Beautiful Day Out

Our recent artsy week -- talking about famous artists, watching a few movies about their lives, getting our hands messy -- reminded me to check in on current exhibits at local and local-enough museums.  When Sela saw the we could see a painting by Raphael, she was dazzled.  Inspiration had struck at just the right time...

One of the joys of homeschooling is the freedom to pack up snacks and escape for the day without a lot of planning.  So, we popped over to San Francisco to catch "Portrait of a Lady With a Unicorn" by Raphael in its final week at the Legion of Honor Museum of Fine Arts.

What a view outside the museum!

The "bonus" exhibit, in this case, was a collection done by Pierre Bonnard.

And in the permanent collection, (wow) we saw works by these guys:
Monet
Pissaro
Degas
Renoir
Cezanne
Manet
Seurat
Van ault
Rembrandt
Rodin

Puzzle souvenirs from museums are my FAVORITE.
We saw this work by Pierre Bonnard.

best of all-
this was my tour group <3

How to Read & Get Where You're Goin'

Our summer reading is going so well! I'm not saying this to be braggy (as our friend says) - I'm saying this with great surprise!

To be clear, I've read very little -- but we've listened to a large handful of the books from our pie-in-the-sky summer reading list.  (We've never made a list before; that was an inspired whim that somehow has taken shape!)

So far, we've enjoyed: Thimble Summer, The Would-Be-Goods, Five Children and It, and now we're on to Swallows and Amazons. 

I, for one, am loving it.  I believe both kids are, too.  Sela asks the moment we get into the car.  Linus rarely asks for something else, although he does sometimes ask for a Raffi song by singing it (which melts my heart - tiny little voices singing song lyrics is pure, sweet magic).

We've bitten off quite a large one, this time. (Gasp!)  I hope this won't mean it's the last of our summer 2012 books!

And boy, I thought I was quite clever combining Swallows & Amazons with Mr. Putter and Tabby Row the Boat and a day trip up to paddle around on the lake.  Well -- we didn't quite make it all the way to the lake, but it was a fun idea.  In any case, the books are great, and summer's not over yet...

Happiness is

...a warm puppy.  Sharing his "polka-dot cookie."



"Stained Glass"

 The Charles Schultz Museum generously offered a Homeschool Day last week.  We've been wanting to go for years, and this year we finally did!  It was a great day trip.  They had art projects, a photo scavenger hunt, artists to talk with, an interesting visiting exhibit, so many interesting pieces about Charles Schultz and the Peanuts.  One artist was there painting a mural.  Signs said, "Do Not Disturb Artist," and they posted what he was drawing and painting.  It was incredible to watch.  There was ice skating and my kids loved the large Peanuts statues.

Peanuts cartoons were everywhere, and Sela couldn't get enough.  And what's not to love?  It combines three of her favorite things: reading, drawing, and silliness.  She picked as her souvenir from Snoopy's Gallery & Gift Shop her first book of comic strips.  The first of many, I think.  It's so exciting to watch kids discover something new and drink it up!

See you next year, Charlie Brown!

Snow Day!

 Sela has been begging to go to the snow for several seasons now.  We finally got it together this year to give it a try.  To be honest... I didn't have high hopes for our day.  Boy, was I wrong!  It was a truly wonderful day of family fun.

We all loved the sledding.  It was beautiful day.  And, it even snowed on us several times.
And I'll make a plug here for doing things simply. 
We borrowed most of the snow clothes and gear from generous friends.  We didn't wake up early.  We didn't have a definitive plan for where we were going.  And while I packed bags of warm clothes, Daddy packed a lunch out of whatever we had. 
And it was great!
I'm learning...

None of our family outings are complete without a "car picnic."

We all left happy : )