The Geographer~

Our new painting was The Geographer by Vermeer so rabbit trailed the prefix Geo and introduced an new math tool, the compass~

 Everyone practiced with it and EK/SJ practiced fractions too!
Circles was our medium for art~

And after the big circle punch party, a piece of circle art was laminated for the art notebooks!

Caterpillars Galore~

The kids (and Amelia) found all kinds of caterpillars this weekend~

So we pulled our Very Hungry Caterpillar book and made Eric Carle our artist of the day~

 Everyone painted, added tissue paper collage, and wrote something so we could laminate them~

For our Story Art Notebooks.
Sometimes taking a rabbit trail or going with interests trumps all the other things planned.
A lovely day with my kiddos.

Art & Self Portraits~

While we watched Because of Winn Dixie Friday night, we noticed a theme of 10 Things About...

I thought it would be awesome for each of the kids to make a list of their 10 things
and added them to a self portrait that they drew~

 They all did such a beautiful job~
(Calla didn't paint one but wanted her photo taken:)

 This was our art day so we laminated them and added to our Art Stories Notebook~

It had been a while since we enjoyed this practice so it was delightful for them to look through all the beautiful art they had created.
I wondered if this was even worth the time and expense it took...
their Joy proved it definitely was!!!

Birds Everywhere~

We have nests of eggs and baby birds all over our yard so we pulled out our bird books~

 And painted bird nests with a fork~

 Beautiful Art Stories~

It is the sweet, simple things of life which are the real ones after all.
~ Laura Ingalls Wilder

Art Stories~

EK got the book pictured for gotcha day, and it has been a favorite for our nature art stories~

 She also received a few new drawing books for her birthday~

 Holly looks at her art story binder almost every day! It is definitely a special book!

Art is Improving~

The Art Stories are really improving our drawing skills.
The boys loved drawing planes when we read The Glorious Flight~

 I have been printing paintings online to give the kids examples to inspire them~

 I'd say it's working!

The boys finished a whole set of Bob books, and believe they are readers now~

Yay boys!!!

Art Story Routine: Notebooking

I wrote a blog post HERE   about Jodi Mockabee's HS HERE and I really loved the painting portion of it. We began our free draw/painting/writing routine two weeks ago, and the kids have loved it!

We are calling them Art Stories!

We have gathered around our table to learn, talk, read, and create~

It it Around the Table that we Understand BEST the Warmth of being Together!

The kitchen is the heart of the home and we are thinking it is also the heart of our homeschooling too. Being able to see each other bonds us as family and encourages community too!

I am amazed at the beauty they are creating to be treasured always~

They have each painted 9 paintings now with beautiful words written on each one and they LOVE looking at them all!

As we have painted, written, and laminated their creations, the biggest question was where were we going to put them? Jodi files her kids' work in separate binders but I really didn't want 6 binders to store. SJ suggested we put them all in a family binder~ Brilliant!!!

It is just as loved as their Life Books and our blog books!

Setting up for the day and sitting the laminator out, sure builds the excitement~

This week we read the Mr. Gumpy books and today after reading the Motor Car one, we watched a few videos as well as how to draw a police car~

They followed the tutorial and came out with beautiful masterpieces~

I can see growth over the last two weeks especially in the youngest four~

The benefits I am seeing from this practice~

• Free write is encouraged OR a narration from our story.
• They have something set to do each day while I read.
• Spelling, grammar, and handwriting are all being practiced.
• Creative outlet with drawing and painting with everyone around the table.
• There is excitement in planning what they will create.
• Laminating is a great way to publish and add to a book.
• No planning involved for me; just setup!

Try it! I think you will like it!