Leaves!

 OK, I know this isn't the season for colored leaves . . . but I have collected some leaf pictures, and so   will try to include a couple with spring leaves, also . . .

    The ones above are fall leaves.  

      I like how the bright yellow one looks like it's standing up, kind of like a flag!

     Below are fig leaves in summer, and some Japanese Maple in the spring :)

And now it is the beginning of a new spring . . .

This photo is called "New and Old."

Have a happy Start of Spring!

. . .

New Happenings

 Wow, it's been a long time since I posted on this blog . . . a lot of changes in my own life, and all my children are grown now.

But I'm still working in the field of education-- learning and teaching are both things I really enjoy doing.

Since 2010, I've been working as a tutor . . . so a variety of ages of students, with a variety of different needs (kind of like homeschooling . . .).  And also, I have had the opportunity to teach some music classes for preschoolers, and give piano and ukelele lessons (what could be more fun than all those things?).

I still have a website with educational related information and curriculum available, but alas -- it is in great need of remodeling . . . and time has been scarce to work on that, but it is something I am very much wanting to do- hopefully sooner than later.  Here is the website as-is: www.gentleshepcurr.com

I think there will be some more teaching/learning materials to come, since working in tutoring gives me a way to try out different ideas.

Also, I'm pursuing activities in visual art such as making lots of color pencil drawings, a few paintings, and some with misc. other media.  I completed a graphic arts degree in 2019 and started putting some artworks in art shows, misc galleries, and making some cards and prints.  If you'd like to see a few of the pictures, there are some here: www.dianehurstart.com

Besides the visual art things, I really enjoy playing music, writing songs, and basically doing anything/everything with music.  I have a music blog that I've kept up with a little better than this one, and there is a songwriter website, too: www.dianehurstmusic.com

So I am going to be posting again, here . . . to give info, ideas related to education and the arts.

Meanwhile, have a happy end of November.  I think my next post will be about LEAVES. 

Thoughts about Who I Am -- Navigating through Life, Past and Present

 

  

      I am 55 years old, “over the hill” you might say, or at least over the half-century mark.

     I was thinking about my life—both past and present, and who I am in conjunction with it, and wrote this description of the way I view myself and life in general.

     This is me— besides being a graying-haired woman with small body frame, sometimes intently working at a computer, sometimes cooking a family meal, sometimes running to catch the bus:

     First of all, I am someone who cares.  I care about others in my sphere: spouse, family, friends.  I care about the world—our physical environment and its well-being, and the socio-economic fluctuations that affect earth’s inhabitants.  I care about God, and want to know Him as a dynamic reality and personal friend.  I care about myself—recognizing frailties and limits, but wanting to prosper physiologically, and to grow in greater expression of soul and spirit; if I want anything it is to be a force for good, as an active member of God’s kingdom and created in His image.

     Also, I am someone who has lived a life of nurture.  Being a mother of nine children has been an incredible opportunity to apply caring in a limited human context, and homeschooling them at least through junior high has been a rich and rewarding experience—though not without tripping over the perils of insecurity, self-doubt, feelings of inadequacy—with occasional head-long plunges into failure-- and the puzzle of practical logistics for implementation.

     Emerging from homeschooling to enter the next phase of life has been awkward.  I am still a mom, but my children are mostly not here.  I am not “needed” in the old, familiar sense of the word, but caring and friendship are always needed, by anyone at any time in life.  So my new role is shaping itself gradually, as the old one winds down.  It’s like putting on a garment you’ve been knitting all your life . . . one that is not without blemishes, and in which repairs may be needed— but one that is fascinating and filled with wonder as well as being functional.

    I am an artist, in just about every sense of the word—visual art, music, literary art, filmmaking, and if the opportunity comes along, theatre art.  This is just who I am; it is what I am “made for.”  These areas interest me and creativity itself is a huge opportunity for adventure.  I will never want to climb the Himalayas, but might want to draw an illustration of a watermelon-slice “mountain” with determined mountaineers (this is a current project in process).

     I am also an educator . . . “once a homeschool mom, always a homeschool mom” is how I see it.  I’m not currently teaching anyone anything . . . but after 30 years of day-in, day-out walking along a teacher’s path, the love of learning and joy in facilitating discovery for others is a part of my makeup.  Working to develop educational materials is something that resonates strongly for me— I want to pass along materials that have been helpful and successful, to other educators, and also do really enjoy creating brand new materials— even if at present being without anyone in my own household to try them out.

