Day 27: Cartooning

Today for drawing, we decided to explore the wonderful world of comics.

We looked at the newspaper comics and a few graphic novels to look at the wide range of possibilities in drawing comics--from the very realistic to the very simplified.

We thought about lines and shapes, we talked about using simple lines to create expression, we explored different ways to create eyes, ears, nose, mouth, hair, heads.

And then Maren created!

This is her original comic book character, Na-nu-Na-nu:

Day 26: Edible Architecture

Today's challenge was to create a structure using pretzel sticks and frosting.

Fortunately for Maren we not only had frosting, we had frosting with SPRINKLES!! Which made this project MUCH more exciting.

It was a quick and easy one, just a simple log cabin:

My 17-year-old son thought he'd join in today, too. His lofty aspirations, however, just weren't particularly suited to the materials:

Yes, they were yummy!

Day 25: One LAZY week!

OK. Not exactly lazy.

You see, we're a marching band family.

We've been homeschooling for eight years now, but our children have also taken advantage of a state statute that requires the public schools to allow us to participate in classes and activities that we can't or don't provide for ourselves. This rule also applies to students who attend any school (public or private) that doesn't provide a class or activity they are interested in. So if the high school across town, for example, doesn't have a girls water polo team, but our local school does, the girls from the across-town school who want to play water polo have to be allowed to try out for the local-school team.

So my kids have taken band and orchestra through our local jr. high and high school. My oldest daughter went the orchestra route because of an interest in string instruments. She now plays some classical on her viola and plenty of Irish/Scottish traditional music on her violin, teaches Irish fiddle, and plays in her own Irish band.

My son was attracted to the band side of things and chose the clarinet, with which he has done very well and is now in a leadership position in the local high school bands program, including his first and true love--marching band.

My youngest, Maren, is jr. high age now and just started learning the trumpet, with the goal to play in the high school marching band as soon as she is old enough to qualify.

But having a kid in marching band is no easy thing. High school marching bands require a BUTTLOAD of parent support--from fundraising, to building props, to helping maintain instruments and uniforms, to chaperoning, to helping stage and set up the field show. The list goes on and on.

This week we're approaching the end of the marching band season, and it just keeps getting busier and busier. BUT IT IS WORTH IT!!!

That cuts into JSWA, so as far as JSWA is concerned, we've been lazy this week.

Monday, Maren worked more on her architectural rabbit house.

Tuesday (yesterday), we spent the entire day at a marching band competition, leaving the house at 9:30 AM and not getting back home until 7:00 PM.

Today, we get a normal day, which means we actually got around to doing JSWA! YAY!!

Maren chose crafts today. She wasn't hugely excited about that.

Well, let me rephrase. She would probably have been SUPER excited if I had gotten all our craft stuff out and let her spend 30 minutes deciding what to do and then doing a big project that would have taken 2 hours to complete.

I didn't let her do that today. Instead, I said, "Hey! Let's make something for Halloween!"

That piqued her interest.

"But it needs to be something quick and easy."

"Oh." Not so interesting.

I showed her my three-dimensional paper pumpkin

--a craft I'd learned many years ago--and asked her how we could make it different. Not a pumpkin. Something else. We talked about how anything that was roughly ball-shaped would work. We looked around at our Halloween decorations and decided a bat could maybe work. So could a skull.

Skulls are interesting.

We we talked about how the top of a skull is pretty much a ball. I showed her a small ceramic skull we have, and showed her that if we could remove the facial bones from it, it would be pretty much a baseball in size and shape.

She said, "It wouldn't hit like a baseball."

No. It wouldn't, would it?

Toss....WHAM!!! SHATTER!!!!!!! It might be kind of exciting in a ghoulish, creepy sort of way.

At any rate, making the observation about the rounded top of a skull helped us design our skulls. We simply traced a round object--in this case a lidded bowl--on white card stock, then added a shape at the bottom to suggest a jaw, then traced and cut them out.

OK, let's take a minute here. Whatever the shape is, it DOES need to be vertically symmetrical. You need to be able to fold it in half vertically, mirror image on both sides.

You need eight of them--whether they be skulls or circles for pumpkins, hearts for valentines, white circles for snowballs--the possibilities are limited only by your imagination. You also need a ninth circle (just a circle) for the base.


DO NOT FOLD THE BASE CIRCLE.

BUT, DO FOLD the skulls in half from top to bottom.


Now, at about the middle of the round top of the skull, cut a slit that is perpendicular to the fold and extends about 2/3 of the distance from the fold to the unfolded edge. Be careful not to cut too far or the figure will be weakened and may not hold up. Use a ruler and a pencil to draw guidelines on them if that's helpful.


