My First Report

Holly had a small lesson on writing a report. She learned what a report was, what they look like and how you would create one. Then she had to choose an animal to write on, go to the library and find at least two books, she had to include five facts in her report and her thoughts on the animal. Here is her final product!

Puyallup Fair Field Trip

Earlier this month we enjoyed a wonderful field trip to our state fairgrounds, not for the fair but to learn about agriculture in Washington State. They have a great educational program that introduces agriculture to children who are not exposed too much. They go through three mini tours based on poultry, agriculture and farm animals.

The poultry barn introduces the general topic - what kind of birds do we use, the life cycle of chickens, egg production, candling an egg, various types and styles of chickens and eggs, how to care for poultry, etc. They had many hands on exhibits, games for kids to try, real life visuals, candling egg station, weighing eggs, puzzles and books.

The animal barn was was very hands on. They had a large assortment of animals and some were even available for petting. After getting a small tour and learning about various animals we entered the petting farm portion where they had different varieties of goats, sheep and alpaca. They also had some different styles of rabbits to pet. It was so much fun!

The agriculture barn focused on agriculture of our state. She did a presentation on what agriculture is, showed a huge map of big products from Washington, discussed gardening and the different types of foods we eat, they had a worm bin, seed matching to produce, games, puzzles and more hands on stuff. It really made some great connections for Holly!

This was a wonderful field trip - she learned quiet a bit and enjoyed seeing our state fair through a new angle as an educational outreach program!

Sewing Group

Each month we have been meeting with a wonderful group of homeschool friends for a sewing group. This is a group of young ladies who are learning skill from Mrs. Dawn. Each time we meet they start a new project and develop new skills.

This particular class for April the girls are started a small 9 patch doll quilt. What started as a mini sampler size has now turned into something a bit larger as the girls all voted to make a nine patch quilt created of nine patch patches.... otherwise known as a LOT of hand sewing. They will work on it over the entire summer and share their finished product in September. Holly is breezing through it. She is loving this class, learning a life long skill and bonding with some friends over a new little hobby!!

Swimming Class

Holly takes swim lessons two nights a week. She has worked hard and this past session she finally moved up a level!! This was a big move for her as she has taken a while to master the level she was on. Moving up means more time in the water now and a LOT more swimming... which is nurturing big improvement with each class now. More time for skill, more mastery!

We are very proud of her! She loves swim class!!!

Resist Art

Last week Holly enjoyed a couple of Easter art projects, her favorite was the oil pastel resist egg she designed. It was a very easy and beautiful art project!
She cut a large egg and then drew a design in pencil. Then she colored it in with oil pastels making sure to leave a little white space. Once her design was complete she washed it in a rich pink liquid water color. The results are wonderful!!!

Artist Study: Alberto Giacometti

Holly learned about another artist from the Usborne Art Treasury book, Alberto Giacometti. We read about him in the book and looked up some more information through Wikipedia Alberto Giacometti Wikipedia Link and more at TheArtStory.org Modern Art at The Art Story: Alberto Giacometti. Once we did some reading, preview of his art and discussion she then set to work on a child friendly version of his art.

Holly created a foil figure. Using pipe cleaners she designed a long figure of a body, weighted the feet with clay and then wrapped her body in foil. Once completed she then posed the foil figure to her liking. This was a very simple, clean art lesson - one she really enjoyed and was happy with. I can see more foil figures in our future!

Art Studio: Batik

Last week I took Holly to the Procession of Species Art Studio with a few homeschooling friends. This studio is open this time of year in preparation for the Procession of the Species parade that happens at the end of the month. Folks can come in and create pretty much any kind of masterpiece they would like in support of the parade... to be in the parade or enjoy from the sidelines. We'll be enjoying from the sidelines again this year, maybe next year we'll join in the parade. Just being in their studio gets your creative juices flowing and all fuzzy... you cannot help but want to create something amazing here!

Holly worked on a batik. She had a peacock theme in mind for us to both do. She drew out her work and then using waxed she copied her work onto fabric and painted it with dye. She did a fairly detailed piece and really spent time working through her design well. Holly was very thorough. She did a wonderfully creative piece!!! I did one with her as well.

We are going back this week to create something else. We have a few ideas in mind... we'll see what is created and share later in the week!

Creating her design

Drawing our her peacock design

Preparing her artwork for waxing

Studio space for batik work

Waxing her design

Adding hot wax

Another view of the art studio batik area (there is a lot more studio than this)

Painting her design

One more studio space

Paints

Holly's finished product (wax is not ironed out yet)

My final design (wax is not ironed out yet)

Rock Tumbler

Holly finally finished up her first round of rock collecting to try out her very own rock tumbler. She had collected rocks from many different areas, but our camping trip this past weekend sealed the deal and she was set to go. She worked on this project with Bryan, they read through the directions and prepped her rocks accordingly. She recorded in her journal about her rocks with Bryan and then set them to work in the tumbler. It will be a long wait until they are finished, hopefully worth the wait!!