Thursday, April 16, 2020

Art Therapy

It was another day of E-Learning today.  
When doing this times 3, I have trouble.  
They weren't very good at taking turns today, so I had to separate them out, and rotate.  
Sam had computer trouble, then Chris did.  Then Chris and Jacob had meltdowns.  
I recall at one point, Jacob stomping off screaming, "How can I have a meltdown when I don't know what a meltdown is?!"  
Umm...that was one. 


Chris looked the part while using his ipad for German on an app called schoology.  
He's gotten a bit behind due to technical difficulties and tantrums, but today he got caught up. 
We should be on time and have everything turned in tomorrow. 


One of Jacob's assignments was "Read in a Monster Voice". 
I told him his monster sounded nice, and he lost his mind.  
He was going for Scary.  I kind of liked this monster.  
Apparently, that wasn't what we were going for. 


One of his assignements was to pick a book and read for 30 minutes. 
He read Ivanhoe, kind of an abridged version, for an hour, and read the whole thing. 
Getting him to 'write a journal entry' on it took 4 hours and pretty much the rest of the day. 


Sam worked on music, but sharing with us a game he played in Music class at school, "Musical War". He taught Jacob to play, and the two spent most of the afternoon at it.  
Fine by me. They learned whose beats are the longest, and because the whole note conquers all. 
I think the current situation teaches people we can't go without music therapy and art therapy. 
I've been trying to incorporate music, art, and something physical into every day around here. Sometimes it works, and sometimes it's a Battle. 

I am not a Teacher.  
God Bless Them. 

It was a rough day, Jacob had multiple poo issues, after 3 great days of cleanliness, I was heartbroken, sad, and angry.  By the 2nd mess, I had to leave the house.  Fresh air is good for me.  I remember being on bedrest with him and smelling fresh air on the people who came to visit me.  It was heavenly then, and now I just go for a ride.  I have a pile of stuff to deliver to people on the table in the front hall, and sometimes I just have to pull something off the table and Go. Today my friend Kelley was the recipient of Chocolate and Kumon work, and I got to step away for fresh air. 

My friend Suellen posted a picture yesterday that said something about her daughter doing something for "Chalk Art Club" and I thought to myself....
That's what we need!  
We need a Brownsburg Chalk Art Club! 
So I started one.  

Then I put my children to task, and hopefully others in the area, by sending them outside to color something Blue. 


Jacob created this elaborate story about this robot hero who did something, and was over here, then over there, and I didn't really understand it.  
But he let me take his picture. 
Let me just say, there was plot and multiple graphics, and he was covered in chalk. 
It must've been Good. 


This was our hero, the blue robot. 


I happened to luck out with this picture.  
His smile with teeth, and covered in chalk. 


Sam came out to color. 
He made a great large sun, and the waves of the sea. 
I think this kid wants to go to the Beach. 
Me too. 


The last of my cherry blossom blooms in the wind. 


There's a beauty in a dandelion. 


Looks like we might have a new family of ducks taking up residence in the swamp in our backyard. 
Another fun spring. 



Christopher drew this beautiful window, and in it a view of a street, and a house across the street. 
It was fantastic. But for some reason, I didn't get a picture of the finished product. 


Probably because I got distracted with this.  
I kind of love how he puts his whole body into drawing. 


Peace. 
He chose to simply write Peace. 
There's something good and beautiful about that. 
I wish I didn't have to argue so much to get them to go outside, or get them to do their schoolwork. 
I suspect that once this quarantine ends, they won't want to leave then either, except maybe to eat at Golden Corral.