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…”
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
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
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
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
It has been a crazy day. Bean started out doing some artwork out of my What Your Preschooler Needs to Know book – with lots of paint and colors to keep him occupied while I got a turkey into the oven. Most of the time, Scott does the cooking around here. It’s safer that way. But today he had 5 estimates, and so he asked me to … Continue reading Art Wednesday has Never Been So Decadent and Delicious
After a great first day back home for mom -Art & Music Day out exploring a gallery, and then playing and riding bikes, and getting filthy dirty, “As Boys Should Be,” claim my boys… we had only a few minutes after dinner and cleaning up to watch an incredible video of a Speed Painter. The cool thing about these deals, is that you have to … Continue reading Speed Painting with Astonishing Results
That’s right! We have a big plan. Nothing quite as big as this, but big for us. We want to paint the ceiling of our laundry room in honor of Michelangelo’s birthday, March 6th, 1475. This year the date sort of took us by surprise. All of a sudden, it was March 6th again. Next year, we will have more time to plan. We will … Continue reading Gorgeous Works of Heart & Laundry – in Honor of Michelangelo
Last night, before bed, Ben drew a quick picture with a sun in the corner that was so pointed, angular, and symmetrical, it made me think of Art Deco. Happily tonight was Art & Music night, so we checked out some Art Deco images on Google, including plenty of architecture like the Eastern Columbia building (above) and some Erte statuesque costume designs as well. One … Continue reading Art Deco, Jazz and a Kitchen Table Coloring Session
