Nature Club and Fine Arts in the Park

All of our fall activities have begun so we are very busy these days! Once a month, our homeschooling group has Nature club and Fine Arts in the Park. Nature Club meets first and we learned all about soil and composting. My little scholar arrived early and read all the information on all the posters before class. She was ready for her class and volunteered lots of answers and seemed to really enjoy the content. Like last year, they are learning the information necessary to become Junior Master Gardeners. After their talk, they made their own compost mix for snack... there was brown sugar for sand, chocolate chips for bugs (I guess), peanut butter for clay, and gummy worms to airate the soil... you get the idea. It was cute and the kids really liked the fact they could eat it. Then they went on their nature walk and collected composting materials... or something like that. Emily is finally old enough to go off with the group while I stay with the little ones. It certainly makes things easier for me.
:-)
After Nature Club, we eat lunch and the kiddos play at the park while we wait for Fine Arts to begin. Little Lia is getting to see quite a bit of her friend Clare. I love that they are starting to recognize each other. Aren't they sweet?

For Fine Arts, we gathered together to learn about the artist Giotto and listen to the music of Bach. This year, since our group has grown so much, the kids were divided into 3 groups and rotated through 3 stations. They crushed colored chalk with rocks and mixed it with an egg wash to make their own paint. Then they got to make their own masterpieces with the paint they made. At another station, they listened to the music of Bach while learning about his life, made white wigs out of cotton like they wore during his time and tried singing in a round. At the last station, they looked at some of Giotto's famous paintings and listened to some children's literature about his life.

I love how the little ones keep busy like the big kids. Lia and Clare are very busy coloring their own masterpieces here.