CTC Unit 13 Watercolor Tutorial

This is my finished painting, it looks better in real life. 

Day 2

 We could not find our pallet so in a pinch we just cover a plate with plastic wrap. 

 Look, so easy to clean up! unwrap and toss! 

 We did not need our BLUE paint although the instructions say we do. Please note the science book comes in super handy for the spider web bit. 

 Used up the very last of the blue tape so I was skimpy. 

 I used a nice amount of green I didn't want to have really light grass.
Can you see I'm adding a bit of water to it to loosen up the paint and make it flow. 

 Load up your brush. 

 Paint... 

 dip, wipe, wipe. 

 lighter... 

Dip wipe wipe 

 getting lighter.. 

 Getting lighter and lighter. 

 Let dry, and store in a safe place till tomorrow.  

 She did a great job! 

 Off she goes! 

Day 3 

Flip your paper 180 degrees So the top part is light and the bottom is the dark part. 

 Using paper towels or rags dab on some bushes...

 Lily followed the directions and put the bushes at the top... 

 Now the back of my paint brush was not effective in scraping off the paint, this time I grabbed a needle.
This worked really well at scraping away the paint. to reveal white paper underneath.

 Now use your flat brush. 

 Make grass stalks long and short. Use the side of your flat brush. 

Make lots and lots of them but do leave a space for your spider web. Remember if you put the spider web off to the side the painting, it becomes more interesting than putting it dead center. 

See I left a good spot for a spider to build its web...  

 Now add leaves to some of the "grass" stalks. 

 use different patterns, offset or side by side.

Here I just got creative and made wiggly stems and added leaves to it.  

 I used curved lines to create the umbrella shaped flowers. 

 Do use paint straight from the tube to be sure you cover up the green.

Add as many in as fits your whimsy.  

 Follow the diagram in the science book to draw your web.
If you use the side of your flat brush very very carefully you can make very thin lines. 

 Look how the line broke, that is ok! I'm not going to go back and fix it. When we look at a spiders web in real life do we really see each strand fully? or do they disappear? 

 Allowing the lines to break and be thick and thin, gives it a more ethereal effect. 

 I'm still following the base lines shown in the book. 

 Now add in the joining lines make sure they are straight don't curve them.
You will be tempted to curve them. It's an illusion don't fall for it! 

 I added in the bones of the web. 

 Then I filled it in with more strands. 

 All done!I really liked that, that was super fun! 

 Light dabbing with a mild upward stroke gave me the grass. 

 I decided I wanted white berries on my bushes.
If Sweet Potato can have lighting bolts I can have berries! 

 There we go all done! 

Close up of finished web. 

Division: How we do it.

I learned this technique from Our Nuro-Coach it has been extremely helpful in our math journey.
We have taught her a "script" on how to handle the big problems to get them right every time.
Originally I let her divide candies and manipulative's to do simple math problems.
12 divided by 3 = 4 in each group. This became unnecessary when she memorized all her division facts via Rapid Recall. Suddenly division became easy.  Then we advanced to larger problems.  Difficulties arise with large division problems they can not be easily divided using a loops and groups method or manipulative's. It can be useful to let them try a few large problems using manipulative's so they can see why we use long division.

Sweet Potato struggles with poor handwriting and in math neatness COUNTS! so we use Graph paper to help her keep her work organized.
You can print graph paper for free online here.

 She asks herself "Can I divide 4 into 3 NO! 4 is greater than 3 so I cross out the space above 3. 

 She under lines the 2 numbers she is looking and asks "Can I divide 4 into 38, yes! How many times? I don't know. I'll count by 4 till I get close." She draws dots as she counts "Oh 36 is almost 38 I'll stop. Now I count my dots. I have 9! Thirty eight can be divided by 9.  I'll write that down next to my x and above the part I was dividing. 

 Ok Now she says "What do I do next.. oh multiply 9x4 is himmmm 36 I write that under the 38."  And yes it does take her a few minutes to realize the answer has not changed. 

 Now she subtracts. 