    I am someone who hopes.  Hope is like an underground river that can be accessed at any time, bringing the means to sustain life in times of drought.  I try not to put my hope in futile things that will not deliver, like praying to “Martians” . . . hope is accompanied by effort, and I think these together can be an effective means to bring eventual desired results . . . a sort of slow-moving escalator made up of many, many individual steps.  If there are setbacks, or I fail to do the needed work— so nothing happens— I can start over, or maybe try a different approach, and there’s no need to abandon any goal that I really and truly want to keep.

     Although it is my nature to hope for the best, I can also be completely devastated when face to face with the ugliness of unconstructive criticism, coercion through threat or accusation or belittling or bribery, or harshness that is experienced during an extended period of time.  But this doesn’t mean there is no hope.  It is still there, just waiting— and with some nurturing it can bring continued growth.

     I like these verses in the Bible, from 2 Cor. 4: 7 – 9:

“But we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us.  We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed.”

Preschool Notebook Pages for Easy One-on-One Time

Here is an easy way to help preschoolers with learning, and also just to enjoy spending some time together:

Create a preschool "notebook."

This is not something they write or draw in . . . instead the pages are already made, and printed out, and then you and your preschooler will talk about the pictures/sing a song/ do counting, etc.  for just a few minutes each day.

When I was homeschooling with a large family, it was part of our routine to always have a young child do his/her notebook first, right after breakfast, while the older ones were getting started on some kind of independent work.

We thoroughly enjoyed going through these simple pages (with an alphabet, letter sound activities, counting, days of the week, etc.) repeatedly . . . the same few pages would be in the notebook for at least several days, and often a week or longer, before switching in some different ones.

Here are some pictures of some of the pages in the "Preschool Beginning Notebook Set I," made by Gentle Shepherd (similar to the type of pages we used-- but these are made to be computer print-outs, and our original ones were hand-made with markers on paper).

You can find this set of 15 printable pages at: http://www.gentleshepcurr.com/preschool-beginning-notebook-set-i.html

Making Felt Forest Animals

Hand-sewing is a hobby for me.   I like to do it while riding in the car, while waiting for meetings to start, or in just about any spare few minutes.

I've been making felt toys such as felt doll families, felt puppets, and felt dinosaurs . . .

And now have made a new pattern set . . .  it is for felt forest animals.  This new hand-sewing project is available at my educational materials shop on Etsy, AlltheTimeLearning; here is a link: Forest Animals Felt Pattern Set 

Making Paper Clowns!

Here are two different clown designs, to be used as craft projects --

First there is a clown that has hinged joints, using metal brads:

For this clown, the pieces are first colored, then cut out, and joined together.  Notice that if you want to make a shorter clown, the same parts can be used, but without the upper arm and leg sections.  

This was a really fun project to make.  The clowns can be posed in various ways, and played with, so it is a craft that also can become a toy.

The second clown project is a simpler project, but also makes a moveable figure.  The body is an accordion-folded strip of card stock, and the head is a cardstock circle, with a triangle hat.  Both arms are made together as one long strip, that is taped or glued to the back of the folded body.

For pattern pages to make both types of papercraft clowns, see Gentle Shepherd's Arts and Crafts Freebies page: www.gentleshepcurr.com/arts-and-crafts-freebies

The Wonder of Words -- "The Phantom Tollbooth" by Norton Juster

 

 Several years ago, The Phantom Toolbooth, by Norton Juster, was a read-aloud in our homeschool.  My son and I found it to be a delightful story.  Much of the book is made up of plays on words . . . and there is an underlying plot, where a boy travels on a quest to bring "rhyme and reason" (two princesses) back to the kingdom.

     It almost seems to be an "Alice in Wonderland" type of story, because the boy travels to some very unusual places, meeting with a whole cast of interesting characters.  He is accompanied, for most of his journey, by a dog named "Tock," who keeps time by carrying a huge clock that is built into his side.

     Although this is a children's book, as an adult I've found it very enjoyable to read-- and have recently been reading it through a second time-- just for myself, and just for fun.

     If you read this story, here are just a few of the characters you will encounter:  The Spelling Bee (a giant bee who is always spelling things), the "Which" (whose job had formerly been to choose words), Chroma the Great, conductor of color (who directs an orchestra which plays music and simultaneously causes the colors to come into the world, at dawn).  There are many more characters, and intriguing events, in this book-- and it is highly recommended as either a read-aloud or a read-to-yourself book, that will enliven the imagination and take its readers on an enchanting adventure.

     And if my opinion could use some bolstering, here is a quote from the New York Times, that says what I've been trying to say so far in this post:
     "Most books advertised for 'readers of all ages' fail to keep their promise.  But Norton Juster's amazing fantasy has something wonderful for anybody old enough to relish the allegorical wisdom of Alice in Wonderland and the pointed whimsey of The Wizard of Oz."

