All About Drawing and Reading

As I was working on April's book list, I realized that I haven't posted anything other than book lists for the last three months.

Wondering if we've been actually learning anything?

Fear not, there has been tons of learning. The two biggest focuses for the last few months has been reading and drawing.

Emma's reading is amazing to watch and hear. And she LOVES to read. I'm not really surprised, as she comes from a long line of readers on both sides of the family. But I still find it amazing. She'll try reading anything, especially if the words are bigger (she loves reading billboards and other signs we pass as we drive).

Expect to see more and more books in the "Read by Emma" list.

Now, the drawing. I've picked up the book, "Drawing With Children," by Mona Brooks. I hope to start working through the lessons with Emma maybe starting in May.

Why teach her something she already seems to love and be pretty good at? Research shows that children typically stop drawing around age 8 or 9 for the simple fact that they get frustrated because they can't draw realistically.

Expect to see more posts about this in the future. For now, how about a few photos of her creating art.

"Mama, can you give me something to draw?"

Still life with her boots.

Drawing while listening to bedtime stories.

Hard at work on her still life. 

The first boot was a bit wonky, but the second one came out pretty good. 

Well, that's what we've been learning these last few months. Hope your days are full of fun and learning! 

Bedtime Reading

I love reading out loud to Emma. We don't read out loud a whole lot during the day, as we are typically busy creating, playing, and listening to audio books or music. But every night at bedtime, we read out loud. Some nights Emma will read a book to me (she really loves the Elephant and Piggie books by Mo Willems) before I read a few chapters to her.

We just finished the third book in the Wolves of the Beyond series. It is the second series by Kathryn Lasky that we have read/listened to. Emma loves the Guardians for Ga'Hoole, and this series ties in with that one, but from a wolves perspective instead of the the owls.

One of the things I love the most about this series is it teaches Emma that even a creature (or person) with a disability can achieve wonderful things if they keep trying.

Anyway, this isn't really a post about a book review ('cause I am terrible at giving book reviews, just ask Jared), this post is about what Emma does while I read.

Until a few nights ago, Emma would fidget, braid her dolls/horses hair, squirm, and just generally annoy and distract me while I was trying to read to her. I love this series, but some of the words are pretty tough because it's a made up language (wolf language, bear language, owl language- they are all hard to pronounce).

I finally had a bright idea. Why not give her a little notebook to draw in while I am reading to her. She can draw about what we are reading, or about anything she wants. The first night I gave her the book and pencil, I was slightly amazed at her drawing.

Faolan

Here are her drawings from the rest of the book (the last 2 or 3 nights).

The Whistler

Wolf hunting a Caribou

"The Wolves of the Beyond"

Horses (not in the book)

A Spotted Collier Owl going to gather embers from a Volcano. The pile of bones is what Faolan stands on to keep watch of the volcanoes. 

another horse (not part of the story). 

I love watching her drawing evolve. Lately she has been using her model horses as models for her drawings and I have to say (not that I am biased) that her drawings are amazing. I love each and every one.

What else have we been doing, education wise... Noting specific or concrete. We have decided to start up our horse geography again (apparently I never mentioned it). Each time she gets a new model horse, we will research the breed (size, color, temperament, etc.) and where it originated (people, culture, food, language, etc). Emma seemed to enjoy the work in the past, and I think if we tie it in to any new horses she gets, the research will be even more meaningful.

Well, in three days we head out for Montana. We will be stopping at Mount Rushmore as well as Devils Tower on the way, so lots to learn in our immediate future!

I hope everyone had a wonderful weekend and that this coming week treats you well!