Okee Dokee Brothers

What a delight that we got to see the Okee Dokee Brothers perform with the Minnesota Orchestra this spring! We're looking forward to checking out their concert schedule this summer!

Spring Break 2015

We had such a fabulous spring break this year! We saved up all our field trips and brought Mango along while he was on spring break, too. First up was the Habsburg Exhibit at the Minneapolis Institute of Art. Thanks to my lovely friend, we got to go for free! Mane was much more interested and attentive than I thought she would be. She's gotten so much more grown up this year. I'm really glad she got to go, and I know it's an exhibit she'll remember. 

Later in the week we headed out to see Debutante's Ball at the History Theatre, a comedic play about Filipino immigration and coming-of-age parties. We got to bring along my friend, whose mother immigrated here from the Philippines. She said the play was spot-on, reflecting a lot of her experiences with her family and the tension of first and second generation immigrant. 

We followed up the trip to the History Theatre with the Space Exhibit at the Science Museum where we saw the new omnifilm, learned about the missions to Mars, and saw this giant astronaut:

Spring break ended with some serious kite flying and a beautiful Passover Seder...

Passover Moon & an owl kite...

Germanic American Institute

In early January we visited the Germanic American Institute in St. Paul for their Kaffeestube European Breakfast Cafe. It was Mango's birthday, and he'd been telling nostalgic stories about his trip to Germany in high school. German breakfast is something he always fondly recalls - dense breads, cold cuts, pickles, tomatoes, cucumbers, boiled eggs, yogurt & berries. And we were not disappointed by Kaffeestube:

After breakfast, we explored the building. The second floor houses a gallery. The current display is called Remembering Der Mauerfall and features photographs commemorating the fall of the Berlin Wall:

The library is full of books, games and movies in German!

A side sitting room was still decorated for Christmas...

The 3rd floor ballroom was very sweet!

The GAI hosts a number of events throughout the year, including German classes, discussion groups, parties, and dinners! In February they're offering a FREE yodeling class!! Check out their Events Page for more information.

Museum of Russian Art

One of Mane's Christmas gifts this year was getting to pick out her own matryoshka doll from Russia! We ordered from: Matryoshka Dolls. And then we took a trip to The Museum of Russian Art.

The museum is practically right in our back yard (though not quite so close as the Minneapolis Institute of Art), right off 35W and Diamond Lake Road, and we couldn't believe we'd never been there!

Current displays include "Winter Holidays in the Soviet Era," with "New Year" ornaments, memorabilia, and propaganda from the time when the Soviet Union forbid the celebration of Christmas and tried to replace it with the New Year. Another exhibit called "Life on the Edge of the Forest" celebrated the woodwork and forests of Russia, primarily with displays of window frames and distaffs:

A third display had watercolor paintings of mushrooms by current artist, Alexander Viazmensky. His paintings are used in botanical texts because of their accuracy and detail. 

The permanent collection included beautiful works depicting the Russian countryside and some small churches:

Minneapolis Institute of Art - Impressionists

After spending some time studying impressionism this fall, we took a trip to the Minneapolis Institute of Art to see some famous paintings in real life!

Autumn in the courtyard is stunning!

Admiring Van Gogh's Olive Trees

Sketching in front of one of Monet's paintings

Working on water lilies

Inspired to paint at home!

Game Schooling - Prestel Art Game

This year "Art Class" is about reading poetry (over tea, in bed at night, with breakfast, while studying theology...), listening to Classics for Kids radio, hearing excerpts from renowned pieces of literature, looking at types of architecture, placing styles of art & artists on a timeline, and....playing the Prestel Art Game!

We've been playing this for several weeks now, and it's pushed us to learn art terminology, recognize famous pieces, and learn about eras in art history. One thing I really appreciate is that you don't have to start out knowing a whole lot about art and artists in order to progress in the game. There are enough questions that are, "What do you think?" type questions to keep it moving. We use our creative and critical thinking skills to imagine what artists might be trying to say with a piece, what the subjects in a painting might be thinking, and what is most striking about certain pieces of artwork and why. Players "compete" with those questions by seeing if their answers match up with the answers of other players. There are also some "Pictionary" and "Taboo" type challenges.

As a way to extend the learning with this game, we keep the laptop around to look up other pieces of art by some artists or to search for similar styles and eras in art history!

Tour De Nature Centers - Houston, MN

While on a camping trip in southern Minnesota, we took the opportunity to stop at Houston Nature Center, home of the International Owl Festival and the World Owl Hall of Fame! Houston Nature Center is also the trail head for the Root River Trail, a 60-mile paved trail connecting the MN cities of Houston, Rushford, Peterson, Whalen, Lanesboro, Fountain, Preston and Harmony.

The nature center features a Natural Playground:

 

Bicycle Sculptures:

And an indoor space with educational exhibits on OWLS...and caterpillars and turtles:

Power of Play

I recently finished reading Free to Learn by Peter Gray. The book's subtitle says it all: "Why Unleashing the Instinct to Play Will Make Our Children Happier, More Self-Reliant, and Better Students for Life." The book has a very unschool-y bent, as it features the democratic school of Sudbury Valley. I don't "buy in" to unschooling, as it has been presented to me, though I've had a couple of other people state that they view us as unschooling. I don't see it that way, since we use curriculum, and I have certain expectations for covering material each week. On the other hand, I work for Mane's "buy-in" with the curriculum. I try something else if the thing we're doing is making her hate the subject matter.

But I do "buy in" to the power of play. Mane has clearly had artistic potential from a very young age. I've signed her up for art classes from time to time, and she's enjoyed them. BUT, she hasn't taken time with her artwork. She hasn't focused on creating a finished product that is truly the best she can do. She simply hasn't been interested. She wants to have fun and didn't see a lot of point in doing a great deal of work to turn out a masterpiece. Until Recently. Recently, she and her friends have developed a fantasy play game that they play regularly when they get together, and they needed a "blueprint" for a bronze dragon. Mane spent the better part of a day drawing a dragon blueprint, using the book cover of one of the Percy Jackson books and several images off the internet. I was totally impressed by what she turned out. I honestly didn't know she had THAT kind of potential. Once it fell into the category of fun, she far exceeded what I even thought was possible. I've also been seeing her read...and read...and read because she wants fodder for the same play mentioned in the above paragraph. Play is fueling her "work."

Tour De Nature Centers - Silverwood

While we are awaiting our next trip to a nature center (next Tuesday), I thought I'd post about the one we visit the most! Silverwood Park!!

We love Silverwood for it's focus on art, it's huge fireplaces (both indoor and outdoor), the kid's play items in the coffee shop, the COFFEE SHOP, the outdoor amphitheater, classroom buildings, kiln, lake, bridge... We love the kid's art activities every Sunday afternoon, folks playing music on the porch in the summer, free concerts in the amphitheater, homeschool classes and programming, the offering of pottery and photography classes, and the wide open spaces to run and play.

 These photos make me totally miss summer!

Ship Sculpture on the Lake

Classroom Building

Kiln

Banquet Hall

Amphitheater

Amphitheater

Park Building

Outdoor Fireplace and Rocking Chairs

Coffee Shop Fireplace

Coffee Shop & Kid's Play Items