Precious Moments

Dare I say it, but life is definitely taking a turn for the normal. Apart from a leaking roof and Ad’s rather nasty ear ache, we are all doing well and working hard without the anxiety surrounding Charlotte bringing us all down. It has been a good week, not least I am sure, because the littles and I have taken a dive down the interest led learning again. They are still doing work books for an hour and a half each morning (just so I can tick a box in my head), as well as project based learning about the Edwardian era. What’s changed is the hour and a half before lunch, when the girls can choose what to do.

Last weekend, I sat them down and had them write ten things they’d like to learn about during the week, and I’d try to fit it into their schedule. I’ve taken photos each day, so you’ll see what they’ve chosen.

Monday

After completing her workbooks, Abigail focused her attentions on pastry making. She has been trying to perfect the short crust pastry. Last week she made jam tarts which, according to feed back, were too thin, too handled and not enough filling! This week she made mince pies and apart from the pastry being slightly too handled (although so much better than last week), they were declared the best we’d ever tasted. They were so good: thick crumbly pastry, filled to the brim with mince meat. Yummy!

Meanwhile, Becca was doing some more artist study on Vincent Van Gogh. Today wshe photocopied a small area of ‘A Starry Night’ and tried to replicate it, studying his use of paint and the brush strokes he used:

The afternoon was spent learning about auxins and their role in phototropism in plants, reading about the Wright Brothers and working some more on their comic strips. We also looked through all the clothes we had bought from the charity shops that we are hoping to make into Edwardian clothes for our Edwardian Christmas.

We have just begun our study of Pablo Picasso, reading an Anholt book about him. The book was focused on his muse, Sylvette, and the novel artistic process he used to get from his muse to his cubism work to his more abstract work. We started with a model, and dressed her as closely as we could to Sylvette:

We took a heap of photos, in different poses, which we will use later in the week to do some free-style drawings using both lead and charcoal. The goal is to then make maquettes of her from junk which will help us to then turn them into a work of cubism art, and then onto more abstract versions. I’m quite looking forward to this study…

Tuesday

I grabbed some cute photos of my littlest one wearing her new glasses (both girls only have to wear them for reading):

After the workbooks, Becca worked on her gymnastics outside:

And Abigail worked her way through the first chapter of her ‘Starting a Baking Business’ book:

We also had a chat about ‘Polished Cornerstones’ a Bible study on Proverbs 31. I let them choose the chapter they want to focus on. Abigail’s was ‘Feeding her family’ and Becca’s was ‘Domestic Arts’. Abigail is going to cook for us once a week and Becca is going to sew a baby quilt to give to Charlotte if/when she marries Ads.

Lastly, they had a 1-2-1 time with Charlotte. They will be doing this twice a week and will be collaborating on a children’s book series. Charlotte will be doing the writing (with help from her little sisters), Becca will be doing the art and Abigail will be designing a recipe and fact cards to go along with the books.

Wednesday

After workbooks was the time of the week Becca was looking forward to the most – learning to use a sewing machine. We had bought her a book which was the perfect beginning to her machine sewing journey. Today she read about the important supplies she’ll be needing, and ticked off everything she already has:

She read about the parts of a sewing machine and became familiar with her machine (a gift from a friend of my mum). I had her find each part, learn what it did and then teach me. She then showed me how to position her hands, as well as the position of the sewing machine and her chair:

She was all set! She read about swiveling the material and how to sew around a corner, and I photocopied one of the practice pages. She threaded the machine and the bobbin, and she was off:

I’ve always had a feeling that sewing would be her thing, and she took to it like a duck to water. She did not rush, yet was confident and steady. Here is her first ever attempt at sewing:

Abigail did some MEL Science, making a zinc-carbon battery and Blue Bottle:

After lunch we read the Wright Brothers biography, began a botany demonstration to show the movement of water up the xylem of celery and continued our work on the artistic process of Pablo Picasso. Today we made sketches and charcoal drawings of one of the photos we took yesterday:

A lot of fun was had this afternoon. Another great day!

Thursday

Again, the girls began with their workbooks for an hour and a half, had a break and then continued with their interest led learning. Abigail wants to begin perfecting a recipe for plain vanilla biscuits, in order to sell them for her baking business:

Becca continued to learn to use her sewing machine. Today she learnt how to use the reverse stitch, practicing on some paper; wavy stitching and finally she learnt how to sew a casing:

Having read about casings, she made one in preparation for a small bag to keep her pinch and thread bodkins:

She then sewed the sides to create a bag:

Practice sheets and bag:

Close up of her bag:

All her projects so far:

After lunch, Charlotte had them for half an hour to conference over ideas for their children’s book:

I’d like to say we did lots of work in the afternoon, but we didn’t. We all sat and chatted and did very little else 🙂

Friday

Friday tends to be an easier day school wise and we had already decided to do an hour and a half of Edwardian Christmas decorations each Friday for our Edwardian Christmas. This week we were all about the paper chains:

And we made many, many!

This afternoon is a socially distanced meet up with the girls’ friend for some fresh air and exercise. I am doing an afternoon of school planning and then date night with Gary!

Have a great weekend!