Noah's FIRST Worksheet

This morning I took a bit of chance and offered Noah a worksheet....

He had been asking for "school work" or an "activity", so I figured, sure, why not.

I thought he did an awesome job!

He's 3y7m.

A Little Mermaid

Today I relaxed and did some Art.

When you view an altered children's book tutorial on youtube and suddenly remember that you have a book in the bin { ok, there were several in the kitchen bin this morning } and you quickly run out to the kitchen and scab on through - thank goodness it was in the recycles and not the mess one, anyway, yes, scab on through and pick out an old children's book: a berensteins bears book and decide, yep, let's make that into an art album. So then you hunt down the jar of gesso and a brayer and do your thing.... 

Next thing you know after that, you've got a picture on the page:

And some paint too:

And then she's all done:

Glitter and all......

Australian Bush Birds

An awesome little find at a second hand market morning.

The dust cover was a little torn and damaged, so I just removed it after I took this photo.  I prefer my books to look old, if they can - so if it's a hard cover, I will generally remove the covers if they're not doing much in the way of making the book look lovely, inviting, or beautiful.

Inside it has a simple contents page:

I LOVED that it had so much introductory and helpful information!

Perfect for beginner bird watchers.

It will lend itself to so many bird lessons.

Awesome!

And then when we get to the birds themselves, we find colour plates on the right hand side, with the text on the left.

The end part of the book has many more photographs - in black and white with other pertinent information.

If you can find a copy of this book, I highly recommend it.

This Saturday Morning

Chloe getting ready for her Pathfinders this morning.

and what Phebe and Hannah gave me this morning - since they aren't going anywhere.....

.......

Composer Study

I got this awesome set last weekend.  Works out great since we're supposed to be doing Composers as well with AO - so they'll provide the background and then we'll look on youtube for the music.

We've already made a really good start this week.  Super interesting.

Spurgeon

Still book collecting, and found these earlier this week.

Really looking forward to walking through his notes.

Preschool Memory

A fun new game that Noah is enjoying is 'Memory'.

They're wood with a nice varnish, and a sturdy little wooden box to keep them in.

I particularly like that they are REAL pictures of animals.

And because a game of Memory usually has more than one player, Charlotte has been playing with him.

This was a cheap find.  I think from K-Mart for about the $5 or $6 mark.

Art Monday - The Side View of a Mosquito

This was a follow up lesson on the Mosquito.  We'd already done a birds eye view down, today we did the side view.

Our example:

which came from this book:

Charlotte was first done...

Then me....

Then Chloe...

Then Phebe...

Then Hannah...

and Noah joined in by painting the color blue...

The Story Book of Science

For those moments when it's nice to have others do the reading for us.

To listen to this book, chapter by chapter,

click HERE....

Magnetic Alphabets

I decided to give these a try and see how they work:

I'm a little concerned that the coloring may make things somewhat problematic and, or difficult; but I have this idea that I can paint over them - to give them uniformity if there are any problems.

I am certainly getting all my little ducks in a row for Noah these days.

Noah Can Hold a Pencil

When your 3.5 year old can hold a pencil properly.

I bought him some new super big pencils designed to help beginner writers...

 Now that we have our pencil grip we'll just have to strengthen them up a little. So exciting because of what will come thereafter. The Writing Road to Reading teaches writing { phonograms } with learning to read.

I think I've Found a Skin Color That Works

I think I found a little remedy somewhat to that skin problem I was having....

I glittered her eyes and lips....  in real life the glitter isn't quite so noticeable though.

But overall, an improvement....

I did have a little ink spill with her though....

And then I put her on some nice scrapbooking paper and glued her into my A4 Art Journal... not sure what else we'll do with her just yet, might even leave her as is....

Making progress!!

ReWorked Some Art

Today I decided to re-work my Art piece from the other day....

I took her out of the little A5 and put her in my big A4.

I also added a little bird to her chest. some feathers for her hair, and a background.

Montessori Movable Alphabet

I've been tossing to and fro as to whether or not to purchase a moveable alphabet....

in the mean while I figured that we could probably use this printable version instead, well, until I settle on whether we really need a wood version or not.

Feel free to pick up and use a copy too, just click the picture below to download a FREE copy.

Barchester Towers

I could NOT resist.

Nope.

I know, I already had Barchester Towers on the shelf, but I did not have it in a Folio Society edition.

So I picked it up.

It cost me less than a $1.

Don't be jealous, be a collector.

Another Hour for Me Art Time

I am having a current difficulty.  How shall we remedy my problem?  As is apparent, what I'm using is not working, obviously.... the face paint is entirely too streaky.... what do you use for your faces?  Let me know in the comments below.

Thank you.

The Travels of Marco Polo

It's not every day that you find a Folio edition of The Travels of Marco Polo.

Complete with maps and illustrated classical pictures.

And when you can pick up a copy for about $1 you get a very nice feeling of satisfaction.

Wondering what year they do Marco Polo in AO?