Daybook February 8, 2010

For Today;

Outside my window... it is a clear, dark night. We had a beautiful clear, blue day here. Tomorrow we are supposed to get rain again in the afternoon.

I am thinking... about the things I need to prepare for tomorrow's Classical Conversations class. Also thinking about homeschool prep.

I am thankful for...the blessing of being able to go out on a date-night with Sky- to be able to eat out, even if it is only a burger joint, and the chance to spend a few quiet hours together.

From the learning rooms... Teddy did not come today because he was sick. Meg is still sick. I am counting today as a no-school day, but I still had Josie, Demi and Amie do math. We are playing with a free 30 day trial of Aleks math (it's an online program), so I had the kids spend some time on this today.

From the kitchen...Leftovers! Served up leftover ribs to the kids, Sky made them last night in honor of the Superbowl. There is also a pile of oatmeal chocolate chip cookies I made last night.

I am wearing... black pants and a sweater.

I am creating...photos. Playing with my camera and playing a bit with photoshop elements.

I am going... Actually, I am already at Barne's & Nobles after dinner at the hamburger place.

I am reading...
The Trouble with Boys by Peg Tyre
The Awe-Manac: a daily dose of wisdom by Jill Badonsky

I am hoping...that no one else at my house gets sick. That Meg is better by tomorrow.

I am hearing...jazz music playing at the B & N cafe

A thought I am sharing...

"Note to self: Think this- I am compassionate with the shadow aspects of myself. I'm only human but that's better than being a groundhog."
-The Awe-Manac

Around the house...I did some intense homeschool organizing for the week, but then left piles of notebooks around the dining room. Note to self to put it all away... Sky built and painted a storage shed for his woodworking stuff, he finished painting it today. The kids have a permanent village of playmobil stuff in my front room-at least it seems that way.

One of my favorite things... the wire basket I bought on clearance at Pottery Barn to keep our fresh eggs in. I knew it would look perfect, and it does!

A few plans for the rest of the week: CC tomorrow, work on finishing report card for Meg, the usual round of piano/violin lessons, art/fencing lessons and hockey game. I am planning on painting my chalkboard of ultimate power this week in the dining/kitchen area...or at least doing some prep work and begging Sky to do it for me...

Here is picture thought I am sharing...

my new basket, and yes, our hens gave us those eggs!

*you can join this meme over at The Simple Woman's Daybook

Here is a craft we did that packs a punch with the finished product, but it is not difficult to set-up.

Get some craftiness on at your house with block printing.
(I promise it is not as intricate, difficult or as messy as you'd think...)
promise


Albrecht Durer (pronounced Der) practiced the art of woodcut printing during the Renaissance period.

Rhinoscerous print by Durer, 1500 in the photo above. Notice all the detail.
You can find wonderful photos of his work, in art books at your library. Durer's Praying Hands is stunning.


I am all about connections, so I pulled out my Jane Eyre copy that sports beautiful woodcut prints.
Not Durer, but wonderful all the same.

For our project, we used

• pieces of balsa wood (the kind used for model planes and such, it's a soft wood)
• collection of metal pieces to make imprints in the wood, nails were a simple favorite here, also nuts and bolts, screws, metal shapes from the craft store such as leaves, flowers
• 2 brayers or cheap foam rollers will work too (like a small rolling pin with a handle)
• black paint (to be authentic, black ink...but paint worked fine, I used washable paint, and it didn't take me forever to find)
• paper
• packing tape (to protect those little fingers, an aha! moment)
• a hammer. (don't run away..it will be okay, really!)....

Here is Demi-Sky's wood carving. He used the metal leaves and some triangles.

Teddy went the route of simplicity and used nails. He spelled out his name.

