I love how much art and music envelop us at every turn, and how the boys have learned to channel their own feelings through art and music to take the edge off of some of those overpowering emotions. They know they are not alone in their highs and lows, because they listen to musicians who can speak their pains or their joys and allow their listeners to feel the connection and the parallels. Continue reading “Can Music Save Your Mortal Soul…”
They were the original reason I fell in love with San Francisco in the first place. I saw a 2” x 2” picture of these houses in black and white in an encyclopedia when I was 14, and fell head over heels in love with a city I knew nothing about. Continue reading The Painted Ladies
For most of us, there is only the unattended
Moment, the moment in and out of time,
The distraction fit, lost in a shaft of sunlight,
The wild thyme unseen, or the winter lightning
Or the waterfall, or music heard so deeply
That it is not heard at all, but you are the music
While the music lasts.
*T.S. Eliot, line from The Dry Salvages, out of Four Quartets Continue reading Music Heard so Deeply, That it is Not Heard at All
So, tears come easily perhaps. And the pain others put into story form, to allow others to see into their world, see what their challenges and struggles were, see what they rose up from, what brought them to their knees – I feel these things deeply. Continue reading Tears Cresting and Falling – Moved by Literature and Theatre
So, within a week of one another, both my 13yo and my 16yo have had their hearts broken. They process things very differently. My youngest is open with me. My older one is shut down. I want so much to help, but know I have to let them have their feelings. Their dad is great at giving them a laugh every now and then. And … Continue reading While My Guitar Gently Weeps
Do you listen intently to the words of songs your kids listen to – the stations, the kinds of music they like?
Continue reading They Don’t Want What We Want, by Asking Alexandra
When the kids were smaller, we did Art Excursions on a regular basis. We have been thinking about gearing up for doing that again. We all are fed by art in various ways. We seek out and find things to do with our creative brains and hands. Tonight wasn’t exactly an excursion. It was dinner from a taco truck, and I saw this mural on … Continue reading Gearing up for Art Excursions Again
par·a·dox noun \ˈper-ə-ˌdäks, ˈpa-rə-\ : something (such as a situation) that is made up of two opposite things and that seems impossible but is actually true or possible Ben went through a Phantom of the Opera phase a while back, after reading a kid version of the story at school, and made the mask, and acted the part, until I had to rent the movie, … Continue reading Before These Moments Slip Away
Because Ben and I are both artists, and experience a large range of emotions, we’ve had to learn about anger and how to handle it, manage it, subdue it, understand it and live with it. We each have a tendency to fly off the handle and we’ve had to study the Primitive Brain otherwise known as the Fight or Flight part of the brain that … Continue reading Primitive Brain – Fight or Flight – and Homework
Today, Bean and I had some errands to run, and I chose the Pandora Station “Peter, Paul and Mommy” for our musical background. We sang along to Feed the Birds, from Mary Poppins, and some Simon & Garfunkel, a little John Denver, songs from The Sound of Music and we sang Puff the Magic Dragon (twice) and I cried. I have always cried every time … Continue reading Magic Dragons and Refusing to Grow Up
Unbelievable precision. This is mesmerizing. We watched this on Thursday for Theater and Dance night. Continue reading Thousand Hands Dance
Last night for Monday – Murals, we started out with this series of murals from the article Fun New Murals by ROA Utilize Tunisia’s Domed Architecture, then checked out 30 Wonderful Examples of Large Scale Street Art Murals! The boys were blown away by the talent displayed in these murals. They couldn’t get over the enormous vastness of these paintings. We would count the … Continue reading EAT ART Series Might Tempt our Kids to Consider Art School
The thing is, the world of the internet is exciting and terrific and mind-blowing and brilliant. It can also be terrifying. My kids got hand-me-down phones that were so worthless, and non-functional that my husband and I had bought new ones for ourselves. Somehow, as soon as they were in our kids’ possession, they worked perfectly, and the kids had ipods. We had tech … Continue reading How I Became Content Creator for my Kids on the Information Super Highway
