An Art Collaborative Project: Round Table Painting
Wednesday, 17 October 2018
It’s essential – though challenging – to engage kids in any type of collaborative project. Bringing our kids together to create something is an important recharging break. I’m sure you’ve experienced a frustrated child with a mental overload … if he’s taught one more thing, it will wash over him, meaninglessly – he’s at
- Published in - Teaching Methods, Articles, Blog
No Comments
Everyday Fun: How to Find Joy in the Mundane
Wednesday, 18 July 2018
For too long, I’ve griped about my daily work. I have to do this; I have to do that. Then slowly, something I didn’t expect started happening. The kids were sounding like me when I had them do their work. Oh, I have to do this again. This work is so boring. I realized
- Published in - Finding Joy, Articles, Blog
Turning Visual Clutter Into Learning Clutter
Friday, 15 June 2018
Distractions seem like my nemesis. As soon as I settle in for a read-aloud it’s inevitable—my baby cries or my five-year-old gets into a fight with my toddler. For my kids, distractions are their secret weapon. They love finding something else to think about, look at, or read that isn’t the work at hand.
Start, Finish, Repeat – A Lesson In Planning
Friday, 18 May 2018
Ahh mornings. Sometimes the way I get up you’d think my alarm signaled the start of a 5k race. I’m writing mental to-do lists as I shower. A brief tour of my living room on my way to the kitchen expands that list. Then my kids start adding requests for the day, then I
- Published in - Caring for Yourself, - Coping With Chaos, - Planning and Organization, Articles, Blog
Teaching Your Creative Child
Thursday, 05 April 2018
I get it! Creative kids tend to be more aloof—more dreamy and lost in their own world. The amount of energy it takes us moms to pull them back to reality is frustrating. Sadly, I’ve wasted many one-on-one math sessions by choosing to mentally wrestle my daughter back to earth. For each problem, frustration
- Published in - Teaching Methods, Articles, Blog
Kids, Crayons, and Christ: A Vlog Journey
Saturday, 17 March 2018
Often, when we think of teaching art to our kids (myself included), we find the task daunting, messy, and—if we’re honest—a little unnecessary. This is an embarrassing confession coming from me, an art school graduate whose husband teaches art and develops art curriculum for a living. Yet, here I am, still struggling to teach
- Published in - Teaching Methods, Articles, Blog
Teaching Art as Worship
Tuesday, 27 February 2018
In the Bible, we see art as inseparable from objects of worship. From the striking detail in the gold-plated Ark of the Covenant down to the priests’ robes, the Old Testament specifications for the Tent of Meeting reads like a master artist instructing a protegee. What amazes me most is the beauty of form
- Published in - Teaching Methods, - Worship, Articles, Blog
Helping Our Children Depend on Christ
Saturday, 27 January 2018
One reason I love physical books is the turning of the page. Don’t get me wrong—I use a Kindle often, but no matter how engaged I am in my e-books, there’s nothing like the crinkle of another page turn. And in that short moment, I go from the bottom of one page to the