Plein Air

Most of the time, I love homeschooling. Sometimes I worry about what my kids are missing out on from the public schools....then on other days, I'm thankful for what they're missing. I'm not concerned about their academic progress.

Unless you count yesterday, with Bud. I was showing him online the phonics books I was ordering. I showed him how you could look at pages inside. It randomly opened to a lesson that falls around where I'd scheduled to be around Christmastime. He gleefully did the activcity aloud for me on the spot. I'm so proud. And so bummed that I have to start my phonics planning all over again.

Anyway. That's MY problem.

This year I am hoping to have a little more fun with school be a little more flexible, take advantage of the benefits of having them at home--you know, things like flexibility and pursuing interests and working one-on-one at their individual paces & not wasting time jumping through hoops.

Oh, how I love those hoops.

At least, the ones set suitably low for me to jump through. I pretend the other ones aren't there.

I also would like to branch out a bit more and, since I'm not stressed about how they are coming along in reading or math, diversify a bit. This should keep my friend M. from turning me in to the authorities for not having a proper P.E. curriculum. I'm pretty sure she's kidding.

Hey, I bought a tee and some balls yesterday. And soccer cleats. I'm on a roll!

Another area where I think we've not been up to scratch is the art department. This is probably due in large part to my aversion to making messes on purpose--our house gets messy enough as it is. Seriously, introducing PAINT into a room with three children? Actually, maybe if I initiated art time more often the boys wouldn't feel the need to sneak paint from the office closet, and then it wouldn't wind up all over the office carpet. Just a thought.

Hey, I bought several sets of watercolors yesterday! And many markers! And an unconscionable number of crayons and colored pencils and construction paper and glue sticks! I LOVE back-to-school time at Target! I've been looking forward to it for months. The optimism! The possibilities! The boxes of 24 crayolas for a quarter!

So, art is high on the agenda...both appreciation and skills. And online I even found a possible solution for my mess-phobia:

Plein Air

As PW explains, Plein Air is just French for "Open Air," and refers to the practice of painting outdoors. Hmmmm.

I tried it a few weeks ago.



It was a hit. I loved how Pixie sat out in the sun, and how she wanted to mix some of her colors together to match the subject she was painting. Usually her representational art comes from inside her head, not a subject, so this was new and fun.


Besides the gladiolas and zinnias, Pixie painted the ground--complete with gopher hole.

I know not everyone can paint outdoors year-round, but unless it's raining it's something we're able to do. I'm hoping for more Plein Air in the future!

And maybe we'll play Tee ball this afternoon. You never know.