Art, Rust and Picture Perfect Boyhoods

It's been a while since I've posted on here, but not because we haven't been busy...

We've done some more abstract art, using watercolours and marker pens:



This was with the help of the great book "Painting Abstracts:  Ideas, Projects and Techniques".  It's not a children's book by any means but a lot of the projects are accessible or adaptable for kids and the great thing is they aren't too prescriptive so allow the kids to go off at their own tangent.

We've done some more experiments relating to Gman's rock project.  The most recent of these goes against all my instincts and turns something that is perfectly edible (grapefruit) into something most inedible (a fake geode)!!  This project was taken from a fab little book we have out of the library and involves layering Plaster of Paris mix into the emptied grapefruit shell, then sprinkling in alum crystals and topping up each day with some alum mixture.  We put a little red and blue food colouring in the mix to make it purple and sparkly!  And yes, it is a messy process :-)



Waif particularly enjoyed doing some rust dyeing this week.  Again we took this project from a book aimed at adults: Fabric Art Workshop but which has a few projects that would be good to do with kids, as long as you take care and use rubber gloves etc.  To make this fabric, first of all we laid our unbleached cotton in a metal tray, then dampened it with a mixture of vinegar and water.  Next we ferreted around in the shed for some metal artefacts, some already rusty, some not eg washers, steel wool, weights, nails etc and arranged these on top of the fabric before spraying again with the vinegar and water mixture.  We placed the tray inside a black bin bag, tied it closed, weighed it down and left for 24+ hours.

This is what it looked like when we took it out of the bag:



Waif donned some rubber gloves and carefully removed the rusty things (we put them aside in an old ice cream tub for "next time") then we soaked the cloth in a mixture of salt and hot water to set the dye.  The cloth is beautiful, partly because you can see in it what you like eg a treasure map, a wolf, the moon, monsters, an explosion in space...what can you see?



As well as the art and rocks, we have also been enjoying some old fashioned stories together.  Following a recommendation on Julie's Homeschooling-ideas blog, we got hold of the book "A Picture Perfect Childhood".  I found this a really inspiring book, convincing me that reading picture books to the boys (including 10 year old Gman) would be beneficial for all of us.  We've been slotting in a story after lunch each day, starting with the beautiful picture book, "The Barefoot Book of Earth Tales" and both the boys and myself have been really enjoying it.  It's a lovely, quiet, cuddly time together and the stories themselves are raising plenty of issues to talk about.  Hopefully it will help balance out some of the over-boisterous boyish behavior that has been landing them in trouble this week, and help them get in touch with a gentler side...

Edible Science Experiments are the Best

Gman has started on his latest project - Rocks and Minerals.  This has given us a great opportunity to make some toffee and honeycomb...oops, I mean igneous rocks :-).  Here's how to do it:



First, put a greased baking tray in the freezer for an hour or two.

Place about 500g sugar and a few splashes of water into a saucepan.  Heat until melted and golden brown.  You need to stir fairly constantly to make sure it doesn't burn and stick to the bottom of the pan.

Use oven gloves to take the baking tray out of the freezer.

To make a glass like substance, simply tip the mixture straight onto your baking tray.  It will set almost instantly, but certainly be ready to hack away and eat (er, study) after 10 minutes.

If you want to make a pumice like rock, then add a teaspoon or so of bicarbonate of soda to your mixture before you pour it onto the tray.

The honeycomb (oops, I mean pumice) is particularly good with ice cream ;-P.



As well as the rocks project, the boys have also been enjoying recreating more artistic masterpieces, including this Pollack-inspired masterpiece:





Waif got up one morning deciding that today he would "do" Van Gogh, and produced several small pictures, carefully copied from a little book of Van Gogh pictures that we picked up at the Fitzwilliam Museum.  We put them all together and made a display poster:



Aren't they fab?

Those that saw this earlier post will know that we like to home educate as thriftily as possible, so we were quite excited to find that a local primary school which was closing and moving premises was holding a book sale.  For £2 we got a stack of educational books, including a massive poetry book just in time for next week's poetry themed home ed group.  Yay!

Ancient Mexico Lapbook

I promised pics of Gman's Ancient Mexico lapbook and here they are:



Gman particularly loved learning about the Aztecs - possibly something to do with the human sacrifices and general goriness, but that's ok!!

Presenting...Gman's Completed Lapbook on Mexico!

Gman has finished his Mexico lapbook.  Little did we realise that he had done so much work on so many mini-books that he would need two oversized lapbooks :-) ; one for Modern Mexico and one for Ancient Mexico.  Here's some pics of the modern Mexico lapbook:









Gman has really enjoyed this project, particularly customising his own minibooks rather than using templates.

I will post pics of his Ancient Mexico lapbook in another post...

Gluten Free Cornmeal Hush Puppies

I think I have been neglecting the edible side of this blog for a while, so thought I would share this recipe with you.  These are pretty yummy!



Gluten and Dairy Free Cornmeal Hush Puppies

1 onion, very finely chopped

1 egg, beaten

1 cup unsweetened soya milk

1 cup coarse cornmeal

1 cup gluten free flour

1 tbsp baking powder

1 tsp salt

good grind of pepper

pinch of chilli powder

Simply mix everything together until you have a fairly smooth batter.  You may need to add a little extra soya milk.

Heat some oil in a frying pan or skillet and drop ladlefuls of the mixture into the pan.  Cook for a few of minutes on each side until they are nice and golden and puffy.  Keep warm while you fry the rest.

Makes about 8, depending on size.

Serve with something nice and spicy :-)

You Can't Build a Sandcastle with a Clipboard in your Hand

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This week we had a day out at the seaside with some other home educating friends.  The boys hunted for interesting rocks and shells; drew on the sea walls with the chalk from the beach; fished around in a rockpool, finding a crab (sadly, dead :-(); buried some treasure and marked with a cross and a circle of stones; had a game of crazy golf and of course, ate ice lollies!  While we were on the beach, a school trip of about 60 children and teachers arrived.  We gawped and eavesdropped :-P.  The children appeared to be looking for interesting items for an art class.  All had clipboards (colour coded for each class) and were instructed that they couldn't go on the tantalising rocks that our kids had just been gleefully leaping around, couldn't go too far this way or that way, shouldn't pick up anything that might be slimy or smelly and were each given just one small ziploc bag to put their finds into.  How to take the fun out of a trip to the seaside?!?

Art in the Garden

Yesterday I took the boys to a marvellous art exhibition called "Art in the Garden" which was held in a beautiful garden in the nearby village of Fincham.  Here's a selection of some of the installations/sculptures:



Of particular relevance to us (as a family opposing local plans to build a waste incinerator) was this installation:



Everything is made of plastic that cannot currently be recycled in Norfolk ie will sit for hundreds of years in landfill.  A beautiful, colourful piece of art but a sobering lesson.  Here's the text that the artist had posted alongside it, hopefully it will be readable:



After looking around the garden, the boys also used pencils provided to make their own pictures, which will be laminated and displayed in the artist's studio.  Here's Gman with his "volcanic ash cloud" picture:



Last week we had a few days break at Center Parcs.  One of the advantages of being a home educating family is being able to visit attractions during the less busy term time :-).  The boys loved being able to ride their bikes all around without any traffic, as well as playing in the wilder parts of the woods.  They also swam, played crazy golf, went bowling and had a go at painting some pottery:



All in all, a lovely week!

We have also had yet another visit to Dersingham Bog Nature Reserve - still our favourite place for a walk - and the boys practiced their balancing skills and cheesy grins: