Day Twenty-Six: Making Art and Memories

"The art of mothering is to teach the art of living to children."

                                                                                                                             -Elaine Heffner

 

Messy tables, spilled paint, popcorn prayers, fingerprints on the wall, finding the other shoe for the field trip, mixing and rationing supplies for creating when there's not enough, dressing up, Bible songs, writing speeches, baking pies, creating a General Store, playing games, and exploring the woods... these beautiful experiences are the art of living.

 

As we near the end of the 31 Days of Homeschooling Goodness, I felt that it might be inspirational to share some of the most enjoyable things we do together as a family and as a homeschool group. These photos make me smile. When I scroll through them on my computer or the children see them in our book, they inevitably exclaim, "I remember that!" or "Mommy, can we do that again?" There is nothing more memorable than adding the more time-consuming, inconvenient things to your day--even if it's once a month. Making art and memories are the experiences that my children will never forget. It is these which they'll share with their own children. And if that's the case, I want to make many, many more of them. 

 art evening for moms at my house

 

 

 Unbelievable talent between my friend Tanya and her husband who create so much art and share it! 

 ready listeners 

the lovely Tanya inspires us

art as a group

 proudly displaying his art

 using Tanya's idea and creating this fabulous mask and headdress

 dressing up, always

nature notebooking

 our General Store for learning the concept of money

 

 

 

rolling out the dough

 

baking pies

 finding interesting creatures

 winning speech meets!

 Yay!

 Mama has a lot of homeschooled grandchildren :)

 playing games for a change in pace and practice of a concept

sewing with a furry friend

 field trip with homeschool buddies

 

 

celebrating the art of living--given by the Creator of it all!

 

Right Out Of A Book

Tonight, four characters jumped right out of the pages of books and sat on my front porch. Costumes are readily available in our house because dressing up remains one of the top activities for my children. If a pair of jeans, skirt or sweater are found lying around our rec room, it's evidence that somewhere in the house a pirate or princess is leaping or dancing.

Just Like Any Other Day

Most days these children of mine are defending the castle with a sword fight, or flying off of tall towers, or searching for their home as a stray animal. Yesterday was no exception.

And so, even though some kids look forward to picking out a costume at this time of year (and so do mine), for these children, dress-up is part of their lives. Besides a bit of extra sugar, this was like any other day :)

Every Day Is Dress-Up Day

In these here parts, every day is dress-up day. Halloween night usually means we go with our cousins and stop at our favourite neighbours', who love to see the kids, then off to Grandma's and then onto the church for the Harvest Party. This year, all of the kids, as well as, my husband were not feeling well. I had just returned home from my retreat two hours before and they just had to dress up anyway! We didn't end up going to the church, which is a twenty-five minute drive for us but we did manage to visit a few people with our beautiful butterflies, Egyptian princess and little cowboy :)

But, it wouldn't matter what day it was, these children of mine love nothing more than dressing up and play-acting. We've joined a homeschool theatre group and are presenting Peter Pan in June. This will feel quite natural to my children as they dance about as some new character a few times a day. My husband and I have no lack of entertainment.

Now, if only someone would come and make all this candy disappear!

Rainbow Pants and Flying

She searches the dirty laundry basket and finds them wrinkled and stinky at the bottom. She pulls them out and slips them on anyway. She doesn't go many days without wearing her rainbow-striped pants. Sometimes her "fluffy skirt" goes on top, sometimes, it's another item but by any measure, it's always those pants. Dressing up helps her to fly, she says. Flying has been a great desire of hers since she was three. Two years of attempting various ways of accomplishing this have left "Rainbow Girl" a little frustrated. Nevertheless, on rainy or sunny days, it's always those pants.

A Lesson In Boundaries

My Grandma's old kitchen cupboard beside her fridge held folded linens of lace and cotton, embroidered napkins, table cloths and draperies. When I was a little girl, I slept over at her home frequently and I loved that she let me pull them out and wrap myself in them whenever I wanted to play dress-up. I instantly became a bride or a princess simply by draping the pieces over my head and shoulders. She would laugh and take my picture. My throat aches and tears sting as I write these words, thinking of her. I miss her. She allowed me, as a child, to imagine and play without restraint. It was at her home, I felt I could be almost anything I wanted.

I sometimes find myself restricting my children's play or art by my need to keep it tidy. It's funny how this photo reminded me of my Grandma (Mama). She loved seeing the kids dressed up. It was her favourite thing. Now when I look back, I realize, she had a grasp on the fact that they're only young for a short time. Just as she allowed me to have unfettered play, she loved to see me giving my children the opportunity to be silly and to have fun without such rigid boundaries.

I don't want my children to remember how they were hurried, how they were "reined in" just when they got a great idea for their artwork. I do want them to remember how their mom gave them liberal opportunity to just be kids. They love dressing up, especially as animals, so when our church was planning our annual Fun Fall Fair, my children were imagining what they were going to be transformed into for that night. Of course, there were some regulations on the dress code, as there should be, but the memories will be sweet for my little frog, penguin, lion and angel.

As my mind turns heavenward, I'm assured we'll see Mama again, but for now, I'll follow her example, slow down a little and remove some of the boundaries around my kids' playtime. One day, after years of imagining, experimenting, and just plain having fun, I will turn around and realize... they've grown up.

After I wrote this, I came across this inspiring little post from another blogger... www.afamiliarpath.com/2009/02/sewing-memory.html :)