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)

Fire Station Tour

We planned a visit with our home school group to a local fire station. The facility was large and they crew was wonderful! When we arrived the station had actually just received a call meaning the engine was heading out...so we started with a small talk on fire safety from our host and then did a full station tour including the fire inspectors office, memorabilia, the kitchen, the day room, the crews dorm spaces and more. It was a wonderful tour and ended up being perfect timing for their engine to return.

They brought the engine in, did the siren for us as they arrived and pulled right in next to all the kids waiting - it was great! The LOVED this part! Then a fire fighter did a whole uniform change to show the kids what is required to enter a fire, from head to toe. It was nice that they talked about it as they went along and then explained to the children to never be afraid of a fire fighter in there gear, that it is still a person looking to help them.

Did you know their gears ways a bit over 75 pounds? Crazy!

Anyhow, after the demonstration and talk with fire fighters they opened the truck up with the kids...literally letting kids open all the compartments - Holly loved getting to help open them. They helped the children into the front and back of the truck and answered all kinds of questions.

This was a wonderful outing and I am so thrilled we had a great turn out. A couple of mom's were sweet and created a couple of poster the kids could write their thanks on and a few even baked goodies. While we had fun I'd say the fire crew also enjoyed some great treats!

About Community

This past week or so we have spent some time learning about 'community'. Reading a lot of books, talking about our community, visiting various businesses or locations within our community and even watching a couple of different videos on places in our community.

Holly has really enjoyed it, however much of this is simple review and not very challenging. Simply because she has done this before, but it was part of our curriculum so we created our own fun during this unit. Holly finished with a large map of her 'own' community. She designed it all on her own and we discussed why she chose the businesses she did in her community, how they are helpful to those who live and work in that community and what she might have missed that would also be helpful. She had a lot of fun on this project and cannot wait to share in on her wall of work... now to find a spot large enough to share it!

Library Days

We visit the library at least once a week, if not more! We have a pretty good routine down of our plan when we visit - Holly does all the 'work' part. She sorts our books, movies, music and cd's and puts them in the book drop. We then discuss what items we will look for first (we have already made a list of interests), check out our 'on hold' shelf and then she scans all of our materials for check out and loads the bag to head home. We adore library time and could probably go daily if it were possible.