Oh, Dearest Mother, Sweetest Virgin of Altagracia, our Patroness. You are our Advocate and to you we recommend our needs. You are our Teacher and like disciples we come to learn from the example of your holy life. You are our Mother, and like children, we come to offer you all of the love of our hearts. Receive, dearest Mother, our offerings and listen attentively to our supplications. Amen.



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alicegunther
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Posted: Feb 03 2005 at 8:13pm | IP Logged Quote alicegunther

Cindy writes:

>We have stacks and stacks of drawings done on copy >paper. Any idea how to bind them without punching holes >which may mar the drawings?

We keep our standard size artwork in sheet protectors in decorated three ring binders.




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Posted: Feb 03 2005 at 9:31pm | IP Logged Quote Cindy

Alice-

I had thought of that.. I have enough Cindy Rushton influence in me that I keep Office Depot in cash with my binder purchases...

But-- we have LOTS of drawings..I think the pile is probably 2 feet high if stacked up. I know we should probably take the best of the best (do the binders as you suggest) and file the rest...



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Posted: Feb 03 2005 at 10:46pm | IP Logged Quote Willa

OK Cindy -- I'm trying to refresh my homeschooling vision in this New Year... please share how you ended up with stacks of drawings.   I have some younger boys around here that seem to prefer wrestling and throwing footballs to drawing -- I have stacks of drawings but they're all from the first set of kids, who are now teenagers.... I'd just like a view into other CM-inspired homeschools ... that's what I'm really enjoying about this board

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Posted: Feb 04 2005 at 8:36am | IP Logged Quote Cindy

WJFR wrote:
OK Cindy -- I'm trying to refresh my homeschooling vision in this New Year... please share how you ended up with stacks of drawings.   I have some younger boys around here that seem to prefer wrestling and throwing footballs to drawing -- I have stacks of drawings but they're all from the first set of kids, who are now teenagers.... I'd just like a view into other CM-inspired homeschools ... that's what I'm really enjoying about this board


Willa! How funny.. I have to beg my boys to throw a football or attend a boys' get-together to play capture the flag or basketball.

When I say drawings, these are not nature drawings or copying mastepieces.    My boys love to draw and they spend lots of time on it. Most of their drawings also tell stories.. some are comics, some are characters they have made up (One is called "Mr. Life Values" and he has a hilarious voice and pops up now and then to lecture us all ,)

Drawing has always been a part of their life and I think in large part it is just part of their personalities. I think every child is unique and will tend toward what they enjoy. I try to bring in things they may not find on their own and encourage it. Maybe your second set will be draw-ers but maybe not...? We can always encourage and see what happens.

I tried to get my guys to do realistic drawing in the past, particularly for nature notebooks. We just have a smattering because that didn't take well. They prefer 3-D and cartoonish drawing. The favorite book we have used over the years are Mark Kistler's Draw Squad, and sequals. He teaches the main principles, including perspective, etc. It has helped their creativity and skill. A bonus is when we have read read aloud, they would draw while listening. I asked them to draw 'on topic' so they could still listen. We got some nice drawings of Greek mythogical figures and Ben Franklin... I think it is more fun to draw if you like they way it turns out.

So the boys have created mountains of drawings and most of the them tell a story of characters they have created- some are done in 5 minutes. Right now they are drawing Sonic the Hedgehog in many different situations... my oldest draws at least 15 minutes all over his math sheet before he ever starts. Kind of like Mozart clearing his mind before a concert?   

Also for many apppointments or waiting times we would only bring paper and pencil... lots of drawing was done in waiting rooms...



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Posted: Feb 04 2005 at 9:46am | IP Logged Quote alicegunther

Cindy wrote:
Most of their drawings also tell stories.. some are comics, some are characters they have made up (One is called "Mr. Life Values" and he has a hilarious voice and pops up now and then to lecture us all ,)


Mr. Life Values sounds hilarious, Cindy! I laughed out loud just hearing about it--it's so great when children develop a real sense of humor. My husband is very funny, and I think he developed his wit and humor by growing up with six funny brothers.

Love, Alice


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Posted: Feb 04 2005 at 3:53pm | IP Logged Quote Cindy

alicegunther wrote:
Cindy wrote:
Most of their drawings also tell stories.. some are comics, some are characters they have made up (One is called "Mr. Life Values" and he has a hilarious voice and pops up now and then to lecture us all ,)


Mr. Life Values sounds hilarious, Cindy! I laughed out loud just hearing about it--it's so great when children develop a real sense of humor. My husband is very funny, and I think he developed his wit and humor by growing up with six funny brothers.




I'll bet your husband is hilarious..! Yes, and Mr. Life Values has a sidekick named Griddy who is an orange and black soccer ball. (You see what happens to most sports equipment in this house... )-- he gets lost for months and then shows up. We think Griddy is in some overgrown flowerbed at the moment...

It's those little things in life that make you laugh the most!



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Posted: Feb 05 2005 at 1:15am | IP Logged Quote Leonie

Oh, Cindy, my boys love drawing and writing comic books - Anthony is doing that just now, as I type!

