The Continuing Adventures of Bonnie and Clyde

One of the biggest surprises when we first started homeschooling was the HUGE number of activities which were available to homeschooling families in our area.  So, the first year we signed up for too many activities, and were run ragged hurrying from one thing to another.  The next year, we backed off a little too much, and the kids felt we were home too much.  Every year since has been a bit of a balancing act.

So, this year, we deliberately picked activities that didn’t occur every single week.  It provides us with the variety, and a lot of flexibility in the schedule.  This week, however, was one of those rare weeks when all the activities collided into the same schedule.   Oy!

In our first art class of the week, Bonnie had to create and paint a mold in her pottery class (Clyde decided to skip this activity).  Bonnie chose a Christmas tree for her mold, and while the class waited for the clay to dry enough to paint, she chose a horse-head magnet to paint.   Both items have to wait until the next class to be picked up, though, so no pictures yet.

In the 2nd art class, a couple of us have gotten together and formed an art co-op based on the Discovering Great Artists book.  The book features art  activities for children to experience the styles and techniques of the great masters.  For example, they might emulate what it’s like to be Michaelangelo painting on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel by laying down on their backs and painting on paper taped to the underside of a table.

Our co-op started our first session by learning about Piet Mondrian and Andy Warhol.

Piet Mondrian wanted to create pictures to express thoughts and feelings entirely created with straight lines and simple colors.   Here’s one of Clyde’s attempts.  He just couldn’t stay with rectangles, or leave any white space in it, though.

Andy Warhol liked making art using the images of famous people or things.  Many of his paintings show repeats of the same image colored in different ways.  Bonnie was really excited about this one.  In her picture, she gave herself a different necklace for each image.

The creepy skin tone seems really fitting for Halloween, too… But she really had fun messing with Clyde.   She took the picture of his favorite bear and made it a Colts fan (something Clyde is NOT).

Thanks R for leading the kids on such fun activities!

Besides the two days of art activities, it was also Girl Scout week.  This week, the girls had a guest speaker – a police detective, who shared what it was like to be an investigator, to help them work towards their Marvelous Mysteries Badge.  Our family finished up the badge last night with a rousing Murder Mystery game at home.

Next week should have much less running around, thank goodness!

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