I have seen this idea all over Pint*erest, but I never seemed to have a large enough wall to do it at our old house. I decided recently that the wall between our kitchen and library would be the perfect spot for an art gallery.
I didn’t need to search far for beautiful artwork. I have saved special works over the years and in recent months. All but one of these works of art were created by one of our children.
By Curly, at age 9, 3rd grade (now age 14)
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***2012 Reserve Champion Pullets***
This means our son got 2nd Place Overall among the 40 4Hers who brought pullets to the County Fair for the 4H Chick Chain Show! We are so very proud of Mo!!!
The children competing were in grades 4-12, and Mo was a 4th grader this year! The boy who won Champion was a middle schooler! He is pictured above with Mo. They asked them to each bring up one of their prize-winning pullets and they had their photo made together.
His 5 prize-winning pullets sold at auction right after the Champion and Reserve Champions were named. Here is Mo holding his pullet during the auction. It was so fun watching this all take place!
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They sold for $32.50 per pullet and the man who purchased them agreed to buy all 5 pullets for a total of $162.50! Wow!!! The average selling price was about $16, so the prize winners brought twice as much money! This money will be used to purchase the baby chicks for next year’s Chick Chain 4-H project. Here is Mo with the buyer of his pullets. He was really nice to let me get a photo, and he seemed genuinely excited about his new chickens.
Mo also will receive a check for $50, which is $25 for his blue ribbon and $25 for Reserve Champion. He has already agreed to put this money back into the care of the chickens.
I haven’t seen him grinning so much in a long time! I was so excited to just see his blue ribbon, but then when his name was called to come up for his Reserve Champion trophy we were all so excited for him! The following photos were taken from drop-off at 10 a.m. this morning through 1 p.m., when we came back to find he had been awarded a blue ribbon. This was all so new to us, but I think everyone is hooked! SO MUCH FUN!!!
Dropping off the 5 pullets this morning …
Standing with his pullets … they were some pretty chickens! We will miss these five.
This is a rooster that someone had displayed. Isn’t he a beauty?
And here he is after we came back to find a BLUE ribbon! He was so excited!
Some of his chicken duty helpers
Showing littlest sister his blue ribbon.
With Grammy and Papa, who have graciously housed the chickens on their property and have helped to keep them fed and watered.
Here is our County Fair Winner on the midway with “winner” in the background, which I didn’t even notice when I snapped it!
And with Mr. Larry, who oversees the 4H Chick Chain program.
And finally, a video I shot of our prize winner!
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Mo will be taking 5 of his pullets to the County Fair next weekend. We aren’t experts (really not even novices) of chicken raising, but they look really healthy, hearty and happy. It is hard to believe they were so TINY just a few months ago!
Of the 25 chicks and 1 rooster he was given, exactly NONE have perished. Seriously. They eat about $8 of feed a week plus scraps Grammy saves and we save for them. They like just about anything. We don’t give them meat, but they love veggie and fruit scraps as well as their feed and cracked corn (small can daily b/t them all–helps with digestion).
The rooster is now crowing and strutting. No evidence of anything else on his part (no pun intended 😉 … yet.
Mo says of his chicks: “They are greenish blue on the back and the rooster crows at 7 a.m. in the morning. We (me and Papa) feed them quality food. If you feed them junk, they could die; like cheap food and dirty water. I have learned how to raise poultry and how to care for chickens. It is medium hard, but my Papa helps me with the work and is happy to have the chickens in his yard.”
And for your viewing pleasure:
Without further ado, this is “Mr. Squawks”:
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*By the way, the first “squawks” you will hear are not Mr. Squawks but rather Li’l Bro. :)*
And here is a just another video I took of chicken duties:
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Just a record of handwriting progress for Li’l Bro and Li’l Miss. They are now writing Uppercase and Lowercase letters. Love these books I got from Miller Pads and Paper at our Homeschool Expo.
I found used copies of Draw Write Now Books 2 and 3, which fit nicely alongside our SCM History Module 5 (which is a family-based history course using primarily living books). With SCM, read aloud from some of the books to the children together, and then each of them has separate books to read on their own or listen as Mommy or Daddy reads. LOVE SCM!!!
This is Li’l Bro’s effort. AMAZING! He spent so much time on his drawing. And his writing is really … well, again, amazing. He WORKS so very hard as his hands just don’t always do what he wants them to do. I’m so proud of his efforts. And he is too!