Willa, do your children read any comic books or books like Asterix and Tintin or graphic novels? These "genre" have inspired my boys to draw.

When Luke stayed in Houston with Cindy, he had strict instructions from the younger boys to visit the Comic Book store there and buy those comics that are hard to get in Australia - Star Wars, Archie.

My boys also tend to be inspired by my drawing - I am a terrible drawer but I still sketch in my journal when we go to parks and museums and art galleries , and at home, and the boys tend to follow suit.

The other items that inspire art in my boys are new felt pens, pencils, oil pastels, new skectchbooks and when I find new how to draw books and new picture books at the library.

I just strew these in their line of vision.

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Posted: Feb 05 2005 at 7:56am | IP Logged Quote Cindy

Yes, Leonie- and I think you talking of your boys doing that helped encourage me to encourage them. It is very creative and gives them lots of room for self-expression. ATM they are copying from comic books, video game covers. They subscribe the the Sonic comics- very clean and no mature content. Lissa probably knows more good ones, too.

Willa, I thought of another good drawing book- have you heard of Drawing with Children? It is more realistic and very, very encouraging. She spends the first chapter talking about the atmosphere you want to create (non-judgmental), etc. You can do alone, or with a group- I used in our co-op a few years ago. Fun for adults, too.

Someone has probaby said this. but, modeling works well, too. Start it yourself, and see if they join in. I know you already know that! Leonie's idea to strew all those neat markers, pencils, etc is really great, too. And keeping it all accessable...



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Posted: Feb 05 2005 at 9:51am | IP Logged Quote Willa

Cindy,
I loved your description of your boys' drawing habit. No, I wasn't necessarily envisioning wonderfully shaded field drawings or anything like that.   I liked the details you shared about their characters -- Mr Life Values-- how wonderful!   Isn't it great when the teenagers and pre-teens start developing their adult senses of humors?   My teens periodically send out "newspapers" with quite dry and amusing descriptions of the opposing candidates politics and personalities    You can see their view of modern politics coming out ....

Gee, maybe I already mentioned that modelling/imitating doesn't seem to work for me very well except veery indirectly   --- could it be that I'm not a very fun mom? Sigh......

Leonie, they are pretty big on Asterix and Tintin; and Cindy, funny about the Sonic cartoons.   I got really good at drawing Sonic when my oldest was about 6 or 7.   We even have a Sonic costume around I made for him waaay back years ago.   He always wanted ME to draw them for him --- actually, right now he's the one who draws the most and the best right now .

Thanks for all those ideas and yes, I'd love to hear anything else you'd like to share.   I'll look into the resources you mention.

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Posted: Feb 05 2005 at 11:48am | IP Logged Quote alicegunther

     Speaking of journals and drawings, a friend of mine was telling me about a professional artist he knows who keeps a daily journal of illustrations and has not missed a day in over three years. Each day, he draws something to represent what has happened or something that is on his mind. These drawings have turned into an illuminated manuscript of his life--but without words. I have not seen it, but apparently it is very impressive.

     This seems to me to be a concept that could be adapted for children who love to draw or even used as an introduction to journaling for younger children who cannot write yet. Do any of your children keep daily art journals?

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Posted: Feb 05 2005 at 12:14pm | IP Logged Quote Chari

You know, the BIGGEST help to my kids in their wanting to draw with their own internal motivation.........NOT mom telling them to draw..........was hiring a "drawing" tutor. I was going to call the local JC.....to see if I could find an art student.........but, I tried word-of-mouth first......and was blessed to find a "professional" artist........who ONLY drew....no painting.........so it was very focused.........it really helps to draw before you paint, most of the time....

I paid her $25 for 1.5 hours......for all five kids.....and sometimes even the two year old sat in.......she came to my house......I provided most of the supplies, as I already had them........and she came every two weeks.......and left them with some homework..we discussed my goals, and how she wanted to accomplish them.......she made sure there was fun........and I told her I wanted them to feel comfortable doing nature drawing, so she took them outside a lot

it has been 9 months since their last lesson (we did it for one school year.......could not afford it this year)

and they all draw spontaneously now.........and have a great grasp of basic drawing skills....and some extra artist secrets..........they are not afraid to draw anything now.......big change.......I used to only have ONE kid like that

Anne's nature journal is beautiful this year.....and she has been experimenting....maybe I should take some pictures?

Matthew has a signature drawing......he often draws mount shasta....likes to use watercolors....

sarah is my natural artist

maddelyn is not afraid of the blank paper anymore...huge accomplishment!!

and garrett ready to go anytime.....

just my recommendation.......see? we do art and music study here......and some day, we will get to the basic academic skills :)

in the sweet heart of Mary,




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Posted: Feb 05 2005 at 2:44pm | IP Logged Quote Willa

alicegunther wrote:
     
     This seems to me to be a concept that could be adapted for children who love to draw or even used as an introduction to journaling for younger children who cannot write yet. Do any of your children keep daily art journals?


