our first lesson.

Arowyn, Age 7

Teagan, Age 6

Arowyn’s Art

In her latest work of art Arowyn was capturing a sunny day (the sunniness is the block of gold in the top left of the painting) just after a storm has passed which caused a “shock” of rainbow to appear. The little boys hand is covered in paint, as he has been recently painting, and is holding a small bouquet of flowers that he is taking to a little girl that he thinks is cute. The name of this work is “The Painter”

"The Painter"

Artist Arowyn Meek 2011

Kirksville Red Barn Arts & Crafts Festival

I can’t believe that in the six and a half years I’ve lived in Kirksville that I had never been to the Arts & Crafts Festival. The artist in me was just loving it and I was thinking to myself the whole time if only I had brought some pocket money to spend, but all I had brought was enough for the kids to do the kid’s corner and to get a snack (the unanimous decision was that we would use our snack money for some deep fried cheddar bites YUM!) with. Arowyn & Teagan loved the kid’s corner and all they had to do there from making paper bag puppets to piggy hats.

 Arowyn admiring a painting by a local artist

Arowyn & Teagan making chalk drawings

Teagan's paper bag puppet

 Arowyn's paper bag puppet

Arowyn & Teagan drawing

 Arown & Teagan in their piggy hats

Arowyn’s Art

So in this artistic rendering by Arowyn title “Loving Mommy” you see our house (the black up top is the roof and the yellow squares are the doors and windows (the two kids are in the left uppermost window). This leads down to our front yard and in the yard are blue puddles. In front of the house are sunflowers which the Daddy and Mommy are watering.

"Loving Mommy"

Artist Arowyn Meek 2011

Kirksville Cape Air Fest

Being an aviating family going to the local airshow is just one of the things you can’t escape. This year the kids had a lot of fun watching the demonstrations, sitting in the helicopter on the field, jumping in the bouncy house (of course!) & eating funnel cake. The different demonstrations by so many talented pilots were so much fun to watch. It brought a tear to my eye as I remembered and told the kids about their great grandfather, who passed away last year, that used to fly in airshows. I myself never got to see him fly in one but was told of his many exploits growing up. The Stearman’s rolls, loops, & hammerhead demonstration was great to watch. The Pitts demonstration cutting the ribbon over the runway was such an edge of the seat thing to watch. And the Aerostars formation flying was just so amazing to watch. We are looking forward to seeing the talent that they bring in for next year’s airshow, maybe they’ll even get a helicopter demonstration somewhere in the mix.

 Arowyn & Teagan sitting in the Army National Guard's Helicopter.

The naturalist in Arowyn couldn't help herself
and started chasing butterflies during the airshow.

 The Aerostars flying formation

The Aerostars starburst

Skip Stewart torque rolls in the Pitts

Skip Stewart cutting the ribbon over the runway in the Pitts

Chamberlin & Teagan enjoying the airshow

Arowyn’s Art

So Arowyn got out her art kit the other day and this is what she painted. Her description of her painting is that it is of a little girls hand who dropped her toy boat (which is the black T shape in the bottom left of the painting) to pick up a rose. When she picked up the rose some of the petals fell off which is the red circles you see in the painting. Then she was pricked by one of the roses thorns making her bleed (the blood is the red streaks on the right hand side of the painting). She named the painting “The Blood of the Death” the meaning of which I have yet to get out of her but oddly enough to me it just somehow seems to fit the painting.

"The Blood of the Death"

Artist Arowyn Meek 2011