Li’l Miss ALWAYS loves to do this activity. She loves to draw and color and give attention to the finer details. She has no issue using a guide and making a piece of artwork her own! She has really enjoyed using these books and says the Native Americans look like her (and I’ve always thought she looks like some photos I have in a book of a very ancient people group in Southern China whom are akin to Native Americans of North America). She of course was all smiles to show her work!
It all started in the wee hours of Sunday morning, Father’s Day, and just one day after the Prez arrived home with Li’l Bit after her overnight in the hospital for her heart procedure.
Li’l Miss woke up crying and told me her stomach hurt, her legs hurt, and her throat hurt. I brought her downstairs.
By 7 a.m., she had vomited and we were on hyper-alert with boundaries and germs.
Li’l Bit was feeling pretty good, but really no one has been sick around here in ages and of course it hits right after a hospital stay.
Monday morning the Prez took Li’l Miss to the Dr. because I just knew it was strep throat … except it wasn’t.
The Dr. assured him it would run through our entire family. It is a mean virus that takes hold and grabs anyone within shouting distance. And it comes a few days apart not all at once. Li’l Miss was very sick for 2 days, and last night seemed to finally bounce back completely … 4 days into it.
OK, dokey.
I’m sure Dr. M would rather be wrong, but apparently she was right.
4 days later, the next victim, our oldest who is fairly hyper-vigilant (unlike some who are constantly picking their noses and think hand-washing might be optional) awoke to vomiting and a sore throat and achy feeling.
Fun times.
And now, this is how the bathroom door appears. You better take heed dear children.
Note to the virus: MOMMA does NOT have time for you. Please leave immediately. You are NOT welcome in this house.
Until further notice, this blog will be sadly neglected as its writer wields her Lysol can, fills countless orders of Sprite (because you know everyone else needs some Sprite too for their pseudo-symptoms), and attempts to finish planning just the first 9 weeks of our school year times 5 students. WAAAAAAAHHHHHHH!
This summer we will continue with school: math of some sort, writing, reading aloud and independently, being outdoors (science), and ART!
I am LOVING my replenished PayPal account. I am not spending anymore money on school items than I already have, which has not been too bad, except with excess in my PayPal account. I made two large sales this week, so my account is happy (and I am too!).
I had my eye on something at Homeschool Buyer’s Co-op, and so far I’m very happy with the purchase (after having it but 2 hours!).
I purchased access to Mark Kistler’s on-line Art videos through the Co-op for just $39.95. You can purchase them at Mark’s site for $99 or for just under $40 at the Co-op. No catches really except an activation fee of less than $2. Oh and you can purchase with PayPal, which as I mentioned is what I did!
Here are some drawings done by my 9-year-old son this afternoon. These were his first time to view the videos.
**I might have accidentally gotten sloppy joe sauce on this one while photographing it while eating. Oops!**
He is very artistic, but these are amazing to me! Mark encourages the children to add details and make the drawings their own using shadows, backgrounds, and details that are unique.
Needless to say, so far I’m impressed. You can go HERE to read more about Mark’s lessons and to see the amazing deal at the Co-op, which as always is totally FREE to join.
My only problem might be that some people are “fighting” over who gets to the computer next for a video art lesson!
***
Meanwhile, I had my sights set on some Draw Write Now books, particularly Book 2 and Book 3, but I didn’t want to spend $10 a book.
To my amazement, I found the two I wanted on e*bay for LESS THAN half of regular price for one book (for both books!) and they are LIKE BRAND NEW. I got them today, just two days after winning the bid (no one else wanted them which was to my advantage!). 🙂
As I predicted, my two 1st graders … well, as of tomorrow June 1st … couldn’t wait to open them up and start drawing. What I didn’t expect was the excitement over writing as well as drawing! Last year’s copywork lessons have reaped some big fruit including patience from my little almost-graduated kindies!
These go along with the history time period we’ll be studying this year as a family, so I’m excited to find them so cheap! (In the back, they do have an *extra* section, which is where Li’l Bro found the airplane instructions.) 😉
Here’s to Happy Drawing this summer!
🙂 🙂 🙂
I am not gonna lie.
I will be glad to say adios to May.
It is just busy and school is still going … and we will keep plugging away but as the pool at Papa’s House gets warmer … we’ll be motivated to get it done by lunch.
I am also not gonna lie.
I spoke too soon when I {might have} bragged that our new little 2-year-old didn’t bother anything or do any typical 2-year-old toddling and tooling about.
In things like school supplies, scissors {oh my}, food cabinets and bags of cheez-its ALL OVER THE FLOOR. Continue reading