About once a month this school year Delilah has attended a painting class set up through a local homeschool group. The class is at an art studio geared toward kids in Salem, OR called Young At Art! Delilah joins other homeschoolers and learns to paint a different painting every month. The paintings are based upon a famous painting and she learns a little bit about the famous artist that created the painting. She has really enjoyed these painting classes, if I didn't have to take Ayden with us I would join her and paint also. Below are some pictures of her paintings and her having fun. While Delilah is in her painting class I supervise Ayden in the crafting area, which he loves. The crafting area is pretty much a room full of different ways to create art at your own pace. One of Ayden's favorite things to do is to play with a large car and escavator that are paintable. He also loves to paint at an easel, play with Play-Doh, and do spin art with markers. There are always different crafts set up that we usually do together. Today we tried something new and created a paper craft monster out of the free crafting area. There are enough activities at this place to usually keep Ayden busy for the hour to hour and a half that it takes for Delilah to finish her class. Below are some pictures of Ayden having fun. We try to do different art projects at home but we are limited to what we have, which actually is a lot. Going to this place is fun because it's a different atmosphere and gives you different ideas. I definitely recommend the Young At Art! studio. These two kids certainly enjoy it! You can just walk in to do art free play or join a class or even have a party there. If you are in the Salem, OR area check it out.
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Not too long ago the 2 older kids and I went on an Owl Prowl. Silver Falls State Park hosts Owl Prowls at least once a year for free. The park is about a 45 minute drive but well worth it. The program started at about sunset in a large log building. Since it was early spring, and a little snow on the ground in spots, there was a fire going in the giant fire place in the middle of the building. While waiting for the program to start we tried out a couple of games that were set out. One game was matching real life feathers to a picture of what bird it belonged to. The other game was some owl trivia, we love trivia games. The first part of the program was a presentation where we learned about the types of owls that could be found in our area. We learned a lot of facts, saw pictures, listened to owl sounds, and even were able to touch owl wings and claws. After learning all about owls we were able to do an owl pellet dissection. Each of the kids were able to do their own and I helped out. It has been a long time since I did an owl pellet dissection, way back at 6th grade camp. I thought it was cool then, and even cooler this time, probably something to do with seeing your kids enjoy something new. I wasn’t sure how the kids would react to the dissection but they enjoyed it way more than I thought they would. Delilah was finding bird parts in her pellet, while Parker was finding rodent parts in his. We received a diagram to be able to identify what we were finding. The kids had a great time trying to figure out what they were finding. I believe their favorite parts that they each found were full skulls. Parker and Delilah were excited to be able to take their bones home with them, even though I don’t think they have done anything with them since then. Next we went on a little hike into the woods to listen for owls. On the way to our listening spot we could hear an owl already. When we arrived at our location we turned off flashlights and listened quietly. One of the program leaders used his phone and a speaker to make owl sounds to call to other owls. I don’t know how long we were out there because time goes by really slow when you have to stand still and quiet for a period of time. We never heard any other owls but we were able to see one. An owl swooped in and landed in a tree near by, it looked just like a large shadow coming in. It never made a sound so if we wouldn’t have seen it we would never have known it was there. After a little while of waiting to see if the owl would call out the leader shone a light toward the owl so we could all see it. The owl was just sitting there starring at us.
When we got back to the building we were able to enjoy some hot cocoa and cookies while looking at some displays of owls that were sitting around. We each were also able to pick out an owl pin to take home with us. This was such a fun program to attend and I would definitely do it again in the future. Hopefully they still run the program when my younger two are old enough to participate. |
About UsTake a step into the life of Auer (pronounced like our) homeschool. We are a family that likes to learn through life experiences. We would like to share our experiences so maybe we can make a difference in the lives of others. Don't forget to follow us on Facebook to get the smaller activities that go on that don't always make it to the blog. Archives
May 2019
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