Waldorf-ish Chalkboard Drawing - Dolphin

So I was really inspired by the Waldorf classroom and chalkboard art and the kids have really enjoyed every reveal so far.  I don't do it every day because I just don't make time for it each night but have been doing it at least once or twice a week.  They are still pretty simple compared to the beautiful Waldorf chalkboard drawings I've seen online but it's a pretty small chalkboard and I just am having fun with it.  I find it helps get me excited about the upcoming material and topics as I look over my schedule and decide which subject/lesson I'll feature on the board.  a huge PLUS for me is it actually gets me doing some art...all be it simple and quick but still...just getting to sit down and make a fun chalkboard creation for the kids sparks that passion in me and makes me happy that in this BUSY BUSY season of motherhood, I can channel that artistic side of me...even if it's just a little dolphin drawing!  The kids then copy this in their drawing pad, We had some ocean stencils so they traced the dolphin stencils and then created their ocean scene and on the next page J copied the block style letters and the curly style letters for marine biology...now she's started making her letters fancy and curly in her spelling book, which actually has improved her hand writing! She tends to grip and press hard when writing and fatigues quicker than I would like so any way to make writing more fun for her is a big plus.

What spurred on the dolphin interest was watching Dolphin Tale 1 and 2.  We streamed the first on Amazon and then last week we went to the theater to watch Dolphin Tale 2 and I downloaded and printed the free curriculum that goes with it from the homeschool movie club.  I also found some other fun dolphin activities online and put it all into little folders for both kids, they were so excited! I was going to make lapbooks but I honestly don't have time for that, I realized why do we always have to go all out on everything? Or think we need to do it a certain way and all perfect but then it doesn't happen at all because there's no time...so I kept it simple, printed all the pages I wanted, hole punched and tossed them in folders! and DONE! lol! (and the kids were so excited about their folders I really wonder if they would have been THAT much more excited if I had spend 2 hours making lapbooks)  If you haven't watched Dolphin Tale and Dolphin Tale 2 with your kids yet, I would highly recommend both movies! And yes I know...watching movies is not so Waldorf-ish....

Homeschool Begins Again

We officially started another homeschool year on Monday.  We spent the last 2.5 weeks in Washington State with family and it was kinda nice since after being gone that long we have to get readjusted to our own routine again to just start it off with our homeschool routine.  This year we are using My Father's World (MFW) Adventure in US History and will also be doing Classical Conversations (CC) again.  It's cool because the cycle of CC we are on is also US history so they will actually compliment each other.  Last year there was pretty much no correlation between MFW and CC.  I've also been in a wind down phase since the end of the school year...last spring I felt like we really got so ramped up with activities, field trips, and all kinds of commitments and while it was all fun and good stuff...it was exhausting and really not who I am to be so busy and on the go everyday that we're rushing through our learning to get on to the other places we need to be....that's just not how I envisioned our homeschool.  Part of the benefit of homeschooling is NOT getting sucked into the crazy busy lifestyle and collapsing at the end of the day.  Being so busy I just started feeling disconnected and honestly it's not fair to my 2nd child who doesn't like being out all the time.  So we reevaluated, said no to some of the things we enjoyed last year and said yes to other things that are more simple, easy and convenient...like more gymnastics for J, it's close to home vs other activities I was driving all over the place for and required more time and energy overall.

