Springtime Rainbows!

 With the coming of spring we have turned our attention to the science and beauty of... rainbows!

    Our first rainbow craft was a watercolor wind catcher. I prepared rainbow outlines for Rosie and me to fill in with watercolors, then cut out and attach raindrops with strings.

    Only instead of regular watercolors we made our own by adding a few drops of food coloring to little dishes of water! That made creating AND cleanup super easy!

    (Besides, Rosie is pretty much the food coloring Queen!)

Of course, craft time is not quite complete without tea and a snack, so while our tea was brewing (compliments of Rosie) we made an edible rainbow snack!

To make this fun rainbow-y treat, mix a couple drops food coloring in separate dishes of milk. Stir in a pinch of sugar, and paint onto a piece of bread! (We used clean Q-tips instead of paintbrushes)

Once your edible painting is finished, you can toast it lightly or enjoy as is!

Here is Rosie's beautiful Flower Garden with a Blue Sky!

And my Rainbow...

See how toasting brings out the colors?

Now... back to tea & craft time! After our paintings dry we can cut them out and assemble them.

    And here they are! The food-coloring watercolors have a really beautiful effect. I especially love water-based art for things like rainbows because they are made from water in real life.

Next, we tried another project Rosie had had her eye on... 

Edible finger paints!

These are literally just cool whip with food coloring added.

As you can see, we used a muffin tin for a pallet. 

What a fun, sunny day to make crafts outside!

    Painting our fingernails makes it "edible fingernail polish"!

Happy Learning!

<3 ~ Mama & Rosie

Clouds

It was last spring that we were studying clouds. We had just put up a fort/tower/swing set in our backyard and had climbed up on top. From there we could see the whole wide world. It brought me back to springs in my childhood, long forgotten, as we stood up there in the midst of the bright blue sky and billowing clouds. We were daydreaming and looking forward to all the things that spring would bring.

I am always looking for ways to introduce new subjects to the kids, so when I saw one particularly beautiful and mysterious cloud, I said, "Wow. I wonder what kind of cloud that is." Immediately Fynn came to see what it was and Rowan followed close behind. "What is it?" they asked. They were now curious about clouds. So we went in and researched clouds on the internet together. It turns out that cloud was a cumulonimbus.

We found a cloud identification game online that Fynn liked to play for a while, and I made us a cloud chart to hang on the wall, or to take with us in the car. Now we could identify any cloud in the sky. Fynn memorized them pretty well and made his own chart using a blue table cloth and pillow stuffing. We made cloud experiments with water, stuffing, bubbles, shaving cream and so on.

As the kids' interests turned to other things, I went on in my pondering of clouds. We had learned that clouds are formed  by water evaporating, and that it takes particles for the molecules to cling to, but there seems to be so much we don't know. For instance I can make a "cloud in a jar" but I'm really only creating steam or mist. I can't re- create those billowy white beings. I suspect the charges of ions must have something to do with their swirling billowing patterns. Water and wind seem to also have these patterns. And in a rigid, less flowing way, so do continents and land formations! Also, there seem to be so many more kinds of clouds in reality than we learn about in books. I'm still looking for answers to these questions, while the clouds themselves continue to inspire me, reminding me of the past and making promises of future adventures.

I will leave you with this verse from Joni Mitchell:

Flows and flows of angel hair
And ice cream castles in the air
Feathered canyons everywhere
I looked at clouds that way
But now they only block the sun
They rain and snow on everyone
So many things I would have done
But clouds got in my way

I've looked at clouds from both sides now
From up and down and still somehow
It's clouds' illusions I recall
I really don't know clouds at all

Happy learning!
~Beth

Why video games are good for you. 

 

We've entered into a scary time- video games. We know, they're bad for you. They rot th' brain. They're addictive. Not something we intentionally introduced to our kids, but, they found them anyway. I thank uncle nick- it all happened when he bought grandma and grandpa that Wii-
As homeschoolers we've learned to trust our son with his education- when he leads th' way his progress and learning is evident. He's taught us that you can learn anything from anything. Video games, it turns out, are no different. For one, it's brought our family together more. Before Donkey Kong we'd go over to grandma and grandpa's house and fynn would just kinda bounce around th' place, discontent, disruptive. He didn't really know what to do with himself. Now we all laugh and cheer and encourage and comfort him together. We're all sharing moments together, with him, and that's priceless. Also, he's learning how to self regulate. This is huge, his fits are like seizures, (in fact, i'm not sure they are not seizures) they come upon him at th' slightest provocation and can render our entire household useless for an indefinite amount of time. When th' storm passes he's really sorry, he just can't help it he says, it's like th' fuss just takes me over he says. It's really hard to watch him go through these episodes, hurting himself and others in th' process, and being unable to stop. An online video game freezing up can trigger one of these fits. So can just having a hard time with th' game. But lately we've begun to notice something unusual. When he's starting to get frustrated, instead of doing nothing and letting it escalate till he explodes, he'll stop th' game and do something else, like go on th' swing for a while, or watch a video of th' game on youtube. This gives us so much hope. He's learning, on his own, how to stop a meltdown before it happens. We've tried everythinG in th' book and some things not in th' book to get him to this point, and nothing has even hinted at working. Who knew it'd come from a video game?
So now he's trying to learn how to make his own video game. He's got it all planned out, drawn out, figured out. He's learning how to program- he says by th' time he's thirteen he'll have it made. We think that's pretty cool. He's setting long term goals for himself, and working hard towards them. He's learning. It's making him happy, and that is our ultimate goal for him, to be happy. When your child suffers so much, and you see his face light up at something, that's what you hang onto. That's what gives you hope. A smile. Find what it is your kids love to do, and do it with them. Trust them. You'll be amazed at what you find.

Volcano Day!

 We recently watched the Pixar short film, I Lava You, and the kids loved it, so ka-pow!- they were into volcanoes again.  This time they were excited to learn about the process of new islands being formed by volcanoes. Here they are being volcanoes and making islands.

 Fynn made a volcano from towels, and we drew chalk volcanoes outside...

 Rowan made a foil volcano...

And we just had so much fun!

Happy Learning!
~Beth

GLOW NIGHT

 I got to have another Mama & Fynn time the other night! It's been a while. I took him to the GLOW Night of Worship at church. That means a lot of black lights & dressing up in florescent & white.  There were plenty of stations for kids to make glow- jewelry- crafts, and Fynn and I used florescent ribbons to decorate Mama Whale.  Then glow sticks were passed out and the lights went down and the fun began...

While other kids danced and sang to the music, Fynn and I sat on the ground while he used his glow-stick to contemplate different angles.

 We had a nice time talking together in the car on the way there & back (A BIG DEAL) and we talked about putting on a "Glow Night" for Rowan, since it had been a few months since we busted out our own black light. So, over the next few days, we made paintings and drawings with florescent paint & markers and put on our own "Glow Night". We had a lot of fun. ~b