Painted by Bean three years ago, when he was Four. It should have dawned on me sooner that this may be his thing. As I was hanging the boys jeans up to dry yesterday, I noticed that on every one of Bean’s pants – whether school clothes or grungy jeans – there are paint splatters and smears. When I found him painting something in the kitchen yesterday, … Continue reading Slowly it Dawns on Me
Ben and I were reading about Castles in the Middle Ages yesterday, and we decided to try to find a YouTube video of some of the greatest castles in the world. Sadly, we didn’t find what we were looking for. We found some with music, and some that were about haunted castles, we watched part of one about The Castle of Fear, but the video … Continue reading Designing Castles without Plans
This was originally posted on my Artful Homeschool Blog – but I think I’m disbanding that after one day. I’d rather have one blog here at Country Kid Farmers. Continue reading We Start with Art
Ben started with a drawing, then did a paper cut-out of the body for this guitar, then headed to the shop to use his new saw that cuts angles. His dad helped him cut out part of an old license plate as the pick-guard, which was something he dreamed up and was very clear that he needed for the design to work. He glued and … Continue reading Guitars from Scraps
Even though we buy paper and tape in bulk, tonight Ben just needed another form of canvas, and so he started giving Bean tattoos with marker. We discourage this sort of thing, generally. A long time ago, Ben started giving himself tattoos every day, and we had to put a stop to it. We were not sure that markers were terribly good for skin. But … Continue reading Tattoo Artistry
Over the weekend, I got to spend a few minutes out in the shop with Scott. He needed my help to move some giant thing over onto the lift, and then push it under the back of the torn down vehicle. See how technical I can get about cars? Then we moved that big thing into position, and I held up the leaf spring so … Continue reading Race Car In Progress
Ah – the glories of learning off the computer! Could there be a more exhilarating way to see in a quick moment all the geometric wonders involved in those wonderful Cathedral windows of old? (Perhaps it is because I have learned to love Math so very much, that this is so astounding to me!) This week for our Art Day on Wednesday, we looked at … Continue reading Rose Window Geometry
Part of Ben’s fourth grade art curriculum includes a look at Gothic Architecture. We live in the age of the computer, and I couldn’t be more thrilled. What we can see in little pictures in a text-book, can be turned into a vast and glorious walking tour online! This week, we looked at Cathedrals and their architecture, viewing a fantastic NOVA movie online about the … Continue reading The Architecture of Cathedrals
This article is based on a prompt from a blog I enjoy called the Tao Te Ching Daily – which gives beautiful, peaceful, soothing, inviting, mindful advice about living. The Tao, as I understand it, is a philosophy of thought, read and enjoyed by C.S. Lewis among a multitude of others. On her blog, writer Amy Putkonen works through her interpretations of the writings within The … Continue reading Parenting and The Doorway to the Mysteries of Life
Saturday, we wanted to run down to the Eagle Point Farmers Market for some veggies, but instead ended up at The Wood House for their Farm Festival. My boys adore antiques and things that show how life was in the Olden Days. The Wood House isn’t open to the public every day, so when it is open, we want to be there, and walk through … Continue reading Farm Festival at the Wood House
After Scott and I finished Morning Chores, he left for a day of removing an emergency tree. Ben started his day by inviting me to join him at the Kitchen Table. “We can pull out all the art supplies and just color and draw together – everything but the paints, because that would get too messy.” He said he’d gotten an idea from something he … Continue reading Let’s Start the Day with Art
That, apparently, is what it is like to be an artistic welder, and spray sparks all day in the process of creating. This is according to Cheryl Garcia, whose studio we had the distinct pleasure of visiting yesterday for an Art Excursion. When she said this, Ben’s eyes lit up in recognition. He knows the joys of shooting sparks and creating something from inside a … Continue reading Playing with Fireworks Everyday!
