Handling Clay

Pottery has to be the most calming yet fulfilling handicraft I've dealt with.  We worked with clay once a week, completing one project at each sit-down session.  I first made a phone call to our local studio (Wild Ginger Studios) to ask questions about firing and handling finished clay.  I hadn't realized our clay would need to be fired in a kiln and not in our oven.  But the studio does outside firings and the owner gave great advice about how to make and transport our pieces.

The kids loved the squishing and molding.  Jonathan (7) and Phoebe (5) needed more help shaping their pieces.  Some of their pieces turned out better than their mother's though!  You have to work fast and keep clay covered with plastic or the clay will dry out (a few squirts from the water bottle returns moisture).  We learned three techniques: pinch pot, coil pot, and slab pots.  It felt so professional to use the tools.  Elizabeth had a special artsy outfit she would wear for each session. 

There is a definite mess to clean up at the end!  

                                    

But the clay wipes up easily.  The tools get washed and everything put back into a box.  The whole process makes me happy; I may have discovered a new fulfilling interest.  Maybe it takes me back to my childhood days of playing in the mud.  At any rate, this has been a pleasant experience for the whole family.  We plan to continue the projects in the kit with the upcoming school year.  I'm on the search for more clay nearby (shipping about doubles the price).   Painting and firing our pots come next.  

Go to A Search for Pottery

Handling Clay

Go to A Plethora of Pots

A Search for Pottery

Handicrafts are a fun party of a Charlotte Mason education.  I love needlework, wood and paper crafts, painting....  But children need help learning a useful skill, and teaching three school-aged kids separate crafts was getting to be too much.  So I went on a quest for a handicraft we could do together as a family.  

Pottery was on the forefront of my mind.  It's earthy and rustic and kids love playing with clay.  The price for classes for all of us was too steep (about $450, although I thought about asking if they could do a family class for less).  I'm definitely interested in wheel work for myself at some point.  The kids aren't old enough for that yet (I believe she said they needed to be 13 or older).  But I did find a place in Texas that sells pottery kits with clay and tools included: Heritage Ministries' Homesteading Crafts.  The kit cost $30 with enough clay for one person to do 9 projects.  Shipping came out to $30 also, but I was willing to pay $60 for this kit.

I figured we'd use less clay by making smaller projects and just make it through a few to see how we liked it.  If we wanted to continue, I could purchase more clay.  After a little confusion with the company (which a manager cleared up with a phone call), I found that shipping was only $15 and the other $15 was refunded to my credit card.  So total cost for this pottery kit was $45.

The tools are real and sharp ~ definitely for older kids with parental supervision.  My 5, 7, and 10 year olds handled them fine with my direction.  We only did pottery when the baby was napping.  There are a couple of other supplies we needed to gather: water bottle, plastic, rolling pin, etc.  And our dining table handled fine as a work surface.

So our search for a family handicraft that all (including Mom) would enjoy was successful.  More on creating our pots in the next two posts.

A Search for Pottery

Go to Handling Clay

Go to A Plethora of Pots

They Won't Remember Everything

Doing The Thinker

I love the generous curriculum idea put forth by Charlotte Mason. Many subjects which widen their horizons are being covered by my children. It can be an overwhelming educational principle, however, when you're teaching multiple grades or trying to meticulously cover every subject.

Elizabeth (grade 5) does up to 20 subjects a day. Jonathan (2nd) can do up to 14 a day, and Phoebe (K) does 7-10. Some of these are family do-togethers, and Elizabeth and Jonathan do some on their own also. While we are normally able to finish our work before kids get out of public school, I often feel doubtful that we're covering each subject well enough. How can you cover so many areas and remember it all?

While reading Volume 3 of Charlotte Mason's series, I found some comfort to salve this worry. (Check out pages 162-163 if you want to read it yourself.) Charlotte was talking about the need for a wide curriculum and how we shouldn't limit a child's access to certain subjects intending a predetermined pathway for him. For instance, we think he should not waste time on Latin since it won't be of use to him in the commercial pursuits we imagine for him. From there though we read how only "a few notions" will catch hold of a child; but when they do catch hold, they can work more wonders than years of grind. There's no need to limit the variety of knowledge relationships your child can pursue. And it is not expected that every bit of information or fragment of experience will light your child's mind on fire with connection and light-bulbyness. *Whew* It does take a load off.

Teachers offer access to the wide range of knowledge and experiences and then step back allowing the child to connect to the material. The teacher does not need to fret if the child does not make the connections she would make. She needs not fret if all 20 subjects from the day do not set the child off in a delightful narration. There was likely at least one solid connection established that day. One notion that made the child pause and reflect for a moment before continuing his reading or translating Latin. We serve up the best that we can, trust good habits, keep a wise eye, and set them off to pursue a life of learning.

At the end of Volume 3 similar words of comfort are written:

The average child studies with 'delight.' We do not say he will remember all he knows, but, to use a phrase of Jane Austens, he will have had his imagination warmed in many regions of knowledge.

Red Harvester Ants

These were discovered near our home on a nature study walk. They look freaky with their square heads, big pincers, and large red bodies, but they are very cool. We haven't been bitten by any of them, though that was what I was most afraid of (we have been bitten by red ants nearby, however). They seem to leave you alone if you leave them alone. They have a flat mound with a circle of bare dirt around the entryway. And you can see one of the trails leading from their mound to their food. They harvest seeds for food. Not sure where from around here. Grass seeds maybe? We have a lot of Longtailed Grackles in our yard, and they eat seeds too. Maybe it's grass or clover or some kind of weed that's producing the seeds they eat.

The Texas Horned Lizard gobbles them up. I'm kind of hoping we see one of those guys at some point.

