Art lessons with Daddy

My husband had surgery for a ruptured disc two weeks ago, and so he's been working (and resting) from home.

Kind of nice, I must say, since he's much better at art instruction than I am. (I dig the crafty stuff, just not so much the instructional and technical parts of art.)

We're using the book Drawing with Children, a wonderful resource recommended by My Father's World's curriculum.

After months of collecting and saving milk jugs....

...we finally had enough for our igloo!

(Idea for this hideout came from our Hideaways in History curriculum.)

Did you know...

...that a rolled-up piece of copy paper can support a heavy textbook?

I do now.

To show how smart the Greeks and Romans were in their architecture plans, we demonstrated to the kids how columns can support large amounts of weight.

I admit, even I was a bit skeptical until I saw the results.

(We even added a 2nd textbook and it held, too.)

Another reason...

...that I adore homeschooling:

It's uber-flexible.

This week and last we've been thrown a curve ball: My husband ruptured a disc in his spine and will be undergoing surgery this Thursday. I've been carrying the load of two parents for the past few days, as well as being nursemaid -- and this will continue on into next week. BUT! Homeschool allows for weeks like this. We don't have to have formal sit-down lessons in the school room. This week it's been more comfortable to do our work in the living room -- in our pajamas, even.

We can start early and finish early, or start late and work into the afternoon -- depending on our family's schedule and needs during crazy weeks like this one.

I am happy to report that, despite the chaos, the kids have been super focused and have managed their time very well. What they're learning is sticking. Some of the evidence? Overhearing our daughter teaching what she's been learning to her stuffed animals in her own play "classroom." 

My heart is happy. 

Greek Column Hunt

As we were wrapping up our unit on the ancient Greeks, we discussed the three types of Greek columns (in regards to architecture): Doric, Ionic, and Corinthian.

We went all over town and "hunted" buildings with columns, then the kids shouted out what type of columns they saw on each.

I snapped photos of each one, then printed them on plain paper at home and let them label them again for their history notebooks.

We will never look at columns the same way again!