Closing Out the School Month

We have school "months" more than we have years or quarters. We do not do any grades. I will record percent mastery for things like a math test where you can definitively count correct answers, but otherwise, we are mostly just collecting completed work to demonstrate mastery. For a while I tried to plan quarters or seasons, but I am best at setting reasonable goals for a four week period. Yesterday I spent a little time reading over the Pennsylvania standards for social studies to see where we are at. Current events are certainly providing a lot of fodder for discussions about "identifying the requirements to vote in local, state and national elections" or "explaining the effects of physical systems within a community." 

Laurel finished her last Brave Writer Book Club discussion. She enjoyed it a lot. Unfortunately the classes are all sold out for the rest of the term so she can't take another one. We will go back to reading the next novel and using the arrow guide as a family. 

We also completed our art project from Art With Mrs. Filmore. Marko picked the lily pad project for this month. She lays out all the step by step instructions and even talks about the elements of art (line, shape, color, form, texture) and some art history (Monet). I had previously gathered up Modge Podge, glue, scissors, paint, tissue paper. I was a little worried we wouldn't get to it this month, but then I decided to just focus on it today and it snowballed into a really good lesson!

I pulled out my old photo album of the trip to France I made with my aunt, because we actually went to Giverny and saw the water lilies in person. I also found our copy of Linea in Monet's Garden and a big coffee table book about Impressionism. This book actually had a really interesting introduction about how the original "Impressionist" artists got together and exhibited their work and how it was a big shift from the former state sponsored art organizations that were the norm. All the videos from the PBS Art Assignment have already laid the groundwork for us that art doesn't just occur in a vacuum....it reflects cultural and political events. It was interesting to read a little more about what was going on in France at the time. I didn't know about the Parisian rebellion against the Prussians which resulted in 20,000 dead civilians. 

We tried to think of places we have seen water lilies and remembered a huge patch of them in Black Moshannon State Park. However, I think those are actually American lotus. I found a passage in my Incredible Wild Edibles that describes how indigenous people ate various parts of those plants, but that they have more recently been targeted as "invasives" that should be eliminated (mostly by recreational fisherman who have boat engines that get tangled in the thick roots). While we were going down various rabbit holes about French socialists and wild edibles, we were painting with concentrated water colors and applying tissue paper with modge podge and using a salt finish on our painted water. 

The art itself turned out really well. The kids had to use a variety of techniques. We all learned something new about art or foraging or Prussia. We all have questions that remain unanswered, which to me is the mark of a really great lesson.