     So there you have it -- and I hope you will consider The Phantom Toolbooth as one of your next novels to read; it is surely a "novel" read . . .

A Winter Art Project: Drawing Winter Birds

Birds can be an interesting subject to draw; and in the winter time, items such as leafless tree branches/trees, or evergreen boughs, can also be part of the picture.

In a recent art project with 4th grade children, their assignment was to draw a winter bird, along with some kind of tree branch or tree.  They sketched in pencil, then colored the picture with crayons.

There were some printed pages they could look at, to see different types of winter birds and basic bird shapes.

Here is what the birds shapes page looks like; I made these drawings by looking at bird photographs:

And here are the photo pages we used:

Using these pages as a reference, the children made a variety of bird pictures with various backgrounds, such as a city scene (Central Park in New York, including the Statue of Liberty off in the distance), birds in a yard, bird perched on an evergreen bush, etc.

If you would like to download these bird drawing reference pages, they are available on Gentle Shepherd's website on the Arts and Crafts Freebies page-- www.gentleshepcurr.com/arts-and-crafts-freebies

Here are some example drawings; the bird on the left is an imaginary type; the ones on the right are wrens.

Plaster Pictures

"Fresco" means "fresh," and in art a fresco is a wall painting, usually painted directly on wet plaster.  The paint will actually seep in and become part of the plaster.

Here is a fun way to try out painting on fresh plaster.  All you need is some plaster of Paris, water, some plastic plates, and some paints.

Mix up the plaster and water according to the proportions given on the package, then pour it into the plates. If you'd like to have a hanging hole in the plaster, shortly after pouring you can put a small (about 1 ") tubular piece cut from a plastic straw into the plaster, leaving it there while the plaster is firming.  It takes about 30 minutes for it to get fairly firm, ready to be painted on.  Just before painting, remove the straw tube-- which will leave a small hole.

Tempera paints can be used, but be sure to use a fairly undiluted paint-- because the plaster will absorb some of the paint, the design will tend to fade; you may want to put on a second coat of paint.

Using acrylic paint will result in brighter colors (less fading).

Here are some designs I made, using tempera paint:

I experimented with making some indentations in the plaster, also-- the design on the right has markings made with the end of a spool pressed onto the plaster, and the other two pictures had some lines made by "drawing" with a plastic straw (using something heavier, like a popsicle stick, didn't work well-- it went right through the plaster, tearing it).

Here are some plaster pictures by students in the 4th grade glass I was doing this project with:

Once the plaster is dry, it's easy to take it out of the plastic plate.  (Please note: don't try to do this project using paper plates; paper tends to bond with the plaster instead of resisting it.)

It takes several days for the plaster to completely dry; in the meantime it is especially fragile-- so the pictures need to be set somewhere that they will not be disturbed.

This was a fun project; next time, I'd like to experiment with making different picture shapes-- maybe rectangular or square, depending on what kinds of plastic plates or containers I can find, to pour into.

Finger Puppet Pattern Set -- Dog, Cat, Rabbit

There is another pattern set up at Gentle Shepherd; it is for making finger puppets.  These are very easy to sew; they can be sewn on the sewing machine or by hand, and have a small amount of embroidery for the face.

These animal puppets are different than many other finger puppets, because they have arms and legs.

They would be a fun stocking stuffer item for Christmas, or could be a sewing project for an older child.

Here is what they look like when finished:

Any color of felt can be used.  Here are some in white and tan colors:

The pattern set is available at Gentle Shepherd's website: 

www.gentleshepcurr.com/felt-patterns.html

It is also available at my educational materials Etsy shop, along with some already sewn felt items:

www.etsy.com/shop/allthetimelearning

A Tale of 3 10-bead Abacuses

     The abacus is a wonderful math tool.  After trying numerous math manipulatives in our homeschool (pennies, Cuisenaire Rods, plastic interlinking cubes, etc.) we settled on "beads on a wire (or string)" as our very favorite.

     There is something satisfying about pushing the beads along a string or wire -- and besides, with an abacus, all the little pieces stay in the abacus-- not ending up scattered on the floor, in a crawling baby's mouth, or finding their way to unusual locations all around the house.

     Although the abacus was originally a Chinese counting system that is a bit more complex than the ten rows of ten beads that we've used, the term "abacus" has been borrowed to describe the simpler type, also.