Next, using a black marker, make skeleton faces on each skeleton piece. Skeleton faces aren't hard. Just two large black circles just below your cut, two long thin vertical ovals that meet in the middle, and lines for the mouth and teeth, as shown:

You can even make cute faces by adding tongue or bucktooth lines, and leaving white spots inside the black eyeholes to make cross-eyed skulls or other goofy looks.

Next, slide the eight slitted skulls onto the single circle, inserting the edge of the circle into the slits you made. Space them evenly and open them out so their edges touch each other.


Voila!!

Your skull should sit upright, and can be used to decorate a table or desk. You can also attach a string or fishing line to the center of the central circle to make it a hanging ornament for a fun crafty Halloween decoration that, if you take care of it, can be re-used for several years. If you have the pieces laminated, they can last even longer! And think of the possibilities for other holidays! Christmas ornaments made from shiny scrapbook papers, covered with glitter or stickers! Valentines gifts! Even red, white, and blue squares for Independence Day!

Yes, basically we were being lazy today. Taking an easy way out on a hectic week.

But such is the beauty of homeschool--to have the time to take it easy when YOUR family needs it.

Day 24: Bunny Torture

Today Maren chose Textiles.

And being the bunny-loving girl that she is she decided to involve her bunny again. I suspect we'll have quite a few projects involving her bunny this year. Here he is. His name is Thumper. I think you've met him before and you'll probably see him again.


Poor Thumper puts up with a lot. Today he gets to put up with being costumed for Halloween. Yes, you read correctly. Maren decided to make a costume for him.

Just a simple costume.

Thumper will be Super Bunny!

Which means making a cape for him.

We have some more scraps of the dark blue satin hanging around that Maren used for the simple stuffed toy in a previous JSWA (which still needs to be finished, by the way). She brought the bunny in, measured him to see how long and wide his cape should be, cut a rectangle of fabric, then sewed one end of it closed to make a casing for some 1/4" elastic.

She then used a scrap of light blue satin to cut out a capital letter B which she glued to the cape using spray adhesive.



After that she put the elastic in and bunched the fabric in the center of the elastic and sewed it securely in place, then remeasured the elastic around Thumper's neck and stitched the elastic closed.


Voila! Super Bunny cape. As you can see from this picture I have devolved into one of THOSE homeschool moms who let their kids hang around all morning in their pajamas. *sigh*

I'm not sure how Thumper will react to wearing his costume. That remains to be seen. He isn't too thrilled about wearing his bunny walking harness (yes, you read that right). So I have my doubts that he'll tolerate his cape. Maybe if we distract him with enough carrots and other yummies.

Day 23: The Fly

Today Maren was lucky enough to choose Film again.

Remember Charlie Chaplin?

Well for JSWA Maren wrote, directed, and shot a short silent film titled "The Fly," starring yours truly with her big brother Ian on props.

Unfortunately it takes FAR too much computer power than Google allows to download the video onto Blogger, so you'll just have to be content with a synopsis:

A bum (me) is peacefully sleeping on a park bench, only to be disturbed by a pesky fly (a small black pom-pom attached to the end of some fishing line on a fishing rod, operated by Ian).

After several attempts to get the fly to buzz off (pun intended), the bum grows increasingly frustrated until she rolls up a piece of newspaper and attempts to swat the fly. The fly lands on the wall behind the bench, on the bums forehead, and finally on the camera lens where the bum finally succeeds in swatting it.

THE END!

It took Maren several takes and some creative adjustments and additions along the way, but we ended up with a 2 minute 52 second long silent film. OK. It's not technically silent, unless you watch it with the sound turned down on the TV.

Our next step will be to find some music to go with it, then we'll play it for the family on Monday night for Family Home Evening.

Ta-Da!

Day 22: Going Crazy With Crafts

Today Maren chose crafts.

I knew this one would take longer than our goal of 15 or 20 minutes, so I just let go and let it happen. It turned into almost 2 hours, but it was fun.

The goal was to use whatever crafty supplies or other odds and ends we could find around the house to make a creature, real or imaginary.

My oldest daughter, off school today, decided to join in.

After searching the house and finding a few craft supplies (google eyes, small pom-poms, felt, hot glue) we searched further and pulled out our beading stuff for wire, found some soldering wire and sparkly paints and yarn balls, and then they began to create.

The results?

Behold, the Pom-pom Dragon (complete with treasure chest) and the Bumblecorn!

Day 21: What a Rube!

What's a rube?

A Rube Goldberg machine, of course!

