Book Review - Can You Find It Outside

Two book reviews in one day. I wasn't planning to do this, but I had to plug this book I found at the library. Can You Find It Outside? from the Metropolitan Museum of Art. While at the library I also noticed another book called "Can You Find It Inside?"


This book has 13 works of art in which the reader is asked to find various objects. It's a type of "I Spy" book, but it contains fine art. This is a great way to expose young children to art and get them to really look at it.


My 5 year old son and I had a great time reading this book today.


One of the pieces contained in the book is "Peaceable Kingdom" by American artist, Edward Hicks.


When looking at this piece, the child is asked to find the lion and the leopard and the lamb. Then he is asked to find a hole in the tree and two bare feet.
My son studied the picture for a long time and said he couldn't find the bare feet. At first, I thought he was kidding. Then I realized he was completely serious. After giving him some clues, he said there simply is no bear in the picture.
Oh the innocence of it all. I love moments like these.

I can't wait to go back to the library to check out "Can You Find It Inside?"

The Nativity Through Fine Art

I feel the need to express the utter joy I have felt over the last week.

First of all, a little history...

Right before Thanksgiving 2007, my husband experience some medical "episode". When he arrived to the hospital, he was diagnosed as having had a heart attack. (Note: He was 41 years old at the time.) The next several weeks into Christmas and beyond were difficult. Although he is a professional firefighter, he was not allowed to go back to work until he had the okay from the doctor. We did continue to get his base pay, but without overtime and mounting medical bills, things were extremely tight. God did take care of us through that uncertain time and all of our needs were provided for plus some.

Since money was tight and I felt helpless, God moved me to teach a class out of my home to homeschoolers during the last full week before Christmas. Even though I charged a fee for the class, it was full before I knew it. The class was based on Charles Dickens' Christmas Carol. It seemed to be a blessing in so many ways - I made a little money, my kids got to see their friends, we got "school" in even though it was not like "school" at all, moms could leave their kids with me while they went and finished up some holiday errands, etc., etc. I knew right away that I wanted to do this again a year later.

This year, the name of the class was "The Nativity Through Fine Art". I wrote the "curriculum" myself and as I began to write the plans for the week, I immediately felt such peace. I loved pouring over the pictures trying to decide which to use. There are so many good pieces from which to choose.

Back to my joy.

Even though the class was called "The Nativity Through Fine Art", the Bible was the base for the class. We would read from Luke, Matthew, Isaiah and Micah beginning from the Annunciation to Zechariah and we finished with the flight to Egypt.

Typically, we would read a Bible passage, look at a picture, discuss the picture, the students would then write their thoughts and observations. Sometimes, the Bible passage would be copywork and when appropriate, we watched excerpts from The Nativity Story.

As a former public school teacher, this class was a joy because the children were engaged in learning. When they showed up to my house, they would ask "How many pictures do we get to look at today?" I would also hear comments like, "I liked the last picture better than this one" which indicates to me that they are interested and thinking about what is being presented to them. They are forming opinions about the art. Through the discussions, the children would come up with ideas that I hadn't thought of and they all seemed eager to share what each picture was saying to them.

Although I didn't intend for it to happen, we studied quite a few paintings by Sandro Botticelli. We did not study all the Botticelli pictures at the same time. On the third Botticelli (The Mystic Nativity), one of the girls in the class piped up and said, "Hey, look at how Mary is dressed here. It's the same as The Annunciation and The Magnificat! Her sleeves look exactly the same!" That comment was exciting because it showed me that she is starting to recognize Botticelli's style.

Each day, as we met for the class, I felt an overwhelming joy and contentment with what God was doing. This class was a process for me and through this process, I felt God drawing me in. There really is no greater joy.

Here are the Botticelli pictures I mentioned. Do you see how the sleeves are the same?

The Annunciation

The Magnificat

Mystic Nativity (detail)

P.S. If you look at the Christmas cards you are getting in the mail this year, you may find a Botticelli on the postage stamp.

Art

What a wonderful time of year to talk about Art and Music Appreciation!
Last night we discussed Chapters 25 and 26 in Karen Andreola's book A Charlotte Mason Companion.

In Chapter 25 she talks about picture study. Picture study is a wonderful way to expose our children to great paintings and it really doesn't take too long. It can take as little as 10 minutes once a week or every other week.

Resources can be found on the internet (see the end of this post), at the library, in the bargain section of your local bookstore (big coffee-table books are wonderful) and at after-Christmas sales. You should be able to find calendars and Christmas cards on sale after the holidays are over. Also, be sure to check any Christmas cards you recieve. Even if the picture is not done by a famous artist, it could still be used for a picture study.