     We used a 100-bead abacus for kids in K-2nd grade.  And for preschoolers, we found that offering a 10-bead abacus was just right; they might know how to count much higher, but when adding and subtracting they were using just numbers up to 10.  And giving them a 10-bead abacus made doing their math activities so easy, successful, and enjoyable.

     There are many versions of the 100-bead abacus available in stores, but it can be difficult to find one that is only 10-beads.

     The first one we used was a homemade abacus, made with a metal coat hanger.

     We used this type for many years (with several of our preschoolers), and the kids loved it! It was a little bit tricky to make, but very sturdy and worked great.  This abacus has very large wooden beads (the type used by preschoolers for stringing).  Instructions for how to assemble a coat hanger abacus are given in Gentle Shepherd's Preschool Math: Number Tiles (also there are lots of different work pages in this ebook, to be printed out and used with "number tiles" for simple adding and subtracting).

     In a recent journey online, I came across a unique type of wooden abacus.  This one can be 10-bead, or 20-bead, or 30-bead, or . . .  up to 100-bead.  The individual 10 bead sections are stackable, so they can be used in any combination or individually.  This looks like a great option for a preschool, and/or early elementary abacus.  It is sold by www.imaginechildhood.com.

     For more info take a look at this blog post about it: http://blog.imaginechildhood.com/imagine-childhood/2014/09/-our-favorite-things-.html

       And here is a third 10-bead idea.  This handmade abacus uses string instead of wire or wood, for the beads to slide on.  It is a sewn abacus, made using felt and string-- with the type of wooden beads used for macrame.  These felt and string abacuses can be found in my Etsy shop, Allthetimelearning.  One advantage to this soft abacus is that it can be folded or rolled up-- so it would be easy to travel with, tucked away in a bag or even in a purse.

       You may find ideas for other types of abacuses to make-- for example, using cereal loops on a string or building a very large version using rings from a baby's plastic stacking toy . . .  but no matter which version is used, the abacus is a learning tool that is very useful and helps kids learn math in one more way; besides thinking and seeing, they are also touching the beads.  Using the tactile sense is especially helpful for kinesthetic learners, but also can make doing math problems easier and more fun for any young learner.

       If you're looking for a joyful math experience for young children, give the 10-bead abacus a try!

Dinosaurs!

Here is a felt project I've been working on lately.  It is a dinosaur play set-- several kinds of dinosaurs, with a volcano and lava.

The lava is in loose pieces, so it can be arranged when playing . . .

Here are the individual dinosaurs -- a long-necked purple one

a bright green stegosaurus

a  flying pterodactl

and two blue tyrannosauruses

They are made with a double layer of felt-- so can be held and played with, as well as using on a felt board (or anywhere-- on a blanket, rug, tablecloth, etc.).

This is a set for kids who like playing with dinosaurs!

Here is my Etsy listing: 

https://www.etsy.com/listing/254821153/felt-toys-dinosaurs-felt-play-set-kids

A Picasso Project -- Fragmented Faces

This drawing project can be a great way to introduce the idea of cubism; we did it when also reading about Pablo Picasso and looking at some of his works.  The children's biography we especially liked using was Pablo Picasso, by Linda Lowery; it was a book at the library.

Here is what a finished picture looks like. This is an example I made, using felt pens and crayon.

We decided to not make self-portraits, or to draw each other, but just to make random face pictures.  This one doesn't have hair, but it can also be put in by making some sections around the head . . . 

Here are some students' finished pictures:

Making these complex pictures was pretty simple-- here are some instructions:

Start by using pencil-- make a large oval shape for the head.  Then, make a side, profile view line going down the front of the face.  Then draw in the lips.  Next, make eyes-- keep in mind that they don't have to be aligned exactly like normal eyes are, and one could be drawn from a side-view angle.

Then add ears, and a hair section, if wanted.  Now make two large curving lines right over the face.  Add in a couple of straight lines, breaking the face (and hair) up into more fragments.

If needed, erase any unwanted lines-- especially where extremely small fragments have formed; you want the fragmented parts to be fairly large.

Then go over all these lines with a black felt pen.

The next step, using colored felt pens, is to make some line designs, dots, etc. in some of the fragments, and to fill in others with solid color, always having different colors in adjoining fragments.

After all the felt pen coloring is completed, you can add in some fill with crayon; putting crayon in over the felt pen designs in some of the fragments will help create more warmth and richness in the finished picture.

Here is another example drawing made entirely with felt pen (no crayon); you can see that having high contrast areas (colored felt pen and white paper) throughout is less pleasing to look at.

Here are a some more finished student pictures:

This was a fun exploration of cubism; the kids (third graders) seemed to enjoy the freedom of making all kinds of colors and patterns, and the results were amazing!