Named for early 20th century cartoonist of the same name, a Rube Golberg machine is a complicated and often ridiculous machine constructed to perform a very simple task.

As in this Rube Goldberg original:



The explanation from Wikipedia:

"The "Self-Operating Napkin" is activated when soup spoon (A) is raised to mouth, pulling string (B) and thereby jerking ladle (C), which throws cracker (D) past parrot (E). Parrot jumps after cracker and perch (F) tilts, upsetting seeds (G) into pail (H). Extra weight in pail pulls cord (I), which opens and lights automatic cigar lighter (J), setting off skyrocket (K) which causes sickle (L) to cut string (M) and allow pendulum with attached napkin to swing back and forth, thereby wiping chin."

What, do you ask, does this have to do with Jump-Start With Art?

Oh, my. I had hoped you would have learned enough already to not need to ask that question.

Rube Goldberg machines are ALL about creativity! There is even an annual Rube Goldberg competition that is entered by college science departments from all over the country. So there's crossover there--science meets art.

We categorize this type of creativity under 'Design,' which is what Maren chose today. She wasn't too thrilled about that choice at first. But when we decided to explore the wonderful and entertaining world of the Rube Goldberg machine, her interest piqued.

We began by viewing one of THE most amazing (and large) Rube Goldberg machines I have ever seen. It's in a music video by the music group OK Go, titled This Too Shall Pass. Here it is:

THIS TOO SHALL PASS

Holy cow!!

After watching this, and a few other Youtube videos, we began the process of designing our own Rube Goldberg machine that will crack a hard-boiled egg. How very ridiculously unnecessary a task is that? In future days we'll work on that machine, probably designing from the end backwards. I imagine we'll be cracking a lot of eggs before we're through.

Day 20: More Charlie Chaplin anyone?

Today Maren chose 'Drawing and Painting.'

To ride along with her new love of Charlie Chaplin, she decided to paint Chaplin in black and white.

She got online and found a few images of him, chose one, photoshopped it, printed it, and painted it.

As we played around with photoshopping it (mainly playing around with what it looks like in different colors, what it looks like blurred or sharpened or with enhanced contrast), we talked about light and shadow, reviewed what we've learned in the past about drawing being little more than copying lines and shapes, and that to most successfully paint Charlie Chaplin, she should start looking at him not as a person, but as a blob made up of different shaped blobs of white, gray, and black. So she painted white, gray, and black blobs to get this:



As you can see, she did pretty darn good, with the exception of the face. That's not unusual. We, as humans, have such a close connection to the human face that even the best of us have a hard time separating ourselves from it to the point that we can simply view it as a series of lines and shapes of color.

Day 19: SILENCE!

Today Maren chose Film.

We haven't yet done film, so I thought we'd start our study of film at the beginning--silent movies!

We found a series of Charlie Chaplin films on Netflix and watched one called "The Rink."

It was hilarious! And CLEAN! And apparently people at the beginning of the 20th century didn't read very quickly, because the word placards (You know, when they stop the film to show what someone is saying or give some narration on a beautifully decorated placard that was set up in front of the camera?) were kept on the screen long enough to read them 5 or 6 times.

As we watched we also talked about how the music would usually be played live by a band or an organist or a pianist while the movie played.

When I was a kid there was a restaurant near my home in Salt Lake City called Pipes and Pizza. You'd order your pizza, sit down, and watch silent movies while a live organist played this amazing old-fashioned organ that was set up on a big pedestal at one end of the room. Very cool. Here's a picture of the restaurant at Flicker: Pipes and Pizza Photo. Notice the added feature of the windows through which to view the organ pipes, and the old-fashioned belt-driven ceiling fans.

We also talked about how the first silent films were an offshoot of the Vaudeville stage tradition, so the acting was very gregarious, the makeup gaudy, the sets simple and straightforward. Early films were really nothing more than stage productions on film.

Buster Keaton, on the other hand, made some huge strides in changing that. In his film The General, Keaton takes his crew on location and plants the camera on a moving train.

The history of the early filmmakers is fascinating. Charlie Chaplin and others were instrumental in the formation of United Artists that began as a group of independent filmmakers who, in 1919, wanted to support greater freedom in their art rather than be swallowed up by the controls of the Studio system, which was already growing very early in the century. In fact, the term "The inmates are taking over the asylum," came from the head of Metro Pictures who said it of Chaplin's group and UA.

United Artists today is a subsidiary of MGM. Sad.

But that's all boring if you're a 7-year-old.

It's boring if you're 12, too, apparently. *sigh*

But we do have a new fan of Charlie Chaplin in the house.

