A Day in the Life + Watercolor

Trevor almost made it to his drum lesson on Tuesday.  We literally were two houses away, when he said "I think I am going to throw up!"  That is every parent's nightmare.  Quick!  Pull over! Get out, get out, get out (of my car)!  He says "Why mom?  I don't want anyone to see me!"  Trevor, you CANNOT puke in my car!  So, he gets out, and does not do a thing.  Whew.  We head back home, and he takes the next two days off school.

Since Trevor was still feeling ill today, Nathan and I did school on our own.  He is a really great writer.  He is currently working on a persuasive essay which he entitled Electrify the Street.  It is about his stance of increasing the number of electric cars in use and decrease gas powered cars.  That took us a couple hours to get through, but it looks great for his first draft!  Math, Nathan's least favorite subject, has nothing interesting to report.

The most exciting part of the day was WATERCOLORS!  We painted using a masking fluid.  Rubber cement works. There are more expensive "official art supplies" that you can get that probably work even better.  Below are the pictures so far.  We hope to finish them sometime next week.

This one is mine.

Step 1:  Sketch a picture on watercolor paper.

Step 2:  "Paint" the masking fluid on the areas of your picture that you want to keep white (you can paint these areas later if you wish).

Step 3:  Let the fluid dry completely.  I directed a fan at ours until they were dry.  It took a couple hours.

Step 4:  Paint your picture using watercolors.  You can paint right over the masking fluid.  I did it here.  You can see the beading.  It will come off in step 6.

Step 5:  Let the paint dry completely.  This was much faster.  It took about 30-45 minutes with a fan.

Step 6:  Use a WHITE eraser (the pink eraser will leave color on the paper) and gently rub off the rubber cement.  See below: (excuse the sideways picture, blogger does not like my rotated one for some reason).

Nathan's is the one with rolling hills.

Step 7:  (YET TO BE COMPLETED)  Paint the white area and let dry!

We had a great time doing this.  Nathan and I chose a sunrise because it is a simple way to experiment with the masking technique.  If you are interested, search on you tube.  There are much more advanced uses to see there.

Yoda's Corner
Do or do not.
There is no try.

1. I still have not had any sugar!  Today is day 4!  Slight ice cream craving successfully avoided.
2. I went to karate class last night, and survived!
3. I got on the treadmill today, even when I REALLY did not want to do it. 
4. I practiced Chon-Ji Kata with Nathan.  He really loves it when we do karate together.  

May the force be with you.

SAHHM - Stay At Home Homeschooling Mom

I have tried this before.  Being home, I mean.  When my youngest son was born in 2005, I took a year off from being a pediatric occupational therapist.  At that time Nathan, my oldest, was almost 4 years old and had not started school yet.  You would think that I would have loved it.  Being a mom full time.  I didn't.  I missed working.  So, I went back.  Fast forward to fall of 2009.  Nathan was in second grade at one of the best elementary schools in our county.  He had been deemed gifted and was easily excelling in school, but he as unhappy.  After several weeks of discussion with my husband Mark, and Nathan, we concluded to try homeschooling.  My best friend homeschools her children, and her children were (and still are) doing very well.  It may just be the solution we were looking for, for Nathan.  It was to be a temporary fix for his mental health, knowing that he could go back when he felt ready.  It became obvious that homeschooling was the perfect for Nathan.  He was thriving on an educational level, and so much happier!  Now it is 2012.  Nathan has been homeschooling ever since.  He is in the 4th grade.  Before now, Mark and I shared the responsibility of teaching.  Since Mark works from home, he was able to do some of the teaching while I worked part time as a therapist.  The 2011-2012 school year brought a new challenge though.  Trevor was ready to start school.  Starting from scratch with a child takes intensive one-on-one interaction until independent reading an writing is achieved.  Our previous scenario of shared teaching between Mark an I was no longer going to work.  Mark was not able to spend that much time away from his work.  We decided that I should stay home.  Here I am.  Home.  I have a new title:  SAHHM.  I am so proud of that title, yet I am afraid of the feelings it brings. A feeling of being unsettled, or out of balance.  It is time to find a new balance.  A new Yin for the Yang in my life.