 Then she says "bring down and draws the arrow. the arrow is important to fill that space so she won't want to write there. 

Ok now she needs to repeat her steps. 

So it starts again "Can I divide 4 into 22 himmmm" Count till the answer is found. 

 Write it down. 

 Multiply and write it in the proper place. 

 Subtract

Repeat... Ask yourself can 2 be divided by 4? No it is a remainder. 

Write remainder and your done. 

Now I did these all separate so you could see each piece, Don't do that... just keep moving down the division problem like normal. 

The Anatomy of a Teddy Bear

This is the teddy bear my grandmother made. I remember a bed full of teddy bears, a virtual forest of them to choose from. They were all different because grandma made them from scraps and donated material. I looked and looked but none stood out like this bear. He once had red corduroy overalls. They have long since worn away to tatters. This is my attachment object. I used to stress out that I couldn't take him with me if we had a fire. I couldn't sleep without him hugged tight within my arms.

I still have him after years, and years, and years.  He was my confidant and playmate when no one else would play with me. He also came in handy, when I needed to whack my brother. He was the embodiment of my grandmothers hugs and love for me.
So here is:

The Anatomy of a Teddy Bear. 

Little ears to hear all your dreams, joys, and sorrows.

Pink nose to kiss.

Rough fabric worn smooth.

Corduroy worn to the weft from too much play. 

Flattened stuffing from being slept on,

Hugged almost to pieces.

Mismatched repairs because he needed "surgery"

Eyes that rattle so you can find him when he hides under the covers.

Stains from mud and pie.

The love of a grandmother felt everyday.

In loving memory of Grandma (Margaret) Rodriguez 1923 - 2012

Homeschooling Bloggers Guide To...

Coming home after being stranded due to Hurricane Sandy.

Step 1. Toss your expectations out the air plane window.

Step 2. Ignore the mess, and turn off all the kids alarms. Allowing ample time for you to sleep in. Really just walk past it. It is not going anywhere, it will be there tomorrow. My Knight in Shining Armor was single parenting while I was away. This is actually not bad for 7 days unbridled vacation.  Sleep as late as the kids will let you.

Step 3. Cancel any new school till your sure you are current on your existing unit. 

Step 4. Seek and destroy all sticky spots, wet spots and spilled sodas the monkeys kids ignored. 

 Step 5. Unpack luggage and take that swag bag that is so NOT  you and, offer it to your fashionista.  Win win for all involved! Now your the best mom on the block!

Step 6. Realize your child is wearing 3 shirts, 2 pairs of pants, 3 pairs of socks and a sweater when its 75 degrees outside. Upon finding out she is prepped and ready for Hurricane Sandy, hold a geography lesson on where WE are and where the frankenstorm is now breaking apart.  

 Step 7 A. Realize you have slept through breakfast and it's nearly lunch time. Decide to "surprise" Daddy at work and take him out to lunch. (So you don't have to cook or think about what may or may not be in the  kitchen.)

 Step 7 B. Go for Thai so you can talk about how Thai isn't an "English" word. because it ends in i.

 Step 8. Reset your bio-rhythms by doing missed parts of school outside at the park.

 Step 9. Take a walk to the playground.

Step 10 A. Buy your kids happy hour drinks at Sonic and get them half off candy because as Little Miss Sunshine put it to her friend Lullaby "I want to see my mom more than I want candy, so I'm going to the airport to pick her up."  

Step 10 B. Feel special cause your kid loves you more than candy. 

 Step 10 C. When they can't decide throw caution to the wind and buy both bags.

Step 11. Buy air dry clay so they can finish independent history and let it be a joint project so you don't have to supervise and you can go tweet how much more your child loves you than candy.

 Revel in the fact they are smiling. 

Step 12. Explore the refrigerator and concoct a simple one bowl meal so you have time to blog about what a great day you had with your smiling kiddos. 

Step 13. Go to bed early so you have energy to clean the kids room tomorrow. 

On a sadder note: 

Hopefully this week I can get up a post about my wonderful Grandma who passed away on October 31st. She was amazing.