Tractor Refinishing Handicraft

My dad was given two 60+ year old toy tractors, and Jonathan was on the receiving end of one of the tractors. He was very impressed that a toy would last that long. Harrison was taking it to bed with him for a while.

We decided we would refinish this tractor for a school handicraft project. I'm not sure we did it exactly right, but it was a lot of fun and I would definitely do this project again. We might even start searching for antique metal toys to refinish.

First we placed the tractor in a plastic bag and poured in rubbing alcohol. We tied the bag and made sure the whole tractor was soaked. After 10 or so minutes we could take it out and rub off the old paint with a rag, toothbrush and toothpick (for the tiny spots). This took several days.

Second, we scrubbed the tires with a toothbrush and soapy water to get off all the dirt.

Third, we covered the tires with several layers of masking tape careful not to cover any of the metal parts that we would paint.

Fourth, we sprayed (outside on top of newspaper) primer over the tractor. After it dried for an hour we sprayed it with red paint. Jonathan did fine with the big sweeps of spray and I did the cracks and crevices. We did have to sand down some drips and spray again the next day. I had to hang it from a hanger attached to a tree branch so I could get at all the tiny spaces. It's sprayed on there pretty thick, so you can actually nick the paint easily. I think we need to have less paint next time. Or maybe a different brand?

Jonathan is eight, so I'm not sure he could have done this whole project on his own. But he learned and at some point will be able to. Some projects get drug out over time and you just want to finish them already! But this one was worthwhile, fun, not too long, and definitely a good skill.

Top 10 Ways to Cut Out the Tiles for Delightful Reading

I've started Phoebe on Delightful Reading this week. She was wanting to do more "grown-up" work and was very excited to start on her own box of Delightful Reading. (I used this program for Jonathan, but used my shabby first-draft stuff since we started before the kit was published.)

Since it was a new kit, all the tiles needed to be cut out. Now I know some do not enjoy the cutting out part, but one of my favorite parts of homeschooling is all the preparation and lesson planning, so it is right up my alley. Nevertheless, my mind couldn't help constructing a top ten list of ways to aid the tile-cutting process.

1. Pay your kids to do it.

2. Watch your favorite movie while cutting.

3. Use a cutting board to cut the long lines; then snip, snip along the short ones.

4. Eat chocolate. It makes anything fun!

5. Play upbeat music. Maybe even jig a little.

6. Reward yourself with cheesecake. Or chocolate.

7. Skype or conference call your BFF. Better yet, have a croppin' party with her!

8. Think up your own Top Ten List.

9. Start thinking of how your kids will grow up and leave you and how sad and empty the house will seem, and start bawling over those precious alphabet letters.

10. Definitely grab a bowl of ice cream and top it with chocolate.

Ten Homeschooling Don'ts

"I don't know the key to success, 

                          but the key to failure is trying to please everybody."   

                                                                                                         ~ Bill Cosby

Ten Homeschooling Don'ts 

1. Don't start your child too early.  There is no reason for it, and it may do more harm than good.  I know you are eager!  Instead do lots of reading up on your chosen philosophy of education.  Research home education to your heart's content.  Read the school books recommended by your curriculum (especially ones that your child may read on his own when he's older).  But don't do sit-down work with your child until he is ready (for various reasons, we wait and start a half-hour-a-day or less preschool when our kids turn 5).  You can even put out books and manipulatives and handicraft items for him to explore as long as you don't tease him into interest.  Let him discover for the first 5 or 6 years of his life.

2. Don't assume homeschooling is the only option for your family.  It is not for everyone.  It is not the only godly method of education.  It may not be for every stage of your life.  Believing that you have to homeschool can put pressure on the family that snuffs out the joy if it's not actually right for you.

3. Don't overwhelm yourself with choices.  I love the fact that I can choose where my kids go to school and choose to teach what I think is important.  Freedom is awesome.  But I must narrow down those choices as best and quickly as I can, or I will be forever choosing and never using.

4. Don't constantly switch up curriculum.  Research and peruse and take your time and seek

guidance.  Then purchase and use without looking back with a "what if."  It can take a few tries to find what works for you.  Just realize the grass is not always greener on the other side.

5. Don't go it alone.  Share the journey with your spouse, friends, and God.  You need them.

6. Don't minimize your role as educator.  The older your kids get and the more kids you add into the mix, the more time it will take each day to do school.  I finally realized a year or two ago that I couldn't go to a weekday morning activity anymore because that was prime school time.  A private or public school teacher couldn't leave her job to attend a regular Tuesday morning event; why did I take my role less seriously?  Homeschooling is your full time job.  You are your child's teacher, and that is a rare and precious responsibility.  

7.  Don't work so hard to complete if you are in need of a break.  A break can realign your thoughts, bring rest and joy, and make you eager to start back in with renewed vigor.  Even a day or week's break from school can be refreshing.

8.  Don't be so consumed with school that other aspects of life are left behind.  You are likely also a spouse, sibling, daughter/son, friend.  You may have pregnancies and relocations and crazy life interruptions.  You also need rest and health and other outlets of interest that bring joy.

9.  Don't compare your children to each other or to public/private school children.  This includes test scores.  Oh, how we love to feel good about ourselves when our children excel!  And oh, how we love to despise ourselves when they are less than!  Improve your child's strengths.  Help them with their weaknesses.  Recognize their growth and value and individuality.

10.  Don't think you must "arrive" or have already "arrived."  Just like we as persons do in life, our homeschool will change and grow.  You don't need to have it all figured out up front, and I'm not sure having it all figured out should even be a goal.  It is an exciting journey.  Enjoy the hills and rivers and plains: all forms that are different from each other, but all unique and enjoyable in their own way.


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Go to Guidance
Ten Homeschooling Don'ts
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