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

When Learning Spills Over into Play

In Karen Andreola's book A Charlotte Mason Companion: Personal Reflections on the Gentle Art of Learning, Chapter Four tells us that Education is a Science of Relations. I have always said that we make connections with what we already know.

I get so excited when I see my kids making connections. During the month of November, I have been reading Pilgrim Stories by Margaret Pumphrey to them. All the while, they are building their Thanksgiving notebooks. Yesterday, I walked past the living room where my daughters were playing with a friend of theirs. Their friend was wrapped up tight in a blanket and I asked what they were doing. They said they were pretending it was the Pilgrims' first winter at Plymouth and the friend was pretending to be Priscilla Mullins and dd10 was pretending to be Mistress Brewster. Priscilla was sick and Mistress Brewster trying to bring her back to health. DD11 was pretending to be Squanto and was showing them how to grow food.

Inside my brain I did a loud "WOOHOO!!!!!" because this form of play shows me that they got something out of what I read to them. They made a connection! This also tells me that they will remember what we learned about Thanksgiving for a long, long time. They didn't learn anything for a test only to forget it right away.

Here are a couple of pictures.

We are not so sure that Squanto had eggs to bring, but in our version, dd11 went to our chicken coupe in our back yard and brought eggs to the ailing pilgrims.



Mistress Brewster also took care of sick babies at our Plymouth hospital.

Christmas Carol class and notebook

Every December is filled with one thing after another. Sometimes it can get busy and lessons sometimes fall to the wayside. Last year, I had the thought to teach a class for homeschoolers from my home that last full week before Christmas. The class was based on Charles Dickens' Christmas Carol. It was nice, because it kept me "on track" but was within the spirit of the season. My kids got to spend some time with friends and their parents had the chance to do some things they needed to do without worrying about the lessons falling to the wayside.

A Christmas Carol was a good book to study. It is written in 5 staves (chapters) and we covered one stave a day. Each day at the end of reading, writing, creating notebook pages, etc, we would watch a different version of the movie. At the end of the week, the kids were to critique the movies and write about their favorite. The versions included a 1935 version starring Sir Cedric Hardwick I found at Target for $1, a Mickey Mouse version, the Muppets version, and the version with George C. Scott.

Each day, the kids would write a narration of the stave we were focusing on for the day. Then we would do different activities. One day, they had to sculpt a character from the story out of clay. That was great.

On the last day, each child had a notebook that he/she could take home and share with relatives over the holidays. In the back of the notebook, I added a couple of blank pages so that they could get signatures and comments of those with whom they shared their lapbooks.

The following pictures are from dd10's complete notebook. I am only posting the original pages I came up with. There are other pages in the book that I purchased online. The notebook has about 22 pages (counting fronts and backs its 44 pages).

This is the cover she designed herself.


Inside the front cover.

On index cards, we wrote significant events in Charles Dickens' life. We then put the cards in this pocket.


A watercolor painting of Jacob Marley's ghost painted on appropriate paper and cut out and placed in the notebook.

A trifold of dd10's Christmas 5 years ago, Christmas present, and Christmas in 10 years from now. Notice my little princess thinks she'll be driving a pink car in 10 years.

A written narration of "Want" and "Ignorance" along with an illustration of each tucked inside the "rounded triangle petal book" found at Homeschool Share .

Movie review page. They chose which was their favorite version and gave reasons why.

My sis-in-law actually took us to see a performance on stage. These are photographs and a ticket stub from the performance.

Reader's Signature Page

"Each time you share this notebook with others, have them sign and comment on your notebook on these pages."

Whenever a child shares his/her notebook, it reinforces what was learned and provides opportunity for oral narration. It can be fun for them to try to get those last couple of pages filled with signatures.

Trampolines, PE and Music

Over the summer I found a little trampoline at Goodwill for $5. I have been wanting one for a while to keep indoors for those long winter months of limited physical activity. In the last week or so, it's been hard to get outside and my kids discovered the trampoline. My 4 year old son likes to jump while shouting out is ABC's. The older girls shout out the Greek alphabet. They are trying to invent games that involve bouncing on the trampoline (kind of like an obstacle course in our basement).

My favorite has to be when they get on it and sing their favorite songs. Today, ds4 was singing "Big House" by Audio Adrenaline and "Yo Ho Hero" by the Newsboys. Here are a couple of pictures of ds4 with dd10 getting in on the action.

This was $5 well spent.

Dirtbikes and Habit Training

One of the things I love about my husband is that he works very hard to provide for us. He works really hard. He is a professional firefighter and works 24 hour shifts. During his shift, he may get a couple of hours of sleep and be out at all hours of the night helping people. While we are snug in our beds, he is out there taking verbal abuse from those experiencing drug overdoses, those who made a bad decision while driving or from those who have been in pain for the last 12 hours and thought that 3am is a good time to call for help.
He also sees stuff that the rest of us couldn't even imagine. I realize he censors what he tells me and that is all bad enough.
All of that said, he loves his job. He gets off at 7am and drives about 1.5 hours to get home.

I try really hard to convey to the children that daddy deserves to come home to a house that is straightened up. He works hard and the least we can do is make sure he has a clear path to the bed so he can rest when he gets here.

Somehow, last night, I missed our dirt bike that was sitting out on our sidewalk. The kids had it out yesterday and failed to put it away. They also failed to pick the helmets up out of the yard. This morning he came home and found our dirtbike out on the sidewalk. That made him really angry.

I feel that I talk until I am blue in the face and the children just don't seem to be listening. I think the problem is the lack of consequences for bad habits. So this morning, the dirt bike was the straw that broke the camel's back.

When I first thought of grounding them, I thought that would be the best thing to do. Then I remembered all the stuff on our calendar for the next two days and started to reconsider. Here is another great thing about my husband, he helped me to see that they may just have to miss these things this time.

Although I am following through with this grounding for two days, my heart is breaking because of what they will miss. At the same time, I'm thinking, "Woohoo! I don't have to drive anywhere today!"
Is that wrong?

My Camera

A little mommy aggravation here.

Yes, I'm going to vent.

My camera had been missing for days. I looked high and low for it and even asked the kids if they had used it for anything. Of course the little angels knew nothing of the whereabouts of my camera. My 2nd daughter's birthday was Tuesday and that morning, I was looking feverishly for it all up until the moment we walked out the door for her party.

That evening, I started looking for it again. Dh got irritated that I couldn't find it ( I guess I complained a little about the camera being gone.)
Well, he found it. Guess where.

It was in the chicken coupe out back buried in straw.

Here are the last pictures taken on it.

When I was looking for the camera, I specifically asked the children if they took pictures of the chickens and they insisted that they hadn't. Hmmmmmm.
So my conclusion is that while we were gone, those chicken broke into the house, took the camera and just had the time of their lives taking pictures of each other out there. When they heard us come home, they quickly buried the camera in the straw and said they'd blame the kids. Pretty amazing considering they don't have opposable thumbs.

Grrrrrrr. Crazy chickens.