• have the kids arrange the metal pieces/shapes in an arrangement that pleases them
• carefully lay the packing tape over the top of the creation, sticking the pieces to the wood
• and then, let them have at it with the hammers. We did this on the sidewalk. Adult supervision and help is a must here. The older kids might try a hand at carving with screwdrivers or chisels.
• remove the tape and metal shapes
• roll a thin layer of black paint onto the wood, don't push into all the crevices, you want those to be paint-free
• carefully lay a piece of paper on top of the wood (lay the wood on a table surface, paint side up) and then use a clean roller to roll along the paper with firm but equal pressure. Your hands will work okay, too
• carefully lift up the paper without smudging it
• voila! a work of art!
  

Here is Amie's finished product.
Doesn't that look like it could illustrate a book?

Discovering Art with Children: Hands on art for children- is genius. I highly recommend you get this book, to do this and other stellar projects.

First, you have to check out the twillypop store on Etsy. Incredibly pretty and creative ribbon necklaces. I want one. Or two. Or three.

Do you know Etsy? You should go check out Etsy. It's a market place of small Artisans. I recently ordered a super hero cape (for my nephew) from a seller on Etsy. Wonderful!

Organize your web surfing with Evernote, over at heart of Wisdom blog. I've been thinking about trying Evernote for a while. It's free! That is the most compelling reason. It works with different platforms (even Mac) and you can use it on your phone, too. Maybe I could stop forgetting things. Maybe.

NEA puts power ahead of kids- over at Spunkyhomeschool. Quotes and video of NEA's General Counsel saying this at his retirement speech. Old news for homeschool parents, but this may be surprising to some.

~1~

The tulip magnolia trees are in bloom right now in our neighborhood. I adore these trees, I can't think of many trees or bushes prettier than these. Sky won't plant one for me, because they are in bloom for a short time, the rest of the year, they are just "there". Those beautiful petals litter the ground, too. It's beautiful litter, I think. I have to be content with feasting my eyes on the two across the street. And taking lots of photos. Lots.

~2~

My new blog design is finished!! I loooove it. I'm in love with it. I dream about it at night. I love it better than my luggage. (name that movie line!) I was very limited with my old html template, my new, beautiful design promises to be much easier to mess, uh..work with. I'm still tweaking links and 'best of' pages and my links within hasn't shown up yet...but it's almost there.
sigh.
smile.
Like it? Want a beautiful site? Go ask Krystyn at Krizzy Designs.

~3~

my learning records were finished for the month, and I met with the credentialed teacher from the charter school who looks over our work. Whew! Done!

~4~

We took Emma the Wonder Labradoodle to the dog beach for the first time. We went with our neighbors, and their dog Bijou, who is Emma's BFF. Can a dog revel in happiness? Can you tell? I think Emma did, and yes, we could. On our way out to the parking lot, I got such a kick out of this business. Busy working long hours?...No problem, sign your doggy friend up for a field-trip to the beach!! I can't judge it, cus I would totally do it, if I worked away from home. Doggy day care..yeah, I'd probably do that, too. (shhh, don't tell Sky...)

~5~

We have a mystery illness making the rounds through our children. Demi-Sky was first, a high fever and lethargy. Nothing worse. Kind of nice, wish only that it would have struck all my children and the children of the neighborhood at the same time! As it is, we have them succumbing one at a time, leaving the rest to run, yell and decimate my front room with playmobil sets. After Demi, it seemed to travel across the street to the homeschooled neighbor kids, then came back to my house for Josie. Next day, it was Amie's turn, then Teddy, now Meg has it. This is the first virus Demi has had with no asthma. Yay!!!

~6~

Today I called out to Sky in the backyard to let the hens out. We've discovered that labradoodle and hens do not mix well. We've settled into a routine of having them take 'shifts' for backyard time. I was attempting a shift. I locked the doggy-door after calling out to Sky. I missed the small detail that Emma was actually in the backyard at that moment. Sky must have missed this too, because he let the hens out. Much cackling and flying of feather insued.
No one was hurt. Emma thought it bully-fun.! The hens, not so much. They went back to the hen-house and refused to come back out.

~7~

did I mention my new bloggy make-over?

:)

7 Quick Takes Friday is hosted over at Conversion Diary.

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Pendragon Series, book 10
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Josie

The Books of Umber series
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Sky

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