04/20/08- 04/26/08- Art, Nature and Comics

The kids and I attended a friend’s birthday party Sunday. The invitation clearly stated that homemade gifts were welcome and the idea of making a gift was well received by all in my house. Dd made a fishing game with some logistical support from me. The sea life drawings were all hers and, wow, look at that swordfish.


Ds knew the birthday girl likes wolves and made one for her with papier mache over an aluminum foil base. He had virtually no help from me; I just cooked the paste. They received compliments on their work at the party and I think they were both proud of themselves, as they should be.


Dd continued with her art class at the county art museum. Ds started a digital art class at a local university. Dh gave them both some watercoloring lessons. I haven’t scanned the masterpieces yet.

We went to the SC Botanical Gardens for a short class on wildlife habitats. The class was just okay. Maybe the garden naturalist was having an off day. Maybe she prefers to teach adults. I don’t know. What I do know is that her manner, combined with a soft voice, did not captivate the bunch. We learned a little though, and we had a good time outside of the class.

Paris Mountain State Park held its annual “Friends Day” and we were there. We took some kayaks out on the lake, met some rescued wildlife and heard a surprisingly good musician/singer. I ran into one of the rangers in line for bbq and it looks as if summer nature classes are in the works.

The kids and I tried some air pressure experiments from a new source- Ms. Aurora Lipper of Supercharged Science. They worked (not always a given) and the kids enjoyed them. Pictured is a hovercraft. I think we’ll continue “testing” the free stuff. I’ll post more if we like her product enough to buy.

Rounding out the week- Ds completed a couple of math lessons in Teaching Textbooks. We spent 3 ½ hours at park day. We spent an afternoon at the library. I would casually mention lots of free reading once again, but the kids actually spent an entire day reading. They found several anthologies of old comics at the library. Dh had requested an interlibrary loan for some others, which came in this week. So, after dh okayed them all, the kids dug in…and didn’t stop. I had a few other things planned for that day, but I couldn’t bring myself to make them “Stop reading!”