When I started this homeschool journey, I began by read The Thomas Jefferson Education which really inspired me, and then getting into Charlotte Mason, Montesorri, Waldorf and some Unschool literature and facebook pages like The Libertarian Homeschooler and Our Muddy Boots.  That's all the stuff that resonated with me.  For Kindergarten we didn't use curriculum and just had some guidelines about what kindergartners need to know and then was creative and pulled things together and had a lot of fun.  I loved it, it totally gave me freedom to cover the things we needed to cover and then some using my own interests and creativity as well as inspired by my daughter's interests.  And since I didn't have a checklist/curriculum I felt like life was just really inspiring and organic and exciting.  But I also would sometimes stress over gauging how I was doing as a teacher...not having a guideline is really freeing and fun and sometimes we covered way more than we would have sticking with a curriculum, other days were lighter, and it was definitely more work overall coming up with everything myself to make learning so fun that when my hubby would ask her "what did you and mommy do for school today?" she would say "We didn't do any school today!" and I would be so proud because those days I had met my goal, I taught her everything I had intended through various activities and moments but it felt so natural and fun to her she didn't even know I was "schooling" her so I would reassure my hubby that yes.....YES I was teaching her...with much effort at that to make her think she hadn't done any "school", but sometimes I would be up late crafting how those wonderful days would go and then still, sometimes struggled with not having anything to "show"...I know...like worksheets in a folder mean so much right?

For first grade, last year, we had moved to a new area and having a new baby and preschooler, hubby was worried how I would be able to keep her up to speed.  So, as a way to make connections in our community with being new and as a safety net for her to be learning SOMETHING in case i was so sleep deprived I couldn't cover everything at home we needed to we signed up for Classical Conversations.  I really liked the whole idea of it even though I'm DEFINITELY not very Classical Education in my style.  I also decided to do My Father's World as it was an open and go out of the box curriculum that had a Charlotte Mason influence.  I did keep thinking though if it was weird to do MFW and CC at the same time, but figured it wasn't going to hurt anyone and they were both good programs.

I LOVED how easy MFW it was to implement.  It was so easy to implement that we started back up a week after baby came along even though I had thought I would take more time.  We had a super smooth year and the phonics workbook and bible reader were great, we really enjoyed that.  The math was fine as well.  I was a little dissapointed on the art side but at the same time I was an art major and used to teach art so that wasn't a big deal we just did our own thing.  Overall we were very happy with it and that's why we are continuing with it for this year.

Classical Conversations was great too.  I love that, at the Foundations levels at least, you can use it as much or as little as you want in your homeschool.  Some people base their curriculum around it, others like us used it as enrichment and sometimes tied it in or expanded on certain things at home but for the most part, just let the kids listen to the songs while they played or did art and that was about it as far as time I put into it outside of class.  Things I liked were my daughter getting to have a group of little friends she saw each week, doing weekly presentations, bringing lunch and eating on the playground with her friends after class, and the fact they covered science experiments, orchestra and art as well so even if we were light some weeks at home on those things, she got it there.

But, the year went by so fast, too fast, especially the 2nd half and it kinda makes me sad when I think about how fast it went by...because in less than a month my baby will turn 1 and it's just reminded me that we need to slow down, not say yes to everything even if we want to or feel bad about not participating in something.  I always wanted to be a mom ever since I was a little girl, I don't want to rush through this time so fast that my precious time of having little kids and a baby are just a blurry memory of stressing to hurry up and get to the next thing.  So, I'm not going all unschool, but I'm taking my My Father's World curriculum and doing it with my own waldorf/Charlotte Mason/Unschooly twist and try my best not to rush through our days, to relax, to let the kids relax.  To remember that when our days are commited to other activities, we aren't home to discover our chicken laying her first egg and the excitement and anticipation of waiting for her to do that and playing in the forest making art with pieces of nature while we wait, we aren't home to notice 2 small adorable baby deer and their mother playing in our yard, We aren't experimenting with J walking around the house with the baby in my baby wrap, or for the kids to remember that their first and forever best friends are eachother while playing Fireman Sam or making Rainbow Loom Bracelets, or just laying in the hammock all together in the shade after lunch on the deck doing finger plays about the 5 little ducks, or helping J type out stories she's inventing etc.  So I'm still happy at this point with our curriculum, we got the basic package so we could just do our own art which I got them each 2 spiral drawing books one will be for art lessons the other is a Nature Journal/Art book. The other fun thing that I'm doing that is more Waldorf inspired is daily chalkboard art.  We have one of those double sided easles so I create a fun chalkboard drawing that relates to that day and turn it around so when they come into the playroom they see the whiteboard and then when I'm ready to show them I turn it around for the big reveal.  So far that's really the only prep I've had to do and for me that is pretty fun.  But anyways, lately I just keep hearing a comment someone sweetly made to me on a field trip last spring as I was telling her about how our packed schedule, "You can't homeschool if you're never home."  It's so true, homeschool shouldn't be just checking off the requirements for that day and then heading out the door ASAP to do other stuff, even if it is good stuff.  But being home enough you can slow down and "smell the roses" where kids can get bored and be forced to use their imagination and cooperate, and not have everyone fee pressured to get certain things done because then later we have to be somewhere and then there's constantly more stuff so if they get behind mom stresses out because when will they have time to finish their work?  I don't want to do that...I think we'll still end up being somewhat busy this year anyways, but I'm definitely going in with a lot more intention on how and where we spend our time, and bowing out gracefully when we need to just be home and happy and have more time for hobbies and quiet time and remember the curriculum is there to help us and make things easier, not stress us out over checking every little thing off on the SUGGESTED weekly schedule, and adapting things to our learning style as needed.