My kids used to do this and maybe that's how I got the older ones into the drawing habit, now that you mention it.

1-- I used to have them draw when I was reading aloud to them (kept their hands busy and helped them focus).

2-- When we used to do our 20-min free writing before lunch, the younger kids were allowed to "free draw" instead.   Even the older kids could draw if they at least wrote a label on their picture.

3--- my oldest son still keeps an art journal, or rather, it's an idea notebook with all kinds of things in it, but a lot of it in storyboard form.   

4-- A couple of the boys do Microsoft Word art.   They've figured out the graphic tools on it and they can make really cool swords and armor and shields, things like that, with shadings and neat colors and everything. It's not pure art but I guess it's applied techno art anyway, and that IS the influence they get around here with a computer game programmer dad and my daughter's godfather being a computer graphic artist.

Hmm, you all, thanks for all this thinking you are making me do

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Posted: Feb 05 2005 at 5:49pm | IP Logged Quote Leonie

Alice,

Our journals are art and writing and nature journals - so they have a bit of everything, depending on how we feel and on what we are journaling.

Over time, the art and writing make a good record of our life and our learning.

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Posted: Feb 06 2005 at 10:23am | IP Logged Quote alicegunther

>You know, the BIGGEST help to my kids in their wanting >to draw with their own internal motivation.........NOT >mom telling them to draw..........was hiring >a "drawing" tutor. I was going to call the local >JC.....to see if I could find an art >student.........but, I tried word-of-mouth >first......and was blessed to find a "professional" >artist........who ONLY drew....no painting.........so >it was very focused.........it really helps to draw >before you paint, most of the time....

We had a similar experience, Chari. I just wrote a detailed response to this under the heading "Art Teacher" at the art forum (Cultivating Chaos and Cacaphone--I love the name of that forum--it pretty much describes how I spend my days!)


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Posted: Feb 06 2005 at 10:32am | IP Logged Quote alicegunther

Leonie writes:
>Our journals are art and writing and nature journals - >so they have a bit of everything, depending on how we >feel and on what we are journaling.

I can't think of a better way to elicit writing from our children. One of my daughters wrote one of her most beautiful passages just describing the wildlife in a tree outside our window. I hadn't asked her to do it. She just wanted to add something to her nature journal, and it was too cold to go outside.

By the way, years ago, before I had ever even heard of Charlotte Mason, I had my two and three year olds start keeping nature journals. We used white pages with sheet protectors and binders. The girls put everything in those journals--drawings, seeds and leaves and pressed flowers, pictures cut from magazines and seed packets, original poetry they narrated to me at the spur of the moment, cute little original stories. Anyway, at the time, I actually thought the concept of nature journaling for kids was my own idea!!! LOL! When I read Karen Andreola's "A Charlotte Mason Companion," I said, "Eureka!"--this is my method, but a lot of other people came up with it first!

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Posted: Feb 11 2005 at 9:45am | IP Logged Quote MacBeth

WJFR wrote:
Hi MacBeth!

So just how long does it take to make a little book? Not the mechanics but the content?   Do you suggest topics, or sit them down after a nature walk or cultural outing?

I made paper a few years back .... it was fun.... maybe we should try it again.



Sorry I lost this thread in my new learning experience. I frequently bookmar or tag messages for follow-up on the old list...I am not sure if there is a way to do this.

Willa, in this case, I get a journal out of them for a field trip and bind it. Sometimes a few narrations go into it, sometimes photos or drawings, sometimes a bit of poetry that the kids feel enhances the journal.

Sometimes they journal online (like Trip's Mysitc CT narration,) and add photos to the website, too.

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Posted: Feb 11 2005 at 9:50am | IP Logged Quote MacBeth

Cindy wrote:
MacBeth- Did you tell us how you bind your journals? I looked but may have had a lapse    I would love to know how.



I sew the pages with thick thread or rafia (if I can find it--it looks cool). Then I glue the empty (I warn them) first and last pages to the cover, and put a tape edge along the spine. Tapes come in so many colors and patterns these days...anyway, without glue-drying time, it only takes a few minutes to bind a small book.

Hearthsong used to sell a paper-making kit. It came wh lots of cotton pulp, which helps make a very thick paper for the book covers. It also comes with the deckle, sponge, blotter, etc. for making very nice paper.

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Posted: Feb 11 2005 at 11:15pm | IP Logged Quote alicegunther

If any of you would like to post sample pages from your children's journals, we'd love to see them!

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Posted: Feb 17 2005 at 6:58pm | IP Logged Quote amiefriedl

Ladies,
We are gearing up for our first 'real' year of nature journaling so I have been following this topic with interest. A few pages back someone mentioned laminating some of the pages for various notebooking. I really need to do this for some of my son's works but I am AFRAID of purchasing THE WRONG laminator.

Could any of you recommend the correct/best laminator to purchase? I know there is 'hot' and 'cold' laminators but I couldn't tell which would be better for which purpose.    Would a 'hot' laminator potentially ruin precious drawings?

You help would be GREATLY appreciated!


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