Continuing from my last post, today I’m sharing Willa’s photographs. This is what happens when you give a child a camera – once you’ve set it up and shown them the basics, they will run off and shoot everything their heart desires. This was true for me and both of my boys who are now accomplished photographers. I suppose it is a strong case of tree -> apple, apple, apple, but I believe it is such an unintimidating, fun, and free form of art that children naturally love it.
Education
Progressive Overload is a training style talked about a lot in bodybuilding, but today I’m applying it to everything. Because if there’s anything in life that someone wants to improve at, progressive overload can be applied.
Last week Willa attended a one-day art camp, focused on wearable art. The night before, she carefully picked out clothes and fabric items to take to paint, dye, color, decorate in some fashion. As far as I was concerned, if is was something of the appropriate material and not something like an expensive fancy dress, it was fair game. She chose a bathrobe, a fabric socks box, a shirt each from my closet and David’s closet, a pillowcase, and a giant flat sheet – intended to be shared with the class, a piece for collaborative art.
And…they’re off! Yesterday was the first day of school for Mason and Willa, the first real day since March 13, 2020, the day the schools all shut at the beginning of Covid and Quarantine. A true Friday the 13th. It has been almost two years! Are you wondering how the day went and what sort of first day feelings were flying? Read on…
Mason and I have been having so much fun with our new Lensbaby Omni filters. It is ENDLESS fun, perfect for our shared approach to photography, and perfect for the way we see things. Read on to see what I mean…
Introducing…Rainbow Milk! Ok, not really, but it sure looks like it! This is actually a batch of homemade almond milk made using our brand new favorite kitchen tool – The Almond Cow. Read on to learn more…
We have had maybe two inches of snow here all season. Up in the mountains in Colorado. It is so strange! I had planned on creating a lot of snow and macro snowflake images as part of my Project 31, but unbelievably it isn’t going to happen. But how can December pass without any snowflake images? It CAN’T! So, yesterday afternoon Willa and I made our own snowflakes, even better than real ones because ours are RAINBOW snowflakes!
Today I’m offering up a question for you – what can you do with the remaining days of the year? There are five day left. What can you do, create, accomplish, finish, begin? Will you make the most of these days to wrap up the year with a shiny red bow? Or will you waste them, thinking that the fresh start comes in six days, so why bother? Let’s explore…
Happy Christmas Eve to you! Every morning this month both Willa and Mason have been enjoying their Lego Advent Calendars – Lego Friends for Willa and Lego Star Wars for Mason. We have been getting them since Lucas was little so I have a feeling we will do this in perpetuity. Each day they open a new door and have a tiny set to build that adds to a collection that creates a scene, and each year they are different so it is fun to see what is in each one. However, they are still little kits with instructions, boundaries, and limits. The build takes maybe a minute – yay, you followed the instructions – but it has little meaning afterwards. Fortunately, all three of my kids quickly move out of that realm and into their own creative, boundless space with Legos. This is where the true genius of Lego resides…
Sometimes in life it is time for change. We are at one of those junctures in our family right now in regards to education. We have been homeschooling since March 2020, opting to do our own programs once the 2020 school year ended. And it was brilliant. For awhile. Until it wasn’t. I see you, Mason and Willa, and I see what you each need…