SO anyhoo, I was intending on just posting some pictures of our first 2 days of school but somehow this turned into a huge post!

 Muffin Monday! No rush to be anywhere so let him do as much as he wanted, it's slower and messier but those muffins are now extra special ;)

 First day of school with our Waldorf chalkboard art...hoping to get more creative with it as the year goes on! Kids are excited about this.

Each wanted to say a prayer after pledge of allegiance.  His prayers always crack me up!

Building his name with the laminated straight and curved lines taken from Writing Without Tears.

taking baby brother for a walk...no hands!

After giving up digging for treasure/dinosaur bones they created a babbling brook.

I didn't take pictures of the actual book work stuff...but so far J likes the new material!

Chalkboard Pedestal Table Makeover

Chalkboard Pedestal Table Makeover

So about 2 weeks ago I was driving to the dollar store and as I drove past the thrift store in the same strip mall, they had this octagon pedestal table out on the sidewalk.  I decided we hadn't looked there in a while so we stopped and I walked up to the pedestal table and saw that it was marked down from $10 to FREE.  Suddenly I hear Jordan squealing because she found a princess scooter parked out front too and has been wanting one for a long time.  It was a whopping $2.98.  So we got the princess scooter and I heaved that pedestal table quickly into the trunk of the minivan (yes I love having a minivan now...never say never!!!)  I didn't look at it more than a few seconds, long enough to see it was free and so I just grabbed it, we were in a hurry.  Later, I realized the table was pretty gross looking, but kept it in the back of the van for the rest of the week (I couldn't get it out myself this thing is SOLID and HEAVY!)

When My husband finally saw it, he was like what in the world!?!? Why is my wife driving around with this nasty disgusting table in the back of her van all week?  We were all together in the van that weekend and I didn't know what to do with it and we are already busy trying to sell our house...so I said "fine lets just drop it back off at the curb on the way home...but when we got close...I couldn't do it and said "give me a week to figure out what to do with it and if I don't know we'll dump it back off".

When I FINALLY took the pedestal table out of the minivan, I knew even LESS what to do with it at first...I had originally thought it could go in the dining room with a vase of flowers since we have no table and it's pretty empty, I was thinking to paint it with the dark espresso paint we used on the cabinetry in the bathroom.  But once I stood next to this octagonal pedestal table, I realized it was not only disgusting and filthy, it was a really weird height...too tall for a coffee table...too short for any adult to sit at.  I also realized the top swivels around.  What in the world was this table EVER used for?  I thought okay, well I have to take it back, no wonder it was free....it's the weirdest table ever!  And went inside.