Day 18: Building Things

Today Maren chose Architecture again and decided to build a structure using sticks and electrical tape.

That's just up her alley. She's always loved doing that sort of thing and has, since she was a small child, begged to have access to hammers, nails, and spare wood. When she was small the prospect frightened me. Now that she's older, the prospect still frightens me, simply because she's bigger and stronger now and capable of making a much larger mess and using more dangerous tools than she did when she was small. Plus, we have a lot more spare wood in our yard than we did back then. She could, if she put her mind to it, build a whole house back there.

Which is what she's doing today. Except it's a house for her bunny.

We talked about the strongest shape in architecture and found out it's a triangle. So she's building a triangular pyramid of sticks with grapevine thatch.




The bunny seems to like it--eating it, that is.



Bunnies like to chew, in case you didn't already know that. Her bunny house will end up being more a chew toy than a form of shelter, so she's being sure to build it with woods that won't poison him. Did you know that cherry bark is toxic?

As it turns out, rabbits LOVE grape leaves. Thumper, here, is no exception. But then, Thumper loves anything that's remotely edible.

Day 17: Off to the Theatah!

Today Maren picked Theater.

You know, the kid loves Shakespeare.

Why? I can't figure. I'm not that big a fan.

At any rate, I thought she'd be super excited about picking Theater today. But, being the constant skeptic and being like my other children who have tended to be slow to inherit my love of learning, she wasn't so sure today's theater lesson was going to be as exciting as she wanted it to be.

And it wasn't. But it was her fault.

I pulled out a copy of one of MY favorite plays--Cyrano de Bergerac. I told her about the play, what it was about, how the storyline went (leaving out the big finish, of course) and we chose a scene to read. She played Cyrano, I played Roxanne, and my son played Christian. We read through the amazingly sweet and funny scene in which Christian fails at wooing Roxanne in the garden because his in-person speech doesn't compare to his beautiful written words and she can't understand why. Christian then meets up with Cyrano and Cyrano comes up with the plan to coach Christian from beneath Roxanne's balcony, which doesn't work very well either, because Christian is too slow-witted to keep up with Cyrano's whispered words; at which point Cyrano tells Christian to shut his mouth and he delivers (in Christian's voice) a beautiful speech in which his (Cyrano's) true feelings for Roxanne are expressed.

It's enough to make one weep for poor Cyrano. I LOVE this play!!

Try as I might to get Maren to 'act,' she refused. Apparently it's just too embarrassing.

*sigh*

For this activity, smaller children could be coached in saying and delivering simple lines. I'd avoid Shakespeare for small children. Find something they can understand. There should be books of plays for children at your local library, or you can spend time with your child making up one of your own--maybe a short adaptation of an Aesop Fable or a Grimm Fairy Tale. This site, Lazybeescripts.com, has quite a lot of scripts for simple plays, including some Aesop.

Day 16: Ah, Internet, How I Hate Thee!

We recently made the official switch (which was inevitable anyway) from Qwest to Century-Link.

For the past two days my internet has been DRAGGING! It's like having dial-up again! Coincidence? Hmm.....

At any rate, the flu has made its departure and we are back in action. Slow action, because it takes a few minutes for the New Post page to appear. I can practically HEAR the little internet gear grinding away, their little wheels and cogs squealing due to the need for virtual grease. It's painful to watch.

Today, Monday, (even though I'm not getting around to posting it until Wednesday) Maren picked Textiles.

As her project, she chose to make a simple stuffed toy out of fabric, thread, and a needle--and stuffing, of course. This is not one of those projects that can be finished in 15 or twenty minutes, so she did a little research, picked a design, drew it on the fabric, and cut it out. She'll sew and stuff it later.

Because she is a horse-crazy girl, she chose to make a horse out of a couple of scraps of blue satin fabric I had lying around from a previous Hallowe'en costume venture. She also decided she would use strips of the fabric to make the mane and tail. Now THAT'S creative thinking!

Here are some SUPER simple stuffed toys that a child of any age could do by first drawing an animal or doll on white fabric, coloring it with permanent markers or acrylic paints, cutting it out with a large edge, and sewing around.



Remember to turn the design to the inside before sewing, and remember to leave an opening at least an inch long to invert the cloth and to insert the stuffing. After that, a simple stitch can be used to close it up. It won't be perfect, but does it need to be? NO!!

For younger children, use felt for the fabric, yarn for the thread, and a very large blunt-ish needle. You can buy 9 X 12 sheets of felt at craft stores for very cheap (around 50 cents), and a skein of yarn can be had for less than $2, and you'll have TONS of yarn left over for other projects.