Cardboard Cathedral part I

When Bowery Bird was in Y2 we made cardboard castle. There are catapults and crossbows and all kinds of other instructions for Middle Ages stuff to be made by kids. But it all looked too complicated. But I'm not an engineer, I'm an artist. Maybe when I have a boy in Y2. This go around we are making a cathedral. Easy, right? We had friends over today to help/distract us, depending on the time.

I looked up simple floor plans and images to remind myself what they actually look like, then started cutting. The girls enjoyed making stain-glass windows on tracing paper with color pencils.

Here is the nave and a flying buttress (patent pending). So it's just stuck in with a slit between windows and is in fact, really flying in this picture...I scored the upper half above the windows to fold over making a steep roof when connected with the other side. The slit at the end of the nave is where the folds come out for the transept, or crossbeam of the cross in the cathedral floor plan.

 

This is my favorite part so far. 7y/o Mockingbird did the catacombs. This is just a flat piece that goes below. So there are the color-pencil gardens around the cathedral, and then the buried king, saint, lady, and knight in their tombs below. I was thinking we could open their coffins and see something surprising inside, but this idea never came up. I think it is only because the boys all went to play elsewhere...otherwise it would have only been a matter of time... Then there are "stairs" above.

 

 

We watched this film just before I pulled out the cardboard pieces and assigned parts to work on. It is an older movie, I think geared toward children. It's all very appropriate but quite cerebral.

Cathedral is an animated story where a fictitious cathedral is being built little by little interspersed with two guides taking us to actual cathedrals in Europe to show us relics, gargoyles, windows, and other unique bits about cathedrals. I think it was worthwhile, but I didn't make them finish it, a lot is learned in any part of it, and I was starting to see the squirming surface from the six on the sofa so...we had lunch.

We'll finish it later.

SLC Book Sale scores

Another Awesome Salt Lake City Library Sale!
This time Bowery Bird came with me and found The Song of Robin Hood (gorgeous), several Nancy Drew, and a Paper, Scissors, Sculpt (inspiring).
I was able to score Churchill's History of the English Speaking Peoples for a mere $8, Dictionary of Ships, DK World War II, some Janson art books, Oxford Anthology of English Poetry, and several BSA Merit Badge booklets, Beatrix Potter stories on 4 cds, and too many paperbacks.
I even made it patiently past the man purchasing hundreds of books--they brought in a cart for him-as in Costco dolly.
I was there 2 hours and felt a little rushed-it's that big, and was that good this go-round. Can't wait for next time now that I've paid my $15 membership fee.

Spring Break 2013

What do mothers do all day!
I hear myself, exasperated say.
It is spring break for them, for me
and I'm not sure which feels more free!
(insert hysterically giddy laugh)

There's no math lessons, no drills
 of which to grit our teeth.
No piles of readings,
worlds of words with meanings beneath,

No-how do you spell 'usually'
or trying to identify some blooming tree
No shushing the screamer who wants another 'nack
No spelling rules (drop the y) to keep track

No pulling together of 4 different orbits
Or preaching sermons from 4 different pulpits
No hysteric calming (theirs or mine)
We just roam about with oodles of time...


I organize my bathroom closets, my pantry!
even sort the sordid clean laundry
I start to paint, to write, to draw!
I watch a movie-then 3 more
I plan my month's menus-
like never before
(I even think about mopping the floor.)

But I forget to read stories aloud for an hour
I let slip the scheduled scripture power
I miss hearing piano
and seeing them play
I fall into projects that take all day
The children are gone morning to night
with their friends, outside, then come home to fight


It's a free for all-almost
An instructional educational-coast
I walk from the shore toward the sound of sirens
Of time to think, to create, just silence.
Then Monday sends us all back, one week from the day
home to schedules and boundaries all gone astray

and it's good to be home, I say
those things,
those creations,
that organized bliss
is meant for another season
not this.

My Headmistress

She's a little thick in the middle, prefers blue, doesn't take any nonsense, and holds me to a high standard. She's my Head Mistress.

Short and sweet, this is how I record-keep our school year from the administrative end.
Headmistress keeps me in line. Within her D-ring files are color-coded tabs for basic sections.

 These are  plastic dividers with custom cottage-made tab labels (a.k.a. packaging tape and used index cards) here is the breakdown:

YELLOW:
Schedules- individual student schedule templates
Calendars-the year divided into 36 weeks of school & planned breaks
Habits-
Goals- non-school programs and general home school goals
Exams- my "ExamLand" version. Each year gets a progressively finer home.
AO Masters- Booklists & 36-week schedules from the AO website for the current year only.

Then the subject Tabs in mainly blue.

The trick comes in organizing multiple students in different years.
Each subject has a student tab on the top of the page divider. Each child has their own color, as you can see in the very first picture from the top of the folder. For instance, the Literature section pages look like-

• LITERATURE (blue tab on right)
• Bowery Bird (pink tab on top)
• 36 week AO Y4  Literature schedule (2 page spread)
• Mockingbird (green tab on top)
• 36 week AO Y2 Literature schedule (2 page spread)

BLUE:
YO- World Book Preschool Curriculum Guide & stuff.
Language Arts-Charlotte Mason is a bit all over the board with it's Language Arts. It's wonderful, yet can be confusing to track.

Continuing with BLUE subject tabs:

Foreign Language-
Math-schedules
Science- AO reading schedules and Building Foundations of Scientific Study flow-chart
Literature- weekly schedules as for other subjects that I made. I just highlight the assignment after we've finished it.

History-schedule, original maps, and original timeline figures for Our Island Study
Geography-schedule

Then comes

PINK:
Term Studies-really, I have a separate binder for this, here I just keep a simple schedule
Nature
Handicraft
Art
Music
Shakespeare-the 3 plays AY4 will do.
Plutarch- Anne White's Guides here for the year with smaller tabs.
PE-Information for their PE class through UVU
Affidavit-formal declaration of public school exemption
Supply List-where I list books & supplies to get as we can and a pocket for receipts to turn in.
Inventory-

Kindle- a how-to reminder and list of the Yesterday's Classics huge booklist to refer to.
Field Trips- a record & reminder if tickets are needed
Free Reads- record for our family of what year they were read (so I know who is old enough to not remember it later...)
Contests-
Resources-local PERC hours, etc.
Incentive Programs- Pizza Hut, etc.

So there it is! I open it every morning to the subject we're on it and she stays there till school is over. If not, I feel I am sailing without a course.

Annual Fairy Tea Party

 

Our local library holds an annual Fairy Tea Party in their ballroom upstairs in the old BYU Academy. This year they had a display of fairy houses and photographer there with woodland backdrop. As usual there was a fairy promenade for all the little girls to go and courtesy to the Fairy King in front of his throne and show off their outfits. Each girl got a wand, charm, and fairy feast. 

 

 

Four ballerinas came in and performed also. It's a fun formal event for little girls and LOTS of grandmas. At $5 a ticket- I didn't mind waiting in line for an hour (and it was sold out soon after ).My favorite was overhearing one of them saying "Grandma is fery silly today?" A cute event my friend re-created in her home when she moved out of state, she enjoyed it so much :)