Painting with Daddy

There was a time when Saturday morning was miss L and Daddy time. I would sleep in and they would do their own thing.

Times have changed. I've gotten more used to my life of waking up early and the noise level in my house has certainly gotten to a place where it's nearly impossible to try sleeping in. Miss L isn't even the early riser anymore. Mister W has taken her place and if we stay up late there are times that she might sleep until even 9:00 (that's late at our house...).

So... on April 18 when Brad and miss L found themselves alone for a time they went right back to those Saturdays of daddy/daughter time. She wanted to paint and that's what they did. They definitely share a special bond and I love how they enjoy their time together!

Homeschool - Trays

Homeschooling next year is something that simultaneously excites and overwhelms me. The perfectionist in my really wants to get it just right and the creator in me wants to make everything up as we go along tailoring each and every day to miss L's need at that time. I have these visions of miss L and I sitting at the kitchen table performing science experiments and reading scores of beginning reader books from the library. Realistically I have to keep in mind the fact that I do have three children at home. There are simply going to be times when I really must deal with things that aren't miss L's education even though my utopian homeschool involves so much of us just working together.

Pinterest has been such an amazing resource for me. It's fairly easy to find those moms who homeschool their kids and have philosophies very similar to mine. Though I only have rudimentary knowledge of montessori techniques, I do find myself coming back to those pages most often. One recurring theme in montessori homeschool is the idea of trays. The idea is that children can visit them in whatever order they choose and work at their own pace. 

This idea was sort of revolutionary to me and incorporating these trays has become part of my plan for our every day homeschool. Each day I'd like to introduce trays that include fine motor practice, sensory play, visual processing and one with anything else. She loves doing these trays when we bring them out (not every day at this point, but in the fall they will be).

In the picture directly below we have the feed the rabbit game (fine motor), puzzles (visual processing), free art with stamping and do a dot markers (sensory play) and handwriting practice (fine motor).

Something I think I underestimated in planning the trays is how much mister W wants to be a part of them. I have realized that I must include at least one tray that he can use as well. This day he was enjoying the play-doh create a monster tray.

Miss L enjoyed the free handwriting practice tray. She loves this whiteboard that we picked up and using a real grown-up marker. I actually didn't even know she could write all of her letters so I had to take a few photos to remember what they looked like.

Miss L made some crazy monsters too.

We love our trays!

Painting Flowers April 2012

We love painting in this house. Mister W got four spill proof paint cups in his stocking this Christmas and both he and miss L really love using them. Since we were in need of SOMETHING to do in our post tonsillectomy haze but nothing too physically intense. Miss L picked out some flowers (given to us in an awesome busy box while I was pregnant with the twins by a friend. That box was AMAZING!) and the paints and we stripped mister W's shirt off and got ready to go.

I love watching all of my children, but because miss L is my first watching her is always even more amazing to me. It's fascinating to me to think that even a year ago she'd have taken the flowers and painted them all one color or painted random colors on them without a thought to what she was painting. Now she's meticulous. She wants the pots one color, the flowers another color and the stems yet another. She wants to mix colors to create purple and green (even though we have green :o). It's just pretty amazing to watch her grow and change. 

Mister W, of course, is still into painting for the experience. He just likes it, so that's what he does. His flowers left some white space with splashes of color. The human brain is just so interesting, isn't it?

When we ran out of flowers we switched to paper and continued.

This is the first time I remember miss L painting pictures so purposefully. This is of a lake near our house. You can see the grass in the front with the lake behind and the sun in the sky.

...and what would a painting be without a place to display it? :o)