Wrapping Up Week #7

Our week began with a sick day and ended with a great trip to a local art museum, and some good old fashioned book work stuck in the middle. Here's some fun photo collages to give you a little glimpse into our week. 

On Thursday afternoon we visited the library and since it just happened to be happy hour at Sonic we decided to take advantage of the good deal and get a tasty drink.

My 2nd grader loves to read, but she just didn't have the confidence to jump into a real chapter book. She has read a couple of Pathway readers over and over and over because she loves them so much.  So, I told her I'd give her $1.00 once she finished her first chapter book. Yes, I know that's called bribery, but she has almost finished two Magic Tree House books this week and she feels like such a big girl and I am proud of her. 

The two older children started a new silent reading this book this week called, Turn Homeward, Hannalee, We are still reading The Great Turkey Walk as our read aloud and for history we are enjoying a photobiography of Abraham Lincoln. And me? Well, I'm still reading Gone with the Wind to stay in the same time period of our history studies (just for fun). 

We finished our week up by travelling down to the Baltimore Museum of Art. It only took us about an hour to get there and we spent almost two hours looking at all their collections on display. It was fun to hear the children say things like, "This looks like cubism" or "This art reminds me of Pollock's work the way all the paint is splattered." My husband and I are not artists and we will tell you right out that we don't have extensive knowledge about art or artists, but we appreciate it and enjoy learning about it alongside our children. 

My favorite quote from our trip from the museum came from L (my little blonde 2nd grader) when she said, "You mean Picasso actually touched this painting?" She was amazed and blown away to see the actual works of famous artists she's read about in books and looked at on her computer screen. If you notice my blog header, she's the one who wants to be an artist when she grows up.

My children's favorite books to use for artists studies are written by Mike Venezia. Confessions of a Homeschooler has put together and shared an artist study using Venezia's books and we have used it to study a few artists so far. If you are not familiar with these books, I encourage you to check them out. Also, visit The Notebooking Fairy and check out her art printables for notebook pages.

This week, I am linking up with Homegrown Learners and her weekly Friday Photo Collage and also the Weekly Wrap-up hosted by Weird Unsocialized Homeschoolers. Check these two blogs out for fun encouragement and maybe some new ideas to inspire you as you teach your children at home.