Let's spin it around to a new spot

Later, when I was in the garage with my daughter riding her scooter, I realized the table was a great height for kids and decided to keep it and make it into a fun activity table.  I've been wanting to try a chalkboard paint project for a long time so this was my chance.  A gave the table a good soapy wash down and lightly sanded the table top but not the base.  I let my daughter pick out the spray paint for the base of the pedestal table ( After I told her no pink or purple...)  I even let her help roll the chalkboard paint on the top!  It was a pretty simple project, did a quick coat of spray primer BIN 123 (i think it's called) all over.  Then spray painted the base turquoise which took no time at all.  And got a good enough covering in 1 coat with 1 can.  The next day I taped around the edges of the table top and we just rolled on our Rustoleum Chalkboard Paint and repeated 2-3 times throughout the day...but each coat only took 5 minutes to roll on with a foam roller.  So, I'd say the most effort put into this free pedestal table was getting the heavy ol' thing into the back of my car MYSELF!  I noticed people driving by slowly, watching me struggle probably either laughing or contemplating helping me before I broke my back but I managed.

The kids L-O-V-E their new pedestal chalkboard table!  We put it in the den in our basement so the lighting isn't great in the pictures but it's a good spot for it.  The kids love drawing in one spot, then spinning the top around to get to a fresh spot and then wiping it down with rags when they want to start fresh.  I put some sidewalk chalk in these cute little metal buckets I had picked up at the $1 section at Target for them to use.

J was drawing Caillou and his family for B...he kept asking someone to draw Caillou...Rosie, Cat...Caillou mommy and Caillou Daddy and J was more than happy to meet his request.

Chalkboard Bakery Sign on Canvas

Faux Chalkboard Bakery Sign on Canvas

 

I originally saw this cool bakery sign wall decor on a blog header over at Junkin Junky about a year ago, and she has since changed the image on her blog header so I can't really show you.  A couple months later I was looking for it (this was before pinterest) and found the bakery sign over at the Curious Sofa, although it's not there anymore either, but luckily I saved it because I FINALLY did it!  

Here is the original from curious sofa 

                                                            

I started with a 12x24 inch gallery wrapped canvas that I got on sale really cheap years ago...before I even became a mom, which was at least 5 years ago as JJ's bday comes up next week!  I didn't have any black acrylic paint, so I used J's Black Tempura/Poster Paint but due to my painting classes from college, I still have a difficult time using any paint straight from the tube...even black, so I mixed the black with some of my burnt umber...don't know if it made any difference, but oh well...I painted the entire canvas black.

Then I put a piece of chalk in a bag and smashed it with a hammer.  I used a wide dry paint brush and brushed the chalk powder onto the black canvas to make it look like a chalkboard.  Who needs chalkboard paint when  you can use black poster paint and basic crayola chalk to make a faux chalkboard finish?

 

I inverted the original image from curious sofa and enlarged it to the size I wanted in word and had it print onto several pages.  Then did the ol scribble chalk on the back and trace the letters onto the canvas.  I did try practicing my freehand at first which wasn't terrible, but I just wanted it to be uniform and even and so I traced the lettering on. 

 When I started, I planned to paint the letters with white paint, but right before starting thought...um since I'm making it look like a chalkboard...why don't I just use chalk? duh...

 To keep the chalk for smudging and wiping off, I took it out to the garage and sprayed it with fixative. You can find that in the drawing section a store that carries art supplies.

 I made this chalkboard bakery sign to go next to the door to the deck because there are two empty areas of wall, on the opposite wall, I just threw up this pizza paddle we already had.

 There...better than having nothing up there on those walls....slowly getting the house less bare.

 I just had to take a pic from this angle because I love the light fixture and brick fireplace in the kitchen...

Best part of the new kitchen decor?  It was free!  I just used things that I've had on hand.

To see how to enlarge images to print on multiple pages click HERE

To see how to transfer images as I did with the type on this project, click HERE

 

FYI- an update from last nights post...NO POOPY DOOPY DISASTERS this morning!!! THANKS FB friends for your help!!!