How to do it?

Give the child a picture face down. Then have him turn it over to look at it for 1 or 2 minutes. Don't talk to him during this time. Just let the artist speak to him. After the time is up, have him turn the picture back over and tell you what was in the picture. Can the child describe the picture? Was there anything that stood out to him? (This is a type of narration and will help the child to learn the habit of attention.)

At this point, you can do a couple of things.

1. You can discuss the picture. If you have done some research, you can tell the child about any symbolism that may be in the picture. Or you can briefly (and I emphasize "briefly" so you don't loose the child's attention) talk about the artist himself. You need not go into a lot of detail about the artist at the younger ages. As the child approaches the teen years, then he can learn about the lives of the artists.

2. Give the child a 4X6 copy of the picture and let him write about the picture on a notebooking page. He can write about a detail that stood out to him or the way the artist painted the picture - anything that helps the child to connect with the piece. Do not let the child just write, "this is an interesting picture" or "I like this picture very much." If they write that, ask them to answer the question "Why?" This notebooking page is perfect for your end of the year portfolio.

Once you have finished with this, be sure to display the picture somewhere in your house (We put ours on the refrigerator) so the child can see the picture again and again. Be sure it is at the child's eye level.

The site with the free notebooking pages can be found here: Notebookingpages. com
Just click on the link for Free Resources and you will find all sorts of pages for your porfolios.

Art websites that I recommend include (but are not limited to)
Web Gallery of Art
Biblical Art on the WWW
Art and the Bible
National Gallery of Art for Kids
National Galler of Art
National Gallery of Art Loan Program

Mount St. Mary's Grotto and mosaics

Over the last couple of weeks, I have been preparing for a Charlotte Mason Discussion Group that I will be hosting at my home. It's good to read back through CM books and notes I've taken previously and websites, etc. It reminds me of where I should be in educating my children. Last Friday I had the thought that we needed to take a field trip. We are studying Ancient Rome and I kept trying to think of a way to get mosaics in. I have a hard time with the construction paper cut in squares glued onto other construction paper. I guess it gets the idea across of making a picture with little squares.

In the back of my mind, I remembered that Mount St. Mary's University in Emmittsburg, Maryland has mosaics in their Grotto of Lourdes. So last Friday, I checked the weather for Monday - Perfect! - and we were off on Monday morning. It's only about a 30 minute drive from my house, but well worth it with no admission fees for the grotto.

We took our lunches and picniced at the Grotto. That part was so nice that, after an hour, we were still sitting there eating and chatting. I had to force the children and myself to get up so we could go see the rest of the Grotto.

It was so beautiful. We were able to stop at the different mosaics and the children narrated the bible story that was depicted.

Here are some pictures from our day.

This is DS4, exploring a seed pod that had fallen from a tree. This is nature study at it's finest.



The mosaics:

It was tricky to get photos of the mosaics because there was plexiglass over all of them. I was surprised at how interested the kids were in them. They got up close and studied the individual tiles. Also, these pictures don't do the mosaics justice.


This mosaic stands about 10 feet tall.

Risen Jesus

Dd9 next to the Baptism of Jesus


Gabriel visiting Mary


Ds4 looking at the Nativity


This is a spring in the Grotto. The verse on the stone says:

"Let anyone who thirsts come to me and drink......rivers of living water will flow from within him." John 7:37-38




This is a beautiful field trip and I would recommend it to anyone. We were able to cover art, nature study (science) and narration (languagle arts- oral language).

Art appreciation and nudity

Either next week or the following week, we will start taking a close look at art masterpieces. Over a period of 2 or 3 months, we will focus on one artist and look at his or her works. As anyone who has visited an art museum knows, nudity comes along with the territory of art appreciation sometimes.
Over the years, I have not covered the nudity in order for my girls to see the whole picture. I've heard of some moms putting a post-it note over the parts they didn't want their kids to see and I feel that takes away from the art and puts too much emphasis on the nudity. I do try to find pictures that don't contain nudity, but sometimes (as in Michelangelo's "David") it's unavoidable. It's a piece of art that identifies very clearly with the artist and something would be lost if it were covered or not even looked at.
After we have studied a piece of art, my girls will often cut out a pair of shorts (or other piece of clothing) from construction paper and cover the parts they don't want to see. The following is a refrigerator magnet I purchased when we studied Michelangelo.



Forunately for us, we live in the 21st century and have the internet. Ambleside Online is a wonderful resource which provides a schedule and pictures for study. Some have a little nudity, but AO offers a detail of such pictures that doesn't have nudity and can be used as an alternate.